54 The Long-Awaited Moment
A few weeks later...
In the last few days, Vicente and his group bought a plot of land in Millfall. It was the area that was situated outside the territory of influence of the already consolidated local powers.
A few days after receiving the house where Vicente intended to bring Nina soon, they received the contracts for the land in question and hired a family of local builders to develop their project.
Now, the construction of the site was already underway. Thanks to the advantages of the world of magic over Earth, complex structures could be built in a very short time.
In the specific case in question, Vice wanted a relatively simple property on the surface but with several secret levels and the potential for expansion in the future.
They had been given a deadline of less than 20 days for this property to be ready, but since then, only a few days have passed. So, as Vicente's group was preparing for their leader's Awakening, everyone was also getting ready to move and live in that place after the next few days.
...
At dawn, Vice's group awoke early and soon left the Fuller family estate in Millfall.
While Nina was not coming to this town with Eve yet, for now, the group has been living there since Vicente received the keys and documents of the property weeks ago.
However, that would not be the case for long. Once the site of Vicente's mafia family was ready, most of his men would live and operate from that location.
Vicente wanted to make sure that the result of his actions didn't reach his sister, so he would naturally plan to create a front for his actions.
But for the time being, they haven't yet done anything in the city, merely begun to prepare for the basics without involving anyone outside the group.
As he left his house this morning, Vicente had no concerns about local powers keeping an eye on his movements.
He left his property in the group's carriage, accompanied by Rory and the men who had been with them on this trip.
Rory had already stabilized his strength and begun cultivating the mana in his body.
Before Awakening, one could only rely on their natural growth, which would be related to body maturation, if they wanted to increase the mana density in their bodies.
However, after such a decisive moment, that is, after possessing a Magic Gem, magicians could cultivate the mana in nature and merge it with the mana in their body and soul.
No special technique was needed for this. Everything could be accomplished using the Magic Gem.
Depending on one's talents and magical form, mana cultivation could be influenced by factors like location or resources.
For instance, a magician with a water elemental affinity would find it easier to improve their level by cultivating in an area where the water element was innately denser, such as a river or the sea. But they would have to face difficulty in doing so in a place where the water element was scarcely available, such as a desert or volcanic region.
Resources also had a similar effect on these magicians. Something close to the water element would also benefit them, and something that was close to the flame element, which was a conflicting element, would cause harm to the magician.
In short, many variables were involved in one's magical growth, but Rory had been cultivating with ease for the moment.
Although his level hadn't changed since his Awakening, Rory was making faster progress than the others in their group, so he wouldn't require much cultivation time to reach the Acolyte stage.
However, even though he had been doing well recently, his primary focus was on Vicente's Awakening!
"Vice, I believe I'm even more anxious than you are, man," Rory said as they made their way to the Awakening Temple. "After today, we will finally be able to begin our plans and take action to pursue revenge!"
Vicente's revenge against his mother's murderers or Lauren's rescue was still far from happening. Nonetheless, the beginning of it was precisely linked with his Awakening and the commencement of his group's operations.
Now that they had already talked to Aaron over the last few days about the local leadership and identified the individuals whom they needed to be most careful of and who had questionable intentions in this town, they were not ready to soon initiate their operations.
The only thing missing was for Vicente to Awaken and for the rest of the Fuller family to move to Millfall.
But both of these tasks could be accomplished in the next few days, and soon, their plans would leave the minds of those involved to materialize in the real world!
Vicente already had a target in his mind that they would be approaching soon, so as he listened to Rory, he smiled. "Once we see the result of our actions, we will seek out the blacksmith recommended by Aaron to produce better weapons. That would be the time when we will be quickly able to change our situation."
The average power of the residing dominant powers in Millfall was the 2nd magic stage, with only a few Mages in the local population.
Thinking about this, Vice believed that if he were to provide weapons for Acolytes, his group could grow significantly easily in this city.
Rory agreed, "With the right resources, even those with lower talent in our group will be able to go further."
There were certain limits that low-talented people could not surpass. However, to reach one of such limits, one would have to invest a considerable amount of resources and reach a significant level on this continent.
The major difference between someone highly talented and someone with lower talent was not the level of mana they could reach. Rather, it lies in the efficiency of growth through natural cultivation and the utilization of resources.
Someone with high talent, like Rory, could achieve much more significant progress than others in their group using the same 'X' resource. Nevertheless, using 'X,' even if they took a longer time to absorb it and achieved a less significant improvement when compared to that of Rory's, these men would still make improvements.
Obviously, the resource couldn't be too potent to the point that their bodies won't be able to handle it, nor must it be too weak that it wouldn't stimulate them and be rendered ineffective.
But with resources, they could get stronger!
Amidst their conversation, the group arrived once again in front of the coliseum-shaped building, where several children were already gathered along with their families and friends, slowly making their way inside the building.
Vicente retraced the walk he had taken with Rory a few days before and was soon in line.
After he identified himself to one of the temple staff, Vice was directed to the right zone and followed a similar path to the one he had taken with Lauren years ago.
Rory and the rest of the group headed to the observation galleries, where, without delay, they found a spot for themselves through which they could have a good view of Vicente.
On that Awakening Platform, Vicente observed his surroundings momentarily. Then he closed his eyes, arriving to this day after hard years of work and waiting.
'Finally... I am finally here.' He felt his heart beating faster while his eyes ached in a special way.
But he held back the tears and clenched his fists tightly, filled with the determination to Awaken his powers.
'Give me what I need to fulfill my purpose! I will use this gem wisely and push it to its limit, no matter how ordinary it may be!' He declared in his mind, swearing a solemn oath to himself.
As he finished declaring this to himself, the voice of the temple master of Seidel sounded, marking the commencement of yet another Awakening Ceremony!
