They soon arrived at the Grand Hall of Veridia Town—an ancient, imposing structure built from massive, weathered grey stones that bore the marks of decades of history.
Veridia Town was not just an ordinary settlement; it served as the central regional hub, specially designated by the rulers of the governing city kingdom.
Because a centralized awakening platform had been established here to serve all the surrounding smaller villages and districts, the crowds today were massive.
Ethan looked around. Everything appeared exactly the same as it had the last time.
I hope nothing has changed.
Just then—
[Host, please have a little faith in me. I sent you back in time, not into another timeline🥲.]
Ethan’s expression darkened.
"Stop listening to my thoughts and don’t send emojis."
The System’s voice echoed inside Ethan’s mind.
[Host, I have been trapped here with you for 180 years. You finally freed me, but I wasn’t even allowed to speak before. Am I not allowed to talk now?]
Ethan paused.
There was something strange about the way the System spoke.
"Do you have your own consciousness?"
Inside a dark red space, a little girl with red hair sat in front of a glowing screen. She looked only five or six years old, wearing an oversized dark red jacket that was clearly much too large for her small body.
The sleeves extended past her hands, and the jacket hung loosely around her tiny frame, making her look even smaller, with a small microphone resting on the table before her.
She froze for a moment after hearing Ethan’s question.
Then she quickly replied.
[I do possess a small degree of consciousness, Host.]
[But that doesn’t mean I’m living form.]
The explanation felt strangely vague.
Ethan stared at the System screen.
A seed of suspicion had already taken root in his mind.
Is the System actually human?
If it is... things are going to become much more complicated.
Now I’ll have to find out who he really is...
Or perhaps... what exactly she is.
Inside, the expansive, open-air courtyard was teeming with people. Nearly two to three hundred children had gathered from Veridia and all the neighboring towns and villages, accompanied by their families.
While the majority were five-year-olds stepping up for their first awakening, a few older children—around ten years of age—stood among them, desperately hoping this second chance would finally ignite the mana within them.
Right at the center of the vast hall stood a circular stone awakening platform.
Encircling the platform were twelve towering different colored stones, each standing roughly five feet tall.
Carved with arcane runes, these twelve ancient stones each resonated with and represented one of the fundamental elements of the world—fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, ice, light, shadow, wood, metal, space, and time.
Stepping through the heavy stone archways,
Arthur and Ethan entered the hall.
Because Arthur was the son of the town’s mayor, he had visited the Grand Hall numerous times before. His eyes didn’t linger on the mystical awakening platform; instead, they scanned the elevated seating area and immediately locked onto a familiar figure.
Tugging gently at his brother’s sholder, Arthur whispered, "Big Brother, look! Father is sitting over there."
Ethan followed Arthur’s gaze, his eyes falling upon a middle-aged man seated at the center of the elevated dais.
Their father, the town’s mayor, possessed sharp, stern features and an air of quiet authority. He was dressed in traditional, sturdy attire favored by the local leaders of the era—a heavy, dark wool doublet embroidered with subtle silver stitching around the collar, paired with leather-trimmed trousers and a formal cloak draped over his shoulders.
Surrounding him were the town elders, similarly dressed in practical yet dignified rustic garments, murmuring quietly among themselves as they oversaw the gathering.
Around them, murmurs drifted through the crowd as the local adults whispered among themselves.
"Look at how many children have shown up this time," one villager remarked.
"It’s still restricted compared to the old days,"
another replied with a shake of his head. "Because of the Kingdom’s new birth-rate decrees, families aren’t allowed to have more than three children anymore. It’s such a tragedy. Back then, large families would bring droves of children to the awakening ceremonies, and countless hidden talents would emerge. It feels like the higher-ups in the Kingdom don’t even value talent anymore, passing laws like this."
Hearing those complaints, Ethan stood silently, his mind drifting into deeper calculations.
If a law like that were enforced back on Earth, it might make sense, Ethan mused inwardly.
But in a magical world like this, a restriction on population makes zero sense. After all, this planet is vast, housing multiple hidden realms and dimensions.
Even if the physical surface of the planet seems small, the space within these different realms makes a single planet as boundless as a universe.
A slight frown touched his brow as he reflected further. In my past life, I was confined to the Empire and never truly explored the wider world, so I didn’t know much about the outer realms.
But my younger brother Arthur... in his later years, he traveled extensively across the different realms hidden within this very planet.
Breaking away from his thoughts, Arthur’s eyes finally landed on the mystical circular platform at the center of the hall.
Gazing at the twelve towering elemental stones, he murmured softly.
"Most people usually awaken the common elements—Fire, Water, Earth, or Wood. Because they are so common, countless cultivation theories and power systems have already been established around them. Anyone who awakens one of those is considered reasonably fortunate."
Arthur’s eyes gleamed with a mix of curiosity and ambition as he looked at the other colours stones.
"As for the other, rarer elements... if someone happens to awaken them at a low grade, their luck is practically cursed, leaving them crippled in their growth because in this kingdom There are very few people who possess Classes related to these elements."
"But if someone manages a high-grade awakening with those rare elements... they are destined to conquer and rule this entire realm."
His gaze fell upon Arthur.
In his previous life, although he hadn’t awakened any element at the age of five, everything had changed when he turned ten.
At that age, he had awakened the Flame Element at a highest level that nobody can even dream.