Earth was ravaged by a cataclysmic event that tore the world in two, now supported by massive chains conjured by masters of the Solar System.
Unexpected weather hazards, mutation of plants and animals, mass death, hysteria, unknown phenomena plague everywhere. Humans were pushed to the brink of extinction.
When hope was all lost, a hero rose from the ashes and sacrificed himself to save the world. He combusted his flesh and soul into a bubble sphere that slowed down the fracturing of the world. More than that, he gave humanity a chance to grow.
Earth is doomed. What the nameless hero did won't last forever. People have to escape and establish themselves elsewhere.
Sadly, to survive in space is to have a Class, and to have a Class you need to push your Talent to Rank Six. And to do that, you need to Awaken.
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Elias Grimhammer stood in a purple uniform with a large round button that bore the hammer emblem. With him were four other Scions of Grimhammer, all waiting in anticipation for their destiny.
This was the most important day in their lives, more important than their birthdays, because it was on this day they would finally mature and step onto the ladder of growth and development. Hopefully, they would become the next heroes of the world and the solar system.
Elias sighed. His life had been a rollercoaster of emotions, ups and downs. Sometimes he believed he was the unluckiest person in the world, but now he didn't know what to feel.
He grew up not knowing his father. His mother cleaned streets to earn money. She used to leave him alone for hours on end while he was a baby. When he was barely two years old, he was kidnapped, and a ransom was demanded from his weak, sick, and confused mother.
Somehow, he was saved by a local police officer with a tracking Talent. At age five, he was sent to compulsory school, where life became worse. Bullying and abuse were the least of his worries; the worst was being called "the son of a whore."
Elias never understood what that meant. His mother loved him, but she wasn't right in the head. All she was good at was cleaning, cooking, and looking at him with a fond smile—a charming smile that always made him smile no matter how grim the situation.
Elias smiled to himself. She was the epitome of innocence.
Things worsened when he was ten. He was kidnapped again, this time by a powerful, wealthy family who locked him away for two years.
In a basement with no source of light except when they opened the door to feed him. They didn't allow him to speak to anyone, and they didn't speak to him.
The kind policeman was also the one who found him this time, but he died on the way. Thankfully, his death brought Elias's situation to light, and the truth came out to the public.
Elias couldn't believe that all the hardship he had endured was because he was the illegitimate child of the Grimhammer Family, one of the most powerful families in the world.
News circulated that his father was disowned and his mother casted away. Unfortunately, his father went on an Exploration and never came back, leaving his mother alone with a young child.
For the sake of public image, the Grimhammers took back his mother and placed him in an appropriate school.
Elias proved to be brilliantly gifted, unlike anything they had seen before.
He aced his written exams as well as his physical fitness tests. In every aspect of both academic and extracurricular activities, Elias was at the top.
He was not a simpleton but very aware. Perhaps because he had grown up before his mother, he had adopted the attitude of pretending not to understand situations.
Elias was a genius, but he worked for it away from the eyes of others. He pretended not to care, but he devoured his books like never before. He acted as if he didn't train, but he hid and pushed himself to the limit.
Also, he never complained because his mother was getting everything she wanted.
Rumors began to circulate about another truth: Elias was not a bastard child of the Grimhammers, but rather, his mother had actually been the wife of a Grimhammer.
Zar Grimhammer was his name, third son of the Grimhammer Patriarch. He married for love outside the family Bloodline and he was disowned.
This was later confirmed, and the family proclaimed they had forgiven Zar and had now taken his son and wife back into the fold.
Elias knew why: it wasn't for any reason other than him. A supreme genius boy who kept scoring number one at his local school.
The week after he and his mother were recognized as legitimate members of the Grimhammer family, he participated in a Local Challenge between his school and others. He came out on top.
Then he went to the State Challenge and came out on top. Then he went to the National Level Challenge and came out on top.
At the age of seventeen, Elias went to the World Challenge and came third against two terrifying geniuses.
Everyone, from his town to the so-called family, understood that if he had been given proper upbringing from age one to seventeen, he would have come in first.
Elias feared that his third-place finish would anger the Grimhammers, but he was shocked when even the patriarch, the governor, and the president of their country congratulated him.
He was showered with gifts beyond his wildest dreams: a permanent residence, a car, learning tools, tickets to training facilities, and much more.
Elias took a deep breath. All of that was nothing compared to what they would face now.
Awakening a Talent was the greatest thing in the world, and he wanted to awaken one of three things: Hammer, Gravity, or Gravity Hammer.
If he got a Gravity Hammer, he would immediately be among the successors of the family. A smile came to his face. He would face many enemies, but with his talent, he could see the whole country's leaders siding with him.
"Elias Grimhammer."
A deep voice came from the grand building before them, and he walked forward toward the door. His steps were measured, filled with confidence but lacking arrogance.
Elias could feel it in his bones that there was no way his Talent would be less than A-Rank. It was impossible for that to happen.
His father had an SS-Rank Talent: Gravity Hammer, which meant that as a descendant, he couldn't be much lower than his father.
Of course, his mother was also a factor, which meant her blood could influence him not getting the family Talent, but as long as his father's genes remained dominant, he had a chance.
'I only need a Gravity Hammer!' Elias smiled with confidence.
Gravity Hammer was the agreed-upon Talent to rule the family, for reasons Elias didn't know, but he would find out soon.
He entered the tall building made of carved stone and came into a large hall adorned with transparent tiles, colorful stones glow beneath it in a rippling translucent water.
Elias had seen this many times and was always mesmerized.
He went ahead toward the center of the 100m × 100m hall. A table made of pale bones stood, carrying an ordinary stone—a normal gray, large fragile stone with cracks all around it.
No one was around in the hall and for good reason.
"Place your hand on the stone!"
The speaker was their nation's greatest master, a Rank 5 Thunder Talent User. On the cusp of obtaining a Class and ascending beyond the confinement of the world.
Elias hesitated. He remembered his mother's kind smile and sighed.
'Gravity Hammer is ideal, but if mother's genes influence me, I will embrace whatever I get. And if I'm a dud, I have my academics to pursue. Weakness is not the end of the world!'
Dud is Talentless person.
Elias gave himself a pep talk. The number one reason his father was disowned was for marrying an unknown woman, which will dilute the Bloodline of their descendants and increased the chance of children not awakening or awakening weak powers.
Zar had the Gravity Hammer Talent; he was somewhat of a noble even among the family, so his actions brought shame to the family.
If Elias awakened Gravity Hammer, then he and his mother would be elevated to the highest level, and the Grimhammers would have no choice but to deeply accept him and also sponsor him more.
Elias placed his hand on the stone, and nothing happened. He smiled and counted his heart beats.
Three seconds' delay is C-Rank Talent!
Five seconds' delay is B-Rank Talent!
Ten seconds' delay is A-Rank Talent!
Eleven seconds' delay is S-Rank Talent!
Twelve seconds' delay is SS-Rank Talent as well as SSS-Rank Talent.
With his heart taking note of every second, Elias's heart beats to five, and his smile broadened; at this point, his life was set.
But a delay beyond twelve to fifteen seconds would mean he was a dud. He wiped those thoughts from his mind.
After ten seconds, his smile faded, and awe settled on his face.
At eleven seconds, he became afraid. 'No, stop right now,' Elias didn't realize the stone had held his hand in place until then.
At twelve seconds, the stone broke in a swirling accelerating vortex. A condensed round object formed and fell on the pale bones with a thud.
His actions and every move were being broadcast to the Grimhammer Family—his expression of confidence, his fear, then his smile, and then fear and his attempt to remove his hand, and finally the results.
"Don't do anything. Stay still!"
Elias froze. 'SS or SSS rank... I'm doomed!'
"Don't think. Just stare at what you made!"
Elias kept his hand still above the stone and stared at it.
'Please!'
On the now-ashen round ball, writing appeared:
SSS-rank Talent
Elias got surrounded. He couldn't see them as his eyes were on the stone but he felt it when dvices grabbed him and energy poured binding him in place.
Then another writing appeared:
BLACK HOLE
Lightning cracked around him, creating a dome of terrifying force enough to turn the previous world's Mount Everest to dust in an instant.
Rand Grimhammer, patriarch of the Grimhammer family, appeared, and forces of gravity bent Elias's surroundings as they teleported away.