The walk to the awakening chamber, was slow and quiet. This was the first thing that Silver noticed as they were led out of the hall of Elites.

For something that determined the direction of their entire life, it felt almost leisurely.

All candidates, roughly a hundred, were herded towards the chamber. In front of them, George, his grandfather’s personal attendant, walked, his head held high.

He had more authority than most of his children especially when it came to the awakening. His grandfather was a paranoid man and didn’t trust anyone.

"Maintain your position," George said without turning," Do not speak once we enter the lower corridor."

As expected, no one listened immediately. Soft Murmurs followed them as they moved, low but still present over the sound of their footsteps.

"Did you hear what the patriarch said about the high-grade stone..."

"It depends on the stone too, if you get a better resonance..."

"You’ll be fine, no need to panic," one voice murmured gently.

Silver didn’t need to look to know who that was directed to. Cruella walked ahead, her steps light, still surrounded by her men. Two candidates remained from the group of suitors, as most of them were already contractors.

If his memory served him right, one of the men, blue-haired, green-eyed, and of a slightly taller stature was part of the Grandale family. Victor Grandale. He was probably the sponsor.

The other was relatively unfamiliar but he also knew his name, Dexter Millers, a rising figure among their generation. Since everyone awakening was eighteen that meant he was held in high prestige.

"You don’t need to push yourself," Victor said quietly, " even a stable awakening is enough."

Dexter added his tone firm," If something feels wrong during the integration, stop. Don’t force it."

She hesitated just enough to make it believable.

"But... what if I fail?"

"You won’t," Victor replied immediately.

"You can’t," Dexter replied almost at the same time.

Silver couldn’t agree more. She was the heroine, her talent was going to be high. She was the epitome of talent. How was she supposed to qualify as the protagonist woman if she was untalented?

Another voice, slightly behind them, cut in with a faint scoff," Some people don’t have the luxury to worry about failure."

The jab was clearly directed at Silver. The girl who had said it met his gaze as though provoking a reaction out of him.

For a moment Silver considered ignoring her since they were all seven years younger than him if he used his previous life’s age but then he remembered he was eighteen now. I didn’t hurt to throw a jab or two back.

"Yeah well, I’m rich and you’re not. Blame your parents," he quietly mummbled loud enough for those around him to hear.

Exactly what the former Silver had told a commoner when they asked for help and he rejected them.

The girl saw red but Cruella held her hand and shook her head, barring her from doing anything.

Her disappointed gaze shifted to him briefly before looking forward, ignoring him. This would have worked as a punishment if it had been the former Silver.

They continued down the hallway, their lowered voices swallowed by the soundproof walls.

"Once inside," George, the attendant, continued his voice echoing slightly now," you will each receive an Origin stone."

His tone flattened.

"Do not compare. Do not question. The stone you will receive is the one assigned to you... Integration begins the moment the stone makes contact with your soul core. You will feel where that is, do not resist the feeling."

He glanced back at them, just once.

"If rejection occurs, remove the stone immediately."

This time someone asked.

"And if we don’t?"

George didn’t turn.

"Then the stone will overwhelm your pathetic soul and kill you."

The massive brown door opened to a large hall. Light spilled into the hallway, illuminating all the awakeners.

Inside the walls curved into a high dome, it was plain white almost clinical. At the centre, a low platform held the different coloured stones.

Silver observed the colours, marking them in rank. While the awakening stones do help in awakening the soul core, they also entirely depend on the type of stone one uses.

A high-grade origin stone might boost the soul power and expand it while a low-grade stone might limit the awakening potential.

There were six types of original stone, each organised from the lowest quality to the highest quality.

White was the lowest, then Blue, Green, Yellow, and Black. The protagonist had come across the Black origin stone and integrated it.

These were the most well-known Stones but there was one that was practically a legend. The multi coloured stone.

It was said that the strongest human had integrated the Multi coloured stone at the start of the apocalypse. It was believed to have boosted his soul power almost two times but those were just rumours.

This was said because he could merge different beast souls and create a different combination of power.

The multi coloured stone was the mother of all stones.

If silver remembers correctly, the protagonist had of course managed to get a multi coloured stone but it had been towards Chapter three hundred of the novel after getting to the academy.

’I should hurry and look at the locations he had visited.’

What they didn’t know was that the Multi coloured stone might induce a second awakening.

"Form a circle."

They did. They spaced out, each person occupying their own section of the hall.

No one stood next to each other. Silver took his space far away from the heroine since he didn’t want to be next to her and risk his luck being sucked away.

Even from where he stood, everyone avoided him like a plague and had gotten the largest space.

An attendant approached Silver the moment he settled down.

A stone was placed in his hand.

Silver glanced at the attendant, then back to the stone. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it right after.

The warning of not questioning came back to him. A depressed sigh left him.

He raised the stone, placing it before the light.

’White origin stone... seriously. I’m fucked for sure’