Kale looked back at the hesitating twins who seemed almost lost at the grand sight of it all. He shouted, "You fools, what are you doing? Hurry up…."
Both of them came back to their senses and hurriedly followed behind Kale. In the distance, Kale intently analyzed the distinct, ancient-looking gateway that the awakening participants were entering through. Colored in a golden hue, filled with unrecognizable texts all over it.
Strikingly, there were two curved horns on the top two corners of the gate. But perhaps the most eye-catching thing about the gateway was the bold and large texts, the only language written on it that he could understand. This was the most used language of the Human Empire, which Selene and Darius had taught him.
It read, THE DRAGON CHURCH…
It did not take long for the three of them to pass through the gate. At the same time, Kale frowned slightly. There seemed to be a strange power that scanned through their mind and bodies as they all passed through the gate. Looking at everyone else, it didn't seem that any of the other kids noticed this phenomenon. Was it only him?
He could not help but question it.
What he first noticed was various church trainees dividing the crowd into nine streams equally. Inside, there was enough ground to hold the few hundred participants who came from the numerous villages under the supervision of the Ebon viscounty.
It seemed his Dagan village had the fewest possible participants, only three. Every other village had at least 15-20 kids participating. This further highlighted how far away his village was, cut off from the developed sections of society.
There was a large building at the very center of the church grounds, fashioned religiously. Even though this was just a viscounty, to have such a grand church in a place like this spoke volumes about the Dragon church's great influence.
Perhaps it wasn't just his barren village that was filled with fanatics; they were everywhere as all the kids watched on with reverent expressions. More than 200 awakening participants, divided into nine groups, were serialized.
After that, when the church trainees quieted down, the participants. Exactly four individuals came out of the building's main entrance. Kale spotted their peculiarity instantly with his powerful senses. The three who walked out first had strange symbols on their foreheads. It was quite small yet eye-catching.
Kale murmured, 'Those must be the soul sigil one gains after the awakening.'
Quickly, his eyes went to the regal man in pristine white clothes walking behind; there were signs of age and intelligence on his face. But there was something more, like an invisible weight of power that surrounded this man.
However, on one side of his head, a small curved bronze horn protruded, with exactly two circular stripes on it.
The crowd stirred in reverence, "It's the three Deacons and the Dragon Priest has come….Oh my lord, The Dragon Priest…"
That's right, the higher rank individuals of the Dragon Church possessed certain powers or characteristics blessed by the Dragons themselves. They were the official believers and representatives of the Dragon race within humanity. At least that is what is known publicly.
The ritual of awakening is always done within the grounds of the Dragon church. Performed by a Dragon priest. The three Deacons parted, letting the Dragon priest come to the front as the horned man spoke,
"Welcome, children blessed by the Dragons. It is a very important day for you all and perhaps for the entirety of the Empire."
He continued with a grand gesture, "Many of you will walk different roads according to your awakened paths. Unfortunately, many of you will fail as well. But fret not. Perhaps that is for your own betterment. The Almighty Dragons know what is best for you… far better than you children yourselves."
He added, after a moment of pause, "The nine groups, one by one, will enter the cathedral where I will perform the awakening ritual."
"A simple warning, the awakening process is somewhat painful, so brace yourselves in advance for that. But sometimes we have witnessed that, depending on how well one handles that pain, your innate potential may evolve into something greater. By the Grace of the Dragons."
"After all. The Guardian Deity favors those with unbreakable devotion and willpower," concluded the Dragon Priest.
Then the Dragon Priest reentered the cathedral.
Behind him came the first of the nine groups, while the other groups waited patiently outside. And it indeed took a great deal of time for each group to complete their awakening. Due to Kale's unusual senses, he could perceive strange fluctuations of power coming from within the cathedral.
From what he could see, each of the nine groups had about 23-25 participants on average. As the first group's awakening ended, Kale saw 15 participants return. While the others did not, it seems that those who succeeded in awakening exited through the forward path, while those who did not returned the way they entered the cathedral.
As the next group was about to enter. Out of nowhere, a massive flock of birds was flying through the skies. The blue heavens were painted in various colors because they were the same rainbow-colored birds that always annoyed Kale greatly.
Their colored feathers were highlighted even further when the sunset light reflected off them. It looked transcendentally beautiful; this was one of the things that Kale greatly appreciated in this world. For this world was not dominated by humans, but by beasts.
Because truth be told, humans were beings inherently detached from nature, their path would ultimately lead them to critically break down everything in nature, turning any world into a jungle of concrete to suit their own convenience and desires.
Humans were always the cancer to nature. They do not fit into the natural ecological cycle; they destroy it.
Suddenly, many of the birds flocked down from the skies, diving straight towards Kale and flying in circles around him, or sitting on his head, rubbing their sharp beaks on his body, and making him displeased.
Everyone who saw this scene was surprised greatly, except for the twins Josh and Jared, who were always used to Kale's strangeness.
Even the Deacons of the Dragon Church had their eyes glued to Kale's figure with great attention.
But at the same time, many looked displeased when someone showed such an apparent affinity for nature. It was only an outward indication of the great talent and potential one possessed within them, that manifested in reality even before the awakening.
And there was no one else who even showed pre-awakened talent, let alone talent anywhere close to the level of what Kale had shown. Kale himself had no intention of showing off to a bunch of immature kids, but that was not within his control.
It was just his bad luck that the flock of birds was flying above the church and then spotted him. And once the smaller animals spotted him, they would not go away.
There was one kid who was perhaps most displeased by Kale's unique affinity with the birds and animals. Wearing an expensive attire that stood out from the rest, he looked like a rich kid who accidentally got into a group of poor kids.
The bastard son of the Ebon Viscount, Felix.
He slowly walked closer to Kale, wearing a haughty expression. The boy growled, trying to intimidate him, "Fucking country bumpkin? Are you trying to show off with your pet birds? Do you think you can just become a mighty tamer if you show some circus tricks?"
Kale turned towards the boy; he looked at him as if he were looking at a brainless clown.
His mocking look only made Felix's face turn red in rage. The arrogant kid strode forward and abruptly grabbed one of the birds from Kale's shoulder tightly with his hands, instantly throwing the bird onto the ground with all of his might. And the bird was heavily injured and started bleeding without even realizing what had happened.
"KREE–KREE–KREEE!" the little rainbow bird cried out in pain.
Felix sneered at Kale, whose face turned cold, seeing the innocent bird being treated like that. He was no animal supremacist, nor was he even an innately kind person. But simply a man who was extremely driven towards his goals with single-minded focus.
But ever since his reincarnation, he had been shocked to discover that this bond of his with nature made him feel much more of these animals' existence; they were much more intelligent and had more feelings and thoughts than a normal human could ever hope to comprehend.
Through their shared connection, Kale felt the injured bird's pain, its sadness, and indignation. He also felt the compounding rage of its companions; Kale felt the same rage, and like an amplifier, a hive mind.
His rage then somehow spread to the enormous flocks of birds circling in the skies, thousands upon thousands of the rainbow birds' gazes turned to Felix, their red eyes flashing with killing intent.
"SKREE–SKREE–SKREE–SKRAAAH!"
And the thousand great flock screamed for retribution. Felix saw the wave with incomparable terror, his eyes wide open at how the thousands of rainbow birds descended, their sharp beaks locked onto him, turning into countless killer arrow-like projectiles that dropped from 30-40 meters in the sky.
Meanwhile, the person responsible for this was unaware that the swarm of rainbow birds was plummeting with fiendish intensity, mirroring Kale's own volcanic emotions.