The universe, at the unit level, is made up of two intricate essences that balance one another: Viz and Nexa. The essences sustain the universe, all life forms, planetary bodies, and the universe as a whole. They are two faces of one coin, intricately balancing the universe. Creatures of the universe, in a bid to grow stronger, discovered a way to utilize these essences to grow stronger, shaping the universe to their will through perfect use and control of the essences. Viz, the common and prevalent energy of the universe, is felt and accessible to all. It embodies concepts and elements necessary for the growth of the universe, including fire, water, wind, earth, life, space, and much more. Nexa, on the other hand, is a rarer and more elusive essence that embodies shadow and mystery, accessible and usable by only a few people. While all can learn to utilize Viz, progress in it and grow stronger, their path is limitless and only limited by talent and effort. Nexists, those able to use the Nexa essence, have predetermined levels of utilizing the essence; talent and effort only help in finding better ways of utilizing the essence, not improving one's level in controlling it.
A perfect illustration: Vizers are like newborn kids, growing up and stronger with time, but some can grow quicker while others slower depending on genes and how well they feed. While everyone can grow, some grow tall and some stop growing and remain short. Nexists, on the other hand, are like created avatars in a game that can't change their height no matter what—either created short and always short or tall and always tall. However, they can eat good food or work out to keep fit, unlike their counterparts who don't care for their bodies. Hence, Nexists can gain great power at a young age and spend the rest of their lives fine-tuning it, an advantage over Vizers who have to develop their powers but with no cap like Nexists. Nexa, an elusive essence, is the building block of concepts such as time, shadow, divination, death, and other mysteries of the universe.
A being cannot unlock the ability to freely absorb these essences actively until the age of 12, hence the awakening ceremony at age 12. One who awakens to become a Nexist can never become a Vizer and vice versa. While Vizers can be anyone, Nexists are few and able to accept the Nexa essence, with reasons for being able to absorb the essence unknown, as no pattern can be drawn among its awakeners.
Arthur followed the Commanders closely until they arrived at the scene of the awakening, children no more than about 30 waiting patiently for an awakening, an old man, John, presiding over the awakening. The awakening doesn't have many complications, requiring only the child to place their hands on the awakening stone, which triggers a resonance causing the child to absorb an essence. The essence absorbed resonates with an essence stored within the stone, leading to a glow between white and black for Viz and Nexa respectively, before changing colors to match the concepts or elements the child has talent for learning. The greater the glow of the white or dark lights, the greater the essence a person can store and the faster the rate of absorption to restore depleted reservoirs. The greater the concept or element glow, the greater the person's talent in comprehending the concept or element in the case of Viz, and the level of the person in the case of Nexa. After innovations and inventions, a machine was created capable of intricately reading all these and reporting results.
For the amount of essence a person can absorb from the atmosphere and store, as well as the rate, the ranks include:
Low Rank: Essence core is extremely small, and the rate of absorption is very slow.
Medium Rank: Essence core is small, and the rate of absorption is slow.
High Rank: Essence core is big, and the rate of absorption is high.
Elite Rank
Master Rank
Supreme Rank
The gap in each rank is exponential. For example, low rank will be 1, medium is 2x that of low, high is 4x that of medium, elite is 8x that of high, master is 32x that of elite, and supreme is 64x that of elite.
The rank for talent in learning concepts, as well as the color representing the concept for Viz (Nexa not having a color as the user gains knowledge of it automatically):
Blue: Water elements
Red: Fire elements
Green: Earth
Yellow: Wind
Silver: Space.
The ranks for talent are the same as the ones used for grading essence core capacity.
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"There she is, isn't she beautiful," Seth said while looking at his daughter, Kaitlyn, even waving at her. "Retain some dignity, Seth, you're not a child," Emilia reprimanded. "All right, kid, off you go, standing in line and waiting for your turn. It seems you made the number a round figure of 30. Remember, a good result will see this aunty giving you a present," Jessica said to Arthur. Arthur didn't bother replying and just went toward the other children, standing behind the last person in the queue. "Who are you? Never seen you before," Silas said, scrutinizing Arthur, but of course, Arthur wasn't bothered to answer. Silas was displeased but held himself back, recognizing the presence of the Commanders and knowing full well not to get on their bad side.
"The ceremony begins. Come forward one at a time," Old John said, his voice louder for someone of his stature. The children, eager to know their talents, walked toward John one by one, Jayden being the first. He placed his hand on the awakening stone until it glowed and waited for his results to be announced by John. "Jayden, Vizer, essence core rank medium, absorption rate medium, elements talented in earth, rank high," John announced loudly. "Yes," Jayden couldn't help but say, happy over his successful awakening.
"Simon, Vizer, core low, rate low, talent none, rank none," Simon bowed his head in sadness, walking away.
"Theo, Vizer, core medium, rate low, talent wind, rank high."
"Emily, Vizer, core high, rate low, talent earth, rank medium."
Twenty-seven kids were called slowly, leaving just Silas, Kaitlyn, and Arthur. Silas walked toward John with confidence and placed his hands on the crystal. "Silas, Vizer, core elite, rate medium, talent fire, rank elite," Silas had a smug face after hearing his result. Being the only elite rank among the kids, and in two ranks, was indeed praiseworthy. He was undoubtedly among the 10% in the continent with such good results. With a smirk on his face, he looked toward Arthur, with eyes that said, You're dead, before walking away.
"It's my daughter's turn. I have to cheer her!" Seth was about to scream encouragement for Kaitlyn, only to stop halfway after getting a glance from Emilia. With a resolute face, Kaitlyn approached John and touched the stone. "Kaitlyn, Vizer, core elite, rate high, talent life-nature, rank elite."
With a beaming smile, Kaitlyn walked away, wishing the last participant good luck but was disappointed when she didn't get a reply. "That damn brat, how dare he ignore my priceless gem," Seth said, highly displeased. "Enough, Seth," Daniel chided.
"What do you guys think? Is he going to have an awesome result?" Jack asked.
"Who knows? Perhaps he might awaken to Nexa, being the second ever to do so aside from his father in the whole continent," Jessica said with a playful smile.
Arthur walked toward John, and with an apathetic disposition, placed his hands on the awakening stone. "This… impossible," John stammered, gaining everyone's interest immediately. Clearing his throat to stop the embarrassment, he called the result with an even louder voice and with a slim trace of pride. "Arthur, core supreme, rate supreme, talent: wind, fire, water, earth, life-regeneration, and space, rank supreme."
Boom.
Not a single sound could be heard.