As Aston stepped out of the South Dome, the noon sun had dipped behind a drifting veil of clouds. The lively chatter from the lunch pavilion faded behind him as he turned toward the eastern lecture towers, where the buildings were older, carved from pale stone with ivy crawling around spirit lanterns that flicker despite the daylight.

He passed a garden enclosed by woven metal fences, where a few students were reviewing scrolls. At the far end, the largest of the towers loomed: Alder Tower, named after one of the founding historians of the empire. It served as both a lecture venue, a library, and an archive for historical documents, spirit relic records, and recorded awakening chronicles.

His next class: FOU-104: World History: Epochs of Spirit Civilization.

Inside the hall, rows of arched seats encircled a spiraling lectern at the center. The walls were etched with timeliness—each section representing a different age in history. From the Ancient Primal Eras to the Current Celestial Dominion Cycle.

Students were still filling in as Aston took a seat midway up. Gray curled beneath his bench, while Mirage folded its wings and perched silently atop a pillar niche.

At exactly 2:15 PM, the doors opened with quiet grace.

In walked a woman clad in deep olive robes with silver trim—a professor from the Scouting Arts Division. Her postude was erect, though age had carved faint lines at the corner of her eyes. Her hair was tied in a half-braid, and her steps were unhurried. She carried no staff, no spirit beast in sight, just a small stack of weathered books under one arm.

"Good afternoon, students," she said, her voice clear but soft. "I am Professor Senn Alder. Some of you may know me as a historian. Others as an instructor of Scouting Arts. Both are true. After all, how can you scout the world ahead if you don't understand the one behind it?"

She placed her books on the lectern with a soft thump.

"This class is not about memorizing dates," she continued. "It is about understanding epochs. Shifts in the flow of time and spirit. You are all spirit-bound beings now—but have you ever wondered… were humans always like this?"

A rustle of confusion ran through the room.

"Did spirit beasts always exist? Were there always awakenings, contracts, cores?"

She turned, tapping a glowing crystal embedded in the wall. The timeline behind her illuminated with symbols. She pointed toward the far left—so far it nearly disappeared off the edge.

"There exists a theory. Not one confirmed by the Empire or the Academies, but one growing favor among scholars."

Aston leaned in, intrigued.

"That theory suggests that in the beginning… there was no spiritual attunement."

Silence.

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"All life—humans, animals, even plants—lived mundane existences. They had spirit energy, yes, but in the same way a river carries mist: faint, unfocused, passive."

She paced slowly before the lectern.

"Then, something changed. Something no record truly explains. The shift was sudden—cataclysmic perhaps. A great convergence. A blessing. Or…a curse."

She paused, letting the tension stretch.

"We call it the First Surge of Abundance."

The mural behind her shifted. Images of ancient forests, mountains, and primitive creatures, bathed in a strange light.

"In an age long before any empire, the world bloomed with spiritual energy. Some say it came from the stars. Others, that the world's core awakened. But what is agreed upon—"

She tapped the lectern.

"---is that every living thing changed."

She gestured to the glowing murals. "Animals gained sentience. Plants developed spirit pulses. Humans, too, began forming spirit cores—first weak, fragile, easily broken. But enough to awaken."

"And from there," she said, voice softening, "spirit civilization… as we know it… began."

Aston sat back, absorbing the weight of her words.

So even spirit beasts didn't exist before the surge?

He glances at Mirage, then down at Gray, both listening in silence.

"We will spend this semester tracing the waves of those awakenings. The rise of ancient beast kingdoms. The forging of the first spirit bonds. The cataclysms brought by failed synchronization. And the eventual founding of the first awakened human empire."

Professor Senn's eyes scanned the class.

"This is not history from a distance. This is history that shaped your spirit."

She lifted a book and opened it with care.

"Now then. Let us begin at the Dawn of Abundance."

Professor Senn flipped to a page in the thick tome resting on the lectern. Its pages glowed faintly, layered with preservation runes and spiritual ink.

"The Dawn of Abundance began not with cities or contracts—but with fear. Imagine a world where animals you once hunted began hunting you back—not just with claws or teeth, but with conscious spiritual intent."

She turned to face the students, her voice slow and steady.

"The first spirit beast was never recorded. Some say it was a predator. Others—a herbivore that awakened mid-slaughter, retaliating with force never before seen. But the most compelling accounts come from cave murals—etched long before language.

A faint murmur rippled through the students.

She tapped the glowing crystal again. A projection of jagged, weather-worn stone flickered into view, displaying ancient carvings. A series of rough sketches carved in concentric circles. At the center, a human figure raised both arms, surrounded by faint spirals.

"Shortly after spirit beasts began emerging, something changed in us too. Humans… began awakening."

She let the words settle.

"Not as children, like now. Back then, the average age of awakening was thirty. Their cores didn't stir on their own. It was trauma, danger, and overwhelming emotion that forced them open—often violently."

A stillness fell over the class. No scribbling. Just listening.

"With time," she continued, "they began to notice what the awakened could do. Some could generate flames in their hands. Others—call down droplets of rain, gusts of wind, even emit bolts of lightning. These were the first recorded 'miracles'. Not spells. Not techniques. Just…raw will, shaped through instinct."

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