Chapter 1
In Sterling High School, Class 3 of the senior year, a group of tense students focused on the podium.
Today was Awakening Day.
"Come up to get the potion when you hear your name called, and do the check half an hour later," said Victor Thorne, the bald, glasses-wearing class teacher.
He called the names one by one, and the students came up to get their potions.
"Don't mix them up. The potions are matched to your genes. Mistakes could lead to accidents." Victor cautioned as he distributed the potions.
"Ethan Hayes."
Victor continued to call.
In the back row of the classroom, a handsome boy stood up. Ethan took the potion and returned to his seat with a long sigh of relief.
A century ago, a nuclear war sparked a new era of human evolution.
Since then, everyone has been able to awaken their gene before adulthood and embark on the path of evolution.
However, talent differs. Some awaken an invincible gene and are destined to stand out from the crowd; others awaken ordinary genes and can only go with the flow.
Therefore, awakening the gene is crucial!
As a time traveler, he had been struggling in this parallel world for ten years.
Without any lucky break or system enhancement, he spent this time like any ordinary person.
Today marks the turning point in his fate: the awakening of his gene!
"As a transmigrator, I'm bound to stand out. Perhaps I could awaken some badass gene! Dual genes? Triple genes? Anything is possible!"
Ethan clutched the potion, pumping himself up.
Taking a deep breath, he tilted his head back, downing the potion in one gulp.
Holy crap, it's bitter!
Half an hour later, the students from the third class filed out one by one, heading to the examination room downstairs.
"Why, isn't this our highly talented Ethan?"
A big-built, sunnily handsome boy but somewhat smirky when he grinned, approached.
"Leo 'Too Dumb'?"
Ethan raised an eyebrow at the newcomer.
Leo was a childhood friend of Ethan.
He was primarily friends with Leo because Leo was the son of a wealthy family, and Ethan would often mooch snacks from him when they were kids.
They ended up playing together in this way.
"Hasn't your class finished the test?" Ethan asked.
"I just want to see your gene level," Leo answered bluntly.
Ethan raised an eyebrow and asked, "How about you? What's your rank?"
"I?" Leo smirked, snapping his fingers.
"Bang!"
Orange flames burst from his fingertips, causing heat waves to roll around their surroundings.
Shouts of surprise rang out from the onlookers.
With an air of nonchalance, Leo sighed, "Ah, just a common A-class Flame Gene."
Ethan quietly flipped him off.
The Gene ranks are from high to low: SABCDEF.
S-rank is extremely rare.
Besides the rank, it can also be divided into Psychic-type, Beast-type, and Elemental-type.
The Elemental-type is the most precious.
Once Leo announced his Gene, envy filled the eyes of those around them.
An A-class Elemental type, what a promising future!
"Alright," Victor called out, "Gene examination begins, form up in four lines."
"Go on, don't embarrass your dear old dad."
Leo gave Ethan a pat on the shoulder, a look of been-there-done-that on his face.
Ethan only rolled his eyes and flipped him off.
After waiting for quite some time, it was finally Ethan's turn.
Ethan took several deep breaths to stabilize his nerves, and stepped into the center of the machine.
With a humming noise, the machine lit up.
A circle of red light slowly appeared under Ethan's feet.
The more circles of light, the higher the gene level.
Then another hum, a second circle of light appeared, which then stopped increasing.
"E grade, next."
Victor shook his head in disappointment. An E grade was only slightly better than an ordinary person. Ethan looked at the two circles of light under his feet, his mind a little dazed.
Am I really that useless?
Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound in his head.
A mechanical voice sounded in his mind, "Host gene awakening detected, system officially activated."
System?
Ethan instantly snapped awake from his gloom, his joy beyond articulation.
"Super Evolution System commences binding!"
"Binding successful!"
"First-time activation of the system, a novice gift pack for you. Would you like to open it?"
Ethan chose to open it without hesitation.
"Congratulations! Host has acquired an S-grade Black Steel Battle Body gene!"
As the system voice receded, Ethan felt a warm current bubble up from his heart, instantly vaulting to every part of his body.
At this moment, Ethan felt his strength increase several times over, and his senses became astonishingly sharp.
Is this the awesomeness of the S-gene?
"Ethan? Are you alright?"
Class teacher Victor asked with concern.
Among the senior year students, those who couldn't accept their weak genes, leading to mental breakdowns or thoughts of suicide, were not a handful.
"Teacher Victor, I'm absolutely fine!"
Ethan responded cheerfully.
Seeing Ethan this jubilant, Victor grew even more anxious. "Has this child gone crazy?"
Finding joy in an E-tier gene?
"Professor Victor, I would like to retake the test." Ethan said.
"Retest?" Professor Victor glanced at the technician next to him.
[Dear readers i want to welcome to a new journey with me, please give the book a try don't just read the first 5 chapters and call it quits give it a try it'll get better and if there's anything you think about the novel anything please comment or drop a review]