Chapter 15
Awakening Temple: Office Area
“Wait here,” the administrator said to deon before knocking on the office door.
“Yes, Sir,” Deon replied, standing beside the office door.
Deon was quite nervous as he waited, not knowing what to expect, but he guessed that it probably had something to do with how high his score was during the testing or How fast he was during the awakening ceremony.
“Come in,” a voice rang through the door, to which the administrator entered the office.
...
Inside the Office
An Elderly is seating at the office table while doing his paperwork. He has a long grey beard and grey hair from old age, with brown eyes that radiate wisdom.
“Excuse my intrusion, chairman,” the administrator said while giving a small bow to the old man before him.
The Elderly in front of him is the chairman of the awakening temple that organizes the awakening ceremony for both the churches and the everwinter kingdom. He is the neutral middle-man for all three factions, ensuring the awakening ceremony runs smoothly every year.
“Ah, Gerald. How was the testing?” the chairman said with a gentle smile.
“Everything went smoothly with the testing, but I encountered something odd during the testing,” the administrator said as he handed the paperwork to the chairman.
“Oh?.... What is it?” the chairman asked as he received the paperwork and read through them.
“His name is deon, and as you can see on page 3 of the document, he got 86 for his score, and from what I understand, it is his first time participating in the awakening ceremony,” The administrator said
“86? Are you sure you read it correctly?” the chairman said with a hint of surprise.
“I have double-checked it, and the result was accurate,” The administrator said
“Interesting…. Do you know anything about him?” the chairman asked
“He is an apprentice knight of the 24th imperial knight institute, and I am guessing he is an orphan child because he has no surname. I have tasked some of my men to do a more thorough background check for deon, but I haven’t got the result yet,” The administrator said
“Hmm…. This is indeed unusual. I haven’t encountered such a thing before…. This is very interesting,” the chairman pondered while the administrator waited patiently. “Could you get deon for me? I want to see him in person.”
“Deon is right outside, chairman,” The administrator said
“Hm? Excellent. This is why I like you. You are very thorough,” the chairman said, quite satisfied with the administrator’s competence. “Have him come in. I want to check if there’s something unusual about him.”
“Yes, Chairman,” the administrator said and immediately opened the office door and spoke to deon, who was still standing nervously at the side of the door: “Come inside. The chairman of the awakening temple wants a word with you.”
“Yes, Sir,” Deon replied, quickly entering the office while hiding his nervousness.
Deon entered a normal-looking office with an Elderly looking at him warmly, which deon assumed to be the chairman as he was the only one in the room. “Good Afternoon, Chairman”
“How are you, child?” the chairman asked with a gentle smile on his face
“I am good, Sir. Thank you for asking,” Deon replied as he saluted the chairman
“You don’t have to call me ‘Sir.’ I’m not a knight. My name is Alden Harrington. I’m the chairman of the awakening temple,” the chairman said
“Yes. Nice to meet you, chairman,” Deon replied, and instead of salute, he gave a small bow to the chairman
“You’re a nice kid. Do you know why I called you here today?” The chairman asked, quite satisfied by deon’s respectful attitude
“Is it because of my score, Sir—Chairman?” Deon said what was on his mind.
“Yes, more or less. Do you know what your score means?” the chairman asked
“No, I do not,” Deon replied
The chairman expected deon’s reply as he knows that deon probably hasn’t received a proper magical education since he is an orphan and apprentice knight, especially since the knight institute is very strict in their education, so he calmly explained:
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“Then let me explain. For mana-users to progress or increase their Mana, they need to increase their control over their mana flame, and the testing we did earlier tell us how much control a newly awakened has over their mana control, which means if a newly awakened has a score of 86, that means that he has 86% control over his mana flame and 14% untapped control.
An Average newly awakened usually have 5% to 20% control over their mana flame, but not only you doubled that number, but you quadrupled it, which has never happened before.
The highest record was only 44%, but even that couldn’t compare to yours, which makes us very curious as to how you were able to do it and how you were able to awaken so fast” The chairman explained their curiosity to deon very straight forward without any hint of deception or trickery in his words.
Deon listened carefully and fully understood the whole situation, but that only made deon nervous as he understood the gravity of the situation.
If deon has a way to increase his control over his Life Flame, then everyone will be interested in it, and if he can’t give a proper answer, they might even torture or dissect him for answers, and just the thought of that made deon pale.
Deon doesn’t mind standing out from the crowd, but he doesn’t want any attention that might endanger his life or everyone around him, which is possible now.
“I… I don’t know as well… I just did what I was supposed to do, and somehow I was able to open my life gate easily,” Deon replied. He didn’t know what to say since even he was puzzled by his awakening ceremony, so how could he explain it?
Additionally, he lacks sufficient magical knowledge and a thorough understanding of the awakening ceremony to fabricate an excuse. Even if he could, the two individuals before him would likely scrutinize any excuse he provided, resulting in increased suspicion.
“Hm…. No need to be nervous. How about we start at the beginning? Tell us the step-by-step on how you awakened, and that might give us some clues,” The chairman said while smiling gently at deon to alleviate some nervousness from deon
From deon’s pale face, the chairman deduced that deon might have figured out the importance of his result and how it may affect his future which somewhat impressed him with how deon quickly figured it out.
“Yes, Chairman,” Deon replied, recalling his awakening ceremony while telling it to the two people in the room.
After deon finished telling his story, the administrator and the chairman frowned as they pondered deon’s story.
“So you're telling us that you only pushed your life gate once, and it opened instantly?” The administrator asked in disbelief at what he heard, he too once participated in the awakening ceremony and passed, but he passed on his second try and still remembered the difficulties of opening his life gate, and now this brat in front of him is saying that he opened his life gate just by pushing once? How could he possibly believe that?
“Yes, I…. I didn’t believe it at first and thought I had opened the wrong door or something, but that’s what happened. Even now, I don’t fully understand what happened,” Deon replied, trying his best to sound genuine as possible.
“Hm… Lend me your hand for a second. I want to check something,” the chairman asked as he moved his hand forward.
Deon hesitates to lend his hand. He didn’t know the chairman's intention and was quite vigilant, but before he could think any further, he heard the chairman speak again.
“Don’t worry, I won't hurt you,” The chairman spoke with a genuine smile.
Deon hesitated for a moment before moving his hand forward. Not because he believed the chairman but because if the chairman really wanted to harm him, he wouldn't be able to do anything.
Deon felt the tight grip of the chairman and thought of pulling his hand back but quickly denied it. After grabbing deon’s hand, the chairman closed his hand, and fluctuation appeared in his hand as it entered deon’s body.
Deon saw the fluctuation and began panicking internally but quickly composed himself and began paying attention to the fluctuation. ‘Is this Mana?’ Deon thought
As the fluctuation entered his body, deon felt the pressure from the first phase of the awakening ceremony return, but this time, he felt it from the chairman in front of him.
The pressure enveloped deon, restricting his movements, but this time, he wasn’t completely helpless as he felt power surge throughout his body, empowering his whole body as it resisted the pressure from the chairman.
The chairman, whose eyes were closed, frowned and spoke to deon: “Don’t resist, or you’ll make it harder for yourself.”
“I…. I don’t know how,” Deon replied
*Sigh* “All right, brace yourself then,” The chairman said, and before deon could say anything, the pressure from the chairman increased, and deon felt as though the whole world was pinning him down
But oddly enough, the pressure didn’t knock deon off his feet and only made him immobile as he couldn’t move his body
After a couple of seconds, the pressure disappeared, but to deon, it felt like minutes had passed, and even when the pressure disappeared, he still couldn’t move as he stood in his place, completely dumbfounded
“I didn’t scare you, did I? the chairman mischievously said as he saw deon’s frozen body in front of him
Deon woke up from the voice of the chairman, but before he could say anything, the chairman spoke again as the chairman look toward the deon’s neck
“Can I have a look at your necklace?” The chairman said
Deon got surprised when the chairman mentioned his necklace since he kept his necklace hidden in his shirt, but the chairman still noticed it, but he still took it out for the chairman to see
The necklace was the ring that Father James gave him during his visit to the orphanage.
Instead of wearing the ring, Deon decided to turn it into a necklace. Deon chose not to wear the ring, not because it didn't fit, but because he believed it would be a distraction and interfere with his swordsmanship.
Deon handed the ring to the chairman, curious about the chairman's intention. The chairman grabbed the ring and thoroughly inspected the ring before closing his eyes again.
Deon saw the mana fluctuation again, but this time it entered the black ring, and the moment the Mana entered the black ring, a light came out of it, but unlike normal light, it didn’t spread out and instead formed into a three-dimensional image of two people as it projected above the ring.
The two people seem to be a couple as they hold each other in a loving embrace, with the three-dimensional image only 30 centimeters tall.
The man has black hair, blue eyes, and a muscular build, with his appearance very similar to deon, while the woman has black hair, green eyes, and a slim physique with an average but gentle face.
“Who are they?” Deon asked the chairman in front of him but felt his heart thump. He has some guesses in his heart but is afraid to speak them out.
“I don’t know. I only activated the rune inside the ring,” the chairman said as he looked at the couple projected in the ring. “But they might be your parents.”
“My parents?” deon lightly spoke as he stared at the couple.
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Thought For thoughts
* Does Deon already have 86% mastery over his life flame
* Deon’s Parents revealed?