By evening, I heard murmurs of people returning from the medical tents, and so I went to search for Gabriel immediately.

He was a bit lost in the much smaller group of returnees on the groundfloor.

It seemed like the wolf guy did not give them any instructions.

I looked him over to make sure he really was alright. Aside from three nasty scars running down his right leg, he was okay.

We spoke about everything. The state of this world we found ourselves and where our future lies. We never mentioned what we saw beyond the walls.

I led him to the showers and remembered what occured earlier.

Some men decided invading the showers when the ladies were in it was a great idea.

A group of women stepped out to meet the idiots challenge.

Long story short, they had their asses handed to them.

Those women were something else. They all were able to get their hands on both the wolf and tigers abilities.

One of them, a fairly small lady who I identified as their leader, grew a meter taller. Her arms bulged with muscles that'll make the liver man blush. She picked two of the offenders up and smashed their heads together, knocking them out cold. The rest of them followed suit, with only a few getting away with minor bruises. The rest were out cold, or sported a few broken ribs.

As I recounted the days event in my head, Gabriel had washed up.

I led him to one of the rooms near mine with a free bed.

The next day, we were woken up with a loud shout that reverberated through the halls.

"Get up Maggots!!"

I was off my bed before his sentence was finished.

I nearly punched Milo when he jumped off his bed a second later. We nearly burst out into laughter, till our bodies marched outside on their own.

Fuckkk.

We were marched out in neet columns down to the groundfloor and out the the exit into the open field in front of the baracks. I caught a glimplse of the same blue fur from the werewolf we met the day before.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

If I remembered correctly, he said something about sorting and I couldn't help but worry that our little group was going to be separated.

The werewolf cleared his throat "I am Captain Darius." He continued "You will address me only as Captain. With me is mage Captain Eleron"

There were loud ghasps at that introduction, and the ghasps gave way to murmurs.

Unfortunately I was at the very back of the formation, so I couldn't see anything.

I was very curious, but I couldn't move, and soon I couldn't even speak.

"Silence!" A melodic voice filled the air. It was soothing, but it came with the compulsion to be quiet.

Eleron was behind our forced march.

Darius began "You have been arranged according to your talents." He paused "The further back you are, the more worthless you are."

That stung quite a bit as I was at the very back.

"Before we continue on to testing, I will tell you what those powers you got from the beasts in the forest are." He explained "They are arcane texts. An accumulation of the most powerful trait in any monster. In essence it is the crystallization of their very efforts. The ability to absorb those texts, and the energy to drive them within the beasts is something only you humans can do."

That was incredibly useful information. If all we had to do was touch the body of a dead monster to absorb the text, then we didn't need to fight at all. They could have provided us with the bodies of the monsters right at the start. If anyone refused to fight in the wars to come, they could just get compelled by someone like Captain Eleron.

No. There was something else I missed.

The first rows were taken somewhere else by Captain Eleron while Darius began testing the rest of us.

The entire thing was uneventful save for the reactions when Captain Eleron returned.

As more of us were tested and routed to a different location, I was finally able to lay my eyes on the captain Eleron.

He was beautiful. Too pretty to be considered a man, and yet that was what he was. He was more fair than any model I had seen on earth.

He just looked so ethereal. His green hair only added more to his aura of beauty and his pointed ears, to his otherworldy charm.

Did I mention his face was perfect in every sense?

I had to remind myself that he was a man and I was most certainly straight.

When it came my turn to be tested, I was handed a smooth black stone by Captain Eleron.

I had to hold back a blush.

"Push your energy inside" Captain Darius Instructed.

Faint black aura poured out of the stone. It was weak and flimsy. I felt like a small wind could blow it out.

"Holy shit!" Captain Darius exclaimed "How the hell did someone with Arcane affinity end up in the shit pile?"

"Quiet Darius, let me look him over." Captain Eleron placed his hand on my chest and frowned.

"His heart is bad. He would have died if he didn't get the strengthening method and energy from the tiger. I will report this to the commander. If we can get him the elixir, he would be of use."

"You know it is still not a done deal. If he gets too much power now he'll pop like a redton ant"

"That is still not our decision to make.....train him for the meantime. I will leave for the headquarters as soon as my duty is done"

I was dumbfounded. I apparently had something good enough to warrant such a reaction. I could almost taste my luck turning around.