The waiting room was full of terrified students, huddled together for some sense of safety. They looked up when Karl returned, then got confused when he didn’t seem to be bothered by the situation, and that he had Thor next to him, who was headbutting the Inquisitor, looking for affection.
The man gave Karl a look of annoyance, and Karl patted Thor on the side before sending him to the beast space. The little show of escorting him back was probably intended to either intimidate or pressure the other students, but Thor had messed up the impression that the Inquisitor was going for with his innate sense of who was actually a threat.
“That is everyone, except student Dana, who is still speaking with the Overlord and will be back momentarily. Once she arrives, we will settle you into rooms for the evening. It might not be at the plush standards of the Golden Divine Academy, as the Church takes vows of poverty, but I can assure you that they will be warm and there will be dinner served soon.” The Inquisitor announced as Karl moved to join the others.
Dana was only seconds behind them with a smile on her face and an Inquisitor beside her.
“That’s everyone then. Let’s get a move on, I have things to do.” The leader of the Inquisition team announced.
The Inquisitor led them out the door, and then a group of clerics in simple grey robes, marking them as Acolytes, the common workers of the churches, led them to a large dorm room.
“This is for the males, other than the one called Karl.” The Acolyte leading them announced.
The boys filed in, with another of the acolytes stepping in to explain everything to them.
Then the remainder of the group turned down a corridor where the trim on the wall turned from blue to orange.
“This room is for the women other than Dana.” A female acolyte announced.
The girls waved goodbye to Karl and Dana, leaving them with just one female Acolyte.
“Your rooms are upstairs. You have both been registered as Awakened Elites already, and that means you stay on the second floor.” She explained apologetically.
“That’s fine. As long as there is food and a bed, I’m satisfied.” Karl agreed.
“It is quiet here, which is a pleasant change from the Academy. It’s always so loud with everyone training.” Dana agreed.
The room was a small cloister room, just a bed with a symbol of the World Dragon on the wall and a small desk that used the bed as a chair, due to the limited space. But it was a private room, which was something.
With the thick stone walls of the Seminary Academy, it was even properly private, to some extent. The window in the wall had no shutter, so if there was someone outside looking in, it wasn’t all that private, but the natural light was a blessing in what would otherwise be a stuffy stone cell.
Karl relaxed on the bed for a while, until a knock at his door informed him of a guest.
“Awakened, Karl. Your presence has been requested.” The man informed him simply.
“Lead the way.” Karl replied, unsure what this was all about.
He had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to be some sort of turf war between the church and the Bureau, or possibly the military, that he was getting dragged into. But when he reached the destination and the Acolyte stopped and gestured for him to go through a large door arch, there was nobody inside what looked like the Seminary Academy’s library.
It might be some sort of prank common with the clergy, a form of hazing, but Karl doubted it. Even if they ditched him here, he knew his way back, and there was no actual door in the archway to lock him in the library.
After a few seconds, Karl heard voices up ahead, so he moved forward to see who had called for him. It was clearly an argument, but the content of the argument was quite interesting to Karl, causing him to pause for a moment before entering.
“It’s not possible that there would be two Reigning Dragon Priests at the same time. I am telling you that the oracle wasn’t wrong. One of them is not going to take over the Church. The other has another fate, serving the World Dragon’s interests.” One soft female voice was insisting.
An angry male voice replied. “Do you think that we can just let someone of that potential wander around outside the church’s supervision? No, they must both be raised as the heir to their Patron. That is the fate of all Dragon Priests.”
Karl sensed that one of them had noticed him, so he knocked on the bookshelf closest to him, and stepped around the corner.
“Apologies for intruding, I was informed that I was summoned.” Karl informed the two people sitting in the padded chairs at the back of the library.
“You were. Please, come sit. I have questions for you, that only you might be able to answer.” The woman in fancy layered robes replied with a smile.
Karl took a seat to the side between the two, settling into the soft leather with a sigh of pleasure.
The woman paused to gather her thoughts, then turned a brilliant smile at Karl that had both Hawk and Thor hissing in displeasure, while Rae took it as a personal challenge, and nearly charged out before Karl could stop her.
[Calm down, she’s not going to attack us here.] Karl informed them.
The smile seemed friendly enough, but the beasts had all taken it as a threat from a predator, and that put Karl on guard, though he did his best to keep a neutral smile.
“I am told that you gained a Golden Chest from the trial instance, that you were the only one who gained that level of recognition.” She began.
She seemed sincere, and Karl wondered whether he had mentioned that Dana had as well. It didn’t seem to have come up in conversation, so perhaps nobody knew.
“I got a golden chest, yes.” Karl agreed.
“Two Dragon Priests were awakened there, and yet, the Trial Instance didn’t give them a level of recognition as great as yours. Why do you think that was?” She asked, while the man sat silently, still brooding about their previous argument.
“I believe it was because the rewards were based on power. If there was someone of Commander Rank or higher in the group, we likely would have seen a fourth type of box generated.” Karl replied.
That seemed like the most probable cause to him, anyhow.
“Three ranks would suggest that you were at the Ascended Rank and not the Awakened Rank.” The man spoke slowly.
Karl shrugged. “I am on the high side of Awakened. I don’t presume to know how the Holy Relic sorts or rewards its visitors, I was just guessing based on who got which types of box.”
“A very political answer. It appears that the Bureau has been training you well. Let me rephrase that. The skill that it gave you, you described it as a way to teach beasts. If I brought a beast here, could you teach it a skill?” She asked.
“If it was compatible with one that I know, it should be possible. That is what the skill said. I haven’t had a chance to test it.” Karl agreed.
The man whistled, and a Nekomata, a two – tailed magical cat, came over and stood in front of Karl. It must have been listening to their conversation to have gotten there that quickly, and it looked intrigued by the topic.
“I want you to teach her a skill. Any skill you know. As you may be aware, their innate skill is stealth, so it won’t interfere with your options.” The Priestess demanded, and her eyes turned as grey as her hair.
“How about Rend? You have lovely claws, do you think that you could learn to rend?” Karl asked, addressing the cat directly.
It looked confused, so Karl focused on his new skill.
Magical runes appeared in his vision, and a few seconds later, Karl began to understand what he had to do. The ability was cast on the animal, then you had to show it the skill you wanted it to learn, and have it practice for a period of time, unless you knew the skill well enough that the teaching ability would let you transfer the knowledge directly.
But the only way to know if you had that level of expertise was to try, so when the cat made an affirmative noise, Karl tried his best to activate the skill with Rend attached.
It worked, in a way. The magic seeped into the cat, who looked perplexed about what was going on around it and stared off into space for five solid minutes, while nobody said anything.
Then, suddenly, it raised a paw, and a faint light surrounded the four short claws.
[That is the saddest excuse for Rend that I have ever seen. Even the first day that I taught it to you, you did better.] Hawk laughed in Karl’s mind.
“That is Rend. I am certain of it.” Karl offered, while the two clergy members stared at the proud Nekomata.
They were silent for a few more seconds, as the cat swung its paw about, testing the ability. It was an Awakened Rank beast, but the skill was definitely not. It was barely there, a Common Grade skill that would need much more practice or instruction to be truly useful.
“So, it is not instant? That is a shame.” The man finally replied with a sigh.
That seemed like a lot to expect of a single skill from an Awakened Rank Elite. Maybe they thought it was like a reusable Skill Book, and Karl could just stand there and teach hundreds of beasts a new skill in an hour?
