Tepo continued to absorb happily. Vyrohna was holding her orb, anxiously directing the white light towards the only student left. She also didn’t comprehend what was happening. She never had such an experience before.

Already feeling tired, the missionary even feared that the young man would empty her orb. If this happened, she wouldn’t be able to continue her duty.

What is going on? It this young man really awakening a higher core? But I have never encountered such consumption. Could someone really awaken one of those legendary cores? Impossible! From our records this hasn’t happened in thousands of years.

Please, just stop now. I don’t think I can uphold this consumption. I… I need to stop it. Forgive me!

With those thoughts spinning in her head, Vyrohna made a difficult decision. In order to awaken the other students, she subtly diverted the white light away from Tepo this time. Her mind shook as guilt wrecked her. The second she acted, she already regretted it. But it was too late. Tepo gradually woke up.

The young man looked around in confusion, only to be met with equally confused gazes. Just now his core had formed the 12th symbol when the white light suddenly disappeared.

Tepo frowned as his eyes fell on the missionary. Only the sanctimonious woman could have stopped his absorption. Although the young man was displeased, he also felt a bit guilty for more or less stealing so much energy.

“Hey, Tepo, what happened? You didn’t awaken?”, asked Yerive nervously. Although his best friend showed no signs of awakening, Tepo didn’t appeared to be sad either.

Meanwhile, Tepmodus didn’t know how to answer. But since he had a core, he should count as an awakened. Therefore, he spoke with a bright smile:

“It’s a little strange, but I should have awakened.”

“Ha! I knew it!”

While Yerive didn’t doubt Tepo’s words, the others on stage looked at him strangely. Could someone really awaken without any signs? Did something go wrong during the ceremony?

On the other hand, Vyrohna’s heart skipped a beat. Did she make a mistake? Did this young man really awaken one of those legendary cores and she disrupted it? If this was really the case, the missionary didn’t know how to deal with it.

She could only comfort herself with the fact that the energy she carried with her probably wouldn’t have been enough for the young man’s awakening in the first place.

Full of apprehension the conflicted woman asked carefully:

“Student, are you certain that you awakened? We didn’t see anything after all.”

“Of course I am.”, spoke Tepo confidently.

Suddenly an ugly laugher came from the side. Tepo frowned as he turned his head towards Tondka.

“Got anything to say?”

“Sorry, I just find this amusing. What was it called? The five stages of grief, right? You have begun with stage one, denial!”

“Hmm? Think you’re clever? If I say I have awoken, I naturally mean it.”

“Yeah, don’t listen to him, Tepo! Why would you lie about something like this?”, chimed Ganaph in.

“Right, we believe you.”, added Parton, while Nocia nodded in encouragement.

“You can talk all you want, it’s a fact that Tepo didn’t show any signs at all.”

Just as the group of friends wanted to continue arguing, a displeased voice sounded out.

“Students!”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Everyone flinched as they remembered where they were. Only Tepo rolled his eyes as this was the first word the school president spoke since he arrived.

Meanwhile Vyrohna felt like crying. By the God of Righteous Judgment, she really never planned to jeopardize this youth’s awakening. She was only shocked from the amount Tepo was absorbing.

Trying to make her best out of the situation, the missionary spoke gently:

“All of you, please don’t argue. Some strange situations can happen from time to time.

This student, if you say you have awakened, we can easily test it. If you agree, of course.”

Slightly apprehensive because of the missionary’s carefulness, Tepo asked her first:

“What method would you use? Why would you need my agreement?”

“Don’t worry, nothing would happen to you!”, promised Vyrohna solemnly.

“There are a few things each core can do. Among them is the ability to scan weaker cores. This is seen as incredibly rude in the world of warriors, but I promise that I would never leak your information!”

This promise didn’t assure Tepo at all. He couldn’t trust the woman before him. On one hand she is a believer of a god, on the other she must have cut off his absorption.

But her confirmation at this point would be worth a lot. The other bigshots didn’t look like they were willing to help him. Their faces were covered in annoyance, waiting for the ceremony’s continuation.

While Tepo was contemplating, he looked into his friends’ faces. Seeing the encouragement in their eyes the young man decided to go for it. With so many people present, what was the worst that could happen?

Therefore, Tepo took a deep breath as he addressed the missionary:

“Alright. Please do it.”

“Yes.”, acknowledged Vyrohna with clear eyes.

A moment later the missionary’s face turned strange. But ultimately relief filled her mind when she announced:

“I’m very sorry, but you don’t have a core, student…”

“What?!”, exclaimed Tepo in disbelief. How could this be? Was this lady such a hypocrite? How could she lie with a straight face?

Suddenly Tondka began laughing again, as Tepo’s friends watched his face in confusion. Did the missionary speak the truth? But Tepo’s shock looked real as well. What was going on?

Vyrohna was also surprised by the young man’s outburst.

“Student, I have already checked. You don’t have a core.”

“No! Why are you lying?! Of course I have a core!”

Suddenly all the bigshots on stage frowned. Accusing someone of the Church of Righteous Judgement of lying was not a small crime. The church takes this very seriously.

Not wanting any more drama, the school president spoke up sternly:

“Student! If you stop now, we can all pretend we haven’t heard anything.”

“Student, I have also checked you. I found no core.”, added Richard as well.

Pressure mounted from all sides. Tepo felt his chest tighten, but he knew how important a core was in this world. He was ready to prove himself. As he took a step forward, Tepo felt incredibly touched when his friends unconsciously advanced together with him. He would definitely remember this gesture.

“You!”, addressed Tepo the missionary again.

“First you interrupted the white light, and now you are lying about my core! If you have something against me, just say it outright!”

Vyrohna’s body shook lightly. It was almost unnoticeable for common people, but the bigshots on stage felt it clearly. They also frowned. Could the missionary really have done something?

Her thoughts racing, Vyrohna smiled innocently:

“Could there be a misunderstanding? Student, I understand your emotional turmoil, but please don’t spread false accusations.”

“What false accusations? I simply wasn’t done absorbing yet!”, feeling that something seemed to be wrong here, Tepo got more and more confrontational.

Vyrohna got increasingly uneasy. Compared with the other bigshots she wasn’t used to behaving like someone of high status. Believers of the God of Righteous Judgment were commonly known to be good people, who didn’t look down on others.

The missionary’s general behavior was also evidence of this. But a single mistake could spiral out of control sometimes.

Pushed by Tepo’s insistence, the gentle woman was increasingly uncertain if the young man might indeed have one of those legendary cores. But if this was the case, he had to do his awakening at headquarters. As such, Vyrohna hesitantly advice Tepo:

“Child, if you really insist that you have a core, then it might not be fully awakened. But if this is the case, I am not the right person to help you. Why don’t you visit our headquarters…”

“Headquarters?!”, interrupted Tepo angrily. “Is this some sort of trap? Surrounded by your lot…”

“ENOUGH, student!”

A mighty voice quieted the entire venue. It was accompanied by an enormous pressure directed at Tepo. Although Vyrohna didn’t have the presence of a strong warrior, this didn’t mean others were the same.

After this short outburst, Taren Raunej immediately calmed down again. It was important to keep his cordial image, even as he was prepared to punish a student.

“Student. Mind your status. How DARE you repeatedly question a missionary of the Church of Righteous Judgment?! If it was anyone else, they would demand your head by now!”

Tepo’s friends gritted their teeth. They also didn’t understand what going on in their friend’s mind today. Why was he this reckless? Although they hadn’t personally experienced it, many horror stories existed about people provoking dangerous warriors. Why was Tepo pushing his luck?

But under the mayor’s raging pressure Tepo only stayed even more indignant. Why was everyone trusting this believer of a god? Is it because these enemies of humanity hadn’t removed their masks in this world yet? If so, it would be on him to unveil their dark minds!