Michael’s family lived in a rented two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of a six-story building, with four apartments on each floor.
The living conditions and environment could be described as passable. Michael figured that once he had more money in the future, he would move his family to a better place.
The young man was filled with dreams and plans for the future!
Among the two bedrooms, one belonged to Michael, while the other was shared by his cousin and aunt. Michael always felt guilty about this arrangement, and this feeling carried over after his transmigration. Regardless of whatever ties they shared, it didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t their immediate family member.
But perhaps it was like a saying he had heard on Earth: family isn’t decided by blood.
After entering his relatively empty room, Michael sat on a chair next to a desk filled with books and placed his plate on the table. Taking a mouthful of rice with his spoon, he brought out his phone and opened his email.
There, he found several messages from the Supers Association.
The first message he saw was a congratulatory note on his Awakening, with a file containing the set of military-standard Cultivation techniques that the lady at the counter had mentioned.
The file contained a breathing technique that had no specific attribute and a meditative technique that was purely aimed at increasing his mana pool, also without any elemental attribute.
Michael knew what breathing and meditative techniques were. After all, he had also practised the free-breathing technique provided by the federation to its citizens, though he had no noticeable talent for Cultivation. However, this was where his confusion began.
Though Michael had not yet taken the time to study the panel in his mind, he knew he wasn’t mistaken when he saw a level-up system there. One piece of information he knew about Awakeners was that they could level up in the Land of Origin. This was why Awakeners grew stronger more quickly, and the Land of Origin was often said to resemble a game.
So this begged the question: since he could level up, why bother cultivating? Though there were rumours that cultivation could grant someone a second class, none of the teachers in school dared to confirm it.
Thankfully, there was a note in the file that soon cleared up Michael’s confusion.
‘So that’s what it is!’
After reading the note in the file, Michael realised that just because Awakeners could level up—which in turn made them stronger—didn’t mean that cultivating was useless to them.
What happens when one can’t level up in the short term and still wants to grow stronger? Cultivation could help fill that gap. It turned out that, aside from levelling up, Awakeners could actively enhance their strength through other means.
The two techniques sent by the Supers Association belonged to the Knight Cultivation system and the Mage Cultivation system, respectively. Michael was more familiar with the former than the latter.
It was said that the Cultivation systems and methods originated from the Land of Origin. For the Knight Cultivation system, one had to push their human body to its theoretical limit and light up a “Life Seed” within them to step onto the path of the supernatural—but this was no easy task.
The theoretical limit of a human body was twice the strength and capabilities of an average human. Even good athletes were typically only about half as strong as this threshold.
To become a rank one knight, a person needed to push their body to twice the capabilities of an average human. This was very difficult to achieve under normal circumstances, but with a breathing technique, one could use it as a catalyst to reach their human limit.
After lighting up a Life Seed, they would gain a new upper limit and could continue to polish their Life Seed, thereby continually increasing their body’s limits and becoming stronger.
This method was primarily for ordinary humans, but Awakeners could also use breathing techniques to enhance their physical strength. The difference, however, was that they couldn’t light up a Life Seed since, as Awakeners, they no longer had limits.
However, the note in the file revealed something that surprised Michael: the existence of dual classes.
According to the note, if one could light up a Life Seed before they awakened, as long as there was no conflict with the class they eventually awakened into and it wasn’t the same, there was a high chance of acquiring a secondary class.
This potential applied specifically to the Knight Cultivation system, which could awaken a secondary class—the Knight class. Michael didn’t know much about the Mage system, and the note didn’t elaborate on it.
‘No wonder the principal and teachers kept mentioning that after registering with the Supers Association, we’d eventually learn what we needed to know. And this isn’t even the only email I received—there’s still that mysterious supernatural platform.’
Michael suddenly felt enlightened. Things that had been unclear to him before now made much more sense. The note that came with the techniques was really helpful. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to become a Knight before awakening, so he missed out on the chance for a dual class.
‘Hmmm. Is this why the principal specifically told Brian to stay back? I don’t know much about dual classes, but if one class can make someone stronger, it makes sense that having two would be even better. If that’s the case, then Brian is indeed special. Even among Awakeners.’
Michael didn’t feel envious of this, though. He wasn’t in competition with anyone. He was already happy just to have been fortunate enough to awaken.
Michael continued to read through the note, and once he finished, he closed it. There was no need to rush into cultivation—he still had something else to do.
Feeling excited, Michael turned to the other email sent by the Supers Association. This email contained a link, which, according to the lady who attended to him at the Supers Association, was his access to a platform made for all registered supernatural beings within the federation.
Without hesitation, Michael tapped the link, which led him to a browser page with a simple design.