Begin awakening ceremony

'By any chance, are seedlings rare?' Alex wondered inwardly because the stares of other kids were making him uncomfortable.

"What about you?" Alex asked Vee in an attempt to shift the topic from himself.

"Sigh, I'm actually very nervous. After all, I'm not a seedling like you so I'm not sure if I will awaken or not. I might have to try next year or the year after" Vee said with a slightly nervous tone which he tried to hide with a smile.

Alex stared at the white-haired kid with a surprised look but didn't say anything else, he did not know what to make the kid feel better; he was already managing to hide his nervousness.

A while later, they arrived at the fifteenth awakening hall.

Vee and Alex entered the place and what unfolded before their eyes was a large hall that was as spacious as a football field, rows of seats were arranged neatly with each seat being spaced at a meter from the next. The rows of seats were so long that Alex had to squint his eyes just to see the high platform in front.

The other kids were really taking the seats towards the front and soon only the back seats were left vacant, the number of children in the hall did not make the place look crowned in the slightest as one could easily walk through the gaps between the seats.

Alex and Vee sat next to each other along with other kids at the back, the height of the children sitting in front did not obstruct their view and they were able to see the platform in front.

The platform was a few meters higher than the leveled floor and had three steps on both sides which the kids would use to climb on and down from the platform.

On the platform stood the woman with long purple hair, she wore a pair of long black skimpy pants, black boots, a black handless top with zippers in front, and a white lab coat. Her appearance was both alluring and threatening at the same time.

Beside her was a small pillar that was made from materials that the children did not know, on top of the pillar was a round ball-sized crystal.

"That's the awakening stone! Damn, the academy is so rich. Twenty awakening halls and twenty awakening stones. TKS TKS TKS! No wonder they are the best in the entire kingdom" Vee bent his body towards Alex's direction and exclaimed in a hushed voice.

Alex's eyes stared fixed at the crystal on top of the small pillar without giving a response but it could not be hidden that he was moved by the words of the kid. The villagers had decided to send him here since they could not afford the price of an awakening stone, yet the academy had twenty of those!!

The other kids also began to whisper amongst each other, gossiping about one thing or the other.

"Silence!"

A calm soft voice suddenly echoed in everyone's eardrums, the voice was not loud but had somehow reached everyone's ears before exploding. Some children held their ears and groaned in pain while some felt dizzy from the voice, they all looked at the purple-haired woman with fear in their eyes; no one dared to say a word after this in fear of having their eardrums going through another round of ringing.

"That's better," the purple-haired woman said with a smile on her face, the voice this time around did not cause their eardrums to ring or make them feel dizzy but it still traveled to the ears of every kid in the hall.

'It is as gentle as a whisper' Alex thought to himself. He was one of the kids or maybe the only kid who did not feel anything feel anything when the words exploded in his eardrums earlier, he only felt that it was very loud.

"Now, let's begin with your awakening but remember one thing. If you fail to awaken, it doesn't mean that you are not destined to wield the elements (of course it could mean that as well) it could be because your element won't awaken yet and you can always try again. So don't cause a scene and make me throw you out myself" the woman said impatiently before quickly calling out the first kid in front.

"Number 15,000" She called the numbers separately like this: one, five, triple zero.

The kid whose number was called hurriedly stood up, he was afraid of angering the woman else she made his ears explode again.

Alex stared at the kid who was as tall as an adult with short black hair and dressed in a rather high-fashioned way, climbing the side steps onto the platform and standing in front of the pillar, his nervous eyes stared at the awakening stone. Sweats could be seen on his forehead.

"Place your hand on it," the purple-haired woman said casually to the kid.

The boy gulped and slowly raised his trembling hand before placing it on the awakening stone.

A few seconds passed but nothing happened, the boy stared at the awakening stone with eyes full of horror as the trembling of his hand intensified.

Pah!

The purple-haired woman had unknowingly walked behind the boy and placed one of her hands on his trembling shoulder. Although the boy was as tall as an adult, the woman was still more than two heads taller than he was.

"Stop shaking, calm yourself and focus. Closing your eyes would help" the woman said to the boy in an encouraging tone but adults would easily be able to feel the annoyance in her voice.

The boy nodded at the words of the woman, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes before placing his hand on the awakening stone again. Although his hand still trembled, it was now relatively calm when compared to before.

Immediately after taking the third deep breath, the crystal under the boy's palm suddenly lit up with a red glow that slowly intensified and continued to get brighter.

It only stopped after turning as bright as a light bulb.