"Hey, Oscar. Stop sleeping. Get up already. Do not keep the dean waiting."
Inside an orphanage, six-year-old Oscar was shaken awake by his roommate.
"All right, all right. I am up, Venice. Stop shaking me."
While Oscar got dressed, Venice was already waving his hands in excitement, unable to stand still.
"Hurry up, Oscar. I cannot wait for our Martial Soul awakening. I know I am going to awaken some powerful Martial Soul, then become an amazing Spirit Master."
"Oh, and we have to thank Spirit Hall. Normally, kids like us would be placed behind everyone else, but this time Spirit Hall actually started our awakening one day early just for us. Spirit Hall is incredible."
"I have decided. Once I awaken a powerful Martial Soul and become an honorable Spirit Master, I am definitely joining Spirit Hall."
Looking at his restless roommate, Oscar remained fairly calm.
"Is it really that big a deal? It is just a Martial Soul awakening. Orphans like us may not even have Spirit Power."
"And even if we become Spirit Masters, we will have to fight and kill. That sounds too dangerous. I would rather become a cook later, marry someone, and live out an ordinary life in peace."
Venice had long since gotten used to Oscar acting as if nothing mattered.
Oscar looked indifferent on the surface, but a Martial Soul awakening was still a life-changing event. Children were curious by nature, and he also wondered what kind of Martial Soul he would awaken. Without realizing it, he dressed a little faster.
About ten minutes later, Venice dragged the fully dressed Oscar to the orphanage gate. The dean had already gathered the other eight children who would awaken their Martial Souls that day.
"Oscar, you are last again. This is a major event. Can you take it seriously for once?"
Oscar gave a few careless responses to the dean's scolding.
Seeing that neither hard nor soft words worked on him, the dean could only sigh. After stressing a few basic rules, he led the ten children toward their city's Spirit Hall sub-temple.
When they arrived, the orphanage dean submitted the application as usual. A Spirit Master then led them to an awakening room in the back.
A little while later, a middle-aged Spirit Master walked in. After asking the dean to wait outside, the awakening began.
"Flower Leopard. Possession."
"Come here, child. Stretch out your right hand and focus on your heart."
Martial Soul awakenings did not take long. From awakening the Martial Soul to testing Spirit Power, the whole process took about three minutes per child.
Roughly twenty minutes later, the room held eight children with either no Spirit Power or useless Martial Souls.
"Next."
Venice flashed Oscar an excited smile, then hurried forward.
As the Flower Leopard Spirit Master awakened Venice's Martial Soul, his thoughts began to drift.
It seems there will be no harvest from the orphanage today. I can only see whether tomorrow's children produce any good seedlings. As for the food-type Spirit Master requested from above, who knows whether I will even meet one.
The order had been simple: if any child awakened a food-type Martial Soul, record the name, Martial Soul, and innate Spirit Power level, then report it upward. If someone higher up took interest, there would be a generous reward.
Who knew what madness had seized the higher-ups this time? They were going through so much trouble just to find a child with a food-type Martial Soul. Was some high-level food-type Spirit Master looking for a disciple before death? Even a Spirit Emperor should not receive this kind of treatment. Could there be a food-type Titled Sage I do not know about?
While he was still lost in thought, a spatula appeared in Venice's hand.
"Spatula Martial Soul. Come and test your Spirit Power."
The moment Venice saw his Martial Soul, his burning excitement turned cold. Even so, he kept telling himself that as long as he had Spirit Power, there would still be hope.
But when the Spirit Master said, "Innate Spirit Power, zero," Venice felt as if thunder had struck him and hurled him straight into despair.
He bit his lip and walked back to Oscar's side without saying a word.
Oscar watched his friend, who had always seemed cheerful and bright, suddenly go silent. He was about to offer comfort when Venice forced out a smile and made a joke first.
"Look, Oscar. My Martial Soul is a spatula. We can become cooks together someday."
That smile looked worse than crying. Oscar found the words stuck in his throat, and he did not know how to say them.
"Next."
At the Spirit Master's call, Oscar nodded to Venice, then walked forward.
His Martial Soul awakening began. Yet Oscar's mind was still full of what he had said that morning about becoming a cook, and of Venice awakening a spatula.
"Martial Soul, sausage."
Oscar calmly looked at the cured sausage Martial Soul in his hand. He felt neither joy nor sorrow. He only thought, If my Martial Soul is sausage, I should be able to comfort Venice a little, right?
Oscar was calm, but the Flower Leopard Spirit Master suddenly perked up.
A food-type Martial Soul. Looks like my luck is turning today. As long as he has even a little Spirit Power, I will report him. It is just a sheet of paper. Food-type Martial Souls are so rare that there may not be many in the entire continent. If that is true, then the reward...
"Come. Test your Spirit Power." As he spoke, his nervousness and expectation were no less intense than when he had awakened his own Martial Soul years ago.
Oscar casually placed his hand on the crystal ball. In the next instant, light flooded the entire room.
At that moment, the Flower Leopard Spirit Master felt the crystal ball had never been so dazzling. He had never seen a crystal ball shine so brightly. It was bright enough to rival the sun itself.
After the first shock passed, the Spirit Master shouted in disbelief, "Innate... innate full Spirit Power!"
Suppressing his excitement with effort, he personally brought over a chair for Oscar. Then, like a nimble leopard, he sprinted out of the room, ignoring even the orphanage dean waiting outside.
Once the Flower Leopard Spirit Master found the sub-temple master, a single letter from that branch set nearly half of Spirit Hall's Polaris Empire network into motion.
That afternoon, Wu Ling looked at the letter in his hand and said softly, "Oh? Oscar has been found?"