A month passed.
The Ignis Archipelago.
"What's happening!? What the fuck is happening!?!" A short and muscular redhead screamed at the many servants bringing kids on stretchers from a giant mirror.
The bulky elder Kim appeared beside him and said with a visible sigh, "Things are not looking well, Sir Emmett."
Emmett was furious, but had to give face to elder Kim as he was an important member of the family. He tried to suppress himself to the best of his abilities and asked, "Why is that so?"
Elder Kim shook his head and said, "It's best if you watched it yourself."
Emmett's mood soured further as he heard that. He turned to look at the mirror, but was eventually disturbed by a series of footsteps.
"What happened!? Where's my son!?!"
"Where's my daughter!?!"
Two red-haired men in expensive suits, holding canes in their hands, and with a top hat on their heads, rushed towards elder Kim and asked.
Elder Kim sighed and shook his head. "Watch the portal, you'll know soon."
Elder Kim knew a big fiasco was about to occur in the family, shaking the entire main branch along with the rest. He was thus already tired of thinking of the consequences and the long explanations he would need to give them all.
Servants brought our stretchers and on them were a lot of unconscious and scrawny individuals.
The three red-haired men finally saw the ones they were waiting to see. It was a young red-haired girl with dried up blood on her face, and two unconscious boys.
"Yu!"
"Brendon!"
"Viren!"
The three men rushed to their children and pushed away anyone obstructing their paths.
The short and muscular man, Brendon's father, patted his face and exclaimed, "Brendon, wake up! Wake up!"
"Yu! What happened to you!? Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"
"Virennnnn!"
The three men did their best to wake their kids up. They fed them potions and gave a call to the best healers around the world and asked them to be here at once.
Amidst their howls, three stretchers having relatively healthy individuals came out at last. They had a green-haired boy, a raven-haired girl, and a brown-haired butler on it.
No one was there to collect them, and the servants carrying them quietly took them to the infirmary. They had to pass the three grieving fathers, and while on their way, the three men unknowingly had a look at them.
They only had a glance and were too busy with their own children.
The healers soon arrived. Some wore white and green robes, typical of healers, while some had white and red robes on them.
The colors indicated their affiliation while white was a universal one for healers. It was not a hard and fast rule for them, but an unofficial one. It made them easily recognizable with such clothing and anyone in distress could approach them.
The red color on the healers here meant they belonged to the Ignis themselves. The green ones came from the Lynch Family, who were masters of poisons and related things. It was rumored that there was not a single poison in this world of which they did not have a cure. They ranked tenth among the Ten Great Families.
The healers checked the three kids, and one of them shook his head and said to Yu's father, "I am sorry, Sir Nicholas, she did not make it."
"What?" Nicholas couldn't register what had just been said. "What do you mean not make it?"
The healer patted Nicholas' shoulder and replied, "Sir Nicholas, please stay strong in these dire times. I know it's not easy to digest, but… young miss Yu is no more."
"Whattt!?!?!" Nicholas screamed on top of his lungs, loud enough for everyone to hear.
He held the healer's collar and said with absolute rage, "How dare you say those words? How dare youuuuu!?!?"
Elder Kim had to rush in and hold Nicholas back. "Sir Nicholas, please calm down."
"Leave me!" Nicholas shouted. "My daughter can never die like that! Not from a puny Awakening Ceremony! Leaveeee me!"
Nicholas thrashed around but couldn't escape elder Kim's hold.
"Aaaahhhhhh! Leavemeleavemeleaveme! I want to see my daughter!!!"
Beside the howling Nicholas, Brendon and Viren's fathers had tears form in their eyes as they heard:
"I am sorry to inform you, good sirs, but the two will never be able to cultivate again."
"Nooooooo!" Viren's fathers clutched his unconscious body and shouted. "This can't be happening! This can't happen to my son!"
Emmett was no better. He looked at his unconscious son and slapped his face multiple times. "Get up! Get up you son of a bitch! Tell father that it's all a lie!"
"Get up!" Smack! "Get up!" Smack! "Get up!" Smack!
Today, on the 7th of Umbrus, year 457 of the Boverian Calendar, marked the black day in the Ignis Family's history as a total of seven direct descendants met their demise.
…..
8th of Umbrus, 457.
An investigation began on the failed Awakening Ceremony. Fathers of the crippled and dead children involved themselves in it and did a thorough analysis of the situation.
…..
9th of Umbrus, 457.
A shocking revelation came out and shook the main family enough to put a lot of pressure on the branch families.
The kids were sent inside based on their potential. The ones that went first were either crippled or dead, the examples of which were Yu, Viren, and Brendon. They could never cultivate again, and the way forward was an arduous journey, which the Ignis did not have enough resources or time to fulfil.
The revelation did not stem from these kids, but the ones that went last.
They had not awakened their Mind Sea and with the lack of essences in the surroundings, were forcibly stopped from further cultivation.
No children had food or water on them as after awakening their Mind Sea, they could sustain themselves with the essences in the surroundings. Taking a break and stopping to eat food would only serve to break their immersion, causing problems. Thus, the family did not give anyone rations.
With the lack of essences and the rise of hunger along with no availability of food and water, the kids were put in a dire state. They were hungry, thirsty, and would kill for even a sip of water… which was exactly what they did.
Some kids killed the servants that were around them and consumed their flesh and blood to sustain themselves. These were all from the branch families.
The lack of ethics, and such cruelty was not expected, and the main family began an investigation on the branches to check how did these kids turn out like this.
Not all resorted to cannibalism. There were some that smartly decided to avert their pain of hunger and thirst by knocking themselves unconscious.
The branch families of these kids were commended, and the kids, if they could cultivate again, were given a chance to awaken once again. All of the resources that would be required till they turned into Rank 3 would be paid in full by the main family, this was the compensation they provided for their mishap.
It was on this day that Anne and Leya, Leo's mother and second eldest sister came running to the Ignis Archipelago to have a look at him. They were worried to death once they heard the news.
Their worries were immediately washed away once they realized that Leo was safe and recuperating. He may be unconscious, but he was as healthy as one could be and had successfully awakened, unlike others.
Contrary to their thoughts, Leo was not unconscious. He was in a locked-in state where he could hear and somewhat see what was happening around him with his half open eyes, but not move or speak.
He may also be healthy, but he was in great pain.
Thousands of spiritual centipedes were crawling on his soul, causing a great itch everywhere deep inside him that he couldn't prick. Sometimes, these centipedes would bite and bring excruciating pain.
This was day one of serving the penalty the Ruler of Six Paths, his contracted constellation, had given him.
Leo very much wanted to curse her, but held back from doing so as the constellation would be able to listen to his thoughts if their name was taken.
He tried to stay happy by looking at the system screen in front of his eyes.
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[Stats]
Name: Leonard Anne Tryst
Age: 18
Race: Human
Path: Time
World: Mystic Lotus(Mortal Realm)
Cultivation base: Scarlet-stage Rank 1
[Constellations]
Ruler of Six Paths(contracted)
Wings of Inquisition(sponsor)
[Skills]
Skills: N/A
Unique Skills: N/A
[Martial Arts]
N/A
[Items]
????(bounded)
[Shop]
Click to open.
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What?
Leo thought he was looking wrong, so he double-checked the letters on the system screen.
When and how did Wings of Inquisition become my sponsor? I don't remember interacting with them.