52 "The Master Wants To See You."

Captain Jarjaha had a thoughtful look on his face as he made his way to the Grand Hall while holding a small silver box. He usually was not a serious person, however, certain turn of events was making him question himself. He had watched the entire trial at the indigo level and what he saw was not something he could explain.

How in the name of the gods did those two boys make it out of the indigo level in less than seven minutes? Six years ago, he had also been in their shoes as an applicant. Except that in their time, the Soul Recovery School did not use Naa Vah to conduct their trials. Master Koo Minchii, the Vice Head of Combat School, only offered the use of his soul armos just this year. Prior to that, the Soul Recovery School used beasts from the School of Beast Studies to perform their trials.

All natural things, whether living or non-living, contained soul energy. In living things such as humans and beasts, this soul energy was called essence. Though the soul energy in natural non-living things could be just as powerful as the essence in humans, it was not as oppressive. It was because non-living things were not alive and therefore could not impose a killing intent on their enemies. Humans and beasts were however a different story.

In the School of Beast Studies, there were a variety of beasts which fell under all three classes of essence. The oldest beast, which was also the most powerful among them, was a legendary class beast possessing the indigo essence. When Jarjaha was but a young applicant, he had to endure the oppressive essence of this beast in the indigo level while clearing the trial. This was the hardest of all the levels to him and it had taken him more than an hour to do so, and yet, he was even the first to clear that trial.

But now, two boys had cleared this same indigo level in about five minutes? How was that possible? Jarjaha was aware that his trial was not the same as the two boys', and that was what made him even more baffled. This was because the oppressive essence the two boys had endured was a lot more powerful than what he had endured.

The more vicious a soul beast was, the more powerful their oppressive essence. Even then, the oppressive essence of a soul beast was far less powerful than the oppressive essence of a human of the same essence level. For example, a soul beast with blue essence may be be physically stronger than a human with blue essence. However, the human's essence was more likely to be far more oppressive and powerful. It was for this reason that the head of the Soul Recovery School, Master Dinra, thought that the usual trials were not suitable enough for selecting prospective students of soul recovery. Soul recovery doctors required absolute mental strength, and without it, it could spell their doom; after all, their patients were humans not beasts. Thus, the master of the school had to revise the trials. This was where Naa Vah comes in.

Naa Vah was the name of Master Koo Minchii's soul armos. It was an evolved weapon-type soul armos which was essentially any imaginary world created by its master. Inside Naa Vah, Master Koo Minchii had complete control. He could create anything, and nothing was impossible for him inside his soul armos. Just like all the levels, the indigo level was a replication inside Naa Vah. Master Koo Minchii had made a copy of the indigo essence and then powered it with his own evolved blue essence.

Even though Jarjaha did not know exactly how Naa Vah worked, he knew that though the oppressive indigo essence encountered by the applicants was not as pure as a true indigo essence, it was still a lot more powerful than the oppressive essence of the legendary class beast he had endured.

The captain knew this because a few months before the the registration began, Master Dinra asked him to test Naa Vah in order to make sure that it was neither too powerful nor too easy for the applicants. In the indigo level, he had been shocked by how sharp the oppressive essence was and he could not believe that Master Minchii had been able to do that even with a blue essence. But of course, Naa Vah was an evolved soul armos, so that might be a reason why it was so powerful.

In testing the indigo level, Captain Jarjaha was able to climb to the top of the mountain in twenty-five minutes; he would have been able to endure the oppressive essence for a total of forty minutes until his body gave up on him.

The fact that he was able to clear the trial in twenty-five minutes while Ovandarrak and Pan did so in five minutes was enough to send a shiver down his spine. He knew there was something dangerous about that boy the first moment he saw him. Exactly how mentally powerful was he? To make things more exaggerated, he even had a shape shifting soul armos. Perhaps, it would be wise if he did not antagonize this person.

…...

Soon, Captain Jarjaha was in the Grand Hall, and the sight he was met with sent a wave of panic within him. The two boys were lying on the ground like corpses, and for a moment, Jarjaha thought they were dead. In an instant, he was by their side.

But once he saw that they were only lying down due to extreme exhaustion, he felt a warmth of relief washing over him. He even began to chuckle at the comical display before him. Actually, he understood why they were so exhausted since he too had experienced it before.

The captain squatted in front of the two boys. Then he said, "take this. It will make you feel better."

Ovandarrak and Pan slowly opened their eyes when they heard the voice. They tried to gather the little energy they had managed to gain in those few seconds of resting, and then they sat up facing the captain. How did the captain get here without them hearing his footsteps?

The dizziness Ovandarrak had been feeling before was gone, however, he still felt weak with exhaustion.

Captain Jarjaha opened the silver box and then shoved it in front of the two boys. "Go on. Take one each and absorb them."

Within the box were two small dark green stones Ovandarrak recognised as power stones. They may be of low grade and smaller than one's palm, however, Ovandarrak knew that once he absorbed it, he would be completely rejuvenated.

"Power stones. So great." Pan said in a child-like voice. It seemed his mental faculties were still in disarray.

They both took the green power stones and then began to absorb its green soul energy. As the green soul energy seeped into their pores, their energy gradually returned and they felt the exhaustion flow out of them like a stream. Pan's extremely pale face began to regain colour until eventually, he had a healthy brown complexion.

In the next five minutes, they absorbed the power stone until nothing was left of it.

As though to prove that he was pulsating with vigour, Pan leaped to his feet. Then he started doing some stretches. "Nice, nice. I'm back." He shouted as he released his green essence which was now back to its original rich green colour.

"Can I have more of the power stones?" Pan asked rather shamelessly, a smug smile on his face.

"Of course you can." The captain said rather sincerely. However, there was a slight intensity of mirth within his eyes.

"Really?" Pan had asked for more power stones as a joke. He did not think he would really get it. Wasn't he so lucky?

"No." The captain replied then burst into laughter. Seriously, this boy. Did he think people just went around gifting random people with power stones? The only reason the school had provided them with power stones was because they knew how tough the indigo level would be on their body.

Pan wanted to say something back however, the captain kept on talking.

"You two should follow me." Without another word, he took off in wide strides.

Pan turned to look at Ovandarrak. "That beast I saw, was that your soul armos?"

"Yes."

"Wait… Did you just answer my question?"

Ovandarrak's eyes became even colder than before as he left Pan to follow the captain.

Pan's eyes twinkled in amusement from Ovandarrak's reaction. "Now that makes more sense." This boy was hard to read? One minute he was ignoring him, the next minute he was talking to him. And now he was ignoring him again. But for some reason, Pan had become used to Ovandarrak's cold silent nature, which was why he was a little surprised that Ovandarrak had answered him.

Was it possible that Ovandarrak had only helped him because his mental stamina had been compromised back in the ice desert? But no matter how he looked at it, it was clear that Ovandarrak had saved his life back there, and for that, he would forever be grateful. Pan caught up with Ovandarrak and Captain Jarjaha before they all made their way out of the Grand Hall.

While they were outside, Ovandarrak looked around him in search of his sister, however, Savyrran was nowhere to be found. That was odd. Usually, Savyrran would be seating on the stairs outside waiting for him. But today, she was nowhere to be found.

"Are you looking for someone?" Pan asked as he looked around too. When Ovandarrak said nothing, Pan smiled. "You don't talk much, do you? Well, it doesn't matter. I just want you to know that I remember how you saved my life back there. So thank you."

Ovandarrak turned to look at Pan. Honestly, he did not know why he helped him. All Pan did was irritate him because he would never shut up. But seeing how Pan had fought through the oppressive essence when clearly he had not fully mastered the mental training techniques was enough to earn Ovandarrak's respect.

"It's fine." Ovandarrak said quietly.

Pan resisted the urge to tease Ovandarrak again for answering him. But he thought it through and decided it was not a wise idea. He loved to tease people just so he could rile them up. But none of his teasing ever worked on Ovandarrak. All the boy did was ignore him, and that was no fun at all.

So to change the topic, he directed his attention to the Captain of the Soul Recovery School.

"So, Captain Jarjaha," Pan began, "Where are we going? We've been walking for a while now."

"The Master of the Soul Recovery School wants to see you. That's where we are going."