When Myrrin woke up it was late in the evening. The party began setting up camp right beside the road—the smell of food drifting in the air, causing Myrrin's stomach to growl in reply. Usually it was not safe cooking meals like this out in the open; however, there were no bandits anywhere close to The Capital of the World. The area around The Capital was under the absolute control of the Mizen Empire.
Just as he stepped off the carriage, he saw Arwin approaching from the front.
"Hohoho Good to see you awake, are you hungry? We're making camp here tonight, why don't you join us?"
Arwin's familiar laugh rang as he greeted Myrrin with a bowl of roasted meat and soup. Myrrin wanted to decline, considering how cheaply Arwin let Myrrin stay. As he was shaking his head side to side, Arwin thrust the soup under Myrrin's nose.
"No buts. I can't have a passenger starve to death in front of my eyes. Here, at least take this bowl of food, it doesn't inconvenience a large group like this."
As Arwin stubbornly held out the food, Myrrin couldn't help but drool, receiving the bowl and the spoon.
Myrrin respectfully bowed his head in gratitude, a small tear forming from his eye. These past few years had been especially hard on Myrrin, his frail, haggard figure a testimony for his toils.
"And no need to be so respectful, its just a bowl of soup! I have plenty more if you need seconds, hohoho! I told my men to replenish your bowl whenever you want."
Arwin laughed heartedly as he slapped Myrrin's shoulder lightly, afraid he might break his scrawny body. After seeing that Myrrin was well cared for, he turned around to direct his merchant group. Myrrin clenched his fist. He was too weak now, but he promised that he would repay Arwin a hundred-fold if he could in the future. In the meantime, he sat in carriage quietly savoring the warm soup and seasoned meat. Although Myrrin could hear the laughter, he was no longer the person who could join in on such merry going. Still, it was a pleasant sound to hear. After finishing up his food, Myrrin stayed in his carriage and slowly drifted off to the sound of laughter and occasional singing...
Myrrin woke up drenched in sweat, panting hard, nearly hyperventilating. Something was wrong. His head felt like exploding as if it was being gripped by an invisible force while is body was weighed down by hundreds of pounds. He left out muffled yelp of pain as a spark of pain traveled from head to toe. Some of the attendants in the closer carriage happened to hear the sound, only to be scared by Myrrin's condition. His face was visibly pale in the moonlight of the full moon, sweating profusely while clearly in great pain. A couple of them stayed with Myrrin while the rest split up to find Arwin and anyone who had medicinal knowledge.
Arwin arrived on the scene shortly after, clearing out the crowd that gathered near Myrrin with a large frown visible on his face. As soon as he arrived, he hurriedly checked Myrrin's pulse and temperature, before placing his whole hand on Myrrin's forehead. As soon as he did, Arwin's eyes began to glow a pale yellow. If Myrrin had his eyes open he would have seen mana slowly being absorbed into Arwin's palm. Almost instantly, Myrrin's face relaxed, no longer seeming to be in pain. Arwin eyes crept up upon seeing the sweat on Myrrin's face smudge his dirty face, revealing a younger countenance underneath. Arwin's face had a slight grin as he took another look at Myrrin who looked like a late-teen.
"Hoho, quite a lucky lad aren't you.."
Arwin said softly as he quickly understood that Myrrin was hiding his age. Arwin finally smiled widely as he breathed a sigh a relief, the glow in his eye quickly dissipating. He was inwardly shocked, the person in front of him was going through their [Awakening], and judging by the intensity he seemed to posses high mana perceptivity. Arwin clicked his tongue, if the youth had [Awakened] a little earlier, he could've been hailed as a prodigy. Although [Awakening] late did not always mean mediocrity, there was undoubtedly a correlation between younger [Awakening] and talent. Arwin would have probably vomited blood if he knew that Myrrin had just turned thirteen today.
"Congratulations on [Awakening], open your eyes and get used to mana for now. I'll slowly start bringing back the mana I redirected. Sometimes those with high mana sensitivity can feel pain, though I have never seen a case that bad."
Myrrin tried to groan in reply as he tried opening his eyes. As soon as he did what he saw was something inconceivable, the world before him was the exact same, yet he could somehow 'see' almost invisible currents flowing around him. The novel experience slowly pushed the pain to the back of his mind as more and more mana filled in the gap that Arwin created.
"Uh..um.... wha....."
Myrrin inadvertently spoke as he took in his new surrounding.
"Hohoho seems like your sensitivity is high as expected. Even my own daughter can barely feel the existence of mana even after a week. So kid, is the energy source known as mana what you were expecting?"
"It's amazing, I didn't realize it would be like this."
Myrrin responded, completely oblivious to the change in how Arwin addressed him. To Arwin's surprise, Myrrin's voice sounded even younger that he expected. Arwin's eyes began to shine as if he had found a treasure.
"Everyone please leave this place for now, our guest must be extremely tired after that ordeal. Lets give him lots of space and rest."
Arwin commanded, leaving Myrrin alone as he relieved the men who came with medicinal knowledge. Arwin was about to leave when he turned around to face Myrrin. He had originally planned to give Myrrin plenty of time to get used to the change. As the atmosphere returned back to peaceful and sleepy, Arwin started walking towards Myrrin who seemed to be getting more and more mysterious the more Arwin thought about it. Unable to resist talking to such an a person, Arwin decided to chat just a little while longer with Myrrin. Although the person in question didn't know, bloodline was important in terms of potential; the rate of nobles awakening was nearly one hundred percent, whereas in the slums the awakening rate was lower than one percent.
'In that case, there was a good chance that Myrrin is not from the slums like I imagined,' Arwin theorized. It dawned on him that Myrrin might have purposefully allowed everyone to misunderstand his origins. The sharp intuition of a business man tingled, making a connection with Myrrin could bring benefits later on, and there was no harm done if he did not.
"Now that you've gone through your [Awakening], what you should be doing is getting yourself an [Ezark Contract] as soon as you can, and get admitted to a school as a [Contractor]. I know you're still young enough to be eligible, the cut off age for most schools is 16, with some accepting those that are 17 .You'll be much better off with the support of a school."
Myrrin nodded, Arwin's plan was along the lines of what Myrrin had already decided. Although Arwin had guessed Myrrin's approximate age, Myrrin could tell Arwin still believed him to be older than he really was. Myrrin began going over what he knew about Luc. Luc was probably going to be attending The Royal Academy, as it was the top school in the Mizen Empire. The Royal Academy only accepted those who managed to get their [Ezark Contract] at the age of 13, requiring students to awaken and obtain their contracts within a year of their birthday. If Myrrin wanted to meet Luc, he would need to get into The Royal Academy. Since Arwin had heard his voice, Myrrin continued talking to Arwin.
"Myrrin, did you want to come with me and my daughter? You guys have both awakened, so you can get your [Ezark Contract] together hoho."
"with her?"
"WITH HIM?"
Two voices simultaneously rang out, with the latter ringing out much louder than the former. On the edge of the carriage wheel, hiding partly underneath the stomach of the carriage, was a flustered Reila.
"Reila?? What are you doing here Reila?!? Go back to your carriage at this moment young lady, you should be sleeping at this hour."
Arwin shook his head and he sighed. He was too focused on Myrrin that he failed to realize his daughter had crept up to carriage. Reila, who accidentally ended up shouting out loud, rebelliously stood her ground. She looked at Arwin in the eye before angrily looking at Myrrin, tears starting to form at the base of her eyes.
"Just because you're a lucky street rat, doesn't mean you're special. Even if you can can perceive mana better than me, you'll see the difference in our contracts and age."
Reila defiantly said before storming off back to her carriage. Arwin immediately face palmed before heading off in her direction, now that his daughter overheard how he compared the two, he had to go comfort about it.
"Before you go, are you a [Contractor]?"
"Hoho, curious about what happened during the [Awakening]"
Arwin guessed after turning around to find Myrrin staring at the hand that alleviated the pain of [Awakening].
"Its something my father once did for me, as someone who holds an [Ezark Contract] absorbing mana around you is the basics. Now if you'll excuse me—"
Arwin explained, quickly giving a demonstration before running off to his own carriage, following after his daughter.
Seeing Arwin leave, Myrrin laid down on in his carriage once again. It was only then did Myrrin realize how tired he was, quickly drifting off into a deep sleep...