His time will be spent comprehending, while any tiredness can go off itself for all he cares about. Glaring, focusing forward, the time passes with minutes, and the following hours. They all disappear to obscurity amidst his training mind and straining, yet resolute eyes.

Through this time, he didn't recognize the flow of time, which isn't his biggest enemy, but a foe nonetheless. In this sort of state of mind and harsh training, he is yet to realize that 8 hours have passed by since the moment he started it at.

It is night already, yet he still keeps at it. William still hasn't eaten anything, but it isn't a huge burden to him, as this is something he experienced in quite a few stages of his life. Hell, he doesn't even feel it all that bad, since he ate something in the morning.

William is engrossed in the way of the Mindless Eyes. The constant talk, calls that make his head spin, and shimmers of unknown meanings are all his mind has to care for. Apart from resting between the attempts, he is quite a hardworking boy. He wants to figure out the strange ways that Mi-Yung describes this... madness.

Right. That is the right definition of what he is going through. This ordeal of the Mindless Eyes is leaving him in a state of bewilderment and meditation. That is, if it could even be called that, as his awareness has been at least conscious.

He went from 27 to 34 minutes within this state of seeking further secrets of his System's status. There are no changes within this impressive yet unchanging screen before his eyes. The only constant is the pain, with strain around his eyes, and head. The pain keeps on increasing within each additional minute, and he made it through that 7 times already.

At this point, William is numb to it to some extent, finding it easier to reach the 30-minute mark than ever before.

He doesn't even notice the calming, sometimes storming flow of Vector that goes around his right arm, to his back, and away. Though, since he is in the middle of a rather large room, nothing is getting destroyed this time around. That's great, considering the expenses and everything. It's good that he isn't close to anything, and his sitting position refrains his Emblem's Vectors to reach anything.

After the 10th hour, William motions his fist once more and ceased everything to null. Falling to his back, he glances at the ceiling with his straining and surprised eyes.

Right, he saw that. At last, something changed within the view in the last few minutes. He saw it before his eyes, but he couldn't contain the pain any longer.

Velvet Eyes - Rank 1 achieved

Abilities: The gaze of a powerful is told to be a gaze of a great Hunter.Shock - Mild night vision - mild resistance to psychological effects on mind.

Type: attack, sypport

Additional comprehension is needed to know the full effects and further improvements.

Further improvements are recommended.

Use in combat, Hunts, comprehension - good

This came as a surprise since William's plan is the status sheet and not the Skill. However, at this point, he doesn't ask for the results to appear, yet this is great. Opting out for a quick nap, he will figure out more about it later, as his mind, and his eyes the most, need some rest.

1 hour later, his watch shows the late time of 11 PM, and his doors open up to reveal Mi-Yung. She notices the sleeping boy. Striving forwards with a new mattress around her hand and an armpit, she swings it around, tossing it across the whole room. It's ending position? The rough, but still usable frame of the bed. It is only moderately destroyed, so that will do.

“Oh boy... Did you work yourself to your death? What am I supposed to say to your father in the afterlife? How sad...” Checking, and saying in a mocking manner, she walks to him, to see what's up. Closer, she notices his free and sleeping face. She notices his steady breathing, but complete exhaustion and... smell. It's a mixture of sweat from his whole and quite frankly, it isn't surprising after this amount of stressful work.

“This boy... I bet he went at it for at least 8 hours... What a madman.” She makes her guess, pulling him by an arm and placing him on a new mattress. The parts of the wooden bed are a bit dusty, but it supports the new mattress well enough. She will figure out some handyman to repair it within a week, as William will have a decent sleep for what is about to happen. That is the least she could do for him, because the bad, yet incredible news is some of her primary reasons for this day.

The Examination, as well as the Awakening, ended up around noon today. That is a rather long time, yet the Walkers and the personnel attending there worked all this time for the sake of new Walkers.

Sitting beside his bed, Mi-Yung smiles, seeing his face. She feels rather sad, that she can't train him personally, as her new pieces of information from today reveal much to be desired. She still wants to regardless of them, but the word Schultz told her was quite adamant. It's not a good idea to go against him.

Recalling his words in his office after the Examination ended, she still grunts from time to time. He told, “Mi-Yung, with the constant flow of work, I don't believe it's fine for you to worry about that brat of yours. I know who he is to you, but worrying about an apprenticeship isn't your forte. I know it because of your place in the Academy 3 years ago. The boy will have another teacher for 10 days who is proficient in the Annihilation Element so we won't have any disaster, alright?!”

Sighting, she long accepted such words. They were reasonable, and not one lie was told in them. Be it the words of her boss, or words that make sense, she accepts it.

After all, the Annihilation Element is too domineering and could cause many issues. The disasters of Annihilation, if not supervised properly, are some of the worse to happen. She knew it, and so is Schutz who had to contact some friend of his, so the Mi-Yung wouldn't have to worry about this.

It was a bit bothering, as William was the only new Walker with Annihilation Element in the last 2 years. It's that rare, considering the thousands of Walkers that went with the Awakening in these 2 years. In this round of the Awakening, no other Element such as that appeared, but it wasn't like there were no surprises. There were but it's expected to happen.

The rare exceptions were the Dark Element, 2 Lighting Elements, and surprisingly enough, 2 Mutants. Other than that, some had some partial Element with their Vectors or a general Vector power without an Element. These generic Vectors had a major cut from all the new Walkers. Elements Type and Mutant type were much rarer.

Some had visible effects with some partial Elements, and Vectors seemed to be the major Type those Walkers had. It is said that having n affinity to any Element is great, as it's less painful to bother about some complications. It's a basic case of the simple, the better case of the System, and figuring out things from there is easier. Luke is a prime example of that since he doesn't have some crazy potential, or strangeness within his Emblem, or the System.

Though, such cases outside of that also happened. Element Type is stronger than Vector in some properties. Those are things that William already knows, and it included a different kind of power and approach than Vectors. Nature and all kinds of differences are included within this type. Fire, water, wind, and many kinds o Elements could have a 100% affinity within their bodies. There could be no more Vectors, as the Arcanite is the sole winner with their Element.

“Too bad I guess.” Sighting for the 10th time, Mi-Yung leaves the room after being sure everything is normal.

William is sleeping without trouble, with no visible pain, nor anything strange that she notices. Even the Emblem is still within his arm, while her watchful gaze tried to see its secret, but to no avail. It could be something huge for what all she knows about. Her hunch may as well be correct, since in most cases... it is.

Unknown to her, everything that she could think of could be increased tenfold, and even that it would be too weak for her expectation. The true reason... is much deeper, stranger, yet meaningful in the grand scheme of the Walkers. It is something that will William experience, or get to know tomorrow, or much further in the future. He still has a long while to rest, sleeping to calm his mind about the incoming madness that he isn't even aware of.

Underneath his eyelids, a change is occurring the moment he noticed the Rank-Up of his Velvet Eyes. It is happening right now, at this very moment.

A small, yet a change, that could shape up the Skill. It's a physical one, after all. Vectors, a tint of crimson, are acting up inside his eyes. It is happening in mild effects around his body, but this case is more pronounced, because of his direct Skill's improvement.

It's a passive thing, so this is a great thing since William isn't one to care about it at the moment.

The next day.

17th of May.

It's a day like any other, but a time that doesn't matter at all to William's mind. He wakes up, while not even cursing, or showing his displeasure at his worse enemy. He doesn't care about it for now, because his mind is full of other things. He remembers everything right, yet his mind is very active, and not tired at all right after the long sleep.

His watch tells him 8 AM, which means he had... “What? It's already more than 10 hours from that?” Shouting, he isn't sure what's shocking to him, since he wasn't paying attention to his watch for a long time.

Stretching in his bed, he doesn't even notice the arrival of it or Mi-Yung's involvement. Everything was and is, focused on his next task, or to be precise, finishing the comprehension once and for all.

“Let's go,” he said. “I know I can do it!” cheering himself, and before his sudden determination is pushed to further skies, the sound of his stomach stops his tries.

Pattin' it, he knows some things come first, after all. Now, noticing and seeing himself on the bed, he seems surprised at first, but not much. In fact, he doesn't even question his bed at all, since his focus is on something else.

Jumping from his bed, which is also changed, without a glance at it, he leaves the room after a change of clothes. In the kitchen, the all-familiar routine of the pair of lovers is before his eyes, but this time, he doesn't mind it at all. He clearly even forgot the thing he said, or did to Ellie yesterday.

“Good morning.” He says, looking for things to eat without further glances at the pair beside the table.

Seeing him so enthusiastic and energetic, Mi-Yung and Luke find it very amusing indeed. Watching the insides of the fridge and the few cabinets, William doesn't yet notice that Mi-Yung places a plate of his breakfast in the air. Scrambled eggs and fresh bread with tomatoes are up to him to take, while Mi-Yung points to the plate in her hand for William.

Indicating his portion of her "cooking", she has to rely on clearing her throat, so William notices it after scratching his head for some ideas about breakfast. Hell, he even forgets the usual stuff, where Mi-Yung gives him food in the morning. His mind is really not up for simple things in the morning.

Turning around, he utters 2 questionable words. “For me?” he asks without being sure of that plate's purpose.

“For you. Don't be too crazy about your... whatever. At least eat well and rest well.” she comments, clearly seeing the distinct change in his eyes from the past.

The redness inside of them is a bit subsided by now. Mi-Yung hasn't seen the changes within them last night, since he was sleeping, but now, this is noticeable for her.

It wasn't the blood, but something different instead. Or, maybe it was, but only partly? She knows more about it, but the names of the skills can differ. For all that she knows, the case of his Velvet Eyes could be very similar to the Skill of someone else. They would only have a different name or some mild differences. William glanced at the System for a long time, but it isn't something she knows about. Sometimes he even did so unblinkingly for a long time.

Taking the plate, William understands what she means. Calming down his high morale, he sits in front of them by the table. Munching the breakfast down his throat, Luke looks at him with a funny look.

“You look great,“ he comments. “In my old clothes, of course. Eheheh.”

“I do?” William asks, observing his little change of cloth.

“Of course William. I bought these clothes for him a long time ago.” Mi-Yung argues.

William checks his clothes and whole body. Shrugging his arm in whatever words he couldn't find, he rather goes back to eating. It's just a piece of clothing, while Luke simply looked at a small reminiscence of his past self.

Back then, a young walker, who was getting to know the world, and then, meeting the love of his life in the Federation. A poetic kind, but it was the case of a different life for the majority of humanity. Though the case of the Dark beings never ceased away, some things never change.

It was a wandering train of thought, while Luke feels a bit regretful giving away those clothes, but... it wasn't his choice. Mi-Yung forced him to sacrifice a bit of his equipment since she isn't sure what will happen with William. Whether he will get some salary, or his Element will become to act again. It's never safe with anything.

After all, the Academy isn't known for much of a salary, but for the lack of it.

That doesn't mean there are none of the monetary things in that place. In fact, it is a rich, and highly advanced place similar to the Federation in that regard. But that isn't that known in the Federation, because it's a long distance away, and some would say it's in its own world.

The truth is, the majority of the rewards are in the form of missions and special kinds of rewards. Some of them are up to 10 times better than the kinds that the Military divisions in the Federation are getting.

It is to incentivize the action of the Walkers of the Academy, and there are for sure, many talents for that. Making sure the constant pressure is for them is one of their beliefs, no matter their talent or standing. Of course, the reason is, the missions are nothing like the Military either. But that is a thing for another time.

Right now, William gulps the remaining meal and water away. Getting up to his feet, he wants to return to his high moral state of improvement.

Unfortunately for him, when he wants to do that, the thuds stop him from doing so. They come from the entrance door, and since William is one up, he has no choice but to be the one to perceive the sudden arrival.

This alerts the pair of lovers, but only one of them knows who it could be.

Turning around from the way to his room, “Teacher?” he asks toward Mi-Yung, who nods, and gets up to her feet as well.

Walking to the entrance, she doesn't want William to be the one to do so, since she still feels partly responsible for a lot of things. That, or she is still pissed off about this whole ordeal of being unable to teach William. Though, it doesn't stop her from making some remarks, since he will live with him for 10 days. Hopefully, that is. Hell, even the last night, she told him plenty about it so she has no worries in her mind.

Opening the door, Mi-Yung doesn't know the exact person she expects, but there... is someone she knows.

A somewhat worn-looking man around her age is standing there with a deadly glance. Unbothered, and with a kind of boring face.

“Hello there, Roman.” she greets this familiar figure with a smile. She kind of didn't expect him, but at the same time, a little bit isn't a stretch for her guess. From what she knows and understands, this person is long ago gone oversea. In fact, half a globe away.

“Hello, Mi-Yung. I expected you, but seeing you again after a long time is a bit surprising, isn't it?” Roman tells in a surprisingly strong voice coming from this man, who is shorter than her. Stepping inside, without waiting for her approval, he begins to unpack, which amounts to nothing but taking off his coat.

“Nice apartment you've got here. I was told to come here from Schultz. It seems some interesting things happened when I am not here.” Roman tells with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, unlike his appearance.

“Bad trip?” she asks, as she even forgot to get him inside.

“It's always the same. Sleepless is tough... You know?”

“I guess... It's been a long time. Come and have a seat in the living room, or if you want, the kitchen is free too. Want some tea, sandwich, or water?” Mi-Yung forces a small, customary hug, which Roman tried to refuse, but couldn't because of her force.

“I wouldn't mind some tea, thank you,” Roman replies, free from her momentary hug.