Martial Spirit!

As Damien stood on the large stage, he was growing more and more nervous with each passing second. With that said, he was excited too, and he wasn't really sure which of the emotions were dominant right now, but as he heard the elders' weird hymn, he started concentrating. He had gotten no explanation about what he was supposed to do, and he assumed that there was nothing he needed to do as a result.

As he was bathed in the radiant light, it felt warm and comfortable, it reminded him of a Jacuzzi he had tried once in his former life. The warm feeling soon disappeared as Damien felt like his soul was getting sucked out of his body. As his spirit seemed to leave his body, all he could see was suddenly darkness. The warm and comfortable feeling had been replaced with a harsh biting cold. After a few seconds had passed, he could see a dim light in the depths of the darkness.

As the dim light was the only thing he could see in the darkness, Damien started walking toward it. He fumbled a little with his steps, as he couldn't see where he was going, but he still walked forward nonetheless. As he came closer and closer to the light, it grew brighter and brighter, but at the same time, his surroundings grew colder and colder. The increasingly cold surroundings quickly started to wear down Damien's mind, and he started doubting whether this was all worth it.

Couldn't he just live a normal life like everyone else? Couldn't he just be satisfied with being mediocre? No. Just no. If he didn't become something special, then what was his purpose? To be normal? He had gotten a second chance at living, was he going to waste it just like that? No. There was no way he could do that! He didn't know enough about this world yet, and he wanted to see his family again.

Was there a way for him to return to his old world? He had no clue, but the only way to find out was to get strong enough. If he was strong enough, then he would be able to find out all the information he needed. And if there really was a way to go back home, then he reckoned that he needed a certain amount of strength in order to obtain it. As he steeled his mind, Damien trudged forward, and faced the biting cold head-on, all in order to reach that dim light.

He clenched his teeth, at least he thought he did, he couldn't really feel his face anymore, but he kept walking forward, and eventually, the weird light was within his arm's reach. With nothing to lose, Damien stretched out his arm, and grasped for the light.

All of a sudden, he was back on the stage again, and his body felt like normal. The experience was a little surreal, almost as if it never happened in the first place. His head felt a little heavy, but he could feel a lot of gazes on him. Was it a success? A weird feeling arose within his body. He felt like he had grown an extra limb, like there was another part of him which he had just regained. As he discovered this feeling, he knew that the awakening had been a success, but why was everyone looking at him so weirdly?

As he thought about it, he looked at his own martial spirit, and was shocked by the sight he saw. Behind his back, a rather normal-sized snake hovered in the air. The snake was cyan in colour, and even though it looked rather normal at first glance, its eyes looked a bit… odd. And not in a bad way, it looked as if it was alive. What was more shocking were the rays behind it. Five white-coloured rays lit up his surroundings, it was just average.

That was the weird part, it was just average. Why was everyone looking at him when his martial spirit was so average? Naturally Damien took a look around, and he quickly found out the reason why people were staring at him. He was the only one who had awakened, and everyone else was still in the process. This was naturally a little odd, as it generally took the same amount of time for everyone to awaken their martial spirits. On the rare occasions it was faster, it was usually because their martial spirits were excellent.

Damien began to grow a little nervous, as he had never experienced this much spotlight before, being from a remote town in Sweden didn't help at all, as the number of people in the small town was not much more than the youths gathered in this ancestral hall. He had naturally never stood in front of these many people before, and the feeling of anxiety in the pit of his stomach was only growing stronger by the second.

The attention around him naturally lessened though as people realised he had only awakened a generic white martial spirit, and he started to calm down a little as a result. As he was standing on the stage a little awkwardly, unsure of what to do, he decided to just leave. Before he could, however, one of the elders started talking to him. "Since you've awakened your martial spirit you'll get some body-tempering pills to help you become a martialist. Once you've become a grade 1 martialist, you can go to the martial arts hall. "

As he talked, he tossed a small bottle full of pills to Damien. Before leaving, Damien bowed to show his respect and gratitude, and then he promptly left. These pills were something everyone who awakened a martial spirit in the clan would get, to help them get started on their cultivation journey, but if they wanted more resources from the clan, then they would have to show their worth.

Damien attracted some eyes as he left, but people were only a little curious, nothing else. Since he had nowhere else to go for the time being, Damien returned to his little shed. It took a while to get there, as the Gale property was rather large. When he arrived, he promptly sat down on his "bed". Though it was uncomfortable, he would have to make do with it.

Since he was eager to become a martialist, Damien summoned his martial spirit, which eagerly floated around him, showing its affection. The reason for this affection was quite simple, as Damien had passed the trial of the martial spirit after all. Everyone who awakened their martial spirits had to face their spirits trial before they could awaken it.

This was because of the harshness of the cultivation world. If one couldn't pass their martial spirits trial, then chances are that they might not survive for long in the cultivation world. Damien had passed his test with flying colours, and his martial spirit had taken a liking to him as a result. Before he could start cultivating, he could see that the snake was watching the body-tempering pills in his hand, almost as if it wanted to eat them itself.