"Blind?"
"A blind girl will go through the Awakening? That's a new one. I've never heard of blind people using magic, haha!"
"But some people with disabilities use magic..."
"None of them can fight, let alone a blind one! What difference does it make to have magical abilities if you can't even use them?"
Several people near the Awakening Temple entrance commented, with some disparaging remarks about Lauren's blindness.
However, in the darkness of Lauren's life, there was no way she could care about the sharp comments of mere strangers.
What difference did it make to her that these people spoke of her in such a manner? Given the fact that she had lost both her mother and her sight at the same time, nothing else mattered!
To bring her down, one would have to do much more than just comment on her blindness!
Vicente, on the other hand, didn't like some of those comments. He clenched his teeth together and glanced at some of the people in line to enter the Awakening Temple through the corner of his eyes.
The man in front of them frowned and examined Lauren intently, who had her eyes closed.
Using his mana, he could confirm that it wasn't a lie.
'There is no mana circulating through her eyes... This girl has totally lost her sight,' he thought, realizing it would indeed be tough for her to navigate around the temple without help.
No temple attendant was allowed to treat young people who came daily to awaken their powers any differently, so they couldn't help Lauren.
However, there was a way for him to authorize Vicente to assist Lauren.
"As long as you don't stay near her at the time of actual Awakening, it's okay for you to take her there and then pick her up afterward," the temple attendant stated, not caring whether it was useful for Lauren to go through the Awakening.
If asked, he would say this young lady would not go far, even if she were to have good talents. Nonetheless, he had no reason to make Lauren's life any more difficult, and it was her worry to decide whether she wanted to go through Awakening.
"Hmm, I promise not to get in the way of anything, senior. I'll just accompany my sister there and pick her up when it's all over," Vicente assured before that man dressed about the same as the other temple staff stepped out of his way.
"To family and friends, please proceed through the alternate entrance." The man announced as he looked at the guards who were accompanying Andrew and Nina.
The attendant made a strange expression as he detected the scent of alcohol coming from Andrew, watching him with disgust.
A woman next to this man, also dressed in some sort of black cloak with a half-moon symbol, glanced back at Andrew and his people as they entered the building.
"Poor children..." she muttered.
"They look fine to me," Another also dressed in the cloak of the temple commented. "Better to have an alcoholic father than nothing. At least they seem to have coins..."
"Hmm, some people have a lot less."
...
After entering the Awakening Temple, Vicente guided Lauren through the wide corridors of this place, where there were directions in the corridor, making it easy for anyone who was coming there for the first time.
On his way, he saw several illustrations and images on the walls of these well-lit passageways.
Some of the pictures were more challenging to understand, with depictions of elements that Vicente couldn't quite discern as to what they were about.
However, several others had images of Magic Gems.
Magic Gems were fantastic objects that had mysterious origins that had not yet been understood by the magicians of this world, offering infinite possibilities.
It was believed that there were a few types of Magic Gems. Yet, when they connected with magicians, they transformed into unique forms that were different from their natural states, making it very difficult to find similar gems.
Only within the same family could one find people who possess similar Magic Gems. Nonetheless, even these gems would generate different abilities in relatives who had similar capabilities.
Vicente came across a few types of depictions of Magic Gems on his way through the corridors.
In general, Magic Gems displayed not only their owner's talent level but also their rank.
The rank of a Magic Gem corresponded to that of the Magic Pentagrams and could vary between red and violet colors, with the former indicating the lowest level and the latter the highest.
However, beyond these attributes, each Magic Gem came in various shapes. Some were triangular, others were circular, or would have other geometric figures.
The most common ones were triangular, circular, and square, but there were also some unique shapes. These shapes were associated with the magicians' specific powers.
If they were common shapes, then the magician's elemental affinity would not form awe-inspiring powers. If they were of special shapes, then that magician would possess remarkable abilities.
Vicente understood the basic theory behind it, and seeing some of those Magic Gems, he couldn't help but be curious about what the shape of his sister's gem would look like.
Their mother, Kate, had a yellow circular gem, while their father, Andrew, had an orange triangular one.
Vicente didn't know any of his other close relatives besides his parents, so he thought Lauren's would be similar to one of these two types.
With this in mind, Vicente led Lauren through the corridors and reached the end of the last corridor, where a flight of stairs led them to a very well-lit area.
As he was helping Lauren climb them, Vicente continued describing the surroundings to her until they reached the platform in the middle of that coliseum.
"Vicente?" Lauren asked in a low voice as she realized her brother had suddenly stopped talking.
But Vicente couldn't help but open his mouth in awe and say nothing for a moment, looking at this place's surroundings.
Normally, an Awakening Temple would be like an ordinary fighting platform, surrounded by the coliseum galleries, where the public could follow the daily awakenings.
However, this coliseum was completely covered. On its ceiling was a constellation of precious stones that were the size of grapes, each stone as bright as stars in the night sky.
While some were brighter than others, in general, they all looked very similar.
The black ceiling favored the circumstances even more, making the ceiling look like a real piece of sky.
Meanwhile, at the center of that platform was what seemed to be a black obelisk, but not quite to the point where there seemed to be nothing there.
Vicente looked at it and immediately realized this was no ordinary construction.
"Vicente?" Lauren inquired again, noticing his silence and looked in the direction of her brother's face.
"Hmm, that... Cough, we are at the place where you will go through the Awakening along with the others. It's amazing, big sister. If you could see it, you'd be impressed," he commented, still gazing at the surroundings, noticing this place already had about 30 people who were of the same age as Lauren.
Some of them were looking in their direction, precisely towards Vicente. After all, he seemed too young to be among them.
But no one approached him or tried to question him. Everyone was looking forward to their Awakening, so it mattered little as to what was this child's situation.
"Is that so? Then it is a shame." Lauren said, her tone was indifferent, she really didn't care if this place looked fantastic.
While Vice was gazing at the surroundings, holding Lauren's hand, one of the few staff members at the Awakening Temple approached them and asked, "Hey, how did you get in here, kid?"
Vicente then turned to that tall, perfectly shaped woman who was hiding a part of her beauty with a black cloak, which obviously wasn't able to do so.