Chapter 368: Unextractable
"Nice to meet you, Sir."
Arthur still decided to use polite speech as he shook the man, however, in the instant he did, he sensed something strange.
It was a strange feeling that he had come to get used to over the past week, something that Alvey informed him that almost everyone above the grandmaster realm could sense.
’A skill activation?’
Ger had activated a skill and was using it to ’scan’ Arthur, something that the boy’s body almost instinctively rejected.
But Ger was an Intermediate Stage Epic Realm existence, and Arthur was currently an ’Intermediate Master’.
’Rejecting his scan would arouse suspicions, let’s just conceal what I don’t want anyone finding out.’
Like the fact that he had wings and other things he had not revealed.
The handshake was a bit longer than normal, but eventually, Ger let go and then patted Arthur on the back.
"Seems our little Rachel has taken a liking to you."
"Don’t say strange things, Ger."
"How’s it strange, you used to always hide behind our backs wheve—"
"That was more than 10 years ago!"
Arthur noticed that Ger was still trying to scan him even though the man was talking with Rachel, only stopping after half a minute when he sat down to chat with the girl.
From their conversation, Arthur found out that Rachel was a war orphan who was taken into the Orphanage at the tender age of four.
She spent the next five years there, and the people she was closest to were not only these four but two more.
At age 9, she was adopted by the Cassowar family, a prestigious noble household, due to her talent for Holy Magic which was quite effective in dealing with the demons.
Ger and the others had left not long after to join the army, leaving behind two out of their original group of 6 who succeeded the orphanage from the elderly directors.
These four, with their ten years of military service, were fairly high ranked, even more so than normal due to the fact that they had more chances to accumulate merits.
They chatted for a while before Ger’s group had to leave as the screening process was now over and more recruits were going to be pouring into the hall soon.
After bidding Rachel by for now, they returned to their original posts, leaving behind the giddy teenager who couldn’t stop an ear-to-ear smile from blooming on her face.
◇ ◇ ◇
Unnamed Facility
Duskhand Bastille
Githal
November 2nd
530th Divine Year
Ger walked into the room where there were over a dozen other individuals present, each of them exuding the auras of Superior stage Legendary Realm existences.
They all had the symbols of oak leaves on their uniforms, but unlike Ger’s, theirs were a different colour, showing their higher ranks.
At the centre, was a man with two stars on his uniform, with a presence that overshadowed even that of the Superior Legends.
Ger took off his beret and tossed on the white lab coat that was hung on the rack nearby, acting as if he was oblivious to the gazes that they gave him.
He then proceeded to light a cigarette and take a buff, before finally turning towards the Sovereign Realm existence present and speaking.
"Major General..."
"What did you discover?"
The Inferior Sovereign Major General questioned with a deep voice, and in response, Ger shook his head with disappointment.
"It’s a bust.
We can’t extract it."
The faces of all the Lieutenant Colonels and the Colonels in the room fell when they heard his words.
"We have no choice but to cultivate the kid as he is. He’d be a good fighting force in the future."
"Is there nothing you can do?"
"Absolutely nothing. If I tried anything, I’d damage his soul and none of us here can heal soul damage, can we?"
"..."
When he received silence in response to his question, Ger shrugged and continued.
"The purity of his divinity is the highest I’ve ever seen, almost as if I was scanning a god.
I dare say it’s even purer than you lower-ranked gods...that’s how pure it is.
Even if I could extract it, I wouldn’t; as that purity would be lost once it is not in its original owner’s body anymore."
Ger’s words revealed a hint of the identity of the Sovereign Major General in front of him.
The man was not a human or elf like 99% of Duskhand’s inhabitants, but a god.
Just like Kulir, Ayaan, Idall and the other Malevolent and Benevolent gods of Gade that Layla and the gang faced some time ago, this Major General was a pure-blooded god race member, just that he was still a lower existence.
As such, he was considered a ’low-ranked’ god here.
The ’Mid rank’ status would only be afforded to him when he reached Transcendence, and he could only consider himself a ’High Rank’ upon becoming a Demigod Realm.
The god Lord and god King titles were reserved for the existences of higher realms, the kind that cannot interfere in the war on Gledea right now.
"Long story short...Recruit 695? Or was it 659? Whatever...the Arthur kid. We do nothing to him."
Ger finished his words and took another puff of smoke as he walked out of the room, meeting with his three friends who were waiting for him outside.
"One of these days Ger, you’d be taken to military court because of your attitudes to your Superiors."
"Ha! I wanna see who dares."
The man snorted as he trashed his cigarette, not caring for the fact that the Major General in the room behind him could hear his words clearly.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, Arthur was having a chat with Rachel and some of the other female recruits whom she had met in her assigned dorm.
The boy was always very sociable, so it wasn’t too hard for him to fit in with their group, especially when you considered his good looks.
This particular group were people who had relatives connected to the military and had been influenced by said relatives to join the army.
"We who came here willingly are very few..."
"I know right? A lot of people clearly don’t want to be here."
Arthur replied to Rachel as he looked at the recruits with aggrieved expressions on their faces, shaking his head before continuing.
"Why don’t people understand the fun of climbing up the Military Ranks to the top."
"Climbing ranks isn’t something ’easy’ or ’fun’, Arthur."
One of the girls chided Arthur but the boy only shrugged and replied.
"With how talented I am, I’d make it to the top in no time."
Hearing his reply, Rachel turned to her dorm mates with her hands pointed at Arthur as she spoke.
"Let me rephrase my earlier introduction.
This is Arthur, the hotshot divinity user who has the potential to reach the level of General Duskhand, as well as the potential to be a Narcissist."
The boy only chuckled when he heard this, before climbing atop the table and infusing his voice with magic power.
[May I have your attention please.]
His loud voice rang out across the entire dining hall, drawing the attention of all the Recruits. Seeing this, he decided to continue his words.
[First of all, I want to congratulate you all who have been chosen as future champions. I also want to inform you all that the person speaking to you, is the one who’s going to be your boss in the future.]
"Huh? The heck?!"
Arthur had thrown out some bait, and someone bit it almost immediately, getting up from their seat to reveal their 6 feet 5-inch stature.
"I’m the one who’s going to be the boss here!"
[In your dreams, you will.]
Both he and Arthur walked up to each other, and despite his height, Arthur was standing on a table so he looked down on the taller teenager.
[Taller doesn’t mean better.]
"Divinity doesn’t mean you’re better either."
Their narrowed gazes turned to glares, with the whole dining quietly watching with bated breaths.
"You doubt me? Let’s settle this like men."
