After reaching the top, Jake couldn't help but feel everyone's eyes on him, he steeled his will and moved toward the center of the circle, following the same steps that had been repeated countless times by those before him.
The moment he stepped into the circle, the man pressed the button without wasting any time, his expression showing little patience as his attention seemed elsewhere, as if he would rather be anywhere else than here.
As the button was pressed, a beam of light shone down on Jake, at first, the machine emitted a low humming sound, but barely five seconds later, everything went silent and still.
The moment Jake noticed this, his expression shifted into dread, while waiting earlier for his turn, he had carefully observed the process each time a student stepped forward for their awakening, and he had picked up on a pattern.
For those who failed to awaken, the hand guards would go still and silent after about ten to fifteen seconds.
For those who succeeded, the hand guards would remain active, trembling or reacting for at least twenty-five to thirty seconds.
And in the final moments before the one-minute limit ended, a few hand guards would still show signs of activity.
Jake had been relying on this pattern to predict who had a high chance of awakening.
So now, seeing everything fall silent so early, he felt he already knew what it meant, even the old elder seemed to realize it at the same time. After just five seconds, the hand guards showed no reaction again, and instantly his gaze turned colder.
The way he looked at Jake was filled with indifference, almost as if he had already labeled him useless for not even being able to keep the Hanger System active for up to ten seconds.
If looks could kill, Jake was certain he would already be six feet under, but regardless of what the man thought, he couldn't force Jake out of the circle.
Not until the full minute was up.
That was the rule.
So just like that, Jake looked like just another student destined for failure, as the remaining students below were already watching him with pity in their eyes.
With each passing second, it felt like the countdown was dragging him closer to disappointment, while he lowered his head, unable to look up again, and at that moment, he had already given up on awakening.
Instead, his thoughts drifted elsewhere, questioning why exactly he had been brought into this world at all, as if he had no real purpose.
By the fifty-fifth second, the old man was already waiting for the process to end so he could dismiss Jake and move on to the next student, but at that exact moment, something unexpected happened.
One of the hand guards in the air suddenly shot forward at incredible speed, and before anyone could react, it latched onto Jake's hand, even Jake, with his head still bowed, didn't immediately realize what had changed.
He was still waiting to hear the words declaring his failure when a deep, searing pain suddenly coursed through his entire body, he dropped to his knees, screaming, as he raised his left hand—and only then did he understand the cause of his pain.
On his arm was a black hand guard that extended all the way to his elbow, its design looked ancient, yet faint blue lights ran along the lines engraved into it.
Despite the overwhelming pain, he could see a system interface forming before his outstretched hand, and tears streamed down his face.
[> Conditions for the Mech System have been met.<]
[> Mech System interface will absorb the Hanger System and become the new system.<]
At that moment, Jake couldn't fully grasp the difference between the Hanger System that created what this world called super soldiers… and the Mech System that had just awakened within him.
But at least now he knew he wasn't hopeless, he had truly transmigrated into this world with his own golden-finger system; he simply hadn't met the conditions for it to activate.
Now that the pain was finally subsiding, a sense of relief washed over him, though tears still streamed slowly down his face, he remained kneeling on the ground, not making any attempt to stand.
The old man staring at him was speechless for a few seconds, he had been completely certain that the student before him would fail to awaken, but now, not only had he been proven wrong, the outcome had caught him off guard.
"Join the rest of your fellow awakened super soldiers," the old man said, his voice softer than before, though not entirely devoid of its earlier coldness, when Jake raised his head to look at him, he could tell the man was still very much skeptical about him, as the old man's gaze seems to be judging him with a lingering doubt.
But Jake no longer cared about such things, without another word, he got to his feet and quietly walked over to where the awakened students were gathered.
It was there he noticed that even among the awakened, there was still a clear divide, the students from each region stood together, with a noticeable gap separating those from Regions E and F from the other two.
And despite the disdain shown toward them by the higher regions, the awakened students from Region E still carried themselves with arrogance when looking at those from Region F.
"Come on, brother."
Aiden—the first to awaken from the F region was the first to approach him, he shook Jake's hand, then pulled him into a brief hug before leading him over to where the other awakened student from F Region stood.
The other student gave Jake a nod of acknowledgement, which he returned in kind, Jake knew of Aiden. Even though Region F was poor, Aiden's family was one of the more well-off clans there, which made him quite popular in school.
And since he had awakened first, he was already acting like the leader, displaying his unrestrained charisma.