NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Genestella
*Ding!* *Dong—*
The melodious sound of bells echoed through the modern, open-style high-rise buildings, filling the school grounds with a lively and noisy atmosphere.
One by one, students in uniforms emerged from the school building. Some chatted and laughed together, while others hurriedly ran around, showcasing their active demeanor.
Ark blended in like an ordinary student, seamlessly mingling with the crowd of students leaving the classroom without any awkwardness.
This was because he was still wearing the school uniform and looked much younger.
Now, Ark appeared to be a 17 or 18-year-old high school student. His youthful figure strolled among the lush green trees, radiating energy.
"I never expected that entering a fantasy world would bring me such benefits."
Ark himself was quite surprised. When he touched his face, he felt it was full of collagen and free of oil.
While quietly marveling at the situation, Ark began to sort through his current circumstances.
"There's no doubt that I'm now in Asterisk."
Asterisk, commonly known as the hexagram.
It is an artificial city floating above a large crater lake. As its name suggests, it has a regular hexagonal shape.
The city's official name is Rikka, and it was built by an emerging economic entity, the Integrated Enterprise Foundation, for the purpose of dueling.
Of course, dueling here doesn't refer to card games like in a certain Yu-Gi-Oh world, but rather super-intense battles with real weapons, swords, and guns.
In this world, there is a nationally popular competitive game called Festa.
Festa is a comprehensive battle performance said to have the largest fan base in the world. This performance has a strong stimulating and promotional effect on global economic development.
Asterisk is the stage for Festa and also the main facility for training contestants.
According to Festa's rules, only those in the Generation Genestella aged 13-22 are allowed to participate in the festival.
The Generation Genestella in this age group are essentially students.
Therefore, six academies were built in this artificial city to train contestants. Each academy has a middle school department, a high school department, and a university department, covering all Generation Genestella aged 13-22.
"And the academy I'm currently in is Seidoukan Academy."
Seidoukan Academy is not only one of the six major academies but also the stage where the main characters of the original work act.
According to the life experience description chosen by Ark, he is currently a first-year high school student at Seidoukan Academy, and his goal in coming to Asterisk is to participate in Festa.
This isn't something worth mentioning.
After all, among the ten students who come here, seven or eight have some idea about Festa, while the remaining two or three come for various other reasons.
Ark is now one of the 70% to 80% of students and is quite inconspicuous.
"It seems the life I envisioned doesn't match the background of a main character."
Ark thought indifferently.
Based on his life experience background, his abilities are at an average level in Seidoukan Academy. He's not the worst, but he's not an elite top player who can showcase his skills in Festa. He's extremely ordinary.
However, Ark is quite satisfied.
"It would be great if we could achieve overnight success, but that's not realistic."
As he walked, Ark arrived at a corner of the atrium.
There were only a few people here, just a pavilion surrounded by grass and flower beds. Apart from faintly seeing some shadows passing in the distance, there was no other movement.
Ark, who came here, stretched his body a little.
"Well... my physical fitness is indeed much stronger than before."
Ark could clearly feel that his body was not only younger and more energetic, but its overall quality had also significantly improved.
"With such physical fitness, he could easily win world championships in several sports in the real world, but in this academy, he only has average abilities..."
Ark sighed.
"Is this the Generation Genestella?"
As the lecturer mentioned in class, after the disaster known as the Falling Star Rain Incident in the 20th century, people discovered an unknown element called Omnipresent Heaven-Shift from the meteorite group, which led to rapid advancements in science and technology and gave birth to the Generation Genestella, a new type of human in the new century.
They are influenced by the universal element, and not only are their physical abilities far beyond ordinary humans, but they also possess a special spiritual energy called Prana.
This special spiritual energy can enhance the attack power or defensive power of the Generation Genestella, especially for defensive power, it has a very significant amplification effect.
After coming to this world, Ark could feel at any time and place that there was a special power flowing in his current body.
So, he began to mobilize this power as he did in class earlier.
*ZHENG!*
Along with the appearance of a scene like floating stardust, the Prana in Ark's body surged, enveloping his entire body with floating starlight.
Seeing this scene and feeling the changes in his body, Ark's eyes blinked.
"If it's me now, even if a bullet hits my body, I just need to withstand a little impact and won't be injured at all, right?"
He's actually just an ordinary student at Seidoukan Academy?
This shows how powerful the true Generation Genestella are.
How could Ark not feel satisfied when he gained such power for no reason?
"Unfortunately, there's only one chance like this."
This is a benefit only available when someone starts a life for the first time. It directly grants administrator abilities corresponding to the chosen life background, which can be considered an invisible benefit.
But this is something only obtained when experiencing life for the first time and won't be available again afterward.
"If I had chosen an invincible life background when I first started my life experience, wouldn't I be invincible now?"
After thinking about it, Ark still felt it wasn't very realistic.
He always felt that since the ultimate goal of the
Perhaps, when it chose his life experience, even though it was a random choice, the possibility of this choice might be limited by the administrator's own abilities.
If the administrator himself had invincible abilities compared to the fantasy world, then the possibility of choosing an invincible life background should be higher.
Conversely, if the administrator's abilities were low, then the possibility of getting a mediocre or even disastrous start would be higher.
"And with my current abilities, it would be difficult to make this life experience exciting enough."
After confirming his current abilities, Ark thought hard.
The
In this case, Ark needs to strive as much as possible to live a beautiful and active life in this world.
If he wants to live an exciting and active life in this world, what's easier to achieve this goal than participating in Festa and dueling with those famous strong people.
However, Ark's current abilities are only average at Seidoukan Academy. Even if he participates in Festa, there's a high chance he'll be eliminated in the first round.
"I can only find a way to increase my strength."
How to do it?
Ark quickly determined what he needed to do next without much thought.
"I need a weapon."
"A weapon strong enough to make me powerful."
It's true that everything about him is ordinary now, but there's a latent power in his body superior to Prana, a power revered as the highest authority.
This only applies to the concept of weaponry.
Therefore, if Ark wants to become stronger as quickly as possible, the fastest way is to plan for a powerful weapon.
"It seems I can only start from there."
Ark already had a preliminary idea.
Before that, he needed to confirm what he could do with the Authority he had obtained.
At this moment, Ark shifted his gaze to his waist.
There, on the uniform's belt, was a cloth bag.
Ark reached out and took something from the cloth cover.
It was an Lux coated with green ore and shaped like a sword hilt.
"Is this an Lux?"
Ark looked at it curiously, then his heart stirred slightly.
*ZHENG!*
Suddenly, a long blade extended from the front end of the Lux in his hand.