The time was 5 o'clock, and the date was the 24th of the month of Sol, the first month of spring. Above, dark clouds obscured the sun, casting a tumultuous storm of shadows on the ground below. A fierce storm was forming, and figures darted around in preparation for the deluge about to unfold. Cale deftly navigated through the surging crowd of vendors and patrons. The market was packed, and moving felt like trudging through a muddy swamp, one so thick it bogged movement unrelentingly like the desperate grasps of damned souls, yet Cale managed to squeeze through eventually managing to exit at the bustling market gate. Before leaving, Cale took one last glance behind him at the teeming market, where people surged forward like they were escaping the gaping maws of a slumbering beast. Cale wasn't the only one. Behind him, a sea of bodies surged forward like a flood, all young men and women in their primes teeming with uncontrollable vigor and excitement. Like a pack of field mice sigh

Up above in hidden corners and hard-to-reach places surrounding the square, several figures gathered together, overlooking the central square where a crowd of potential awakeners gathered like ants to a feast. These people, their presence unknown to those below, watched the situation unfold with critical eyes, making no effort to join in the commotion since for them, their blessings had long since arrived. Now, they were mere spectators of the festivities, and later, would be judges to guide the direction of the blessed. With mutual understanding, silence reigned among the spectators until a massive column of clouds appeared in the dark sky, preparing to descend. Gasp! Haa! Collective gasps and sighs of astonishment echoed through the group, each person a picture of bewilderment and contemplation. “That's huge!” someone exclaimed. “Has there ever been such a massive mana formation on previous blessing days? This should be the first in recorded history, right? What is hap

When Cale woke up, he found himself in a bed. As soon as he opened his eyes, a bright light temporarily blinded him, causing him to blink and instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes. However, the moment he blinked, it was as if a switch had been flipped—the light no longer irritated him, and he could see normally. To his surprise, everything appeared to be in stunning clarity, like he was looking at a 4K HD version of the world. The surroundings seemed sharper and more colorful than usual, as if Cale's eyes had been replaced with artificial ones that were more powerful than any camera ever made. Shocked, Cale quickly closed his eyes and opened them again briefly after, only to find that his vision remained the same. Marveling at this change, he became engrossed in this new perspective. “Is this due to my awakening?” Cale wondered aloud. “Did I awaken some sort of ocular power or did my perception become incredibly enhanced?” Speaking of awakening, Cale suddenly rememb

Cale was plunged into darkness, with all his senses being completely robbed from him. He could neither see, hear, nor feel anything at all. It was as if he existed in a fixed state of consciousness where the only thing present was the awareness of his own existence, and even that awareness seemed to slowly unravel as doubt about his existence began to grow. Cale was extremely panicked. Without the ability to sense anything, he didn’t know where he was or what was happening to him. This was much worse than when he first woke up inside the previous cell. Back then, despite the fear and concern he felt, he still had his senses which grounded him in a comforting way. But now, with all his senses gone all he had left was terror and his memories which he was forced to relive over and over again. Cale’s memories were not happy ones. Life as an orphan in the fortress was barely a life at all. From the moment he was born, he had been under the mercy of those who could scarcely care whe

Cale attempted the sensing method to determine the type of his mental power and to assess the system to which his powers belonged. If it worked, he should see results very soon. After a while, Cale frowned. “Something is wrong! Why is nothing happening?” He furrowed his brow in annoyance, feeling frustrated that nothing seemed to occur despite his repeated attempts. Time after time, every attempt Cale made seemed to meet with consistent snags. “Did I do it wrong?” “No, that’s impossible. The sensing method is a compulsory skill in the learning center’s curriculum, and I received full marks while practicing it. I can’t be wrong now, so what exactly is the problem? Unless…” Cale pondered deeply, his confusion stemming from a simple fact. That is, when practicing the sensing method, there would typically be clear indications of success, which had been explained previously. In one particular case, those signs would be even more pronounced. This applies when performing th