CHAPTER 39: FORCEFUL AWAKENING

Hermes sat at the table for more than 15 minutes. However, Elizabeth never showed up. This had never happened before, so he began to feel slightly worried.

'Could it be that she got caught by her Mother while trying to spy on her conversations?'

He decided to head back to his dorm room to sleep and see if he could ask her about it tomorrow morning. Picking himself off the desk, Hermes headed for the exit.

The next morning, Hermes got up from his bed and took a shower. He was heading for his routine training before the joint exercises began at around 12:00. Dressing up in a casual tracksuit with Dawnbreaker in his hand, Hermes made his way outside the dorm room.

Instead of the usual quiet corridor he had grown familiar with, a large commotion met his eyes. Officers with all kinds of accolades and weapons were rushing in every direction. Hermes was able to see their panicked faces clearly.

Confused, he grabbed the shoulder of one of the troops, his gray uniform denoted him as part of the Auxiliary Regiments.

"Sir, can you explain what is going on? What's with all the chaos?"

The man scrutinized him from top to bottom with his eyes squinted. "Who are you? Do not get in my way! I have a job to do!"

"Sir, please just answer my question. I am one of the new enlisted Guardian Cadets…"

The man opened his eyes wide when he heard Hermes' identity. "Excuse my rudeness! One of the Guardian Cadets has been forced into awakening as a Celestial. They are stuck in their sleep. It's unknown whether they will be able to advance into a Stage 1 Gifted One or mutate into a monster!

"What?!" Hermes could not believe what he had just heard. Someone in the dorm building he had been asleep in had been forced into the Dreamscape Challenge in their sleep! He decided to obtain more crucial information.

"How long has this been going on? And why is there such a large commotion? A few Guardians keeping watch over the perimeter should be enough…"

The man sighed. "The test had been apparently initiated since last night. As for why there is such a big commotion, it's because the person who had this forceful awakening is from the Lysange family!"

'No way…' An ominous premonition filled his heart. The only person he knew who was from the Lysange family was Elizabeth; paired with her weird absence from yesterday, the puzzle pieces began to fit together in his mind.

"Where is that person's dorm room? I know them!"

"It's on the first floor. But I don't believe they will allow you to enter."

Hermes thanked the man and rushed toward the elevator. His thoughts were completely in disarray. After hearing about the success rate being only 10% for the Gifted, his thoughts kept wandering to the worst outcome.

As his body shifted downwards inside the enclosed space, Hermes began looking at the floor while pondering about the events that had just occurred. "The day after I learn about the Gifted, someone I know awakens. Is this just a coincidence?"

He had no time to continue thinking about it as the familiar sound denoting the arrival of the elevator on the desired floor rang inside.

Stepping out of the elevator, the large open space unfolded before his eyes. This was the dormitory lobby which he had grown acquainted with. Contrary to the past, however, the calmness it exuded has been replaced with utter chaos as soldiers from all three regiments scoured around.

Hermes walked past them and rushed toward the opposite end of the elevator, which housed the hallway that lead to the first-floor dorm rooms.

At the entrance of the corridor, two Guardians holding luminescent spears guarded the passageway. Noticing the approaching figure, they used their weapons to block his path.

"Stop! Unauthorized personnel are not allowed past this point."

Hermes clicked his feet together and gave them a salute. "Sirs, the person who is awakening is someone I know. Please let me through."

"Do not let me repeat myself!" One of them shouted. "Unauthorized personnel are not allowed inside!"

"Bu–"

"No buts! These are the orders from the higher-ups."

"Let him in." Suddenly, a calm but authoritative voice resounded in their hearts.

Lifting their heads up, the two Guardians were able to identify the person behind the voice. In his iconic black windbreaker and long sword strapped to his back, Arthur, with his large eye scar, walked in their direction in stride. Every step excluded an authoritative aura that no one could deny.

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Realizing who issued the order, the two men moved their spears away and gave a salute.

"Yes, Commander!"

Hermes turned around and gave a salute just like the two higher-ranked Guardians. Seeing this, Arthur, with his usual stoic face, simply walked past him and entered the corridor.

"Follow me."

Hearing his command, Hermes decided to stay silent and do just that. On either side of the hallway, doors that lead to the dorm rooms moved past him as every step closer to their destination increased the anxiety within his heart.

Suddenly, a large crowd of officers became visible. They were all surrounding one of the dorm rooms in front of him. Noticing Arthur's presence, a large split appeared within, giving space for him to enter inside. Hermes, who was directly behind him, followed closely as curious looks encompassed his figure with every step he took.

The door plate, which was labeled as 'A-123', entered his vision.

'So this is her dorm room…' The duo stepped inside, one after the other, slowly.

Unlike the dorm room he had, the visage of an enclosed space that befitted the status of a royal became apparent. A large queen-sized bed fitted with curtains as well as other fanciful furniture like cushions, a sofa, and even a miniature library was presented before him. The pride he held for his room completely diminished the moment he walked inside.

'So this is the difference between peasants like me and a noble like her, huh? She even has a window for natural sunlight! Ahh… I am so envious…'

His feelings on the matter completely diminished, however, the moment he saw who was sleeping on the bed. In her pajamas, the graceful figure of Elizabeth sleeping like a princess encroached upon his eyes. The sun's rays reflected off her golden silk hair, giving her a radiant aura.

The entire scene looked to have come out of a Renaissance painting. Moving his vision to the left, an old-looking woman in silver, curly-bobbed hair clasped her hands together, as if praying to a deity. Her disheveled skin and panicked look on her face told Hermes the entire story.

Other figures unknown to Hermes appeared before him. Some wore ancient robes and cloth tunics, while others were adorned in classical military uniform. All of them had grim expressions on their faces.

One of those figures was one that Hermes was familiar with. It was a person he held great disdain for. As their eyes locked on to each other, a complex expression showed on each of their faces. Standing apart from the bed was Charles de Verdier, who was accompanied by an older man with a stature and physique similar to his. The only difference, however, was the mature aura he was exuding; something Charles lacked in all aspects.

Ignoring his presence, Hermes shifted his eyes back to the old woman with short silver hair. She had also noticed Arthur's entrance and cast her gaze toward him.

"Arthur…"

With his gray hair and trimmed beard, Arthur nodded his head in her direction and spoke in a patient voice.

"Could you give me a status update? How is the situation so far?"

The old woman's gray eyes were filled with worry and on the brink of tears. "Yes… It has been about 30 minutes since we discovered her forceful awakening. According to the preliminary reports, this situation started roughly around 8:00 PM last night…"

"I see… That is not good…"

Hearing this, Hermes' lips twitched. "Hm? What do you mean, it's not good?"

Arthur turned his neck back slightly. "In both a regular and forceful awakening, the longer one takes to complete the Dreamscape challenge, the higher the chance of failure. Since she was taking the test since last night, Elizabeth had passed the threshold for a regular length test by roughly 4 hours now…."

"Hm? Who is that young lad behind you?" Noticing Hermes' presence, the old woman tilted her neck slightly to get a better picture of him.

Arthur nodded in her direction. "This is Hermes Wilson."

Hearing his answer, the old woman squinted her eyes and scrutinized Hermes' body. "So it's you…" This was a young man she had publicly defended during one of the Ten Elder meetings. "What brings you here? Do you know my daughter, young man?"

'So she is her mother…' Hermes nodded his head and gave a gentlemanly bow. "Yes, Ma'am. I became friends with Lady Elizabeth about a week ago…"

"I see… I heard you are an Enchanted Striker, correct? Try focusing your cosmic force into your eyes using [Sensory-Boost] and you will understand what we mean…"

Although Hermes was unsure what she meant, he listened to her instructions completely. Waves of cosmic force rushed through his body toward his eyes. What followed was a scene that shocked him greatly.

From the infinite skies above, large strands of energy intertwined and rushed toward Elizabeth's body like streams of light. He immediately recognized it as Cosmic Force, however, it was shaped and textured differently from what he was used to.

Knowledge-type cosmic force radiated in a slew of colors; its form and shape are constantly in flux and completely inhomogeneous. He had witnessed it numerous times when using [Sensory-Boost] on his eyes.

The cosmic force being sucked into Elizabeth's body was different, however. Although Hermes had not seen what Technology-type Cosmic Force looked like, he felt that what was being presented in front of him was not it either.

The strands of cosmic force flowed like strings, each one colored differently. They oscillated like waves in the ocean, giving off both a calm and peaceful emotion. Hermes felt like he could stare at it forever and not get bored.

"This… What cosmic force type is this?"

The old woman looked at him with her eyes wide open. She had not expected such a question. "Huh?! You can see it?!"

What followed was the loud murmurings of the entire crowd. Confusion and puzzlement spread as they gazed at the young man before them.

Hermes furrowed his brows in bewilderment. "Well, yes? Why are you asking that?.."

"Well, of course I'm asking that! No one here can see it! Her cosmic force is invisible to us! We even assumed that because she took so long to wake up, her body was trapped inside the Dreamscape!"

'Trapped? Invisible? What is this woman saying right now…'

Arthur looked over his shoulder at Hermes' direction. "The reason she told you to activate [Sensory-Boost] was to make you understand the grim reality we thought we were facing. Because we couldn't see any of the cosmic force rushing into her body, we had assumed that something had gone wrong during the test and that her mind was trapped inside the Dreamscape."

Arthur continued his lecture. "You see, there are cases in which a person fails the test but does not transform into a mutant. In such rare cases, the person instead becomes a vegetable without a mind. We were worried that was what happened to her…"

End of Chapter