After stepping out of the Dimensional Gate, Alen didn’t linger in the area for long.

He didn’t want to get caught up in some bureaucratic mess or get interrogated by the authorities swarming the plaza. He quietly slipped out of the drop-zone and followed the flow of the crowded streets, heading to wherever the majority of the people were going.

He didn’t know the layout of this city, so he didn’t know where to go or how to get there. Furthermore, he didn’t have a single coin of this world’s currency, and there was no way in hell he was going to beg people for money. He had to find some method to earn a living, but before that, he needed to learn how society and currency actually worked here.

As Alen followed the crowd, he approached the main entrance of the inner city.

He looked up at a massive nameplate. The name ’Vale’ was written in stylish, imposing letters, and right above the text rested the grand emblem of a sword.

Alen walked through the city gates. As he entered, he had to pass the armored guards standing on either side of the entrance. Fortunately, they didn’t stop him.

He was currently in dusty, bloody clothes from his battles in the trial. His wounds were still not fully healed yet. However, the healing speed of an Awakener was drastically faster compared to normal people.

Because the Awakeners were blessed by the ’Order’ of ’Mana’, their physical bodies possessed a natural regeneration rate far superior to a normal human’s.

The ’Order’ and ’Law’ were two completely different concepts in this universe.

The ’Order’ of the Universe was an absolute truth that everything eventually had to follow. It was the unconscious, foundational system of reality. It controlled the very cycle of awakening and growth. When a person Awakened, the ’Order’ of ’Mana’ was the main reason for it. There were many absolute Orders: the Order of ’Elements’, the ’Order’ of ’Space’, ’Order’ of ’Time’, ’Order’ of ’Fate’, ’Order’ of ’Destiny’, ’Order’ of ’Life’, and ’Order’ of ’Death’, etc. These Orders controlled the very cycle of the universe.

The ’Laws’ of the ’World’ were a step beneath them. The Orders of the Universe did not favor anyone and never showed partiality unless they genuinely recognized someone of absolute capability.

Laws, on the other hand, were biased. They actively supported the people whose affinity and talent they favored.

If one were to compare them to power rankings, ’Order’ sat at the very top, and ’Law’ sat directly beneath it. But for a normal person or even an average Awakeners, it was still far out of their reach to gain recognition from either. Even some top-tier Awakened failed to impress the World enough to gain its favour from the Laws.

Every single step an Awakener took on their ’Path’ mattered. The World was always ’noticing’ them; they couldn’t hide from it. The only thing an Awakener could do was walk their ’Path’ to the bitter end, even if it meant dying in the future.

As destiny foretold, a day would surely come when someone would fully conquer the Ascension Realm, leaving no trials left to complete. To attain that peace for future generations, humanity had to work now.

As Alen passed the guards and their scanning artifacts, he finally got a good look at the city inside the walls.

The entire city was filled with luxurious, towering modern buildings and grand houses. It was vastly more advanced than Earth. The technology here looked at least ten times more high-tech than anything from his past life.

Large monitors were seamlessly attached to the sides of buildings. Not only that, but massive holographic projectors displayed vibrant, three-dimensional advertisements directly into the thin air above the streets. The whole place looked like an incredibly advanced version of Earth.

Alen felt a deep sense of awe as he looked around. It was breathtaking. What was even more shocking to him was that all of this equipment was running purely on mana. Since mana was the natural, infinite energy source of this world, the entire technological infrastructure was built upon it.

Still, Alen didn’t know where to go. He had no destination.

"Where could I even go now?" Alen muttered, kicking a small pebble on the sidewalk.

"I’m stuck in this place. I have no money, I’m homeless, and I don’t have anyone to ask for help. Damn! This isn’t so different from my previous life."

Just as Alen was cursing his bad luck, a man suddenly stepped up right behind him.

"Hey. You, the little guy with the silver hair. Are you lost, kid?"

Alen turned toward the man with clear annoyance. The man was wearing a sharp black shirt and pants with a matching cap, and a silver badge rested proudly on his chest. He looked very similar to a police officer from Earth.

"No... I just forgot my way. There is no need to worry."

"Hmmm..." The officer looked him up and down.

"Judging by your age and the state of your clothes, you seem to be a student from the academy who got caught up in a trial. Let me guide you back there."

Alen looked at him blankly. He didn’t know what ’Academy’ meant in this context. Was it a normal school where people learned thousands of pounds of knowledge, or was it a place where Awakener and Non-Awakener learned about magic and combat?

To find out, he would have to go there.

He didn’t know anything about this city and had nowhere else to go, so Alen decided to see what this ’Academy’ actually was. It might earn him some valuable knowledge about this world. Not that he actually planned to enroll as a student. He had absolutely no desire to start traditional schooling again.

Back on Earth, after he entered college, he had been forced to drop out in the middle of his studies due to his severe financial crisis. From that point on, his interest in formal education had vanished.

He could still read and learn on his own, but the actual passion for years of study and hard work had died inside him long ago.

Even in this magical world, he wasn’t going to waste his time on petty classroom learning. From his perspective, the things people learned in an academy would eventually be learned through practical life experience anyway. Everyone learned the lessons of the world eventually; the only difference was whether it happened sooner or later. Learning wasn’t just about reading books; it was about how much actual understanding and practical application you gained.

"Ok... Can you lead me there?" Alen asked politely.

"Yes! Come with me," the officer smiled.

The policeman led Alen toward a stylish, hovering black car. He opened the back door for Alen to sit. Alen felt incredibly helpless at the fact that everyone here treated him like a child. He sat stiffly in the back seat.

’Does everyone in this world only mature at the age of 25 or 30? Why does everyone think a seventeen-year-old is a helpless kid?’ Alen grumbled internally.

’Do they think a ’kid’ could survive a trial in the ’Ascension Realm’ alone? Do they think a ’kid’ could survive on the streets without anyone’s support?’

*Sigh...*

Alen shook his head as the car’s engine ignited silently. The policeman drove the car at a high speed. There was far less traffic here compared to Earth.

There were still plenty of vehicles, but the infrastructure was managed in such a systematic, flawless way that traffic jams simply didn’t exist.

Alen looked out the window at the passing roads, watching the large commercial buildings, homes, and noble mansions blur by.

After some time passed, Alen spotted a massive, three-towered building in the distance. It was tall enough to pierce the clouds and could be seen towering over every other buildings in the district.

He stared at the grand architecture as the car neared the campus.

The car came to a smooth, sudden halt.

"We’ve arrived, child," the officer said cheerfully.

Alen nodded, opened the car door, and stepped out. A cool breeze hit his face as he looked up at the giant, imposing gates of the campus.

Engraved at the very top of the gates in a luxurious, glowing magical pattern were the words:

[The Asterion Academy]