Morca gulped hard as he read the mission description. Defeat his clone in the Oblivion Realm?
Why can't I just defeat it here? Why go to the Oblivion Realm at all? These questions surfaced in his mind, refusing to settle. There must be some hidden secrets in that place, secrets I need to uncover.
Three rewards were listed, but what truly unsettled him was the punishment: Remain a mortal forever? How absurdly cruel that sounded.
The mission seemed simple on the surface, but with both the rewards and the punishment at stake, Morca wasn't naïve enough to believe it would be easy.
After finishing his review of the system, he examined himself. His once-normal hair had turned an inky black. However, in this magical world, hair color changes weren't uncommon, so it wouldn't attract much attention. He then shifted his gaze to his left eye, now a swirling black abyss that seemed to devour life itself.
After some thought, he took a black eyepatch from the standing mirror table and put it on. Now, anyone who saw him would think he was some young mafia boss; cold, handsome, and mysterious.
Leaving the bathroom, he sat on his bed and picked up the letter his brother had left him earlier. It was an acceptance letter from EDA (Eden Domineer Academy), contingent on him becoming an Awakened.
Why go to the Academy instead of training at the family base?
There were three key reasons:
1. At the Academy, one could meet new people, make allies, and gauge their potential through competition.
2. It provided access to ancient knowledge and resources beyond what his family could offer.
3. The Academy trained individuals to become either human defenders or guardians.
This world had both Awakened and Cultivators, but Morca didn't fully understand the difference. He had some knowledge of cultivation, it was the path he had followed in his past life, but how it operated in this new world was still a mystery to him.
Perhaps my brother knows something about it.
More importantly, he needed information on how to become an Awakened, and there was only one person he could rely on for that, his mysterious, powerful brother.
Emmett Lee Sherman.
The business tyrant.
After ensuring everything was in place, he left his room.
.....
Later That Evening
Emmett Lee flipped to the last page of the book he had been reading, then slowly raised his head, as if expecting someone.
Knock, knock.
"Come in," an emotionless voice commanded.
The door opened, and Morca stepped inside, standing on the opposite side of Emmett Lee's seating position.
"How rare," Emmett Lee mused, his tone playful. "For my younger brother to visit me in the study just after I left him in his own quarters. Tell me, what's the matter? Sit down." He gestured toward the seat across from him.
Morca accepted the invitation, walking over before sitting down. Without wasting time, he went straight to the reason for his visit, he disliked beating around the bush.
"Brother, I want to know everything about the Constitutive Divine Awakened Pool Ceremony, the difference between an Awakened and a Cultivator, and general knowledge about the world," he stated nonchalantly, as if he weren't asking about something so significant.
Emmett Lee smirked, amusement flickering in his eyes. "You've really changed a lot, Morca. Especially your hair, it was once blue, and now it's turned black. You looked softer with that blue hair, but I like it this way. Now you look more like the kind of person I want you to become, cool and fierce."
Morca couldn't help but curl his lips upward. This guy… acting as if he didn't have blue hair. What a fellow.
Emmett Lee didn't seem to mind the reaction and continued, "A long time ago, hmm, maybe two centuries back, before the concept of Awakened beings was introduced, humans relied solely on mana cultivation to cast magic through techniques. That was the only source of power known to mankind.
"But everything changed when an apocalypse struck. Spatial rifts cracked open everywhere, releasing monsters far stronger than even the most powerful human cultivators. One particular rift spawned creatures that were twice as powerful as any known warrior.
"Humanity was on the brink of extinction. In desperation, the strongest cultivators gathered in groups to slay these monsters. Some, driven by curiosity, conducted research on the creatures they killed. Their findings led to a shocking discovery, the monsters' power came from their cores.
"Not long after, the first Awakened human emerged. This revelation motivated the ancient families to pour resources into the research. At first, producing a single Awakened was nearly impossible. But with time and persistence, a small number of them ventured into the spatial rifts and uncovered a great secret, the Constitutive Divine Awakened Pool.
"This mysterious pool allowed youths between the ages of 15 and 18 to connect with a clone of themselves in another realm. By defeating this clone, they would unlock supernatural abilities, becoming what we now call the Awakened. Researchers attempted to bypass this process, but all experiments ended in failure.
"This is everything I know about the origin of the Constitutive Divine Awakened Pool. Perhaps the academy holds even deeper knowledge."
Emmett Lee paused before addressing Morca's second question.
"As for the difference between an Awakened and a Cultivator… It's as I mentioned earlier, those monsters were stronger than cultivators, at least twice as strong, and their power came from their cores. To put it simply, their strength was encoded in their genes, their bloodline."
Morca's eyes widened in shock. This was a revelation, one that had profound implications for himself.
So that's why I'm still mortal... he realized. I need to visit the Oblivion Realm to fully awaken. That must be why I received the mission so soon after the installation process.
Morca was beginning to see the bigger picture. There were still mysteries he needed to unravel, why the System chose him, what lay beyond the Oblivion Realm, and why he had to defeat his clone to awaken.
Everything points to one thing, the mysterious Oblivion Realm.
After a moment of contemplation, Morca turned to his brother with a serious expression. "Brother, what's our family bloodline?"
Emmett Lee had been expecting this question.
"You should already know that the Sherman Family, our mother's clan, is associated with darkness. But as for our father's bloodline... I know nothing about it. He never spoke of it before he and Mother disappeared."
At the mention of their parents, the room seemed to darken, an oppressive aura filling the space. Morca's breath hitched.
This... His instincts screamed at him, this was not an aura a mortal could radiate. And worse, he was sure this wasn't even the full extent of Emmett Lee's power, as his brother suppressed it the moment it leaked out.
===
A/N
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