Chapter 11
Awakening Temple: Awakening Stage
The priest’s scepter shot a pillar of light towards the sky, lighting the whole temple in a gentle light, and when the light pillar reached the sky, it exploded in four directions, creating a cross made of light which is the symbol of the God of Light Church.
The cross is so big and high in the sky that even people outside the temple could see it, creating a remarkable sight that made people pause whatever they were doing and enjoy the sight—with some devoted believers of the god of light started praying in the streets of the capital.
Nobody stopped the devoted believers from praying as people only looked toward the light cross in the sky with hope and fervor in their eyes.
After a few seconds in the sky, the Light Cross burst into countless small spheres as they slowly descended from the sky and into the foreheads of the participants on the stage.
The moment the light spheres entered through the forehead of the participants, a golden protective sphere appeared in each participant.
The elderly priest lowered his scepter from the sky, kneeled down gently on the stage, and silently prayed after placing the scepter on the ground.
...
As soon as the glowing sphere touched Deon's forehead, he suddenly felt the ground beneath him vanish and began to fall without anything to support him.
Because of the Fall, Deon unconsciously opened his eyes and was dumbfounded. The space around him is filled with colorful light strings, illuminating everything and creating a vibrant atmosphere.
The light string moved erratically all over the place. They were like fish in the ocean, freely moving in the strange space.
‘Is this my soul space?’ Deon thought as he recalled the books he had read in the library.
According to the books, during the awakening ceremony, each participant will enter their own soul space to experience their awakening.
After falling for a few seconds, deon finally stops in mid-air, becoming suspended in the air and can barely move his body.
As Deon examined his body, he was taken aback by what he saw. His skin and clothes had transformed into a silver-grey color. However, the reason that Deon was startled wasn't due to the color change but rather because he had read in the institute library that his skin was supposed to be gold.
Deon and his friends have literally memorized everything about the awakening ceremony, and he is confident about his information which makes deon more confused about his situation.
What is more strange is that the silver-grey skin he has, felt familiar. It almost felt like his skin was supposed to be grey all along.
But before deon could think any further, he saw the light strings around him speed up as everything around him started to change. He immediately understood what was happening and began paying attention to the light strings.
The string of lights turned into a floor beneath him and walls at his sides with a high ceiling above him, turning the whole space into a large hall and a Large Gate at the end of the hall.
The moment his soul space changed, deon felt the gravity return as he fell to the floor beneath him. Thankfully he wasn’t too high in the air as he quickly regained his footing.
Deon was quite amazed by the transition of his soul space and couldn’t help but think of his dreamscape and their similarities.
Deon tries to move his body but feels a massive weight weighing him down, restricting his movements, but deon isn’t surprised as he knows that this is part of the awakening ceremony and instead begins focusing on the large Gate that is 20 meters away from him.
The large Gate is deon’s life gate or also known as the Mana gate, it is the Gate that connects a person to their Mana, and it is also what separates normal people from mana-users.
Many people have a closed Life Gate, which prevents them from accessing Mana. Only a select few can naturally open their Life Gate.
Through the awakening ceremony, participants can gain access to their Life Gate and awaken their Mana. However, opening the life gate is a challenging task that many still struggle with and fail to accomplish each year.
To deon’s relief, he didn’t get any more unexpected changes with everything around him as described in the books he read.
In front of him stands a Gate built with sturdy, weathered stone blocks covered in moss and vines, giving it an aged appearance. The stone blocks are engraved with intricate symbols and patterns that Deon does not recognize.
The Gate is reinforced by large iron bars that are placed in a criss-cross pattern, creating a grid-like pattern that adds to the Gate’s strength and durability.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
‘Is that my Gate? Why does it look ancient?’ Deon thought.
According to the books that deon read, Every person has a different life gate with their life gate reflecting their life which made deon curious about what his ancient Gate means.
“Why is my life gate covered in moss? What the Hel does that mean? and what are those symbols?” Deon spoke out loud. He has too many questions without any answers.
“I can figure that out later. Let’s focus up” Deon shook his head and began recalling the instructions in the book he read.
Deon took a deep breath and took a step forward. Although his whole body felt heavy, he could still move, but he was much slower, as though he had countless chains around him.
The first phase of the awakening ceremony is approaching the Life gate in front of them with the restriction on their body.
Deon synchronized his breathing with his walking pace, being mindful of not exhausting himself since it was only the first phase of the awakening ritual.
Eventually, he reached the front of the Gate and gently placed his hand on his life gate.
The moment deon touched his life gate, all the weight around him disappeared in the blink of an eye, making deon sigh in relief as he stretched his body. Deon felt like he had lifted 200+ kg of weight and carried it for around 20 meters.
“That was harder than I thought,” Deon spoke out loud since no one was beside him. “All right, Let’s go to the second phase.”
The most important phase is the second one, which involves opening the Gate. This step is crucial because its successful completion indicates that the person has successfully awakened.
Deon properly positioned himself with his two arms placed in his life gate, one foot forward and one foot backward.
After taking a deep breath, Deon pushed his life gate with all his might. However, to his surprise, the Gate opened easily, causing him to lose his balance and tumble inside.
“Eh?”
Deon, who is on the floor, looks behind him and his ‘opened’ life gate, flabbergasted about what just happened. But before deon could react any further, he felt a wave of warm heat in front which he instantly directed his attention to.
Within the life gate is a large room featuring a large flame at its center, radiating comforting warmth that leaves Deon feeling quite at ease.
“Is that my Life flame?” Did I successfully awaken?” Deon mumbles to himself, not knowing what to feel. On the one hand, he was happy, but simultaneously he felt confused. “How come it’s so easy?”
It was so easy that deon doubted he had awakened even though there was a large amount of evidence in front of him. “Didn’t the book say that opening the life gate could take hours?”
Every awakening ceremony only lasts for ten minutes, but in the soul space, every participant will have 10 hours which they can use to try to open their life gate for hours.
However, Deon successfully opened his life gate in just a few minutes. He reckons it didn’t even take him 5 minutes, and he had already succeeded.
Deon stood up and looked around him with vigilance in his eyes, he wanted to find a clue that might explain what was happening, but there was nothing but the Large Blue flame in the center of the room.
“Did I really awaken?” Deon muttered his doubt again, still not believing what just happened. “How come my life gate was so easy to open? The first phase was even harder,” as deon looked at his life gate.
“Did I open the wrong door?” As he approached the hallway again and looked around for ‘another gate’ and found nothing
Deon tried to recall any information he got from the library that might answer him but recalled nothing, which made deon somewhat panic.
Deon doesn’t mind working hard to achieve something, but how easily he opened his life gate made him doubt if he had really awakened.
Deon looked toward the Mana Flame in the center of the room, doubting its existence, but the more he looked, the more deon felt comfortable as it seemed to soothe deon’s turbulent mind.
Deon slowly approached his mana flame. As he got closer to it, the more deon felt comfortable, which disarmed deon from any worries that he had before.
The only thing that seemed important was the mesmerizing flame before him; nothing else was important.
Deon still felt the warm heat even with the mana flame within arm's reach in front of him.
Deon touched the burning flame in front of him without realizing it, but to his surprise, his hand did not burn. Instead, he felt a surge of strength in his arm and throughout his body as the Mana flame engulfed him.
After feeling the strength inside him, deon felt more confident that he had awakened his Mana, thus successfully becoming a high knight.
The buried excitement that he had came rushing out as he screamed at the top of his lungs: “YES!!!”
It was the first time deon screamed so loudly that it caught him off guard, and he started laughing, deon felt all the training he had done wasn’t for nothing as he felt his dream in his grasp.
‘No, not yet,’ deon thought, “I still have to do phase three of the awakening ceremony.”
Phase three of the awakening ceremony is more of a bonus phase where the participant must meditate inside their life flame in order to cultivate it.
Although it didn't explain why the participant needed to meditate, it said that if they meditate, it will greatly increase their progression.
…
Earlier in the temple
The moment deon successfully opened his life gate, the protective bubble around him burst, turned into smaller fragments of light, and started gathering above deon’s head, forming a halo on top of his head.
The Elder priest that was just starting his prayer got startled and looked toward deon with surprise on his face but quickly calmed himself and continued his prayer.
The spectators also saw deon’s bubble popping and also got startled. The awakening ceremony just started with how the light sphere just landed on the participants, but in just a few seconds, a participant already awakened to their surprise.
“Look! Someone just awakened!”
“Who is that?”
“Didn’t the awakening ceremony just start?”
“I can’t see who it is.”
Countless voices appeared in the seating area with disbelief as they tried to see who was the first awakening for this year.
At the lower seating area, Instructor Cain was talking to his fellow instructors when he heard the spectators and immediately looked over to the stage.
The Halo above deon’s head is eye-catching, especially since he is the only one with a halo on the stage, making him stand out.
“Who is that? He looks like he is wearing our uniform,” the instructor beside cain spoke.
“Why does he look familiar?” Instructor cain said, narrowing his eyes. “Wait! That’s one of my students!”
“Really? Good for you. I guess congratulations are in order. Who is the lucky brat?” the instructor beside him asked.
“I don’t remember. He is in grade 9,” Instructor Cain said, carefully inspecting deon’s face to ensure he didn’t identify the wrong person.
“What? Grade 9? Are you saying this is his first time?” The instructor beside cain asked, quite startled by Cain’s words
“How is that possible?”
----------------------------------------
Thought for Thoughts
* Finally, Deon awakened