9: Awakening

Another year passed since the incident on the street. Asher wasn't arrested since the bandits' were wanted guys anyways and he ended up makings money from it.

He was standing in a hall with Cashel and it was all noisy and crowded. A platform was there at the front and the names of the registered would be called for awakening.

Asher and Cashel were here because their parents were on another mission at the borders and the awakening orb was in a secret locations so they had to register for the public awakening and they were here.

"Rios Jamaca! Step forward."

The elven boy walked up to the stage and he knelt before the table, cutting his palm and letting the heated blood evaporate into his palm and dealing his wound. 

After the transparent orb had evaporated all the blood, it's colour had changed to a normal yellow colour. 

"Medium earth affinity."

The boy walked out of the hall with tears of joy streaming down his face and another name was called. 

"Ella Thai! Step forward."

A fairy like lady walked onto the stage looking ecstatic and when it came to cutting her palm, all the excitement on her face went down the drain and some officials standing by had to help her with it.

Her screams were sure to haunt people's dreams for a few years. 

"High Water and High Earth affinity with a high chance of awakening plant affinity."

"Next, Asher... Von Wight..."

The announcer was a bit hesitant pronouncing the name. Was this a prank? Would he get fired after this?

A commotion started to spread, Questions like "What is a noble doing here?" and "Is this a prank" started to spread until Asher himself walked up to the stage. 

Asher took the knife and without hesitation, he ripped his own palm, cutting way more than he should have but he said show any expression. He had felt pain way more than this for eight years straight. 

His blood poured onto the orb and it started to heat up, evaporating into his palm. It entered his palm and travelled all the way to his solar plexus and started to form a circular crystal and started to draw mana from the surroundings.

Asher loved the feeling, it was somehow addictive having mana enter his body through his skin pores but suddenly, the process stopped. 

'Is it over–' 

"UGH! AACK!"

The orb had already showed two colours to the outside, pitch black and white and they were about to call out his affinities until Asher began to scream in pain.

Previously, he thought he was invincible to pain. He couldn't feel anything... but this one betrayed all his expectations.

His newly formed mana core started to show cracks from the middle.

"NO NO NO NO NO!! AAARGH!"

~SHATTER!~

Asher knew what this meant. If the mana core broke, a mage would never be able to absorb or sense the slightest strand of mana anymore.

Tears streamed from his face and he thought the pain would start to subside but unfortunately, it was just the beginning. 

The officials beside Asher wanted to move him and take care of him somewhere else but there was an incredibly dense shield protecting him.

"W-what us happening?!" The announcer couldn't stand straight anymore. Someone would need to take the blame for this and apologize to the Von Wight family and his boss would definitely choose him because he turned her down many times. 

Cashel had already appeared beside Asher and he was trying to smash the shield but to no avail. 

Suddenly, a purple energy streak descended from the skies and divided into two, a light purple and dark purple energy and it entered Asher and Cashel respectively.

Asher received a message on his system. The red screen was already turning purple at the edges. 

[WARNING!: SYSTEM CODE IS BEING OVERWRITTEN!]

[WARNING!: RESIST THE ENERGY ENTERING YOUR BODY!]

[WAR–]

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST SHUT UP AND HELP ME SOMEHOW!" Asher shouted back.

Cashel too started to feel intense pain all over his body. His bones started to break down and restructure themselves and soon enough, the twins passed out.

———

Asher's eyes fluttered open and he saw the familiar ceiling of his room which had been changed after the incident 8 years ago which included beating up a certain step-mother who had isolated herself since then. 

"Are you really meant to be smiling after embarrassing yourself in public?"

A voice interrupted his thoughts and Asher touched his face, he was indeed smiling. 

"Well, it wasn't my fault that my mana– Wait my mana core!"

Asher ignored his mother and tried to sense inside his body and sure enough, he could and he didn't see the black crystal that should have been floating in its own space.

Instead, there was an etheral purple core floating without a care in the world. It seemed to turn around and get shake a bit and a wave of energy sent his consciousness back to reality.

"You seem to have seen your special condition which is the same for your brother." 

"Huh? Cashel too?" Asher asked. 

"Honestly, I don't know what to do with you children. First, one of you gets a system and the other awakens the bloodline at a very young age and again this first one gets this system thingy and the same first one goes behind our backs and does his awakening in public and he was followed by his idiot younger brother and they cause a commotion!"

Emilia continued to ramble on and on about the twins misdeeds, even the ones Asher thought she didn't know.

'Did she finally break?' Asher thought. 

Suddenly the door swung open and Cashel walked in with Bariel. He seemed like he was scolded well by their father and now, he was moving to him.

Quickly looking for a way to change the topic, Asher asked a question that had been on his mind since he woke up. 

"Mother..., By the way, you didn't tell us our elements. What elements do we have?"

·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·A/N.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.

Being the children of such children must be tiring.

Give more poerstones to motivate Emilia!