19. Awakening XIV

The Halls of the Fae castle were a vibrant shade of brown, well so we're its floors but they were covered by carpets.

From the throne room's doors until the thrones foot, a red carpet was laid,  next, well around the res carpet were black carpets woven by skilled seamstresses just based on the design.

The Throne rooms doors swung open as a young man in his mid-teen years walked in, his eyes sparkling with curiosity as he looked around awes by everything he saw.

He had short midnight blue hair, with sparkling blue sapphire eyes, his nose was straight and his jawline well defined along with his cheek bones, he had fair skin and a lithe physique with a medium build.

He wore a blue long sleeved stretch shirt along with a pair of loose grey sweat pants, his feet were bare with a pair of small wings on each.

Once he reached the foot of the throne, he awkwardly looked up and waved at the woman before him before greeting, "hello fae queen my name is Ahmed, you wanted to see me?"

He did not bow, he did not kneel nor lower his head, he just had an awkward smile hoping he hadn't greeted the Queen wrongly.

The other fae chuckled after his greetings, they didn't lash out at the boy understanding this might be his first encounter with anything noble or royal.

"Yes Ahmed, I'm The Queen of Gardenia, Lantana Kamala the hundredth." She introduced with a small smile.

The Queen had long pointed ears, green almost pale yellow flowing hair, emerald eyes, a pale jade skin tone, and adorned a simple long green dress with long sleeves.

She was beautiful to say the least, if Ahmed had to say she was the most beautiful person he had ever met or seen let alone talk to.

"I called for you simply because I was curious." She continued with a smile breaking the boy out of his daze.

"Curious?"

"Indeed, I could feel the mana's joy from here even beyond the portal, your loved by mana little one." She replied with a gratified smile.

"Loved ehh, I never really thought of it that way but that isn't a bad way to put it." Ahmed scratched the back of his head.

"Indeed, I take it your awakening?" She asked.

"Yes, I entered roughly a month ago give or take," Ahmed replied.

"I have an offer to make, would you like to hear it?"

"Yes please."

"I, no we the Fae can help you in your awakening, but in exchange you must do something for us." She offered.

"Doing what exactly?" Ahmed asked curiously.

"Nothing troublesome, we just want you to deliver something to any Fae tribe you may come across, within or outside this Awakening realm." She explained with a light smile.

"Just that?" Ahmed asked with a raised brow.

"Just that." The Queen affirmed.

"Then I'll be in your care Queen Lantana Kamala." Ahmed graciously thanked.

This was how his days within the Fae settlement begun, after allowing the youth to rest, a series of instructors were availed to the boy.

"You've consumed beast cores haven't you?" One of his instructors specialized in all matters concerning the body asked, he was to help the boy forge the strongest body he could before leaving the trial zone.

"Yes, I had to, it was that or I died...well I wouldn't have died nut I didn't know the specifics at the time." Ahmed explained to the old man who smiled at him.

"It's alright, you did what you had to to survive I'm not blaming you, but I'll let you in on a secret most don't know about during their awakening.

Consuming beast cores isn't a wise endeavor, beast cores are made by beast, in them are the beasts blood essence, elements, mana, impurities, all of this enters your body whenever you consume a beast core.

The impurities will stockpile in time limit the potential of your body, since it's already 'full'." The old fae explained patiently to the green youth.

"So it's a bad thing? Then how can we get stronger without eating them?"

"There's many ways, but the best would be eating fruits and other natural treasures.

Nothing is truly ever pure, well except for mana maybe, things will always have impurities even if it's a miniscule of it, natural treasures have very little impurities.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to extract all the impurities within your body, after that I'll have you on a strict training regime and diet." The old fae declared.

***

Ahmed's next instructor was well showering him with Ichor fragments to increase the purity of his blood in hopes to awaken an ancestral legacy, Nane shards to  increase his potential into the higher ranks, hopefully to the peak and finally exo crystals to increase his talents.

"Is there a difference between Soul Natures and talents?" He had at one point asked.

"Well soul natures are the expressions of the Soul, an attribute of it whereas a talent is something your inheritly good at." His instructor replied.

"If Talents are so natural then how's exo crystals able to increase them?"

"Think of it this way, your entire being during the awakening is mearly a seed, no a blank canvas.

Your efforts during the awakening are the materials your picking before you begin to paint, some pick low quality others pick high quality.

In your case it should be the highest of qualities since well make sure your mana system is as solid as possible." The instructor smiled.

***

Another instructor came before Ahmed, this one was bulkier than the usual Faes who leaned more on the slender side.

"I'll be teaching you combat, be it weapon art, or hand to hand.

My methods are brutal but sure proof so hang in there." The man then left the dumbfounded Ahmed sitting alone in awkward silence.

**

"Hello little one, I'll be teaching you anything and everything concerning magic, mana and the elements." A doting elderly fae greeted with a hug, she was like a kind grandma in Ahmed's eyes.

With his affinities towards mana and soul, this lesson would be extremely benefial for him after all as a commoner he didn't know shit about magic.

Even his siblings were under oath not to disclose anything related to magic with an unawakened that has no prior knowledge of it.

***

"I'll be teaching you history, despite us living in the Awakening realm for so long, we Fae have extremely detailed records." A chubby fae bragged as he rubbed his nose.

***

"I'll be your cultivation instructor, I'll teach you of the what comes next after awakening, at least within this realm."