Three:
The audience hall was gigantic. Leo knew it had to be a spatial enchantment of some kind, because it felt impossible that the room could actually fit inside the building that he’d seen outside. He knew that these halls used dimensional magic and that he was technically now somewhere in District 1, which encompassed a chunk of what used to be western Canada and bits of the Pacific Northwest.
He knew, technically, simply walking through the atrium doors was the same thing as portal travel, and while he was intensely curious about how it worked, he knew he was unlikely to ever find out. Perhaps if he understood how it worked, special enchantments and the like, then he would understand why they left such a tingly feeling on his skin, and a sort of, well, bone-itch is the best way he could describe the feeling. He had read a number of books about places called libraries that were repositories of knowledge—free knowledge for everybody. Simply walk inside, pluck a book, and all the secrets humanity had discovered were right there, available at your fingertips. Not the restricted-access information available on the public datapads, not the curated knowledge force-fed to them, but truly free knowledge about whatever you wanted to know. From science to philosophy, and art to mathematics.
Well, they still had libraries now, but so much information had been destroyed during the Great Annihilation. And what was left of it? Anything that could actually be seen as more than mundane was guarded jealously by the rich and the elites. That reality became even worse when the Coalition arrived. Now it wasn't just complex physics, engineering, and the secrets to space travel that were heavily guarded. Instead, it was all things related to power and control, from the basics of ignition to the mysteries of immortality.
Sure, they left some mundane knowledge. It would be terrible to have your uneducated rabble not know how to greet an imperial star fleet from a distant civilization or how to bow and scrape properly to their ‘betters’ when ambassadors arrived from outside the galaxy. Oh, that information was freely and readily available. But basic things like how to progress from 1st to 2nd Circle, what it meant to have an affinity, and how to channel mana? Forget it. Even simply how to grow spirit herbs, or spot mana borne illnesses in unignited people were well-guarded secrets. The knowledge squirreled away far out of Leo’s reach.
And the most frustrating part was that while a lot of this information was guarded by the Coalition, most of it was considered basic information to those denizens beyond the stars. Stuff that they would learn in elementary school, stuff their parents would teach them. A lot of information that the Coalition provided was simply kept from the common people of Earth. Restricted from them not by the immortal aliens, but by their own, Earthborn ‘leadership’. Even decades after the war, humanity remained just as terrible and disappointing as it had always been – hoarding information instead of spreading it, guarding power instead of sharing it, weakening the planet instead of strengthening it, forcing people into social strata not based on merit but on the lottery of birth.
It explained the demographics of the room. Young people, aged anywhere from 12 to 18 years old, sat in orderly rows as they listened to the speaker go on about what the procedure would be like. That’s why there were twelve-year-olds in here. Core ignition testing was a mandatory stipulation to the agreement between the Coalition and planet Earth. It was mandatory that all people be tested by the time they turned eighteen. However, ignition could safely be done on children as young as twelve. Of course, only if you had the money or connections for it. It meant that those kids, the spawn of the elites, sometimes had a six-year head start on every other person on the planet. Those who had families who were able to scrimp and save enough to get them early ignitions at thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen were years ahead of their peers in the lowest strata.
In those years of extra time, Leo knew that even as part of the uneducated rabble, those elites had a head start on literal power progression. He would always be one step behind. It meant that the jobs he was working toward, the schools he could apply to, and any institution he sought to be a part of would be comparing him to people he had no chance of competing against. Everybody knew cultivation was a game of time. The earlier you began, the earlier you progressed, and in a world where might made right and power was synonymous with safety, it was a grim proposition for people like Leo.
But that wouldn’t stop him. He’d access his core. He’d watch it ignite. He just knew it. And what he couldn’t make up for in money or status, he would in hard work, relentless dedication, and a voracious drive to progress, and progress, and progress. And when that failed, his insatiable curiosity would see him through.
Because while they may have scoured the libraries of anything they deemed potentially dangerous or consequential, they hadn’t locked away all knowledge. Libraries did still exist, and with them came data terminals. One would be surprised how much you could learn just using the scraps of information people deemed inconsequential, mundane, or simply obsolete.
Leo barely paid attention as the woman at the front of the lecture hall continued to speak about what they should expect. Leo finally tuned in after the woman, dressed in Confederation regalia, began giving actual information instead of just extolling the many virtues of the Coalition. She expressed reasons why they should be grateful to the Confederation for granting all the plebeians like Leo the opportunity to use such incredible technology. It was BS. The Confederation was required to allow them to do this, but somehow, they had to find a way to make it seem like they were in control. Humanity, he scoffed, ignoring the fact that he was, in fact, a part of the group.
“You will be taken to the ignition chambers,” she said. “There, we will flood the small chamber with mana at roughly ten times the amount present in Earth’s ambient mana, or four times the amount present in a Veil Rift. Remember, while the process might be uncomfortable, it should never be painful. You will spend no less than ten but no more than thirty seconds in the chamber. If you are successful, or particularly gifted, your core will ignite, and you will become a core formation cultivator.
"It is at this point in time that those of you who successfully ignite your cores will likely be approached either by one of Earth’s academies, or by one of the Coalition’s allied sects. Those of you with extraordinary potential may even be approached to attend the Institute,” the woman said. The feeling of pride emanating from her led Leo to believe she had either been accepted by a sect or was a graduate of the institute.
Well, he thought, no matter. Even if he ended up starting out in some backwater, Earthbound sect, all he needed was time and access to information. He just wanted to know… Well, he wanted to know everything. But primarily, he wanted access to sect healers, something that had been denied to him his entire childhood. Apart from, possibly, during his birth, though nobody knew which hospital or healing ward he was born in, so he couldn’t say for certain.
His arm pulsed in agony, and he knew he’d have to alert somebody soon. He had a medical bracelet for it, but an unknown chronic illness didn’t really help anybody prepare for what Leo had been dealing with most of his life. Just a little more time, he begged his arm. We’re almost in the room.
There was a tugging, nagging sensation in the back of his head that said that if he could just ignite his core, everything would be better. But he knew better than to believe in fantasies like that. Instead, he would follow his routine, and hope that things would be okay.
Instead, the flood of children in the grand atrium were told to line up at designated doors based on their age sector and any potential sect affiliation. Leo, unsurprisingly, was led to a door in Sector Seven with a bunch of other young adults between 16 and 18, some of whom were dressed well, but nobody with any extraordinary or noticeable wealth or pedigree. Just normal, middle-class folk. Maybe they had a 1st or 2nd Circle parent who worked in a spirit garden, or managed the accounts of some sector corporation.
Stolen novel; please report.
Nobody with any affiliations past 3rd Circle would likely be in this line of undesirables. Well, at least that’s what they were considered, if the look on the face of the man who was shuffling them through the doorway was any indication.
Punishment duty, perhaps? Leo mused.
While Leo hadn’t really felt anything apart from a slight fluctuation of power when he first entered the atrium, when he crossed this doorway, it was almost as though his entire body tingled. Power. So much power. His knees buckled, and he barely caught himself quickly enough not to make a scene. A girl who had crossed the doorway near him gave him a look of disapproval before doing a double take. He didn’t exactly scream ‘affluence’ and even in this crowd he was somewhat an outsider. The disapproval became a sneer.
“Have some dignity,” she whispered harshly.
Leo didn’t respond. Truth be told, he didn’t much care. He would much rather be spending his time taking in the overwhelming sight in front of him. He’d never shared with anyone that he believed he could see some of the fluctuations of mana in the air – the mana motes that he was almost positive he could faintly see from the corner of his vision – drifting to and fro. He’d explained it once to a psychiatrist on one of his sector mandated check-ins, and after the psych had laughed him off, he’d told Leo that if he continued to make up dangerous lies like that, he would put in his file that he was insane and all of the implied consequences that came with such a designation.
At the time, the then four-year-old Leo had no idea what he meant, but he’d felt the contempt, the condescension, but most poignantly, he’d felt the undercurrent of fear the doctor was silently radiating. The idea of being drugged for eternity, essentially a vegetable in his own body – or any of the other harsh, myriad descriptions of consequences the doctor had spelled out ‘for little boys who told lies that could get people in trouble’ – was a fear driven deeply into his psyche. He’d said nothing of it ever since, and he had no plans to speak of it again. Some secrets were best kept, and some lessons needed to be taught only once.
But looking around, here and now, he longed for someone, anyone to share it with. The iridescent, almost smoke-like emanations of true power weren’t just awe-inspiring, they were affirming. He saw the mana! He wanted to shout it out. He wasn’t crazy, he wasn’t delusional. The power was there, right in front of him, like smoke, or fog, or iridescent steam.
Something fundamental within him was shifting under the deluge of mana. He wanted to bask in it. He wanted to lay down on his back in a quiet meadow flooded with the ever-shifting motes of power and breathe it in like it was oxygen. He felt like a man who’d been starving for so long that he’d stopped feeling the pervasive hunger, who had finally gotten a taste of sustenance.
It felt so good. He clenched his jaw, hard, to stifle his innate reaction, and apart from the rude girl, it seemed that nobody was really paying him any mind. He was grateful for this, as it was obvious, nobody else was having this reaction to such a dense, mana-rich environment. Not even the technicians who had to be at least 3rd Circle, or the 4th Circle man who had been leading the group.
Actually, that was curious. Shouldn’t they be the most affected? He wished he had his notebook in hand to write down a reminder to look into his, apparently, unusual reaction to mana. He had his speculations, but proper research would be necessary.
Finally getting his bearings, Leo took a look around the room. It was less arcana, and more modern medicine than he’d have expected. The ignition room was clean, with white walls, tiled flooring, and bright, blue-white mana lights that might have passed as fluorescents if not for the power they emanated. There appeared to be ten pods with opaque glass walls – or at least what appeared to be glass walls – all completely enchanted. He knew that these were the ignition chambers where the mana baptism would be conducted.
Leo couldn’t stop his mind from spiraling out and speculating on what exactly a mana baptism entailed. Would the airtight chambers be filled with concentrated mana so dense it could be considered liquid? Would they be submerged in a substance, or perhaps showered in it? The only information Leo had about ‘baptisms’ was gathered not from cultivating texts, but from religious practices and doctrine (though many had insinuated that the two were one and the same – unsurprisingly, those ‘many tended not so survive long after publishing their ideas).
It took a while, and a lot of self convincing for Leo to focus back in on what was happening around him, instead of on the myriad thoughts and ideas his mind liked to spin out. Now wasn’t the time for ‘Leo-the-Curious’ – as one of his better foster parents had called him. Now was listen-and-maybe-get-your-core-ignited time. No, not maybe. You have to believe it, he told himself. He had to will his desired outcome into existence; to manifest it.
Turning his attention back to the room, he absently noted that it was the kind of space you'd see in any hospital. The room itself was large, with enough seating and standing room for al of the unignited to be comfortable enough. The man leading the group pointed to a recessed door in an out of the way corner. He explained that the door led to the resting chambers. Apparently, the ignition process could take a lot our of a person, even if their core didn’t ignite. A mana baptism could be a trying process on the body. Well, at least that was one thing he knew he’d survive. He was no stranger to discomfort, that was for certain. He pointedly did not scratch at his still tingle-burning left forearm.
“We will be calling you up in order of arrival. We’ll be going ten at a time. One for each chamber. Just to reiterate, you will be in the chambers for no more than thirty seconds, but no less than ten seconds-
“No, put your hands down, we will not extend the time you are in the chamber. Millenia of fine tuning the process has shown us exactly the safest amount of mana a potential cultivator can be subjected to before the results for both those whose cores successfully ignite, and for those whose do not- I said out your hands down!
“Yes, the sects, clans and the Coalition Council do have more precise instruments that be set to the optimize the baptism for a specific cultivator.
“No, none of you are special, important, or meaningful enough for us to use any of these methods on what amounts to an obligation made by the Coalition to the Terrans.” The man’s phrasing, information, and the reverent treatment he was receiving from the people who were presumably his subordinates, convinced Leo of one thing. This cultivator was an alien. Or an ‘off-worlder’ as they liked to be called. Leo tucked that thought away for later speculation before tuning back in to the man’s monologue.
“Moving on.” The man gestured at the staff, and support workers around him in Coalition green and the few in the colours of their various sects and clans, but bearing the symbol indicating them as ‘healers’. “We will be able to monitor your status within the chamber using our linked devices.” The man held up a tablet that Leo could easily identify as a datapad, but one of the good ones made by the coalition that were only sold to specific, powerful individuals or groups. This one had a small slot for a mana-shard. The device was a remarkable blend of magic and technology if Leo had to put a word to it. If such a small tablet needed its own core to power it, Leo wondered just how much processing it was actually doing, and just how much more it was capable of, considering the amount of ambient mana saturating the room.
“Any questions before we proceed?” The man asked. Yes. Many! Leo shouted in the privacy of his own mind. Instead of betraying both his ignorance, and potentially overstepping his bounds, Leo did what everyone else did and kept his curiosity to himself. It wasn’t like the man had been sincere in his inquiry anyway when he immediately followed up his own question with a complete shut down for any of brave idiots in the crowd that might have actually asked anything. “No questions then? Good.” Then the lead tech turned away, seeming entirely disinterested with the proceedings.
Besides, Leo mused, despite the fact that this was a big day, perhaps the most important day for every single young person in the room, for this man, it was probably just another Friday.
"Just another Friday. You will have bigger days, and more meaningful moments," Leo said under his breath, trying to convince himself. Willing himself to believe his own words for the sake of his nerves and his sanity. "Just another Friday."
As if in response to his mumbled words, the technicians who had until this point been milling about looking busy, or leisurely checking devices and instruments Leo couldn’t even begin to comprehend, suddenly became focused. Then the first ten names were called.
And so, it began.