Chapter 36:Fortune and Misfortune
Felix spent 2 hours browsing products from one shop to another. He prepurchased every potion necessary to facilitate his awakening process. From potions that allow him to heal himself after the process ends, to potions needed to add more percentage to awaken with.
Felix never planned to use only a 1% percentage to integrate with at the start. He was confident in his pain tolerance to handle even more percentages all at once. He might not be like some freaks that straightaway integrates with 20% to 30%, but he was certain that he could at least awaken with 10%.
"Ahh! This was such an eventful day."
He exhaled deeply, as he sat on a park bench in a relaxed manner. He licked an ice cream cone he was holding in enjoyment while thinking of all the activities he had gone through in one day.
He opened a bank account and got a loan that turned out to be useless. Then he took his revenge on the Five S Gang by scamming them out of their money. Finally, he preordered items for his awakening. The only thing left was to buy a beast bloodline.
But he already had plans to buy it tomorrow after the game, as preordering doesn't work for bloodline bottles unless one had a good reputation or friendly relation with the seller.
"It's probably time to log out and sleep."
He yawned drowsily and requested from the Queen to log him out.
.....
2 minutes later...
He wore his clothes, planning to head towards the cafeteria to eat his dinner or whatever was left of it.
As he exited his room, he met face to face with the expressionless Noah, who was about to close his room door.
After a few moments of eye contact, they both nodded their heads as a greeting and went towards the elevator side by side without speaking a word.
The moment they stepped inside the elevator, Felix extended his finger at the floor buttons and clicked on the 40th floor where the cafeteria was placed. Noah didn't click anything else, as the 40th floor was his destination as well.
'ka-thump'
After a while, the elevator stopped. Felix and Noah both exited together and went in the same direction.
"Please give me this, and this, and some of this as well. Add a little bit of sauce on the chicken." Felix ordered his dinner, using his finger to guide the counter lady.
"Have a nice appetite young master." She smiled politely.
"Hmm, smells good, thank you, aunty." He took his dinner and sat at the closest empty table.
Noah immediately began ordering with his finger silently, just like a mute. After getting his dinner he nodded at the counter lady and left to sit alone in a corner table.
'Crackle' 'Dong'
Shortly, only sounds of forks and bowls echoed in the cafeteria, as no one was in it besides Felix and Noah.
The rest already ate before and left to their own room to watch Supremacy Games streams or learn about the beasts of their newly found elements.
Felix observed Noah as he ate slowly. He always wondered if his personality would be like Noah's if he didn't have his grandfather to take care of him.
He sighed saddened after recalling the bitter past Noah had to go through to be molded into a piece of deadwood, unresponsive to anyone but his sister.
His fate was quite similar to Felix's, as he lost his parents young as well. However, their deaths were not in an incident.
He lost his mother while giving birth to his sister. A few years later, his father's mental and physical health declined continuously due to his wife's sudden death, until he couldn't handle it anymore and kicked the bucket by himself, leaving the sibling due all alone.
At that period, Noah was only 8 years old while his sister wasn't even 4 years old.
He had it even worse than Felix, but he neither complained nor begged for support. He just did his duties silently, while protecting his younger sister from harm.
On the other hand, there was Felix, who went on full attention-seeking tantrum after his parents' death, like he was the only one in the world who suffered from such a pain.
If he didn't have his grandfather watching his back in the shadow, he would have been exiled from the family years ago, due to his disgraceful actions that resulted in the family losing a bit of face.
Felix only realized this after he matured and became an adult. Meanwhile, Noah had to mature at the mere age of 10 due to circumstances.
He saw what Felix couldn't see, and did what he couldn't do. Their pasts were the same, but completely different at the same time.
He glanced one last time at Noah in admiration and lowered his head to continue his food in peace.
....
10 minutes later...
Felix lifted his empty plate holder and put it next to the counter. Then he washed his hands with soap and walked back to the elevator drowsily.
He truly needed to get some rest, as tomorrow will be more eventful than today.
....
Next Morning at 10:00 AM...
Inside the same floor where the juniors got their elemental affinity assessed.
The juniors as yesterday stood in four lines, wearing skin-tight sportswear and standard white sneakers.
The elders and parents observed their children who stood up straight and proud, with excitement and a hint of envy and hopelessness.
Elder Abraham soon clarified the reason why they looked at them as such, by making a speech sternly.
"You guys have no idea how big this opportunity that you have just received in this new Era. Your minds can not fathom the 1st and 2nd generation disappointment over not being a junior at this moment."
He brought the microphone near his mouth and spoke what was hidden in his heart and every elder in the earth with an envious tone.
"You have the right to obtain Bloodline powers that can turn you into powerful undying beings with a lifespan exceeding thousands of years. While us old people can only live a maximum of 500 years, and that's only if we drunk potions or used substances."
"Anyone of my age or just your parent's age would kill to be in their youth once again, just so they can have the choice of whether to awaken or not." He sighed helplessly, "But we don't even have that choice as you do."
Everyone knew so as well. Simply because it was common knowledge that humans who passed the age of 30, could not handle the integration process no matter what they do or consume.
It had been tested over and over again, without any positive results, thus sentencing anyone whose age was above 30 a fate of not being able to be part of the awakened race.
This was a scar every parent tried to hide, and suppress the grieving pain it kept causing, just so they won't burden their children any further.
However, Abraham's words ripped that scar open after he mentioned it publicly like this, resulting in mothers sobbing and sniffing quietly, while fathers burying their heads under their shirts to hide their red eyes.
They were affected the hardest by their inability to awaken. After all, some of them were still in their thirties.
The only thought that kept ringing in their minds over and over again, whether in day or night was,
'If only I was born a couple of years later, I might have had the chance to awaken. If Only...'
Unfortunately, fate did not work that way. If there were some who obtained fortune; there were always others who were prone to misfortune.
Fate was like a coin that had two sides. One represented fortune and the other misfortune. Our entire life's decisions, choices, and chances that appeared in front of us were all but fate throwing a coin in the air, and waiting to see the result. Are we fated for them or not?
"The reason I mentioned this, is not to make you feel bad for us, No! I said it to make you realize that you have something a lot of people wish to have, but can't obtain."
Elder Abraham yelled furiously after seeing some juniors were about to cry, due to hearing their parents sobs.
"I said it to make you feel like if you didn't work hard enough in your path, you won't just disappoint yourself, but your parents and elders who were supporting you from behind without receiving anything in return."
He banged the podium with the side of his fist and continued, "I said it to let you understand that not awakening successfully is the same as slapping us in the face."
"Finally, I said to let you know, that you are our future. If you worked hard and got stronger, we might live longer to see your glory. But if you didn't, we will die at the age of 80 just like before, since to obtain the resources needed to increase our longevity is no easy thing. And it has never been that easy."
"If you want your parents to accompany you as far as possible in your journey, the only choice you have is to get stronger and more powerful to be able to repay their everlasting grace."
"So train like a beast and only look forward. The pain of awakening is merely momentarily. PASS IT AND YOUR PATH TO GLORY WILL OPEN!!!"
Abraham couldn't help but roar the last part in indignation with all of his voice, as tears streamed through his cheeks.
No longer able to hold them back after knowing that he would forever live as a commoner and die as a commoner.