TRIALS V

Kairos suddenly woke up seated in a wooden chair, his head still felt like it was spinning and in his mouth was a consistent cool and sweet taste, one similar to eating mint.

His thinking still disoriented, he slowly sat up and immediately took a glance at the surroundings when he noticed other people seated in similar positions as him, their expressions either dark or somber.

On a closer look…most of the people seated there looked familiar.

Kairos' eyes widened in shock as he seemed to immediately realize where he was currently at or an idea of what he was doing here.

'The people seated here were the contestants who had either forfeited the trial or fallen unconscious…which meant I had-' Kairos immediately paused his thoughts as his expression also grew somber too.

He then quickly moved his gaze towards his left hand as though he had just remembered something, but immediately he noticed the arrow no longer in his hand and the wound there almost healed he sighed in relief and his expression became less tense as he muttered:

"A healing potion?…that explains the sweet and cool residing taste."

A few moments later, a group in the Verdant Military Armor came in with a couple of unconscious contestants where they carefully placed them on an empty chair.

Seeing this Kairos couldn't help but sigh with anger and disappointment swelling up in him when he remembered how stupidly he had lost his chance to get into the Verdant Military Training Center, but despite the disappointment he felt all he could do at the moment was sigh.

"Life itself is a very unpredictable journey…that's why it's life after all." Kairos muttered in a low and depressed tone.

Kairos resided to relaxing on his wooden chair, his eyes shut tight and his hands interlocked as though he was meditating or lost in thoughts.

He was then jerked up by the surprise of hearing his name being shouted.

"Kairos…who is Karios Leander Eros?" A man cladded in the Verdant Military Armor continuously asked as he moved his gaze around.

A little taken aback by the sudden interest in him, Karios who was currently feeling a little skeptical slowly raised his hands and then stood on his feet.

"I am Karios Leander Eros."

The man scanned him head to toe for a while before saying in an indifferent tone.

"Follow me."

Kairos obidiently followed the man past the door and through a route. As they walked he couldn't help himself from wondering what could have caused for presence to be called suddenly.

'Could it be father had already heard the news of my failure and had requested an escort for me back home.'

'Or is it related to me being a Vulgar?.'

While he pondered on the reason why he was called out, he suddenly followed the man through an entrance that immediately led to a quite familiar place.

The arena.

A little taken aback, Kairos' eyes immediately went to the top area of the arena, the area where they had been waiting for their turns to take the trial, he immediately spotted the contestants there with the only difference being they had now reduced in size and didn't look crowded anymore.

He continued to slowly follow the Verdant Military Man from behind but when he noticed him going towards the direction of the other contestants, the urge he had to ask the Verdant Military Man questions grew stronger but he would rather not and decided to just follow behind him quietly.

The Verdant Soldier eventually stopped right at the front of Captain Blair where he moved to the side to reveal the gray haired, blue eyed teenager behind him and with a respective salute immediately left the arena.

Kairos simply stood at the same spot dumbfounded and confused as he would occasionally move his gaze between Captain Blair's cold gaze and the other remaining contestants staring at him with the same shocked expressions.

Immediately after the last person had managed to succeed the trial. Everyone had expected the Verdant officials to move to the next criteria or event but to their surprise they had been put on hold ever since with the only noticeable change since the end of the trial being the sudden arrival of two Verdant soldiers each carrying one side of a huge box…so it was natural that the present turnout of events had caused them shock and for some annoyance.

"What is that Vulgar doing here?"

"He looks confused himself which means his being here is not something he had planned beforehand."

"I am growing weary from all these delays."

Slowly murmurs and slight complaints could be heard from different spots amongst the contestants but at the point where the complaints and murmurs began increasing at an alarming rate Captain Blair immediately swept the area with her cold gaze causing everywhere to grow extremely quiet.

"To those who might not know, I am Blair…Captain Blair or you can as well describe me as the administrator of the whole Verdant Military Training Center."

Immediately the contestants heard the last part of the Captain's speech they immediately had a mixed feeling of surprise and trepidation.

'The administrator of the whole Verdant military training center…how far could that be in terms of power to a General? and how could someone who looks so young hold such power?…how powerful could she actually be?' numerous questions popped up in Kairos' mind as he stared at the cold gazed figure before him with a new type of awe towards her.

"Luckily you've managed to pass the trials, a few of you with excellence, others barely and with some of you in-between…but it doesn't matter as you all still managed to earn your rights into the Verdant Military Training Center." Blair continued her tone, still remaining cold and emotionless. As she spoke the men who had carried the huge box slowly opened it up releasing an ancient unnatural aura that attracted the attention of all the contestants.

Blair then approached the open box slowly as she continued to speak:

"Despite you all gaining access to the Training Center, those who did exceptionally well should at least get recompense for their exceptional performance so those who did poorly could strive to get better."

Immediately Captain Blair had said this, the older man who had been holding the numerous books before suddenly stepped forward.

"Eris Alora."

The blonde girl immediately stepped forward after her name was called, her expression still stoic and calm. Immediately she got close Captain Blair requested she stretched out her right hand which immediately after she did a green slightly glowing bracelet with inscriptions on it was put on her hand.

"This is an ascentic bracelet…it is was made from a mana stone and has already been enchanted by a mana runes incriber, it is what identifies you as a student of the Military Training Center, it is also a grade of your current ability that has already been determined from your performance in the trials." As Blair explained, all the contestants listened attentively with Eris included as no one wished to miss anything she was about to say.

"The green glow indicates an outstanding performance." Immediately she said that the eyes of everyone went towards the slightly glowing green bracelet in the hands of Eris with different emotions.

"A blue glow indicates a close to outstanding performance, yellow…an average performance and red for a poor performance."

Immediately after her explanation, Eris was freed to go back to her previous spot while the earlier older man called a few names with Astin's name included, this set and was given the green bracelet. Then another set was called, this set was given the blue bracelet and another after that which were given the yellow bracelet and after that the last set which were given the red glowing bracelet respectively.

Unfortunately Kairos' name wasn't called and this made him even more tense and confused but while his confusion was growing he suddenly heard a familiar name.

"Kairos Leander Eros."

A little shocked by this, he slowly approached Captain Blair who stared at him with her cold gaze.

"It's true the trial was naturally intended for element manipulators…and unfortunately you failed the trials."

Blair then gave a dramatic pause that immediately intensified the tension of the atmosphere before she continued:

"...You're not an element manipulator but a vulgar and if your performance is graded as such then I must say, you were quite impressive...I cannot still admit you the same way I did with the others because despite your outstanding performance you still failed the trials."

Immediately Kairos heard the last part of her words, his hope that had been rising ever since immediately crashed to pieces and his intensive thinking process began again.

'If she didn't call induct me into the training center then why am I here?...wait she said she can't admit me the same way she did with others.'

Slowly raising his head to look at her with a questioning expression he suddenly noticed her holding a bracelet except it didn't have either of the green, yellow, blue or red glow…no its glow looked more dark.

"Luckily the Verdant training center leaves two empty spots in case the capital decides to send in special students."

Immediately Kairos heard her he didn't realize when his grin appeared on his face as he quickly stretched forth his hand to receive the bracelet which Blair responded by putting the bracelet on his hand.

"Although I must warn…in order to make it fair for those that made it past through the trials for admission into the training center the dark color was given the lowest grade level…meaning even the red bracelet has a higher grade than it.

Immediately Kairos heard Captain Blair's warning he almost choked but to be honest he had expected the case to be such…in fact it's not like a higher grade would do anything to his current image after he was revealed to be a vulgar.

In an appreciative tone Kairos thanked Captain Blair and was about to move back to the other group of contestants when he suddenly felt her lower her head towards his ear.

"I didn't pay a small price to lease one of these chances to you…so don't disappoint me cause not so many can bear the consequences."