Chapter 12 - Devastating Soul Awakening!
Stuttering something "I-I was b-blind until last weak….b-but I awoke my eyes by gathering mana over a long time inside my eyes….I-I kept this a secret to be able to w-w-write my theoretical exam with the VR appliance b-because I can\'t write technical language well. "
There was no way for Jason to resist the pressure of the old man as he was only 13 years old so it wasn′t that difficult to intimidate him with the small mana fluctuations.
Listening to Jason\'s explanation the old man understood his situation even if Jason overexaggerated the fact.
But the old man noticed that Jason didn′t have a decent background otherwise this would not have been a problem.
Nodding the old man said "Okay. It\'s fine… I will keep this a secret, but you have to do me a favor in return"
Jason felt relieved and also slightly scared because owning a favor was always bad in his opinion.
Continuing the old man said "You have to give me your contact information"
"HMPPF?" Jason almost shouted out loud before quickly placing his empty hand above his mouth.
"Don′t get me wrong, I don′t have any ulterior motives but now it\'s your turn to have your soul awakening. Keep in mind that you can reveal your eyes soon but it would be better for you to have a talk with me before that\'s going to happen, okay?"
Jason could only nod still sweating but he had to focus on his soul-awakening right now so he cleared his mind as fast as possible.
Greg′s family could only see the old man and Jason talking to each other and a minute passed until Jason moved again.
Jason cut his hand lightly and blood ran down his arm while the injured hand slowly went closer to the orb which looked dangerous to him.
Forgetting his anxiety he put the hand slowly on the orb which began to glow lightly as blood dripped on it.
Inside him, he felt like something changed as his pores opened and within his mind, a small and colorful world began to construct around a grain-sized golden marble with mysterious inscriptions on it.
First, the world was as small as a peanut but it began to grow bigger and bigger until his whole mind was filled with the world.
Jason suddenly felt an aching in his head as the world inside his mind tried to grow even bigger while hitting the limits of his mind.
The pain didn\'t lessen; rather it increased and Jason began to cry out in pain as his bandage began to turn bloody red because his eyes began shedding blood.
Jason′s hand didn\'t lose grip on the soul-awakening orb but his legs gave in while Jason′s cry reached Greg\'s family which was more than confused.
Even the old man couldn′t understand the situation as the orb was still gathering mana from its surroundings.
Greg was worried and he wanted to go up but he was held back by his father with a firm grip.
Jason′s mind was in chaos as the small world broke through the limits of his mind while continuing to increase without meeting any obstacles.
The orb finished gathering mana and its color changed before it began projecting Jason′s soul.
First, the color of the orb was golden but the time was too short for anyone to notice it before it changed to green, which was the highest ever recorded color, indicating a vast amount of soul energy, then it changed to yellow, orange, light red, red, dark red and finally it ended at pitch black.
While the colors changed Jason′s head felt as if it would explode any second but the changing color from green to yellow and further down the road lessened the pain while the world inside his mind expanded more and more.
Jason wasn\'t even able to figure out the size of the world as he had to focus on not losing his consciousness.
After the color of the orb turned pitch black the world inside his mind stopped expanding but Jason felt its ambition to grow even more.
Jason felt the frustration of his soul world and its incomplete status.
The orb which was pitch-black left the audience speechless as they had never seen such a black color and finally the orb began to project Jason′s soul while Jason began to stabilize himself.
Projecting Jason′s soul, another spectacle appeared in front of the audience as an unknown number of different kinds of colors filled the room with their bright shining color.
The soul itself was apparently bigger than the whole room and only the old man could see its outer lines as he could see through the whole building.
Flabbergasted the old man noticed that the whole Beast Pagoda area was shrouded in Jason′s soul world projection.
But the most important fact about Jason′s soul was that it radiated a thick and dense golden hue overshadowing Greg′s red hue by worlds.
Jason whose head was still hurting let go of the pitch-black orb before his legs gave in again.
Because he stuttered "Is this pain normal?" the old man was thrown out of his thoughts.
He had never seen something comparable to Jason′s soul and he wanted to take him as a disciple without any complaints as he saw the color of the orb Jason had used.
`Wasn\'t it green before????? Why is it black now? NOO...WHY?!` The old man was in disbelief. He thought he had finally found someone even better than God\'s Children which were 5-star awakenings but the pitch-black color the orb radiated shattered his lifelong dream.
Calming down he looked at Jason with pity and Greg′s family could understand him completely after seeing the pitch-black orb in front of Jason.
Previously the old man had the gut feeling that this youth would be even more special than Greg and he gave out his contacts because of that but apparently, his gut feeling betrayed him.
Before they could only see the huge and vast world projected by Jason′s soul but now they could clearly see the orb
Greg′s father wasn\'t sure if he should pity Jason or be happy as he didn\'t want Jason to be more outstanding than his son but after thinking for a second he was embarrassed about his thought and it was definitely a pity that such a beautiful soul had such a weak soul-power.
The orb′s color indicates the strength of one\'s soul energy and how strong one\'s soulbond could be at most.
While Greg′s red, almost light red could form a contract with a stronger evolved beast nobody except the old man understood the pitch-black as black with slight red was normally the weakest possible.
He wondered if the youth in front of him would even be able to endure the pain from a matured one-star wild beast which was by far the weakest possible rank a beast could get.
Looking at Jason the old man announced
"Young man you have a beautiful soul and I\'m ashamed to say that I don\'t know how many beasts you can tie to your soul in the future and I also don\'t know what the golden hue represents which gives you 5 stars compared to a God\'s children at the worst….
Unfortunately, your soul energy is the weakest ever recorded in history and it would be fortunate for you if you can form a bond with a one-star wild beast. That means you get zero stars for this section which is generous in my opinion.
Your average would then be two and a half stars but I will only give you two stars as your soul energy is such a big disadvantage that it is almost impossible to overcome and even if you can do it, your pals won′t wait for you and the gap between each other will get only bigger."
After saying this loud out he added on quietly.
"If you find a one-star wild beast cub or at beast even an egg with decent potential it might be possible to get stronger in a slow pace, otherwise your future as a possible hunter or comparable jobs is bound to be destroyed.."