1: Awakening

July 7, New Era Year 600

Rand High School, Class 1, Grade 3 classroom.

"Yao Yun"

"Present"

"Zhou Xing"

"Present"

In the classroom, sunlight filtered through the glass windows, casting mottled shadows on the wall. At the podium, the homeroom teacher Yu Hong, a Rank 6 Warrior, was calling attendance.

Today was the Blue Star Universal Awakening Day, a day that would decide the fate of countless people.

Su Jin sat by the window, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the desk, his heart fluctuating with the sound of the roll call.

His thoughts drifted back eighteen years.

Back then, he was still a corporate slave in another world, having just experienced the beating of "cost reduction and efficiency enhancement," holding a pay stub with a reduced salary.

On his way home, he had raised his middle finger to the gray sky, cursing his shameless boss...

As a result, with a flash of white light, he arrived in this both familiar and strange world, becoming a crying infant, living life all over again.

Eighteen years was enough for him to understand this world.

Six hundred years ago, terrifying monsters tore through space and descended upon Blue Star. The steel defense lines that humanity took pride in were vulnerable before such absolute power.

Specifically, the appearance of Rank 10 monsters—with terrifying speeds exceeding Mach 25 and an almost precognitive sense of danger—made humanity's last trump card, nuclear weapons, a complete joke.

In the midst of despair, a turning point arrived in New Era Year 35.

A communications soldier named Lin Qing accidentally touched a mysterious Fluorite in the Tianshan Mountains and awakened the legendary Lord class. Under her leadership, humanity sounded the horn for a counteroffensive.

By New Era Year 65, the native monsters of Blue Star were basically purged, and humanity turned its gaze toward the broader Boundless Sea of Realms.

After more than five hundred years of bloody warfare, Blue Star humanity finally established a foothold in the Boundless Sea of Realms, forming the Blue Star Alliance. It now stood as one of three major powers alongside the neighboring Dark Star Empire and the Three-Eyed Race, jointly dominating this realm.

The cornerstone of all this was the Professional. Warriors, Mages, Swordsmen, Knights... and the legendary, one-in-a-million Lord who possessed infinite potential.

Eighteen years, he had finally waited for today, where he would personally touch the greatest miracle of this world.

"Su Jin!" Yu Hong's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Present!" Su Jin replied, his voice carrying an imperceptible tremor.

Yu Hong closed the attendance register.

"Everyone, line up according to the order of the roll call. We depart in five minutes for the school Job Hall for Awakening."

The Job Hall had been the school gymnasium three days ago, but now it was given a new name because of the several massive Glow Pillars placed in the center...

When Su Jin's class arrived, the hall was bustling with noise as students excitedly discussed things, their voices a clamor.

"Silence!"

Principal Xie Hui, a Rank 8 Mage, spoke with a voice enveloped in powerful Spiritual Pressure, instantly suppressing the entire scene.

"Each homeroom teacher will lead their students into the Glow Entrances. After Awakening, remember to tally the classes and submit them to the Dean's office."

The line moved forward slowly.

"Mirror, do you think I can awaken as a Lord?"

The gruff voice came from the "giant" beside Su Jin, Lin Xiaokui. Standing nearly two meters tall with knotted muscles, he looked like a human bull.

This guy once became famous throughout the school for carrying three classmates who had heatstroke to the infirmary on his shoulders, though it was rough on the two stacked at the bottom...

"A Lord... who can say for sure?" Su Jin glanced at him sideways. "That seems to be related to Mental Energy, but not entirely. I heard it depends on... fate?"

"Tsk, only one in ten thousand. One in a million!" Lin Xiaokui smacked his lips, his face written with the word "envy."

"Look! Someone awakened as a Lord!" A sudden exclamation came from ahead.

Su Jin and Lin Xiaokui immediately craned their necks to look.

In the area for Class 2 next door, a Glow Pillar was bursting with a dreamlike seven-colored light, standing out remarkably among the surrounding vast white—that was the unique symbol of the Lord class!

"Holy crap, someone actually pulled an SSR!" An irrepressible exclamation came from nearby, the tone thick with envy, jealousy, and hate.

The Class 2 crowd exploded even more. "It's Wang Jie, that transfer student!"

"It's actually her! I heard she only transferred here this semester!"

Su Jin was also somewhat surprised.

He had some impression of Wang Jie; she was indeed a very beautiful girl. He hadn't expected her luck to be so good.

The commotion lasted for a while before Wang Jie was quickly escorted away by the Class 2 teacher.

Time passed, and it was soon Su Jin's turn.

He stepped onto a stone platform about two meters in diameter. In the center of the platform stood a stone pillar over a person's height, with a fist-sized Fluorite embedded at the top, emitting a soft, warm light.

"Su Jin, place your hands on the Fluorite, close your eyes, and feel with your heart."

The Guide Teacher nearby reminded him.

"Yes."

Su Jin responded; the Awakening precautions were already etched into his mind.

He placed both hands flat on top of the Fluorite, feeling the warmth in his palms, closed his eyes, and emptied his thoughts.

In the darkness, bizarre lines, various runes, and color patches flashed rapidly.

Suddenly, an indescribable, massive light orb crashed into his consciousness without warning!

Su Jin felt his body suddenly become light, as if lifted by an invisible force, drifting into the air.

Simultaneously, a burning sensation came from the back of his left hand, like a ball of fire was burning. Then, this heat flow instantly surged up his arm, spreading through his entire body, and finally converged at his brow.

At his brow, it felt as if something was about to break through!

Su Jin felt his consciousness infinitely magnified, creating a mysterious connection with the surrounding world.

Immediately after, a dazzling light shot out from his brow, boldly crashing into the massive light orb deep within his consciousness!

"Boom!"

A roar like the birth of the Universe exploded in his mind! Endless stars, rotating nebulae, and a vast cosmic vista flashed before his eyes...

"Another Lord!" "Heavens! Our school produced two this year!" "It's also seven-colored light! It really is a Lord!"

After an unknown amount of time, as Su Jin's consciousness gradually returned to reality from that brilliant sea of stars, what reached his ears were exclamations even louder than before.

He slowly opened his eyes. In his vision, the Glow Pillar enveloping him was emitting the same seven-colored light as Wang Jie's earlier...

He, Su Jin, had awakened the Lord class!

"Su Jin, come with me." The homeroom teacher Yu Hong's voice carried an irrepressible excitement.

"Okay." Su Jin nodded and followed behind Yu Hong.

The surrounding students automatically parted to make a path. Countless gazes focused on him—envy, jealousy, curiosity, awe... a mixture of various emotions.

Su Jin looked back and nodded to the dumbfounded Lin Xiaokui in the crowd to reassure him, then followed Yu Hong quickly out of the noisy hall.

Watching Su Jin's disappearing back, Lin Xiaokui felt a mix of emotions.

This guy... actually made it! A Lord, that's a big figure who will have the chance to roam the Boundless Sea of Realms in the future!

It seemed that in the future, wanting to be as close as they were before would likely be difficult.

Ordinary Professionals still had to go to vocational universities step by step, while a Lord, after activating their World Bead, would head to the Initial World to venture alone. They would need to develop their territory to at least Level 4 before they could return to Blue Star.

It was said that when a territory reached Level 7, a Lord could take their territory with them and undergo Ascension to the Boundless Sea of Realms, beginning the true journey into the sea of stars.

By then, although a Lord could return to Blue Star at any time, how many would be willing to leave their flourishing territory unattended just to run back to their home planet for retirement?