Odyssey Of The Sword Dancer

5. Awakening Ceremony

For the first time in a very long while, I didn't oversleep.

We were being led to the academy by our ever present guide.

And with every step I took, I could hear my heart beat more forcefully. Like it was trying to break free from my chest.

We kept walking till we found ourselves in a garden. Tall trees and colorful flowers were sprawled out before us. And behind us was a dazzling city.

The contrast was as clear as day.

"Beyond this garden is the academy," our guide said. "It will take us about two hours to cross it, then you will undergo your awakening."

Listening to his words, I couldn't help but wonder.

Who builds a garden this big?

"Looks like our suffering has already begun," Zac murmured beside me.

I nodded grimly in agreement.

And so, we continued our journey. And if there was one thing I was sure of, it was that greater levels of torment was waiting for us on the other side.

...............................

Just as the guide said, it took us about two hours to cross the garden.

And before us was a city in the middle of the garden. It was the embodiment of the word, majestic.

We walked through the open gates and couldn't help but stop in our tracks.

An ancient city stood before us.

While the roads were paved, and some buildings were renovated, there was still a conscious effort to keep it's ancient heritage. I couldn't even spot a single car in the academy.

A light morning fog spread through the place, adding a mystic beauty to the the scenery.

People of all shapes and colors dotted the academy. Most were cadets were cadets from what i could tell.

While I couldn't really tell the size of the academy, I was sure it was huge.

I wasn't the only one spellbound by the beauty of the academy. Looking around, I could see the others staring wide eyed as well.

"Welcome to Sentinel Academy," the guide said, giving us a moment to take in the scenery. "We will be making our way to the venue of the ceremony."

As we walked, the guide kept on spouting facts about the academy.

According to him, the academy had been around for over five hundred hundred years, around the same time, humans started to gain ground against the dragons.

Resources were scarce at that time, so they really couldn't build something advanced.

And just as I guessed, it was the about the size of a small city. It was also surrounded by the garden on all sides.

Which I found quite ridiculous.

The garden had to be extremely huge to surround the academy on all sides.

I mean, you couldn't call something of this magnitude a garden. It was the size of a full blown forest.

Sometimes I wonder why rich people just liked wasting space.

....That was until he said the flora surrounding the academy were capable of releasing mana into the atmosphere. Which caused the academy to have a mana filled environment.

Perfect for meditation and training.

Anyways, he also said the branch academy was located in another city and was of a smaller size.

And for the records, the branch academy had a higher population than the main academy.

Talk about favoritism. This was why nobody wanted to end up in the branch academy, but that was just wishful thinking.

Over the years, the academy has produced key figures in the war against the dragons. It has come to be seen as a key factors in defeating the dragons, and a lot of resources is continually being poured into it.

We finally made it to the venue, which was a huge hall that was already quite full of children around the age of sixteen.

"My work here is done, please make your way into the hall and wait for the ceremony to begin," with those words said, the guide turned and left.

"Alright Zac, let's get going," I said, turning to stare at him.

And for some reason, he was holding his stomach. "Umm, I'm not feeling too good, maybe we should turn back and go home."

"Stop pretending, you know this ceremony is mandatory and you will be punished severely if you're caught not participating."

With no further ado, I dragged him into the hall.

When we entered we realized it was way bigger than it looked from outside.

Probably spatial magic.

"Looks like the nobles aren't here," I muttered.

Zac faced turned sour. "Yeah, I heard they undergo their awakening in their castles or wherever they lived."

While I could see kids from the upper class, there were clearly no nobles in the hall.

Tch, nobles were never going to change.

"The ceremony is about to begin," a woman standing on a raised podium announced, her voice somehow loud enough to be heard by everyone. "If your name is called, step forward and place your hand on the crystal, then after your awakening go through the door on the right.

A table was in front of her with a fairly large, white crystal on top of it. And besides her were two men and a woman.

Without wasting anymore time she began to call out names.

"Daylen Cromdor."

A boy stepped forward and climbed the podium with shaky steps, then he placed his hand on the crystal. A golden light suddenly surrounded him.

It wasn't extremely bright but still caused me to squint a bit.

The light slowly died down and a floating screen with a white background and green colored words written on it, appeared mid air.

Yes, Baronia had it's own general status screen.

[Name: Daylen Cromdor]

[Talent: C rank]

[Path: Elementalist]

[Element: Wind]

The once quiet hall suddenly exploded with noise.

"The first person to awaken has decent talent, looks like the quality of the awakened would be better than the previous year," a girl said.

"You're right, maybe there might not be any mundanes this year," a boy who was full of smiles beside her said.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, there has only been one awakening, let's wait and watch," a boy with glasses said.

"I just hope I awaken with a decent level of talent," another girl said nervously.

Conversations like this were going on throughout the hall.

More names were called when the commotion in the hall suddenly increased.

That was because a person had awakened with a different path.

[Name: Alethra Hardy]

[Talent: D+ rank]

[Path: Tamer]

[Type: Monster tamer]

While she had a low talent, she was the first to awaken a different path and a monster tamer to boot.

There were two types of known tamers, Beast tamers and monster tamers. While there were those who could tame both beasts and monsters, they were incredibly rare.

For the records, animals that were originally from Baronia, that mutated after the re-entry of mana into the planet are called beasts.

Both beast and monster tamer had their pros and cons.

But the monster tamers were few and far between in comparison to the beast tamers.

So even if she awakened with a low talent, she would still have a decent standing in society.

There are four paths that existed in Baronia.

Elementalist, Tamer, Psychic, Enchanter, and Healer.

Elemantalist had the highest population, while the Enchanters had the lowest population.

The Psychic path had different types; the mentalists, the seers, the mind mages, the Espers, and finally, the technopath.

If you were going to talk about rare, then the technopaths came first.

There were only like a handful of those in Baronia.

I doubted there would even be a technopath this year.

A bright suddenly spread throughout the entire hall, causing us to close our eyes.

When the light died down, we all turned our attention to the podium.

[Name: Wayne Cromwell]

[Talent: SSS+ Rank]

[Path: Psychic]

[Type: Technopath]

The hall went silent at first.

Before an uproar spread throughout the hall.

It was so loud that I felt vibrations pass through the floor.

"A technopath?" a girl gasped in shock.

"And he has a [SSS+ rank] talent, the highest talent a technopath had ever had is [S rank]." a boy said, envy written all over his face.

While all this was happening, I couldn't help but think that the universe was against me.

The boy who caused all this commotion just... stood there.

His green hair groomed properly, his red eyes staring at the crowd behind round framed glasses.

There wasn't a single expression on his face.

And I didn't like the look in his eyes. It was like he was staring at a bunch of inferior beings.

He turned his attention from the crowd to the woman in charge of the awakening ceremony, spoke a few words that I couldn't hear, then he was led through the door on the left.

Yep, he was getting the full deluxe treatment.

"I would be ecstatic if I were to awaken an [S rank] talent, but he awaken with something way bigger and just acted like it was a normal Tuesday." Zac said.

I couldn't help but nod in agreement. "He must be some rich kid."

"Actually, I overheard he was from a tier two village." Zac said.

My jaw touched the floor. "Seriously?"

Zac just nodded.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

His parents were probably mundanes, so how the heck did he awaken with peak talent?

Yes, I did say talent wasn't hereditary, they were still a factor.

After much thought, I ended up with the most reasonable theory.

He stole the talents of others.

Why did I think so?

Because the three people that underwent the awakening process after him were all mundanes!

He stole their talent, end of discussion.

The ceremony continued with a number of people awakening with high talents and different paths

"Zac Larson."

That was all it took for my mind to blank out for a second.

I turned to face a sweaty Zac. "You can do this, I'm sure you will awaken with a high talent."

Zac just nodded and began to walk towards the podium.

As I watched him, I couldn't help but feel nervous myself.

He climbed the podium and placed his hands on the crystal.

A golden light enveloped him for a while, before finally receding.

[Name: Zac Larson]

[Talent: D- rank]

[Path: Elementalist]

[Element: Fire]

My heart plummeted at that moment.

[D- rank]

It wasn't good.

He was going to end up in the branch academy.

Zac looked like he was about to break down in tears, but he held it in, turned to me, and nodded with a smile on his face.

All I could do at that moment was nod back.

He slowly turned and walked off the podium, exiting through the door on the right.

I stood there staring blankly at the floor, my thoughts were a complete mess.

I didn't know how much time passed.

"Kyle Sirius."

I walked towards the podium without any preamble.

Nervousness, excitement and sadness were the emotions that I was feeling at that moment.

I placed my hand on the crystal and waited, my chest struggling to contain my heart.

Nothing happened for a while, and just when I was about to pull my hands back.

A golden light exploded from the crystal, surrounding the entire hall for over thirty seconds.

I looked up, expecting to see heaven defying stats, but...

[Name: Zac Sirius]

[Talent: C+ rank]

[Path: Elementalist]

[Element: Star]