Preparations Begin

On the morning of the orientation, Benjamin got up early, like he used to for his daily training session. He took things slowly, as this was his first practice session since his hunting trip. An hour and a half had passed since he had begun, when Oram came into the courtyard to remind him that it was time to get ready and that his bath had been drawn. Ben washed himself quickly, had his breakfast and set off. Oram had told him that the orientation would be held in a corner of the martial training grounds. He also found out that around 22 children from the family would be attending including him, among them were Derek and Riya Silvester. Both were his cousins, Derek was Uncle Ramon's second son while Riya was Uncle Rupert's only daughter.

It took him about a quarter of an hour to reach the martial practice grounds, and when he did, he saw a small crowd of children, all looking around 10 years of age at the northern corner of the ground. He frowned as he approached the crowd, there were definitely more than 22 children there. He immediately spotted Derek, taller than a usual 10 year old with a proud and cold expression on his face. He saw Ben approaching, but ignored him. He was surrounded be a few boys, "Most probably sucking up to the future Patriarch's son, no doubt", Ben thought. Riya, on the other hand was seen alone, at the rear of the crowd. She was pretty, and he assumed that she would become strikingly beautiful as she grew up. Almost similar to Derek, she also had a cold indifferent look on her face and unlike Derek, she didn't seem to have her own posse. Boys dominated this group, only 6 girls could be seen including Riya. Ben settled near the rear of the group observing the grounds. There were other people in ground, mostly seen towards the southern end, most probably ordered to keep to that side due to orientation, practicing their moves and weapon skills. He could see sword, sabre, spear and even staff users. Uncle Richard could be seen approaching the group with two older instructors in tow. As they approached, more children noticed them, and the murmured conversations slowly halted. Richard turned around and murmured something to the two beside him and then made beeline straight towards Ben at the rear while the instructors moved towards the front of the group. Ben could see Richard's narrowed eyes and the frown on his face, and guessed that he was about to be questioned about his mysterious illness. He had purposely worn a long sleeved tunic just to hide the injuries on his arms and trousers which reached up to his ankle. Only a small cut on his forehead could be seen. " You are injured, and don't deny it, I saw the limp even though you were trying to hide it", Richard went straight to the point. Ben himself frowned, wondering how he was spotted by Uncle Richard and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riya turn to look at him, " I pudhed myself a little too hard during training today morning, I had missed a few days and wanted to make up for the lost time", he casually replied. Richard's frown deepened but he didn't say anything, and desperate to change the topic, Ben asked, " Are they the ones conducting the orientation", pointing to the two instructors standing before the group. Richard suddenly smirked, his suspicions forgotten, and replied, " No, I am".

And with that, he moved forward towards the front of the group. He turned around to face the kids and began, "Good morning everyone, you all are here to begin your preparations for the awakening ceremony two months away. And as it has been in all years before, we begin your preparations with an orientation, which is aimed to equip you with relevant and reliable knowledge about cultivation and the various challenges that you may encounter as you begin to cultivate." He paused to make a sweeping glance at them, before continuing, " Now, some of you may already know some of the things which I will be speaking about today, but I request you to bear with me. As many of you may have noticed, we have some members of the Smith Family and the Milton Family with us here, they to will be awakening their spirits along with the rest of you". Ben realized why the number of children were more than what Oram had reported. He also recalled Oram saying that conducting an awakening ceremony was very expensive and the equipment needed for it were not easily acquired, which would explain why some of the smaller families needed to rely on a bigger family like the Silvesters. Uncle Richard on the other hand continued, " To begin with, I will explain what would happen during the ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, you will be asked to assemble in the Awakening Hall, in the Central Pavilion. In the centre of the hall, you will find a large Stallicite Tablet. Each and everyone of you will be asked to go up to the Tablet and place one of your hands on it while the Channelling Master present would channel their essence into your body. This would awaken the spirit in your body, which would be visible on the tablet. The Appraisal Master present would then appraise your martial spirit, determining it's tier and certify it accordingly. A certificate to that effect would be issued, which is recognised by all organizations in the Pontine Region". Ben was intrigued, the expenses that Oram mentioned may have been related to the two Masters mentioned, they would need to be payed of course. Uncle Richard's words raised even more questions in his mind, and he hoped to get the answers to some of them today.