Henry's mother prepared some materials for Henry to practice in preparation for the awakening of his ability. Most of what she gave him was on the knowledge of The great Wilderness including the wild creatures, their habitat and how to deal with them.
Henry absorbed the knowledge like a sponge. After some months of memorising the knowledge his mother saw it wise to teach him some self-defence techniques , however she told him to keep them a secret and only use it when he was in private since it would raise suspicions as to where peasants like them would get such quality techniques.
The more he practiced the more he felt his body undergo numerous changes, he was not sure but he felt that his strength had somehow increased. Henry kept up his pace of training, soon it was his sixteenth birthday,and a Month left for the test.
His birthday celebration was a small one with only his few friends as his friends ,it was a happy occasion for both mother and son. Later after his friends had left ,his mother called him to the main room as their house was divided into Five rooms, Henry's room ,his mother's,the main room, the washroom and the kitchen.
"Henry , please be careful when you leave and don't worry about me , once you leave I'll also leave to go help your father ,he does know how to land himself into trouble. You should do your best…"
The day for the awakening had arrived, they had to get up early and join the others. The test was not conducted in small villages but in the big cities and the nearest city was the capital, since they were not the only village that would be in attendance they had to go there early enough to secure a favourable spot.
Henry and the other members of the village present were led to the testing site it was a large amphitheatre since many children would come and test their affinity and acquire their system.
The children sat down according to hierarchy. In the inner layer were the royals, followed by the nobles, merchant's children and then the commoners .
It seemed that the test would take place in more than one day. Henry's village was quite lucky, they were the first village to arrive and thus occupied the space immediately behind the merchant children, although there was a gap to show the difference between them.
Henry got a seat with a good view, he could see the centre. He could see the nobles with their fancy clothes but the royals had even fancier clothes.
At the centre of the amphitheatre was a raised platform with a smoothly curved stone on top ,the System stone, these were rare stones that helped one awaken their system,it also projected ones awakened elements and their grade. These stones were quite rare and were only five in this empire hence even the royals had to take part in the awakening process with the commoners despite their pride.
Beside the stone was a man who was in charge of the whole process . There were also other experts each representing an academy . First , the man in charge told the children what to expect and not to freak out on seeing the system and not to worry when acquiring a low grade element and that they could still join an academy.
Henry sneered inwardly, everybody knew these words were for the commoners due to their poor backgrounds since the rich could join the higher tier academies with poor element grades while the poor could only join the low tier academies with only a few exceptions joining the higher tier academies
.First to try was a member of the royal family, Prince Richard ,a member of the second branch of the royals, he walked to the stage arrogantly ,you could see the look of disdain on his face when he looked at the commoners. He placed his hand on the stone and felt some energy enter his body. Then a screen was projected by the stone
[ fire ]
[ C-grade ]
, The Prince fell on his knees, "No this can't be , No this stone is fake this can't be, how can I , a member of the royal family ,get such a poor grade.…"He ended up throwing a tantrum, it was know his turn as the other royals looked at him with ridicule in their eyes , this was the lowest grade ever recorded by the royals since the founding of the empire.
Well , to the commoners they thought that this grade was not that bad then why was he making a tantrum, it was not like the commoners themselves would get a better grade. Next was a girl , Princess Jasmine,also from the same family, she had a certain sharpness around her ,adding to her elegance , it was true she would be a beautiful figure on maturity. She also placed her hand on the stone.
[ Space ]
[ A-grade ] .
The results led to a shocking silence. She got one of the rarest elements and besides that of a higher grade. She was destined to have a bright future ,the academies would surely fight for her. She truly outstood her brother. Henry gave her a thumbs up, in his heart , a silent thank you for shadowing her arrogant brother.
Throughout the day ,only one other unique talent appeared, a merchant's son had a B-grade darkness element. Henry decided to go back to his mother since the commoners would undergo the awakening on the following day.
When he reached the inn where they were staying, his mother gave him some coins and sent him to buy some groceries. He remembered some stalls he saw while heading to the amphitheatre.
The capital was divided into two layers , on the outer layer when entering the capital which had four gates ,was where the commoners lived and traded ,then the inner part where the some nobles and merchants lived and traded.
At the centre of the capital was a castle so large it occupied a quarter of the capital. This is where the royal family stayed. Henry followed the same path that led to the amphitheatre and found the stall he had in mind.