Beatitudes

Acknowledgement and tests.

He had read a few of those webnovels after he found out about them on a website, an amazing, world conquering bloodline, a system to help you get by and all sorts of other things, These weren't the things he possessed but he was involuntarily reminded of them, but he knew that even if he was anything like a main character, then he couldn't be complacent much less arrogant. What he had had yet to even reach an acceptable threshold, that was one thing he knew, even without Astral's remainder, he had heard from many people how those people his age that were born into rich and powerful families had everything at their disposal, they had long since started cultivating and most where already far ahead, they were the ones with the time to be complacent, he didn't. It was one of the reasons why the academy was his dream destination, it had all what those families had and even much more, even those heirs and all end up attending the academy as well because of the prestige the academy had, and for one thing it was a place with fair judgement and impartiality, as long as one showed talent and dedication they would be amply taken care of, it all made his blood boil and gave him a chance to make his wish come true, how could he not love it.

Astral could vaguely read the boys thoughts even if it was a direct probing, he could feel his emotions also, but he knew he couldn't actually shine light on the true nature of these things for Jaden to see, all he could hope for was that these things kept the drive to become strong alive and strong in his heart, if what happened several years back was to be used as a reference, then even if his true identity wasn't exposed, things won't be as easy as Jaden thought it would be, it was the reason why he thought this technique to him, so as to allow at least one of them to be present with him at almost all times, and also to mould him into what he's expected to be, Jaden's Father was given such preferential treatment, his Father rose to the height before his fall mostly by himself and although he would it the same with Jaden, a little more insurance couldn't hurt anyone. They couldn't afford Jaden's fall, even his weakness at the moment was too much to bare, if the sovereign fell the world would eventually fall into a deep sleep again and everything would be forgotten, but they couldn't afford the resealing, not when they was a big threat looming above their head. But for now they could afford a little wait, so he cleared his head of all the thoughts and brought his mind back to the present, it was time to teach the young man the basics.

*Alright Jaden, currently you don't need the other three's guidance, so I'll be what you call a teacher and guide for you and get you started, I never got the chance to teach a sovereign the basics, so I can't help but feel a little excited myself. Are you ready?*

"Well judging from the situation, I have more or less two hours to kill, so I'd rather spend it getting stronger. So what's the first lesson? "

*Well first of all, know that the you have no foundation or strength so obviously the first thing you'll be doing is the elemental acknowledgement, the elements around us are as many as the myriad planets that hold life, most of those elements are actually just a mix of two or three of the different elements out there, some of them aren't even elements, more like concepts so they're unsuitable to practice and no one would likely have an affinity to them, it is fairly accepted that the basic elements that govern the other elements are Water, Fire, Earth, Metal and Wind, they are said to be the basic building block from which all the other elements sprung out from, other theories like that have been proposed and while I won't call it all fake and misleading, I would tell you that are essentially no basic nor supreme elements, the thing is some elements are strong at first appearance while some are weak, some elements are quick to show their prowess while some almost seem to exist for naught, but keep in mind that all elements are strong, some can be strong anywhere and anytime, while some would need to be present in a particular place or situation to show it's might properly, like living beings the elements are also sentient in nature, it wouldn't clear to you now but just keep the knowledge at the back of your mind, they're sentient in nature so although you all possess what is called affinity to an element which could be more than one sometimes, that doesn't mean they would easily bend to your whims and will, an acknowledgement is necessary for people to be able to wield the elements, that's where the affinities come to play, know that you can only come in contacts with elements that you have an affinity to to gain their acknowledgement, try it for an element you have no affinity for and it basically wouldn't exist in your eyes.

Then after affinity kicks in, another thing is needed, it is the concept that is called talent. Talent to properly wield the elements, talents to bring out the best from an element, in basic words talent is the driving power that allow you to exert proper force over the element you are close to. It is also a factor in the process of acknowledgement in the sense that that the more talent you have the quicker the elements are aware of your presence, the faster those same elements would acknowledge you and give you varying levels of freedom to control it. Although with the sovereign essence you might not need acknowledgement but since you can't control it, you can only try without it.*

"So basically I'm going to have to do the acknowledgement thing anyways right?"

*Yes,infact i think now is the time for you to gain the acknowledgement you need, first close your eyes and calm down*

'i always have to close my eyes'

Purposely ignoring the comment, Astral continued his lessons. *you should have a mind devoid of thoughts, with only nothing but empty darkness around you, within the darkness, imagine a world primarily filled with elementary particles, little specks of red, blue..... *

His talent for comprehension was a very outstanding one, it wasn't something he was really aware of but it was there, so listening to Astral's description he was quickly able to form an imaginative concept of a world glittering in elemental sparks of red, blue... and like the world he imagined moved in response to his orders, other colors lit up like tiny fireflies in the dark night, he didn't need to imagine them all as they just kept on popping out.

*Now open your eyes with the image still in place*

Listening to Astral's while keeping my focus, I opened my eyes, and I opened it to a different world entirely, I don't know how it worked but what I was seeing with my eyes was like a boundless space, it was dark and black and I was the only one there, feeling intrigued and nervous at the same time, I asked Astral what was up, "Astral where am I", I couldn't be sure he would here me cause I essentially felt alone here so I was somewhat relieved when I heard his reply

*You're in the Essence space*

"Essence what now?"

*The Essence space, for now, let's just say it's an infinite space for the manifestation of elements, it's where the elements are primarily drawn from.

Now focus and call out the elements you're bonded to, just focus your mind and call out, if you wait for it to reach you itself, it'll waste unnecessary time, so you have to call it first*

So I did as I was told, I wasn't sure if should yell out a name or something, but I just focused on the call, even I don't know how I did it but when I opened my eyes again, I could see it, it wasn't a single element which I was glad about, to be an exceptional warrior you had to be able to adapt to the different situations that would produce themselves to you, and a single element doesn't really allow much varying adaptation.

The elements came in tiny streams to me, one was a silvery-white stream, I could swear for a second I could see it glow in a rainbow like color, but it was too quick to change so I couldn't say much, the other one was a bright yellow stream that moved from brighter shade to a darker one countless times. They moved towards me until they were in front of me and then they began to swirl around me, I had no control over it so I had to watch as they moved in circles around me like they were checking to see if I had abnormal features that would dissuade them from acknowledgement, finally after a little while, it seemed I got their acknowledgement because they stopped their swirling and began pouring into my body, I wandered how I was going to bring into me and I had to admit, I was a bit apprehensive at letting come in through any hole on my body, but they already knew what to do so I just waited for the absorption to take place until the last strands entered my body. I was about to ask what to do next when suddenly a burst of lights flashed in my eye and I could see a kaleidoscope of colors rushing from all corners to swirl around me too, I couldn't help but get scared as I wondered if I was going to take in all if this but my worries were cleared up as immediately they got near, a flash of white light burst out of my body in blinding manner pushing them all back. The quick change in events was too much for me, as I became confused, suddenly everything went dark again and I felt myself in a different place again, it took me a little while to realize my eyes were closed, and then I opened them and found myself in the room I was given to stay for a while, I was back.

Just as I was about to ask Astral what the f**k that was, a knock came from the door and then a voice followed.

"Hope you're not sleeping kid, we're leaving to the academy right about now"

The feeling of impatience he had been trying to suppress swelled up again, "Alright, I'll be out now". He couldn't help a smile blooming on his face. It was finally happening.

_______________________________________________________________

The building in front of me was one of elegance and beauty, too bad it wasn't a thorough part of the academy, it was a place where the assessments of the many entrants would take place. Standing in front of the place now, I finally felt a bit nervous, which I think Matthew who was walking beside me into the building noticed as he spoke up, "You're nervous?"

"*sigh* yes I am"

He chuckled a bit and then said, "I don't think you need to be though, there isn't any way you can't miss the elite section again this time"

I smiled faintly and kept on walking, only I knew how I felt when I failed the test the first time, infact I didn't get to this point of the whole process, I dropped out at the cleaning stage of the assessments, it was where a good number of the people that aspired to enter the academy were kicked out before they saw anymore hope, thinking of the whole ordeal had me shivering a bit so i quickly tossed the thoughts out of my mind. Soon the man guiding us through the building brought us past the first and second floor which I heard him explain was for the normal applicants and straight to the third floor. Seeing some people my age on the first and second floor who kept staring at us as we passed through, I couldn't help feeling like I was cheating my way inside, but then I brushed the thoughts off, if I really was cheating then it would be bad if I didn't have the strength to back it up, which I did have so I decided no to think anymore of it, if anyone was dissatisfied they were more than welcome for a fight.

As we once again got to another floor which was the highest floor, the man leading us quickly brought us to a door which literally screamed head boss. I was already feeling apprehensive again, I wondered how Matthew was able to get an audience with the dude behind this door, started wondering if he would have a big frown on his face and despise me for coming through the backdoor of sorts, but then again even with all the thoughts in my head it was inevitable, if I didn't enter at this point then I would really regret it, shaking my head I went in after Matthew as the guy who brought us here opened the door for us and watched as we went through, feeling odd as I looked at the guy I followed through and saw the boss of the building.

To my glorious relief he wasn't frowning, infact he had a big smile on his face as he exchanged pleasantries with Matthew, from their conversation I could understand that they were somewhat like acquainted friends, and then he turned to me as we were seated, "Mr. Miguel" he said with the smile still on his face, "Yes sir" I replied with a look that showed I was a tad nervous, he chuckled a bit and continued "there are just two things we need to do before you're admitted into the elite section of the academy, the affinity test and the talent test, I trust you'll get through with splendid results so let's get started with the first one, the affinity test... here's this globe we call a sphere, you don't really need to know about it but this is what youll use for the test, just take into your two palms and wait for it to do it's work" he said to me as he handed me a colorless sphere. I took it and like he said held it in my two palms, I waited for two seconds until I felt a foreign form of energy seep into my body through my palms, then I heard a urgent voice in my head, *Quickly move the yellow strand to intercept the energy before it moves all through your system*

I could hear the urgency in his voice so I stopped the instinctively question I would have asked and moved to the two strands in my core, I had been practicing a bit on the way to the academy so I was able to move it fairly quickly, I pushed the yellow strand out of my core and moved it along the veins in my hands to stop the energy, it was a bit of a struggle but I forced the energy back through the path it came as I got tired. Then suddenly the sphere began to glow in a very yellow light, the light it emitted was like what I saw in the essence space as it dimmed and brightened constantly, the test was done as the man behind the desk had a fairly surprised smile on his face as he declared,

"Amazing, it's the lightening element, that's a rare one. Now..." he took notes on a screen on his table and raised his head again to speak

"It's time for the talent test".