Lyren was confused and he was instantly caught off guard by these changes. He saw the door disappear and when it was confirmed that the dragon was not going to come out again, he felt his heartbeat increase and he was suddenly out of breath.
Lyren fell on his knees and looked around as everything calmed down. He saw the lady standing behind him. She had a smile on her face as though he had passed some trial of sort. Lyren was speechless and out of breath at the same time.
But it was only then he realized that she was the only one standing. The last time he had checked, everyone was prostrating or lying on the floor. His gaze focused as the lady's smile widened seeing his reaction. Then everything cleared as Lyren saw the crowd that seemed to have just stood up.
Their clothes were wrinkled and even their order was disoriented. They seemed to have something else in their eyes. At first, it appeared as fear but on closer inspection, there was respect. He realized just how much meaning his actions had and the impact it left on them.
Even the youths who had disdained him before seemed to have gained a deep respect for him and there was also fear even though they were probably already dead. He watched them start walking towards him slowly and the kids were reluctant to come forward fearing they would be sent flying again.
Lyren wanted to smile but it was just then he realized that his hand was hot, too hot at that. He looked at his palm and it was charred black with the pattern almost invisible. There was a sharp pain as he had burned his palm. This came as a shock but it was to be expected. The flames that had sent a flame dragon away were definitely not normal flames.
His face flinched as he withstood the pain but that was far from over as he looked at the channel with his mind's eyes and he was speechless. The channel was burned up. His eyes widened as he realized he might have ended his cultivation career. The fact that even the pattern etched on his palm was burned went ahead to show just how dangerous his flames were.
He did not want to look at his core but he braced himself as he expected the worse. And there it was. His core had gotten smaller but this time. It had gained an orange glow that seemed to illuminate the world. Lyren heaved a sigh of relief as there was no damage to it. Also, there were sparks that seemed to float around the world.
This came as a surprise but it was a clear indication that his attribute was fire. This gave him some sense of pride greater than his achievements in arrays as this was his real strength. But the pain that kept assaulting him from his palm and channel seemed to want to remind him just how unprepared he was.
The crowd finally reached him and they all surrounded him. Lyren did not know whether this was a test but he was about to find out. His eyes smoldered with flames as he looked at the lady his eyes demanding for an explanation. Seeing him dead set and his ambitious eyes, she could not help but start speaking soon.
***
"I must say that even I am surprised that your manifestation was that of a flame dragon. It had been ages since we saw a dragon manifest. Yeah, this is a test and you just appeared to have passed with flying colors," the lady said as Lyren was left confused.
"Manifestation… what is that?" Lyren asked ignoring the youths who seemed to have gotten another victory against him.
"I was about to explain to you what it is. It's just as the name says, it the manifestation of your flames or rather say, it is personality in vulgar terms. The form your flames take. This was a test to check not only your affinity but also your manifestation.
"I must say that you were lucky that you had not awakened your flames before because it would have been impossible to perform this Awakening ceremony. I know it's a strange term but not many get the chance to have it performed on them which is why you are lucky. This is a ritual that only gets carried out once every ten years after a competition to decide who will have the ritual carried out for them.
"I was the last person the ritual was performed on and my manifestation was also a dragon, an ice dragon. As you can see, I also have the mark of a core disciple which only one person can have. Back to the topic, you happened to have had a visual of your Manifestation the moment you came to this place.
"That was the hall reacting to your unique flames which have dragon origins. I can't help but wonder what your exact origins are. Anyways, the ceremony is usually a test to figure out not only how powerful your flames are and also their potential and from what we just witnessed, your flames just happen to surpass those of a flame dragon.
"The test was to find out whether you would break or bend to your flames but your resilience paid off as you were able to fight back the manifestation.
"Everyone had to bow or else, they would end up being burned leaving behind not even ash. now that you know, I hope you are happy with my reward for you for lighting up the entire array. That was the only test that could prove that you are worthy as a core disciple," she spoke in a low tone that revealed no emotion.
He voice had turned several times throughout, from that of a lady to that of neutrality. One that he was very familiar with he could not help but blurt out as he pointed at her.
"You…"
He was speechless as she was the very lady who had convinced him not to kill himself and had also given him the VANTAGELESS BLADE. Then it dawned to him that this was going to be her last appearance. He could not help but feel some sort bitterness at the thought. Somehow, he felt some intimacy with her.
"Greetings Sect mistress!"
The words echoed through out as the crowd all bowed at her with their hands clasped together forward. Lyren was caught forward as he started connecting the dots. Starting from the awakening ceremony.
When the flame dragon demanded everyone to bow, he had felt a bitter taste in his mouth and he had wondered why but it all seemed to make sense now. The dragon was a manifestation of his flame in the first place. If he had bowed, he would have lost not only the ultimate flames but maybe even the manifestation would have left him.
He felt he was arrogant but that was not the case. It was the fact that his own manifestation tried to test him that made him laugh. His laugh was diabolical as it drowned the echo of the crowd calling out to their leader. He who had an inferior bloodline had ended up manifesting a flame dragon whose bloodline was several times higher than his.
It was not that he was arrogant, he was arrogant to the bone such that even his flames had a personality that reflected back to him as he recalled the words he had said to himself when the dragon tried to make him bow
"Rather break than bow!"
His laugh echoed and the lady could only shake her head. It appeared that they might have created a monster instead…