Darkness.
Then a flicker of light.
Ray stood in a white void. His breathing was shallow. Cold sweat clung to his skin. His heart pounded like a war drum.
It was the same dream again.
A memory… no, a nightmare from his past life.
He was sixteen again, kneeling before the Spirit Altar inside the Grand Awakening Hall. The golden flame of awakening shimmered faintly. All around him, noble heirs and commoners alike stood in long lines, their eyes burning with anticipation. Everyone came to awaken their spirit and find their destiny.
But not him.
Ray watched his younger self with painful clarity, as if looking through a window of time. He remembered every sound—the quiet crackle of the altar's fire, the soft chants of the priests, the faint rustling of robes.
And the silence.
Deafening silence that followed his turn.
The High Seer had hesitated. He looked into Ray's eyes with something close to disbelief.
Then he announced it.
"Low affinity. Unfit for spirit contract."
Gasps filled the hall. The once proud and promising third prince had failed. A boy who excelled in everything—politics, strategy, combat theory—had stumbled at the very first step on the path of power.
The flame had flickered but not responded. He had no elemental resonance. No affinity to contract with a spirit beast.
Whispers swirled.
"A shame…"
"How can the prince be this talentless?"
"Did the gods abandon him?"
That moment had shattered everything. And what followed was worse. Rejection. Disgrace. Isolation. He was forced into a different path—into the Administrative Institute, where future officials were trained, far from the battlefronts and glory of Spirit Knights and Mages.
He buried himself in books and became the youngest strategist in the capital. But no sword welcomed him. No spirit ever heard his call.
Now, lying in bed once more in his young body, Ray jolted awake from the dream.
His chest rose and fell rapidly.
Sweat dripped from his brow.
He clutched his sheets tightly.
"…Not this time," he whispered, silver eyes burning. "I won't fail again."
---
Ray sat at the edge of his bed and let the morning sunlight bathe his skin. He needed to think. The awakening ceremony was only two days away. This time, he would not go unprepared.
He had learned too much in his previous life to simply accept fate.
But to change his future, he needed to understand the world he lived in—and how power worked within it.
---
The Path of Power
In the world of Aerith, every living being carried within them a spark of spiritual energy. It was a life force, invisible and ever-present, drawn from the World Vein—a vast, mystical energy that flowed beneath the earth, the sky, and the stars.
At the age of sixteen, every citizen of the Elysian Empire underwent the Awakening Ceremony, where their natural affinity for spiritual energy was tested.
There were two paths one could walk after awakening:
1. Spirit Knights – warriors who channeled spirit energy through their bodies, enhancing strength, speed, and resilience. They fought alongside their contracted spirit beasts in close combat, becoming shields of the empire.
2. Spirit Mages – manipulators of elemental forces. They cast spells, commanded nature, and formed deep, binding contracts with spirits of fire, ice, wind, shadow, and more.
A rare few were both—Dual-Wielders, capable of blending magic and might. But such individuals were once-in-a-generation prodigies.
Every person awakened with one or more elemental affinities—fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, shadow, light, or rarer forms like space or poison.
Normal individuals possessed up to three elemental affinities, but only one dominant.
Ray, in his past life, had shown no affinity—something unheard of in nobility.
After awakening, individuals formed contracts with spirit beasts, entities of pure elemental power drawn from spirit realms. The bond was sacred. A spirit beast could grow alongside its master, evolve, and even lend its consciousness.
Spirit energy was cultivated through seven stages, both for Spirit Knights and Mages:
1. Novice
2. Apprentice
3. Adept
4. Expert
5. Master
6. Ascendant
7. Transcendent
Each stage demanded deeper resonance with one's spirit, refinement of energy, and greater understanding of one's affinity. Cultivation was slow. Dangerous. But the rewards were unmatched.
Spirit Knights mastered techniques called Aura Arts, channeling raw spirit energy into physical blows, blade arts, or defenses.
Spirit Mages focused on Runic Casting, learning ancient languages that shaped reality with each spell, drawing on elemental matrices to unleash destruction or creation.
Spirit beasts themselves also had stages—from Lesser to Primordial, Ancient, and Mythic.
Only those with great talent or powerful bonds could ever hope to ascend beyond Adept.
---
Ray knew all this—no, he lived it.
He had spent years researching the spirit system in his past life, despite not having any himself. He studied formations, curse marks, runes, beast contracts, and spirit evolution.
It was how he knew he had been cursed at his first awakening.
And this time, he had proof.
His gaze dropped to his hand. The ring—his mother's relic—glinted softly. It had protected him even in death.
"…They ruined me once," he murmured. "But this time, I'll ruin them."
---
The day passed in quiet preparation.
George had arranged for Ray's robes to be ready. The royal family had been notified, and the nobles had begun gathering in the capital. The Awakening Ceremony was a grand event, and Ray, as the third prince, was expected to shine.
He had no intention of disappointing.
But he also remembered what came after.
In his first life, once his failure was announced, he was quietly shipped off to the Imperial Administrative Institute, a sprawling campus in the western provinces. It was a respected place, where bureaucrats and civil officials were trained, but it was nothing like the battle-focused Academy of Knights and Mages.
Ray had excelled there. He rose through the ranks swiftly, becoming a high official by age twenty. But power gained through paper and scrolls could not defend against blades and betrayal.
And it certainly could not protect against a kingdom that decided you were no longer useful.
He clenched his fists.
This time, he would be a Spirit Knight.
This time, he would command respect from both court and battlefield.
This time…
He would awaken.
---
But doubts lingered.
Would the curse work again?
Would they try to suppress him?
Would he be publicly humiliated again?
Ray's mind drifted to those moments after the ceremony in his past life—the look on Kael's face when he found out. The disappointment in the emperor's silence. The mocking smiles of nobles who had once bowed to him.
"I'll erase those memories," Ray muttered.
He rose from his chair, walked to the window, and looked out at the glowing city below.
The tower of the Awakening Hall stood in the distance like a monument to fate.
But fate, this time, was his to rewrite.