"This is third and final chance. If you fail to awaken this time, there won't be a next time — you will spend the rest of your lives as ordinary humans, like the other 90% of humanity. All of you already know this anyway, since this is your third time undergoing this ceremony, so I expect you've all already vented your emotions on that."

The principal's voice entered Rohan's ears, snapping him out of his disillusioned state. His shoulders slumped down, with realisation settling back in him. 

'That's right, there's no need for any excitement or expectations. This is my third time going through the awakening ceremony. The chance of a successful awakening on the first time is 15%, only 1.5% on the second, and a measly 0.15% on the third and last try… With less than 1 in 666 chance, it's likely none of us will awaken this time.'

He lifted his head and glanced at his surroundings, noting that everyone was pulling the same dull face as him — they understood their situation just as well.

Right now everyone stood in attendance at their school sports hall, about 400 of them overall. They were all third years, all 18 years old. 

On the stage in front, a man between 40 and 50 years old was currently speaking into the microphone, his voice as monotone and dull as the rest of the atmosphere in the sports hall.

At the moment, his speech comprised mostly about Earth's history after the opening sentences had already been taken care of.

Nearly a hundred years had passed since the cataclysm that had struck Earth and upended everyone's lives out of nowhere. Revealing a mysterious new dimension called the Origin Realm, bringing with it rifts and portals that tore through Earth's lands, calling forth destruction everywhere they appeared.

Humanity was facing extinction and had become extremely close to it, but thankfully the Origin Realm threw them a lifeline.

Individuals who had 'Awakened' gained access to the Origin Realm, and returned with individual power far surpassing anything humanity had ever thought possible.

By killing the otherworldly beasts on the other side, they were able to extract their genes and infuse them with their own, taking on the power of the beast the gene originated from and become a genetic fighter.

These genetic fighters were able to fight back against the invading beasts and races from the rifts and reclaim the Earth, which led to the present day — and thankfully the end of the principal's sleep inducing speech.

"Finally, as you are all fully aware, only those aged between 16-18 years of age can undergo the awakening ceremony, only once per year to allow your bodies to fully recover from the previous attempt, should it be unsuccessful."

Everyone there knew this already, as they had to listen to the principal's same speech the previous two times as well. For some reason, either the principal was too lazy to change or shorten the speech for those who'd already been through the process before — or simply didn't care enough about them to do so.

"We'll now begin calling you up at random."

The whole room heaved a collective sigh of relief with the principal's finishing words. Finally, they could move on to the actual ceremony!

Now, nervousness was easily seen on a few student's faces — perhaps they really might awaken this time?

There were both optimistic and pessimistic people in the hall, and Rohan was of the latter bunch. His luck had already proven to be awful; if he couldn't even awaken from a 15% and 1.5% chance the first two times, then there wasn't even a reason to entertain the thought with his current chance.

"Alright then, come up to the stage if your name is called. The awakening ceremony will commence now. First up is Rowland Green!"

The principal's words brought the room back to reality. Rohan lifted his gaze to meet the back of the student currently walking up to the stage, bunching his hands into fists in an attempt to stop his shaking, full of nerves.

"Don't be nervous, you've done this twice before, remember? You know what to do — sit down in the device's seat and try to sense the genetic energy entering your body."

The student, Rowland Green, nodded his head at the principal and did as instructed, after which he closed his eyes to focus.

After the introduction of the Origin Realm came Genetic Fighters; however, there was only one way to Awaken as one — the use of a special crystal dropped from rifts.

In the early days these enabled ordinary people to awaken just through physical contact with the crystal — though through scientific developments over the last century, more efficient methods had been deduced.

The air in the sports hall felt thick while Rowland sat in silence in the awakening chair. People watched with bated breaths as a needle containing a liquid substance created from the Awakening crystals entered Rowland's arm.

After a short while, the principal looked down at his watch and spoke in the same monotone manner as before.

"Alright, that's enough. It's been a minute already. There's been no reaction, and you haven't been able to sense the genetic energy flowing through you, so you have failed the awakening. You can go back now."

When Rowland opened his eyes and heard this, he was unable to stop the tears from flowing. This was his third and final chance of awakening — never would he get the chance again. Despite knowing the chance of awakening at this point was abysmal, the fact there was a chance still left some hope in him.

But that was gone now, and he walked back to the crowd below in disappointment.

The atmosphere in the sports hall always turned bleak at this point.

"We'll be lucky if even 1 or 2 of you awaken today. Don't harbour too much hope for success; keep your expectations low, and you'll never be disappointed."

Rohan couldn't help but laugh inwardly at the principal's expert way of killing the atmosphere even further.

"Next, Owen Mills."

***

The Awakening ceremony continued, and just as the principal had said, there wasn't even a single success amongst the students who had been called up.

Over an hour later and 60 students had finished the ceremony, yet none had awakened.

Rohan was already at the point of boredom, just wishing he wasn't amongst the last batch of students to be called up. 

Every student has 1 minute to see if they can awaken, and with over 400 students in attendance, the awakening ceremony would last the whole school day.

"Rohan Roy."

The principal called Rohan's name not long after. Rohan could feel every gaze in the sports hall landing on him as he stood up and walked onto the stage.

The principal's attitude toward him was just as indifferent as how he treated every other student.

The man just gestured towards the awakening chair with his gaze and arms; he'd long given up repeating the same instructions over and over again when every student had heard it dozens of times already.

Rohan nodded and sat down, closing his eyes as the needle neared his arm.

The cold sting of the needle entering his arm barely registered — no person in this day and age was a stranger to needles.

Rohan kept his eyes shut, just as he had done in the previous two years.

'Try to sense the genetic energy entering your body.'

That's what they were always told.

But how exactly was someone supposed to "sense" something they had never felt before?

The first time, he had tried imagining warm currents flowing through his veins, yet nothing came of it.

The second time, he had focused on his heartbeat, attempting to detect anything unusual between the thumps of blood in his ears.

But still, both times were unsuccessful.

Now on his third and final attempt, he didn't even know what he was meant to be looking for.

The sports hall was as silent as always except for the faint hum of the awakening device beneath him.

He focused on his breathing, as that was all he could do in that moment.

Yet still, he felt nothing after 40 seconds had already passed.

'Maybe that's the point.' He thought bitterly.

'Maybe there's nothing to feel unless you're one of the lucky few.'

The silence stretched on.

Just five seconds remained before his turn was over, and the principal was already staring down at his watch, waiting for the last few seconds to tick down.

However, just as resignation had settled into Rohan's mind, a strange sensation crept across his skin.

An itch, a sudden irritating itch, spreading across his arms.

The itch spread rapidly, crawling up his neck, across his chest, and down his legs. It felt so uncomfortable, like thousands of ants skittering beneath his skin.

The humming beneath the chair abruptly grew louder, with faint lights flickering along the edges of the device.

"Alri—"

The principal, who had already raised his gaze towards Rohan to dismiss him, paused.

The awakening device let out a sharp beep, shattering the sports hall's silence.

The screen attached to the side flickered to life, displaying a few simple words.

"Genetic Awakening successful."

However, while the principal and everyone else were focusing on those few words, speechless, Rohan's gaze was occupied by something else.

[Name: Rohan Roy]

[Rank: F]

[Genes: Evolution Gene]

[Genetic Armaments: —]

'Evolution Gene? What's that? Ah what the heck, that's for later!'

'I've actually done it! I'm an Awakened now!'

Rohan's excitement was off the charts, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off of his chest — one that he didn't realise was there until now, but there was one disparity that confused him.

However, his expression quickly took a downturn as a realisation dawned upon him.

Now that he had awakened, he had just 24 hours until he was forced into the Origin Realm. Yet he had no abilities, no weapons, no genes other than his starting gene and most importantly — which itself didn't seem like one that would help him in a fight just from reading its name — but most importantly, he only had 1 life…

'I better prepare myself, and quick!'

...

As far as Rohan was aware, most people didn't even have a talent recognised by the Origin Land upon their awakening — only a lucky few did. The status referred to them as 'talents', but a common nickname had been coined for them among the people: 'starting genes', as they were actually the same as any other gene one could obtain in the Origin Realm. However, all of the known types of starting genes had already been documented, yet there was no mention of an 'Evolution Gene' anywhere online.

There were only 10 known gene types one could start with, and this definitely wasn't among them.

'I guess this makes 11?' Rohan thought.

If he weren't currently standing on stage surrounded by over 400 dumbfounded faces, he would have been jumping up and down in excitement.

Rohan's heart pounded wildly. He had no idea what this gene did but just the name alone seemed extremely imposing. After all, what did evolution symbolise? Wasn't the whole genetic awakening ceremony they were currently going through considered an evolution?

Rohan stepped down from the stage like all the others did before him, only this time everyone's gaze stayed stuck to him rather than moving to the next name that the principal should have called by now.

Chattering soon filled in the silence as many students began muttering to each other in their incredulity and jealousy.

"Rohan, hi…" A familiar face made her way over to him, awkwardness written all over her face.

"I know we broke up a month ago, but I— I made a mistake back then…"

Rohan didn't even bother looking at his ex-girlfriend Joanna, completely ignoring her words while walking straight past her.

'Utter trash human beings, how fake can you be. Throwing me away one second only to come crawling back only when I have value in your eyes.'

Ever since his breakup with her, Rohan hated Joanna. At first he felt giddy that he'd finally found a girlfriend, and such a beautiful one at that. His feelings for her were genuine, but as he only later found out, hers were nothing short of the opposite. 

As it turned out, she only asked him out as a dare from her friends, and all those 'sweet' times they had shared together turned out to be nothing short of opportunities for her and her friends to mock his innocence.

'If I wasn't so blinded, I could have realised easily. Like how we only ever saw each other at school, as she always made excuses whenever I asked to meet up outside.'

She came from a rich family, one that had more than enough money for the next ten generations to live comfortably — yet they were still considered 'normal' and irrelevant in the current society because of the simple fact they had had no awakened. They were all ordinary people.

Joanna was no doubt making an attempt to change that by approaching Rohan first right after his successful awakening, despite how much her face conveyed her awkwardness and reluctance to do so.

He soon made his way to the door leading outside the sports hall. The awakening ceremony would take up the whole school day, and students could leave freely once they had their turn; only barely a few chose to actually do so since they were so curious about everyone else's results.

Not Rohan. Not anymore.

Originally he planned to stick around just like everyone else to see if there was actually someone who'd awaken with such abysmal chances, but that was before.

The principal didn't even manage to inform him of all the benefits he was now obligated to receive or where to register himself, but he didn't need to anyway. Rohan knew that already from the last two ceremonies he'd been through.

Seeing those lucky students who had awakened in the first and second rounds and hearing all about how their lives would drastically change had him filled with envy, yet now here he was, experiencing it himself.

'A one-time government stipend, how much was it again? Oh right, $100,000… I can't believe I'm jumping straight from poverty to somewhat well-off just like that.'

Of course, this was only if he chose to continue living an ordinary life and managed his money wisely. 

Living as an awakened, though… that was something that not even $100,000 could cover long term. Making a living from the Origin Realm brought in a lot of money, but it also required an equally significant expenditure if you actually wanted to get somewhere.

The feeling still hadn't sunk in for him.

'First I need to go and register myself at the Awakened centre so I can actually buy something to protect myself once I'm forced into the Origin Realm..'

***

After Rohan awakened, the remaining students were filled with a mixture of emotions. Though the overall outlook was rather bleak, especially for those who already had their final chance to awaken. 

"Why couldn't it have been me…" all of them thought.

However, it was extremely unlikely that any of them would be following in Rohan's footsteps in a successful awakening. 

As for Rohan himself, he couldn't give a damn about the disgruntled emotions of his peers. They had treated him as a joke over the last year, so knowing that they would forever remain jealous of the future life he was going to lead only left him feeling schadenfreude.

The Awakening centre was over an hour walk from the school, and if it were any other day Rohan would have been left feeling exhausted and sweaty from such a long walk and over hilly terrain as well. But his body still felt in top shape as he arrived at the Awakened centre, not a drop of sweat anywhere.

'It's crazy how much can change from the initial awakening…'

He was now officially an F Rank Awakened, and the effects were already showing.

As for why he walked for over an hour to reach the awakened centre? Well, what reason could there be other than being too poor to afford a taxi?

His bank balance was already dangerously close to negative, and the one time government stipend would only arrive after he registered himself, so he was still technically poor.

Rohan forgot all about that as he bore witness to the scene in front of him. 

The Awakened centre was a conspicuously large building in what would normally be a quieter part of downtown. It was an entirely black building, not a window in sight, over 250 metres tall and 150 metres in width. 

However, Rohan's focus wasn't on the building but on the people entering and exiting it.

'Such oppressive auras!'

His breathing quickened just in the mere presence of the might and prowess of these Awakened.

Some wore casual clothes just like any other passerby on the street, indistinguishable from the common rabble; some wore their weapons openly, hanging from their backs or belts, sporting a full set of armour made from materials unknown to him, probably acquired in the Origin Realm.

However, Rohan felt the most oppressive auras from those who looked just like any other ordinary person on the street. Perhaps the need to show off or impress others wears off the more strength you acquire, as those all dressed up and adorning their weapons were definitely farming for attention, and they didn't even hide it.

Rohan felt so out of place. He felt like a feeble sheep amongst a pack of wolves. Any one of these people could kill him before he'd even realise what happened.

Still, he suppressed any fear or anxiety he was feeling, drew in a deep breath and entered the door — ignoring any intimidating gazes from the nearby awakened trying to give him a scare.

Passing through the door into the concourse, Rohan darted his eyes about for some signs to point him where he needed to go, yet there was nothing of the sort.

All he discovered were rows upon rows of counters with workers sitting behind them, exchanging words with the lines of awakened that queued up in front of them.

He carefully avoided all of the Awakened and strode towards the counter with the lowest number of people queued up, which also happened to be the only one with a male worker sat behind it…

'These guys would really waste an extra 15 minutes of their time in a longer line just to talk to a pretty face… Unbelievable, I thought Awakened would have countless men and women practically begging to climb right into their beds, so what makes these receptionists any more special?'

What confused Rohan even more, was that there were plenty of female awakened amongst those present as well; in fact, it was almost an even split, yet they were just the same as the men…

'I'm starting to think there's something wrong with the guy I'm lining up for instead…'

He wasn't a bad-looking guy either, which just affirmed his suspicions.

A swift 5 minutes passed and his turn soon came, and the young man on the other side let off a smile. Rohan couldn't quite decipher while looking at Rohan.

"How can I help you today?"

"I'd like to register as an Awakened."

The man's smile widened even further before he pointed to his left. "Head to the elevator over there; the registration takes place on the 5th floor."

At this point Rohan was conflicted; the guy looked like he was doing his hardest to suppress a laugh, while a few bored-looking Awakened nearby had similar reactions.

Just what was this guy up to?

Whatever the case, Rohan was too intimidated by the atmosphere and the threatening aura of the guy to voice his suspicions. Instead, he chose to follow his instructions, just with caution.

Rohan hurried away from the counter before he did something to embarrass himself, and with no further need to follow the crowd, he arrived at the elevator seconds later.

After a short trip up to the fifth floor, the elevator opened up to a wide waiting area where around fifty other people were also waiting, sitting down on the chairs provided.

Rohan swept the room with his gaze.

'They all seem to be around my age, so that's a good sign I'm in the right place, I guess.'

If he arrived and saw people much older than himself, then he'd know he was in the wrong place. Every awakened was required by law to register themself with the Awakened association within a month of their awakening, so if someone had waited that long to do so they would be registering themselves in jail rather than this place.

...

Rohan hesitated briefly before making his way over to one of the few empty seats.

The fifth floor's waiting area was too spacious just to be called a room. It felt more like a miniature lobby all on its own, with neat rows of cushioned chairs and polished black flooring that matched the aesthetic of the building and, noticeably, only one single door on the wall opposite the elevator.

There were no lines here, though, and none of the awakened were idly chatting away with each other like in the lobby on the ground floor.

Instead, the atmosphere was… strange.

The roughly fifty people present all looked around his age, but unlike the silent anticipation and excitement you'd expect from such a group, these people were far too composed.

Some sat with their eyes closed in meditation, hands resting on their knees.

Some were checking their weapons.

'Wait, weapons?'

Rohan's head snapped to the young woman on his left; she looked quite beautiful and was just his type, yet aside from her striking appearance, she held a pair of daggers in her hands…

His gaze then snagged a young man calmly wiping down the edge of a sabre with a black cloth. Two seats away from him, another girl wearing tight leather combat gear repeatedly flexed her fingers around the grip of a short spear. 

Elsewhere, someone in a sleeveless shirt had a bow laid across his lap while examining a bundle of arrows one by one.

'That fucker lied to me!' Rohan realised, gradually starting to panic.

This place wasn't for the freshly awakened to register themselves! Let alone how calm and composed these people were, their get-ups gave everything away.

They were experienced awakened, and whatever they were waiting for was definitely not something he should be there for! 

Rohan looked down at himself. Cheap trainers, a worn-out school uniform, and a jacket tied around his waist because of the heat and the walk here.

Compared to everyone else, he may as well have arrived in clown makeup; he stood out that much.

He was just about to rise from his seat and head back to the elevator in a rush until the subtle click of a door opening caught his ears from behind, with a voice soon following.

"Batch twenty-seven, prepare yourselves. The last batch are just finishing up so your assessment will begin shortly… Hey, there's no chickening out now, boy. There's no backing out once you enter this room."

Rohan froze. That first half was clearly directed to the whole group, but that second half… It was without a doubt for him.

He tried to ignore the gruff man's voice and pressed the call button for the elevator, yet he received no response.

"I wasn't kidding when I said that." The same gruff voice reminded.

'I-I'm stuck here…'

He turned around to face the beastly-looking man, who had the most threatening and intimidating aura he'd encountered so far. 

"Uh…" He tried so hard to explain his predicament, but something stopped the words from leaving his mouth. His body was suddenly under immense pressure, like he'd jumped straight into the ocean and sunk right to the bottom.

His eyes caught the smirk on the gruff man, and Rohan understood in that instant that he was the source of this pressure.

'He's stopping me from even explaining myself…'

The stare down lasted a few more tense seconds until the man got bored and shifted his gaze to the others in the room, thankfully lifting the pressure from Rohan.

Rohan let out a deep breath he didn't even realise he'd been holding.

He was deeply alarmed by this point.

He couldn't think much further — the same woman who sat to his left glanced over at him. Her auburn hair and stern face gave her beauty a mysterious touch to it.

"You look nervous," she said.

'Thanks, captain obvious!' He wanted to answer but knew better than that.

"Uh… should I not be?"

She gave him a strange look.

"It's your first beast trial?"

'Beast Trial?'

Rohan's heart skipped a beat.

He forced his face to remain neutral to save himself from any further embarrassment.

"Yeah."

"Hm." She nodded as though that explained everything. "Makes sense. Most people panic a bit before their first live beast trial. Just don't freeze up once you're inside."

Rohan gave her a blank stare, unsure whether to believe what she was saying or not. Though he already knew the answer.

'Live beast? Inside?'

He was still processing the words when a cold chill swept down his spine.

"…Sorry," he spoke slowly. "What exactly is this floor for?"

Now it was the girl's turn to share.

For a moment she seemed to think he was joking, though ironically Rohan was the one hoping that she was…

When she realised he wasn't, her expression shifted from the cold monochromatic look she wore into disbelief.

"You're serious?"

Rohan's mouth was sucked dry of all moisture. "Very."

The girl frowned. "This is the fifth floor trial zone. For lower-ranked awakened to challenge live, captured beasts from the Origin Realm. The association uses it to evaluate combat ability and issues rewards depending on performance."

Every next word that left her mouth made his brain feel more numb.

"…What?"

The girl's eyes flicked over his clothes once more, this time lingering a few seconds longer.

A mocking smile formed from her lips.

"Let me guess, you went to Niko's desk for information, didn't you?" She asked, seeming already certain in her assumption.

"Was that his name?" Was all Rohan had to mutter to confirm her suspicion.

"Don't worry about it; he's always been known as the troll of the association — or the 'newbie's nightmare', as others call him. If he weren't a higher-up's son, he would have been thrown out long ago. That's why he can get away with doing this to you." She informed him.

"Doing this to me?"

She reached over to pat his shoulder reassuringly, expertly dodging his question. "Try to make it out alive."

A swift turn on her feet and she joined the others in filtering through the only door in the open space.

Rohan stood in place until everyone was already gone, hoping they'd forget about him and let him leave — but a single kick on the ass from the gruffly looking man, who had somehow snuck up behind him without him noticing, sent him flying through the door behind her.

...

Rohan stumbled forward several steps before barely managing to catch himself from face planting onto the hard floor.

"What the hell!?" 

He whirled around in a fury, but the heavy metal door slammed shut before he could even finish the sentence, cutting him off from his only escape route.

Rohan's anger instantly cooled.

In front of him stretched a wide corridor with dark walls, bright overhead lights embedded into the ceiling in the typical office building fashion. 

The place looked stagnant, void of any creativity or colour — so normal. If he weren't currently facing the situation himself, Rohan might have found it funny how such a boring hallway led to a place where live beasts from the Origin Realm were housed.

The feelings soon faded, leaving behind an atmosphere filled with relaxed chatter. The others were ahead of him, talking amongst themselves, eager to see how their test will go.

Still, his resentment never settled. He was in this situation because of that damned guy at the reception desk. Only in hindsight did he now understand why everyone else avoided him like the plague; he was a massive troll! — only newbies like himself being gullible enough to seek him out.

Rohan stood in place, his mind racing.

He had no experience whatsoever in fighting beasts. He'd only just awakened not even an hour ago, yet because of some son of a higher up deciding today was his day, he was thrown straight into the bull pen!

'Fuck, there's nothing I can do anymore except go with the flow. I'll just go look for the normal awakening registration department after this is all over.'

There was no going back at this point — not that he even had a choice in the matter.

The other awakened up ahead were already continuing on their way in a loose group, swiftly leaving him behind if he didn't keep up.

Rohan, meanwhile, felt like shit, but he still followed.

'This is insane! I can't believe they just let people do this…'

The group soon entered another large room, this one far more open than the corridor. It resembled a preparation hall for athletes before heading out into the stadium grounds. Metal lockers lined the walls, with weapon racks set at intervals between them and several association staff standing about wearing dark uniforms and holding tablets in their hands.

Mounted next to the door they'd just passed through was a large digital screen with glowing white text.

[F RANK CHALLENGE TRIAL

LIVE BEAST EVALUATION

PASS REWARDS VARY BY PERFORMANCE.]

The sight of those words made Rohan's stomach churn. This wasn't right!

As if hearing it from the young woman and gruffly looking man wasn't enough, this just had to pound the reality of his situation into him once more.

Speaking of the gruff-looking man, Rohan now knew that he was the supervisor of this test thanks to overhearing some mutterings between the other awakened being tested. Not to mention that he was apparently also a C rank awakened.

C rank! He'd just been kicked in the ass by a C rank awakened… They were high up in the proverbial food chain of awakened, as the majority never made it to D rank, let alone reaching C rank.

He should have been slowly eased into it like everyone else with their first experience in the Origin Realm — as the forum posts online from popular awakened had described from time to time.

A woman in uniform with her black hair tied up in a ponytail stepped forward and addressed the group.

"You all know the rules— what?" Her sharp and emotionless voice cut off once she saw Rohan timidly raising his hand.

"I-I don't, ma'am."

Her expression didn't even budge an inch when looking at him, but something inside Rohan could tell that she was judging him with her gaze.

"It seems I stand corrected. Let me explain them, then. You will each enter your assigned chamber individually. A live F Rank beast from the Origin Realm will be released inside with you. Last for three minutes, subdue it, or kill it, and your performance will be graded accordingly."

She paused to sweep her gaze across the room, no longer taking notice of Rohan.

"Attempting to flee, feigning unconsciousness or deliberately hiding without engaging with the beast will only lead to a quicker death. There's only two ways to make it out of this trial: either by passing or on a stretcher!"

Rohan's mouth fell open. 

They really expected him to last five minutes against a live beast? How could they expect that from someone who hadn't even taken their first steps into the Origin Realm!?

'Even if I bring it up, these stone faced fucks won't even give a damn.'

He hadn't even bought a weapon to defend himself with thanks to the strict requirement of having to register himself with the association beforehand, which he precisely came here to do in the first place.

That spoilt son of a higher-up had unknowingly double-screwed him this time.

"Emergency intervention will be provided only if death is deemed imminent. Minor and moderate injuries are your own responsibility. Severe dismemberment compensation is covered under association policy clause fourteen."

The woman continued.

Rohan couldn't believe his ears.

'Severe dismemberment compensation?'

At what point did this stop being a trial and start becoming an execution?

A hand that wasn't Rohan's shot up from the group. One of the more confident-looking guys smirked.

"What are the rewards for clearing?"

The woman answered without hesitation.

"Lowest passing tier receives either $150,000, one standard F rank beast core, or an item of equivalent value. Higher evaluations may grant Genes or Genetic Armaments, or something of equivalent value. It all depends on your passing grade, if you even pass."

A ripple passed through the group at that. Excitement could be seen on everyone's faces. This was the reason they were all here, risking their lives to face beasts in live combat, was it not?

The promise of rewards like this was just too lucrative to pass up, and this was just the F rank Beast Trial! They could only dream of what kind of rewards were offered for trials of a higher rank.

Rohan could feel his own heart lurch just for a moment. In between his panic, stress and anxiety, some excitement appeared at the prospect of being rewarded such valuable items.

Especially the latter two mentioned, Genes and Genetic Armaments. Even with his one time stipend of $100,000 he wouldn't be able to get his hands on either of the two.

Genes and Genetic Armaments were two of the most sought after drops from beasts in the Origin Realm, as they could be added directly to the power of the Awakened themselves, drastically increasing their strength. Especially the genes — they were the most expensive items of all, but also the most rarely dropped, hence their sky high prices.

Genes were almost like magical abilities that granted their user powers they normally wouldn't be able to wield, the most common of which being speed or strength enhancing genes, giving an Awakened superhuman abilities beyond the already overpowered boost they have just from Awakening.

Of course there were rarer types too, which could grant all sorts of abilities like a healing power, the power to shoot laser beams from your fingers etc.

They were different from the starting gene one might have upon awakening if they were lucky, as they weren't limited to just 10 known genes. They were dependent on the type of beast that dropped them.

'I wonder where my Evolution gene fares up in all this.'

As for Genetic Armaments, they are physical objects sometimes dropped from beasts upon death. They can be weapons, armour, clothing, accessories or the like. They were pretty valuable too but were much more temporary than genes, as they can be replaced.

The one limiting factor of Genes was that every awakened is limited to the number of Genes they can absorb, as well as their rank. An awakened can only absorb 1 Gene for every rank they go up. F ranks like Rohan and the others in the preparation hall were limited to just 1 gene, so they had to choose very carefully or their future as an awakened could be over before it even starts.

Which is why Awakened who awakened with their own gene were generally considered more talented with higher potential, as they would always have one more gene than any other awakened without one.

'I better get a grip, and fast. A lot of these other guys here have their own higher quality weapons, and some even look to be holding Genetic Armaments, while I'm stood here with nothing.'

Thankfully, there were racks between the lockers where the rare few like him could choose from an array of weapons; only their quality was much worse than what everyone else was sporting.

Still, it was better than nothing.

...

Rohan felt like his choice of weapon was obvious.

'This spear looks good enough, though I doubt it'll last long. Even with my limited knowledge of fighting I can tell that the quality of all these weapons are below par…'

Although he thought swords were cool, he always knew deep down that they didn't suit him. The control over distance and separation from the opponent that spears offered just overwhelmed any other melee weapon out there in terms of suitability in his opinion.

Not to mention that he considered it the most versatile weapon of all. It could thrust, slash, block and even be used as a semi-ranged weapon by throwing it. Compared to other bladed weapons like swords and daggers, they just didn't fare as well in his mind.

'Though it depends on the skill of the user wielding it at the end of the day.'

"Listen up!"

The stern pony tailed woman in uniform called everyone to attention.

"Each one of you will be called up for your turn at random. We only have three testing chambers at this Association branch so only three people can go at once, the rest of you will have to wait your turn."

A few heads turned up in annoyance at the potential time they'd have to waste waiting, while others barely even reacted, as they already knew all of this — having been through the process before.

"You will only have one shot at the test, so be sure to put your best effort in right from the beginning, lest you end up with subpar results in the end."

"Alright, enough of the filler information! First up will be Luciel Bowens, Sofia Porter, and… you, over there."

Everyone turned their heads to follow the direction of the woman's finger, as it was rare that someone participated without even submitting their name.

Rohan's expression was blank.

It took Rohan a second to register that everyone was now looking at him.

"Huh?" He eloquently voiced.

The stern woman's eyes narrowed. "I don't like to repeat myself. You're up."

A ripple of amusement spread through the room; the only look of sympathy coming from the auburn beauty as she was the only one there who understood his situation.

Even those who looked indifferent up until that point couldn't help but glance his way with slight interest. It was probably because of how out of place he looked amongst the group, or perhaps because of how obvious it was that he had no idea what was going on at all.

Rohan felt his scalp go numb.

Of all the luckless things that happened to him today, he just had to be picked in the very first three?

'Why me!? At least give me some time to prepare!'

He instinctively looked around, half hoping there was somehow another idiot standing behind him that the woman had actually meant.

There wasn't.

The auburn haired beauty's sympathetic looked was nowhere to be seen. She folded her arms and have him a small, mocking smile.

"Tough first draw." She commented.

Rohan wanted to tell her that this was more of a death sentence than a draw for him. Unfortunately his brain was too busy panicking.

The stern woman clicked her tongue impatiently.

"Well? Get moving, or do you want me to drag you into the chamber myself?"

'Gulp…'

That was enough to force motion back into Rohan's limbs.

He swallowed, grabbed the nearest spear on the weapons rack, and awkwardly stepped out from the group, followed by Luciel and Sofia soon after.

Luciel was a tall young man with neatly combed blond hair and the relaxed posture of someone with complete faith in himself. He had no weapon in sight as far as Rohan could tell, so he was either confident enough to pass with just his bare fists, or he was one of the few present who had a Genetic Armament.

Sofia Porter on the other hand, was a girl with a spear just like him, only hers was a little shorter. She had a lean, athletic build and tight leather combat gear that made it obvious she valued agility over protection. Her face may have been expressionless but the way she carried herself in her walk oozed confidence.

Compared to them, Rohan looked like an unfortunate schoolboy who had wandered into the wrong exam room.

Which, to be far, was more or less exactly what happened.

He trailed after them through a side hallway while his brain desperately searched for a way out of this mess.

Unfortunately it failed to come up with one.

Only a few more paces and the trio reached a circular chamber connected to three heavy gates. Above each gate was a single number painted in white.

One. 

Two. 

Three.

Three association workers stood waiting there, each in front of a terminal.

The stern woman entered the chamber from behind them and folded her arms.

"Luciel, chamber one. Sofia, chamber two." Her gaze landed on Rohan and seemed to linger on the school uniform for just a second longer than necessary. "You'll take chamber three."

Rohan's mouth resembled the Sahara Desert by this point.

Through the narrow opening in chamber three's gate, he could see part of the arena beyond.

Dark flooring stood out, covered in scorch marks, gouges in the wall and dried blood scattered about.

Not a dramatic amount, but just enough for him to become one step closer to obtaining a new pair of brown underwear…

The stern woman didn't seem to notice or care about his reaction.

"Final reminder."

"You are being evaluated on combat performance against a live F rank beast from the Origin Realm. Survive the allotted time, subdue the beast, or kill it. The more impressive your performance, the better your rewards will be."

"If you disgrace yourselves in there, don't expect any sympathy."

Luciel smirked as though the warning amused him.

Sofia simply rolled her neck once.

Meanwhile, Rohan felt sick to his stomach.

"No, seriously. I only awakened today. I haven't even been to the Origin Realm before!"

That actually made the nearest worker pause.

Unfortunately, chamber three's gates had already opened, and the stern woman kicked him through. It was too late for Rohan.

...

"Fuck. Fuck. FUCK."

He was really deep in the shit now, even though he knew there was no backing out of this test after stepping out of that elevator, it all hit him at once now that he was standing in the middle of a circular arena waiting for beast to emerge.

Suddenly, the environment around him started to change.

Gone were the dark stone tiles that decorated the place. 

Instead, a dense rainforest started to emerge from a dense mist. For Rohan, it was a spectacular sight to witness one environment completely transition to another like stepping out of an illusion.

It was dark and humid now, with thick trees and wantonly grown vines hanging from the canopy. Still, the remarkable silence made for quite a creepy difference compared to the rainforests he'd seen on TV. There were no background creatures chirping or chittering in the distance, reminding him that everything he was seeing now was just a projection — not the real thing.

The limits of his arena were clearly marked by a heavy, dense fog where the dark tiled walls used to be, so he at least had a sense of where he should stick to.

'Huh??'

Rohan suddenly caught sight of a pair of dark yellow eyes in the distance. He couldn't help but bolt to attention, shakily pointing his spear in front of him.

A figure stepped out of the mist.

A large feline beast stepped into his line of sight, staring at him. Jet black fur with a few dark yellow spots dotted its body. It looked like a close relative of a leopard, only this thing was twice the size and ten times more terrifying to face off against.

Fear gripped every pore on Rohan's body.

'I'm screwed…'

Every curse imaginable crossed his mind, along with the faces of everyone who had a hand in putting him in this situation.

That bratty higher up's son who misled him into coming to this floor; the gruff looking man who couldn't give a damn about his situation and force him into it anyway; the stern uniformed woman who was a stickler for rules and strictness, realising that he wasn't supposed to be there but not doing a thing about it regardless.

'Okay, okay… Calm down Rohan, it's not like I have to kill this thing. All I have to do is outlast the timer and I'll have passed the first requirement.'

Forfeiting wasn't an option. The only way out of this test once it started was through passing, serious injury, or death.

The Association didn't mess around when it came to Beast Trials.

'All I have to do is keep dodging and moving around for five minutes, and then I can get myself out of this shitty place and file a complai—'

Whoosh!

The Yellow Spotted Leopard interrupted his inner monologue and charged towards him.

Rohan's pupil's shrank.

The beast crossed half the distance between them in less time than it took for him to blink twice.

"So fast—!"

He threw himself to the side in his best attempt to dodge on pure instinctual reaction. The yellow spotted leopard blurred past where he just stood, but even then, he wasn't quite fast enough. A hooked claw clipped his left sleeve and tore straight through the fabric, sending him tumbling across the damp ground in a graceless roll.

'Fuck that was close!'

Luckily, only his shirt was torn; the claw missed his skin by a few millimetres.

But it was more than enough to remind him that this wasn't some harmless simulation.

He scrambled upright, spear shaking violently in his grip as he whipped around to face the leopard again.

The beast had already landed in a crouch and assumed a position low to the ground to stalk him several metres away.

There wasn't a hint of any emotion behind those dark yellow eyes that seemed to pierce right through him.

'This thing is only F rank…'

The very lowest rank one can be in the Origin Realm, and yet this creature was already so overwhelming that Rohan felt like he was one breath, one mistake away from saying his final goodbyes.

His chest tightened at the thought.

He always knew awakened and beasts were powerful. Everyone did in this era.

But knowing it and feeling it for himself in a tense battle with his life on the line… the difference was like that between heaven and earth.

Just moments ago, he felt some comfort in knowing that as an awakened, even if he lacked experience, his body should at least be good enough to dodge and run around for five minutes.

That fantasy lasted all but one attack.

The leopard prowled sideways through the dense projected undergrowth, shoulders rising rhythmically and terrifyingly fluid. Each step it took was elegant, and made no noise at all.

Rohan barely kept track of it in the dark underbrush thanks to his enhanced eyesight, as every awakened had.

"Just five minutes…" he muttered, backing away and keeping his spear pointed towards it.

Not once did he take his eyes off it. If there was one thing he knew about cats, and big cats especially, it was that they were the stalking type of predator. They tended to attack more when their prey was distracted or their back was turned for just a moment, so Rohan wanted to avoid a situation like that at all costs.

Still, the beast would eventually get impatient and attack anyway.

The leopard lunged again.

Rohan jerked backward and thrust the spear forward, but the motion came a fraction too late and a fraction too high. The beast twisted under the tip with elegant grace and appeared in front of him anyway.

It's paw reached out in a deadly swipe.

Rohan barely managed to bring the spear shaft down to protect his body in time.

Crack!

The impact sent vibrations through the spear into his hands, causing him tremendous pain; he was sent staggering backwards, almost tumbling on his back. But he gripped onto the spear regardless. His life was on the line, if he dropped the one thing that could keep him alive, then he was dead for sure.