END Initiated...

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"Next…"

"Next...."

"Next….."

"Hank Houk"

The skinny kid sitting beside Kiel who attempted talking to him stood up and turned his head giving Kiel a glance, " Brother it's my turn now. See ya later!" Although he spoke, the kid didn't expect an answer. So he just turned around.

"Alright, good luck!"

Not expecting an answer, the kid seemed to be pretty amazed to be answered back. So, he flashed a smile and walked out.

Hank strode forward and entered the Awakener, sat cross-legged and commenced his awakening. As he was submerged, a small light-green vortex built up inside the Awakener, causing his clothes to move around slightly. 

"Good! Wind Element. Mana aptitude is not bad too. Practice hard to enter the Inceptor level, and don't be lazy."

The instructor looked pretty happy. Although most of the youths here were not on par, some were a little talented too. And as he was the one who aided their awakening, if a few among these achieved a great result during the Academy evaluation, he would receive a great boost to his career too.

And naturally what made his countenance light up was the girl Lia Heartfelt. Even if she didn't join their Academy, just based on the fact that he was the one to unearth such a talent would be enough to aid his career a lot. He could even brag about it to his colleagues too. And if by any chance she joined the Infinite Light Academy, it would be like getting a cherry on the top hehe.

"Next…"

"Next…."

"Next….."

"Hushh~~~~~"

An orange-coloured fire suddenly blazed up around a kid in the Awakener.

This spectacle caused the entire group to widen their eyes.

"Fire… Fire Element!!!"

"Shit! It turned out to be a girl. What's her name?"

For a moment, the girl who awakened the Fire element became the centre of the entire group. This element was the one with the highest assault prowess among the primary elements. This was also one of the Inceptor-level Mage's first choices in awakening. If they were only able to choose which Elements to get….

Unfortunately, no one had any chance to choose their element. They could only depend on their personality, karma and luck to guess their element like a big lottery. Some were lucky enough to get a rare element, while some even failed to awaken. 

"Her name is Maya Layma. It seems like she's the daughter of some instructor of the Final Sword Academy," someone said in a whisper.

"You mean The Final Sword Academy? The second of the four imperial academies!!"

"Yup!"

"She looks really good. Maybe we can get to know her if we get the chance to enter the academy"

"But why is she awakening here?"

"Who knows? But it's better to be cautious. This Maya girl looks like she's very quiet and obedient, but in reality, she should be very short-tempered and violent. How else could a girl awaken the Fire Element?"

"That makes sense."

"The daughter is just like her mother. If Mrs Layma comes to know about this, then I'm sure she'll be excited,"  there was a glint in his eyes as the instructor praised the girl.

However, the girl only smiled at him and then walked back. 

It appears her mother is in a high position in the Academy. So the instructor didn't mind the attitude. He started calling out again.

"Next….. Wind Element."

"Next….."

...

Finally, when it appeared like virtually the entire third group had their elements awakened, Kiel's held his ticket numbered 143, his heart skipping incessantly. Probably no one else was as anxious as him.

On one hand, attaining magic powers was the dream of every individual from his previous world, including him; while on the other, he was very excited about what element would he awaken! Maybe he would awaken the legendary space element and become the All Conqueror, or maybe the time element and become The Undying!

"Number 143, Kiel Dmitriev!"

Heeding to his name being called out, Kiel stood up.

Suddenly all eyes were focused on him for a moment. But seeing his low-quality clothes, most of them lost interest in him and turned around. His background was poor so how good could he be! A few even had a sarcastic smile on them. But Kiel didn't mind them. He saw these kids looking down on almost all the poor kids. So, there was no special notion about him. His abilities would speak for himself. And if his abilities were not enough, he had no right to speak.

"Hey, do you know about the latest suicides in the state prison?"

"Ya, I heard about them too. They told that the prisoners were guilty about their crimes. So they repented by suiciding! What do you think!"

"Hehe! What I think is that those losers just got some mental attacks maybe! Or maybe they just didn't like the prison food?"

'The f**k you kids are chatting about!! It's my turn now so if you all can't praise me, at least badmouth me. Why the f**k are you all ignoring me? Do you all know on earth, if I even sneezed, the reporters would come the next moment to ask about my health? You punks can't even respect your elders! Well, whatever hmph!'

"It's your turn. Good Luck!" Hank turned his head around and encouraged him.

Disturbed in the midst of serious contemplation, Kiel can back to reality.

"Mhmm. Thanks!"

The two year period from 3 to 5 was to aid the kids to train and adapt themselves to the external mana and strengthen their inwards for a better mana circulation. 

But there was still a chance to fail the awakening. And even a chance to harm oneself in the process. But the probability was considered too low. After all, if someone was not feeble from birth, their physiques would harmonize themselves to the new habitat after five years at most. At least Kiel had not detected anyone failing their awakening in the venue till now.

Kiel walked up to the Awakener. 

"Kiel Dmitriev, right? Go on inside and sit down. Remember to relax as much as you can. Don't resist the needles and let the awakening solution do its work. For a moment you may feel like hell. So try to hold onto your best as the heavens await on the other side. Best of luck to you!" 

Kiel greeted the old professor and entered the Awakener nervously sitting down cross-legged. He shut down his eyes and aimed to be relaxed, but his heart was already like a racecar.  

A moment later when he was all-ready, something sharp pierced at the back of his neck. And then three more sharp pains along the length of his spine. He didn't even get the time to think when a sudden sensation of a fluid entering his body via the needles was felt.

It was hot… no, it felt more like burning. The hot burning sensation originated from his spine spreading to the rest of his body, drilling into his flesh, bones, organs, and everywhere he could imagine but at the same time being restricted to encompass everywhere. It was really an ineffable sensation.

It was an extremely uncomfortable sensation, to begin with… like molten lava was being poured into his body melting everything inside of him, but an unknown coldness restricting the lava from rampaging everywhere, only allowing it to follow predestined pathways. It was very strange.

However, one thing was for sure. The pain was like hell. Even more than third-degree tortures. The searing and freezing sensations at a time, both pulling from two different sides, was more like ripping his body from the inside. It was so uneasy that only the word hell was applicable to it.

Kiel gave attention to the old professor telling him that he would go through hell for a moment, but never did he imagine it to be like this. He even wondered how could the little kids even bear this degree of torment. But this was a fleeting feeling as the pain seemed too much to handle. 

However, thinking that if even the little punks could do it so effortlessly, Kiel pride was hurt. After all, if he was the only one shouting out of pain in the Awakening won't that be very embarrassing! Maybe it was not prevalent but sometimes Kiel was very stubborn. So he persisted. But a frown nonetheless would materialize on his face often. 

'It feels like…  like…'

"Stay focused. Try to bear the baptism."

'That's right. Baptism! It felt like my whole body was being baptised.'

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~Tick-tock … tick-tock~

Seconds passed by and became minutes, but the cute little kid still sat with a blank look on his face cut off from the world. Sometimes a frown would appear on his face, and his body would slightly shiver but that was all. 

"Professor Ian, what happened? It has already been ten minutes. Usually, it only takes a minute at most. Do you think that the awakening failed?"

The old professor safeguarding Kiel's Awakener also was frowning.

"No. The Awakening has not failed… at least not till now. The mana concentration reading shows that the awakening solution has already dissolved within him. But the active essence readings are showing that his body is still undergoing changes. If the Awakening had failed the instruments would reveal that. So I think it's the quenching process that is taking time."

"The quenching process! Really?" 

"Well, maybe the kid had never trained until now. So that's why its taking time? But… alright, let's wait for five more minutes. If he is still not done by then, then we will f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y halt the awakening."

~~~~Whoosh~~~ ~~~~Whoosh~~~ ~~~~Whoosh~~~

 A light invisible whirlwind started swirling around them as they just finished speaking taking them by surprise. Most of the people inside didn't even notice such an occurrence. And only some of them could feel the invisible whirlwind but those that could didn't feel anything special to mind. Only professor Ian and the young instructor felt the warm swirls, piquing their interests.

Slowly some more seconds passed by and the gentle swirls now started to build enough strength which startled even the experts. Some experts now could even feel the mana around them being drained away at a visible rate.

 The mana concentration around them even started decreasing visibly throughout the auditorium and maybe extending even outside, enthralling everyone's attention at the sudden phenomenon. 

Even the experts were greatly startled from the sudden event. Some started investigating the cause while others speculated about what was happening. 

But the two most surprised persons were the two instructors safeguarding the third awakener. It seemed like every strand of mana was flowing towards them, or more specifically the kid within the Awakener. The two were so dumbfounded that they even forgot to speak.

As the experts were busy finding the cause, the whirlwind started picking up pace more and more. And it was even increasing at an alarming rate. It became so intense that even the kids could feel the flow of mana around them. As the intensity started increasing, even more, everyone now could visibly see the source which looked like the third Awakening device or more specifically the kid within. 

They could merely conjure up one passing thought at the moment.

'This...'

The invisible whirlwind which started as a gentle wind now seemed to have enough momentum to tear the entire auditorium, but surprisingly everything was still at its place portraying the event was an illusion. But was it? The experts could tell that everything that was happening was 100 per cent real. So what was happening?

The contradicting phenomenon in itself shocked many of the low-end practitioners. They had never experienced something like this.

But the cause of everything, the little kid, was totally unaffected by what was happening.

The invisible mana whirlwind continued drawing more and more mana towards itself, enlarging itself in the process. 

Two metres… five metres… Finally, at about ten metres did it seem to reach its peak. But it still proceeded to draw all the mana towards itself and with it everyone's vigilance too. 

Five minutes… ten minutes… only after twenty minutes did the invisible and untouchable whirlwind seem to slow down.

"What just happened here? Which kid is experiencing such a mana phenomenon? The instructors' responsible report immediately!"

Only when the mana manifestations vanish, did someone wake up from the reverie and with a  loud and clear voice jolting everyone awake from their reverie, everyone including prof Ian and the young instructor. Suddenly regaining their clarity, they realised what was happening.

"Reporting to the Chief Executive! I am responsible for this awakening."  the old professor reported sternly while still recovering from the daze.

"Oh, it is prof Ian. Hello. I would have greeted you better but the immediate circ.u.mstance is more attention requiring. Please report your readings about what is happening. We may be witnessing the birth of a genius"  

"I understand. Here are the results. " 

"So is this mana phenomenon related to the wind element? Or maybe is it the rare illusion element?"

Although Ian handed the readings, he himself hadn't viewed it yet. But he was still a veteran practitioner. So asking his opinion, who was closest to the centre of the phenomenon could reveal the true phenomena. After all, he too was curious about what really was happening.

"Neither. Although it felt like the wind, it was neither the wind nor was it an illusion. It felt more like the… 

the flow of pure… "

"Mana!!"

"Exactly! pure mana. No elemental traces at all!"

Although it was Ian speaking, as the competent executive, who too experienced the outcome, he too came with the same conclusion. 

"Hmm! You are right. But ..."

~~~Whhhhoooooossssshhhhhh~~~

When everyone thought it was over, suddenly another whirlwind appeared out of nowhere shocking them to the core!

The only difference was this time the phenomenon was even more gigantic and it covered the whole sky of WMMW s.u.c.k.i.n.g every bit of mana available.

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[Rebooting Core System! Reboot at 1%...  23%... 78%... 95%... 100%]

[Reboot Complete]