World-saving Plan: The Only Savior
Chapter 339 - 223: The First Awakening Failure

Chapter 339: Chapter 223: The First Awakening Failure

The gathering lasted until the afternoon before concluding. Xiao Man did not stay with them the whole time; she had left early, leaving the others to continue admiring the poetic mountain scenery.

Before leaving, Xiao Man also took some herbal materials that Tuo Yecang had helped prepare. These included two doses of medicine for awakening and some ingredients needed for the preparation of the inspiration potion.

The Awakening Dragon Sleep Stone and herbs were, of course, prepared for Jin Bao. Xiao Man, over the past five days, had trained him to be very obedient.

This was mainly thanks to the Communication Skill, which allowed the dog to clearly understand its owner’s instructions, making dog training much simpler.

After returning to Rebirth Island, Xiao Man first summoned Jin Bao using the Summoning Skill and let the creature run wild on the island for a while before taking him to the Inheritance Hall for awakening.

Of course, Lin Sisi, the girl, accompanied them; her role was indispensable for drawing the Enlightenment Array patterns needed for awakening.

Theoretically, Xiao Man could have done this job herself.

For instance, finding a stonecutter to carve out the Eye of the Starry Sky symbol, and then filling in the colors using the Nine-color Mixed Brush could have worked, but this idea was eventually scrapped by Xiao Man.

The rationale was quite simple and twofold.

Firstly, Xiao Man had tried using a large brush to paint on intricate and textured surfaces before. He found that it wasn’t as simple as he had imagined.

Even with the pattern pre-engraved, filling it in due to its complexity was not that easy and mistakes were often made.

Furthermore, with the Enlightenment Array, a single mistake in drawing could make it unusable, which could end up wasting resources.

The second reason was even simpler: it was simply unnecessary.

Now that he had Lin Sisi to assist him with drawing the Array, there was no need to look for a stonecutter.

Not to mention the hassle, and it’s not like he would be doing the drawing himself, right?

That would be a serious drop in coolness.

He felt having Lin Sisi, the little lass, helping out was quite fitting; it not only brought a ceremonial feel to the process but also prevented him from having to do everything himself, which suited him quite well.

With everything ready, it was now time for the awakening.

"Jin Bao, come here, lie down on this stone platform, and don’t move unless I say so, alright?"

Xiao Man picked up Jin Bao and placed him on the stone platform, and Lin Sisi had already completed the drawing of the pattern by then. Now, they just had to wait for the dog’s awakening.

It must be said, with the Communication Skill, directing Jin Bao was convenient. Xiao Man asked him not to move, and he obediently stayed still, much more so than before.

Next, Xiao Man laid Jin Bao flat in the middle of the stone platform, ensuring the dog’s side was perfectly aligned with the pattern.

As a drop of dog’s blood fell, the next second, the entire Enlightenment Array was instantly activated. A burst of light erupted from the stone platform, enveloping Jin Bao within it.

Seeing this familiar scene, a smile appeared on Xiao Man’s face.

"Indeed, not only humans but animals too can undergo awakening..."

Before he could finish his words, a sudden change occurred on the field. The dog, which had been lying quietly on the stone platform, suddenly began to bark in terror. Then it abruptly got up from the platform and immediately leaped down and ran a good distance away.

"Ao ao ao ao ao!"

("Don’t come near! Don’t come near! Don’t come near!")

Zhang Xiaoman only heard a series of miserable screams, and by the time he looked over, Jin Bao had already run out of the Inheritance Hall.

Around the corner, a glimpse of golden light could still be seen, obviously, the dog had been so frightened that it activated its Following the Way of Heaven Skill.

Zhang Xiaoman stared blankly at this scene, stunned for a while before he finally came to his senses. The Awakening had failed just like that.

"Jin Bao ran away scared. It seems it also experienced some kind of illusion just now and seems to have also forgotten my instructions to it. Logically, I had only commanded it not to move, which should not be related to the Awakening itself, yet it still forgot that memory. I don’t know what the mechanism behind this is..."

Zhang Xiaoman looked at the stone platform that had returned to its original state and began to ponder some things about the Awakening.

Speaking of which, this was the first time he’d experienced an Awakening failure, and in the end, it was snagged by Jin Bao the dog.

"The pattern of this Enlightenment Array seems a bit mysterious. Everyone experiences different illusions during their Awakening, which I can understand, but why do some people easily come out of it while others get completely lost?"

He couldn’t help but recall when Ye Cang had Awakened, he quickly saw through the illusion and walked out from it, thus completing the Awakening.

In contrast, Lin Sisi, whose talent was much higher than Mr. Ye’s, was trapped for a long time before she managed to successfully make it through.

Indeed, if he hadn’t spoken up to help her, she might have simply failed, which shows that it doesn’t seem to be related to talent.

"Maybe it has to do with willpower? Or perhaps something like age?"

Zhang Xiaoman shook his head, deciding not to think about it for now.

For the current situation, as he couldn’t find any effective clues, he could only guess and wait for more occurrences in the future to discern a pattern.

Jin Bao’s first Awakening had failed, but fortunately, he had prepared a second plan, although this meant that the dog would have to suffer a bit.

Zhang Xiaoman was too lazy to go out and look for it again, so he simply activated his Summoning Skill and summoned the bewildered Jin Bao back.

By now, Jin Bao seemed to have pushed the recent illusion to the back of its mind, appearing completely unruffled as it sniffed around.

Zhang Xiaoman had Lin Sisi draw the Array on the stone platform, then grabbed the dog and pressed it onto the platform once again.

However, Jin Bao was not so cooperative this time and struggled, trying to get up and run away.

But after Zhang Xiaoman scolded it a couple of times, it obediently lay back down, looking at the two people beside it with an innocent expression, obviously still haunted by the previous incident.

Although Lin Sisi couldn’t see Jin Bao, through her Spirit Detection Technique, she could sense Zhang Xiaoman’s recent actions.

She also knew what had happened and couldn’t help but let out a light laugh, extending her hand to pet the dog a couple of times as a gesture of comfort.