Chapter 1 - Opportunity

In the year 3725, Earth made its first attempt at finding life on other planets. They soon started exploring space and found out that they were not the only living beings in this universe. There were many races that lived in this universe that had even more advanced technology than humans; in actuality, the humans had just taken their first step in this field, and they had many things to learn about. Then, after many years of exploring space, they discovered that they were very weak in comparison to every other race, so they soon started a mission called 'Human Arrival' in which they sent many humans to other planets where they killed many aliens and consumed their genes to strengthen themselves. That was, in fact, the only way for the human race to gain strength in this universe. There were some ways, like qi gongs, martial arts, etc. But to even progress in these arts, they needed to have a great body, which they didn't. No one knows how humans had such arts or how humans in ancient times came up with them. But they soon strengthened their bodies with the help of genes, which they obtained from devouring many aliens. They made great progress in terms of strength. but even so, they lacked too much in comparison to other races. Because of this huge gap in power, humans started lurking in space, trying to find some treasures that might help them. After years of searching, they soon found something of great value: a strange liquid, which we all now know as the ascending pool. This liquid can merge the genes of the aliens that a person has consumed with their own genes, which grants them an extraordinary amount of strength. These ascending pools are now located in different places on earth, which every human who is part of the mission 'human arrival' can access. The planets that humans discovered for their evolution are Titan, Morac, Dantrio, and lastly, Equaza. These planets are also known as santuaries. Th-

While the professor was about to explain more about the world, he saw something that made his blood boil.

"Jun! Wake up, you moron!"Professor Zhao shouted. 

In the back of the class, a boy who looked like he was around the age of sixteen opened his eyes and started looking around. It looked like he was wondering where he was right now.

"Where am I?"Said Jun with a confused look on his face. 

After a moment of silence, the class broke out laughing.

"Jun really is stupid, ahahahah."Said one of Jun's classmates.

"Yeah, he doesn't even know where he is. Someone, hand him a map. Hahahaah"

These two boys who were making fun of Jun in front of the class were Lao and Weng. It was a daily thing for them to make fun of Jun.

"silence! No one says a word now. And you, Jun! Get out of class." Noticing the chaos that Jun had caused, Professor Zhao had no choice but to throw him out of the class. 

Seeing the anger on the professor's face and the smiling faces of his classmates, Jun didn't say a word and got out of the class. 

Standing outside of the class, Jun was feeling mixed emotions; there was a feeling of rage, a feeling of embarrassment, and many more. 

"Just 1 more month; after 1 month, this year will end, and I will be free from this hell."Said Jun to himself.

After the class ended, the professor came out. But still, it seemed like his anger had not gotten down; on the contrary, it looked like he was even more angry now. 

"Jun. Every other teacher has filed complaints about you; if I complain too, you will be expelled from this school. Do you want that?" The professor spoke with such calmness that any other person would think it was just a question. But for Jun, he knew it wasn't a question; the professor was telling him that if he does this one more time, he will make sure to get him expelled.

"No sir. I don't want that to happen." Knowing that arguing was not an option, he just went with the safest answer he had in his pocket. 

"If that's the case, then stop sleeping in my class. Ok," said Professor Zhao. Then he turned around and started walking away.

After the professor was no longer in sight, Jun released a big sigh.

"Man, if not for that cube,. If it were not for that Rubic's cube, this would've never happened." feeling depressed, this was the only thing coming to Jun's mind. 

The school ended just after a few more classes. Walking out of the school, Jun was in deep thought. But in the midst of his thinking, he felt a push from behind and fell straight to the ground. 

Jun turned around to see who the person was who pushed him. When he did, he saw two faces that he recognized on the spot. 

"Lao, Weng, what do you guys think you're doing?" jun shouted. The anger that he had suppressed all this day came flooding out of him in that one shout. 

"Huh, you dare speak loudly in front of us. We just bumped into you by accident; I was even about to apologize. But now, forget the apology. What I am going to give you now is far better than an apology. How does a nice beating to death sound?" Weng, knowing well that he was the one who was at fault, still decided to play the victim. 

Both Weng and Lao moved towards Jun with a big smile on their faces. 

"Hey, hey, don't come close to me."Jun said, trying to warn them not to come close to him. 

"Don't mind us; we're just giving you what you deserve. I mean, you asked for it. You shouldn't have shouted at Weng."Lao spoke with sarcasm. 

Taking some steps back, Jun moved around to run from them, but he tripped on a rock and fell to the ground. 

"Look at you; do you know how pathetic you look right now? Ahahahaa, just the kind of look I like to see on your face. Hahahaha." Sounding like a total sadist, Weng moved his fist towards Jun.

But before it could land, Jun used his legs and threw a kick. Not knowing where his opponent was, the kick was just an attack launched on instinct. But to Jun's luck, the kick hit Weng on his manhood, and he fell to the ground. 

Seeing the attack as a success, Jun got up and ran as fast as he could to make an escape. 

"arghhhh, jun! You're seeking death. Lao, go after him." With anger at its peak, Weng shouted. 

While this event was taking place just outside of the school, Someone from inside the school was eyeing the scene with a look of annoyance. The man who was standing there, seeing this event occur, was none other than the professor. Professor Zhao usually goes home early. But because of the headache he got from June, he decided to go home late and rest at school for some time. When he decided to go home, he came across this. 

"stop!" Professor Zhao shouted. 

All three of them stopped at their places after they heard a loud voice asking for them to stop. They all turned their heads around to look at the person who had said this. But when they saw the face of Professor Zhao, their faces turned pale.

"Do you guys mind explaining what you guys were doing?" Even though Professor Zhao knew what had occurred there, he still asked because he didn't know who started all of this. 

"Professor Zhao,  we we're just going back to our homes before we bumped into June. When we were just about to apologize, he kicked me in my manhood." Weng did all he could to make it sound like Jun was the only one at fault. 

"Jun, do you have anything to say about that?" asked Professor Zhao.

"I just have one thing to say. Check the CCTV." Jun said to Professor Zhao. He knew that anything he said was useless. The best way to prove that he was not at fault was through proof. 

Weng and Lao, Knowing very well that if the CCTV is checked, everyone will know that they are the ones who started it. They started saying that there is no point in wasting their time because of such a thing; they can just solve this by apologizing to each other. 

Professor Zhao didn't say a word and moved towards the CCTV room. Having no other choice, everyone's decided to follow Professor Zhao. 

As they were getting closer to the CCTV room, both Weng and Lao's faces were getting paler and paler. 

At the point where they had reached the CCTV room's gates, they looked like they had accepted their fate. 

Just after a few moments, the CCTV was checked. After viewing the CCTV,  everything was clear. 

"I think you guys can go to the principal's office now." The professor spoke with a big smile on his face. 

Weng and Lao looked at Professor Zhao for a while, hoping that he would show them some mercy, but after a few minutes, it was clear that they were getting no help. 

After Lao and Weng went away, the professor turned to look at Jun. After looking for a while, they opened their mouths to say something but soon closed them. 

Seeing that, Professor Zhao was hesitating to say something, Jun said. "Professor Zhao, is there something you want to say to me?"

"I do, actually. Do you want to go on the mission, human arrival?" said Professor Zhao with a nervous look on his face. 

For some time, Jun didn't speak, and when Professor Zhao couldn't take it anymore, they decided to say something, but before they could say a word, Jun broke the silence, saying:. 

"I don't know how you, Professor Zhao, want to send someone like me to the mission of human arrival. But whatever the reason is, I don't mind taking on this opportunity." said Jun, with a serious expression all over his face. 

Releasing a big sigh of relief, Professor Zhao spoke. "The reason I am sending you to mission arrival is that. To be honest, I pity you. You're always bullied, and even though your marks are so low, if this goes on, you will achieve nothing in life, and I don't want any of my students to have a miserable life. It's not like this came to mind just now; I was thinking about sending you to the mission arrival a long time ago, but I never told it sooner because I thought you would change and get better. But yeah. Here we are. But that's not the only reason I didn't tell you that sooner; the main reason is that the chances of you surviving there are pretty low. You can die at any point." After a long pause, Professor Zhao spoke again: "Do you still wish to go there?"

"Well, it's not like I have any better choice," said Jun with a sad smile.

"My dad went mental after my mother died, and he was sent to a mental hospital. After that, he went insane in the hospital and killed himself. I've been living on the money he was saving all this time. And, to be honest, that money is soon going to be over. To tell the truth, this opportunity is the only way I can progress in life. I mean, I can do it if I study. But I think it's too late now." Jun was saying all of this with a sad smile across his face. 

"That explains why you stopped focusing on studies after some time, and also the reason why you don't talk to anyone nowadays." Anyone could see the sympathy for Jun in their eyes as they spoke. 

The room fell silent for a while. After some time, Professor Zhao broke the silence. 

"Anyways, So, the training camp for the mission, human arrival, is starting tomorrow. This training camp will last for 1 month, and after the camp is over, we can send you to the mission." Said Professor Zhao.