Awakening: Starting With The Villain System-Chapter 12 - 11: Stages

The world is built on stages.

At the bottom, there are the normal humans.

Then above them, the awakened.

Higher still are hero academy students. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

From there, only a few rise to the level of world-ranked hero academy students.

Then comes the title of hero.

And at the very peak, the ones who stand above millions, are the world-ranked heroes.

That’s the hierarchy everyone in this world understands, whether they like it or not.

Normal humans and awakened people... well, they don’t really matter much.

They’re just the ordinary ones who live their lives without ever stepping foot into an academy or guild.

Sometimes, an awakened might have a spark of potential, but without training, it means nothing.

If they can’t prove their worth, they’ll get rejected without hesitation.

A guild wouldn’t accept a normal human anyway, depending on what department the human is aiming for.

Of course, not everyone even tries to join. Some awakened prefer to be independent, living on their own without guilds, rankings, or rules.

Some of them even graduated from academies but failed to qualify for anything better.

Then there are students like me. Hero academy students.

People who chose to chase power, recognition, or maybe just survival in a world that doesn’t forgive weakness.

Even within the academy, ranking never stops. Every student in Dusk Academy will be evaluated soon.

Our strengths, abilities, and potential will be tested, and then we’ll be given our own ranks.

Some people are already looking forward to it, probably imagining themselves at the top.

Me? I don’t even know how I’ll do... or if I’ll do well at all. I guess I’ll leave that to hard work.

At least, that’s what I tell myself. But the academy is only the start.

The best of the best, those who stand out among their peers, get a chance to reach for the world student ranking. That’s where things get serious.

Imagine it like this, the top ten students from Dusk Academy going head-to-head against the top ten from other academies. And then more academies after that.

It keeps going until they’ve found the hundred strongest students in the entire world.

That’s the world student chart. The strongest of the strong. The ones who’ll eventually step into the top ranks of actual heroes.

And heroes... well, they’re the ones people cheer for.

The ones who fight villains, protect cities, and sometimes just fight for themselves while the world benefits in the process.

That’s how I see them, anyway. Maybe that’s how the world wants us to see them.

But the ones that stand above all, world-ranked heroes, those are legends while still alive.

People who carved their way into the top one hundred out of millions. They don’t just fight for fame. Their very existence shifts the balance of the world.

My thoughts were cut short when Instructor Gari’s voice rang out again.

"I think that’s enough for my introduction."

He stood there at the front of the class, his posture relaxed but his expression completely bored, like none of this really mattered to him.

His black suit, stylish but unmistakably combat-ready, gave him a presence that demanded attention, whether he wanted it or not.

"I would like to welcome you, first-year students of Dusk." His voice was calm, steady, yet carried an undertone that made the room feel smaller. "The first day will feel special. That’s normal. Some of you probably didn’t even sleep last night, too excited, too worried, or maybe too confident. That’s fine."

His eyes scanned the room slowly, and I felt the weight of them even when they weren’t directly on me.

Then, his tone shifted. His expression grew sharp, almost dangerous.

"But let me make something clear. In Dusk, you won’t just be training in classrooms or sparring with wooden dummies. You’ll experience real combat situations. The kind that makes your heart race. The kind that makes your body tremble. The kind that forces you to decide in a single second whether you’ll survive or die."