The old man´s voice was monotonous and calm but Jason felt an undercurrent of threat in his tone and he instantly began to sweat.
Jason didn´t know how this old man had found out but he understood that his secret had now been exposed.
Stuttering, Jason tried his best to answer, "I-I was b-blind until last week….b-but I awoke my eyes by gathering mana over a long time inside my eyes….I-I kept this a secret to be able to w-w-write my theoretical exam with the VR appliance b-because I can't write technical language well."
There was no way for Jason to resist the pressure radiated by the old man as he was only 13 years old. The old man did not find it difficult to intimidate him with the small mana fluctuations.
After listening to Jason's explanation the old man understood his situation even if Jason had overexaggerated the fact.
But, the old man noticed that Jason didn´t have a great background otherwise this would not have been a problem.
Nodding, the old man said "Okay. It's fine… I will keep this a secret, but you have to do me a favor in return"
Jason felt relieved and also slightly scared because owning a favor was always bad in his opinion.
Continuing, the old man said, "You have to give me your contact information"
"HMPH?" Jason almost shouted out loud before quickly placing his other hand on his mouth.
"Don´t get me wrong, I don't have any ulterior motives. Now, it's your turn to have your soul awakening. Keep in mind that you can reveal your eyes soon, but it would be better for you to have a word with me before that's going to happen, okay?"
Jason could only nod while he continued to sweat buckets under the old man's intimidating demeanor. Though, he shook his head in an effort to clear his mind because he had to focus on his soul-awakening right now.
Greg and his family could only see the old man and Jason talking to each other and a minute passed until Jason moved again.
Jason cut his hand lightly and blood ran down his arm in a slow trickle as he mustered up enough courage to drag his hand closer to the orb which looked dangerous to him.
Forgetting his anxiety, he slowly put the hand on the orb which began to glow in a faint light as blood dripped on it.
He felt a weird sensation coursing through him as if something changed within him. His pores opened and a small and colorful world began to take shape within his mind. It was a grain-sized golden marble with mysterious inscriptions on it.
First, the world was as small as a peanut but it began to grow bigger and bigger until his whole mind was filled with the world.
Jason suddenly felt an ache in his head as the world inside his mind tried to expand even further, beyond the limits of his mind.
The pain didn't lessen; rather it increased as the world continued to expand. Jason writhed in agony, the pain was unbearable for him and he screamed in a shrill voice. His bandage sported a few drops of blood before it turned crimson as his eyes began shedding blood.
Jason´s hand didn't lose its grip on the soul-awakening orb but his legs gave in while Jason´s cries reached Greg's family that was more than confused.
Even the old man couldn´t understand the situation and watched perplexed as the orb continued to gather mana from its surroundings.
Greg was worried for Jason and he took a step to climb up the stairs and help Jason, but he was held back by his father with a firm grip.
Jason´s mind was in chaos as the small world broke through the limits of his mind while continuing to expand without meeting any obstacles.
The orb finished gathering mana and its color changed before it began projecting Jason´s soul.
First, the orb turned golden for a second but the time was too short for anyone to notice it. The color then changed to green, which was the highest ever recorded color, indicating a vast amount of soul energy, before it changed to yellow, orange, light red, red, dark red, and finally stopped changing at pitch black.
While the colors changed, Jason´s head felt as if it would explode any second. But, the pain kept declining at a steady rate with every change in color while the world inside his mind expanded further before it reached the last color.
Jason wasn't even able to figure out the size of the world as he had to focus on not losing his consciousness.
After the color of the orb turned pitch black the world inside his mind stopped expanding, but Jason felt its ambition to grow even more.
Jason felt the frustration of his soul world and its incomplete status.
The pitch-black color of the orb left the spectators speechless as they had never seen such a black color. Finally, the orb began to project Jason´s soul while Jason tried to hold himself together as the pain receded.
The orb projected Jason´s soul, as another spectacle appeared in front of the audience. An unknown number of varied colors filled the room with their bright shimmer.
The soul itself was apparently bigger than the whole room and only the old man could see its outer lines as he could see through the whole building.
Flabbergasted, the old man noticed that the whole Beast Pagoda's area was shrouded in Jason´s soul world projection.
But, the most important fact about Jason´s soul was that it radiated a thick and dense golden hue overshadowing Greg´s red hue by leaps and bounds.
Jason, whose head was still hurting, finally let go of the pitch-black orb as his legs gave in again and he slumped to the floor.
He stuttered, "Is this pain normal?" His question seemed to bring the old man out of his thoughts.
He had never seen something as fascinating as Jason´s soul. The old man had wanted to take him as a disciple without any complaints when he had seen the color of the orb Jason had used.
`Wasn't it green before????? Why is it black now? NOO...WHY?!` The old man exclaimed inwardly in disbelief. For a minute, he thought that he had finally found someone even better than God's Children, which were 5-star awakenings but the pitch-black color radiated by the orb shattered his lifelong dream.
Calming down, he looked at Jason with pity, and Greg´s family could completely understand him after seeing the pitch-black orb in front of Jason.
Previously, the old man had had the gut feeling that this youth would be even more special than Greg and he had shared his contact information in hopes of taking him as his student but apparently, his gut feeling had betrayed him.
While they could only see the huge and vast world projected by Jason´s soul earlier, now they could clearly see the orb.
Greg´s father wasn't sure if he should pity Jason or be happy. He hadn't wanted Jason to be better than his son. But a second later he shook his head clearly embarrassed at his selfish thought. It was definitely a pity that such a beautiful soul had such a weak soul-power.
The orb´s color indicated the strength of one's soul energy and how strong one's soulbond could be at the most.
While Greg´s red, almost light red color meant that he could form a contract with a stronger evolved beast, nobody except the old man understood that the pitch-black as black with a tinge of red was usually the weakest possible.
The old man wondered if the youth in front of him would even be able to endure the pain afflicted by a matured one-star wild beast which was by far the weakest possible rank a beast could get.
Looking at Jason, the old man announced,
"Young man, you have a beautiful soul and I'm ashamed to say that I don't know how many beasts you can tie to your soul in the future. I also don't know what the golden hue represents which gives you 5 stars compared to a God's children at least because I would rate it higher if possible!….
Unfortunately, your soul energy is the weakest ever to be recorded in history and it would be fortunate for you if you could form a bond with a one-star wild beast. That means you get zero stars for this section which is generous in my opinion.
Your average would then be two and a half stars but I will only award you with two stars as your soul energy is at such a big disadvantage. It is extremely difficult to overcome and even if you can do it, your pals won´t wait for you and the divide will only grow with time."
After saying this loudly, he added quietly.
"If you find a one-star wild beast cub or even an egg with a decent potential, it might be possible to get stronger at a slow pace, otherwise your future as a possible hunter or at other comparable jobs is bound to be destroyed.."