'Anima' was a substance, as in, a quantifiable attribute responsible for who awakens what natal treasure or awakens at all.
If you had anima beyond a certain threshold, you could awken your natal treasure and become a spirited.
Else, you're a spiritless.
While the concept was simple, the design and structure was not. After all, it needed to work for an entire race. Not just the first generation of Palarians, but their children, grandchildren and the generation that would come after a million years.
It's an exceedingly difficult thing to design and incorporate into a new race. But All Mother Asherah was hailed as one of the most influential gods for a good reason.
There were others who created stronger races or more talented ones. There were even a few who built species that start directly from celestial ranks. As in, a child of that species would be born as a celestial.
Yet, Asherah was the indisputable number one and was far better than anyone else in the area.
The reason?
Sustainability.
Creating races was a difficult task, even for a divine ranker.
There were a limited number of races a divine ranker could create per a million years.
If your races don't exinct within a million or two, it's a big blessing already.
Palarians didn't collapse because Asherah picked a simple but lasting design for their race.
For the concept of natal treasures, she used Fortune Anvil as the source. The treasure wasn't just a source that kept their natal treasures possible but also the collector of Anima.
As Palarians' population grew, their Anima would also increase.
Then this large pool of 'anima' would be distributed to palarian babies upon their inception.
The anima one would get depended on a lot of innate factors such as their parents' strength, talents, the composition of the baby itself and of course, some luck.
Palarians' population had stabilized long ago, as did their strength. So, the Anima their race held was roughly constant.
Against that backdrop, the children of genius—the spirited—would draw more anima upon their birth, becoming spirited themselves.
This meant that those who didn't have at least one spirited parent had to rely either on a very good innate constitution or luck.
If a Spiritless parent was strong, say, rank 5 or above, there's a some chance for the child to have a good constitution.
But even for a kingdom like Pala, rank 5s and above were a very, very small percentage of the population.
So, the real chance these children had was dependent on elusive luck.
What're the odds?
About as many as one in a million.
A devastatingly low number.
Thankfully, the sheer size of Spiritless population meant that each century produced a new batch of spirited.
Perhaps that's why, while Palarian society always saw new nobility.
Old nobles would fall, new nobles would rise. The oppressors became the oppressed and the oppressed became the oppressors.
The cycle would continue unceasingly.
Even the most brilliant noble houses, ones that frequently produced pillars of the kingdom, couldn't change this harsh reality.
Sure, there were some kind souls who tried to create a more peaceful and just society but how could a single pillar go against the inertia of times and pressure of peers?
Forget the nobility, even the king himself wouldn't be able to make that change. He could make the laws, but the executioners of law wouldn't accept the law.
The new nobility would be dissatissfied at the king for snatching their 'chance' at being the rulers. The old nobility would dislike changing age-old traditions.
Heck, the spiritless themselves who were benefitting from the current system would quietly oppose the implementation.
In essence, even the powerful man was helpless in front of the harsh truth.
And yet…
Samantha was on the verge of altering that very reality.
Instead of giving more Anima to some people and little Anima to rest, she would give equal Anima to everyone.
What thrilled her the most was that everyone could still have their natal treasures in this manner.
Yep!
So high was the inequality that even if distributed across the population, everyone could still have their natal treasures!
"Arghh, mother, father, duchess, this is it. A utopia is in front of us."
Princess Samantha shed tears as she entered the final phase of the process.
Boom!
A streak of red cut through the horizon and her body was blasted backward, rolling like a ball as blood spilled out like she's a shaken wine bottle.
"Stupid bitch!" Prince Robert spat blood on the ground and glared at Samantha who jumped back to her feet. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"Fixing the mistake!" Samantha yelled, a blue spear materializing in her hand.
The moment the weapon appeared, an invisible pressure fell on Robert, restricting his speed by at least 20%.
Robert drew his sword and a yellow full-body armor enveloped his body, like he's a knight of some medeival kingdom.
"It wasn't a mistake. It's the only reason we're alive."
He kicked the ground and shot forward. Dust rose into the air and shockwaves swept the beautiful flowers in the area. But curiously, not a single flower was damaged, much less uprooted.
The prince and princess quickly entered a battle of vicious clash.
Boom! Bom! Boom! They didn't hold back at all and fought at their full strength, intending to kill their opponent.
"Fuck! Fuck you! You are with the terrorists! You traitorous bitch!" Robert roared at the top of his lungs, his sword piercing through Samantha's shoulder and spilling her blood on his face.
"Do you know how many children the bastards you support kill every year? No, every day?!" Samantha gripped the sword that was being pulled back and thrust her spear into the prince's abdomen.
The spear collided with the full body armor and a mouthful of blood was vomitted from the gaps between the head gear. But Samantha too felt a force attacking her abdomen, about 10% of her attack.
A minor injury was formed.
But she didn't care.
Her eyes were burning with conviction.
"No one can stop me today!"
