"Check everything again. Make sure there is nothing wrong with the formation," Hans, a middle-aged man with brown hair who was responsible for the Awakening Ceremony, instructed sternly.
"Don't worry, Professor Hans. It's not like we're doing this for the first time. You can begin the Awakening Ceremony without any worries," One of the men responsible for setting up the formation said confidently.
'Besides, even with a perfect formation, it's not like these people can awaken anything good,' The man thought inwardly as he glanced at the crowd with a look of disdain in his eyes.
If it were not necessary and the pay were not very high, he would never have stepped into this foul-smelling place.
Hans could easily tell what the man was thinking, and honestly, he felt the same way.
Not to mention that these people of slums lacked guiding materials for their awakening, which made it difficult for them to awaken a good Aspect, there were many other factors as well that made it extremely difficult for these people to awaken a powerful Aspect.
For example, most of the people in the slums were not the offspring of powerful awakened individuals.
Forget about powerful individuals, most of their parents were ordinary people who had either failed to awaken or had awakened very weak Aspects.
Even without a guiding material, the offspring of powerful individuals had a good chance of awakening a good Aspect, since they carried the genes of strong awakened individuals.
Not only that, the bodies of people living in the slums were often underdeveloped due to poor living conditions.
Although it was not guaranteed that someone could awaken a powerful Aspect simply by having a strong body, it certainly increased the chances of awakening a good Aspect.
In short, there were many factors that made it extremely difficult for people like these to awaken a powerful Aspect.
'I wonder if I'll get lucky again this year and discover another powerful Aspect holder like last year's Spirit Aspect awakener,' Hans thought to himself as he looked at the people around him.
There were three types of Aspects.
Spirit Aspects, Treasure Aspects, and Elemental Aspects.
Spirit Aspects were those related to living beings such as monsters, beasts, demons, and other creatures.
People who awakened Spirit Aspects gained some of the abilities belonging to the spirit they awakened.
Treasure Aspects were related to non-living objects such as swords, spears, bells, and many other items. After awakening a Treasure Aspect, a person would be able to summon the corresponding treasure and use it in battle.
Elemental Aspects were related to elemental powers such as fire, water, lightning, light, and other natural forces.
Last year, Hans had been fortunate enough to discover a person in the slums who had awakened an extremely powerful Spirit Aspect, the Sky Taotie and he was hoping to find someone of similar caliber again.
'How can someone have such good fortune? I will be satisfied as long as I find a decent seedling this year,' Hans said to himself and stopped thinking about it.
****
Ryan stood in the middle of one of the lines, staring ahead with a nervous expression on his face.
There were five long lines around him, including the one he was standing in.
Most of the people standing in the lines were around his age, sixteen years old.
However, there were also a few people who were slightly older, though none of them appeared to be older than twenty.
Anyone could undergo Aspect Awakening after reaching the age of sixteen.
Before the age of sixteen, because the human body was not mature enough to handle Primal Energy, they were unable to undergo Aspect Awakening.
During the awakening process, there was always a possibility that a person might fail to awaken an Aspect, and this probability was not low.
If someone failed to awaken an Aspect during their first attempt at the age of sixteen, they could attempt to awaken again later.
Before the age of twenty, there was still a chance that a person might succeed in awakening an Aspect.
However, after the age of twenty, the chances of successfully awakening an Aspect were almost zero.
The people of advanced age in the lines were those individuals.
They had failed to awaken their Aspects in previous years and were now participating in the ceremony once again.
Although a person could attempt another awakening around three months after a failed attempt, people from the slums did not have the money to undergo the ceremony on their own.
Therefore, these individuals could only wait for the free ceremony held every year on the first day of the Month of Freedom in order to try again, even though their bodies had long since recovered and were capable of undergoing another awakening attempt.
Soon, all five lines were arranged in perfect order, and the Awakening Ceremony officially began.
Five people, one from each line, stepped forward and stood inside the formation carved onto the platform.
All five of them had nervous expressions on their faces as they stood there with their eyes closed.
"Don't panic. Just stand still," Hans, the middle-aged man in charge of the Awakening Ceremony, explained calmly.
"You will feel slight discomfort and a burning pain in your heart. But it won't last long. Just remain still and do not step out of the formation, or your awakening will fail."
Everyone participating in the ceremony already knew the basics of the process, so they nodded obediently without saying anything.
Seeing that everything was ready, Hans activated the formation.
Instantly, a faint silver glow emerged from the formation engraved on the platform.
All five people standing within the formation suddenly felt an itching sensation spreading across their skin, as if thousands of ants were crawling all over their bodies.
At the same time, a sharp, burning pain suddenly assaulted their chests.
All five of them gritted their teeth, resisting the strong urge to run out of the formation to escape the unbearable itching sensation.
Fortunately, the pain and itching did not last long.
After only five seconds, the silver glow surrounding the formation disappeared.
As the formation stopped glowing, one of the five people standing inside it suddenly emitted a faint glow and a small phantom of a frog appeared behind his body.
On the other hand, the remaining four people showed no reaction at all, indicating that their awakenings had failed.
Seeing this, Hans sighed inwardly and shook his head.
The expressions of the five participants also turned pale after witnessing the result.
Not to mention the four people who had failed, even the man who had successfully awakened did not look happy.
After all, the Aspect he had awakened was merely a common frog, a Spirit Aspect of the lowest grade.
Ryan could not help clenching his fists when he saw the result of the first awakening, his heart pounding nervously.
'I hope I don't fail my awakening like them as well.'