(What was Innate Spirit, and how does it relate to the Spirit Awakening Hall?)

Some people might ask. And luckily, Nick was not the only clueless individual in his group. After all, there are only four Spiritual Awakening Halls in this Yao Province. And with how little they are, it is unavoidable that there are plenty of uninformed people out there.

It appears that all living beings in this world were born with an Innate Spirit within them. But two requirements had to be fulfilled before they could be awakened. Or else the Innate Spirit would stay dormant for the rest of that person's life.

The first requirement would be age. A candidate must be older than sixteen to be qualified to awaken their Innate Spirit. And the next would be the awakening ritual.

Of course, something like that wasn't rare here.

After all, plenty of people lived their whole life as mediocre individuals without knowing too much about something like an Innate Spirit. Furthermore, the cost necessary to hold an awakening ritual is quite substantial.

Even the Yao Province could only hold this ritual once a month, alternating between one of the four cities in this Yao Province.

Although the one hundred people here, alongside Nick, were lucky to be a part of this ritual, this opportunity of theirs was actually paid with the lives of other villagers who fell to the demonkind's attack.

Without their sacrifice, Nick and the rest here could remain as mediocre as most people in this Yao Province.

Apparently, there were plenty of Innate Spirits existed in this world. But to make them easier to differentiate from one another, the Spirit Awakening Hall came up with five classifications.

Naturally, there are no strong or weak Innate Spirits, only capable or incapable Spirit Users. And the five classifications were the Tool Spirit, Plant Spirit, Beast Spirit, Elemental Spirit, and Mutated Spirit.

Tool Spirit: Known as the three most common spirits alongside the Plant and Beast Spirit. The Tool Spirit was also known as Utility Spirit due to its flexibility and reliability. Depending on its base, this spirit often comes in one to multiple solid shapes.

Plant Spirit: The second out of three most commonly seen Innate Spirits. The Plant Spirit comes without a preset shape or form but has a much higher potential than the previous. It is also much harder to control. But upon mastering, the benefit it brings along is significant.

Beast Spirit: The third out of three commonly seen Innate spirits. The Beast Spirit is the most flexible of all three but requires great effort to nurture from the beginning. This spirit had the slowest growth potential but gave the best reward on maturity.

Elemental Spirit: An uncommon Innate Spirit where only one to two users can be seen out of a hundred people. These spirits usually had a weird temperament with unknown potential, based on how they're used and applied in real life. The Elemental Spirit usually followed the law of five common and uncommon elements.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

(Author's Note: Five commons stands for Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. As for the five uncommon, they stand for Ice, Wind, Lightning, Poison, and Spiritual)

Mutated Spirit: The fifth and rarest out of the five. An Innate Spirit often comes in the oddest form, either a hit or a miss. Due to this nature, they're classified separately from the rest. The information on this Mutated Spirit is often overlooked, as they hardly follow the rules.

...

It took the representative around half an hour to punch the information into their heads. And it was time for them to join the queue when he finished. Because their participation in today's ritual was added to the schedule on short notice, they had no choice but to wait until their group was called.

But a commotion quickly came just as they joined the queue. Apparently, someone who went in before them had awakened something special.

"The fifth son of the Pan Family actually awakened the rare Lightning Elemental Spirit!" words quickly follow a few seconds after the commotion, allowing those outside the building to know what happened inside.

This news sparked a discussion amongst the people queuing in front of Nick and the others. But it only lasted a few minutes before the silence overtook their excitement. Some appeared flustered and anticipating, but not Nick and the rest of their group.

After all, Nick and the rest only heard about this Innate Spirit half an hour ago. They naturally had the slightest idea of what was unusual about this.

With an estimated ten minutes used by each group to awaken their Innate Spirit, the queue moved quite fast. Still, Nick's turn only came after waiting for an hour.

There were ten people in a group. And Nick was coincidentally the tenth.

Guided by an apprentice of the Spirit Awakening Hall, they were walked through a few corridors until everyone came to the great hall.

Everyone kept their curiosity in check, including Nick. This two hundred meters of walking impressed Nick, as he couldn't believe how refined the workmanship of the people in this world was.

It might be far from the level of Earth's industrialization yet, but there's a distinct uniqueness between them. Furthermore, the building gives the impression that they're under the gaze of an almighty being, which cancels out whatever negative thoughts they have inside their head.

They walked to the venue's end, where a priest was waiting for them at an altar. As this was the first time for everyone, nobody knew what to do next.

"That's close enough. Kneel down and place your hands together to receive your blessing. You don't have to be nervous. This is nothing but a simple awakening ceremony." the priest said with a calm and collected expression.

In his hand was a clear crystal orb with a glowing wisp of light inside.

The group immediately obeys the priest's instruction and follows without question. Taking less than a minute, everyone in Nick's group is now ready for the awakening ritual.

**This faithful follower seeks the guidance of the Heavenly Empress... Please grant us your enlightenment and response to our prayers...**

The priest chanted and channeled his magical power into the orb in his hand. The process appeared smooth and practiced over a hundred times, as it went along without a problem.

A light shone onto Nick and the group afterward, temporarily blinding them. And in this instant, Nick had a concussion.

It felt like his soul was forcefully removed from the physical body that didn't belong to him in the first place.

(How was it? Do you like it so far?)

Someone asked Nick a question. When the blinding light subsided, Nick realized that the time had stopped running. He could also see things differently this time, as he noticed how the energy flow gathered around him.

This enhanced sight also allowed Nick to see how the rest of his group was surrounded by magical energy. Perhaps, they're experiencing the same thing as he does right now.

The wisp of light inside the crystal also gradually took over the shape of a human as it came close to Nick. She resembles an empress with a golden crown on her head like those historical dramas played on TV.

If Nick had to describe it a little further, that would be the hint of divinity encircling her. The light carries a touch of warmth while he is bathed in it.