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nIn the hall of Gods, Odin and Yahweh sat stiffly and wore stressed expressions.

n=Well, your youngling took long enough to figure it out. I estimated if he didn’t come to the conclusion their personalities were being altered by our blessings and Bloodlines soon, he would have spent years in the dark.=

nOdin stroked his magnificent beard and turned his good eye towards Yahweh.

n*Indeed, he’s a bright lad, but he needs to overcome his reliance on his older brother.*

n=Aye, the two brothers, must overcome these traits to integrate with what we’ve given them entirely; if not, then they will become mindless sheep like many before, and what we need now is warriors, not pawns.=

nYahweh rolled his eyes and tapped the table with each of his fingers in sequential order on his right hand in thought. This wasn’t the first time the two of them had made Charges. There have been several incidents where the chosen being could not overcome the will attached to their blessings and Bloodlines. In the end, these beings became shells of their former selves and fell into the clutches of insanity.

nA Deities Will was not something easily beaten; however, Cynrik and Brance had taken the first step in accomplishing what needed to be done. They could then take the steps necessary to fight against the inherent will by acknowledging that something was wrong.

n=You saw them too, right?=

nOdin’s eye glowed in a purple light causing five different windows to form in the air, each one showing a being of similar age to Cynrik and Brance.

n*Indeed. It seems a few Deities have given their Charges a nudge in the direction of this Academy Exam. Unfortunately, those trouble makers appear to be setting up a confrontation between the brothers and their own Charges.*

n*Cynrik is lucky they had already passed the Physical Exam and weren’t there to witness his little stunt.*

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nIt had been roughly an hour since the Observers had dropped Cynrik’s group off at the meeting point for the Practical Exam, and the two brothers had spent this time going over the changes they were experiencing. The main topic was their Bloodlines. Brance had been given the full description of what a Lightbringer was, and to say the least; he was kind of shocked by it.

n-Lightbringer

n-Deity Class Bloodline-

n-Progenitor- God of Light Yahweh-

n-Home Realm: Kingdom of Heaven

n– Characteristics: Kind, Gentle, Ruthless to Foes, Led by Emotions instead of Logic, Lean towards Pacifism instead of Violence.

n-Abilities: Advanced Durability, Medium Regenerative Capabilities, Sensitive to Life Energies, Extreme Level of Mana Manipulation, Ability to absorb Life energy to turn it into their own power.

nThe differences of characteristics for the Lightbringer and Æsir were like night and day, yet the manifestation of their abilities was similar. This explained why Odin and Yahweh seemed like fire and water, yet they still got along.

nWith Brance now in the know, Cynrik didn’t hold back and began telling him everything that had been stressing him out for years. He explained how he felt as if he had a rage-filled beast chained within his chest every waking moment, screaming to be let out, how the only way he had found to calm this feeling down was to kill. He had first noticed it during the events of Haylons Shadow, but since then, it had been building back up again, slowly but surely affecting his judgment.

nBrance had been correct in his assessment about the flashy entrance on Stage 12. Cynrik admitted it was a spur-of-the-moment idea that he became fascinated with after seeing how many other kids were triggering gold lights from their machines. He had been overcome by the sudden urge to show off, and instead of fighting this, he gave in.

nHe explained how things got worse for him after integrating his Æsir blood. The memory fragments he was shown at the time consisted of the war for Asgard thousands of years ago, and it was all shown from Odin’s point of view. In these couple-minute-long clips, he was able to wield the elements as if they were an extension of his own body, and like an addict, Cynrik wanted more.

nThat’s why, when the opportunity to show off and use his Affinities presented itself, Cynrik jumped instantly. He had been struggling to keep hold of what little sanity he had at the moment.

nSo that’s basically what’s going on. I’ve been treating it as a berserker state of sorts. If I’m honest, you’ll have to reel me in if I get too wild. Other than that, I should be fine. Cynrik was sitting with one knee resting on the ground and his other up near his chest.

n-Thanks to your analytical breakdown and thoughts on your current situation, you have unlocked the hidden Stat Will Power.-

n-Will Power: A hidden Stat that increases the User’s resistance to abnormal statuses. This Stat helps the User endure moments of mental or physical stress that would typically exceed their capabilities.-

n-Your Will Power Stat has increased to 10; you will be able to withstand outside thoughts caused by your 1% Bloodline.-

nWHAT!

nCynrik’s outburst in the mind link caused Brance to flinch and snap his head towards his brother with a frown.

nI just unlocked another hidden stat, Will Power. Sorry bout that, hehe.

nLemmie guess, talking through your problems gave you some kind of sudden enlightenment.

nWho knows, who cares? Its description says It allows me to resist ** that’s outside the purview of the MIND stat. Basically, it makes me more durable, I guess, right Tobs?

n-Host Cynrik is correct. The MIND stat is primarily used for defense and offense with Mental skills such as Illusions and allows high-level thought processing and memorization.-

nNailed it.

nOh, be quiet Cynrik; you woulda gotten that Stat a LONG time ago if you weren’t so damn stubborn. Brance had to seriously fight the familiar urge to smack his brother upside the head after hearing how casually he was dealing with getting his new Stat.

nFair play, can’t argue that one.

n“ATTENTION ALL APPLICANTS. MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE.”

nWhile the brothers were caught amid their banter, they had nearly forgotten where they were currently. Over the last hour, the Physical Exam had continued, and in that time, only a few thousand kids had passed and shown up in the Compound. The Observers herded them together on the first ring just below the first batch of Green Alpha Egresses, and judging from how the same man who had given the brothers their Elite tokens was yelling at the top of his lungs; the Physical Exam had finished.

nWearing his military uniform and yelling loudly was barely enough to gather the attention of the swarm of kids standing aimlessly around, gawking at the numerous doors.

n“The Physical Exams have come to a close, and we will shortly be giving you all access to the Green Alphas you see around you. First things first, allow me to congratulate you all; of the initial 183,200 Applicants, only 4013 have passed to this point. You should all be proud.”

n“I would like you all to direct your attention to your Watcets,” the Lead Observer waved his hands and forcefully activated a function on all 4013 applicant’s Watcets, causing a globe-like hologram to appear two inches above its display.

n“What you are viewing is the Global Reaver Hub. The tokens you have received have given you level 1 clearance in the program. As such, you will be able to view all of the presently known information about the 182 Green Alpha Egresses that you will be able to choose from for your Physical Exams. There is a one-hour time limit for you to form a team of a maximum of five people and determine which Egress you will be Diving into.”

n“I will also take this moment to announce that the duration of the Physical Exam will be 120 hours. That is all the time you will have to complete whatever the Clear quest is within your chosen Egress.”

nGabby scooted closer and was basically leaning on Brance with all her body weight, trying to look at his Watcet instead of her own, causing Cynrik to laugh obnoxiously into the mind link and drawing a string of swear words from Brance.

n“Some more things to be aware of are since there is no Online Network within Egresses, your Watcets will go into Offline Mode. Therefore, you will not be able to contact the outside world nor access any information not previously downloaded into the memory drive on your device.”

n“Lastly, although we have the ability to monitor your live signs thanks to the imprint left on your tokens, due to the electromagnetic interference presented by the Egress Core, we will not have any way to track you or see if you are in danger actively. We will only know you are in such a situation if you forcefully eject your token, which will instantly teleport you out of the Egress and back here.”

n“HOWEVER, and I will only say this ONE TIME, SO LISTEN UP! Our lack of real-time monitoring DOES NOT MEAN you can take the life of another applicant for any reason. Killing is absolutely prohibited. If your token pings off another applicant and there is evidence that you killed them, you will be expelled from the Exams and face prison time and a potential death sentence.”

nCynrik sneered at this last bit of info. Although he wasn’t actively seeking to kill anyone. He wasn’t exactly excited about the prospect of not being able to remove any potential future threats.

n“Since I have finished my briefing, I shall start the one-hour timer. When it strikes zero, everyone’s Watcet will notify them, and at that time, if you haven’t entered an Egress, you will have 5 minutes to do so, or you will be forcefully expelled.

nNeat. Rolling his eyes and clicking his tongue, Cynrik shook his head and began scrolling through the complete list of Green Alphas.

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