The vehicle drove them for about half an hour, moving from the hospital in the outer settlement to the testing site located in the middle settlement.
After a while, they arrived in front of a tall building.
It was a building with several floors of heavily reinforced protective material. Impressed with the sight, Kael stared for a minute.
"Enough staring. Let's go inside."
As they headed inside, Kael was thinking about how this turn of events could affect his plans.
Firstly, he had no way of tampering with the test results—and his sovereign core rank would be revealed.
"By the way, what's the test even for if I can already see everything on my stat window?"
"That's just a misconception, but it's a good question.
You see, the main thing we do here is to put your core details into register and give you your awakened ID, which doubles down as a debit card.
Some people, due to the condition their mind is in after completing their challenge, can't view their window, so the facility can also check it with the help of officers whose abilities can do so."
'I haven't even tried to use my demon eyes since I got them.
No, but then it has the [Essence sight] enchantment.
What if I see something so surprising that I can't my composure?'
When they got inside, she took him to the registration area on a different floor.
Upon getting to the floor, there was a charming young man behind a desk in the big office.
His face looked rather tired and had dark circles under his eyes, but his features still looked very sharp.
The young man's face lit up immediately after noticing them.
"Oh Freya, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you're playing 'patrol officer now.'"
She smiled back and replied.
"No, I just happened to be at the hospital and decided to bring him here myself.
Quit talking to me and attend to the kid, would you?"
"Alright, alright."
The man turned to Kael and widened his smile a bit, which made him a little uncomfortable, but he prevented a trace of it from appearing on his face.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Kael."
The man turned his head slightly.
"Just Kael, right?"
He nodded in response.
Freya turned around and headed for the door.
"Anyways, I'm leaving; you guys get along.
By the way, here's my card in case you want to contact me.
But only when you absolutely need something, okay?"
She slipped a card into his hand and turned away.
'Crap, I might not be able to check at this rate.'
He summoned the demonic eye with a mental command.
Within a few seconds, he let out a yelp as he staggered a little.
Freya immediately turned around and caught him.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Regaining his balance, he turned to look at her.
"Yes, I'm alright.
I just felt a little dizzy for a second there."
He couldn't even explain what he was seeing.
The whole world was filled with golden particles that flooded the entire space.
The particles were also present in every individual in the room.
The essence in the body of a person was much denser than that which was flowing in the world.
But what surprised him the most was the nature of the essence core; it possessed the same color as the golden dust but seemed to differ from person to person.
Freya's core was rather faint and bigger than the man's core, which seemed about half the size of Freya's core.
'That must be because she is an ascended.'
The particles also flowed differently in each person, representing the general nature of the ability they wielded.
Freya's flowed along with her blood, indicating an ability that had to do with conjuring or long-range magic.
While in the man, it seemed to be more condensed around his senses and his hands—indicating more of a utility type.
'The particles must be essence then.
It looks rather fascinating.'
Since it was a passive ability, he didn't need essence to activate it.
After a few seconds, he activated the [Inquire] ability.
What he saw confirmed his suspicion about Freya
Name: Freya Greenwald
Level: Ascended
Soul core potential: Feral
Innate ability: Essence burst [You can imbue ordinary items directly with essence and shoot bursts of essence.]
Ascended ability: Essence control [You can control coat objects and shape essence into solid form.]
Skills: [Essence blade] [Essence bullets] [Essence blast] [Essence wall] [Canon]
Stats & Inventory
[Grimsley's Scythe] [Bone shield] [Moonspring] [Elistar's bow] [Onyx plate armor]
[Steel pocket knife] [Reinforced RPG] [Fancy jacket] [Shaman's charm] [Air walker]
[Lighting boots]
Memory name: Grimsley's Scythe
Memory type: Weapon
Rank: Transcendent
Ability: [Death dealer] [Soul eater] [Ghost blade]
Memory name: Reinforced RPG
Memory type: Weapon
Rank: Ascended
Ability: [Essence blaster] [Essence vacuum]
Memory name: Fancy jacket
Memory type: Armor
Rank: Awakened
Ability: [Readjusted]
Memory name: Shaman's charm
Memory type: Charm
Rank: Ascended
Ability: [Undaunted]
Memory name: Bone shield
Memory type: Armor
Rank: Awakened
Ability: [Unyielding] [Hex resistant]
Memory name: Moonspring
Memory type: Weapon
Rank: Awakened
Ability: [Unyielding] [Moonlight effect]
Memory name: Onyx plate armor
Memory type: Charm
Rank: Ascended
Ability: [Feather or Rock] [Readjusted]
Memory name: Elistar's bow
Memory type: Weapon
Rank: Ascended
Ability: [Death dealer] [Caged thunder]
Memory name: Air walker
Memory type: Utility
Rank: Awakened
Ability: [Air walk]
Memory name: Lighting boots
Memory type: Utility
Rank: Awakened
Ability: [Lighting speed]
Stats
[Strength: 82]
[Stamina: 76]
[Endurance: 84]
[Agility: 69]
[Intelligence: 33]
[Essence: 170]
'Well, she's definitely an ascended human.'
Kael smiled slightly.
"Thank you."
With that Freya left, leaving Kael and the attendant as well as some more people who came in.
'This [inquire] ability is extraordinarily convenient.
Well, that's a given considering it's a fragment of a demon.'
Indeed, it took him just a few seconds to absorb all the information.
'And it seems I can even choose how much I want to know.'
The inquiries took about an hour, and he had to wait for one more before his card was ready.
The attendant—whose name was Lauren—came back into the office with his card.
"Here you go."
"Thank you, sir."
He waited a few more seconds before asking Lauren a question.
"Excuse me sir, I was hoping I could please ask a favor of you."
Lauren's face showed a hint of surprise behind his perfect smile.
"What is it, Kael?"
"The thing is that, as you know, I'm from the outskirts.
I don't know anything I could do now that I'm awakened, so I wanted to ask if you knew any work I could do until the awakening ceremony."
The awakened ceremony was when all the people who had awakened that year would be admitted into the academy.
Lauren gave him a genuine smile and answered.
"Well, of course, while most kids from the outskirts just go do their own thing, a few take the initiative and ask me for advice.
Well, there are a few options. First, there are openings for laborers in the construction or the smith's workshops, but those are for people with strength-enhanced abilities.
But for you, I would recommend two—the first is an office assistant here at the agency, but the spots aren't open right now.
But I can call you when they do.
The second option is to work as a porter near the gates.
Though it might be a bit dangerous—there are always awakened fighters guarding the place—the benefits are good: daily wages that are quite okay and living quarters as well as free food.
It's not as good as a role here, but it's the best and most available option.
Plus, there will be others newly awakened there as well."
"Thank you very much, sir; I'll consider it."
He left the facility after having lunch and headed to the location Lauren told him a gate had opened at.
Things seemed to be falling into place already.
Next was to go and apply to work as a porter until Lauren found something or he spoke to Altair; he hadn't forgotten about the stunning transcendent.
All he needed was to get some new clothes since he didn't take any from his apartment in the outer settlement, then go and work until the academy began admitting
He felt a sense of excitement he hadn't felt in a while, and a grin appeared on his face.
"Well then, shall we begin?"