Chapter 13
Awakening Temple: Underground Waiting Room
Deon approached Lucien and Caleb.
“Did you guys pass?” Deon worriedly asked
Caleb clenched his fist as he lowered his head to the floor and shook his head.
“I…. I didn’t pass as well,” Lucien said, crestfallen by his failure
“Ohh…. Well…. Don’t worry, there is still next year,” Deon said, hiding his sadness by giving his friends some hope for the future
“Hmm…. What about you? Did you pass?” Lucien asked
“Mhmm, I.. Yeah… I got lucky,” Deon replied, not revealing too much about his awakening ceremony and how easy it was since he didn’t want to bring down his friends even more.
After hearing Deon, Lucien and Caleb perked up with surprise in their eyes before showering deon with congratulations.
“Really? That’s amazing!” Caleb shouted while smiling, seemingly forgetting his failings
“You really are something… Congratulations,” Lucien said with a cheeky smile that seemed like he expected the outcome.
“How did you do it? I could barely move my life gate,” Caleb asked deon with curiosity.
“That… Uhm… I just gave it all my strength, and somehow it worked,” Deon said, still unsure whether to tell his friends about his experience since he didn’t know how they would react.
Lucien and Caleb nodded, not doubting deon in the slightest.
“Yeah, I was only able to move my life gate during the last hour of the ceremony. If I had more time, I might have opened it” Caleb sighed as he recalled his trial. Lucien nodded, agreeing with Caleb. “But I’m confident about passing next year since I know what to do now. So don’t wait for me. I'll catch up with you sooner or later.”
“Mm-hmm, Don’t slack around just because you got ahead of us by one year, next year, we’ll definitely succeed,” Lucien confidently said.
Seeing his friends return to their former selves made deon happy as he smiled at the two: “Bring it on.”
…
Awakening Temple: Seating Area – Lower Level
“Were you serious about earlier? Is the brat earlier truly a grade 9?” The instructor with a messy beard asked Cain beside him
“Of course I was. I wouldn’t lie about something like that,” Cain replied, quite annoyed about repeating himself.
“But how is that possible? He awakened just a few seconds into the ceremony, meaning he must have awakened in just a few minutes. There is no way that is possible. I would’ve understood if it was a grade 10 since I saw it happen before, but not a 13-year-old, or is he 13? Is this his second time participating?” The instructor beside cain ranted
“Of course, he is 13 years old. I’m not bold enough to lie about that, and why are you asking me? I don’t know much about this either,” Instructor Cain said while recalling Instructor Leon, who is the instructor of Deon.
‘Was that idiot hiding something from me?’ Cain thought but quickly shook his head. ‘No, with that idiot’s strict personality, he wouldn’t try anything, or maybe that brat is hiding something.’
The instructor with a messy beard continued talking in his ears but ignored it as he thought of many possibilities.
The instructors of the imperial knights’ institute are all imperial knights that chose the role of teacher. Some also experienced the awakening ceremony but failed in the end, thus only becoming knights and not high knights.
The instructor with the messy beard is an instructor that participated in the awakening ceremony in the past. Because of that, he knew more about the awakening ceremony than instructor cain; thus, he became talkative when deon became the subject.
“Oi. Are you listening to me?” The instructor with the messy beard spoke, noticing that Instructor cain didn’t listen to him
“Yes, yes, I’m listening. What is it?” Instructor Cain asked with an annoyed expression
“Bah… Forget it. You won’t understand it even if I tell you,” The messy beard instructor said, equally annoyed at cain
“It’s not because I don’t understand it, but how can I know what happened when I barely know the kid?” Instructor Cain said, “His accomplishment is definitely amazing, like anyone who awakened during the ceremony.”
*Sigh*
The messy beard instructor sighed at Instructor cain. “You still don’t get it?”
“What exactly don’t I get?” Instructor Cain retorted, annoyed at the ‘all-knowing’ attitude of the messy beard instructor
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“Just wait and see. This kid definitely will become a big shot in the future,” the messy-beard instructor said with a smug smile, but instructor cain only rolled his eye at his ‘new’ friend, beginning to doubt if he had befriended a lunatic.
…
Awakening Temple: Underground Waiting Room
Deon and other participants returned to the line as they waited for their next instructions, and like last time, the nobles began talking loudly to each other without any ounce of discipline or care.
Deon and his friends stayed quiet, mostly because they didn’t want to get into trouble since they didn’t have a powerful family to back them up, but also because deon wanted to give his friends their space. He didn’t want to be annoying and keep parading on his successful awakening.
After a while, the entrance of the waiting room opened, and three people entered the room. The man in his 40s, who was leading the way, wore glasses and held some paperwork in his hands. The other two individuals followed closely behind him, appearing to be his subordinates.
A man wearing glasses stood before the participants and inspected them while nodding to himself. He then addressed the participants.
“Listen up! I will be speaking the names of those that pass the awakening ceremony, and once I do that, I want all those people to stand behind me.”
A noble participant raised his hand, wanting to ask a question, but the man with glasses only gave the noble participant a side glance before continuing.
“I will answer your questions when we finish. For now, hold your questions” A man wearing glasses lifted his paperwork to review it and started reading the names listed in the document.
“Annie Mckinnon”
“Arley Thomas”
“Alton Hoddle”
.
“Cleo Hays”
.
“Deon”
Deon heard his name and started to walk toward the front, but before he could, he felt someone slapping his back, making deon look back and see his friends giving him a thumbs up.
Deon reciprocated by giving a thumbs up and proceeded to follow the directions of the two subordinates of the man with glasses as he made his way toward the front.
“All right, all those names I didn’t say will stay here for the meantime while all names I said will come with me to another room,” the man with glasses said, but the moment he finished, the same noble participants raised his hands to ask a question “What is it?”
“What’s in the other room?” a noble participant curiously asked since he didn’t awaken.
“Don’t worry about it. Once you awaken, you will naturally know,” the man with glasses said
“What?” the noble participant said, quite shocked by the answer he got, but before he could argue, the man with the glasses ignored the noble and faced the awakened participants
“Follow me”
The man with the glasses led the group out of the waiting room, ignoring the failed participants, with some nobles grumbling in dissatisfaction.
Deon and the other awakened participants didn’t have to walk long before they entered a new room, and compared to the waiting room, the new room was a lot smaller with a table in the center of the room, and on the table was a crystal ball.
The man with the glasses stood beside the table and the crystal ball as he waited for all the awakened participants to enter the room.
“Listen up! I won’t be repeating myself, so you better all listen up. Once I call your name, come here before the table and touch the crystal ball, is that understood?” The man with the glasses said.
“Yes, sir,” all the newly awakened participants answered.
“Good, let’s start then, Annie Mckinnon.”
A young noble girl walked up to the table in the middle of the room with clear nervousness in her eyes.
“All right, put your hands on the crystal ball,” the man with glasses patiently said while instructing the young noble.
The young noble girl slowly reached her hand to the crystal ball, and the moment her hand connected to the crystal ball, it lit up with bright golden color.
“All right, you can take your hands now,” The man with the glasses said.
Inside the crystal ball is a floating number two. The man with glasses saw the floating number and scribbled it into his paperwork.
“All right, Next! Arley Thomas,” the man with glasses said when he finished writing.
The young girl excused herself as a young man with a knight apprentice uniform approached the crystal ball.
Like what happened to the young noble girl, the same thing happened to the young apprentice knight but with his result higher than the noble girl's by two points.
Deon and the other awakened participants couldn’t help but be curious about what the number represents: is it good if their number is higher or bad?
They observed the man with the glasses for a clue but found nothing, as the man with glasses remained indifferent to all the results before him.
“Deon!” The man with the glasses spoke
Deon approached the crystal ball with his heart beating rapidly but remained calm on the outside, not wanting to embarrass himself.
When he reached the table, deon immediately reached for the crystal ball on the table, not wanting to delay any further.
“86”
When the man with the glasses saw deon’s result, he was startled and unconsciously spoke: “What?”
The man with the glasses examined deon closely but only saw a normal young boy before speaking again:
“Do it again.”
Deon followed the man with the glasses and touched the crystal ball one more time, with his movement visibly becoming nervous. He, too, didn’t understand what the numbers meant, so he became nervous when asked to do it again as countless thoughts appeared in his head.
‘Is everyone supposed to have a low number? Is it because I was too fast? Did I really do my awakening ceremony wrong? Is it related to my dreamscape?’
With each thought passing through his head, deon became more paranoid but still appeared calm on the outside.
“86”
The number didn’t change and remained at 86, which made the indifferent face of the man with the glasses furrowed as he pondered.
Seeing the man with the glassing furrowing, the newly awakened participants became curious about what was happening and began to whisper amongst each other, making deon, who is in the center, full of nervousness as he silently waited for the man with the glasses with his thinking
‘Stop thinking, and just tell me what’s wrong!’ Deon shouted in his mind
The man with glasses only pondered for just a couple of seconds, but to deon, it felt like a minute as he nervously stood in front of the man with glasses
“All right, you can go now,” the man with the glasses said while writing deon’s result into his paperwork.
‘That’s it? You’re not even going to tell me?’ Deon thought as his face flinched before responding respectfully: “Yes, Sir.”
The man with the glasses saw deon’s flinching face and couldn’t help but be amused as he smiled but quickly changed it back to his normal indifferent face.
“All right, Next! Emory Dwan”
Deon returned to the crowd, but unlike before, countless eyes were watching deon as they whispered amongst each other.
Deon didn’t have his friends around him, so he could only awkwardly stand alone among the crowd, trying to ignore all the eyes around him.
‘Should I ask some people if they know what the numbers mean?’ deon thought since he thought maybe some people around him might know about it or maybe some nobles do but quickly shook his head. ‘No need to be impatient, I’m sure the Imperial Knight Order will give me the basics of magic in the future, but still, this is why magic education should also be part of our education.’
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Thought for Thoughts
* What does 86 mean? Is it a good thing or bad?
* Unlucky Lucien and Caleb, NT (Nice try)
* Did William Pass? (Author forgot him) or Did I?