1. False Awakening

The sun gleamed brightly, illuminating the streets of Spiral City and heralding the dawn of a new day. Soon, the streets slowly came to life as the shops, restaurants, and various establishments opened up preparing for the day ahead. Near the edge of the city, stood a small neglected house among a couple of others.

This is all that remains of Clifford's parents, besides some wealth. His mother passed away when he turned ten, and his father disappeared two years ago. Since then, he has had to depend on himself.

Inside this house, the rays of sunlight illuminated a small room through its windows, awakening the young orphan lying on a messy bed on the right side of the room. His short, disheveled grey hair, handsome face, and robust body gave an illusion that belied his current state. Despite his decent-looking physique, he was quite weak for someone his age due to his mysterious illness.

Seemingly annoyed by the warm light and the faint sensation that never leaves him alone, he decided to take the pill that suppresses it, he grabbed a small bag from the top of the table next to his bed and fetched a small sandwich and two separate containers.

Soon, he munched on the sandwich and began eating it. Surprisingly, the sandwich was tasteless, much like anything he had eaten. However, it banished the creepy feeling of hunger that plagued him, relieving him. Nevertheless, the relief faded quickly as if it were an illusion, and the hunger howled stronger than before.

Already accustomed to this, he opens the two pill containers. One is a vitamin pill and the other is simply a suppressant pill. Clifford extracts a pill from each and immediately consumes both before proceeding to get out of bed. 

Clifford sighed as he proceeded to close the window facing the towering wall of the city. These thick walls, forming a circle around the city, were built to prevent wild beasts and, mostly, to protect the mortals living inside. Such a thing was needed for a small city like this one, where the ratio of mortals to cultivators was too high.

For a place like this where talents were mostly average, cultivators weren't enough to protect the mortals. The entire city had one academy and the number of students wasn't too high, hardly four hundred each year and the majority would probably fail to awaken.

Small academies like this one are established throughout the Elmar Empire by the royal family to gather future soldiers for the military.

Students go through the awakening ceremony in the third year. If a student's talent is low, their potential is the second rank; if it falls below average, it is the fourth stage, and if it's average, it's raised to the sixth stage. Students regardless of talent are forced to stay in the academy for 2 more years.

Those with below-average talent are given two years to advance to the third rank; if they succeed, they will be recommended to join the main branch. However, if they fail, they must pass the entrance trial if they still wish to enlist. Otherwise, they can choose to remain for two more years like everyone else or leave and find another place on their own.

Clif's hope was his talent. If he successfully awakens then he would find a way to get his illness cured but that would require his talent to be below average. After checking the time through the clock he knew he had 2 spare hours to prepare himself. He went to the bathroom for a wash and a change of clothes.

An hour passed, and he was completely prepared to make it to the academy. His hair was slicked back, and his upper body was clad in a tight black shirt with cut sleeves that accentuated his physique. His pants were tight and grey.

Over this attire, he wore an overcoat with long sleeves, reaching a little below his knees. Cliff never liked the coat, but he was forced to wear it; after all, he had to abide by the academy's rules.

Around twenty minutes later, Cliff finally made it to the hall where the awakening room was. The area was semi-filled with students. The majority were excited about the process since it was life-changing. Some of them, like Cliff, didn't have any expectations, or they kept their expectations low, knowing the chances were slim.

Finally, the time arrived and the door leading to the awakening room opened. Students were split into groups, each was limited to fifteen. A group would enter and then attempt to awaken their potential one by one, after finishing they would leave from a door on the other side of the room.

Time passed and it was Clifford's turn, the 7th of his group. He made his way to the massive obsidian orb in the middle of the room supported by 4 anchors. All he had to do was touch the orb for a couple of minutes, and if he succeeded, the orb would change colors.

If it turns red then his cultivation talent will be low, if it is yellow then it is below average, and if it is blue then his talent will be average. A brighter orb meant higher aptitude, which meant faster cultivation progress but the potential remained the same.

As Clifford places his right hand on the orb as instructed, he feels the energy coursing through his veins and spreading through his body. Suddenly, all the energy he absorbed started heading toward his stomach, and his suppressed hunger howled like a beast awakening from slumber shocking him to the core.

The feeling intensifies as the energy absorption increases rapidly, and his eye color gradually turns into a dark shade of red, causing an annoying sensation as he feels them burning. Then, Clifford felt an object spinning rapidly in his stomach, which he would soon come to know as the Devil's Core.

As his vision wandered in a daze, he noticed halos emanating from each person around him, each with a different brightness. Even the orb had a halo, the brightest of them all, followed by instructors with medium brightness, and then mortals with the lowest brightness, which he would soon come to know as Life Force.

As the core absorbs the foreign Life Force, it produces a different type of energy, making Clifford feel better as his weakened state begins to fade away. Too dazed to figure out what any of that is, and shocked by the force coming from the orb in an attempt to absorb back the energy, he focuses on the task at hand.

But the orb failed to retrieve any of that energy back; after all, it was absorbed, and another type was now coursing through his veins. Aware of why it's happening, he decides to direct the energy in his veins toward the orb and surprisingly succeeds.

However, the moment the orb sucks it from his veins, a loud, noisy thud happens, causing cracks to spread rapidly through the orb.

Before anyone could process what was happening, the orb exploded, sending long, hard shards flying everywhere. Being the one closest to the orb, he receives the most damage. Two long shards pierce his heart, seemingly ending his life. But just before his consciousness fades away, he feels something pulling it toward his stomach.

His body falls lifeless to the floor.

Far from him, two of the students meet their demise as the shard pierces their necks. The two instructors and the remaining students are seemingly lightly injured. The incident ends the day as the corpses need to be handled, and a new orb will be required.

About two hours later, the large shards were removed from his heart. Unbeknownst to anyone, even himself, his heart begins absorbing the energy in his veins and begins healing slowly.

Then, instructions arrive from the higher-ups of the academy to dispose of his body outside the city.

As his body falls from the walls, which had a height of 7 meters, Clifford finally regains consciousness only to feel the impact and then passes out from the pain once again.