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323. The Awakening Ceremony (II)
🕑 Added 2022-07-27 05:52:37 +0000 UTCThe existence of an Onmyou Mage brought much happiness to the commoners' side. However, the nobles just sneered and ignored these people.
After the first mage appeared from the commoner, the older man began to call some noble's name to begin the ceremony.
“Onmyou Mage, defensive Shikigami, wood attribute.”
“Onmyou Mage, healing Shikigami, wood attribute.”
“Onmyou Mage, attack Shikigami, variation ice attribute.”
Finally, one of the royal family members got called: a tall and muscular young man. Although he was also fifteen years old, with his height and physique, people would think he was an adult if it was not for his young fame.
He placed his hand on the crystal with remarkable calmness before manifesting a beautiful all-black katana with red marks all over the blade.
“Samurai, legendary weapon: Muramasa Curse Blade, Variation Curse Attribute. You are worthy of the Musashi’s family name.”
“Thank you,” replied Kinji Musashi calmly before bowing and lining up in the Samurai Class.
“Next is Yuji Seimei.”
Another noble youth dressed in luxurious clothes walked to the older man to begin his awakening. Then, a humanoid creature with a long nose and red face appeared next to him.
‘A Tengu as a Shikigami?’ thought Yuji, knowing he had awakened something special. But he still controlled his excitement and remained relatively calm and indifferent.
“Onmyou Mage, Special-type Shikigami, Spatial Attribute. Not bad lad, you have not brought shame to the Shogun.”
“Thank you,” replied Yuji before joining the line.
“Next is Matsumoto Yamato.”
As soon as that name was called, everyone paid attention to the little girl who exuded a noble aura beyond even the other royal families. After all, every citizen knew the name of the [Yamato Clan] by now.
Matsumoto seemed used to people always gazing at her wherever she went, so she was not bothered. She slowly walked in front of the older man and saluted him before placing her hands on the crystal.
A few seconds later, a beautiful woman appeared next to Matsumoto. She had two fox ears and five white tails.
“A fox spirit,” muttered Matsumoto with slight excitement.
“Onmyou Mage, All Purpose Shikigami, all five natural elements.”
Everyone was shocked after hearing this: the princess could easily use wood, water, earth, fire, and gold elements. In the end, people had to sigh that she was worthy of being from the Yamato Clan.
Then, the older man called the last member of the royal family: Gojo Tsuchimikado. This man awakened a Shikigami, who was a tortoise more than 6 meters tall and had a snake for a tail. He was classified as a special-type Shikigami with fire and water as attributes.
After the last royal family member finished their awakening, the older man left to replace by a younger staff, who continued the ceremony. Most commoners who went through the awakening did not pass the test, but because of the sheer number, there were many Samurais and Onmyou Mages.
However, Edward noticed that they mostly awakened Shikigami that looked like animals, mostly attack or defensive type with attributes in the standard five elements, with a few variations here and there.
As for Samurai, no one awakens a legendary weapon. Only one other noble acquired the legendary Totsuka Blade with sealing attributes during the entire ceremony. And many people were surprised after his awakening.
Another accident that occurred was a commoner who awakened a special-type Shikigami with Divination attribute. Edward could see many people secretly paying attention to that young girl.
Finally, near the end of the ceremony, it was Edward’s turn. Although he had tattered clothes on, Edward seemed to naturally draw attention to himself as he calmly walked in front of the crystal and placed his hand on it.
Then, he found himself floating in a white space with countless white lights in the distance. And the moment he appeared, he discovered many of these lights seemed to be calling to him.
‘A dimension full of spirits? But how could there be so many?’
He had long speculated that the Shikigamis were a type of spirits similar to Undine or Slyph. However, he did not expect the eastern continent to have an entire dimension full of them.
Although most of the spirits he sensed seemed to be low-level ones, he could tell the number of them on par with Undine, Salamander, and Slyph was abnormally high. So, he concluded that this dimension contained some mystery.
Then, Edward concentrated on which spirit to choose. Although most people were incapable of choosing, he was not most people. Additionally, he guessed the royal families have some method to allow their children to awaken the Shikigami most suited to them, and the key to this method was probably the older man who first began the ceremony.
Edward quickly checked this Spirit Dimension. He quickly noticed it was divided into two sections: the lower sections contained weapons, while the higher ones had spirits.
He guessed the samurais got accessed to the lower section. As for the requirements needed to become a Samurai or Onmyou Mage, he theorized it was based on an individual’s spirit energy or mana, soul, and physique.
The higher the mana, the higher the chances of becoming an Onmyou Mage. However, with a moderate amount of mana and a physique with strong potential, then a higher chance of becoming a Samurai.
Of course, there is an exception to this. Some people have a strong body and high spirit energy, and these people awakened legendary weapons, which are also located in the higher section of the Spiritual World.
After summarizing his thought, Edward focused on finding a Shikigami. He first wanted a spirit with space-time attributes but could not find one. In the end, he chose the one most suited to him.
After making his choice and binding with the spirit, he felt a slight disturbance in his connection with his Grimoire. Fortunately, he had sealed it completely with Secre’s Sealing magic.
‘It appears that a person cannot have a Grimoire and a Spirit. Well, at least not now.’
Edward opened his eyes to the outside world before raising his head. He looked at a more than 35 meters azure dragon; it was an eastern dragon with a long snake-like body and deer horns.
Thunder flashed across the dragon’s body, and as he gazed at the people in the venue, everyone felt a terrifying pressure enveloping them. Everyone–both commoners and nobles–looked at him and the dragon in shock.
“A divine dragon? Is he related to the late Emperor?”
“But, he’s a commoner.”
“That’s right.”
“I remember the Emperor’s dragon was yellow, plus it was not this big.”
Countless murmurs echoed in the venue while Edward remained calm. He could feel the awe and the killing desire of a few people around him–mostly the nobles. However, after the dragon gazed at these people, they had no choice but to quickly hide their intentions.
“Can you please announce my result,” said Edward with a smile, finally waking up the man in charge of the ceremony.
“O-O-Onmyou Mage, All Purpose Shikigamu, lightning attribute.”
Edward nodded his head and prepared to go to the proper line. However, before he even moved, an older woman with gray hair, a petite frame, and wearing a green kimono walked in his direction with many people behind her.
She looked at the dragon in the sky before looking at Edward with a smile; no hint of surprise or wonder appeared in her eyes.
“I am Hirano Miyo; you can call me Headmaster Hirano.”
‘This woman is not simple,’ thought Edward. The Hirano family was just a normal noble family, and yet, she managed to become the headmaster of the Onmyou Royal Academy.
The royal families would never allow someone else to control such an institution with that much tremendous power. So, Hirano Miyo must be a competent individual.
“My name is Kozuki Akimitsu. You can refer to me as Akimitsu.”
“Well, young Akimitsu. For safety purposes, please follow me to the Academy in advance.”
Edward nodded before waving his hand. Then, the dragon dispersed into motes of light before entering his body; to be precise, it turned into a tattoo on his wrist.
Headmaster Hirano finally showed a slight surprise. High-level Shikigamis have intelligence on par with humans and are incredibly arrogant. In many cases, they will not obey their masters and will only protect them if they are in danger.
So, all Onmyou Mages must learn to cultivate their connection with their Shikigamis and learn to control them better. Yet, this young commoner could so easily control a dragon.
And there seems to be no resistance.
‘This youngster is not simple,’ thought the headmaster before leading Edward away.
Comments
Wilder
Cool chapter thanks
