The board keeps flashing different name and the students left one by one until only two boys were sitting. However, the board is not calling anymore names.
Everyone else ignored them while only a black haired boy turns his head again and again worrying if the two are sad that they can't awaken their souls.
Surprisingly both kids were cheering up their friend,
"Go Go, Umbra! Take that crown on top bruh! YEAH you can do it!" white haired kid shouted while 'silver hair' is no better.
" Bro, stop looking back! Your wife will be safe with me here, I tell ya! I will beat him in your stead if this guy cheats on you!"
Umbra's face was both red and twitching at the same time.
'This is so embarrassing...why do I even have friends at this point.' he could only lament while remembering the past. Both of these idiots have been with Umbra since the time he could remember.
'Those were great times, weren't they... if only Archie didn't get adopted. Well it could still be considered a good thing seeing him more confident now..*Sigh*'
The trio "Miles, Umbra and Archie" are childhood friends. They could even be considered brothers seeing how close they are. Umbra is called polite, mature boy since young. On the other hand, Miles is a complete opposite.
He's very carefree and childish. The guy doesn't care about others' opinions. He will stubbornly do what he thinks is right. What's great about him is that Miles can make friends very easily since young. Even spoiled rich kids want to be friends with him. It's really amazing since those rich kids usually look down on orphans.
Archie however...is a unique case. When Umbra first met him, the kid was timid and pretty much a crybaby. If you ask him to choose between lollipop and candy, it would take hours and he still won't be able to decide.
Sadly for Archie, he was adopted by middle aged crazy couple who's always fighting each other. This adoption lasted until one morning, his homeroom teacher saw swollen whip marks on the neck. She reported it immediately to the school and well, the boy was back to the orphanage.
When the two reunited with him, Archie is no longer the innocent kid that he was. Although he's still close to his two friends, now there are secrets hidden underneath those eyes. Both Miles and Umbra knew it but they didn't pry any further. At this point, all three of them are thirteen years old. They're sensible enough to give privacy in each others' lives.
Ending his thoughts, Umbra focuses back on the ceremony.
'Right now, that cocky kid, Noah is checking his soul's affinity. Flame? Knew it. That shitty personality of his definitely shows the signs. *ppff* If anyone thought that he would get shadow or Aqua, I swear their IQs are on the negative scale.'
...
Miles and Archie are watching while students are getting Awakened. Different people have different colours but many would get yellow, blue, red and pink while a few got rare colours like white, green and cyan.
Finally, it's time for their friend Umbra to see his affinity for the first time.
"Adamo, Umbra is from Darwin's guild, right? He's that famous guy who discovered souls !"
"Idiot, Darwin didn't discover souls. He discovered how to awaken. He also invented that special bracelet. Not just that, the machine that they're using to awaken the kids is also from his guild. Well... you're right about Umbra being in Dark Guild though. He better get shadow affinity... Dark Guild only accept Shadow- Awakened ones."
"Huh?? Why?? Does that old man think other affinities are weak compared to shadow?!?" Miles said irritated.
"Well who knows what the guy's thinking. One thing is for sure, though. Umbra's family might even disown him if he get any other affinities."
" What...How can parents do something like that. That's absurd!"
"I know...but that's how the shadow awakened ones are. Didn't we just watch a video about Darwin saying the colours of the souls are depending on their personalities? Well.. shadow is black colour and it symbolise power, pride, the ending and finally destruction. It is exact opposite of white."
Archie said while his eyes are focusing on Umbra who just put the bracelet on his wrist. Soon, the gem stone on the bracelet start changing in colour into...
Pitch black.
"Pheww... I was so worried! Dude, you must have too, right? Archie??" Miles turned his head around but saw him leaving.
"Bro, why are you leaving already?! Come on, wait until Umbra's done at least!"
Miles tried to coax him into staying but Archie already knows how to distract this silly guy.
"Nah, you stay here if you want. Don't worry, nothing's gonna happen to your husband *wink* I'm just giving some private space for you two lol."
"Stop saying nonsense, you bastard! I'm a straight man of steel! Ladies are begging for a piece of me!"
"Yeah...yeah. You go give them, Tell me all about it when you come back home."
Archie smiled seeing the trick working perfectly.
'This guy...he never changes, does he?'
He left Miles whose face was red due to anger and walked back with a smile to the orphanage. It only took 15 minutes to walk back since the school is near.
[Archie and Miles's Room]
A silver haired boy is sitting on the bed in lotus position. A mix of black and white small energy streams can be seen twirling around both of his hands. Any experienced person who saw this would have their jaws dropped not just because he has two affinities. It's because Archie is absorbing and controlling the two energies without soul bracelet.
It must be noted that even the so called 'geniuses' needed the bracelets to control mana as easily like this when they were Adamo's age. One can't even imagine what the future behold for a boy like him..
'Hmm..not enough. I need to absorb much faster. ' Archie complained while looking at the two energies twirling around his hands. It must be amazing for others to see a boy his age with absorption rate that high but only he knows how much troubles he's been in to reach where he is.
It's easy for kids whose parents can afford to pay for awakening. These kids don't need that much hard work. Just go inside a machine that literally force huge amounts of affinity energies inside your soul and KABOOM.
Congratulations, you have become one of the awakened ones.
It would've been nice if he could afford but unfortunately for Archie, even if he could afford to pay, he can't use the machine.
That piece of crap machine can only absorb one affinity while he has two affinities inside him. This is both a curse and a blessing.
If he wants to break the first seal of his soul and start creating skills of his own, Archie will need to absorb both shadow and light . One can't be absorbed higher than the other.
If he focused on only absorbing one affinity then his body will explode! However absorbing both at the same time lowers the absorption rate in individual energies since Mana is controlling two energies at once. Bad life...
On the other hand, the good news is that as long as he can break the first seal of his soul, Archie will be able to use both shadow and light affinities unlike others. He might even be able to mix the two energies and have a new affinity. This way his absorption rate will also be doubled.
...................................................................................