Chapter 26: Awakening - II

’His Talent and Aspect Ability remained the same.’ Neolan thought as he leaned back slightly in his seat, watching William quietly make his way toward the exit door. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips because the result had given him some relief.

The Association Director didn’t give the participants much time to react before calling out the next name, "Next is Alice Marsona, the daughter of His Majesty from the Marsona Empire." Neolan immediately turned toward the far-right side of the room.

He saw Alice standing up from her seat, her simple clothing and long black hair tied into a small ponytail making her appearance rather simple compared to the attention she naturally attracted as the Princess of the Marsona Empire.

Neolan’s gaze remained on her as a familiar thought surfaced in his mind, ’Her Astrine Blade in my last life was a Rapier. Let’s see if it is the same.’ William’s Awakening had already given him some confirmation that the Astrine Blades and their corresponding Talents could remain unchanged after the regression, but he still couldn’t be completely certain about Alice.

Alice walked forward and repeated the same process William had gone through. She reached the pedestal and placed her palm directly onto the Monster Core, causing Astrine energy to immediately flow into her body through her veins.

A wave of heat spread throughout her body, pressing against her flesh from within, but Alice didn’t retract her hand because of the sensation. Instead, she gritted her teeth and pressed her palm even more firmly against the Core, enduring the increasing heat without showing any intention of giving up.

This time, however, the atmosphere inside the entire room became strangely silent. Unlike William’s Awakening, where the Astrine energy already present inside the Association had rushed toward him, nothing immediately happened around Alice.

Neolan narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched her, wondering whether her Awakening would actually be different from what he remembered. Then, without warning, something far more shocking happened.

From the massive circular opening in the roof of the building, Astrine energy suddenly began rushing downward. The energy from the outside atmosphere poured into the Association before rapidly converging toward Alice, and the sheer amount was enough to make even the surrounding people stare in disbelief.

Neolan’s eyebrows rose as he watched the enormous flow of Astrine descend toward her. ’This is new, this never happened in my past life.’

Neolan was shocked beyond words as he observed the amount of Astrine surging toward Alice. It wasn’t merely the energy already stored within the Association being drawn toward her; she was directly pulling Astrine from the ambient energy spread throughout the outside atmosphere.

The enormous flow continued gathering around her body before gradually taking shape in front of her. Everyone in the hall watched the scene in silence as the concentrated energy began forming the shape of a weapon.

A Rapier appeared.

Unlike William’s completely white sword, Alice’s Astrine Blade was completely black. Its sharp edges, guard, and hilt were all formed from concentrated Astrine energy, with not a single part of the weapon containing ordinary material.

The moment the Rapier fully materialized, the surrounding Astrine energy caused the wind inside the entire room to violently swirl around it. Then, without condensing into a single point like William’s sword had done, the black Rapier shot directly toward Alice.

Alice felt the connection the instant the weapon entered her body. It wasn’t a sensation limited to her flesh or bones; something deeper seemed to seep into her existence, reaching directly toward her soul.

Her body slowly levitated above the ground as her eyes closed, and a strange wave of energy suddenly spread outward from the center of her chest. Red markings resembling a spiderweb began carving themselves across her body, spreading from her chest in an intricate pattern.

Everyone, including Neolan, stared at the marvelous scene unfolding before them. Nobody dared blink because they didn’t want to miss even a single moment of the Awakening.

The red spiderweb-like markings remained visible for several seconds before gradually fading away until nothing remained on Alice’s skin. Her body then descended naturally, and her feet touched the ground as her eyes suddenly snapped open.

Alice stared into empty air for several seconds as if processing the enormous amount of information that had appeared inside her mind. She then lifted her left hand, where the wristwatch given by the Federation was resting, and immediately activated it.

A blue Hologram interface appeared in front of her, displaying the information she had already received through her awakened Knowledge.

[Talent: Ebon Rapier — SS-Grade]

[Aspect Ability: Crimson Petals — SS-Rank]

Alice’s eyes immediately brightened when she saw the displayed ranks. The ranks weren’t determined simply by the Knowledge she received upon Awakening. Every Awakener gained information about their Talent and Aspect Ability, but the actual rank was determined by the World Federation’sAI, the Goddess of Nifleheim.

Having accumulated and analyzed historical data for more than a century, the AI compared each newly awakened Talent and Aspect Ability with the information stored within its records before assigning their respective ranks.

Neolan’s eyebrows immediately rose when he saw the result. ’SS-Grade Talent? She had an S-Grade Talent in my previous life...’

This was the first time since his regression that he had witnessed a change in the Awakening itself. The name of Alice’s Talent remained the same as he remembered, but its grade had increased by an entire level. The change was small in appearance, but Neolan immediately understood its significance because the difference between an S-Grade and SS-Grade Talent could affect Alice’s entire future.

’It seems my suspicion was right, even these can change...’

The director suddenly spoke up seeing the Talent and Aspect ability she had just shown, "The Marsona Empire has birthed another monstrously talented child, there is no doubt you will rise through the federation ranks really quickly."

"Although I would have like to show you how things work in the association and the federation, I don’t think that would be possible at the moment as guests from the Marsona Empire has arrived to take the princess with them before any kind of ’unexpected’ incident occurs." He finished and saw Alice nodded toward the director before she shifted her attention.

Neolan narrowed his eyes as he continued watching Alice. She eventually turned toward him and began walking toward the exit, but the moment their eyes met, Neolan’s heart suddenly ached. ’If only these circumstances had not arrived...’

He wanted nothing more than to speak to her, but Ranson’s warning immediately came back to his mind. He also knew that his father was watching from one of the VIP rooms reserved for the Noble Families. Neolan couldn’t afford to create unnecessary problems before he had even awakened his own Astrine Blade, so he simply shifted his gaze away after looking at Alice once.

’I need to quickly rise through the ranks and get Alice out of that damned corrupt Empire and its Church.’ The thought caused the ache in his heart to grow even stronger. He couldn’t even give Alice a simple nod because of the circumstances surrounding them.

Alice noticed his sudden change in behavior and frowned slightly as she continued walking toward the exit. ’Why is he avoiding me suddenly? Is it because his father said something to him? Hmm...’

Without saying anything else, Alice quietly left the Association. Outside the building, numerous guards and robotic maids were already waiting for her, prepared to accompany her back to the Empire. Neolan watched her leave for a moment before finally shifting his attention away.

After Alice’s turn, two more participants awakened their Astrine Blades. Both were ordinary citizens from the UNIX City Sector, and neither Awakening caused anything particularly unusual. They eventually left the Association without attracting much attention, and Neolan didn’t give either of them much thought because he knew neither of them would have much significance to his plans.

The Association Director waited until the next participant was ready before looking down at the remaining group. He then called out the next name.

"Next is Neolan Ashburn from the renowned Ashburn Family."

The moment those words echoed throughout the massive hall, countless gazes immediately shifted toward Neolan.

Neolan slowly stood up from his seat.

After everything that had happened since his regression, this was the first moment when he would publicly reveal the power he had awakened in this timeline. He calmly adjusted his clothes before taking his first step toward the pedestal.