“All of you here are at the peak stage of spirit apprentice already. After awakening your spirit relic, you will directly enter the initial stage of spirit masters”. The voice of Max’s teacher, Mister Wilson, echoed throughout the room as his lecture about spirit masters went on.

“After this lecture, some of you must proceed to the meditation room on the 18th floor. For some, it looks like you are ready for the spirit relic awakening ceremony”.

The ears of all the students perked up when they heard the last sentence. Afterward, some of them started gossiping with their seatmates.

“Hmmm. It looks like the genius duo of our class will be awakening their spirit relics!”, muttered a girl sitting in front of Max.

“I think they will be awakening rare spirit relics at the very least!”, said another girl.

“Who knows? Maybe they will even get special spirit relics”, added another classmate.

The class bustled with noise, excitement, and envy as they talked about the duo. On the other hand, Max maintained a very calm expression, acting oblivious to the current happenings.

“Silence!”, shouted Mister Wilson.

“Ethan Solace, Miranda Gonzales, Gabe Chase, Jack Johnson, and James Miller. The names I have called will stay here with me. I will first brief you with instructions before going to the final floor. The rest of you will proceed to the meditation room. Class dismissed”, announced Mister Wilson.

The rest of the class including Max proceeded to the meditation room while the two geniuses together with the three teens; Gabe who was 13 years old, Jack who was 15, and James who was 16, stayed with the teacher.

After climbing a couple of floors, Max arrived at the meditation floor and entered a private room. Each student was designated with their own private meditation room because extreme concentration was needed to enter the state capable of absorbing spirit power in the environment. The academy even allotted five floors of the whole building for the meditation rooms of sixteen senior classes.

Sitting cross-legged, Max only took a couple of seconds to enter that miraculous state while the rest of his classmates struggled for a couple of minutes. Time passed by and after what felt like hours of sensing and absorbing spirit power, he exited his meditating state and went out of the room.

Arriving at the room's exit, bewilderment appeared on his face as he scanned the surroundings. It looked like all of his classmates finished their meditation way earlier than the schedule and were swarming along the hallway.

“Have you heard? Miranda awakened a special accessory-type relic while Ethan got a special weapon-type relic!”. He overheard a group of gossiping students.

Although he maintained an outward indifferent appearance, the ears of Max were subtly picking up information from the murmurs on the surroundings.

“Ethan awakened a hammer-type spirit relic that was named Volcanic Hammer! It was a magma-attributed spirit relic and was rumored to be wielded by a demigod who was the son of Hephaestus, the Greek Empire’s god of fire!”.

“Really? I heard Miranda awakened a necklace-type relic from the small Filipino Archipelagic Civilization! However, that necklace was said to possess the uncommon luck attribute and was known to be the Agimat of Magical Prayers!”.

“Well, it was to be expected. After all, they possess rare spirit bodies and have higher chances of awakening special spirit relics. I wonder what magical powers they acquired”.

“However, not everyone from our class awakened such rare relics. I heard that the rest obtained normal weapon-type relics. Gabe and Jack both got daggers from an elite soldier of the Huaxian Empire while James only got an earth shield from a Roman legionary”.

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Sounds of murmur and gossip continued reverberating across the hallway as Max left the chaotic scene. After the morning meditation class, he directly went to the cafeteria on the second floor to get his fill for lunch.

Classes went on during the afternoon. Following the class' dismissal, he exited the building and went to a street directly opposite the academy campus.

The street was crowded with different types of people from all walks of life. From beggars to commoners, to students, to spirit warriors, and occasionally the bourgeoisie. With various types of buildings and shops with distinct architectural styles, the street was filled with life and vitality - this area was called the Seychelles Business Street.

As the street was directly opposite the academy, Max saw a lot of students donning the same uniform as him. Indeed, this place was a hub where various kinds of shops were situated. The area he went to was considered a common area where shops selling everyday life commodities were found.

Affordable restaurants, supplies stores, food markets, music shops, art stores, weaponry - basically almost all types of shops for the basic necessities were erected here. Following several meters of walking, he arrived at an inconspicuous place at one of the street corners.

This place was called The Arthur’s and could be considered as an "art shop". The art shop was covered in plain white and with no designs and other stylistic elements observed on the outside, aside from the multicolored pansy flower boxes hung on the window and a small wooden sign printed with cursive calligraphy which reads as The Arthur’s. For a shop that sells anything related to art, the design could be considered lackluster and ingenious.

“Too ironic! Ironic just like its owner!”, Max mused to himself. His indifferent face was replaced with a sweet smile as he remembered the various antics of the owner. After entering the shop, he scanned the inside of the store and was surprised to see the owner that was usually behind the counter was nowhere to be seen.

He went through the door behind the counter and arrived in a storeroom. There, a fifty-year-old-looking man was currently resting in a canopy at the balcony of the storeroom. This old man adorned with literally nothing but the simplicity and unpretentiousness of the plainclothes he was wearing was the owner of the art shop - Arthur.

“Uncle Arthur, why are you not tending the shop?”, Max asked the man, doubtful whether he was really sleeping. Uncle Arthur was jolted awake after hearing Max’s question, but instead of getting angry after being awakened he only showed a youthful smile. Yes, as ironic as it seems the ‘old man’ was still very capable of showing a smile reminiscent of an 18-year old, unaffected by the passage of time.

Uncle Arthur could be considered to be Max’s one and only family in this tragic life. After his parents died, he was devastated and was frequently loitering the streets around their old house. One eventful day, Uncle Arthur spotted his pitiful self outside his house staring absentmindedly at the empty property.

Arthur approached him and talked him out of his wits. He still vividly remembered the very words he said to him that day, "Wake up, son. The road ahead is still a very lengthy one. Are you sure you want to live your life in misery? This may be the cruel reality, and not everything will always go your way. Then, why not persevere and have a shot at changing your destiny?".

From then on, Max was awakened from his depressing reality and decided to enroll himself at the academy with the help of Uncle Arthur. He then started living his life with the undying flames of hope, hope for the future.

“I am waiting for you so I decided to take a rest first”, Uncle Arthur disturbed Max from his reminiscing.

“It looks like that in a few days' time, you will be eligible to awaken your spirit relic”. Uncle Arthur has always been a man of mysteries, capable of seeing his spirit cultivation at one glance. Coupled with the profundity of his wisdom and his ironic way of living, Max believed that there was more to Uncle Arthur’s life than meets the eye.

“I have something to tell you but only after the shop closes, till then please tend to it first”, added Arthur.

Max nodded his head and exited the storeroom, he positioned himself at a chair behind the counter and started tending the shop. Occasionally, he would stand up and roam around the store.

He had always been fascinated by Uncle Arthur’s paintings as they looked very lifelike. All of his paintings were portraits and landscapes depicting unknown individuals or groups of people. The paintings were all booming with vitality as if the characters have lives of their own, with complete backstories and filled with various emotions. It may be normal for paintings to have some magical effect during the Age of Spirit Relics, but for them to reach Uncle Arthur’s level was still very far-fetched.

He managed the shop for four hours before closing it. During that duration, Max only encountered very few customers who only went in to take a look, be fascinated by the paintings, and then left. For paintings of such quality, customers knew that they would not be able to afford it all their lives. Even though the shop was situated in what can be considered the commoner's area, the prices remain a mystery. After all, the owner and the shop were the very embodiment of irony.

Max closed the shop at around 8:00 PM. He then proceeded to the storeroom to ask Uncle Arthur about the thing he opened up earlier. "What could it be?", he excitedly thought.