10. Embers of creation

Aiden gritted his teeth and held onto his consciousness with pure determination. But Aiden was just a regular boy at the end of the day. He held on for a while, but his consciousness soon began fading.

Just as Aiden was about to lose all consciousness, he noticed a strange feeling. As quickly as the terrifying pain had arrived, it began to recede.

As Aiden stood to his feet, the golden flames slowly extinguished themselves on his skin.

The cloaked figure looked at Aiden, and if his face hadn't been covered by a hood, the shock on it would have been shockingly evident.

He had been conducting the awakening process for the descendants of Apollo for many years, and this was the first time in his entire career that he had ever seen such a violent reaction.

He didn't know the complete implications of such a powerful reaction, but one thing he did know was that the boy in front of him would definitely not be an ordinary person.

As the hooded figure looked at Aiden, his eyes shook once again.

"Is that... is that still the same boy from before?"

In the eyes of the hooded figure, the new Aiden was completely unrecognizable from the old Aiden.

The training top Aiden wore had been completely burnt off, revealing a sleek and fit body. Although the slight physical changes in Aiden were impressive, what truly shocked him was Aiden's change in appearance.

It would be wrong to call the previous Aiden ugly; in fact, he had been rather handsome, but his new looks could put models to shame.

His skin became smooth and clear, completely without any spots or blemishes, like that of a newborn baby's. At the same time, all his features became sharper and even more charming. His brown eyes morphed into deep glowing amber, which seemed to completely enchant anyone who made contact with them.

But the most distinctive change was his hair. His originally dirty blonde hair had changed to a vibrant gold, like that of a dazzling golden sun shining in the sky.

"Is anything the problem?" asked Aiden.

Hearing Aiden's voice, the cloaked figure snapped out of his stupor and replied, "No, there's no issue. It's just that your body changed quite a bit after the divine awakening process, so I was a bit surprised, that's all."

Aiden was still incapable of looking at himself, so he just took the cloaked man's words at face value and didn't think too deeply about it.

After this, the cloaked figure handed him a red stone no bigger than the palm of his hand. Soon after he held it, the small stone began to heat up until it was practically scalding. A sharp burst of flames shot out, branding Aiden's hand with a bright red diamond shaped mark.

Aiden wanted to throw the stone away, but a calm old voice quickly sounded in his ear.

"Calm down, boy. This is an essential process you need to go through, and it won't hurt you in any way."

Although Aiden calmed down, he was still a bit panicked and asked,

"What exactly is this?"

"It's an ember of the Fire of Creation," responded the cloaked figure.

"For the mortals of Olympus, everything begins and ends with the embers of creation from the fire of the hearth located at the peak of Mount Olympus. In this life, you may not know many things, but you should know that for mortals and divine descendants, the Fire of Creation is your everything."

After the hooded figure finished speaking, the ember completed the branding process and soon lost all color, becoming a simple and unassuming plain rock.

Aiden put the rock aside and looked at the bright red diamond mark on the back of his hand. Seeing Aiden's curiosity, the hooded figure instructed Aiden on how to activate the mark and fed some newly awakened divine power into it.

Since Aiden's control of divine power was poor, he had to rub the mark with his hand to get it to activate. Soon, a burst of flames grew from the back of his hand, forming an information panel composed solely of deep crimson flames:

----

Name: Aiden Evans

Bloodline: Apollo

Rank: N/A

Strength: F+

Agility: F 

Endurance: F

Charisma: F+

Intelligence: F

Divinity: F (1/100)

[Feat of Renown: Descendant of Apollo (A) ]

Feat type: Passive

-Increased healing affinity

-Increased fire affinity

-Increased archery affinity

-Increased strength

----

"This... This—what is this!" Aiden's mind struggled to accept the strange phenomenon before his eyes, buzzing with countless questions. But as the hooded figure heard this, his half-hidden expression quickly contorted into one of utter disgust.

Only the gods knew how many times he had been asked that question, not just today but throughout his entire career. If he had to explain such a complicated thing every time to each trainee, he would be there all day.

"Don't think about too many things too fast. It's not my job to teach you the basics; you're at the training camp for a reason. If you have any questions, just ask your instructor. Everything will be explained to you soon enough anyway."

Aiden wanted to ask again and pry him open for more answers, but one look at the man's half-covered face told Aiden that his actions would lead to a complete dead end. Sighing, Aiden suppressed his curiosity and left the room, heading toward his dorm room.

What he didn't know was that the hooded figure kept his eyes on Aiden's back the entire time. Even after Aiden left, his eyes remained glued to the door.

It was only after the next trainee came in that the hooded man finally drew his attention away.

Aiden's transformation had left that deep of an impression on the poor old man.