The awakening ceremony(1)

A hundred years ago, a new scientific discovery was made, they called it the gates.

Gates are a kind of connection made between other worlds that can look like anything; a grand arch, a hole in the earth or even an invisible wall.

Gates first appeared in landmarks around the world, like the Eiffel tower, the big Ben and the peak of the mount Everest. From them, monsters and magic appeared.

At first, the world was in chaos but, with time, many grand characters made their appearance and helped stop the outbreak taking place around the world.

Obviously, they didn't do it with their normal human bodies, but with the help of traits.

Traits are the magic that was bestowed on humanity. It is a physical or magical manifestation of the mana residing in each individual.

When the gates opened, an S tier mana wave was sent out on earth making all of it's inhabitants magical, in some sort.

This created the traits that humans have.

Traits can be a lot of things ranging from an elemental ability to [Super strength]. They can also be less impactful [Good looks] traits.

Since then, humanity has changed and adapted to their new world. They recently started something called "expeditions", which is basically gathering resources and earning new intel from these worlds.

Now that the backstory was explained, let's continue with our main story.

*

In a high skyscraper entirely made of glass and metal, was a teen with dark brown hair and good all around looks, focusing on his phone.

Sanic934: 'Did you see the news about Adelor? Apparently he managed to clear a C tier expedition on his own!'

SternGoat: 'That's nothing, Adelor is at his peak and he can only do that. In the meantime, the real hot shot is Bellucini who did the same thing when he wasn't even near his peak.'

Sanic934: 'Ye, but you can't compare. Even though they're both B tier in growth, Adelor is only a yellow while Bellucini is an orange. The difference is too big.'

SternGoat: 'Just proves that I'm right!'

Sanic934: 'Like hell you are.'

The chat room the teen was in continued to be on fire for the next five minutes until they both calmed down and one of them asked a question.

Sanic934: 'What do you think Calvin, Adelor or Bellucini?'

CalHeart: 'Are you both really fighting over who's best? We have the awakening ceremony tomorrow and you don't even try to prepare yourselves.'

Sanic934: 'I don't even know why you are preparing. Both your parents are filthy rich and are A tier Red and it's not like you doing some workout would change the results.'

SternGoat: 'Ye, you don't have to worry. With this blood in your vein, you're sure to have at least one good trait, if not more. Us in the meantime have to prepare mentally in case we get bad traits.'

Sanic934: 'You should both be fine. Anyway, I think I'll go now. Don't wanna sleep in on an important day like that.'

SternGoat: 'Bye!'

CalHeart: 'G'night!'

The teen, named Calvin, put down his phone and went to the bathroom. He undressed, turned on the water and submerged himself in it. The boy quickly washed himself and went to bed.

Before going into a complete slumber, he put both of his hands on his face and thought to himself: 'If I don't have a couple of good traits tomorrow, I'll be thrown out of the house for sure.'

*

*Ambient sound and students talking in the background*

The Falheim academy, reputed for being the best adventurer school in Europe, was starting it's new school year by preparing the awakening ceremony for it's new students.

At sixteen, most people's mana would have finished condensing inside of them and all of their traits would be ready to be unveiled.

That's why the new school system allowed some academies to specialize in teaching future adventurers.

Their goal would be to form students as best as they can so that they could become adventurers to go on expeditions and try to colonize the other worlds.

Obviously, Falheim, being the best school in Europe, doesn't accept just anybody. One had to either have a good background or fabulous traits to be accepted.

Their standards were high, but so was their reputation and if it wanted to uphold it, it couldn't accept anyone with a color lower than blue or without connections to the school.

School started at 8 am and every student who registered was there, not one missing.

They all coagulated at the school gate and the school yard. Since most people already knew one another, almost everyone was in a friend group or with ancient classmates.

The same applied to Calvin, who was with Alphonse and Leo, the two guys who argued last night.

The first one to talk was Leo, he had nice blonde hair and a big smile on his face. He was wearing the same school uniform that everyone else had but he had a diamond lining around the school emblem's crest.

-"Did you guys get any sleep?"

-"Couldn't get any. I mean our whole life kind of gets laid out today."

-"And you Calvin?"

Calvin wasn't really listening to his friends right now. His mind was filled with scenarios where he failed and only had awful traits.

If it ever happened for real though, his life would really do a 180.

He was the son of a prestigious family. His parents, even though they weren't the strongest, had quite good traits and made an economic empire through smart decisions and deals.

They were also the famous double guild masters of the Cardinal guild, which was an A tier guild. And so, since his parents were famous and strong everyone in the upper circle he frequented, since he was born, expected him to follow in their footsteps and become, probably, even stronger and more influential than them, or probably the next guild master of the Cardinal.

'But what if I fail? Will they kick me out? Will they still love me as their son or will they reject me as if I was but a bum? Will my friends still want to hang out?'

The pressure was heavy and Calvin's head was about to burst until he heard Leo shout in his ears.

-"Hey, hey! Are you sleeping right now? Jeez, to think you're the one who's more stressed out of all of us when you have such a good baggage."

-"Yeah. It'll be alright, you're right..."

'Now that I think about it, these guys, they'd probably still be my friends even if I only had the worst trait ever.'

Leo was about to start talking again but was interrupted by a loud, deep, manly voice coming from speakers installed all around the yard.

A big man, with a nicely cut beard, who looked to be no older than his fifties, stood on the grand stage in the middle of the yard. He wore a fitting, blue navy suit, matched with a similarly colored pair of pants. His shoes were dark and shiny, as if they had just been waxed.

'This must be the general dean. He looks the same as how my parents described him.'

He took a glance at the crowd and put both of his big hands on the microphone, lifting it up near his mouth.

-"Students..."

Silence fell on the crowd.

-"You have all come from far away, maybe even left your families, to come here and enjoy the best education there is. You all aspire to become the next prodigy. You all dream of a better future, I am sure, but before this new school year starts, I would like to give a round of applause to our teachers and staff..."

The speech of the dean, who's name was Charles, continued on a bit. He presented the staff members and the teachers, who each got welcomed with a round of applause, as asked.

The dean, who was bright and smiling from the start, now took a more serious look.

-"For the second and third year, you can now go with your dedicated class and follow your teachers. But, for the newcomers, you better prepare yourselves because it is time to see if you will be accepted into Falheim."

The dean said the end of his sentence with an accent on the school's name to show that he was proud to be part of it and went down from the stage. Even though, it was only by pride and habits that he ended his sentence like that, the way he said it made Calvin revisit his horror scenarios.

'Oh no! He probably said that because a lot of people fail... or is it to show appreciation? Ah, shit! This thing stresses me out so damn much.'

The whole speech was short but as the dean of the greatest academy in Europe he couldn't really waste more time of his day.

After he stood down from the stage, one of the teachers he presented earlier took his place. The teacher was wearing a nice black dress with golden embroidery on it. She was tall and slender and had a figure many would envy.

-"Well, after this wonderful speech from our general dean, I would like all of you to take a final look at this place for the day."

Her angelic voice floated through the air to make it's way to every students' ears. It was an unbelievably soothing voice, one that could enchant or seduce anyone.

When her last words were said, every student in the yard placed their hands on their ears as if to protect them, and they all started to fall to the ground.