In a serene courtyard, an old man and a child around five years old sit at a stone table. On the table is a tea set and various language books. The child just finished writing a sentence when the old man said "Good job little Dror, this is your final assessment on language. You've mastered Ancient Elven, Old and Modern Fae, the spirit language, and the common language. You just recently reached the age of Five, which means we can start to lay the foundations for when you will undergo a spirit awakening at age Ten."
The Spirit Awakening is a ritual developed by Mages in the past, it allows a persons 'Spirit' to condense. The minimum age for a spirit foundation is 10 years old, although some people wait until later in their lives to do the ritual, because life experiences are a part of the spirit, and the more you have, the sturdier the foundation can be, but most people generally do it at age 10, because it is still within the acceptable age to start cultivation, and not be too bogged age.
Every person's spirit takes a different form that defines them, it can also help them when rising further on the path of mages. The path of cultivators and the path of warriors have similar rituals, being the 'Meridian Opening Ceremony' and the 'Blood Vessel Trial' respectively. Every person's condensed spirits are different, many are similar and some are rarer, some have more power, others just have weird effects. A person's condensed spirit does not have a final say on a person's talent though, as many condensed spirits in the past were considered weak, trampled over the so called strong ones.
The little boy raised his head, his eyes reflecting a hint of cleverness, "Ok Grandpa, does that mean I get to start reading all the books in the three pavilions?" there was palpable excitement in the child's eyes as he said this. The old man gave an annoyed glare, "Little brat, do you think others are as privileged as you? If I wasn't the current keeper and librarian, and you being my successor, do you think the school would let you see all their secret techniques and cultivation manuals? Any mage in the whole Pale continent would give up their arms and legs to be able to do that!"
The little boy showed no remorse, only looking happily at his adopted grandpa and saying "So that means I can?!" The old man showed an annoyed, yet doting expression, He tossed a jade card to the kid and said "Humph, I'll see how long your enthusiasm last." The child nodded his head like a bobble head. He ran off into the direction of a large building that looked like three poles smashed together.
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At a long table with many chairs, in the center of many tall bookcases sat many mage students, their ages varied from 15 years of age, to 40 years old. Right now they were all staring at a young little boy who had nose deep in various complicated Manuals. One of the younger students, a young man in his 20's wearing a blue robe, whispered to an older student, "Senior Kyle, who is this kid, he has been here non-stop for three days, he has already read all the books on the first and second floors, and is now halfway through the third floor, if it keeps going at this rate, he will have read all the books in the manual pavilion and no one has stopped him, I can tell he hasn't even done the Spirit Awakening Ritual yet, how can he be here?"
The older student, a man in gray robes with dark black hair whispered back, "Student Matthias, you may not know this, but he is the current adopted son and student of the current Librarian. He can go wherever he wants in the three pavilions." the younger student Matthias shivered, "Terrifying, the next generation Librarian is gonna be a monster, if he reads all the manual books from the Manual Pavilion, all the technique books from the Technique Pavilion, and all the rest of the books in the Misc Pavilion, won't he condense a terrifying spirit?"
The older student Kyle shook his head, "No, it depends on how much he actually understands of what he reads, even if he remembers it all by rote, it wont mean anything if he can't actually comprehend it. He is only five years old right now, how much can he possibly understand by the age of 10?" Matthias nodded his head in relief, but for some reason he still felt uneasy, he looked over to see Dror staring at him with a weird smile, one that seemed more like it belonged on an old fox, than a little kid. He quickly shuffled away with Kyle not far behind him.