Our group of “Brave Heroes” alongside the emperor and his confidants gathered around a large rock obelisk that was floating at the center of the throne room. It went without saying that this thing was the so-called Obelisk of Lesser Divinity. Before, it had been levitating almost at the ceiling, so I hadn’t even noticed its presence back then. After some magical manipulations, though, Redion and Derryx made it descend close enough for it to hover before our eyes.

The Obelisk was made of opaque marble-like stone, pure white in color and ten feet in height. It was slowly rotating around its vertical axis while levitating a few feet above the floor. A peerlessly beautiful woman was inscribed on the Obelisk, young and delicate, almost alive. She was totally my type. Of course, that meant that she had big. . .ahem. Anyway, she was very feminine, like a goddess of fertility or something. Also, completely naked.

For god’s sake, Emperor! Some of the Heroes are obviously underage!

Merlin, for one thing, had shown not a trace of embarrassment. He was all too eager to touch the Obelisk, judging from his shaking hands and shining eyes. Of course, what guided him was not teenage hormones, but something else. The knowledge of what this Obelisk represented to us.

“So I just need to touch this rock to become a mage?!” Merlin summarized what the emperor had told us about the Obelisk. In his own way.

“As I said, you’ll become a Champion, not a Mage” Redion exclaimed patiently. “The difference is—unlike Mages, Champions advance their Mana Core and Vis Heart at the same time. . .”

“So I can become a mage, right?!” The boy probably didn’t even hear what the emperor said, drooling at the Obelisk, instead. “Right?!”

Redion sighed and shook his head helplessly. “Yeah, yeah, you’ll become a mage, boy.”

Without further ado, Merlin dashed to the Obelisk of Lesser Divinity, totally disregarding the strange looks people were giving him. Like a baby that found his mother’s nipple, the boy hugged the marble with unbelievable fervor. And, as soon as he did, a bright flash of light forced me to close my eyes.

When I could see again, two large animals were floating above our heads—a majestic lion and a squirming eel, both the size of an elephant. And further up at the ceiling, storm clouds were brewing. Then with a deafening bang, white lightning thundered down at the Obelisk . After that, everything came back to normal, except that the Obelisk no longer spun and runes I couldn’t recognize were glowing on it like neon signs. Funnily enough, their location was over the nipples of the goddess. Perhaps, as the one closest to the lightning strike, or for some other reason, Merlin was trembling as he looked at his hands, his back half-hunched.

“What outstanding results, Hero Merlin!” Redion exclaimed, his face jubilant. “What a mighty Manifestation! According to our records, even among the Heroes of the past generations, only a chosen few initially Awakened two Rare Aspects and two Rare Elements! And, to my delight, your powers seem to be extremely close to those of our Royal Bloodline!”

“Ha. . .ha-ha-ha!” Merlin laughed. Maniacally. Honestly, this boy was creeping me out, a bit. And not only me, judging by the faces other Heroes had. “Aha-ha-ha-ha, I can do magic! I’m a fucking wizard!”

“You’re right to be excited, Hero,” Redion continued as he approached the manic boy and patted him on the shoulder, “for you’re the hope of Aethelrend. Your Aspects are Lion and Eel, and your Elements are Storm and Thunder. All Rare—the highest Rarity one can receive when they Awaken. You can confirm everything in your Status if you wish.”

“Status?” Merlin mumbled, and the next moment some sanity returned to his eyes. Only for them to go wide from surprise. “OMG, I can see my Status Screen! Just like in a video game!”

“This is the Gift of Knowledge you all received from Her Divinity, Lady Aefortunea,” Redion explained to us all. “Though, unlike the Gift of Tongues, you need to Awaken to use it. It should allow you to learn about your own strength and progress, as well as glimpse into the power of others.”

“Look what I can do, losers!” Merlin called to us with a smirk full of bravado. The boy held his index fingers parallel to each other as he concentrated with a deep frown. Then, a thin thread of electricity ran from his right finger to the left, making a couple of people in our ranks gasp. Even more people just rolled their eyes, though, just like me.

That’s it? I thought. Not very impressive, to tell you the truth. Come back when you can do shit like the freaking lightning emperor over your shoulder, boy.

Redion gave a glance to the Obelisk, which had already started to spin again, its runes nowhere to be seen. “Now,” he said, “who’s going to be next?”

Before anyone could raise their hand, an Asian boy in his late-teens was already placing his hand on the Obelisk. He wore glasses and had clothes as plain as his face. He was an unremarkable guy, his presence thin and easy to miss. A perfect spy! Or an assassin. . . Okay, those were just baseless assumptions, weren’t they?

Just like the last time, a show was waiting for us. This time, a giant chameleon appeared, but what accompanied him was more like a tide of all sorts of normal-sized snakes rather than a single big animal. What accompanied all that was two streams of liquid—one lime-green with fumes evaporating from it, another dark violet with bubbles—that circled around our group a few dozen feet above our heads.

Assassin! I smiled wryly. Damn it, he’s totally an assassin in the making!

“Not bad, not bad at all!” Redion made a few claps, which lacked any real enthusiasm. “Uncommon Serpent Aspect, Rare Chameleon Aspect, Uncommon Acid Element, Uncommon Poison Element. You really have potential to be a bane of our enemies, Brave Hero! You should not worry that not all of your Aspects and Elements are Rare like those of Sir Merlin. You can always Evolve them into higher Rarities in the future.”

The emperor didn’t call the Asian boy by his name. I could bet that he didn’t remember it. Not that I blamed him, as I was the same. The assassin dude made a court bow and propped up his eyeglasses with a finger before returning to his place at the back of our group. A strange fellow.

“Third time’s the charm!” I didn’t even need to look to know who would misuse a proverb in such a strange way. A certain busty redhead apparently decided that it was her turn. No one stopped her because why bother? Like a true champ, Keira placed her hands on the tits of the inscribed Goddess.

Someone, give this girl a medal!

The gods didn’t seem to be offended, as no lightning struck the redhead. Instead, a truck sized fox and a peafowl—or rather a peacock—appeared. Just like the last two times, a power of nature manifested as well—this time with a less-than-impressive ball of fire and a tree growing from the ceiling.

“As expected of such a beautiful lady!” Redion beamed at Keira. “What a magnificent Manifestation! Two Rare Aspects—Fox and Peafowl, such elegant and powerful Vis Hearts you have, Hero!”

Oh yeah, I thought. Powerful hearts, perfect for such a large chest. If only she was a normal person with a decent personality.

“Hey, this is obviously not a peafowl, but a peacock!” the redhead complained. “Pea-cock, get it? Pea. . .cock! A male!”

The emperor didn’t comprehend her attempt at a joke—if it even could be considered one. He pointed at the runes glowing over the divine boobs. “Sorry, this is just the name of the Aspect that’s written on the Obelisk. Perhaps this is a translation issue, as the Gift of Tongues is known to be far from perfect. Usually, Aspects don’t specify the sex of the life form they represent.”

“You guys don’t get it, too?” Keira looked at the Heroes and then her shoulders slumped. She had an expression of someone who wasn’t understood by ignorant masses. I kind of felt pity for her, so I gave her a smile and a thumbs up. She recovered from her misery and winked at me.

“Anyway,” said the emperor, not paying attention to our secret exchange, “your Elements are Fire, which is one of the four Common Elements, and Wood, which is an Uncommon one. You shouldn’t underestimate them, though, especially considering how well they complement each other!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Keira said dismissively as she walked right towards me, our eyes locked. “How about being next, Jesse? C’mon, I know that you want to touch those boobies!”

“Ahem, it’s a misunder—” I was about to answer when, with a playful smirk, Keira changed her direction and almost jumped at the guy next to me.

“C’mon, Jesse, I’m talking about you!” she said to Jesse Jr.

Okay, she got me. I acknowledge that much.

“M-me?!” Jesse Jr. replied as Keira was already pushing him from the back towards the Obelisk.

“You, who else?” She shot me a grin. “Don’t be shy! Show them how powerful you are, big guy!”

“O-okay then,” Jesse the Simp had no way to resist when a girl was asking him so persistently. Overwhelming his embarrassment, he approached the Obelisk with heavy, unsteady steps as he rubbed his sweaty hands. All eyes were on him, some amused, some encouraging. Why was I feeling ashamed in his place? We just shared a name, nothing more!

Jesse Jr. gulped and closed his eyes before reaching out his hand towards the Obelisk, as if afraid that something bad would happen. Of course, perhaps he just didn’t want to be seen as a pervert who was leering at the inscribed Goddess. Not everyone lacked as much social sense as a certain redhead.

As it was already the fourth time, us Heroes had gotten used to what we saw next. A bunch of turtles, one freaking big armadillo, precious stones and chunks of metal, everything in the middle of the air above our heads. Nothing unusual, just the usual stuff. Boring.

“Sir Jesse, protector of people, defender of the realm, what a bright future awaits you, oh Hero!” Redion exclaimed, making me cringe hard, even if those words weren’t addressed to me. I only hoped that he would be more tame when my turn came. “A Rare Armadillo Aspect that boasts impregnable defense, and as if that was enough, your second Vim Heart is that of a Turtle, Uncommon as well as your Metal and Gem Elements. I can hardly imagine how hard it will be for Dark Lords to hurt you when you truly grow to the peak of your power!”

“H-he-he, thank you, Your Majesty,” Jesse Jr. made a deep—well, as deep as it was possible with his stature without falling down—bow to the emperor and returned to my side. Or rather, he was trying to get closer to Keira, but who cared, really?

“Good job, Jesse Jr!” I patted him on the shoulder with a smile.

“I’m not a—”

“Good job, Jesse Jr!” I repeated before turning my back to him and walking straight towards the Obelisk. There was no way I’d wait any longer after even my Junior name-bearer gained his superpowers! I’d first wanted to observe how others were tolerating the Awakening process and if there was any danger to this, but now I was sure enough that I had nothing to worry about. If something bad could have happened, it would already have, right? Okay, that was totally not a flag for some shit to go wrong.

With the gait of a prince on a stroll, I approached the Obelisk while locking my eyes on the Goddess. Her face was peerless, to say the least. Her features were delicate and feminine, mature and innocent, divine and transcendent. If she was real and became my girlfriend, I wouldn’t look at any other woman ever again. Despite her being just an image inscribed on a floating piece of marble, she looked almost alive. For a moment, I even thought that she winked at me. I could swear she did, but there was no way that this was something other than my imagination, right? The spectators would have made a fuss over it, otherwise.

It’d taken some effort on my part to keep my posture straight and confident under everyone's gazes, especially the emperor’s. Though, the really hard part was not to peek at the chest of the Goddess. Passing the short distance of no more than ten yards ended up putting a lot of mental strain on me.

While the previous four, people either touched the Obelisk far away from the Goddess or, on the contrary, groped her inappropriately, I acted like a true gentleman. The image on the Obelisk had her arms outstretched as if asking for a hug, and so I made a similar pose and reached out for her hands as if inviting this divine being for a dance.

As soon as my fingertips touched the stone, which was warm, almost hot, my entire body shook from the inside out. I hadn’t paid much attention to the reaction of the other Heroes at the moment of their Awakening, as I’d been too busy looking at the illusions manifested above our heads, so I had no idea if what was happening to me was any different. A sense of foreign energy flowed through me like an electric current, leaving a pleasant aftertaste in each of my cells. The closest comparison would be an orgasm. For a moment, my entire body was orgasmic, and then new, unknown sensations replaced the euphoria. As well as a rather strong breeze accompanied by a surrounding clamor. . .

“What an unexpected situation!” Redion exclaimed, his voice overshadowing the rest of the noise. “What do you think, Dyrrex?”

“Nothing of this sort was mentioned in the records, but if I have to guess, a Twin-Heart sounds like the most likely possibility,” the Archmage replied, uncertain. “In any case, we can easily confirm what happened if Hero Jesse checks his Status.”

I recovered from my full-body experience and raised my head. Indeed, it seemed that my Awakening was slightly different from that of the other Heroes in a couple of ways. . .