The days following the ceremony were a blur of humiliation. The change in his classmates was instantaneous. Those who had once been equals were now towering figures.
His former friend, Jake, who had awakened the soul of a High-Level Martial Artist, walked with a swagger, his muscles rippling with power. "Move aside, soulless trash," Jake sneered as he bumped into Anthony in the hallway. "Don't contaminate the air with your mediocrity."
Even the teachers treated him differently. During practical classes, while others were learning to condense Qi or solving complex equations that would have taken years to learn normally, Anthony was left sitting on the sidelines. He tried to study, tried to practice the basic breathing techniques, but without the insight of a past soul, it was like trying to read a book written in an unknown language.
"You lack the aptitude, Anthony," his homeroom teacher said with a pitying look that hurt more than anger. "Perhaps you should prepare for a simple life. Manual labor, maybe. Some things just can't be helped."
Being an orphan already made him feel like an outsider. Now, without an awakened soul, he was a non-entity. He ate alone, slept alone, and walked alone. The despair was a cold hand gripping his heart. What was the point of living in a world where your worth was measured by who you were before you were born? If he had no past, did he even deserve a future?