The Awakening Ceremony

"It is time for the Awakening Ceremony to begin!"

All of the children in the line began to shift excitedly, especially the ones who were towards the front.

Selene watched all of this with interest. This could be considered a deciding point in the children's life, determining what their options would be in the future.

It was the same for Selene. She had long been training herself in practicing swordplay and fighting techniques, but it wouldn't matter how hard she worked if her Arcane Spirit was weak.

"As all of you know, Arcane Spirits can be found in nearly all humanoids. Naturally, though, there are different grades and types of Arcane Spirits."

The old man who still had his eyes closed began to lecture the children.

"Most of you here today will only awaken a low-grade spirit, while perhaps two of you will be lucky enough to possess a medium-grade spirit."

The old man's words caused looks of doubt and grievance to appear on the children's faces.

There were well over two hundred children gathered in the plaza, yet this old man was saying that it would be lucky for two of them to possess medium-grade spirits?

"You all may be doubting me right now, but once the awakenings begin there will be no room for doubt."

Seeing the disbelieving faces of the children in front of him, the old man coldly humphed.

"Senior, what about high-grade spirits?"

Hearing the question from the crowd, the old man couldn't help but sigh to himself.

"It is best if you don't bother yourself with fantasies about high-grade spirits. Those only appear in a mere 1 out of 10,000 people. How could there be a good chance for even one to appear in a group of only 200?"

The old man wasn't trying to be cruel to these excited young children, he just didn't want them to be disappointed. He had been doing this job for over 20 years now and he still hated seeing the grief on an expectant child's face.

"Alright, enough of this and that! First in line, please step onto the stage!"

Seeing that the children weren't producing any more questions, the old man holding the crystal sphere called up the first person in line.

"Child, what are your name and age?"

The old man holding the crystal sphere's voice was much colder than the meditating man, and it caused the child to snap to attention.

"M-my name is Jacob, sir! I am currently 9 years old!"

Almost like he was going through a military drill, the boy called out his name and age loudly.

The stern old man nodded his head, seemingly appreciative of Jacob's attitude.

"Alright, then. Place your hand on the Arcane Crystal. Close your eyes and focus on your heartbeat."

Jacob did as the old man instructed, and placed his palm on the crystal. He closed his eyes, and for a full ten seconds, nothing happened.

"What is happening?"

"Did the crystal malfunction?"

Murmurs began to appear in the line of children, but then, all of a sudden, the crystal sphere erupted with a radiant glow.

"Cawwww!"

The sound of a hawk's cry echoed in the plaza, startling a lot of the children who had grown bored from the long wait.

A fiery red light emanated from the sphere, and though it appeared rather weak, all of the children in the front of the line felt as though they could feel a wave of warmth. The cold morning air quickly warmed to a comfortable temperature.

"Congratulations! You have awakened a Flaming Hawk, Jacob. Though it is not a middle-grade spirit, it can be considered powerful among low-grade Arcane Spirits."

The meditating old man's pleased voice caused Jacob to open his eyes, which shone with a bit of excitement. Thanks to the way the old man had phrased his words, Jacob felt quite good about his Arcane Spirit.

"Now that you have awakened your spirit, return to the line to wait for the rest to complete the ceremony."

The stern old man didn't bother congratulating Jacob, though, and sent him back down from the stage.

"Next!"

For the next hour or so, around 150 children had gone up onto the stage. Yet, up till this point, nobody had awakened a medium-grade Arcane Spirit. Despite this, the faces of the two old men didn't seem to be concerned.

"Oh, it's Malcolm's turn to go up on stage!"

Suddenly, a child who recognized the next person in the line called out excitedly. This caused everyone to turn their heads toward the front of the line.

"Malcolm is next? Isn't he the son of Bluewater Town's governor?"

"Maybe he will be the one to awaken a medium-grade Arcane Spirit! If anyone could do it, it should be him!"

Malcolm was rather well known in Bluewater Town, as he was the only son of the Governor. Ever since he was young, he had been praised as an academic genius, since he had learned how to read at a mere two and a half years of age.

Not to mention he was also a very handsome young boy, many of the girls in the town had a good impression of him.

Unlike most of the other children, though, Selene looked at Malcolm with a bit of disgust. Unlike many of the other children who had never interacted with Malcolm, she knew that he was really not a good person. He had a cruel and cunning personality, and would often bully his servants in the Governor's mansion while maintaining his appearance in public.

She had seen it personally when she had entered the mansion with her father a few years back. She had been standing by a window outside of the governor's office while he and her father discussed something when she saw Malcolm abusing two servant girls. From the scene, it appeared that one of them had dropped a basket of produce in front of Malcolm and he had begun to throw the produce at the girl while scolding her angrily. He had even slapped the girl, all over a simple mistake.

From that day forward, Selene lacked any sort of good impression of Malcolm.

"Next in line, please step onto the stage!"

Finally, the old man called out for Malcolm to step up onto the stage.