The whispers continued to happen all over the court of Frigia over the princesses choice.
Some of the courtiers went up to the king to convince him to stop the princess from going for the supreme frost work technique.
There is no good effect from it.
Princess's physique is no secret. With neonate Yin spirit seed, it takes just far too many years of practice for a woman to reach worthwhile proficiency. Moreover, Even if she were to reach that worthwhile proficiency, it is still only what a common warrior could do .
It is far more useful to let her know the exploding Yin spirit technique, which contains breaking your spirit seed, which at least works as a death threat in case of danger.
Exploding Yin is a suicide bomber type cultivation technique where a person breaks their own spirit seed to explode with thousand times the power, taking every one around them down.
In other words, it's ritual suicide.
Almost all noble women learn it . So, the courtiers are not really suggesting to her father he let Ise be a suicide bomber, but indirectly telling the king it doesn't matter if princess doesn't learn anything.
In her previous life, this is the technique Ise used to freeze the entire desert valley.
Her body naturally attracts cold Yin energy, so even if she doesn't seriously cultivate, her spirit seed grows, as would her meridians.
Only, it's too late.
The initiation bestowal is a sacred ceremony on par with imperial exams in the old days, college entrance exams in modern times. A man who meddles with them would not have a good end, no matter old days or modern days.
Not even men who sold their country would be scolded and hated as much as a man who meddled with entrance exams.
Thus, the king sat there, feeling as if the ants were crawling on his throne while he looked at his daughter.
The daughter, on the other hand, is sitting as if she has come to watch a picnic.
Her choice seemed to have changed the tone of initiation far too much this time around.
Many people changed their choice to a higher difficulty cultivation method. Looking at the change in the choices, Ise felt dizzy.
She may not have eidetic memory, but her memorization power is almost on par. The only difference is that she needs to focus a bit.
He did not remember every one's choice, but she remembered choices of most noble children of Frigia.
Irene Hoarfrost, who lived on the northernmost edge, right underneath the steep mountains that separate them from snow mountains, has chosen not to cultivate. She learned the exploding Yin skill, just like herself.
This time around, she has chosen Nine lotuses Nine dragons technique.
Ivan Sekov, the one who lived near the eastern gate, who had a water seed chose celestial cavalry charge cultivation method, which is a water based cultivation technique. In last life, he has chosen the extremely common Frost Dragon technique.
Leian Batur , who lived in the south, a ways from the demon kingdom and cold desert, had chosen supreme yin blaze technique, which usually allows a fire mage to fight with various fire weapons, or an artisan to run a kiln with it. Leian had the rare Yang-yin cursed body, thus, supreme Yin blaze is a little out of his league, he was better suited for the thousand year turtle flame.
Nikol siblings, who have taken the nine snakes sword technique in their last life, opted for nine dragon explosion techniques in this life.
When Ise initially began watching them, she did not think much of her own decision in her last life. After all, the Initiation bestowal is where you make the most important decision of your life. Parents of Frigia, whether they are rich or poor, educated or not, help their children make up their mind to great extent.
However, no matter how one expresses their hopes before the ceremony, the decision is children's right. Their parents had no right to change it, question it or even criticize it. It's one of the founding rules of Frigia. A man makes himself. Unless their children have given up the choice they made today entirely, the parents would not say anything to them about it.
It's one of the practices drilled deeply into the psyche by culture, so it held true for most of the kingdom.
When the first deviation happened, Ise just thought ' Oh, what a surprise. ' .
The second deviation happened , she thought ' hmm.. That's interesting '
By the time the third deviation happened, Ise's face had become somber. ' Three times could not be a coincidence, could it ? ' she thought to herself.
Every change happened, Ise remembered the news she heard about them.
She calculated the economic changes artisans would bring, fighting prowess warriors would bring.
In a year, it's invisible.
In two , it's somewhat noticeable.
In twenty, it's turning tides of war, changing the fate of a country, rewriting the history set in stone.
All of this stemmed from one single action by Ise. An action, which she has all the freedom to make, as would rest of the participants.
People of Frigia are known for their stubborn nature - where is that stubbornness ? This is sheeps following her to cross over into a pen, goats skittering over ice to cross the river just following her.
Ise decided.
No matter how little she was exposed, she was the Royalty of this country. She just couldn't hold herself to the same standards as a commoner girl. She has seen with her own eyes how much of a difference this decision would have made to the country, in just under a few decades.
Initially, she planned to take it slowly.
However, now, she knows far too many people are watching her.
Worse yet, most of them are with just innocent loyalty and faith.
She just couldn't fail here without using every last ounce of strength in her body.
She would cultivate diligently, she would never give up no matter the pain. That's the only way to go forward now.
Once the Initiation Bestowal begins, only the children and overseeing officials remain in the parade grounds.
While parents could watch, as could the king, they do so from a distance.
The ceremony took an entire day by the time Elantra Zephyr, the last of them is called.
Elantra was gifted, with supreme twin yang physique. Moreover, her body is a Yin-absorbent body. She has chosen Mirror lake lotus rain, which is the strongest frost mage technique they have.
Even this is different from her previous life. In her previous life, Elantra has chosen supreme yin sword, which is a warlock raising technique. She had died in the same battle as Ye Yul.
Ye Yul decimated two thirds of the conquering army before dying, Elantra destroyed the remaining third before she too perished.
Such a thing would not happen in this life.
Elantra's specialization technique is the one that could kill ten thousand before the dead even caught a glimpse of the killer. This has the potential to be a sheer killing machine, that too, after scaring you out of your wits.
The next day dawned equally brightly.
All the students stood in a line in front of Maxim.
A single golden vial existed on an elevated table, well settled on a purple pillow.
Just like yesterday, the herald explained the rules.
Maxim Frost was still around.
He called Ise, and presented the golden potion to herself with reverie. As much as he revered her, his unwillingness could be clearly seen, for this time, her uncle had asked her in unambiguous terms, explaining how much of a pain it is to change cultivation technique after potions are drunk.
Every one word among his three words seemed to be ' choose a new technique.'
Ise confirmed she wanted to practice the supreme yin frost world.
Her uncle had no choice but to let her go.
This is the second step of the bestowal.
The potion is given, and Ise's spirit seed walls are considered to be condensed into six inch thick steel walls.
Not just Ise, no matter how strong the Warlock or wizard is, they could not break open the walls of her spiritual seed now. It only changes when the spirit seed levels up.
Potion taking is not as serious as bestowal.
Different tables are set up on all sides of grounds, with children being divided in to batches according to the color of technique scrolls they have chosen.
Generals of the army stood at each table calling out names, then gave out potions. Soldiers watched over the children as they drank.
The children who finished were seated in groups of four, lined up neatly.
This portion of the exam ended fairly fast, just under three hours.
The next part is to climb the Reotanarch mountain, while they collect aura. They could give up early or slow, but the goal is to reach the top, and pull the lever atop the mountain to fly a flag of Frigia.
A great reward awaits those who pulled the flag.
However, Reotanarch mountain is considered to be among the known world's top ten mountains in size. Going to the top would take more than a day and half.
All the children set off with mountain climbing gear, all absolutely confident in their own win.
"Go! " Maxim Frost announced.
Some of the children ran, but Ise only walked peacefully.
Looking at her, Maxim nodded in approval. Mountain climbing is not a speed run, after all.