Chapter 46: Qualification

Chapter 46: Qualification "Come back later kid, we still have something to do!" The head chef said to Kieran as he made his way out of the kitchen.

Kieran gave a short nod before moving out absentmindedly. He was thinking about what he had learnt from Ruby and Jake during their talk.

He hadn’t contacted Ruby nor Jake since the talk two days ago and none of them make any more to get in touch with him either.

From their talk, they managed to clear one of his doubts; why he had never seen them use their abilities, even at the most dangerous moments like the last battle they had.

Their answer was rather surprising to say the least. They didn’t use their abilities because they couldn’t use it.

Apparently, it was due to the restrictions they mentioned earlier, in fact, it was more like a tradition according to what Ruby and Jake explained.

When a child first awakens his ability, they are taken and thrown into and extremely tough training scheme to get use to that power and to gain control over it.

After that, their abilities are sealed. They did this for the sake of "growth".

When a child just awakens, his abilities aren’t yet as developed as they should be, this makes it suitable a suitable time for them to learn to gain control over their abilities, to familiarize themselves with it.

After that process has been completed, their abilities are placed under several levels of seals and those seals were placed so that their abilities could "grow".

Another reason why the families adopted this method was to make sure that their descendants wouldn’t become reliant on their abilities and become useless without it.

When they were deemed ready, certain levels of the seals would be released until they completely released all of their seals.

Kieran’s case was totally opposite from what they had gone through, and Jake had commented that even with that being the case, it was still weird.

According to his memory, he couldn’t remember any event where he awoke an ability or anything similar to what Jake had described to him– the process of awakening.

Because of that, he didn’t have the opportunity to familiarize himself with his power and get to know it or gain control over it.

What Jake considered strange was that since that happened to Kieran, when he awoke now as a teenager, his ability should have been unveiled in one go and if that happened, his body would have blown up, unable to handle the immense energy as a result of the ability and he wouldn’t even have been able to do anything since he lacked even the basics.

Instead what Jake had noticed from Kieran’s narration to him was that his ability was showing itself in stages just enough for him to handle, even though it was hard. That was similar to the seals they had on them, it it seemed like a more advanced method.

It was something that neither Jake nor Ruby were able to explain.

’Did he do it?’ Kieran thought as he walked down the hallways of the camp.

When Jake and Ruby made mention of how abnormal what had happened was, the first thing that came to his mind was the face of his father.

He couldn’t really explain the feeling, but every strange thing that happened to him so far had a weird connection to his dad, even when that connection wasn’t shouldn’t be possible.

There were somethings that just didn’t fit when he looked at his family and he was only realizing after their death.

’Are they even dead?’ Kieran thought before dismissing it.

Although, the detective said that they didn’t find the body, he later sent a mail to Kieran that he did find the body later on.

As for why he chose not to tell Kieran immediately when he did? He didn’t know. That was just another one on the list of unsolved questions he had to find answers to.

The talk with Jake and Ruby didn’t really answer as much questions as he thought it would. If anything, it only created more questions that needed answering, and Jake and Ruby couldn’t answer those questions either because they didn’t know or because of the restrictions placed on them.

"Sigh!" Kieran sighed as his back hit the soft bed in his room.

’I wonder when I’ll be able to get the answers to all these questions?!’ He asked himself l, placing his hand on his head.

BEEP! BEEP!!

Before he could drift into the world of sleep, his watch beeped and he raised his hand to check the message.

"Hmm?!" Kieran hummed as he read through the message he had just gotten from the camp.

<The just concluded mission served as the end to the first phase of your training here in the Origin camp>

<We are sure you found the past four months here quite entertaining. Well, the good news is that there’s more in store, so much more!>

Kieran had a bad feeling when he read that last part.

<The sad thing is that only those of you who qualified would be able to experience the fun things we prepared for you!>

<Not to waste any more time, a list would be sent out now showing your placements which as promised will be majorly based on your performance in the last mission added to your already existing ranking list.>

<This list would determine what category you will fall in; whether or not you would get to experience the fun things we prepared for you.>

<How you will be treated by the camp is also determined by this list. Whether or not you have potential and should be nurtured or you are just trash that managed to survive till this point due to luck!>

<We all hope to see you soon.>

<Welcome to the Cold Hell!>

Kieran let out a weary sigh after reading through the message. Whoever composed it really put in the effort to place tension on the recruits. Only that it was useless on recruits like Kieran, Sabrina and the rest.

’Let’s see what the talk is all about!’ Kieran thought, pressing the open button to see the list that appeared under the message.

<1. Kieran Callum

2. Jake Blaze

3. Ruby Gale

4. Sabrina Aurora

5. Liam Aurora

6. Derrick Wildearth

......>

Kieran read through the list of names and to say he was surprised seeing himself at the top would be an overstatement.

If one thought it through, it was perfectly understandable. After clearing a group of beasts that had occupied and out post and finding the existence of a Kretas at the center of the region.

Kieran not only tried to warn the rest, he also sent a message to the camp. He basically aced everything he could do and didn’t overestimate himself like the rest.

That aside, their team had also fulfilled the initial purpose of the mission rather well.

What he found surprising was the presence of Derrick’s name so high up on the list.

Derrick was the recruit who wore a glass and had a gentle expression. Kieran had found out his name while they were in the infirmary.

He was part of those who had been chased back after encountering the group of beasts. The camp must have their reasons for placing only him from that group so high on the rankings.

After spotting a few names, Kieran didn’t bother checking the rest of the list. He had no intention to check how many had passed successfully. His name and the others he had checked for were on the list and that was all that mattered.

’I have to take a walk’ Kieran thought as he stood from the bed.

The message and list had made him lose the urge to take a nap. There more important things to do, preparations had to be made.

With the tension in the camp and the movement of the soldiers which indicated a possible war, Kieran knew that the second stage they were about to step unto would be different from what the others had experienced and he needed to be extra prepared.

’Should I change my room too?’ Kieran thought as he shut the door of the room.

At the end of the message was a notice that he had now been promoted to a level 9 first year recruit which means the camp saw him as someone with suffice potential and if he was to keep up the performance, they were going to invest their resources on him.

Shaking his head, he moved away from the room to another direction. He could change his dorm anytime he wished. Right now, what mattered the most was getting information to prepare for what was ahead.

Now that he was level 9, he could finally access all the books stored on the levels available to the first years.

Before that, Kieran want to the kitchen and made some unknown arrangements with the head chef before making his way to the library.

Like the last time he was there, the place was bustling and Kieran still found it hard to adjust to the change.

As he made way to a hallway, his eyes swept past the counter and he paused in his steps, having caught something.

At the counter, sat a face that he had almost forgotten. The strange noble, Leora, sat watching people walk in and out with her trademark bored face.

’This is good. It seems I need to have another discussion!’

Kieran thought as he changed the direction of his steps, moving in her direction.