Why does a man fall? So that he can stand up again.”

  That was what my parents told me over and over ever since the day the results came out.

  I had pinned all my hopes on those ten days of insane cramping.I thought that would be enough.Well,deep down, I did hope that maybe, just maybe, I’d pull a miracle and ace the exam. But the moment the written test began and questions lit up my screen…reality slapped me harder than the truck that killed me in my previous life.

  Like, quantum calculus? Gene recursion mapping? Seriously? I could practically feel the universe laughing at me for thinking I had a chance with that preparation.

  Still, I gave it everything I had in all three exam stages. I pushed until my brain threatened to leak out of my years. I mean, it wasn't the worst rank, D rank existed for that, but C was bad enough. It shed all my hopes of getting a recommendation from a top institution.

  I am sorry everyone. Sorry for acting like a big shot. Turns out, I was just a small fry all along.

  …

  The result came five days after the day of the exam. Talk about crushing a child’s hopes in seconds. Seriously, what kind of heartless system was this?.

  What happened to the good old days, at least in my past life, when results took months? Those days were the best. You could do whatever you wanted, guilt free, because the exam was already over. No one told you to study, just pure and endless fun.

  But this world? Forget it. It didn’t care about such small happiness.Guess, that’s one bad side of an advanced civilization. It favored efficiency over mercy.

  The mail came with a digital acceptance letter from Vidya school of Mayatech. I was selected for the school. Along that, they had sent an application form, (which I was meant to sign through biosignature. )dorm details, and information about school.

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  There was a note that said I had a week to report back regarding confirmation of my admission. I had thought I would do it on the last day just cause it's cool but I had no say as my mother typed a reply with my confirmation on the very day.

  Why, mom..why..

  As I scrolled through the data file with all the school information, something caught my eye. It mentioned two tests: one athletic, one genetic. That second one made me pause. Because it reminded me of a unique concept the novel had introduced.

  Compatibility.

  Since deviants were a fast-evolving species, normal weapons quickly became useless. Guns, bombs, missiles – one by one, they stopped doing damage. That was when humanity invented new technologies and something called mutations

  As deviants adapted, they began exhibiting terrifying abilities: bodies that could harden into living metal, super strength, super speed, teleportation and dangerous of all, abilities like telekinesis that could change reality.

  To counter this, humanity thought of fighting fire with fire. And after studying the corpses of deviants, they studied the specific gene which granted those abilities and developed a serum called the grail of light. Yes, that's the English translation of Koro no Grairu. The serum allowed humans to unlock similar mutations within themselves but didn’t cause deviant transformation.

  But humanity couldn’t afford to stop there. Even with these abilities, the limits of the human body were obvious. So, they build entire fields of technologies to enhance and extend what humans could do.

  That was where the concept of compatibility came in. Researchers discovered that the human body carried unique cosmic genetic irregularities. In simple terms: some people were just built differently. They adapted to serum faster, gained much better efficiency and reached heights others couldn’t dream of.

  At the same time, the technologies themselves required the body to function as medium. For example, Maya simulation protocol - a system designed by Atmatech system, depended entirely on the user’s brain waves and mental resilience to function at peak.

  That’s why they held these tests, to select the exceptional from the ordinary, and to record abilities and results that surfaced for future research.

  In the novel, the protagonist's true potential wasn’t even discovered until his admission into the spear of aegis. So…if somehow, I ended up with an overpowered ability? That’d be pretty cool.

  I mean, come on. Up until now I’ve lived a normal and boring life. The idea of wielding some fantasy styled power wrapped in cutting edge science. Hard to pass on that. Of course, there was one little downside. If I did end up with some flashy combat ability, then guess what? I’d be drafted into the fight against deviants.

  And that…would be terrifying.

  .