[ Host, the system will go down until you awaken your mana, as I cannot sustain in your manaless body because I am now a part of your powers.]
[ System wishes the host good luck... ]
After a while thinking things through Asher decided to take a bath first to relax his mind a bit. So he called his maid Emmy to sort out his bath. Emmy being the diligent and loyal maid quickly but carefully did the job as she did not wanted to cause discomfort for her Master.
Asher sat on his lavish bath tub which a clean porcelain white tub with beautiful design and it screamed wealth. Relaxing in the steamy bath Asher thought of how he needed arrange things to awaken himself.
Awakening was really not that complicated but you needed huge funds if you wanted to awaken privately or you can go to the World Association to awaken yourself but you needed to sign a contract with them which stated some terms to work as a government employee for some tenure depending your awakening results. But why would Asher become a dog for the Association, he was the heir of Greville Family, one of the richest family which worked in various industries and one of those was Mana Stones which was a specialty of the Greville family.
As mentioned earlier you can awaken privately, but for that you needed the a Mana Gem and Mana rooms which kept a constant and pure flow of mana in it. Mana gem was a special mana stone which was only found rarely among Rank C and above monsters. And its drop rate was very low so Association usually shared a single Mana gem among thousand civilians to awaken them. But Asher can easily find a high quality Mana gem for himself with his family funds. In the past his father Arthur Von Greville, the current head of the Greville Family gave him the Rank A Mana gem for his awakening when he turned 15 before he joined the academy.
Asher stood up from the bath, his smooth black hair complementing his spotless face. Standing at 5ft 6, he was slightly taller than his peers for his age. Despite being young, his handsome face attracted many beauties, like a flame to moths. But despite being so attractive, people also feared him. This was because, when he was six years old, a kid had pushed Asher into the adult pool at a social event out of jealousy over the girls around him. Luckily, Asher was rescued by one of the teenagers who were gathered there quickly.
When Arthur Von Greville heard the news, he nearly killed the kid's entire family, but was quickly stopped by his wife, Sylvie Raven Greville, who later calmed the situation, saying it was just a child's mistake. But nobody was relieved, as they knew Sylvie's personality and that she never settled grudges easily. The people there were sure that the kid's family was already done for and wanted no part in helping them, as no one wanted to be the enemy of the two powerhouses known as the Ravens and Greville. There were only a few families that could rival or oppose them.
But what actually chilled everyone was the 6-year-old's calm and indifferent demeanor after almost drowning. Asher had always carried a cold face from a young age, but people thought it was common for children from elite families to mask their emotions. Everyone expected him to be startled by his near-death experience, but he just coughed up the water and walked towards Sylvie, leaving the doctor who was checking on him.
"Ash, are you fine?" Sylvie asked, worried.
"Mom, can you tell the attendants to fix my clothes? That kid pretty much ruined them," Asher said, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
Other children his age around the party were already were pretty scared due to the whole commotion but even the adults when they saw his blood red eyes were taken aback with cold sweat forgetting he was only a small kid.
"Don't worry Ash, Mom will handle things here. You go and change, okay?" Sylvie said while kissing his forehead. She was a very doting mother.
After this day, Asher got the nickname 'The Cold Devil', and many people usually kept their distance, not wanting any problems with him at any social events whenever he attended them. Asher welcomed this change, as he didn't like people disturbing his personal space too much either.
After this incident, his parents never tried to awaken him early, but rather let him enjoy his life and grow up with loving memories because they were worried about his child's cold demeanor towards everything. They believed that their love for him would slowly but surely melt his stone heart.