A little girl treads forward from within the ranks of House Talon. She was a member of a branch family within House Talon.

  She belonged to one of the more influential branch families. The head of which serves as an Elder of House Talon.

  On her initiation of the Awakening process, her Martial Soul started to emerge.

  It coalesced into a staff with intricate gold laced design. The ends of it were studded with shards of obsidian, designed to shred the skin of anyone who has the misfortune of being hit by it.

  The archpriest sighs and pours the holy water on her, before he retrieves the lens to appraise the martial soul.

  “These weapon type martial souls are always a pain in the ass. No matter how many we study, another variation of the weapon always pops up.” The archpriest grumbles while looking at the staff.

  “The martial soul is staff named Obsidian Shard. It appears to have an affinity for metal energy.” The archpriest declares.

  A round of applause rings out from within the ranks of House Talon. Artemis returns to her family with a triumphant smile before approaching Arden and bowing to him.

  “Marvelous, another gem adds to the fortune of House Talon!” Arden declares with joy leading to another round of applause from within House Talon.

  The girl turns crimson at the praise and after taking a final, curt bow she scurries off to her parents leading to a round of laughter at her expense.

  Despite the boisterousness of House Talon unlike the rest of the quite and ‘dignified’ attendees, none of them or the clergy minded it.

  This was a benefit of House Talon being the highest ranked House in attendance. They also had an established reputation for boisterousness, which preceded them.

  “Talon, Bane” The archpreist calls out, without missing a beat.

  A plump boy with full cheeks steps forth. His face alight with false bravado as he walked the length of the floor towards the podium.

  His awakening was a quick affair. As the golden flames from the orb were absorbed into his chest his martial soul quickly coalesced.

  Atop his head sprang a tiny black hamster with shadowy wisps blurring its outline.

  “That is a Shadow Hamster.” The archpriest declared before glancing at the boy.

  “And it appears that your martial soul is the split likeness of you.” The archpriest teases before pouring the holy water on him.

  “Pft…” Snickers erupt from the crowd at that comment.

  Looking at the people snickering the boy’s eyes teared up and he became downcast.

  “Look at you people mocking a child” The archpriest growls in distaste causing the snickering to cease. The few that couldn’t stop in time received a glare from the indignant archpriest.

  “I apologize for my careless comment young one. I didn’t mean to embarass you.” The archpriest apologizes to the boy who nods in acceptance, but he still remains downcast.

  “Do not worry my child! As I said, each martial soul is powerful in its own right. Your martial soul is just a bit more specialized. It is very powerful in concealment and subterfuge. It also has a strong affinity for the shadow element, and can be very useful in close combat.” The archpriest encourages the downcast child, causing him to regain his smile and confidence.

  “Now set forth my child, your journey only begins now.” Declares the archpriest.

  The boy goes back to his family with a satisfied smile on his face. He quickly bows to Arden before returning to his family.

  “A good sapling. Not outstanding, but remarkable enough. He needs proper soil to grow. We shall provide it.” Jason says to Arden who nods in agreement.

  “Talon, Cain” The archpriest calls out.

  Arden tenses up as he watches his son walk onto the podium.

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  “Its alright, the boy’s a genius. He will definitely gain a martial spirit matching his immense talent.” David encourages Arden, their quarrel forgotten in support of his brother.

  Cain reaches out to the holy orb before halting in hesitation for a second before placing his palm in the orb.

  As the golden flames spread towards his chest, he feels a shallow discomfort creeping up in the place the flames spread, before erupting in mild buring pain as the flames disappear into him.

  An massive ethereal form begins to coalesce above him.

  A broad blue coloured bull with a hill-like hump erupts atop him before announcing its birth with a loud bellow.

  The sound causes some of the weaker willed children to start crying.

  “A Saewine Bull!” The archpriest declares “A mighty beast indeed. Though I appear to observe a mutation in it.” The archpriest mutters glancing at the massive hump on its back, once again causing a wave of murmurs to erupt in the hall. Afterall, a mutation was incredibly rare in occurrence and often resulted in an additional aspect being added to the martial spirit, may it be good or bad.

  The archpriest retrieves the lens to look at the martial soul again.

  “Looks like the mutation added a hump-like armour to the bull’s back. It enhances the defenses of the martial soul in exchange for its agility.” The archpriest explains.

  Cain quickly suppressed his excitement and substituted it with an expression of dignity an duty.

  “A hearty thank you for your assistance your Lordship” Cain says dutifully with a bow and returns to the ranks of House Talon, as the archpriest looks on with a satisfied smile.

  Arden quickly hugs his son hoisting him above his head, while laughing proud and loud.

  “I am so proud of you son!” He declares, unabashed from the stares of his House members who looked on in amusement.

  “Talon, Elden” The archpriest calls out.

  Elden starts shaking with excitement.

  “Will be back with an awesome martial soul!” He declares to his parents before running on to the podium.

  When he presses his palm on the holy orb the fire, unlike with the others, the fire rages for a bit before settling down and crawling as usual.

  The unusual display causes the audience to fall into unease. Within the ranks of House Talon, David and Avery were particularly restless, needing to be held back from intruding upon the ceremony by both Jason and Arden.

  Taking a worried glance at Elden, the archpriest announces “Don’t worry about the display earlier, while incredibly rare, it happens at times, I myself have seen such a thing once at the capital.”

  “What worries me though is the fact that multiple incredibly rare events have coincided in one city. Surely, it must be a sign from the Sun God.” He murmers quietly.

  Meanwhile, Elden was feeling stuffy from the heat he was feeling from within him. While the flames didn’t seem to burn him they did make him feel as if he had high fever.

  His martial soul started to emerge. The form coalesced much slower than usual making it seem as if the martial soul was slowly emerging from a wave of fog.

  What emerged was a war axe of titanic proportions. An axe fit for giants floated atop Elden’s head.

  The blade of the axe alone towered over multiple men stacked together. The tip of it reached half way to the roof of the temple, which was a feat in itself, considering the how enormous the temple was.

  The axe was clearly not designed for human usage, as if it was molded by the gods themselves.

  The axe was surrounded by crackling lightning threatening to scorch the air itself which started smelling of ozone.

  The appearance of the axe coincided with a bolt of lightning striking near the temple, as if the heaven’s itself were announcing its presence.

  The appearance of the massive axe left the audience thunderstruck. The sheer size of it left them gasping in its wake. The archpriest was no exception.

  In all his years of service, never had he had the please of witnessing such a massive martial soul, especially in someone so young.

  The enormity of the axe combined with the short stature of the boy, barely 7 years old felt as if it was joke from the heavens.

  “Th… tha….that” The archpriest stuttered before fumbling for his apprisal lens.

  As soon as he retrieved the lens, he peered through it, taking a step back to better enhance the focus.

  “The martial soul is an axe called The Heaven’s Fury, Stormcaller.” He declared to the joint commotion of the audience.

  Many of the weaker audience, mostly the children and merchants looked warily at the lightning crackling from the axe.

  “It appears to possess a tremendous affinity for lightning and a minor affinity for wind.” He declares before pouring the holy water on Elden, which caused the fever to subside as if it were but a mirage. The martial soul also gradually withdrew back into Elden.

  “Although with how enormous the martial soul is, I doubt you would be able to utilize it in battle in the early stages of your cultivation, unless you were to find a bloodline compatible with it. I wish you good luck in your endeavour young man.” The archpriest wishes with eyes full of compassion.

  ‘Its a pity really. Possessing a martial soul of such raw potential, yet lacking the capacity to wield it. I can only hope that he perseveres through the early stage of his cultivation. Because if he does, he would be unstoppable’ The archpriest thinks hoping for his success.

  Elden returns back into the ranks of House Talon, which was standing in stunned silence.

  The atmosphere was ambiguous, both with joy and shock about having someone with the potential to be a powerhouse in their midst, yet sombre in the realization that the potential would likely be useless for a while, thus sacrificing skill (due to lack of usage at the early levels) for power, which often proved substandard.

  After all the members of House Talon were awakened, Elden along with his family proceeded towards not their individual house, but to the Talon Estate.