1 Awakening amidst the Snow and Ice.

"You got to be kidding me." – that was his very first outburst of the language, unknown just a moment ago. Knowledge about it poured directly into his mind with a chunk of memories that were broad enough to cause a tremendous headache. – "I didn't sign up for this!"

Well, to tell the truth maybe he did, a young man back then told Him three wishes after all, but for the mother of that lanky dude, he really thought it's just a very realistic dream. Who knew that man could fulfill everything?

All of this doesn't make any sense.

"Okay, Aiden, calm down. Just keep calm and breathe." – his own voice, childish to the point of belonging to a baby, didn't serve as consolation. On the contrary, the tender age of three was one of the main reasons for concern. Not taking into consideration the fact that he was abandoned in the middle of nowhere in midst of snow and coldness.

Apparently, he was born in a small tribe that traveled through the north pole, but his father died while his mother to survive entered a harem of tribe lord, who gave her a choice – child versus food and shelter. It was a law. Any woman entering a harem can't bring a son. Daughters were fine by the way. When grown up they too will become tribe lord wives.

His mother made a choice.

They not only threw him away but broke his legs so he wouldn't come back.

This is just too much. Normally when someone reincarnated, they will find their body intact. That rule didn't work for the poor kid lying on the ground amidst the snow and inclusion of crimson blood from wounds. He didn't feel pain, it's too cold for that, but at least he was alive, although barely.

'I doubt I have much time… let's start thinking, what do I have?'

This place is the very Northern Plains, far, months if not years away from any settlement of Douluo Dalu given the path is traversed by the kid he is.

'All I have is that wishes. Are they fulfilled or not? They should be, I'm here after all. Well, if they are, I still have a chance, albeit it all depends on luck. I do not know what twin spirits this body granted me, or, perhaps, he granted me. But I have a hunch, after all, I gave several rather strict opinions on that stuff and twin spirits were my second wish by the way.'

"What did he call that thing again? Right, Nexus, are you here?"

= Yes, Master. Analysis already in progress. Information gathering complete. Access to Eternium Library granted. Knowledge of awakening ceremony extracted. Proceed with the awakening ceremony?

That talking biochip was essentially the first wish. He had three in total and took his merry time to think about what might be needed and to what extent. Well, the foremost criterion was the ability to help throughout his entire life and so the choice pointed at having a resemblance of a supercomputer with supreme analytical ability and possibility of understanding laws of this world's cultivation system.

Thus, Nexus was born. As for Eternium Library – that thing is just a cool naming of your typical hard drive, although way more advanced.

Technically, his wishes were divided into three categories.

They were "knowledge" for Nexus, "potential" for twin spirits, and "cultivation help" for Divine Forge Tools. Well, last but not least wish let him come in possession of three rings. As the dude said, they are literally just crafting tools anyone in their realm have, albeit he insisted that giving regular quality goods will sully his reputation, so Aiden received Krondan, Horont and Lonzaik.

One hell of naming, that goes without saying. These three rings each have their own function. Krondan is an artifact of creation and can synthesize practically anything as long as the user is knowledgeable and materials abundant, however the influx of resources for creation should be strictly in a form of purified essence powder. Speaking on human language, it should be the molecular dust of required material with no foreign elements and rich in spirit energy.

That's what Horont specifically does – extracting the essence and purifying the material. As for Lonzaik – that ring is the most straightforward and cute in his eyes. It's a storage space, but the size inside is enough to send any literal and cultural person with at least basic knowledge of the metric system to the hospital due to heart attack because of severe shock.

And that is all he has now.

Naturally, empty Lonzaik is of no help. As well as crafting tools. Sadly or not, he can't use it on a soul controlled organism. Himself included, or by the functions he might give a try to reconstruct bones inside himself. However, just the thought of turning them to molecular dust first sent shivers of fear down his spine. Nexus and Library of Eternium, needless to say, are just for mind games and resided directly in mind-scape, he can only extract, process, and record knowledge there. That leaves twin spirits, which are dormant. Awakening face control failed due to young age.

Well, it's all relative.

He told me that on Soul Land during ancient times there were cases of self-awakening even at birth. And it's not that rare.

'Thus, I just need the know-how. And what can be easier?'

Nexus has in-depth knowledge of the current and previous era. Naturally, awakening is included.

"Okay… pain is fleeting… I can do this." – he tried to sit up near the protruding chunk of ice. Now, looking around, Aiden couldn't help the bitter smile to appear on his face. Land of ice and snow everywhere one dared to turn his head too. – "And that annoying blizzard."

No sky, no land, no man.

He quenched down rising panic and forcefully calmed down the beating heart. Instructions of Nexus were precise, yet, for the person from Earth, a bit eerie.

Close your eyes, concentrate, and look inside yourself. Well, he did just that. It was a very refreshing experience of falling into the quagmire of soul whirlpool, which eventually led to a strange black space.

It wasn't blank. There hovered two entities hovering inside.

Eggs? No, cocoons or, perhaps, something in-between.

'And I need to forcefully break them open. So that's what a true awakening ceremony is.'

Normally, a period of growth inside such energy capsules should be very long, thus explaining why people can't accidentally awaken the martial spirit in their adulthood when it's already grown to complete state. A long period of germination will make inner space to go into a state of atrophy, thus crippling the master. So there is a period during which the awakening ceremony must be performed.

That also explains why people with low innate spirit power are destined to not go far. The reason here is not about the amount of spirit power you have, but initial development when martial spirit devours the spirit force of a host to grow. If spirit force is low, then it means that martial spirit is still in the early stage of development.

If forcefully awaken, it will be like premature birth, resulting in disabilities at best.

"Nexus, these conjectures, are they true?"

= It was the most logical deduction from my library of knowledge. Martial Spirits are a kind of life too, master, so I believe this theory is at least partly correct.

"Why partly?" – he cuddled in fur clothes, whining in pain from broken legs and trying to distract himself in an interesting topic while fiddling with two cocoons.

= Twin spirits naturally have more requirements to be hatched, but they usually represent themselves in the full innate spirit body. That is a contradiction in which I still need some research.

"Then…" - he suddenly thought of an issue. – "What is my level of spiritual power?"

= Zero.

The blatant answer of a mechanical voice shattered his dreams.

= But that's when the second hypothesis kicks in, master. Martial Spirits are essentially not a biological being, so it might be possible to grow them properly, and precedents of this process were recorded and known as…

"Second Awakening!" – blurted out Aiden greatly relieved.

= Indeed. But some called Second Awakening a process of evolution that is not essentially the same as growth, so I believe that people here knew both "growth" and "evolution" as the same process which is wrong. However, master, I will say it now. You don't have a choice and time to wait. Normally one undergoes an awakening ceremony at six, but you are only three.

"I understand." – sighed Aiden. It's a blessing that he chose to have something like Nexus, otherwise, he would have died here today. – "As for the matters of innate spirit power and martial spirit growth and evolution, I will trouble you Nexus. First research growth, then aging of spirit rings, and after that evolution. That will be all for now."

= Understood. Master, proceed with awakening as soon as possible.

"Eee… but how?" – that is the crux of a matter.

= If you can't supply spiritual energy for development, you need to extract it in return from the shell to weaken it. That way your spirit power will rise sharply, but the effect would be a ruse at best.

"Hah… understood… and how do I do that?"

= Master, you have the power of Horont, just guide it there and perform fission. It will work with pure soulforce.

"Won't it be dangerous?"

= Do you have a choice?

"You got a point."