As Alex walked to the Temple, he tried to remember /Alexander's/ past. From what Alex's memory summaries were 'Someone or my parents put /me/ in Orphanage, which is run under by the Temple, and Bryxton Town is currently where I am. In Terra, after reaching age 7, no one was allowed to stay at an orphanage because a stabilized Soul Crystal would consider them an adult.'
"Well, I at least knew who /I/ was," Alex mumbled.
"Soul Crystal...ahhh...that thing was just like any other body part like the brain or lungs. Every living thing had this soul crystal; it contained half part of the soul and was very important to control the mana around us. And as long as you had a soul crystal, you could be revived. But the pain would be like you were in a mixer and being ground every inch; it would definitely hurt like hell," Alex mumbled.
Like that, Alex reached the Temple; 'Temples those days didn't have many visitors; they were just used for cult activity and the awakening process; only when royalty visited, you know...those hypocrites.'
As he mumbled, Alex entered the temple. There was a single guard who didn't even bother to ask me; he just shot a glance. As Alex approached the podium, 'Everything inside was similar to what I saw in the game; just like a single podium at the center and some chairs in front of it and some colored windows,' he thought.
After that, the Pope came and looked at Alex weirdly, and he did the same. After that, the Pope lost interest as he walked to the podium.
While Alex looked at the Pope figure, aged around 34, with brown eyes and short white hair, wearing a white robe with golden embroidered symbols, "DAWN" written on it.
"So, what did you want, child?" the Pope asked casually.
As Alex went to kneel and cupped his hands together, he said, "Forgive me for my incompetence before, Holy Father, but I'd like to take the test again."
"Sigh...as I said before, Soul Crystals were born with us, each had an individual signature of mana. So no matter how many tests were taken, the results would be the same," the Pope weakly said.
"Please, Holy Father, this will be the last time. Therefore, please," Alex begged, tears running down his cheek.
"Sigh...ok, ok, don't start again. These past 3 years, you have been doing the same thing again and again. Henceforth, today would be the last test for you. Hereafter, do not come again," the Pope said, sighing initially and then threatening him at the end.
"Y-Yes, Holy Father, T-Thank you," Alex gulped inwardly. 'Urgh...I can't believe my acting was able to convince him. Well, 27 years old and worked in a black company; died from stress and alcohol. So, I guess, my tears and begging improved a lot...maybe I should have tried acting on Earth...sighs...nothing can be done now.'
The Pope then led Alex to a separate chamber. Inside the chamber, only a baseball-sized white sphere was glued on the wall of the circular pillar, which was situated in the middle of the chamber.
"As I said before, once you touched the Heart Crystal, you were able to feel the spark inside your Soul Crystal, and that would connect to the Heart Crystal to show what kind of mana you could control and provide ID for you...sigh, I don't know, just how many times...forget it," the Pope said, irritated.
Alex slowly walked to the pillar and then touched it, thinking, 'Now for the time to awaken my golden finger as I am not the real Alex.'
A few seconds later, no reaction came from the Heart Crystal. 'What happened? Why is nothing happening? Where is my golden finger?' his eyes lost and simply turned to pain.
"See, I told you..." Pope irritated.
Just as he was about to remove his hand, the Heart Crystal shone brightly with a golden color. At that moment, the Pope's eyes widened with disbelief.
~ding~ding~ding~
Bells around the town started to ring, as the Pope suddenly changed his face to an astonished one and announced.
"Birth of the Hero, "DAWN HERO"" his voice echoed throughout town.
"Thank god, I just lost my composure now, sighs...Originally, /Alexander/ awakens his power at the age of 16, so you will get 1 year of training and doing good deeds which helps you get recognition and popularity, and then the game starts in the academia. I just came early to check whether this will work or not, because I can't let my future wives wait for me.. right?"
"With this, all I have to do is 'do the good deeds and be a good guy' and maybe I should find those hidden locations; power up myself, just to be safe" as Alex planned his future.
Everyone in the town is happy about the Birth of the hero and they treated him as a celebrity and they had a feast the following days.