The Day of Spirits. The Lantis Republic. Celestial Island

Thousands of craftsmen worked around the clock, decorating Celestial Island and all of the major cities that it had. Red lanterns roamed the city sky, the Capital Island and floral decorations embellished the populated roads. Every few seconds, there would be songstress bursting forth with their melodious voice, bringing joy and wonder into the already heated up festival. Food stalls were open throughout the night and residents fearlessly wandered down through the night, taking in as many decadent sweets as they could.

And the funny thing was… The Day of Spirits was only four hours in.

The gibbous moon still hung high overhead, but it wasn’t in the middle of the night. It was the brink of dawn. In a few more hours, the sun would be raised up high in the sky. However, the residents of Celestial Island didn’t care. The Day of Spirits was the one day of the year where spiritual and elemental energies were at its peak. Water elements were now spiking, and the denizens of the Lantis Republic were ready to make full use of that opportunity.

Millions of residents all returned home from the city to spend time with their families to celebrate this glorious day. In fact, the majority of soldiers were given a day off as well. Many entered closed-door cultivation phases, just to meditate and hopefully trigger a breakthrough. Some even trained their strongest attacks through the night in hopes of finding any flaws or methods to improve on them. However, the one true activity that all the residents were truly looking forward to… Was the universal Spirit Awakening Ceremony performed on this day.

Children who had reached the age of ten were all allowed to participate in the Spirit Awakening Ceremony. It didn’t matter if they were a commoner or a noble, a pauper or a scion. Any and all who reached the age of ten were welcomed to awaken their Spirits at the Shrines that were built for that purpose. Just like the Frie Clan, the Lantis Republic all had their own unique Shrines that were dedicated towards awakening Spirits. Shrine Maidens were trained to carefully guide the unknowing children through the awakening process, and the success rate of the Shrines were well over 98%. Of course, the more prosperous regions would request for the most experienced Shrine Maiden to oversee their children’s awakening process, and those regions would see success rates never falling below 100%.

More affluent and influential people could even request for a private awakening, one that only paired one Shrine Maiden to one ten-year-old. And that was precisely what Shin had done.

A woman donned in pristine white robes walked smilingly towards the Prince of Water, who was pacing back and forth earnestly awaiting her arrival. Once noticing the woman’s presence, Shin perked his ears up and leapt straight at her, not wasting any time at all in reaching for her hand: “Sister Yibai, thank you for coming down this early.”

“No, it’s my honour to awaken the Spirit of the young prince.” The Shrine Maiden shook her head. “Also, I should be the one asking for your forgiveness. My schedule for the entire day is quite full, and I could only make time for four in the morning...”

“No, no! We’re more than happy to accommodate to your hours, Sister Yibai.” Shin fluttered his hands about, declining the Shrine Maiden’s words. “We’re the ones who are asking too much from you.”

“Haha, I’m glad.” The courteous exchange went back and forth. To be completely honest, not many Shrine Maidens wanted to conduct a special Spirit Awakening Ceremony for Shin’s eldest son, Errol. Though they tried to curry favour with the Prince of Water, to them, Errol was still the adopted child. It would be a different story if the twins were to awaken their Spirit, though.

The twins were, without a doubt, Shin’s own flesh and blood. Before the days of the Lantis Republic and the Eight Ancient Clans of Water… The Lady of Water who contracted with the Celestial Dragon reigned supreme. In her life, the Lady of Water gave birth to eight children, each one of them awakening unique and domineering Spirits of their own right. The Sovereign Koi, the Enigmatic Narwhal and even the Indomitable Cthulhu. They were all Spirits that were birthed with the blood of the Celestial Dragon. So, everyone was eager to see what Spirits Shin’s own children would awaken.

The Prince of Water had formed a union with Kanari Saniela, the former Duchess from the Himmel Empire that had the Mythical Beast, the Kumiho. Generally speaking, the children of powerful cultivators would either inherit one of their parent’s Spirits. However, when it came to the Celestial Dragon, all logic was thrown out the window.

No one could fathom what Spirits Cassiel and Luciel would awaken. Even Uriel, the four-year-old, had a chance to shake the world once she undertakes her Spirit Awakening Ceremony. Would they awaken Spirits that were part of the original eight? Or would they form a new branch of Spirit Users, shaking the balance of the Eight Ancient Clans of Water? No one really knew, and that was what made their awakening exciting.

On the other hand, most people who knew of Errol’s heritage could roughly guess what Spirit he would awaken. Since he was from Junius’ line, he would unquestionably inherit a sword-type Spirit, which wasn’t that bad… But neither was it anything thrilling.

Therefore, it was actually quite lucky that Shin had managed to hire a Shrine Maiden to perform private rites for Errol, and Shin made sure that he showed his thanks. Tapping on his eldest son’s back, Shin gestured for Errol to stand face-to-face with the white-robed woman: “Errol, come and pay your respects to the Shrine Maiden.”

Cupping both his hands together, Errol gave a respectful bow. “It’s an honour to meet you, Senior Yibai.”

“It’s an honour to meet you too,” the woman smiled back. She examined the young boy, who didn’t seem to lack the slightest bit of sleepiness even at this ungodly hour. Instead, there was a determined flame burning within his pupils as if he had something to prove.

‘The Prince has trained this child well, even though the boy is not his flesh and blood.’ The Shrine Maiden thought to herself while looking at the ten-year-old. Errol was rather tall for his age, well above a metre tall. Perhaps he’d inherited his father’s sharp features, the youngster was as chiselled as can be for his age plus his high bridged nose and warm smile could potentially place him as a lady-killer when he had fully matured.

“The chambers had been prepared for you, Sister Yibai. The Spirit Awakening Ceremony can begin at any moment,” Shin smiled as he led the Shrine Maiden into the adjacent hall. There, a plethora of supporters, both young and old, were seated on the makeshift chairs that Shin had prepared.

There were many reasons why Shin wanted to host a private Spirit Awakening Ceremony for Errol instead of taking the usual route of enrolling him through traditional means. Firstly, he wanted the affair to be completely private, where he could invite only those who he trusted the most to witness the awakening. Secondly, Shin wanted to set up a precedent. Errol would be fine since his Spirit could be guessed, but his younger children were sure to raise a spectacle. It had to be said that no one really knew if Cassiel, Luciel and Uriel would awaken totally different Spirits or ones that shared the same roots as the Eight Scions of Water. Hence, it was imperative that Shin hosts a private Spirit Awakening Ceremony for all of his children, Errol included, to put a lid on the information spread.

“Brother Errol, do your best!” Cassiel mouthed out her support, pushing both her arms up.

“We will pray for you!” Luciel raised his support for his brother as well.

Still sleepy, Uriel rubbed her eyes and pinched her reddened nose, “S-support!” Cutely, the young girl raised her arms as well.

Smiling, Kanari tapped her fingers on Errol’s forehead before landed a gentle kiss. “You don’t have to worry about a thing. Just put your faith in the Shrine Maiden, and all will go well.”

“Don’t worry, mother! I will do my best to make you and father proud!”