The day of the Vernal Festival arrived and every kid who had to take the awakening ceremony had arrived at the ground near the school. There were seats on the left in front of the stage where the students should sit. They were arranged and labelled, Parents and other guests were allowed sit on the right side. There were also people standing behind the chair on the way back. There were a lot of kids this time, approximately, 2,4,6,8...…2,4,6…. 13*6+4 haaah 142 kids.
'Wow, I didn't think this village had this many kids. I've never seen so many in the class. Maybe some came from a nearby village. Wait, this village has about 10,000 people in it. So, it's possible they are the children in the village. You are not here to take a census of the kids in the village, Veda' He thought to himself. He looked around and saw a lot of familiar faces. He looked at the stage where the ceremony is going to be held
'4 stages, so they are going to call 4 people at once huh. If a kid needs an average of 5 minutes for the affinity ceremony and capacity test. So, 142 kids each 5 minutes and 4 platforms… 142 by 4 that's 30 for 120, then 5 for 20, then .5 for 2 so 35.5 multiplied by 5 that's 35… 70... 140…. 175 plus 2.5 so 178. 180 is 3 hours, so around 3 hours. That is a long time these people need to stand. Why is that grandma standing? Isn't she the restaurant worker, ohhh her granddaughter is having the ceremony today. Right.' He was scanning the environment when he turned to the sound of someone sitting next to him.
It was Muni, his best friend from childhood. His full name was Muni Savant. He was your typical swordsman. Tall, well-built body, with well-defined muscles and flexible reach. He was taller than me by 2-3 inches. He was a very good swordsman. He was a great student too. Not the first in all kinds but always near the top. He was a hardworking and intelligent person. He sat on my right side. Next to him was a sweet smiling girl. She was Jani, Janani Sinnon. She was also my neighbour technically. She lived around 4 - 5 houses away from me. But to reach her home I have to go round way. She was generally a calm person except for one topic, Alchemy. She and Oli were inseparable in alchemy. She was obsessed with alchemy if I have to say. She was also the same height as Muni. When she saw me, she smiled and I smiled back. You could see the nervousness on her face. While I sat back straight, I heard a thud next to me. I looked to my left Oli was there.
"Did you grow heavier in 2 days? You are making a lot of noises when sitting. Keep calm or the chair might break" I teased Oli.
She glared at me for a good second "You know what, today is the last day of your life enjoy it while you can." She then leaned forward and waved at Jani, who waved back at her. She then glared at Muni before sitting back up.
I look at him and gave a nervous smile "what did you do?"
"I don't know, she was glaring at me whenever she saw me for 2 days. Let's forget that, so, what do you think will be your affinities. Do you think we could get what we want?" He asked
"I sure hope so. I don't know many cases where they got what they didn't like. So, it will be what it will be. I'm more nervous about the capacity test"
"Yeah" He replied.
We both were nervous. What if we get a force we didn't want or what if the combination is not optimal or something like that and it didn't suit their personality. These are the questions that run in the minds of every kid sitting in the area. They also had these worries in them. While they were thinking about all that Moopan along with 4 priests came onto the stage. These assistant priests were the ones that would do most of the ceremony Moopan is more for guidance and supervision. He started a small speech.
"Kids, this day is an important day in all your life. Your future is decided by today's result. But fear not God Lovitus of Knowledge always shines his blessing upon all of you. This day is a pure and platonic moment in your lives. Today's results are guides for you to decide how you will live your life. Don't believe one job is better than another. No matter which job you choose it all depends on who does the job. So be the best at your job irrespective of what your affinities are. Also, always choose a job that brings the best out of you. Don't choose a job because others are doing it and lose your life. Only regret will accompany you then till life ends. With the permission of all of you and all the gods and forefathers that are seeing me from the heavens, I will now start the ceremony" He then started doing some gestures along with some movements. Then he stopped and waved to his assistants to start the ceremony.
The school headmaster Mr Silva called the 1st 4 children to the stage. The first 4 were guided by priests to their respective stages where the ceremony would be held. The platform was triangular and each person will sit inside a circle inside of this triangle. The 3 points of the triangle were pointed to the left, right and front of the person. Left was mana, the front was ki and the right was aatma. The priests gave all of them a portion of invigoration. This portion allowed the candidates to easily link with the forces. Then they asked the candidates to close their eyes and meditate. The candidates were sitting in the lotus position and their hands were held in front of them together near their legs. Everyone was looking closely at the events.
The silent scene started to change slowly. There was a change on the side of the 3rd guy. The area to his left started to shine red.
"Fire Mana" Muni & I blurted together.
Then the 4th guy also started to shine but it was from his front side. It was also red
'Fire Ki' I thought.
The next guy was the 1st guy for him it was blue light from his left and in front of him which means water ki and water mana. The last guy had light-up air & water mana. There were smiles on the faces of the audience and guests. Magicians were the most preferred profession by everyone because of their large-scale destructibility. Also, non-combat professions like alchemy and Doctors who had high levels of only mana usually became top scale experts. So, those who had high mana were always in high demand. Moreover, if a person had the blessing of Prithvi and Light element mana then that person could even reattach limbs.
The 4 guys were then moved to a 2nd platform which was where Moopan was standing. Near him was a device that had a sphere in the middle of it with 2 sections in the display area of the body of the machine. It was a body, inside the body was a display screen for the result of 2 units and extending from the middle of the body was a small platform at the end of which was the sphere. This is the place where mental capacity and Dantian capacity will be tested. Both were tested and 10 was the maximum point one could get for each of the sections. Even though there are medicines that could increase the capacity of a person, getting the medicine was risky, especially for ordinary people. For one the ingredients were very hard to find or exist in exotic places, secondly, most of them cost a large number of coins some were even said to cost in Plats. Lastly, it was a sure-shot way, most of the time the medicines don't give the expected result. So, most people accept the result they get.
The 1st guy was asked to stand in front of the sphere. The Sphere glowed for a few seconds before 2 scores were shown in the area. He had 6 mental and 7 dantian capacity. That was great, he was essentially a great student and had a great future. The 2nd guy followed him. He had a 5 mental and 6 dantian rating. 3rd guy had an 8 & 5, while the 4th had a 4 & 4. The 3rd guy turned out to be something along the lines of genius. Well technically he can't be a genius but still, he could become a grandmaster level at the least and if he could get his hands on the medicines to increase his dantian capacity, he could very well become a saint. A guy's capacity average is what determines his future. So, technically 1st and 3rd guys have a safer future while 4th guy would most probably live nearby.
One by one the groups started to come and go. There were people who had made everybody joyful. Like one guy got light and water mana which makes him have a great possibility to become a great doctor. After a while a group entered the stage, it was Purushu and 3 other guys. He sat on the platform, next to him was Dave. Dave was what you call an alchemical nutcase. The only person in our batch who could Jani a run for her money was him. Every competition whether worthless or worthful was always neck and neck between them. For every topic other than alchemy he was a very calm person but if alchemy is put forward everything changes. Next to him was our master blacksmith of the batch, Gill. Next to him was Bemba. His father was a businessman in the village.
The light work didn't take too long to start and it was Purushu who started it. There was a silver glow in front of which indicated Metal Ki.
'Great now this battle maniac could kill people using his hands like a knife' I thought. I really pity all the people who will spar with him in the future. He doesn't know to hold back, even friendlies could end up being the main fight.
Next to light up was Dave. There was a red light to his left and right with the left having a higher glow. This means he has both fire mana & aatma with mana being primary. After him, Gill also lit up. Man did he lit up.
When everyone looked at him it was a grand light show with orange, yellow and silver lights on his left and red light in front of him. That means magma, lighting and metal mana and fire ki. He had not 1 but 2 rare elements with him while being perfect for a blacksmith. This guy just paved his path to superstar in blacksmithing. Under all the clamour most of the audience failed to notice Bemba's.
They all stood up and moved to the capacity tester. One by one they started to test their capacity. Purushu started the fireworks by getting a 7 & 6.
'Oh God' I thought internally.
Dave was the next one to go he scored a 6 & 7
'Wow' I thought.
Bemba came next, he scored a 6 & 6. Gill came last but he just exploded the entire crowd into a clamour when he scored a 9 & 10. He just became the prodigy of the village. Someone they could claim as once in a half a decade at least. Everybody he passed hugged him and congratulated him.
"That lucky bastard" Muni was the one that said that. I laughed at him but I agree. This guy could every scholarship there is for a blacksmithing student at every university in the entire empire. If he achieves his capability to the fullest then he could have people queueing for his weapons. He could make any weapon from common grade to Legendary grade. weapons are Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary.