The rain pours down the window of the bus creating a blurry image of dark streets outside. Neon lights shining out of shop windows and advertisements lining the walls. Ryker rests his head against the window of the bus, feeling the shuddering of the bus as he tries to mentally prepare himself for another day of school. Although it is called school, it is more like a preparation for the average student to learn how to work for a corporation or clan. The city doesn’t believe that any of us are ever going to make anything special of ourselves. This is a fair assumption as if your family doesn’t even have enough money to let you awaken early then they certainly don’t have enough to let them buy any resources or cyberware capable of true advancement. Ryker’s and many of his peers' only hope for greatness comes from the awakening ceremony today.
Cultivation is dependent on two things. The first is talent. A cultivator must be willing to work hard and improve, as well as having a strong innate talent. This is something that someone can be born with or they can build it through hard work. The second is money. Without the credits, it is nie-on impossible to get anywhere on the path of cultivation. With enough credits a cultivator can have a far smoother journey. To be a true cultivator you must have both talent and money. Money is the main thing that many of the youths lack to be able to become cultivators. Ryker himself has even less money than most due to being orphaned at birth. His parents left him at an orphanage when he was only a few days old and he was raised there by overworked and uncaring staff.
Since today is the awakening ceremony and that means he will be an adult he will be required to leave the orphanage today and find his own lodging. This is the reality of living in this world. Unless you are a powerful cultivator or are from some important clan, the government wants to spend the absolute minimum credits on you. The only way to break out of this is to grow until you are worth recognizing.
To cultivate you need to draw the worldly energy, Qi, through your body and into your soul. This can only be done once a person has “Awakened” by having their soul exposed to concentrated Qi. In the past, this could only be done by an elder or by some miraculous encounter. This meant that the average person was unlikely to ever awaken and become a cultivator. Now you just have to go to a public office and use a machine that does it automatically.
The city pays for everyone to awaken once they reach the age of eighteen, the age where the soul has reached full maturity. This can be done earlier but requires significantly more Qi to do so, since the soul hasn’t fully opened. This means the cost is higher and only the youth from a slightly wealthy background can enjoy this. Ryker as an orphan with no inheritance certainly cannot enjoy something that costs the government extra.
The bus pulls up infront of the school and all the students stand up and leave the bus, the air filled with excitement as the seniors will finally awaken and find out their innate potential. Many famous academies and organizations will be in attendance to recruit any outstanding individuals.
The giant school tower looms over the students with its brutal concrete exterior and a sign reading “Public School 78” in faded brass lettering. The school was almost sixty stories tall so it didn’t fall short in comparison to the skyscrapers that surround it.
As he walks into the lobby Ryker hears a voice calling over the crowd from “Aye Ryker, over here!” It was Tom, the only person in the school that Ryker really considers a friend.
“Haha, good to see ya mate,” Ryker calls back to him as he walks over to him, a smile creeping onto his face for the first time since he woke up.
“Are you ready to blow those recruiters' minds with our insane talents?” Asks Tom enthusiastically as the pair make their way towards the hall where the awakening will take place.
“I really don’t think I’m anyone particularly special,” says Ryker as the two enter the hall.
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Tom looks at Ryker with shocked eyes. “Mate, if you, the best man I know, don't do well… I might as well just give up.”
The two walk to the center of the hall and find some seats to sit down on. As Rykers sits down he looks to his right and lets out a sigh. Of all the people he had to sit next to, it was the one who hated him the most, Emily. Emily was the kind of girl who was simply insufferable. They were the popular type that everyone wonders how they became popular in the first place as nobody likes them. The person she was worse to by far was Ryker. Ryker was the only one in their class who was from an orphanage, and Emily, as a born noble, thought that he shouldn’t be allowed near her and should be tossed into the streets.
Emily looks over to her left when he sat down before sneering, “I really don’t understand why the city even runs the awakening ceremony. Anyone with any real potential should have already been awakened by their family like I myself was.” She flicks her hair and turns to face away from him before continuing, “They really shouldn’t make a noble lady like myself have to come to such a vulgar event.”
Tom looks annoyed and begins to defend Ryker, but Ryker interrupts him before he can start, “Tom, its not worth it. If we do well in our awakening then we can prove ourselves. Nobles like her just won’t change.” Tom respected his friends wishes but was still fuming about the disrespect.
“I’ll show her…” He mumbles to himself slowly.
Ryker and Tom simply waited in silence for the ceremony to start, their jovial mood ruined by the noble. After waiting for a couple minutes, an old woman walked onto the podium at the front and hushed the murmuring crowd.
“It’s great to see all of you here for our annual awakening ceremony. As all of you should hopefully know by now I am Miss Carthright, headmistress of this school. This year has been one filled with victories for our school. We have risen ten places in our cities academic rankings, which is a historic high for us.”
The students in the hall give a half-hearted cheer at this. No-one really cares about any of this. They just want to see the seniors awaken and see if there is anyone special graduating this year.
“I know you all don’t want to sit here though some long winded speech so the awakenings will begin soon. However, before we begin I would like to bring up a guest to talk about the opportunities you will have after you have awakened. Everyone please welcome Lance Corporal Steven Adams from his majesties 157th battalion.”
The students applaud the entrance as a man clad in classic military gear strides onto the stage, sporting a gleaming white smile.
“Holy shit Ryker, that guy has a CynCorp bionic eye! That’s high grade military grade cyberware!” Tom had a look of awe on his face. “That eye allows him to see for miles! That one piece of tech costs more than ten years salary of an average worker! And look at those arm implants, if only I could have those…” Tom continues to fanboy over this man's implants.
“Hello awakeners. I am here today to discuss joining our kingdom's military once you have awakened. You should all know that our kingdom has many planets under its control. And on these planets are countless lives that need protection. The very planet you live on is one of these planets. Do we want our people to suffer and die under another’s rule?” asks the recruiter to the eager crowd.
Murmurs of approval and nods of agreement surface in the crowd.
“If we want to protect our way of life then we must protect ourselves. And to do that we need you. You people sitting in this hall are the future of our kingdom, so you must rise and accept this responsibility. We will accept anyone no matter how weak their talent is, and raise them to at least the Late Meridian Clearing stage!”
This drew out many gasps from the crowd. The initiate realm of cultivation was split up into three stages. The first was Well construction, which was entered as soon as a cultivator awakens. This stage was all about creating a space in your soul to house your Qi. After creating a big enough well, a cultivator enters the soul refining stage, where they nourish and grow their soul with the Qi stored in their Qi well. After the soul has reached saturation, the cultivator enters the meridian merging stage, where they merge their metaphysical Qi channels, meridians, to their nerves.
The average citizen was only at the early soul refining realm, with a complete well. The military offering to raise the cultivation of someone with even the weakest talent to the late meridian stage seems to be an amazing opportunity if they are unable to enter one of the more prestigious institutes.
“If any of you are interested in joining up then come and find me after the ceremony is over. Thank you all for your time and I hope you seriously consider my offer.”
The whole crowd applauds him as he walks off the stage, and Miss Carthright walks back up to the podium, happy that so many of her students seemed to be interested in serving the kingdom.
“Alright everyone, we will now begin the annual awakening ceremony for our graduating students. Any institute interested in inviting you to join them will send invitations to you as soon as the ceremony ends. I will call upon you alphabetically. Any of you who have already awakened will simply be tested for their talent and can still be invited to any institute. Without further ado, we shall begin.”