Awakening was what the Elders call the Ceremony of Blessings. This is what everyone has to go through when they reach the age of ten. In a way, it is considered the ceremony of blessing but also the cerony of curses.
In the world of Ragos, where magic is dominant, failing to awaken would lead you to live the life of a common mortal. Only the ones that successfully awakened are respected by others.
It doesn't matter even if you are a prince. To earn respect and the right to rule, you have to awaken or else you would be forgotten and have to live at the bottom of the society. Sure someone who has rich and powerful parents can live a better life when compared to commoners, that is if their parents don't care about the awkening.
If their family cares too much about awakening, which has a fifty percent chance of failure, life would be worse than that of a common person. I am now in the same position.
I am the third son and fifth child of Viscount Joseph Frostwolf.
The House of Frostwolf was established more than a millennia ago by Aldwin Frostwolf. He was born a commoner but through his achievements, he reached the rank of Baron before his demise.
By the time of his death, he was not able to achieve the hereditary status for the family but his work gave chance for the family to have a better start than many other commoners. Slowly the family's power increased and at present the Viscount status is hereditary.
For a commoner to fail the awakening would mean nothing but for a noble, it is considered as a dark mark. There would be a lot of pressure on the nobles to awaken and as a noble child, no matter how down the line I was, everyone expected me to awaken.
This was something that was not as easy as one thinks. Sure, the nobles trained the children from the age of five and fed them nutritious food from infancy to increase the chances of awakening but it was not always successful. Many fail to awaken and when they fail, their status goes down the drain.
Today would decide whether I could retain my status or lose my status in the family.
Don't get me wrong about my family. My parents love me very much and they already prepared a good alternative path for me if I fail the awakening but the problem was the elders.
For a house that was here for more than a thousand years, with prolonged lives, there would be a lot of family members.
This means that there would be a lot of members who would be vying for the seat of the Family Head or at least reach the ranks of Elders of the family. This is the only way that many see to get the most benefits from the family.
All my four siblings successfully awakened, which is not an easy feat. This not only strengthened my father's position but also my first sister or brother as the heir. Unless we fight with each other and destroy each other, the next head would probably be one of those two.
Oh, I forgot to say that in the Kingdom of Glesaria, the first child has the right to inherit the title of the father, rather than the first son but it comes with some restrictions. If the girl wanted to become the next head, the one she married should not be an heir to any noble house, whether it was a higher house or lower house.
This was because the boy whom she marries has to change their family name to her name.
Moreover, they have to marry only an awakened. These are the restrictions on them if they want to become the head. The second restriction applies to boys too.
My parents had a daughter as their first child and then two sons before they birthed another girl. After them I came, making me the youngest child. So I can't be the heir but I can still get a good position in the family.
---
"Don't be nervous. Everything will be alright", my mother said soothing my mood.
I am surely nervous because I don't know whether I will successfully awaken or not. It would have been less stressful if it happened inside the family compound but that was not happening. The awakening happens at the local Magic Association branch, which has branches spread across nations.
I was on my way to the magic association along with my parents in the family car. Yes, the world may still have aristocracies but it was developed in many fields, much more than Earth. The difference was that in this world magic was used as the energy.
"Listen to your mother boy. Even if you don't awaken, it won't be the end of the world", my father spoke hoping that those words would boost my confidence. They didn't.
My mother glared at my father, "Dear,..."
My father understood that he had mispoke but luck was on his side at that moment, "Oh, we are here", he said hoping to escape my mother's anger. She may look soft but she is the devil of the family, which my sisters both inherited.
My father quickly found a spot to park and then led us inside the magic association.
I laughed a little inside thinking about what would happen to my father later, and he sure undid some of my nervousness.
---
Once we were inside oof fo the attendants led me to the awakening room, while my parents were led to the observation room.
"Don't think too much. Just close your eyes and place your hand on the awakening tablet. Everything else would depend on our fate", the attendant who was overseeing my awakening spoke.
I did exactly as said.
When I opened my eyes, I was somewhere else.
"Wait this isn't the Magic Association. Where am I?" I yelled out loud hoping that there would be some kind of response.
I have read many novels, where the MC would get some different experiences than others and I am not so sure and wanted to confirm that.
What I read about the awakening process was that it would take less than a minute outside but to the one going through the process would feel like it was more than a minute.
This was because it was said that one would enter their Sea of Conscious when the awakening was taking place. Before awakening it was said to be almost empty but that was not the case for me.
My Sea of Conscious was larger than what was written in the books. It was supposed to be dark in color but there are a lot of colors, which I do think had to do with me retaining memories of previous life.
Before I could understand more, I woke up in the real world.
"Congratulations", the attendant said.
I didn't understand what happened and looked at the awakening tablet, it was glowing, which denotes that the awakening was successful.
I quickly checked my status to confirm my awakening.
"Status"
--
Name: Magnus Frostwolf
Age: 10
Titles: Son of Viscount
Class: Draconic Warlock
Affinity: Shadow, Blood
Bloodline: Black Dragon (1% Purity)
Physique: Devourer Physique (EX)
Talent: Ritualistic Summoning (EX)
Rank: Tier-0
Level: 0
Health Points (HP): 100
Strength (STR): 9
Endurance (END): 10
Dexterity (DEX): 1
Agility (AGI): 9
Magic Power (MP): 200
Class Skills: Shadow Bolt
Skills: None
---
Wait, what?
Seeing my status screen, I can only say WTH.