Forsaken Martial Spirit: The Ascension of Roberto

The beginning of awakening

"Now, it's time to wear black silk, but you wouldn't want your wife to be seen in black silk by others, would you?" Isabella blinked.

"Alright, tonight then."

...

"This is outrageous! What's wrong with your village? How can someone be late for awakening their martial soul?" Isabella scolded, while the temple steward, Long Tao, berated Village Chief Lu Ren at the village square.

Hundreds of villagers around the square dared not make a sound, while a dozen young men and women participating in the awakening of their martial souls stood at the forefront, trembling with fear.

Village Chief Lu, with his aged and hunched body, sweated profusely, not daring to say half a word more.

Though it was still half an hour before the appointed time, he couldn't argue with the important figures from the temple. All he could do was apologize repeatedly.

"I apologize, Steward Long. It was my oversight. But the child who hasn't arrived yet is exceptionally gifted. I believe the martial soul awakened by him will not disappoint you."

While apologizing, Village Chief Lu also spoke up for Roberto. In fact, Roberto was extremely popular in the village. Every time he returned from hunting in the mountains, he would give game to the poor and the elderly, occasionally helping widowed women with their farm work.

"Pfft!" Long Tao scoffed, "Your so-called exceptional talent means nothing. What commoners consider talent is not only worthless in the eyes of the higher-ups but also laughable."

"A youngster without a sense of time, even if he awakens a martial soul, it won't amount to much. I see no reason to pay attention. I, as the steward, am not interested, and neither is the temple."

"Let the awakening begin."

Although it wasn't yet time, Village Chief Lu dared not argue logically. As a non-soul master, he was destined to be inferior.

"Roar!"

A virtual image of a solitary horned lizard dragon appeared behind Long Tao, and in an instant, his martial soul manifested. His body swelled, covered in green scales.

Seeing the fearful and envious eyes of the villagers around him, Long Tao's lips curled upwards.

His horned lizard dragon possessed a hint of dragon bloodline, far surpassing ordinary beast martial souls. He knew he would eventually be promoted, and in his eyes, going to various villages to perform awakening tasks was simply beneath him.

And he had already visited four villages today, awakening over a hundred people. The best of them was nothing more than a second-grade martial soul: a hammer. His patience had long been exhausted.

Disgusted internally, in such impoverished and remote areas, what good seedlings could there be? It was truly a waste of his time.

If not for the discipline of the temple, Long Tao would have long since lost interest.

He arranged obsidian stones into a hexagram formation in the center of the square and brought out a three-meter-high bronze stone pillar to stand beside it.

The first girl entered the formation, her eyes red with anxiety but no response, and she received a slap from her family when she stepped down.

"You useless girl! We've fed you rice and flour for so many years, and you can't even awaken a useless martial soul?"

"Good for nothing!"

Amidst the scolding of the fierce woman, a black-haired youth, trembling with nervousness, encouraged by his family, stepped forward for his awakening.

Within the hexagram formation, the obsidian emitted a faint golden light.

A green shadow appeared above his head.

"Wheat?" Long Tao gritted his teeth, "Useless, next!"

The youth, named Hu Zi, felt disheartened. "Steward, does that mean we don't need to test the bronze stone pillar?"

"Test what!" Long Tao pointed at the awakening formation, "The rule has always been: the higher the quality of the martial soul, the more intense the golden light emitted during awakening."

"A one-foot golden light represents the weakest ordinary-level martial soul, while a nine-foot golden light represents the legendary nine-grade divine-level martial soul."

"When the bronze stone pillar shines, it displays one to nine colors, used to determine the grade of the martial soul. Your awakening golden light is like a mere speck, do you still need to test the grade?"

The dark-skinned youth left dejectedly, scorned by the steward, and feared more scolding from his family. He felt a sense of inferiority and despair. Little did he expect his usually stern father to pat his shoulder with rough hands:

"Hu Zi, it's not a big deal. If you can't become a soul master, you'll just work in the fields with me in the future. It's not shameful to be self-sufficient."

"Dad, I'm sorry, I'm useless."

"Don't say that, what your father says goes."

Long Tao's expression grew increasingly grim as he awakened a dozen children one after another. He looked like a volcano about to erupt.

Trash.

All of them were trash.

Whether he could recruit good seedlings also affected his promotion and achievements.

The best was a sword-toothed tiger martial soul, its awakening golden light reaching a height of nine feet, barely reaching the second grade as the bronze pillar shone with a dual-color light, barely reaching second-grade status.

The family of that child was still embracing and crying tears of joy, cheering ecstatically.

"Rubbish village. As expected, nothing good comes out of awakening martial souls here."

Long Tao's mood sank to its lowest as he cursed the village chief and the villagers, preparing to pack up and leave.

"Wait!"

Roberto ran over from a distance, leaping onto the square, followed by Isabella.

"Did the testing start early?"

"You're late, it's over, wait until next year," Long Tao said.

Roberto's expression turned cold instantly.

The commoners had no rights in front of soul masters, but he wasn't afraid of soul masters.

"I haven't been tested yet, and you want to leave? Aren't the people from the temple supposed to follow the rules?"

His words stunned the entire crowd, especially the old village chief, who trembled with fear, wishing to rush over and cover his mouth.

Long Tao was also stunned. Apart from bowing and scraping in front of his superiors, he was used to being domineering both in and out of the village. When had he ever been comforted by someone?

"How dare you? Who gave you the confidence?" 

Roberto was firm: "I'm not late. If you don't test me, it's your problem. I'll report it to the temple branch in the city."

Seeing the other's confidence and imposing demeanor, Long Tao, feeling a bit flustered, started to panic.

Could this boy be from some hidden lineage of a hermit? He decided to wait and see what martial soul he would awaken before deciding whether to deal with him.

"Alright."

"Let's begin the awakening. We've been waiting for you."

This scene left the villagers stunned. What was going on? When did the steward become so amiable in his speech?

With a encouraging look from Isabella, amidst the gaze of the entire crowd, Roberto stepped onto the hexagram formation.

He closed his eyes...