Chapter 2: Galactic Chat Group
Jiwon awoke with an incessant pounding in his head. 'Ugh... what the hell happened?' he thought to himself. Groggily, he attempted to recall the events of the previous day. Yesterday, he had finally carved out his dantian, meaning he had now officially reached the first stage of cultivation, Energy Condensation. After that, he went out to celebrate, but ended up in front of the memorial wall, like he always did when he had something to think about. After that... something happened.
"Damn... what is it? I feel like I'm forgetting something important," he frustratedly murmured. Continually racking his brain, Jiwon finally felt a flash of insight, causing him to jolt up from his bed.
'The old man! That's what I was forgetting! We were talking, and then---' Jiwon once again tried to recover his scattered memories, but he found that moments after the old man uttered that last sentence, there was a huge gap in his memory. Did he fall asleep? Or get knocked out? But even so, how would that explain him waking up in his own bed?
Looking at the clock, he shook himself out of his thoughts. He would have more time to think after he got ready for school. After all, despite his status as a formal cultivator now, he still had to go to school. Like all able-bodied humans, Jiwon was required to attend twelve years of mandatory education including compulsory military training, before being allowed to apply for a military academy or go straight to the military.
However, since he has now reached the first stage of cultivation, his attendance at school is merely a formality rather than a need. After all, rather than educating people, the true purpose of mandatory education was for the Federation to screen out the 'talented' and the 'untalented' humans.
Those who were able to break through to the first stage of cultivation before the age of eighteen were deemed 'talented' and were guaranteed a genetic awakening serum upon graduation. Though these people were officially called 'talented', in reality, they were merely above 'worthless'.
By reaching the first stage of cultivation and being granted a genetic awakening serum, one would meet the bare minimum requirement to apply for a military academy. For those who are unable to reach this standard, they are forced to go to the military straight out of mandatory education, and will likely end up a manual laborer or just another casualty.
Unconsciously, as he was thinking about all of this, Jiwon finally finished his preparations. "Oi! Grandpa! I'm leaving now. There's food on the table if you need. I'll be back in a few hours," he shouted as he left the house. Closing the door behind him without waiting for a response, Jiwon stepped inside a small pod.
He punched in his destination, causing the pod, with him in it, to disappear under the ground into an elaborate network of tunnels, before accelerating. After around thirty seconds of travel, the pod resurfaced, this time, at the school grounds. All around him, various other pods came out of the grounds, with humans of similar ages each stepping out.
Spotting someone familiar, Jiwon, rushed forward, slapping the person on the back. "Yo! Magnus! How're you doing, man?"
"Well, I was doing good. Until some asshole came and slapped me with the force of an abusive uncle. What about you?" Magnus replied snarkily.
"Huh? Who the hell did that? I'll beat their ass for you!" Jiwon mockingly replied, conveniently ignoring the large handprint he just left on Magnus' back.
"..." Magnus simply stared at him. After a moment of silence passed, Magnus just sighed and shook his head. "Asshole," he murmured.
Laughing, Jiwon fell into place beside Magnus, as the two began to walk to their class. After about a minute of idle banter, they arrived at their homeroom. After another minute passed, the teacher walked in, clearing his throat.
"Good morning, class. Before we start, I'd like to announce that another two of your classmates have succeeded in breaking through to the Energy Condensation Stage and have officially become cultivators. Congratulations to Jiwon Li and Arjun Kumer. Magnus Erwood, Ozaki Ichirou, and Haneul Sung have already broken through previously, meaning our class now has five cultivators. For the rest of you, you have one week left before graduation. Now, let's start."
Tuning out the teacher who had begun their lesson, Magnus whispered, "You finally broke through? I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it in time."
"Heh. Well, I never doubted myself for a second," Jiwon replied pridefully. "I can't wait to take the genetic awakening serum. Once I get it, I'll have finally taken my first step to power."
"Yeah, yeah. Personally, I'm not optimistic. The gene awakening serum may allow us humans to gain genetic abilities, but due to the nature of it being created through a compound found in some other species' genes, more often than not, our artificially induced abilities will pale in comparison to that of species naturally born with that compound. Additionally, supposedly, since humans have no naturally occurring abilities of their own, the ability you get will be completely random. Sure, you might get an ability that no other species in the universe has, but more often than not, it'd be something useless like 'enhanced bubble blowing'."
"Damn, Magnus, why do you always have to be such a pessimist? You realize that's why our classmates call you an emo loser. And an asshole. And ugl-"
"Stop. I get it. But you're wrong about something. I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. Personally, I just see no use in deluding myself with dreams of grandeur."
Seriousness crept into Jiwon's gaze. "But Magnus, if you never strive for anything, you'll never achieve anything. Life isn't a numbers game. Sometimes the most implausible things can be the reason you succeed. Sure, maintaining a grip on reality is important. But no great man ever succeeded without dreaming. Do you think Julius Caesar got where he was by being a little pessimistic pissant?"
Magnus sighed. "I see your point. But... was that really the best example?" he asked.
"What's wrong with it?" Jiwon replied.
"I'm just saying... personally, I wouldn't want to be where Caesar was."
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't he literally get stabbed by like... 40 of his most trusted allies? He died pretty damn miserably, dude."
"He did?"
"Are you serious?"
"I mean, I didn't really pay attention to history class. I just remembered that name because they named a salad after him," Jiwon shrugged.
"So you used him as an example... without even knowing what he even achieved?" Magnus asked, dumbfounded.
Jiwon scoffed. "Hey, I assumed, if they named a salad after him, he had to be a pretty cool guy. How was I supposed to know he was a loser."
Exasperatedly, Magnus replied, "he wasn't a los--- you know what, nevermind. Weren't you supposed to be a good student?"
"I know how to cultivate. I know how to shoot a gun. I know how to beat someone up. Hell, I could probably answer any question about recent galactic history or even military tactics. I just don't have the luxury to worry about things that won't help me. At least not right now," answered Jiwon.
Magnus sighed for what seemed like the millionth time. "Whatever. I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when class is over," he said.
"Alright." Now that Magnus was asleep, Jiwon had nothing to do, so he opened up his holo-phone. A small, nearly unnoticeable device hanging from the side of his ear projected a virtual hologram in front of Jiwon's eyes. Of course, others could see it, but the teacher didn't care since Jiwon had already become a cultivator. Once you reached the requirements, the school didn't really care what you did.
Looking at the holographic screen, Jiwon's eyes widened. '137 Notifications? From who?' His eyes shifted to the sender's name. 'Galactic Chat Group? I don't remember joining any chat group.'
Opening up the chat group, he found that there was no one he knew, so he immediately tried to leave. However, as he continued to spam the 'leave' button, he kept encountering the same message.
[ERROR: UNABLE TO LEAVE]
As he kept on trying to leave, to no avail, he suddenly felt a strong electric shock come out of the hologram, causing him to jolt his hand away. 'What the hell? What was that? The holo-screen can simulate physical touch, but to produce an electric shock should be out of its capabilities.'
Taking the holo-phone off his head, he attempted to inspect it for any malfunctions. But soon he found, that even without the holo-phone, the chat group screen still lingered. 'Huh? How the hell is it still here? That's impossible! Since the holo-phone is off my head, this thing should have automatically closed.'
Just as he mentally uttered the word 'close', the screen vanished from his vision. Frowning, he began to test an idea. A crazy idea, that by all metrics, should not work. He mentally willed the screen back into vision. Lo and behold, it came back. Then he repeated 'close' to himself, and it disappeared.
'No way. Is this thing... tied to my thoughts? But how could this have happened? Wait... but there might be. There was only one out-of-the-ordinary thing that I experienced recently. That old man. He put his hand on my head before I blacked out. Maybe, he was implanting this thing. That's could be why I woke up with that killer headache. Assuming it was the old man's doing, he clearly wanted me to join this Galactic Chat Group... but why?'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
NoMaidensTarnished
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