Souchu Lochan was awakened as a fire mage. Just before his awakening, the atmosphere at his home was a little tense. After all, awakening means many things in today's world. The world is in a chaotic situation, and awakened humans are true powerhouses. If someone has a better standing in society or politics but is just a mundane human, that means they are just a member of the populace. They can only be someone in front of another mundane human, not in front of an awakened person.
Head butler Drew Steward had a headache because the young master of this household was missing once again. The awakening ceremony is only done in the academy; that's why even the noblest or most powerful families have to let their kid be present at that time, or their kid will lose the chance to be awakened. The awakening ceremony was done through a huge obsidian monolith that is provided by government, they keep track of awakened and awakening by this stone for monoliths is a very expensive thing. It can not easily be obtained only provided to the academy every 5 years, so new awakenings can appear and be helpful to this chaotic world.
To the commoner, awakening is a thing of celebration because if an awakened person appears that's their win; if not, they will not lose anything. And there is also the fact that hardly any true powerhouses appear in the commoner region, and those who appear are hired by a powerful awakened family.
Souchu was a calm and quiet child; he did not socialize with people, and he also did not have many friends in his academy or noble circle. Not because he cannot make or anything else, it was simply because he found it a pain.
Souchu was outside of town, somewhere in the woods. He sat cross-legged beside a little waterfall, unmoved by any interference, eyes closed in deep meditation.
Then a sudden voice reached his ear. "Souchu today is an awakening ceremony, you are not going to miss it, right?"
He knew that today would decide his future, but somehow it didn't matter either. Many also awaken without any help.
He stood up and started to walk without stopping for him. The man who suddenly came also followed him without saying anything.
They were going through the forest in the morning. That's why the forest looked more beautiful, but a handsome man going through the forest gave the forest more charm.
"Hey, why are you so far from town? You are not even awakened yet. Don't you know that forests are the most dangerous place? Many people have died here." The man said, maybe also a little concerned about the boy.
"There are beasts here? I didn't find any." Souchu spoke in a neutral tone.
"I came here to find them, though," Souchu mumbled in his mouth.
Souchu wanted to find a beast for training, but after wandering around for so long, he didn't find any. And he stumbled upon a cascade in the wilderness two days ago. First, he thought that maybe this was some beast's nest, after all, how could there be perfect, untainted land in a chaotic world? That was only possible if some powerful beast was lurking around, so no one came to make trouble here.
But after lurking here, waiting here for some beast to come, after a long time, no beast came here, he got bored and started to meditate. No beast came here, not even by mistake.
He found it a little grumpy, but that was fine too.
But he can no longer sit and wait here.
"Hey! Adolae, do you know why everyone says forests are dangerous places? I didn't find anything dangerous at all. Is it just a means to scare children so that they don't come too far from town?"
"You should thank the god that you didn't stumble upon a nest, or it might have been doom for you. Usually, the beast doesn't wander far from their nest; you were just lucky, that's all." Adolae said to him kindly.
"Why are the beasts so scarce?" Souchu mumbled.
"Beasts are not scarce at all; it's just that they don't like living in forests or plains, well, most do. Beasts can be found in bulk on those mountains, guilds, and awakened are rich because of these mountains. If these mountains were not homing beasts, the awakened would become unemployed. Well, the beast appeared; that's why the awakened appeared in the first place. Without these beasts, awakening is meaningless." Adolae spoke.
Souchu looked at Adolae's face; it didn't look much older for a middle-aged man. He was wearing a simple tunic; that's what knights of the Lochan family wear, and a sword was hanging on his waist. Adolae has no awakened power; he didn't get any. He is a mundane human.
Souchu took his eyes off of him. As they were simply walking, they heard the howling of a beast. Adolae's body tensed he quickly realized his status.
"its ….. Most likely a pack of wolves, Souchu quick hide; we should not come into his eyes. It will be dange...." He didn't get to complete his sentence before he saw that Souchu was already rushing in the direction of howling. Without fearing anything.
Adolae felt like the ground slipped from under his feet; he was completely stunned or shocked.
'What is this brat doing…' Does he seriously want to die?
"Hey, young master! Stop. What do you want to do? Seriously….? You are not awakened yet." Adolae quickly rushed behind him. If he let Souchu do whatever he wanted, he would definitely get into trouble. What's more, today was the awakening ceremony, a ceremony that every young person waits for, to come quickly. Yet here is his young master. If he does not let him remember it, he will most likely not remember it at all. Now what is he gonna do? He does not seriously have a death wish, right?
"Ahh…..you never really listen to me." Adolae had been taking care of him since he was a little kid. But Souchu was always just a quiet child and never really talked much.