A new dawn of the day came in a new light. A rather spectacular sun is crawling into the window of William, who is sleeping with a pillow on his chest. This was an aftermath of his try, which caused him to fall asleep last night.
The watch on his left wrist, at least tells 8 AM, so he has at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep down on his mind. That isn't all that bad. Rubbing his eyes with his fingers, William feels like he had a dream of being kissed. Though he realizes very soon that this is a reality, which he thought would not be plausible.
Slapping his cheeks, a stinging pain doesn't help at all.
“I am stupid... So stupid.” Each word follows a slap. His mind calms down after some time of the slapping, which leaves his cheeks a bit red.
Getting his feet to the floor, he still has so much to do. He knows that, so the reason for his strange behavior is caused by Ellie, for sure. Change to his clothes and shoes to go along with it, he walks out of his room as if nothing had changed from the last day. Apart from the fact that his cheeks are rather red.
Greeting him is Mi-Yung, in a similar fashion as yesterday's night, apart from the fact that she has quite different attire today. A military uniform in the black color, with small strides of green as accents.
“Good morning.” He greeted her without a shred of last night.
“Morning Will. Want some?” She asks while placing a plate of sliced baguettes with all kinds of stuff on top. Butter, carrot, tomatoes, ham, sausage, and so on in small portions cut on each slice.
“I will take it if you insist.”
“I insist,” She replies with a smile, while obvious to his red cheeks. She doesn't pay it that much attention, as William is also unaware of them.
Trying the slices, he finds them much more interesting than he thought. The crunch of the bread, with the moisture of tomatoes and a mixture taste of butter and ham, makes it tasty and nice.
“Why are you dressed in the military uniform of the General Division?” William asks to quench his curiosity and makes his mind think of something else. He has never seen her dressed like this before.
“Some stuff happened. I will be summoned around a bunch of monsters in human skin if I am blunt to myself. Heheheh.”
“Something bad?”
“Look, who is curious? I am quite curious myself about what happened as well. In particular, your last night.” Mi-Yung pokes into a small hole of feelings that is William. She loves to tease him from time to time, and it always leaves him in turbulent or hilarious situations.
“I... won't tell.” William answers while escaping eye contact with her. He rather shoves another slice of baguette into his mouth.
“I see. Is it good?”
Nodding, William is almost ready to escape to the library if she wants to tease him any longer.
“Good. I am summoned for a day, but it may as well be there until tomorrow. Who knows? It is already more than a month since you came here, so it's time to make some sense out of the Examination and Awakening.” Mi-Yung no longer teases him, and rather goes with the talk she wanted to tell him for a couple of days already.
“Examination and Awakening?” William mumbles while crunching down his breakfast in a full mouth.
“It is in less than two weeks, so the tension will be all over the Federation. I am in the process of the all foreigners that are meant to be examined and Awakened, so there are a lot of young folks around. Be careful about yourself and not let a guard down. A lot of people are recruiting young Walkers, and a few outside organizations have already come to the Federation to see what's up. It is a prime time to get their military numbers up or increase them. You can imagine how important it is, don't you?”
“I... I understand. I won't do something bothersome in your absence.”
“Good. I don't want you to promise anything to anyone. I told you about this before, but this time is a bit different since more people will be present. Another reason I am telling you this is the process of the Examination and its aftermath. Have you thought of the organization you want to go with? As your proxy, this is important to me as for you.”
“Organisation... I planned to worry about that later after knowing what kind of power and options I will have with my Emblem.”
“That is the usual situation. There is also a situation where one could seek the organization themselves, or...”
“... or the organization will seek the recruits. I know that.”
“So you know? I guess the situation with Kaufman led to your realization.”
“A little. Doesn't it make sense, though? If I am a leader or a recruiter for the military, I would seek some talents myself.” William says after careful thought and figuring out many things after being in the Federation for a whole month.
“It does, but I want the best for you, so? What is your answer?” Mi-Yung says while rising one of her eyebrows.
“I am curious about the Academy.”
“Academy?” Mi-Yung frowns, while the calm face of the boy in front of her leads to nothing but a calm curiosity, as well as a certain amount of confidence in his choice.
“Is it a wrong choice? I know there isn't a lot of information regarding the Academy, but it must be a very important place for Walkers. Isn't it?”
“It is, but getting there... is a rather complicated process. Only the tip of the top of the Walkers gets a chance to get inside. It is a place where many want to go since the fame of that place is famous for its Walkers, and the results. You need to achieve 70 affinity if you want to have a chance to get there.”
“I see. Mi-Yung... Can you tell me more about the Academy? You must know more about it as a Walker of your caliber?”
“Heheheh... Sure. A little wouldn't mind.” Chuckling, Mi-Yung complies with a bit of flattery that works on her quite well. Not like William says it because he wants her to force information out of her. No. He believes she is an incredible person and a Walker alike.
Though he has no clue about the standing of the high-ranking Walkers or their powers. He at least got a gist of lower-ranked ones in the past month. Weapons, combat, economics, and most of all, knowledge about the Dark beings is mandatory to know for all of them.
“In complete honesty, I used to be an instructor at the Academy. Though, for a single year, because one of the instructors there died.”
“Y-You did? So you must know a lot in this case?!” Clenching his fists, William looks in expectation at Mi-Yung's face.
She couldn't help but chuckle as she sees him act like this. It would be so good if he was honest about this knowledge, as with Ellie. That wouldn't hurt him in her opinion, but she wouldn't force anything. It is their life, and if they like each other, they will get to know themselves over time.
“I will tell. I will tell, alright? The Academy is an institution around 200 miles from here, further into the east in the ocean. While barren, it is one of a kind place for training the Walkers. I won't go into why, since it involves secrets, that I am not meant to say.”
“Agai...”
“... it is the same with everything, William. Walkers in the leadership think it is better to keep things confidential, so that is all to it. We will comply, even if we don't like it. Place of Walkers is a hierarchy, Will. A Rank is important for one's self-esteem and things that they accomplished. Rank 1 is a start, with no place to feel better about this situation unless you reach Rank 5. That, or at least strength around slaughtering Rank 6 Dark beings.” Mi-Yung jumps with her words right before William voices his words that would be unnecessary.
At last, Mi-Yung's words make more sense than anything he ever heard. A hierarchy of the Walkers? It is the same in the Federation, or in the camps. Everyone works for improvements, and feelings of validating themselves. It could be for the sake of fighting for what they believe is right, or for a simple better life. It all leads to the fact, that Mi-Yung knows more than she says, and that is something that William realizes.
Even the fact that she used to be an instructor in the Academy for a single year was unknown to William.
“How hard is it to get there? Or, what should I know before even thinking of joining the Academy?”
“Well.. dear Will... That is not up to me, even when I am your proxy. Academy is choosing whatever they way, whoever is deemed worthy. The fact of 70 affinities and beyond is the basic number, while more is always better. It all comes to the quality of the Emblem and things around it. Everything afterward, is up to fate, and Academy's Envoy that comes to each Examination.”
“There is as well... something else. The Rank 1s are not all that popular in the Academy. The raising of the Rank and the Emblem they have is determined from the Examination through some factors even I am unsure about.”
“So, there is nothing for me to even try? Guess? It all comes to the talent I was blessed with when I was born?”
“Yes.”
“I see...” Sighting a bit to his lack of options, William sees the small path ahead of him. No... it is more correct to say, a small wall before him obscures this path.
“I will figure out everything after the Examination. Academy or not, I want to see if I will have a chance.”
“Indeed. Try it, as there is no time for regrets. If you will feel sorry, or bad about the results, I assure you, there are plenty of organizations that could have decent options for joining.”
“Military, or the Federation...”
“...or, you can try Outside forces. As an Outsider, it will be an option for you that would be worth it as well.”
“Outside...” William questionably mumbles while this option is also within his mind. After all, he was Outside all his life, while being away out there... figuring out his life as a Walker wouldn't be that bad either. It would be just more dangerous than anything else.
“There are plenty of opportunities to grow up Outside. You must know what I mean by that?”
“Dark beings are a factor in raising the Ranks... so how come the Academy is so good at this, with being in the middle of the ocean?”
“S, e, c, r, e, t. That is a secret, Will.” Mi-Yung answers with a smile, that leaves no answers obvious.
“So mysterious and obnoxious... Now, I want to see what the deal with the Academy is with my own eyes.” Smiling, William finds her words quite daring indeed. It leaves him nothing but an unknown though, about the Academy, that could be interesting nonetheless.
Outside, the military of the Federation, seems like a place where plenty of others are raised, so why not him? He will figure out something there if he has to.
After all, he must have one of a kind Emblem, since it leaves him from time to time. Though it is a strange way of thinking. It is his uniqueness that he knows about that he has never seen in other Walker, nor the information on the 6th floor. At least the parts of the information on that floor, that is. William clenches his right hand with his left, while the gem-like object within his arm is a path going forward. It depends on it.
“Alright. I guess my answer remains the same. I will wait it out. As for the days itself, did you plan to tell me about it, or...?” William shrugs his shoulder and gives up on trying to figure out the unthinkable.
“I guess I did. Both important events will be held in the Institution of the Emblems. A place where is the only Emblem Accelerator in the existence of mankind.”