AWAKENING

Early in the morning the next day.

Alan woke up vigorous, clearly having had a much-needed rest. He got out of bed and headed to the toilet. After freshening up, he went back to the kitchen, and he saw that there was an already made breakfast just need to be heated.

It seemed that his mother had already gone to work. Noticing how hard his mother was working, Alan thought with determination.

Alan: "It seems that I have to help take care of my new family and alleviate some of the pressure that is crushing my mother's shoulder."

His family was by no means wealthy. Although they had enough to eat, it all depended on his mother's work.

Working as a healer in a small clinic in the city, it does pay well enough, but only well enough to survive.

After heating the breakfast and eating it, Alan's mind was preoccupied with what he had to do next. Today at school would be the awakening ceremony. And, depending on the result, he could plan for the future.

As long as he worked hard and concentrated on gaining strength, he could elevate their living standard and better protect his mother and little sister.

Wearing his school uniform, he closed the house and went to school. It was still early, so he waited a little while at the bus stop until the bus came.

He sat inside the bus looking out of the window, observing his surroundings.

His eyes did not have this luxury yesterday because of how hectic things were. Now, looking around, he could see all types of beasts walking around with people; bizarre creatures that could be called mythical in his old world were walking normally on the streets. All kinds of sizes, from small ones that could fit in the palm of a hand to huge ones that are bigger than a car.

After reaching the school, Alan went to the auditorium. There, all the students had gathered, ready to start the awakening ceremony.

After lining up, there were over 1,200 students. All these 16-year-olds were ready for the ceremony. Looking around, Alan saw all kinds of expressions: hopeful ones, anxious ones, fear, and anticipation filled the auditorium. Clearly, this was the tipping point of one's life.

Walking onto the stand, the principal made a 5-minute formal speech reminding the students of the importance of this day and going through the procedures that needed to be done in order to awaken.

The awakening ceremony all depended on introducing Ena inside the human body.

Then, using the Ena medium to open the sanctuary, which is an ethereal living space inside the sea of consciousness that every beast tamer has. Awakening the sanctuary is the first sign that someone has succeeded in becoming a beast tamer.

From his memories, Alan remembered that, although everyone goes through the awakening ceremony, not everyone can awaken as a beast tamer. Only 40% of the existing humans could awaken and become beast tamers. And, from those 40%, only 5% could awaken a powerful talent. So, you can see that every powerful and talented beast tamer is an asset that is extremely valued.

As for the other students who cannot become beast tamers, they have to go through the mainstream path of becoming Ena cultivators, slowly introducing Ena into their bodies and refining it. It is a very slow process that takes a long time. But still, it has a very high ceiling level of power according to the documents that the former Alan read.

But in a fight, a beast tamer against an Ena cultivator will always win 10 times out of 10.

You may ask why?

A beast tamer is essentially also an Ena cultivator, but with a contracted beast that is at the same level or even higher than himself. So, it's a quality and quantity problem. The Ena cultivator will always lose.

Not to mention that Ena cultivators take a long time in each stage to grow, while beast tamers can grow at an extremely fast speed, much faster than an Ena cultivator. Alongside their beasts, they can grow tremendously faster.

After the principal finished his speech, all the students were divided into groups, and each student was given a number. They would have to take turns and enter inside the awakening chamber.

Alan sat there next to Drack.

He also was full of anticipation for the near future.

After a while, his number was called. He responded and went to the teacher responsible for student guidance.

The teacher said, "Number 332, Allen Ortex, right?"

Alan responded, "Yes, sir."

The teacher said, "You may enter the awakening chamber number four. It's already empty. After you enter inside, start with the meditation in the lotus position, as you have been already informed and already studied. Try to concentrate and feel the energy and guide it towards yourself."

Allen responded, "Thank you for your guidance, teacher."

he headed to the fourth awakening chamber.

After entering the chamber, the chamber door closed. Alan moved to the center of the room.

From the ceiling, dangling down, was a very beautiful crystal. Sitting in a lotus position, Alan observed the crystal a little bit, then entered a meditative state.

Slowly, but surely, he started sensing energy around him. The principle behind the awakening factor is using the awakening crystal that is already dangling from the roof to increase the concentration of Ena inside the room, isolating the room from the outside world to increase the concentration and make introducing Ena much easier for the individual.

Slowly entering into a Zen state, the true meditative state, Alan started guiding Ena inside him.

10 minutes passed, 15, 20, half an hour, 1 hour passed, and he was still guiding more and more Ena into his body.

Alan was getting flustered as he had heard that even the longest awakening could take only half an hour; usually, it's done in 10 minutes, but he had been in this room for over an hour now. He thought that there must be something wrong, but he trusted the process, and he continued absorbing Ena.

After a while, almost 2 hours passed, and something broke inside him and clicked. It was like opening a door to a new world.

An ethereal space opened inside his consciousness manifested.

Alan successfully opened his own sanctuary.

The moment it opened, he felt warmth spread all over his body, and heat started spreading through his body into his limbs, modifying it, making his body stronger and his soul more powerful.

Only after almost all of the Ena inside the room had been sucked dry by Alan did he wake up from his trance.

Finally, his awakening was successful, and he could become a beast tamer. Alan went out of the room.

The moment he opened the door, he saw the guidance-responsible teacher. Clearly puzzled,he hurriedly asked Alan,

Teacher: "Why were you inside for almost 2 hours? Did you sleep in there?"

Alan was a little bit embarrassed, but he quickly thought of an excuse and said

Alan: "I had a hard time entering the meditation process."

The teacher clearly was dumbfounded when he heard Alan's answer. Alan made a lame excuse.

The teacher said, "Okay, okay, you can go. There are many who are waiting to use the room. Go now to the second floor, so you will be tested to confirm that your awakening is successful and to test if you have awakened any talents."

Alan thanked the teacher and headed to the second floor.

The teacher stood there at the door watching Alan's back fading away. Then, the moment he entered the room, he noticed that there were almost no traces of Ena inside the room.

He looked around. At first, he was shocked, but then he thought that the awakening crystal must be defective or was at its last legs, as awakening crystals could be used multiple times for a long time, but there is also a finite amount of Ena inside them.

The teacher sighed, as he knew he had to change the crystal now, and his workload has doubled.

Heading to the second floor, Alan was clearly contemplating his own weird awakening.

The amount of Ena that he needed to awaken him could have probably been enough for 10 people to awake. The only good thing is that the teacher bought his lame excuse and was clearly in a hurry. So, he didn't think much about it.

Alan did not want to stand out right now. Staying low-key is always the best way to get stronger.

After reaching the second floor, he entered one of the examination rooms. After conducting the examination, it showed that his successful awakening has already taken place, and he had become a beast tamer.

He was told to enter one of the rooms at the end of the corridor. These rooms are specialized chambers to test for talents. If a beast tamer has a talent, then the value of the beast tamer increases by 10 or 100 times even. Alan lined up waiting for his own turn to enter and test his own talent.

The moment he entered, the door behind him was closed.

Then, an AI greeted him, "Greetings, student Allen Ortoix. Congratulations on your successful awakening and becoming a beast tamer, a pillar of humanity. Now, if you please, watch this demo on how to complete the talent test. First, you need to put your hand on that platform, right in front of you, and you need to start channeling your own Ena on it. If the platform starts to shine, that means you have a talent; the specialized boards will show it. And your talent will start manifesting in the next few days."

Allen followed the instructions, putting his hands on the platform and starting to slowly channel his Ena, focusing on his own Ena pathway inside his body.

After a while, he found himself in a very, very dark place.

It was almost like an illusion. He looked around. It's almost like he was in space, but behind him, there were huge orbs. Two mid-size orbs and one huge. The mid-size orbs: one was white as the winter snow, and the other one was purple, dark, and chaotic.

These two spheres, although mid-size, were circling around the larger sphere. But there was almost no reaction from the largest sphere.

Suddenly, he snapped back to reality. Looking at his hands that were still on the board, he heard the AI responding, "Congratulations to the beast tamer Alan Ortex. You have awakened your talent successfully. Your talent will start manifesting in a few days. After that, you will have to register your talent in the Beast Tamer Association. Completing the registration through the school is also a choice that you could do. Thank you for your efforts. Please call the next student in."

Alan walked outside, clearly a bit baffled at what had happened.

He kept thinking about the three orbs, He did not have much information, so he decided not to dwell on it. But the moment he went outside to call for the other students to enter, he saw something very bizarre.