BK1 Chapter Five

Chapter Five

An intense cold sensation crawled into my skin the moment I touched the globe. My fingers stiffened in place from the shock, refusing to move as I panicked and tried to pull my hand away. It wouldn't move an inch stuck in place firmly. The coldness trickled up my arm, reaching my shoulder, then travelled towards my chest and stomach. It was a sickening feeling. It felt like dead fingers were clawing at my insides. The sensation changed as soon as it reached the bottom of my stomach. It was replaced with a strong tugging upward. I thought I might be sick with the sudden uplift back up my chest, releasing finally through my hand that lay on the globe.

I grimaced as it did so, relieved it was over. To my utter surprise, the globes liquid swirled and began to flicker with faint wisps of light. It was incredibly dim and only lasted barely 5 seconds before disappearing. When it was over, my hand flooded back with warmth allowing me to finally remove it from the device.

"No light. Unfortunately, you failed this part of the assessment" The older blue-cloaked summoner crossed something on his sheet before passing it to a grey cloak behind him.

"B-but there was light. It was faint, but it was there", I replied on autopilot, still in a little disbelief. Nothing had ever happened in all the past tests I had done when I was younger. This time, even though it was brief and dim, I saw it.

"There was no light. Accept that and move on, or are you saying that I, a fully trained summoner, don't know what I saw?" He scowled at me, fed up I was still standing here.

"N-no, of course not", I sighed, moving right to step out of the way for the next candidate.

"Good. Now move along over there" he pointed towards the second table with the four green-cloaked summoners.

"Jerk", I mumbled, moving over to the table as instructed. I know what I saw. There was some light. It might not mean much to him since it was a pathetic amount, but to me, it meant a lot.

Approaching the next table, I looked for one of the four green-cloaked summoners with an empty place, the third one along was waiting patiently, so I made my way over. As I got closer to him, the look on my face must have been a picture of the young man sneering at me.

"Crazy Cerue. Never thought I would see you here", he scoffed at me, scratching the light dirty blond muzzle on his chin.

"Zachary", I stated with a dip of my head to be polite. Of all people, it just had to be Zachary Weadall, the older brother of Lacey Weadall and, coincidently, Eduard's closest friend.

"What on earth made you attempt to sign up for the Army? Don't you cause enough hassle at home? We don't need you", He tutted, picking up my chart from a grey cloak.

"I have my reasons. Do I need to explain them as part of the assessment?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Zachary narrowed his pale blue eyes, his short curly blonde hair bouncing.

"No", he said curtly. "Let's get on with it then. Show me your skills" he held the board up with his pen watching me.

I looked back at him, confused. "Skills?"

"Yes, skills. Bring up your blood sign and say 'show skills" he seemed as confused as I did.

"Um.. what's a blood sign", I said, my head tilting

"What's a…" he repeated my words, somewhat baffled, before a heavy sigh left him. "Of course, why would they give you a blood sign? What would be the point? Is that why you're here? To get a blood sign?" He put down his board and instead picked up a vial of strange clear liquid shaking it.

"How could I come for something I don't know of?" I retorted at his accusation. This only made his face scrunch more.

"Why don't you know of blood signs? As a Viscount's daughter, you should know that much. It's expected that commoners don't know as they don't have the same education."

I shrugged. "I wasn't told" was all I could say without going into the lack of care my family had for me. Zachary didn't need to know that. I doubt he would believe me anyway. No one ever does. It was interesting to learn that there was something like this I had purposely not been told about though.

"Surprising", Zachary murmured before continuing. "A blood sign is something an individual needs to show the level of mastery they have obtained with either certain knowledge, physical skills, crafting skills, or for summoners, their level of magic and their abilities. It's a prerequisite for being a part of the Army, to grow your core, and for most crafting professions. It also provides an identification and basic layout of your health."

I felt the blood rush out of me. "So.. without one, I can't join" My hand began to tremble a little bit. What do I do now? If I can't join, I can't get away from my family.

"Never said that", Zachary smirked, taking the top off the bottle of clear liquid. "That's what this is for. We don't expect commoners to have one unless they were practising crafting professionals already a part of a guild."

"Now, give me your hand", he gestured to my right hand, holding out his own.

Was this the thing that the commoners looked in pain over? I hesitated to lift my hand up, but Zachary grabbed it when it was close enough with a grin on his face.

"This will hurt", he said before quickly pouring the liquid onto the back of my hand and chanting. "Blood of this one, gods, reveal their truth" A flash of red burst out from my hand, followed by a hot burning of my flesh sizzling on contact with the liquid. I scrunched my face biting my lip at the pain, but as soon as it was there, it was just as quickly gone again. In its place was now a red circle. Within it was a triangle, the point facing toward me when I lifted my hand on inspection. From the sides of the circle, two lines crossed through the triangle forming an X. The skin didn't look burnt; instead, the red outlines looked like the work of skin art I had sometimes seen on people, almost painted.

Vishka's guidance system

Detecting Blood Sign implantation

Initiating melding

Suddenly Vishka popped up, and immediately the box flickered, fading and reappearing as it stuttered in and out of existence. I felt my hand begin to burn again and winced at the surprise, the box flickering faster before it almost pinged.

Vishka's guidance system

Melding Complete

Vishka's guidance will now be accessible through your Blood Sign.

The blood sign has been altered as per Vishka's guidance.

"What does that mean?" I whispered, looking at the air the box used to be in.

"What?" Zachary picked up his board again, readying his pen.

"Uh-Oh, nothing", I blushed, rubbing the new mark on my hand. It didn't have any ridges. It was as smooth as my skin had always been. What did Vishka do?

"Whatever", he rolled his eyes at me. "So, say 'show skills' whilst holding up your palm. It will show me if you have achieved any skills that may be worthwhile to the Army. I doubt it though, with your recklessness" he shook his head.

Right, Eduard probably told Zachary quite often his opinion of me. It's no surprise Zachery didn't have any expectations, not that I did much, either. As he said, in this life, my only accomplishments so far are throwing tantrums for attention, threatening to destroy marketplaces, and actually destroying furniture. I think I maybe once held a knife up to someone out of desperation when another noble child was abusing me, no one believed me when I told them why I did that of course.

"Show Skills!" I said, maybe too loudly, as Zachary rolled his eyes at me again.

"Why do they always shout" he mumbled again as I jumped at the see-through box that appeared between us. A bold red line edged it, and I could see writing in thick red letters but couldn't read it as it was backward for me, probably because it was for Zachary to read, not me.

"Let's see now… name yes… rank yes… magic core, null, as expected" His lip upturned, and I frowned at that. "now skills, what wonderful skills do you have" His exaggeration of wonderful turned my frown into a scowl. No need for him to be so smug.

"What…" Zachary paused his pen, narrowing his eyes, looking at my blood sign, then back to me, puzzled. "Just how…" he mumbled to himself, his pen moving as he jotted down whatever it was he saw. He mumbled a lot now that I thought about it. Raising his hand, he pointed at the box and then flicked his finger upwards, and I saw the text rapidly move with the action changing to something else.

His eyes now widened, not in surprise though, as his lips pulled down into a frown through his blonde stubble. He looked back at me with an expression I don't think I have ever seen anyone give me before. I was a little stunned by it.

"Give me your wrist", Zachary asked, his voice quiet with none of the earlier smugness. It was off-putting, quite honestly.

"A-alright" I held it out for him, and he gripped my wrist with his right hand much more gently than the last time. The box of my blood sign vanished as I did so. Putting down his board, he then brought his left hand to cup over his right surrounding my wrist. Not that he needed to, in my opinion. My wrist was thin enough for him to wrap his thumb and forefinger around with how large they were.

"You will feel a tingling, but it's normal and won't hurt, so don't worry", he said softly.

"What are you doing?" I asked, tentatively unsure what was happening. What did he read on my blood sign?

"Just checking for something, don't worry", was his cryptic response, and then his hands glowed a light pale green. The tingling followed promptly after, it didn't hurt as he said, but it was strange, like the feeling of someone lightly tapping their nail against my skin repeatedly. It flushed over my body, sending a shiver through my spine at the alien feeling. As Zachary's hands stopped glowing that pale green, the tingling subsided.

Zachary pulled away, releasing my hand back to me as he gazed at me with a painful expression.

"You… I didn't…" he spoke but stopped, changing his mind and picking up the checkboard again.

"You pass this assessment", Zachary said, scribbling,

"I did?" I said, astonished. What did my Blood Sign say!?

"Yes. But..." He paused, looking at me with that pained expression again. It was a little unnerving.

"Would you come to see me if you pass the next test?"

His question made me stop rubbing my hand. "I-I guess?"

"Good. I suspect you will with those skills."

"What skills?" I asked, very confused by this whole conversation. Why did he want to see me?

This time his smile seemed genuine as he passed the checkboard back to the grey cloak summoner, "You will find out soon enough. The next table is your final assessment. They will talk to you about it and ask you some questions."

"Alright", I sighed. "Um, are you going to tell Eduard about... you know... me being here" I nervously shuffled my feet, strands of fear sinking in. What if he turned up before I finished this?

"Does he not know?" Zachary seemed curious, rubbing his chin

"Not technically… No… no, he doesn't", I whispered, looking down at my feet now, hoping my hair covered the fear on my face.

"I won't mention it unless he asks"

"Really!?" my shock must have startled him as he scrunched his face.

"As I said, I won't tell him unless he asks. I can't lie to my friend", he said, shaking his head as though that was obvious.

"Thank you, I appreciate it; I will be sure to come to see you when I can" I bowed my head to him.

"Please do", he nodded back to me, allowing me to move to the final stage of the test.

Like with the second stage, there were four summoners stationed at the last table. They were all red-cloaked summoners and had very serious looks on their faces as they chatted with other candidates. It seemed my time with Zachary had taken longer than it should have, as there currently wasn't an open spot, so I waited around for a few minutes until the last spot was available.

"Name?" The red-cloaked summoner asked me. He was older, maybe in his forty's at a guess, with a few silver hairs poking through his short, very vibrant red hair. It was such an unnatural colour I found myself staring at it. It was like the paint I sometimes saw women wear on their lips.

"Name Candidate," he asked again, tapping his finger on the table.

"Ah! Sorry, Lynette Heversham" I dipped my head in the usual short bow of greeting.

"Board!" the man hollered, and a grey cloak came scurrying over, happy to leave as soon as possible.

"Let's see here. The first assessment was to analyze the level of your mote core. This allows us to access your potential for growth to become a summoner, of which numerous grades and levels depend on how you train. This is factored by your determination, talent, and the innate core strength you were born with. The tool you used was called an evaluation globe. It measures your innate core strength."

"Your results…" he paused to read the board "are unfortunately low. It did register the existence of a core. However, that core is so small I doubt it probably shows up on low-grade evaluation tools. This means that you failed your first assessment and likely will not be able to become a summoner."

The man heaved as though he was bored but didn't seem to recognize the glee on my face. So I did have a core! I knew it. I don't care if it's small, I have one, and his explanation finally proved it. The previous tests I had done as a child must have been with low-grade evaluation tools, so they never showed up. That jerk of a blue summoner who tested me must have written that there was, indeed, some light.

"Any questions?" the red cloak asked me. I shook my head, a little nervous about speaking. He had a very domineering aura, and I feared saying something stupid to him. He was a large man, and I could see the toned muscles through his body armour as it clung to him.

"Very well. Your second assessment was to record any skills you may have that may be of use to us. The Army is not just looking to recruit potential summoners but also foot soldiers, administrators, researchers, and medical professionals. We also accept anyone with outstanding crafting abilities for our blacksmiths and leather workers, as well as cooking skills for the mess halls. The facility where we train is somewhat like a mini town within itself, so we are always happy to accept anyone who can sufficiently provide for the sustainability of our needs."

"Your skills are…." He looked at my board, and suddenly his bored face beamed. "Well, well, well, this is a surprise. I didn't expect us to find a gem like this here in this backwater town" he finally looked up at me properly, taking an interest.

"W-what are my skills?" I asked anxiously.

"You don't know? Oh, you just got your Blood Sign? Surprising for Viscount's lineage", he shrugged.

"You have level 57 in herbology, Level 7 in Alchemy, Level 10 in poison resistance, Level 22 in pain resistance, Level 12 in Research, and -2 in social skills" he raised an eyebrow at the social skills, and I meekly smiled in response. That's my past self pulling through, probably.

For the rest of those skills, though, I know I did a lot of research in my life, married to Garret in herbs, and even tested out, making some potential cures for the disease that will appear in a couple of years but the poison and pain resistance? Why did I even have those skills? I hadn't done anything like that in this life. Was this what Vishka altered on my Blood Sign? Did she amend it to include what I gained in my past lives?

"Are they good?" I asked, completely naive to what levels counted as impressive

"Your Herbology is incredibly impressive. The amount of time it takes most to reach past even level 25 can take years of research. I must admit I am curious why a girl with your lineage has pain resistance with absolutely no physical battle skills though. That's not something I would expect from someone who hasn't trained in combat, but I suppose that could be to do with why you have poison resistance. You haven't been eating poisonous herbs, have you?"

I scratched under my ear and looked away in thought. "Not that I can recall", was my honest answer. If I did, it was definitely an accident when I tried to make a cure.

His look told me he didn't quite believe me, but he didn't prod any further.

"As your second assessor must have told you, you passed the second assessment with these skills. You would make an excellent addition to our medical research facility if that is what you want to do. This brings me to the final assessment."

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, cupping his hand together. "I am going to ask you a few questions now. I want you to answer honestly with me. I will know if you don't", he said, almost threatening. I gulped.

"We pride ourselves on excellence in the Army. We pledge to serve the Zopan Empire's Empress and defend our lands from the encroaching demonic beasts that plague it. We will not tolerate anyone who does not act without this in mind and those who think joining is an easy way to learn power." his stern attitude had me standing attention to his words.

"Our foremost priority is to protect the people of this empire from any threat, do you understand?"

I nodded quickly

"Good. This also means no matter what you choose to do as a profession, when you pass the training, if you are called upon to fight, you will do that. There will be no refusal if you are called. If you do not go, there will be severe repercussions. Do you understand"

I nodded again though this time more slowly

"Good. Now tell me, what do you hope to gain by becoming a recruit?"

"I want... I want to become strong, strong enough to defend myself when I need to" My mouth spoke the words before my brain could compute his question. I was surprised by my answer. It was the truth that I must have always felt but never knew how to achieve on my own.

"Fair answer. Now, before we conclude, This assessment is by no means an acceptance as a recruit", he stated, which made me confused again.

"These assessments are to gather potential recruits. You will be a trainee if you decide to join. As a trainee, the first task is to march through the highland plains with us to the capital. This means you will be exposed to demonic beasts that live in the highlands and the harsh weather and be expected to camp outside and keep up with us. If you tire, we will not come back for you, as this is how we weed out the weak." his direct gaze into my eyes made me shudder thinking about the torture of walking that far.

"The second task, once, and if, you reach the capital, will be to become competent in combat. All trainees must learn to defend themselves sufficiently to be of any use as a recruit if you are called to combat. The training will be intense. You will also attend a mandatory class to learn about the Army, our facility in the capital, the world around you, and the demonic beasts that plague it. There is also an optional class for potential summoners to learn to grow the foundation of their cores, but you will not need to attend that."

"Do you understand and accept these terms?" He finished.

I considered everything he told me. It scared me, quite frankly. I know I will struggle with the march. The distance between Talbour and the capital is at least a month on foot. A lot can happen in a month, my body is extremely weak from malnourishment, and I know I'm useless in combat, so encountering a demonic beast would be my death again. Yet, this is the path Vishka guided me to. My other three lives staying in Talbour all ended in death anyway. This may be my last life, but perhaps, if I do die on this trip, it will be a death I somewhat chose, knowing the risks.

"I accept" I nodded, determined to choose my path.