[AOTFL] Chapter 3: Genestellar

Ding—Dong—

At long last, the pleasant sound of the school bell echoed through the modern-style, open high-rise building, bringing a burst of lively energy and noise into the building.

Students in uniform walked out of the academy buildings one after another, some laughing and chatting with each other, while others rushed past in a hurry, showing off their youthful energy.

Zexuan blended into the crowd of students just like any other ordinary student, not standing out at all—not only because he was also wearing the school uniform of this academy, but also because his appearance had grown noticeably younger.

Right now, Zexuan looked just like a high school student around seventeen or eighteen years old—his youthful figure strolling along the lush, tree-lined path, radiating energy.

'Didn't expect to get this kind of perk after entering a fantasy world.'

Even Zexuan found his current situation kind of fascinating as he touched his face, where he could only feel smooth, firm skin full of collagen—no trace of oily shine at all.

While quietly marveling at it, Zexuan started to organize the current situation in his mind.

'No doubt about it, I'm in Asterisk right now.'

Asterisk, also known as hexagram, was an artificial city floating above a massive impact crater lake.

As the name suggested, it had the shape of a regular hexagon.

In fact, the city's official name was Rikka, and it was built by the emerging economic power known as the Integrated Enterprise Foundation for the sole purpose of hosting duels.

Of course, the duels here weren't like those in Yu-Gi-Oh! where people played card games, but true, intense duels with weapons—straight-up combat competitions.

In this world, there was a hugely popular competitive event called 'Festa'.

Festa was known as the world's most beloved combat tournament that had a massive influence on the global economy, boosting and stimulating it in all kinds of ways.

Asterisk was the stage for the Festa and also the main facility for training its participants.

According to the rules of the Festa, only people between the ages of thirteen and twenty-two, known as the Genestellar generation, were allowed to participate.

Interestingly, almost everyone in that age group happened to be a student, so in this artificial city, six schools were built specifically to train the Festa participants—each school had a middle school, high school, and university division, covering the full thirteen to twenty-two age range of Genestellar.

'And the school I'm at right now is Seidoukan Academy, right?'

Seidoukan Academy was not just one of the six major schools but also the main stage where the protagonist group in the original work did their thing.

According to the life background Zexuan had chosen, he was now a first-year student in the high school division of Seidoukan Academy, and his purpose in coming to Asterisk was to participate in the Festa.

Nothing worth bragging about since out of every ten students who came here, seven or eight had thoughts about joining the Festa, while the remaining two or three showed up for all sorts of other reasons.

Right now, Zexuan was just one of those seven or eight—totally unremarkable.

'Looks like I didn't draw the kind of life with a main character background.'

Zexuan thought to himself, not really caring much.

According to the setup of this life background, his abilities were considered average within Seidoukan Academy. Even though he wasn't at the bottom of the barrel, he also wasn't some elite seed expected to shine in the Festa—just plain ordinary.

Even so, Zexuan already felt pretty satisfied.

'Sure, shooting to the top all at once sounds awesome, but that's just not realistic.'

As he walked, Zexuan arrived at a corner of a courtyard that was quiet and sparsely populated. In this corner, there was only a single gazebo surrounded by grass and flowerbeds, and aside from a few vague shadows passing by in the distance, there was no other movement.

Upon reaching the spot, Zexuan stretched his body a little.

'Yeah... my body's surely way better than before...'

He could clearly feel that his body hadn't just gotten younger or more energetic—his overall physical capabilities had improved significantly as well.

'With a body like this, I could easily become a world champion in a bunch of sports back on Earth... and yet in this academy, this level is just considered average?'

Zexuan couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.

'Genestellar, huh?'

Just like the teacher had explained in class, after the twentieth-century disaster known as the Invertia, humans discovered an unknown element called 'Mana' within the meteorites, which led to rapid scientific advancements and even gave birth to a new type of humans known as Genestellar.

Affected by mana, these individuals not only possessed physical abilities that far surpassed those of ordinary humans but also had access to a special kind of internal energy called 'Prana'.

Prana could boost one's offensive or defensive capabilities, especially when it came to defense—the improvement was quite dramatic.

Upon arriving in this world, Zexuan constantly felt a unique energy flowing through his new body, so just like he had done back in the classroom, he began to channel that energy again.

Soon, a metallic hum echoed—

Zing—

Like glittering stardust, the prana inside Zexuan surged, wrapping his entire body in flickering starlight.

Looking at the scene and feeling the changes in his body, his eyes lit up.

'If I'm like this now, even if a bullet hits me, I'd probably just feel a bit of impact, right? I wouldn't even get hurt much.'

Such an ability was only considered average in Seidoukan Academy?

Needless to say, this alone showed just how powerful the truly strong Genestellar really were.

Besides, to be granted this kind of power out of nowhere—how could Zexuan not feel satisfied?

'Too bad, this kind of chance only comes once.'

Indeed, this was a bonus that only came with experiencing a life in a fantasy world for the first time—an ability directly granted to the Administrator that matched the chosen life background, which was considered a kind of hidden benefit.

Given that this kind of thing only came with the first life, there would be no more chances after that.

'If I had picked a god-tier life background on my first run, wouldn't I be invincible right now?'

Pondering it, Zexuan still felt that it wasn't very realistic.

He had a strong feeling that since the ultimate goal of the Fantasy Library was to pursue a world grounded in reality, it wouldn't allow anything that completely broke the balance of these worlds.

Maybe, even though the life choices were random, the odds of each option showing up were still limited by the Administrator's own abilities. If the Administrator already had overwhelming power relative to the fantasy world, then the chances of getting an overpowered background would probably be higher.

On the flip side, if the Administrator's power was weak, then drawing a mediocre or even disastrous background would be more likely.

'With the way my strength is right now, making this life great and exciting enough might be pretty tough.'

Once Zexuan confirmed what kind of power he currently had, he fell into deep thought.

He remembered that the Fantasy Library clearly stated that once a life experience ended, the Administrator would be rewarded based on how great that life had been.

Since that was the case, he had to live in this world as actively and impressively as possible.

Naturally, if he wanted to make his life in this world truly great, what better way than entering the Festa and fighting some of the most famous and powerful fighters?

Unfortunately, with Zexuan's current ranking in Seidoukan Academy, where he was only middle-tier, even if he entered the Festa, the odds were that he would get knocked out in the first round.

'Guess I gotta find a way to get stronger.'

However, how should he do it?

Zexuan barely needed time to think before deciding on his next move.

'I need a weapon—something strong enough and something that can make me stronger too.'

Everything about him right now was average, sure, but deep inside his body, there was a power sleeping—a kind of authority that surpassed even divine power, a power known as the ultimate authority that only worked on the concept of 'armaments.'

If he wanted to become powerful as fast as possible, the quickest route was to get his hands on a powerful weapon.

'Looks like that's where I'll have to start.'

Zexuan already had a rough plan in mind, but before that, he needed to confirm exactly what his authority was capable of.

Right then, Zexuan turned his eyes toward his waist, where a cloth pouch was attached to the belt of his school uniform.

He reached out and pulled something from inside the pouch, revealing a device shaped like a sword hilt, embedded with a green crystal.

'So, this is the so-called Lux?'

Zexuan studied it with curiosity before a subtle thought stirred in his mind.

Hummm—!

Right away, a long blade extended from the front end of the sword-hilt device in his hand.