Varian asked "Who is 'He'?"
Colonel Reina didn't reply and turned around "Follow me."
Kyle whispered, "They asked me about the facility inside the hill. These cadet comms have locators."
Varian looked at his cadet comm with distrust 'Would this thing record his secrets'
"It can't do much. The original plan was to monitor everything about the cadet. But the alumni and prime families objected. The technocrats also said the data could be used by hostile powers." Kyle chuckled and revealed.
Varian raised an eyebrow at Kyle, seeming to ask, 'How do you know so much?'
"Maya's father participated in the project." He smirked and said, "Now go."
'He sure is proud of his father-in-law.' Varian shook his head and followed Colonel Rein.
They walked through a heavily fortified path in an awkward silence. The walls were made of special alloy, and it was a grade higher than adamantine.
Varian shuddered at the thought of these walls collapsing. He looked at the officer in front and wanted to strike a conversation. After recalling her short and cold responses, he gave up and checked his comm.
'It's been 2 hours already?' Varian was baffled. 'Weren't injuries caused by aura take longer to heal?'
Injuries that could be healed through pure regeneration of cells were not a problem for today's technology.
However, when two awakeners fight, they also inflict their own aura on their opponent and part of it seeps in. This aura must be removed, or it'd interfere in the healing process.
He checked his body and found no injuries.
'The critical healing liquid…' he recalled the soothing sensation and guessed the reason.
They soon reached a large door.
The AI scanned her ID and informed the one inside.
Colonel Reina turned around and stared at him with a deadpan face "You're a reckless fool."
She started walking away leaving one advice "Be careful of what you say."
'Weird woman.' Varian shook his head and turned to the room.
The door opened, and Varian almost punched the person who walked out.
"Oh? You? Are you a cockroach that won't die?" Narcis took a moment to recognize him and chuckled.
Varian really wanted to kill Narcis, even if it was a fellow human. The only thing that stopped him was Narcis's background.
If he thrashed Narcis, a Level 3, his elder brother would seek revenge. Then his father. Then his grandpa. If alive, even his great grandpa would come.
Narcis's father was enough to crush anyone. He was Julius Xander — Sovereign. The peak of combat power and the guardian of Earth. If rumors were to be trusted, he dotted on his second son, Narcis.
'But I can always assassinate you... let's see how long you have.' Varian decided to forebear and hence didn't want to resort to violence.
But he had no problem in retorting to a verbal fight, "Are you the trash that can't even kill a cockroach?"
"Hahaha" A young man around 18 appeared behind Narcis and looked at him with a mocking smile.
"Narcis, second son of Julius Xander, is a trash that can't kill a level 2. Good news." the young man fanned the flames.
"Adir, you better remember this isn't your Caron family turf or I'll have no problem deporting you to your home planet." Narcis squinted at the young man and warned.
"Give it a try. I'm an honorary student and I'll be the first in the practical test. Try deporting me." Adir smirked and continued to provoke.
"Nonsense. I'll be first." Narcis retorted.
They totally ignored Varian. To them, anyone without a strong background was not even worth their attention. Narcis would likely forget Varian in a day.
'Duh. Whatever.' Varian ignored them and entered the room.
Even revenge on Narcis was second on his priority list. First was always finding Sia.
As he stepped in, he saw the whole room was occupied by the hologram playing the final scene of Varian jumping into the space shuttle and Abyss Duke punching the space shuttle.
If Varian never believed he was lucky, now he did. If he was late by just a second, he'd be dead.
That meant if anything until that moment was delayed by one second, he'd have died. One second more on the hill, one second more to think, one second of hesitation would've meant death.
The hologram turned off and Varian saw a man sitting in a large chair. He wore the standard military uniform and stared at Varian.
Just looking at him, Varian felt a huge pressure. The man was tall, even when seated, and had an aura of vicissitudes for his not-so-old face.
'Eric — General.' Varian glanced at the name and rank of the officer and straightened his back.
Generals were at least Level 7. Every three levels was a watershed. So a Level 3 couldn't be compared to Level 4 and a Level 6 couldn't be compared to Level 7.
There were several theories for this, but none was convincing enough.
Regardless, anyone awakener above Level 6 was an elite of the elite and top combat power of the Human Armed Forces.
Varian didn't speak, and the officer continued to stare at him. Finally, Eric spoke in a light tone "Varian Konstant, congratulations on becoming an honorary student of Imperial Defense Academy."
"Thank You, Sir." Varian responded in a formal tone, but the joy was hard to hide.
Even though he believed his findings inside the castle would be considered 'outstanding performance', he was relieved only after knowing he was selected.
His first and also last option in admission was Imperial Academy!
"I'm Eric. Supervisor of 2nd year and Final Decision Maker of this Entrance Test." He introduced himself and cut to the point.
"The facility inside the hill was found by the army long ago. It seemed to be a reserve for aura crystals. For what? We don't know." Eric said in a casual tone, while closely observing Varian.
'Does he not know about the strange altar or is he just testing me?' Varian quickly wondered.
'They only know I went inside. They don't know what I saw. Good thing cadet comm cannot record everything. But...'
"Yes, there are a lot of aura crystals." Varian replied and pointed to his space ring and followed "There is also a weird altar. It's in the room with aura crystals. That's all I know."
"Haha. You're honest. There are aura crystals only around the altar. If you had lied, I would have slashed off your admission." Eric said without a change or expression.
Varian felt he was sweating, even though the room was very cold.
"Now the important part." Eric gave an enthusiastic smile and a few holograms popped in front.
'Virgin Dungeon Cross Tunneling Targets:
….'
'Noob Dungeon Cross Tunneling Targets:
….'
"I'll need the original material."
Varian retrieved the leathers from his space ring and was about to walk over to hand them in.
But before he could react, a few branches took the material from him. He looked up and saw Eric checking the material.
The branches were nowhere to be seen.
'Plant Morpher. Level 7.' Varian knew the Divine Path of Eric.
Planet Morphers were Awakeners in Morpher Divine Path that could turn into plants.
Like Beast Morpher, any Plant Morpher had a Plant species they'd transform into.
However, there was not much "species" difference like in Beast Morphers where one could Beast morpher turned into a Snow wolf and the other into a fire lizard.
All Plant Morphers more or less transform into the same kind of plant. Therefore, the difference in power between two plant morphers would only be decided by their skills and experience.
Eric verified the documents's validity and looked at him with a profound smile. "You're lucky. Honorary Students are all Level 3s. Even then, they have to finish tough tasks. Killing Abyss Commander, stealing intelligence, destroying the armory, slaying at least a 100 Abyssal Knights in one shot and so on."
Varian smiled wryly. He was indeed lucky to get those materials without actually fighting for them. But to survive until that point was no luck. This matter, no person other than himself would understand.
"Did you see who was responsible for the whole event?" Eric asked in a causal tone.
"No. By the time I climbed the hill, there was not a single thing living." Varian said without changing his expression.
If he told them that Enigma, the leader of Shadow Order, who reportedly killed every human she saw, spared him, he'd be a suspect. He might even be branded as a terrorist himself by few.
"I see. That's expected. Regardless of who killed the Abyss Lord, you are the one who brought the important intel. We only see end results. So you get the merit." Eric shrugged.
Varian glanced at his cadet comm.
{You have been awarded 500 mp for the "Intel"}
Eric sensed Varian's aura and sensed he just broke through Level 2. He was a bit surprised but that was it.
"You joined the test as a Level 1 and you awakened not too long ago, unless you're concealing it. You reached Level 2 in less than a month. Maybe you found a special fruit, or you got a precious potion. I don't care."
'I didn't get any of those things, but if my rapid advancements can be accepted for those reasons, I'm more than happy.'
"But I must say, this is like the start of a legendary story." Eric applauded. Varian tried to smile but stopped himself as Eric's smile darkened "Most of these stories end prematurely."
The fatality of the Imperial Defense Academy was at least 20%. Eric had seen too many geniuses die before they truly rose. They were like comets which shone for a single night rather than the stars which shone every night.
"I have a strong will to survive." Varian said.
"You sure do. I'm still surprised you survived this as a Level 2 Body Awakener."
'Well, it seems like my Space powers are not reported. I was bloodied and unrecognizable most of the time. Every candidate was busy with their own thing.'
Varian gave a smile and wanted to get to the sole reason he wanted to be an honorary student.
"Finally. You're first in the practical test. You can make a reasonable request."
Varian braced himself and asked the one thing he did everything for — Sia.