"Uh, finally got to lie down..."
Slumping down on a queen-sized bed, Damon mumbled to himself, lying in the middle of nearly a dozen shopping bags.
Releasing a satisfied smile, he looked around—shopping bags from various brands: Apple, Nike, Zara, and others.
After receiving a rebate from his subscription and subscribing to various other streaming services, Damon updated his wealth status.
Being homeless, the first thing he thought to do was find a hotel to pass the night, but before that, he went on a shopping spree.
Wearing old clothes in the body of a protagonist—going to any hotel, heck, any place—was just asking for humiliation.
The face-slapping holy bodies with their luck always attract the scorn of others... The original book he was in had a lot of face-slapping scenes. Thinking of that, Damon quickly purchased a modest outfit for himself.
Wearing a black shirt and grey pants, he looked down at the costly shirt he had purchased. Wasting money on clothes—in both his lifetimes—this was the first time he wore something so expensive.
A new outfit, a new bag to carry his luggage, a new iPhone—a literal dream for an orphan like him—a MacBook, an expensive set of luxury casuals, belts, watches... he had gone full nouveau riche, buying everything he had ever just added to his online cart.
"Did I go overboard?"
[Balance: 20,599,000]
'More than 200,000 dollars!' Looking at his bank balance on his newly purchased phone, he wondered.
"Being rich is amazing!"
Someone with zero financial backing or security, who had never experienced monetary support from anyone and survived in society alone for 18 years, Damon—who had lived in frugality—was, for the first time ever, experiencing the joy of money.
"You can buy anything you wish for, wear nice clothes, live in nice places, and never have to worry about your next meal..." This... this was the life Damon had always wished for.
"I love you, System."
Looking at the hovering board above him, Damon couldn't help but be grateful to the System because of which he got to fulfill his wishes...
'...Everything is going so great... but I don't know why... it feels kind of empty.'
A feeling of emptiness settled in Damon's heart as he questioned himself, wondering why he felt this way.
Getting up from the bed, roughly clearing the shopping bags off, Damon thought to himself as he removed his clothes.
In the mirror, he saw the reflection of his handsome new body. Standing at 5'11, almost 6 feet, with black hair, brown eyes, and masculine handsome features. A kind of underweight figure with a little muscle and definition.
'Not a supermodel figure as mentioned in the novels...' Yeah, no Greek god physique at the start. 'Not surprising.'
Removing his clothes and placing them on the bed, Damon got ready to take a bath. Noticing the remote nearby, he switched on the television.
He had currently booked himself a suite in a nice 3-star hotel near the city center.
"Only four days remaining for this year's Awakening Ceremony!"
"Yep, every year during the day of the autumn equinox, the Dragon Country holds this collective ceremony to awaken young cultivators."
The voices of the reporters echoed through the room as Damon stopped in his tracks, curiously looking at the program ongoing—a male and female reporter talking about the Awakening Ceremony.
"To tell our audience more about the Awakening Ceremony, I would like to invite Senior Bai, a cultivator and ex-professor of Imperial College!"
As the man spoke, an old man wearing a white cultivator's robe appeared on the screen, stroking his beard.
"Hohoho—am I on TV now?"
"Yes, Senior Bai."
The old man let out a weird laugh as he looked at the camera.
"Everyone, today I, Bai Yu, will guide you through the history of our great Dragon Kingdom and the Awakening Ceremony!"
"Seventy years ago, one day the sky split open as a cosmic storm hit our Azure Planet. The sun seemed to vanish, and spatial rifts—now called Gates—began appearing all over our world!"
"Monsters, dragons, and beings no one thought existed in reality emerged from these Gates, massacring humanity."
As the man spoke, he clenched his fist, holding his beard as he wore a solemn expression.
"At that time, we knew nothing about these beasts. Guns ran out of bullets, missiles were unable to kill the monsters—it was... hell."
"Later on, the scholars of that time discovered the source of the monsters' magical power—Qi. The energy that flows through the world."
"By cultivating this, one can embark on the road of cultivation, attaining great powers."
"At the age of 18, it is noted that the human body—by mystic standards—matures, and under the effect of high-density Qi, one can awaken the dormant power to absorb Qi naturally from the air."
"Discovering this, every year our Dragon Kingdom hosts the Awakening Ceremony, in which all schools and public places are equipped with Awakening Stones and cultivators who create an environment of dense Qi to which the bodies react and awaken their dormant powers!"
"Everyone's awakening is different, their talents are different. Some, during the ceremony, also awaken special magical powers and affinities to different elements such as fire, water, earth, wind, ice, lightning, etc."
The program continued, and Damon listened through all the information with great interest, cross-checking it all with the knowledge he possessed.
Everyone on the planet could awaken. The process of awakening differed for every country, each following their own customs. In the Dragon Country, however, a public ceremony was held for the youth to awaken.
This mass awakening was done for many reasons: the day of the autumn equinox—the day with the maximum concentration of Qi in the air due to natural yet mystical reasons—was selected as the day of awakening, celebrated like a festival by many; the mass awakening of all youth helped increase the number of cultivators, who were the main military power in today's era, thus boosting the country's strength.
And most importantly, it helped in finding the talented ones—the raw gems—to cultivate, invest in, and train.