Chapter 195: Summoning
Evan had no idea what the girl in front of him was talking about when she’d told him they needed to hurry for the examination.
He hadn’t asked, though.
He’d already decided to let things run their course for now, so he simply followed her, and before long the two of them found themselves standing in front of the gates of a heavily guarded area.
’A military base?’ Evan thought, taking in the strange surroundings, the checkpoints, the patrols moving between them with practiced precision, boots striking the pavement in a rhythm that felt almost mechanical.
They stood in line in front of the base’s entrance, where two soldiers in military uniforms flanked the gate, carrying weapons that resembled the firearms, though these had a distinctly different edge to them, sleeker, almost futuristic in design, with faint lights running along their frames that pulsed in slow, steady intervals.
The soldiers were checking people, but not for documents, as one might expect. Something else entirely.
Evan noticed that everyone ahead of him held out one of their wrists, letting it be scanned by some kind of device before they were allowed through. Almost instinctively, he glanced down at his own wrist, checking for anything unusual there. There was nothing, just skin, no mark, no scar, nothing that stood out.
Seraphine, standing beside him, noticed what he was doing and spoke up, a hint of playfulness in her voice.
"What, trying to shoot webs or something?"
"Webs?" Evan looked at her, confused, and his confusion only made her shake her head.
"Tsk, what a shame. You know Bruce Lee, but not your friendly neighborhood spider?" she said, looking at him like he’d just committed some kind of blasphemy.
Evan stared at her in confusion.
’Spider? What the hell is she talking about?’ Evan wanted to say something, but he held his tongue. There was no point continuing that particular conversation, not when he stood zero chance of coming out of it unscathed against her.
Seeing that he had nothing more to say, Seraphine dropped the playful tone and turned her attention toward the soldiers instead.
"They’re marking them," she said simply, and that made Evan raise an eyebrow.
"Marking? Like a tattoo or something?" he asked, unsure what exactly was happening or why.
From what little he understood, some kind of exam was taking place here, and for whatever reason, his old self had apparently asked her to help him sign up for it. But he had no idea what the exam actually involved, let alone what its purpose was, or why it required something like this just to get through the gate.
"Something like that. I don’t know the details, but it seems to be some kind of safeguard, meant to prevent information leaks," she said, which only deepened his curiosity about the whole situation.
He didn’t ask anything further and simply stood in line beside her for another half hour before it was finally their turn, watching in silence as person after person went through the same routine ahead of them.
The guards looked them over, head to toe, before one of them spoke.
"Wrists forward," he said, and both of them did as instructed.
Immediately, both guards produced a strange device, something resembling the scanners used in supermarkets, though this one did something far stranger. A thin red light flickered out from it, lasting only a second, followed by a quiet beep and a faint burning sensation on Evan’s wrist.
Evan looked down at the spot but saw nothing there, even though he could sense that something had just been placed on his skin. He wanted to ask more, but seeing the guards’ blank expressions and Seraphine’s indifference, he decided against it and simply moved on, following her past the checkpoint and deeper into the base.
As he did, he couldn’t help but notice a change taking place within his body. Nothing obvious, nothing easily perceptible, but there, in the smallest possible quantity, not something he could feel spreading through his body as a whole, but something localized right where the scanner had touched him.
’wait, is this... mana?’
***
[Royal Capital - Awakened Academy]
In one of the academy’s corridors, three figures were walking together, one in front and the other two following behind.
The one in front was a man dressed in the academy’s guard uniform, escorting the two girls behind him toward their destination.
The girls in question were none other than Selena and Lirien, brought to the academy only recently by the Dean himself.
Not much had happened since then, aside from being given a little time to recover before being summoned, almost immediately after, to the meeting hall.
It was obvious why this was happening. Both of them had expected it, which was why neither seemed particularly surprised as they walked, their expressions calm despite the weight clearly pressing on both their minds.
The two had already discussed between themselves what to say. It wasn’t hard to guess what they’d be asked about.
There was nothing particularly strange that needed to be hidden, but certain details still had to be handled carefully, especially since the rest of their squad was dead, and each of them knew things the other didn’t, pieces of the same story that didn’t quite line up when placed side by side.
So they had spent some time talking among themselves, filling in the gaps in what had happened during their time in that strange place before they were summoned.
They walked in silence for a few more moments before arriving at a large door, flanked on either side by two more guards in full armor, spears in hand, their expressions unreadable beneath the shadow of their helmets.
"I’m here with the two students who were summoned," said the guard who had escorted them, and the two flanking the door gave a simple nod before pushing it open, allowing them through.
The moment the two girls stepped inside, they immediately felt the atmosphere change.
The room was quiet, somewhat dark and serious.
Tension hung heavily in the air as several pairs of eyes turned toward them.