This sort of night will go a long way, while there are even many like others, besides Stark and William, who do the same, or different kind of training. It's what Walkers are, were, and always will be like.
Of course, there are also some, who act like William. New, and trying their best to figure out how to be a Walker, since they never had a proper understanding of what it means to be one. They could either be tired and not as physically capable to withstand the continuous barrage of days such as this for more than a single day.
Many youths are doing what they can, while some are even upset because they didn't get a chance to even try to get into the Academy. Calling it blissful ignorance is certainly good reasoning, but that isn't something up to them to see.
There are only a couple dozen of Trail members who will go with the Trial at this time. This Awakening was quite good in terms of talent, while there are also those, that await to succeed in such trial for more than 2 years. Failure doesn't mean they can't try next time after all.
With the night going on, these sort of problems goes unnoticed by the regular folks, people who live day by day, hoping to survive and hope for the best.
More than 98% of the Federation are normal people,m making only a fraction of its Walkers. It's the majority, but it would only be possible for them to in here, with the protection and past effort of the Walkers. Hence, all of them are blissfully unaware of how tough and hard the world of Walkers is.
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Next day.
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The piercing gaze of the sun doesn't flow to William's eyes this time around. Unlike usual, he didn't forget to put blinds before his windows last night, making his sleep uninterrupted for another interesting day.
Still, it doesn't mean he won't wake up with an unpleasant shout. It's not by the sunrise, but 2 more hours afterward, he does, indeed wake up on his own.
Glancing at his far watch, resting on the temple, he feels right about his time. It's time to wake up and do another series of torturous training.
7:30 AM
“That's not that bad, but I slept more than yesterday. I hope Roman won't be upset that I may be a little bit late, though, he is probably already in the kitchen, munching some meal that Mi-Yung bought,” he mumbles, submerging his head in the few pillows, and a light blanket. Sleeping in underwear alone is fine, as it's not that cold here. Unlike Canada, where he sometimes had to do some wild shit to keep up with the body heat, he was glad to not be in the cold climate of the north. In the winter months, it was always a tough time in Canada, but as well as a time when the Dark beings are usually less active, making humanity a slight advantage to move resources around.
Especially in the mountains, where William spent around a year of his life. Though, he was a bit young back then, traveling with Dann in the hopes of survival. Back then, there were always certain people who took care of the kids first, before their own safety. On the topic of orphanages, many people prioritized the safety of the children. In other cases, there would always be some bastards who wouldn't be like that, but William's case of being a young Walker always worked to his advantage.
It was usually a bigger group of people he was involved with, and certain messed-up people would be angry at him for being Walker. Though it was always a temporary issue. People may forget, forgive, or die. Some of them were not like the others, but it was a time when people were trying to survive, and that was it. William understood a lot about people from back then. That was always what he told himself. Be glad of what one has. It could always change in the future. Those unpleasant times, that is. The moment some understood that he was supposed to be a future Walker, the majority left him alone, but some didn't.
That future he was hoping for, or sometimes dreading, came.
Laying on his back, William's eyes beam in crimson velvety color. It is his usual skill, of Velvet Eyes. It no longer makes him any discomfort. In fact, it feels weirdly comforting. Seeing the world in a new color, focusing on distances, and sharp sight. He already figures out how to work with certain Skills much better than others. The Velvet Eyes are, for the most part, a bodily function that acts without Emblem's association. It's probably something like the MI-Yung strength, or so he believes. As for the other Skills, they all act around his Emblem and Vectors. Even the Inner Enchantment is like that.
So far, the Status of this skill didn't tell him many changes in recent days, but he remembers something he hasn't done yet.
“Right! I forgot about checking the System! I got totally over it because of Luke's and Mi-Yung's arrival. I wanted to do it yesterday night. Fortunately, I may force some time before Roman will get upset, but... Yeah. I made a mistake. Whatever, let's see what I can see now.”
Pulling his arms to the ceiling, he is jsut about to summon his System, when he remembers where he is.
“C-crap... I don't want to destroy the bed again... This time, Mi-Yung would definitely scold me for sure.” he quickly changes his position, and gets out of bed.
Still in his underwear, he sits on the wooden floor, outside of reach for anything that he may destroy with his Annihilation Emblem's minor effects. It is always like that. Even if the AnnihilationElement is in a dormant state because of the Feel of the Annihilation, it doesn't mean there is none in his Vectors. There are, no matter what.
Folding his fist, an explosion of Vectors later, he sees the status board's messages.
“Begone,” he says afterward, not wanting to feel the connection with these Vectors for now. In this way, he has full attention over the Status Board and doesn't need to think too much about the control over the Emblem itself. It's easier to think clearheaded for System messages alone.
“Hmmm? Am I supposed to click yes again?” William looks at his screen which tells.
Vector's affinity reaches a certain threshold.
Connections lost.
Reconnecting...
Vector's affinity upgraded. Rank 1 achieved.
Error.
Further improvements were detected. Fusion of the Skills detected. Annihilation element and Vector Claw fused.
New skill created.
Annihilation Claw - Rank 1
Type: Fusion skill of two Skills. Both Vector Claw and Hand are within the property of this Skill. Annihilation - Vectors.
Ability: Fusion of Offensive Skills.
The underlying power of the Vector Claw is greatly enchanted.
Move-sets unlocked.
Note: strengths and weaknesses deterministic of the Feel of the Annihilation. The user's discretion is advised to feel the power over the Annihilation. Control is the key to the Annihilation Claw.
Detected the improved Arcanite.
Skill - Vector affinity enchanted.
Rank 1 reached.
Vector Affinity - Rank 1
Type: passive
Abilities: Dependable Skills for furthering one's comprehension over the Skills of Vector type. It improves the controllability of the Vectors, their power, and the threshold of other Skills.
Rank 1 effect of the Vector Affinity applied.
5% addition towards the Rank-Up.
All skills of the Vector type are enchanted. Value depends on the Skill used and power over the Feel of the Annihilation.
Do you want to proceed with the change?
Yes || No
“Hmmm... Of course, it's a yes for me. I will do it! Why does it even ask me yes and no questions? Doesn't it sounds strange, or something is up with a NO option? I already felt the ease of the Vectors improving yesterday, so maybe this whole fiasco of yesterday has something over these improvements? I wonder.” Wiliam assumes while flicking his hand towards the screen, pressing the yes option.
Unlike what he expects, his mind is immediately jolted up, as if his whole body undergoes a massive earthquake. Clutching his hand mid-air, William is stunned to feel a sudden outburst over the System. As if struck by lightning, his mind is in total shambles the moment he pressed the button.
Cringing in a strange, unexpected whack of the System, there is also something else within his mind, other than confusion and a bit of pain.
It is the Call of the Mindless Eyes that determines something for him. The effects of the improvements in the Ranks need a specific procedure. In this sense, it is the confirmation of the System. The true flow of the Arcanite changes in his body. In this case, they are the Vectors. The are some interferences, causing the pain. So, the call of the Mindless Eyes tells him how this will go since it's his first time experiencing this big qualitative change. He shall do this with his activated Emblem, rather than System alone.
William feels he should summon his Emblem as if this is also needed when undergoing this procedure.
“A-arise.” He mumbles in pain, as the explosion on his right hand is more than an explosion.
The wild crimson Vectors envelopes his whole body, with many strange motions. No longer traveling too far from his body they envelop him a couple of inches around his skin. They swirl in a wild manner, focusing more attention on his right hand, more than on other parts of his body.
Crimson Vectors flow around him, while William feels a tingling sensation that he can control much better than even yesterday. It seems a decent proceeding with the System is the true strength of hard work and his own benefits.
William discovers it rather soon than the others, but that shows he has quite some talent for this. That, or his simple hard work or feel for this is better than the average Walker.
He doesn't know that, since he lacks the context of the progression. Even when Mi-Yung or Roman explained to him in very simple terms, he isn't as sure about what are his capabilities, or if his progression is slow or normal. The base premise of his System in the Awakening has been a strange one, but that isn't the first time something like that happened in the Awakening.
While a normal one, when reaching adulthood version of the Awakening, one may have certain differences over the forceful one. For once, a Walker in that case will reach the threshold of the System the moment Emblem stabilizes. In this sense, it is similar to William's case.
His progress with the Skills is, on the other hand, average when one awakens the System and can work with the Skills. The practical learning, feeling, and flow of the Skills then decide the overall power of the early Walker. One can't be sure what Skill one gains. In a sense, there seems to be a direct connection for Skill, which is decided by the style, talent, and type of Walker's Emblems. That is one of the reasons there isn't all that much difference in the first few weeks in Rank 1. One has to be quite familiar with the true beginning, feel the Skill, and achieve good control over the System.
Though, in this case, it's for the Trials, which isn't your average beginning. The Young Walkers who underwent the Awakening a day before the start of the 10-day preparation period may be clueless, and the harsh requirement of the Instructors may be also a factor that makes it quite hard on them.
The case for the newly Awakened ones is, of course, different than for those, who long reached the Awakened threshold. Those are those, that failed the Trial before. Some of those are awaiting the successful Trial, hoping to get into the Emblem Academy. Some may no longer be at Rank 1. Some are Rank 2, or even 3, while the difficulty for the successful Trials gets much harder, the more times you fail.
In this sense, it's fairly common to see older Walkers in the Trials. It's all a very flexible way to reach proper talents. It may not be as fair as one would assume, but that's the case with the high standards of Emblem Academy.
One has the highest chance for success on the first chance of the Trial. That means the difficulty isn't scaled up by the trial examiner, who is different in each case of the Trial. At least in recent years, that is. There are only so many Walkers who have any right to become an examiner for the major place of the Walkers, such as Emblem Academy.
William grits his teeth, struggling through the powerful force around his body. The amount of uncomfortable feelings he gets from this is once again, something new. It's not like the first Rank-Up, as he has no idea what even a proper Rank-up from 1 to 2 feels like. He feels the Vectos around his body move and acts on their own accord. Well, no. They act with the premise of the System, getting powerful with the accomplished what William saw in his System Board.
The basics of these strange feelings are simple. The effectiveness and strangeness of calling upon the Vectors increased. Affinity improved, so that means William's Vectors are undergoing a small evolution and improvements. In this sense, even the new Skill will be ready to be used, the moment this whole procedure ends.
With the changes in his body, the cause for his uncomfortable feelings is his blood, as well as the flow of the Vectors that momentarily lost the focus over his control. The Flow of the Vectors is stronger and firmer. They will gradually increase the change over his physical body, meaning that the blood flow and organs will also be affected. Though, William doesn't know everything about this. He could only feel it with his body as it keeps happening.
His physical strengthening effects are still not listed on his Status Board, but it could change in the near future when the quality of his Vectors will improve. He could even get some Passive Skill, or something physical if his System will deem his efforts enough. That, or the Talent over the Vectors will make it happen on its own.
Though, when one has too many Skills, that can become a borderline problem. Sometimes, they are even redundant, and completely useless skills, since the System isn't all-knowing about Walker's aptitude. It just determines things on unknown truths, and no one understands how it exactly works. While providing much-needed assistance for any Walker, the Walker could only take what is given, and that is it.
William may feel it that way. He likes the System, but that may change when it will give him something that he doesn't need, or like.
Little over 15 minutes into this, the straining effects of the Vectors are going away from his mind, and body alike. They flow back towards his right foreman, taking the shape of the swirling shard that seems more crimson than before.
“Phew... Oh. My. Freaking. Arm!?” He shouts each word in a different way while grabbing his right hand with the other. It hurts. His whole right hand has visible veins twisting around the opening to his Emblem. Something is happening after the Vectors disappeared. The Emblem pulses with a strange color scheme, and the veins follow the same manner of winces.
William doesn't know why, or what is even happening.
His Emblem may draw some of the Vectors to his body, or is it doing something else? He isn't sure, but it sure hurts like hell. The whole perception of the pain soon develops in his whole body, making him wince on the spot. He feels weakness in his mind too, but something is telling him to remain stiff, and remaining calm.
In the same manner as before, the pain disappears, in the same way, the Vectors disappeared. Pulsing Emblem becomes calm, and whatever that is, William is safe from the pain. The veins also retracted, calming down with a fast blood flow that William felt. His heart races so damn fast, that he isn't even sure how many beats per minute he has. 150? 300? He isn't sure, but one thing is simple. He is no longer a normal human. No one else but Walker would survive such a surge of blood flow. He even feels if he was weaker, his heart would explode, ending his life.
Thankfully, nothing bad happened.
Sighting, but still clutching his hand, William notices something new on his System in front of his face. This whole pain and procedure was something that was supposed to happen.
The process of stabilization over the improvements is over.
The Arcanite matter over the body is stabilized after undergoing qualitative change. Be it the body, or the Emeble, that is.
The matter of the Affinity, Skill, and improvements over the Vectors are finalized.
Status Updated.
Further improvements over the new additions may improve additional effectiveness of the Skills and their power.
Hunts, training, and feeling the System through the Mindless Eyes are recommended.
“So, the Vector adjusted and traveled throughout my body by themselves? How... why? Well, no wonder it was that painful... It seems this is a process that can't be avoided. Oh well.” William reads the message, sighting in the process.
Instead of feeling sorry for him, he grasps some clothes and goes to the kitchen. At some point, the Vectors traveled back to their rightful place, so he doesn't need to utter the world Begone for now.
Glancing at the time, William notices that he spend almost half an hour in that state before things calmed down.
In the kitchen, there are once again, 3 people already conversing, or awaiting the 4th incoming guest.
“Good morning.” William greets them not so cheerfully. The residual pain over his right arm and the rest of his body is still clutching his mind.
Roman is facing him with his back, munching something in his mouth, since he would never turn down Mi-Yung hospitality. No. In fact, he may even abuse it.
He grunts something, but Mi-Yung and Luke at least greet him in return like normal human beings.
“Is there something for me too?” Willaim asks, looking around the kitchen to ease his stomach and get some power back. He feels hungry after everything that happened in the first hour of the morning. Unfortunately, what will be the rest of the day won't be anything better.
“Breakfast for 4 has been my intention. There is something in the stove, so take whatever you want.” Mi-Yung explains, showing him the way to the stove he never personally used.
There, he meets the steaming hot eggs, some sausages, and toasted bread and baguettes. Most are fresh and great, so he takes a plate and takes a lot of things from each food. The plate is stuffed with everything, but no matter what, he will eat it all.
Mi-Yung isn't that stingy with spending money on this, and feeding 3 men is quite a challenge for her credits. Not in daily spending, but overall. She can already imagine that her groceries for this week will be quite humongous since she doesn't spare any effort for the sake of William's training. Well, at least about what she can bough, or not. It's not like she is that good of a cook.
Gulping down his meal, at last, Roman drinks some water down his throat, fearing his meal would escape him without him noticing.
“AH!" That was great. I feel alive after all.” He sighs in pleasure, ignored by the rest of the people around the table.