"Uncle... Lend me money for the Ego Awakening"
Hearing this, the middle-aged man frowns as he puts his hands on his waist with a stern expression, "Aldo... I know you're in a difficult position but I can't do that"
"It costs 20 silver to take the Edo Awakening, how are you going to pay it back?"
Aldo didn't waver at all in front of the middle-aged man before he said decisively, "Take my house if I can't pay you back, it will definitely cover the 20 silver that I'm asking for"
"If I became an Ego Fighter, I will definitely pay you back", he added.
This caught the middle-aged man in surprise,
"Where are you going to sleep if you do that? Don't be impulsive"
"Even if you go through the Ego Awakening ritual, there's no guarantee that you're going to become an Ego Fighter. Just trust me on this, it's not that easy to become an Ego Fighter", the middle-aged man replied.
But Aldo shakes his head,
Even if Ivor didn't take the red orb away from him, both he and Laziah will still have a hard time passing half of the winter, he literally has no choice.
It's either this or die slowly from the cold winter,
"Uncle... you know our condition, there's no way we can survive the winter so please...", Aldo said before he suddenly went on both knees in front of the middle-aged man.
The desperation of the situation makes him willing to do anything,
If there's even the slightest bit of chance that his sister will keep on living, no matter what he must do, he will do them all without a moment of hesitation.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man quickly helps Aldo to stand up.
But Aldo refused as he even prostrate himself in front of the middle-aged man, this is his only bet to survive the winter without some miracle or any outside help.
While looking at this, the middle-aged man massages his forehead helplessly.
"Fine... I'll borrow you 20 silver", the middle-aged man finally said.
Hearing this, Aldo raises his head from the ground before looking at the middle-aged man as if he was the savior of his life, "Thank you, Uncle!"
After that, the middle-aged man gets inside before coming out with a pouch.
"Here, Inside there is 21 silver. Use the extra silver for the transport there, I hope I can see you during new year's eve", the middle-aged man said.
Aldo gratefully accept the pouch as if it was a precious thing in his life,
But as of this moment, this pouch's value is way more than even his own life so it's obvious why he's handling it with such care.
Thanking the middle-aged man one more time, Aldo then went back to his house.
During the night, Aldo opens his eyes and looks to the side.
He saw his sister sleeping on the bed facing him, just before sleeping they both have a fight about who will sleep on the bed, Aldo insists that he will be the one sleeping on the wooden floor but Laziah argued that he is injured so he should let her sleep on the ground.
Since their house is very small with only one bed on the side, a chimney, and a wooden cabinet on the other side, one of them needs to sleep on the floor.
They argue for quite a while but he eventually wins,
Aldo carefully stands up trying to not make any sound to wake his sister, he then takes his fur cape before gently opening the door to leave.
It's a bit hard to move because of his injuries, but he forces his body to move.
Thump!
A muffled sound from the door can be heard as he successfully got out,
It's already night and there is not one person on the village street, the street is quite dark since the light from the lamps in front of the houses was covered by the thick snow.
But having been living here for quite a while, Aldo makes his way through the street.
In just about five minutes or so, Aldo arrives at a bar.
This is the only place that is still open and has a couple of people still drinking, he got inside the bar under everyone's gaze before heading straight to the bartender.
Only four people are sitting here, and they are all men including the bartender.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night kid?", the bartender asks while cleaning a glass, he recognizes that Aldo is not a regular here.
Hearing this, Aldo smiled faintly before he said, "I want to rent a sleigh"
"20 coppers a day, you know what will happen if you're late bringing the sleigh back. So how many days will you be renting?", the bartender replied.
Taking out a silver coin, Aldo then said, "Just one day, I'll rent it for one day"
After making the rent, the bartender leads Aldo to the back of the bar which is supposed to be a stable where a couple of sleighs and horses can be seen.
The bartender prepares the sleigh before he opens the stable door,
Aldo gets on the sleigh before he whips the horses gently as they started to skip forward, the bartender stops him just before leaving the stable, "Remember, only one day"
"Don't worry, I'm no thief", he replied before the horses rushes away.
In just a couple of minutes, Aldo has already far away from the village he was in.
The sound of the windy snow alongside the hooves of the galloping horses filled the night, Aldo sticks to the main road while still keeping his guard up in case a beast attack him.
After about one hour of traveling by the sleigh,
A couple of lights can be seen on the far away signing that he's almost reached his destination, with a whip the horses pick up their pace heading to the light.
In just a few minutes, Aldo arrives in front of a village.
Unlike the village he's in, this one is covered by a sturdy wooden wall.
This is the neighbor of the village he's in, and inside this lies a person that can do the Ego Awakening which refers to by the people, as Cleric.
A Cleric is not an Ego Fighter, they're a part of a religious organization of the Hummara Kingdom.
"Stop!", one of the guards raises his arms signaling for Aldo to stop.
Following the instruction, Aldo stopped the sleigh before he raises his face so he can be clearly seen, "Greetings sir, I'm from the neighboring Pendle Village"
"What is the purpose of your visit?", the guard asks.
Thinking that he doesn't need to hide anything, Aldo replied, "I'm here to meet the Cleric"
Hearing this, the guard nodded his head before checking Aldo's clothes.
There's a strict policy in the village thanks to an attack that happened not too long ago by a group of bandits, and since then foreigners can only bring one weapon for their defense.
It's not allowed to bring a big weapon, the village only allowed blades and daggers.
After finding that Aldo has only one blade, the guards signal to open the gate before Aldo drives the sleigh and went inside the village.
Since the Cleric here is famous, Aldo knows exactly where to go.
Just like his village, this village is also devoid of people since it's in the middle of the night and the streets are empty just the same as before.
But unlike in his village, some guards can be seen roaming around even under the snow.
This alone shows that this village is more developed and organized than his village, but Aldo doesn't have any chance of living here if even in his own village he can hardly survive.
Following the street, Aldo reaches a humble house with a huge space on its side.
Aldo saw that there was a stage made of solid stone big enough for a couple of people to stand on it in the huge space beside the humble house that is big enough to be a small farm, there are five thin curving rocks standing on the stage just like a hand.
It's quite hard to see it fully,
But Aldo is sure what that stage is, 'That must be for the ritual', he thought excitedly.
Putting the sleigh on the side of the house and tying the horses, Aldo tidied his clothes before he brace himself to knock on the door two times.
His heart is thumping faster as he waits for the Cleric to open the door,
The building tension as he waits for the Cleric makes his legs unable to stand still, he even started sweating in this kind of cold weather.
About a moment later, the sound from the other side can be heard.
It didn't take long before the door is opened revealing a woman with a sleepy expression, even one of her eyes is still closed while the other gazed at Aldo.
Even her body is still covered with a brown blanket,
Just from this alone, it's clear that the woman just woke up, "Who are you?", she asks.
"Hi... I'm here for the Ego Awakening ritual", Aldo replied with a smile.
Hearing this, the woman paused for a few seconds while looking at Aldo before she rubs her eyes, "Oh, right... it'll be 20 silver and you have to pay it now"
Aldo takes the pouch before giving it to the woman,
Counting the silver in the pouch, the woman then looks up at Aldo before she said, "Get on the stage and wait for me there, I'll go and prepare first"
With that, Aldo then skips over the wooden fence before getting on the stage.
'Maybe taking my ritual now is a little bit inappropriate, it's in the middle of the night after all... but I can't wait any longer', he thought while shaking his head.
A couple of minutes passed, but the woman still hasn't come out yet.
Aldo looks in the house direction and finds that even the light in the house is not on, 'Maybe she's still preparing, I'll just wait...'
It's already more than fifteen minutes now,
The cold wind blowing his body makes him start to shiver, he's been waiting for a solid amount of time but there's no movement from the house.
With a bit of hesitation, Aldo then approaches the house before peeking through the window.
To his surprise, he finds the Cleric sleeping comfortably on the bed.
'You got to be kidding me...', Aldo thought before he walks over to the door again and started knocking on the door again.
But even after knocking a couple of times, the Cleric didn't wake up.
Feeling a bit angry since he had already given the money and the Cleric just went back to sleep forgetting that he's waiting for her, Aldo knocks on the door stronger.
Until suddenly,
Brak!
The door into the house jolted open as Aldo knocks on it too hard,
Hearing the loud door slamming to the wall, the Cleric jolted awake, her body emits a faint aura before she suddenly vanishes from Aldo's sight.
Aldo who was standing by the door was surprised before suddenly,
"Hugghk!", a slender hand suddenly grabs his neck and lifts him off the ground.
Upon feeling himself got lifted off the ground, Aldo widen his eyes as he didn't even see the Cleric move before she already appeared in front of him.
His eyes widen even more when he saw the Cleric has some changes on her,
The Cleric's eyes before were clearly bright brown but now it has turned into bright yellow, a few red stripes on her face make her look like a cat, and her hand that is gripping Aldo's neck emits a faint red aura.
"Madam! I'm sorry for breaking your door!", Aldo apologized hurriedly.
Just from this display alone, the Cleric turns out to also be an Ego Fighter which is weird considering there should be no Cleric that is also an Ego Fighter.
Hearing this, the woman throws Aldo outside with a fierce look, "Who are you?"
"Barging inside a Cleric home like that is unacceptable, you must be punished for your action!", the woman added with a bit of anger.
While coughing a couple of times,
Aldo slowly stands up before looking at the woman in disbelief, "What? I'm here for the Ego Awakening remember? I already gave you the money"
"Eh...?", the woman's body froze upon hearing this.
Her eyes then slowly widen as she remembers that she was supposed to be prepared for the Ego Awakening ritual, "I-I'm sorry! How careless of me to attack you like this", the woman said while checking Aldo's body for any sign of injury.
The sudden turn of events makes Aldo smile wryly, "It's okay, it's the middle of the night... I'm also at fault here"
"No, no, no! I'll compensate for my action don't worry", the woman replied.
After that, Aldo went back to the stage again before the woman not long got out of her house in different clothing and also holding a staff with a red orb on its top.
She now wears a red cloak with white chains underneath,
The black staff she's holding matches her red cloak and the orb on top of the staff gives off a weird feeling as even the cold wind doesn't disturb Aldo anymore.
"Do you have any Beast Blood Essence for the ritual?", the Cleric asks.
Hearing this, Aldo shakes his head as he didn't even know what is a Beast Blood Essence.
As if she already knows what the answer is going to be, the Cleric sighs as she takes out a red vial before giving it to Aldo, "Here, it's my compensation for my rude behavior"
"If I may ask, is this the Beast Blood Essence?", Aldo asks.
The Cleric nodded her head before she explains, "There are many people like you, from the lower life of a society where they don't even aware of the Ego Awakening ritual procedure. It's true that you don't need anything to do the ritual, but having a Beast Blood Essence will raise your probability of being chosen by an Ego Beast"
"What I gave you is a middle-tier Beast Blood Essence, it will increase your probability in gaining middle-tier Ego Beast", she added.
Hearing this, Aldo's eyes brighten as he didn't expect this at all.
When he's on the way to this village, he already thought that even having a basic low-tier Ego Beast which is the lowest Ego Beast is enough for him.
But now the Cleric told him that he might be able to get a middle-tier Ego Beast!
Only Ivor has a middle-tier Ego Beast chose him as an Ego Fighter, even in this village there should only be a handful of Ego Fighter that has a middle-tier Ego beast chose them.
Even then, all of them are influential people that live their lives comfortably.
'If I get a middle-tier Ego Beast... my sister and I will not have to worry about living poorly anymore', Aldo thought imagining him getting a middle-tier beast.
Seeing the dazed Aldo, the Cleric sighed, "Don't get your hopes high yet"
"Although the Beast Blood Essence raises your probability to be chosen by a middle-tier beast, the chances are still as low as 1 in 50", she added.
But even so, the smile on Aldo's face didn't leave at all.
Knowing that Aldo is already eager to start the ritual, the Cleric sighed before she told Aldo to stand in the middle of the stage.
After doing that, the Cleric closes her eyes before her staff glows with a red light.
Immediately after that, the entire stage started to glow as if the on switch was turned by the red light coming from the Cleric's staff.
Crack!
The ground beneath Aldo makes a cracking sound,
Aldo looks down and finds that the entire stage is filled with weird symbols that are glowing red, and not long after that, the standing thin rocks started to levitate from the ground.
He looks at this in amazement as this is his first time seeing and experiencing an Ego Awakening.
Some of the villagers saw the red light as they got out to marvel at the scene,
Although it's not that rare to see an Ego Awakening ritual, they would never miss it as sometimes they will witness the birth of a powerful Ego Fighter.
"Quickly drink the Beast Blood Essence!", the Cleric shouted.
Hearing this, Aldo snapped out of his daze and immediately chugged the red vial.
The taste of the Beast Blood Essence is very bitter and it stings the tongue, but just after he drank all of the content of the vial he can feel his body start becoming warmer.
It's like a bonfire blazing inside his body,
Swoosh!
Aldo looks up when he saw the red light from the stage slowly gathering around, it became a lump of red light that slowly shaped into something.
In about half a minute, the red light shape started to become visible.
Even the onlookers are quite amazed by the red light that is now shaped like a tiger and is looking down on Aldo in the middle of the stage.
"An Ego Beast has chosen you"
"Brace yourself, I'll bind this Ego Beast to you", the Cleric said.
Hearing this, Aldo clenched his jaw bracing himself before the red light coming from the Cleric's staff turns into a whip before it binds the Tiger.
Roar!!
The Ego Beast roared sending a red shockwave to the surrounding,
Even the falling snow got blasted away from the red shockwave, but the Cleric didn't sit idle as she points her other hand at Aldo before a ray of red light hits Aldo right on his chest.
"Arggh!!", Aldo shouted his chest area started hurting.
The Cleric then pulls the Ego Beast with the whip slowly, she's trying to pull the Ego Beast into the ray of light in order to force it to merge into Aldo's body.
Cold sweat ran down the Cleric's forehead as she pulls the tiger,
It doesn't take long before the tip of the tiger's claw got inside the ray of red light and right after that, the tiger instantly got sent into Aldo's body.
Swoosh!
A red light encompasses Aldo's body as the Ego Beast reaches his body,
His eyes slowly turn red before the entire place dimmed and the place becomes silent, the Cleric falls to her knees before she checks on Aldo who is also breathing heavy.
The cold snow breezes their body again and the night dominates the place again.
While kneeling on the ground, Aldo's body froze as he looks at his hand as he can clearly feel some changes in his body as even his wound doesn't hurt anymore.
It's a miracle, and just from that alone, he knew what just happened to him.
A moment later,
Brak!!
The door pushed open as Aldo enters his own house,
Laziah who is still sleeping jolted awake as she was surprised by the sudden sound, but she then looks at Aldo sleepily, "Brother... Why are you opening the door like that", she asks.
But instead of answering, Aldo jumped onto the bed and hugs his sister.
"What is wrong with you, are you drunk?! You're heavy!", Laziah complained as she got bear-hugged by Aldo who has a wide smile on his face.
Aldo then lets Laziah go before holding her shoulders firmly,
The smile on Aldo's face makes Laziah tilts her head in confusion until suddenly, "My dear sister, your brother has become an Ego Fighter!!"