Chapter 4 - The Manifestation Ceremony

Daniel felt refreshed as he woke up to the sight of a ball of blue on his chest and a loving father probing his body for any problems. He felt like his senses were sharper than before and felt an instinctual link to the little baby. This was probably just an illusion, he thought. The dragon woke up as well and wobbled up to Daniel’s face.

“Should I give you a name?” Daniel pondered out loud.

Daniel felt an affirmation resonating in his head. This threw him off guard, as this message seemed to be coming from the little dragon.

“Are you talking to me?”

Once again, the mental equivalent of a nod resonated in his mind. Excited at this novelty in his life, the child experimented with the link. He could also send his own thoughts through his new link to the newborn, that he decided to call Eifion, meaning “deep” in the ancient elven language.

As the young boy calmed down, he took his new companion out to the bathtub, where he started to wash the little dragon’s liquid off. As he came back to the living room, Evan had a breakfast ready for Daniel, which he started eating.

Taking care of the baby dragon that his son had let go of in favor of his breakfast, Evan tried to make it eat. The dragon did not seem to be interested in anything the father presented him. Since Eifion did not seem to be troubled by not eating, Evan just let it do what it wants to.  Maybe it only need to draw energy from the air to survive.  He wasn't a specialist in dragon biology, after all.

The family had to get ready for the Manifestation Ceremony.

“Wash your hands!” Evan said as soon as Daniel finished his meal. The dragon escaped from Evan’s arms and adorably wobbled behind Daniel as the child left the room.

While marveling at the visible progress Eifion had made in its stride since it was born, Evan took out an armor out from his spatial ring, a contraption in which space was compressed. The armor was a plated armor, dark blue with lines of gold. Forged by Evan, this was to be Daniel’s ceremonial attire and first armor.

Evan himself donned an elegant red armor. Scales composed the whole armor, and beautiful small ruby-red Qi Cores were interspersed around the armor, and runes were engraved onto both the scales and the cores. Radiating an aura of majesty, this was Evan’s beloved armor and trusted companion.

Evan had forged this armor himself under the supervision of his master with scales that had been given to him by that same master, Jura Champion of Dragons. This armor had contributed greatly to his reputation as a Heaven’s Chosen in his younger years. It even had not left his body since his son was born, as his martial cultivation had made him transcend the need to dispense things from his body.

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Evan properly adjusted the armor on Daniel and led the excited boy outside.

Daniel could not wait to manifest his Martial Spirit.

Each person in this world possessed a spirit, which was awakened through the injection of Qi in small quantities into the brain, simulating the soul. Having a spirit enhanced one’s ability in a certain compatible field. Although there were different ranks of Martial Spirits, even an ordinary spirit benefited its owner.

Moreover, the Martial Spirit enabled cultivation, as it could be used to attract Qi from the surrounding atmosphere provided it was paired with a suitable cultivation method. Cultivation, even without great achievements in it, could strengthen the body and prolong youthfulness, making most of the population of the Ancient Mountains a labor force. Furthermore, at certain heights, life expectancy could be multiplied. It was even rumored that reaching immortality was possible with cultivation. Thus, many people spent a great deal of effort cultivating.

Schools teaching cultivation were also considered the most prestigious. After all, cultivation guaranteed longevity and power. Only by having a powerful cultivation or having the backing of such an individual could one hope to live life as one wishes.

However, life was unfair. Martial Spirits did not have equal cultivation aptitudes. Practice speed differed greatly depending on the different aptitudes. However, it was not unheard of that some cultivators were able to cultivate to great heights even with mediocre Martial Spirits. It was nonetheless rare to hear of such a tale, and most such legends involved some lucky chance that enabled the quality of the martial spirit to be raised somehow. Thus, there tended to be silent discrimination among the cultivators towards those with lower aptitude. It was nothing too overt but could be distinctly felt by any cultivator.

A rare portion of society were even born without a Martial Spirit. They were doomed to a life without cultivation and could only practice their bodies to protect themselves to a limited degree. Many of such people, if they lacked backing, were destined to become slaves of others.  Most people, however, did not have the opportunity to awaken their Martial Spirits, as the method to manifest the spirit was kept in the hands of cultivation clans.  Thus, outside of the Ancient Mountains existed a cast of people ruled by the cultivation clans.

After generations of testing, ten years of age was determined to be the point at which the body is most ready to start cultivating. All cultivation clans thus organized a ceremony called the Martial Spirit Manifestation Ceremony where people versed in the art of spirit manifestation would help all the ten-year olds in the clan manifest their spirits.  In the Ancient Mountains, the township of Ván allowed any 10-year-old to participate in the ceremony as long as they are willing to travel from their villages to the town.

Daniel could not understand why it wasn't his father who helped everyone manifest their Martial Spirits. The people in charge of the Manifestation Ceremony were the nine Elders, friends of his father's. It was furthermore widely agreed that Evan was the strongest fighter in the surroundings, but he was always only a spectator during the ceremony. Moreover, the exact cultivation of this father of his never seemed to be mentioned among the adults.

Adults must have their reasons, Daniel sighed.