1st Awakening

"Good now let's get a move on," Mila said as she got up from the chair, she turned to see that Joey was not moving still sitting on the bed "what's the problem now".

"Do you have to make it hurt?" Joey cringed at the pain he had felt.

"Two days have past and you made no progress, Do you think being a coward will get us anywhere." She asked a question but Joey never answered.

"A lot of people die from forceful awakening, but that is when they are overloaded with foreign energy.

That's what becomes a lot of orphans who show talent. The process normally takes months and peculiar conditions."

"Are you saying I'm going to die!?"

"No, I'm saying you already died," Mila thought about her statement and re-worded it "I'm saying the pain you experienced was enough to kill a lot of people your age. If you haven't died yet I don't see that happening at all now" Mila expressed.

Joey couldn't bring himself to willingly get up and make himself feel pain, but it was for his sister. "Mila, could you please chain be by force. I promise I won't hate you, I just can't do it myself."

Mila sighed but then did as he asked, she was sure he wouldn't die so she never hesitated. Joey however was surprised by how fast she moved, she never even hesitated that made him wonder if she was that cruel.

Mila tossed him over her back and chained him up as she asked, "Are you ready?".

"Do I have a choice?"

"Focus on what I told you earlier, remove impurities and use the energy to trigger an awakening. Don't try anything flashy, simpler is better." Mila said as the ghost-like aura glowed from her hands.

"Alright, just give me a minute to meditate and I will tell you when to go. I will never trust your countdown again" Joey sat in a meditative position and took death breaths and started to feel his body.

"Now," he said as he took a deep breath/

Mila then pressed her hand onto his chest again. It started out with a powerful sensation that made Joey feel powerful. That sensation was soon taken over by the pain, the energy invaded his body and widened his blood vessels and started making up a lot of his blood.

He focused on this feeling and kept trying to move throughout his body. His body started to shake but the pain finally became bearable as murky-dark red blood started seeping through his pores. He looked like he was bleeding.

"That's it, Joey!" Mila shouted excitedly.

Unfortunately, this was not heard by Joey. The energy kept flowing throughout and purging his body of impurities, the energy circulated around his bones as the energy kept flowing over it.

The same happened to all his organs making each of them stronger. Then all at once, his muscle tensed and his body was held in place by his contracting muscles getting stronger. By this time, his bones had gone through the first stage of tempering.

The limits of his body were non-existent anymore. The energy never hurt anymore, now it was a happy feeling. His body felt energized and he tried to absorb some of the energy it stopped. He took the time to try and absorb the energy that was left in his body, he tried to continue tempering his bones and the rest of his organs.

"Have you finished yet?" Mila inquired making Joey open his eyes. "I think I did it, but I don't have my power yet," Joey said dejectedly. His body had obviously come with changes but he was secretly hoping for his powers to awaken.

"I told you it was not guaranteed. It will come in due time." Mila said looking at Joey who looked sad "Shouldn't you be happy you awakened? It only took 2 hours"

"Can you tell me more about cultivation?" Joey asked. Mila drew for a chair where she sat "What do you want to know".

"How far have I reached with my cultivation?"Joey asked, but he was only met with a loud cackle that was slightly frightening, he looked at Mila as she laughed until tears came to her eyes.

"Phew kid, your awesome I never expected that kind of joke so suddenly" she wiped the tears off her eyes and explained "Joey, you technically haven't started cultivation yet. You just awakened the limits of your body. This means then you will cultivate easier and cultivate to the upper realms.

Some people are stuck in the early realms because they started cultivation without going through a third awakening. It is compulsory to reach the third awakening if you want to reach far in the military.

After all three awakenings, all your dormant potential is unlocked. At that time it shouldn't be hard to cultivate a Masterclass realm"

"So what is the first stage for me?" Joey asked. "Well after you unlock your bodies full potential, the first realm is Rank 1. That concentrates on flesh hardening and bone quenching. Each Realm is divided into Early Middle and Late Stage" she thought of something then said "or was it peak"

"It differs among some people but it means the same thing at the end of the day. It goes all the way up to Rank 9" she explained.

"What beyond that?"

Why don't you tell me?" Mila said sarcastically "I'm not worried about it right now and higher rank than you, why are you?"

"Just focus on your own awakening the full potential of your body....besides" Mila covered her nose as her face turned slightly green "You smell like a rotting corpse".

Ah?" Joey looked at himself, his body was caked in dark murky blood. It was all over his body. Now that Mila mentioned it the stench started to affect him. Maybe he never smelled it because it was on him.

"I'm sorry if you could just-"

"Just go!" she stepped on the chain and it shattered like glass.