Five hundred years ago...
The void was silent — a dark, endless sea scattered with young stars and drifting dust and within that silence, something moved.
A presence — unseen, unfathomable — spreading through the fabric of the newborn universe.
The System.
An ancient construct of law and logic, endlessly expanding, searching for worlds... and life. No one knows who made it — or why.
But there were rumors.
Rumors of a supreme being, a guardian who glimpsed horrors beyond creation — something so terrible that he forged the System before his death, leaving it behind to protect what little life existed.
It was said that his final command echoed through the void:
"Strength is survival. Guide them... make them ascend."
And so, the System obeyed. It spread across galaxies, cataloging stars, evaluating worlds, searching for intelligent life to bind under its law.
Countless Years later....
A lone planet revolving around a mid-sized golden star — small, fragile, yet alive. A world still in its early years of progress, its people beginning to reach beyond their home to explore neighboring planets.
That world was Aurora.
The System observed in silence. It scanned the planet's mana flow — almost nonexistent. The civilization below used machines, not magic. Science, not spirit.
A low-level planet with inhabitants barely having any affinity for mana.
Then, on a night like any other, it descended.
The skies of Aurora tore open as a brilliant light filled the heavens. Every eye turned upward, every heart froze. The stars themselves seemed to dim in reverence.
Then, without warning, a voice — cold, metallic, absolute — rang not in the air, but inside every mind.
[Hello, Inhabitants of the planet Aurora.]
[Your planet has been located and determined to contain sentient life.]
[You are hereby integrated into the Universal System Network.]
People panicked. Cities fell silent. Machines failed as the world trembled beneath an invisible pressure.
The voice continued, calm and merciless.
[You have been chosen to ascend — to evolve.]
[However, your right to coexist within the cosmic domain must be earned.]
[You will have 3,000 years to produce
30 Ascendent Beings.
20 Celestial Beings.
1 Cosmic Being. ]
[Until then, your world shall be under protection. Failure will result in complete revocation of protection — and exposure to external conquest.]
The words struck like divine judgment.
[Further information will only be revealed upon the creation of 10 Ascendent Beings.]
[To aid your progress, your world will be infused with Mana for the next 10 years.]
[After that period, your trial begins.]
[For every awakened being, a Lesser System shall be provided — a fragment of my will, to guide your growth.]
[Good luck, inhabitants of Aurora.]
[May you survive the Trial of Evolution.]
And just like that — the light vanished. The voice faded.
But its presence lingered, engraved into the hearts and souls of every being.
The Age of Awakening
The following decade changed Aurora forever.
The System released torrents of mana into the atmosphere. Plants mutated. Beasts evolved. The oceans shimmered with raw energy. Many humans remained same only having the possibility to cultivate — their souls unable to awaken their talents.
Others changed... awakening their talents through direct intervention of the system that pulsed with power mostly between the age of 16 to 40.
And then came the first phenomenon — the Awakening Ceremony.
A ritual created from the fragments of knowledge the System left behind. Each child of sixteen could resonate with the System's core, unlocking their Talent and Affinity.
Ranks were introduced through the knowledge system provided to measure growth:
Rank 1 – Rank 9 were Mortal Ranks and
above that are only known to those who have reached Rank 8 as dictated by the system.
The Hidden Truth
Those who awakened were all between the ages of sixteen and forty. No one outside that group awakened any talent.
Over the next decade, as mana flowed through the world, those same youths became the first to Cultivators. Their bodies adapted to mana. Their minds changed. And each one developed abilities and talents beyond human understanding.
But as time passed, those who remembered the true message began to vanish — through age, battle, or secrecy. Only a few remained… and they gathered together to form what would later be known as the Awakener Association.
Outwardly, they proclaimed the System as the Gift of Ascension, a divine opportunity granted to mankind. But behind closed doors, they guarded a truth darker than the void itself —that Aurora's peace was built upon a ticking clock.
A cosmic deadline. A challenge from something beyond mortal comprehension.
To avoid causing any panic they decided to only tell this information to people who have reached Rank 8 as after reaching this stage, System provides everyone a single chance/trial to awaken their class and specially to evolve their talents to beyond limits yet seen.
And only after years of trial and error they realized how hard it is to just reach the Mortal limit and going beyond the yet untouched Conditions.
Till now they have yet to produce any Ascendant and highest stage yet reached is Elite.
Five centuries have passed. The truth has become legend, then myth, then nothing at all. Only a handful of records remain, sealed in the deepest vaults of the Awakener Association — hidden from the common populace.
And somewhere in the forgotten lower rungs of Aurora, a boy named Asher has just awakened…holding within him a talent that might be the key to everything.
[Asher's POV]
The following morning, the echoes of the Awakening still lingered in my mind. Even now, I could feel faint pulses of energy coursing through the air — whispers of mana that hadn't existed just days ago. The entire city of Greenwood felt… different. Alive.
Students filled the streets, buzzing with energy, comparing talents, affinities, and dreams of becoming cultivators. It was hard not to get caught up in their excitement.
But somewhere deep inside, I felt uneasy.
Something about that ceremony — about the System itself — felt larger, older, heavier than anything I could comprehend. Like it wasn't just observing us... it was judging us.
A voice broke my thoughts. "Asher!"
I turned to see Darek jogging toward me, his usual grin plastered across his face. His hair was still damp — probably from the post-awakening tests.
"You just vanished after the ceremony, man," he said, half laughing, half scolding. "Everyone's been talking about you. Tier Eight talent? You're practically a legend already!"
I sighed. "You know I don't care about rankings."
Darek rolled his eyes. "Right. Says the guy who awakened something even the association couldn't even classify properly. Sounds like cheat-code material to me."
I smirked despite myself. "If it's a cheat code, I still haven't found the manual."
He laughed — loud enough to turn a few heads. "Fair. Still, you should've seen the teachers' faces after your reading. I thought one of them was gonna faint."
We walked together down the street, mana-lamps flickering faintly overhead. The air shimmered with residual energy — like the world itself was holding its breath.
"Hey," Darek said after a pause, "have you noticed the way people talk about the System? Like it's some kind of divine being?"
"Yeah," I murmured. "But it doesn't feel divine. It feels... cold. Calculated. Like we're part of an experiment."
In his previous life, Asher had read countless novels of systems that bestowed power, guided individuals but that was only bound to them, and promised ascension.
But this one... this System didn't feel like a gift. It felt like a mechanism — precise, deliberate, and far too familiar in its manipulation.
It had given them mana, knowledge, and a path forward — advancing their civilization by centuries overnight — yet every fiber of his being whispered that there was a price.
Darek frowned. "An experiment? You mean the awakening?"
"No. I mean everything. The timing, the mana surge, the ceremony — even how specific the process was. It's like the world was designed for this to happen."
He scratched his head. "You think the System's testing us?"
"Maybe," I said quietly. "Or preparing us for something."
For a moment, neither of us spoke. The only sound was the distant hum of energy — a sound that didn't exist before yesterday.
Darek broke the silence with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, whatever it is, I'm gonna hit Rank 1 before the Academy Examinations start for Awakener Academies. Maybe even unlock the first layer of Iron Body."
"Just don't overdo it," I said, though a small smile tugged at my lips. "You have a habit of turning enthusiasm into stupidity."
He chuckled. "And you have a habit of worrying too much. We balance each other out."
We stopped at the academy gates. The symbol of the Awakener Association shimmered faintly above the archway — a star wrapped in three concentric circles.
For most, it was a symbol of hope. But to me, it looked more like a seal. A lock.
As we stepped inside, I couldn't shake the feeling that the System hadn't just changed our world... it was watching it. Watching us.
And somewhere deep within its endless, ancient code — it was waiting for something.
End of Chapter 3 – "The System"