Chương 1: B1 | Chapter 1

Aidan The hunger gnaws at my mind as I focus on every word the professor is saying.

"Just like we covered last class, if the condition set for the if-else block is true, then the program will proceed to execute the code inside of the if block. And if it's not, then it will execute the code inside of the else block. What we haven't seen so far is what happens-" the professor drones on, but I barely pay attention to anything she's actually saying. Instead focusing all of my thoughts on writing down every word so that I can read it at my own pace later.

It would be a lot easier on me if I simply decided to major in something easier instead of going for an engineering degree. But nope. I had to be stubborn. Coding is the only thing that really interests me out of all the majors I saw. Even if I know it doesn't really suit my learning style. Which is to say, I can't really focus very well on more than one thing. Not with this never-ending hunger burning away in the pit of my stomach. Just aching all the time.

When the ache grows too strong, I reach into my pocket with my left hand to grab one of the strange stones to calm the ache down as I continue writing with my right hand. But even that only helps so much. All I can do is focus everything I have on writing down my notes. Right up until the professor finishes class and dismisses us with a polite 'See you next week' before packing her things and leaving without another word. Ever in a rush as always. Now that I've lost my focus, I feel the hunger even more.

But there's no way to make the hunger go away entirely. So I begin to pack my stuff with a grimace on my face, only to feel a hand touch my shoulder, startling me into flinching.

"Your condition getting to you again?" I hear my sister's voice from behind me, making me stiffly nod my head while continuing to pack my stuff.

"I still think you should-" She stops speaking when I send a look her way. Not an angry one or even upset. Just a pleading one. Because I'm getting more and more sick of people telling me to quit Computer Science as time goes on. With each one of them quoting things about my condition making it a poor choice for me and all. Ali sighs and nods her head without another word.

Then, after I finish packing, the two of us begin to walk out of the classroom, where we eventually meet up with her friends who join us in walking towards the nearby café. It's practically a routine at this point. Most of her friends just nod at me or smile, but they don't say much beyond a brief hello. I rarely talk after all. So in their eyes, I'm pretty much just Alana's twin brother who she is always attached to at the hip. Mostly because she feels bad for no reason at all.

Because she read somewhere about some myth where one twin takes energy from another twin or something. With one twin being extremely healthy and the other extremely fragile. And I don't know if she actually believes that ridiculousness, or if she just became protective over time, but she's practically like a second mom half the time with all her nagging. I don't hate it though, since it means she cares. Besides. Anything to distract me from the hunger.

The six of us – me, Ali, her best friend, and the other three friends she's made in her other classes – all walk over to our usual spot in the café. With each of us ordering different drinks. I, of course, just order my usual. Which is whatever on the menu happens to have the most caffeine and calories. Caffeine to take my mind off the hunger, and calories in a pointless attempt to satiate the hunger that never satiates.

While I'm waiting for my drink – whatever it is, since I don't even remember its name – I roll the strange stone in my hand in my jacket pocket. And to further take my mind off of the hunger, I look around, just examining everything I see. A surprisingly good coping mechanism to take a person's mind off of something. Whether it's a person's clothes, the general design of a building, random signs across the street, or trying to figure out what the most common hairstyle in a specific place is.

Like how Ali has her hair in a braid going over her shoulder, while her best friend and both the girls of the other three all have their hair straight down. Or even hair color. Since there aren't a lot of different hair colors on campus. A surprisingly small number of people actually dye their hair here for some reason. Then again, I'm not one to talk. I've never dyed my hair before either, and neither has Ali. We both have our usual black hair. Although mine is a strange, shiny and vibrant black.

One that often has people – mostly girls – walking up to ask me what hair products I use. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I glance down at my hair as the others talk at the table to find my hair already nearing my shoulders in length again. Meaning I should get it cut soon.

"How d'ya all feel about the exam comin soon?" Reginald, one of Ali's friends and the only guy aside from me in their little group, asks. Making me look up again, only for my gaze to narrow in on the approaching waiter person carrying our drinks.

"Not good," Ali's best friend, Sarah, says while shaking her head with a rather distraught look on her face.

"Not good at all." Ali chuckles while leaning back in her seat and occasionally glancing at me as she says, "I feel pretty good about it."

"Of course you do!" Rebecah exclaims from her place seated on the other side of Sarah from Ali.

"You're smart and you have your brother's incredible notes even if you forget something!" I blink at suddenly being drawn into the conversation, only to see both Reginald and Megan nodding their heads in agreement with Rebecah's words. Part of me feels slightly irritated at being dragged into the conversation, while part of me feels happy about having my note taking skills complimented. Even if they only got as good as they are because of my hunger hyper-focusing everything I do.

"Then look at your own brother's notes and stop trying to bother mine about reading his notes," Ali says with a raised brow, making Rebecah purse her lips together and proceed to fuss like a child as the person with our drinks sets them down. Following which the others all grab their drinks, and I grab the last one remaining since I at least remember what it looks like despite forgetting its long and complicated name every time I come here. We've been here enough times for me to remember its appearance after all.

Even if I don't remember the name. I grab the straw, tear open its wrapper, put it into my drink, and bring the straw to my mouth. Then I hear a strange dinging sound followed by a voice seemingly echoing in my head that makes me blink in surprise right before I manage to get any of the drink into my mouth. And as if the dinging and voice weren't odd enough, text suddenly materializes in the center of my vision. ◊ Initialization has officially begun.

◊ Silence fills the café for a moment before I hear some people around the café asking about the floating text. And our group isn't excluded in that number as Rebecah says, "So, I think I finally lost it." She points in front of her.

"There are words floating in the air."

"No, you lost it a long time ago," Ali nonchalantly comments before adding, "I see the words too, so you're not the only one." Surprisingly, Rebecah doesn't even say anything in response to the first part of Ali's comment. But that's probably because everyone around the café is currently talking about the same thing. Everyone's talking about the words floating in their vision.

I stare at the words while finally taking a sip from my drink and feeling the liquid of pure caffeine and calories rush down my throat and into my stomach. Then more words begin to appear after the first. And the ground begins to shake along with the appearance of the words. ◊ Mana is now being injected into the Galaxy registered into the System as 'Aqua'. World Fusion will begin after source manas are awakened across the Galaxy. ◊ I quickly get down on the ground, with the others doing the same.

Albeit with Rebecah lagging a few seconds behind.

"What the fuckin hell is goin on?!" Reginald exclaims, and there are quite a few other people swearing around the café as well. So he's not the only one. Despite everything going on, though, I feel the hunger in me seemingly changing somehow. Which has me a lot more confused than whatever else is going on. Unless… ◊ Source manas are now being awakened across the Galaxy. Once your source mana has been awakened, you will be sent to the Tutorial for the duration of the World Fusion.

Once you return, the world you once lived on will no longer be what it used to. ◊ Before I can even finish reading the message, I feel pain flooding out from all over my being. And I'm not the only one judging by the screams I hear all over the café. But at the same time, the screams begin to vanish one after another, making me look up to see people literally vanishing into thin air. Even Sarah vanishes. Then Rebecah.

I feel a slight panic when I see Ali vanishing as well, only for the pain to suddenly vanish as I find myself somehow moving from the café to an entirely different location in the blink of an eye. In some sort of office of all things. With a man seated across a desk from where I am now seated on some office chair in front of his desk. The man smiles at me with a kinda creepy smile and exclaims, "Welcome to the System!

If you have any questions over the messages that are about to appear before you, I would be more than happy to answer them! Of course, feel free to ask more questions over the course of the rest of the hour you're in here even after the source awakening messages are finished arriving too!" I stare at the man. He stares back at me with that creepy smile. The man himself has neatly combed green hair, with green eyes, and a black business suit and green tie. And he looks oddly excited about what's going on.

But more importantly, I quickly ask, "Are the other people who vanished around me appearing in their own offices too?"

"Of course! Everyone in your Galaxy will be meeting with their own personal Guide for the duration of the Tutorial!" the man says in an overly chippy voice.

"Now, how about we get started on your source awakening messages, hmm?" I let out a sigh of relief that Ali is safe. That she didn't just get erased from existence or something like that. Then I find more of those strange messages appearing in my vision. And when I try to read them, I feel the hunger surprisingly beginning to fade for some reason. Not entirely, but partially. ◊ Your source mana has now been awakened! Congratulations for becoming one of the Awakened of the Multiverse!

◊ ◊ As a newly awakened hu-X: [V#0@ ◊ ◊ERROR◊ ◊ Newly awakened user's bloodline has altered their affinity, making their affinity no longer possible to be held in a human body. ◊ ◊ERROR◊ ◊ Searching for solutions… solution found. ◊ ◊ Commencing changing of the user's species to a species capable of holding the user's void affinity. ◊"What?" I mutter blankly while staring at the messages." Changing the user's… is this thing saying it's about to change my species?" The man across from me finally loses his smile at my words as he blinks and says, "What?" Then I feel pain like nothing I've ever felt before spread through my body like lightning, making me scream out loud before everything goes dark. Note: If you are reading this on a website that is not Royal Road or on my Patreon, you are reading a pirated version and that website does not have the permission of the author to host the story. Please instead read the story on Royal Road, here, as it is completely free to read on Royal Road. And the only Amazon Author that I will be posting this story as is the one that I posted all of my other stories through, as Shane Purdy. If this story is found published on Amazon or any other website by someone other than me, and you see that the story is not from the following Author page, it was stolen and posted without my permission by a pirate. https: //www. amazon. com/stores/Shane-Purdy/author/B09NRTM1J6