The nervous murmurs of the crowd grew intensely as Arthur called for the first person to step forward.
The girl that boldly decided to go first, Kaira Daemar, approached the platform from the crowd.
Even as she walked boldly towards the sphere, whispers followed behind her.
"It’s head commander Arthur’s daughter." One of the aspiring Soul-Hunters mumbled.
"I wonder what Soul-Core she will activate." Another member of the crowd whispered behind him.
She arrived at the platform, placed her dominant hand on the sphere confidently and almost immediately, the air crackled with energy.
The sphere pulsed with an intense golden light, a glow which covered both Kaira and the crowd.
Instinctively, they all shielded their eyes with their arms from the pulsating light.
And as the light died down, it revealed the bio-data of the candidate to the head commander and his associates.
"Kaira— A-rank Soul-Hunter — The Knight’s Soul-Core." Arthur announced, leading to loud murmurs from the crowd.
"The Knight’s Soul-Core!?"
"Holy shit..."
"I expected nothing less from the head commander’s daughter, but to think she’d activate something like the Knight’s Soul-Core..."
Commander Arthur cleared his throat, the sound sharp and commanding, their surprise was understandable, but not during the awakening ceremony. The crowd fell silent as he called for the next person to step forward.
’What!?’ Ren couldn’t believe it, he already was next in line. "I’m already next!?"
With a quiet gulp, he stepped forward, climbed the platform, and placed his hand on the sphere.
The light show began, with Ren’s body and the sphere glowing brightly in sync. As the glow faded, a faint smile stretched across his lips.
"Ren — C-rank Soul-Hunter — Elementalist Soul-Core."
’C-rank Soul-Hunter? That’s not bad at all!’ He expected something like a D-rank Soul-Core, but fortunately for him, his luck had intervened.
"I don’t recall how often Soul-Hunter’s of C-rank and above were awakened from scratch." The head commander whispered to his associates with a warm smile, despite the low ranks, it was an impressive feat given the ratio of C-rank Soul-Hunters in the last five years.
"The world’s changing commander, and with that change comes another change to offset the inbalance, this year’s hunters are special, I can feel it." His right hand associate replied with a smile.
The next candidate was Mira, and she stepped forward and climbed onto the platform. She placed her dominant hand on the sphere, and once again, the same light show began, bright and radiant, just like before.
"Mira Ravenheart — B-rank Soul-Hunter — Support Soul-Core."
"Whoa!"
"B-rank!?"
The outcome wasn’t entirely unexpected given the awakenings before hers, but few had imagined it would reach as high as B-rank.
"I’m a support Soul-Hunter? That’s fine, I never liked fighting anyways." B-rank was good enough for her, and as long as she didn’t have to fight, it was even more thrilling.
After Mira’s awakening, more people stepped forward. Most awakened with ranks between D and C, while four out of the hundred ended up with the lowest possible— E-rank.
At long last, it came down to the final thirty aspiring individuals yet to activate their Soul-Core.
"So it’s finally my turn eh?" Without second guessing it, Xander approached the sphere and placed his dominant hand on it.
Immediately, the same glow that lit everywhere up during Kaira’s awakening illuminated the hall, but this time, it’s sheer intensity was far greater than Kaira’s, forcing everyone to immediately shield their eyes with their arms or the consequences would be fatal.
As the blinding light dissipated, Arthur couldn’t help but laugh loudly. "Good grief, who could have guessed we had another prodigy on our hands?"
"Xander Reymond — A-rank Soul-Hunter — The Knight Soul-Core."
"What!?"
"Shit! Shit!!" Even the crowd had a hard time believing, and based off the light that radiated from the sphere, Kaira and Xander might belong to the same Soul-Core. But his latent ability was leagues above hers.
"Alright." Xander clenched his fist. His eyes burned with intent.
"It’s your turn." As Takashi climbed down the platform, Ren whispered to Rai.
Finally, it was his turn.
He gulped, squeezing his fingers into his fists as he slowly approached the sphere and whispers followed behind him.
"Who’s that?"
"I think I remember, he’s the one who dropped out two semesters ago."
"Seriously? Someone actually dropped out from school? Why?"
"I don’t know, but I think it’s because of his low grades or something."
"Man, how much of a loser do you have to be to dropout because of that?"
Most of the whispers came from several young boys and girls, and judging by their uniforms, they were most likely his school mates, the previous inhabitor that is. Majority of the people hoping to awaken came from his former school mates but it didn’t bother him at all.
’It’s something I’m already used to, but this time. Its different.’ He thought.
Much like in his previous world, in this world he was an average nobody, someone whose existence mattered so little. But now, it didn’t matter to him because he had something they didn’t.
Knowledge of the future and a system. And in that future, he was damn sure with his system, he’ll live to survive and they’d perish, all those who shunned the previous Rai.
He climbed the platform, and just as he placed his dominant hand on the sphere. A soft chime echoed in his head, and the translucent blue panel popped up.
[Activating Soul-Core....]
[You have successfully ac—ac—ac]
"Huh?" He rubbed his eyes with his hands, he couldn’t understand what was happening,the system interface flickered, glitching non-stop.
[Error... Error... Error]
A light glow escaped the sphere momentarily before it’s glow completely flickered and died down for the first time since the ceremony began.
The atmosphere in the hall was intense as they all tried to understand what it meant, both chairman Arthur and his associates were completely stunned.
Such a display was rare, but it only meant one thing.
With a sharp exhale, Arthur faced Rai with a nonchalant expression. "Rai Voltia — F-Rank Soul-Hunter."
__________________________________
[A/N: Information I can share so far, the atmospheric energy of the colossal gate combined with the DNA of each human, even when passed down from generations. Resulting in five distinct Cores within each individual. The Sphere draws out an individual’s Soul-Energy and activates one of these cores depending on which one he is affiliated with.]