"What, Rank 0?" Sezel's face went pale, his heart stuttering, he shot up from his chair. The doctor didn't say anything, he just handed him the device.
It was a sleek, black rectangle, heavier than it looked, its screen flashing a cold, simple, and utterly damning truth:
Spirituality Rank: 0
A wave of despair, familiar as an old friend, swept over Sezel. He looked from the mocking number on the screen to the doctor's face, hoping for some kind of mistake, an error, a joke.
The doctor just exhaled, his crisp white coat a stark contrast to the gray walls and Sezel's graying future. "Even I don't know what that means."
In the whole world, Awakened were distinguished in power by the rankings of how strong their Spirituality Rank is, the weakest being Rank 1 and the strongest being Rank 5, the pinnacle of power. But Rank 0 was something unheard of.
His mind blanked. Even Arty, that sniveling, backstabbing coward, is a Rank 1. And I'm... what? Nothing? A rounding error? "How... How can that be?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
The doctor answered with an indifferent shrug. "In my whole career, I've never seen anything like a Rank 0 awakening."
He slumped back into the chair, the device's sharp edges biting into his palm. A Rank 0 Slayer. He had survived hell, faced down monsters and betrayal, only to be awakened as the weakest being known to humankind. It was the universe's cruelest punchline.
The soldiers escorted him back through the sterile corridors, their boots clicking a rhythm on the tiled floor. Sezel trailed behind, lost in a haze. Why me? Why is this happening to me?
Despair blanketed his mind, and why not? After all the effort he did, running from death, and finally when he caught the flicker of hope, it turned its back on him. This was fate spitting in his face. A Rank 0 Slayer, lower than the weakest, a nobody even among the Awakened.
The soldiers halted at Raelion's door, standing rigid against the walls. Sezel clutched the device tighter.
He knocked the door and entered, Captain Raelion sat at his desk, chair still, as if he'd been waiting, he stopped the rolling of his chair and locked his gaze on Sezel who walked in with a dark expression.
"Show me the assessment device," he demanded straight to the point. Sezel put the device on the table and slid it towards the captain.
Raelion's eyes widened, a rare crack in his composure. "How can this be?" he whispered, staring at the device as if it held the ghost of Sezel's potential.
He looked up, his face a monolith, and the silence in the room became heavy, suffocating. Raelion leaned back, exhaling loudly. "Well, there's nothing we can do." His tone was final, a door slamming shut on any hope Sezel might have had.
Of course there's nothing we can do. When has there ever been?
Sezel knew the truth: a Slayer's rank was fixed at awakening. A Rank 3 stayed Rank 3; a Rank 0… stayed nothing. He nodded, swallowing the bitterness.
He'd never had status in the slums, why expect it now? Food, water, survival — that was enough. Or so he told himself. But a gnawing doubt lingered, would any corporation take a Rank 0? Would this world even want him?
Sezel nodded to the captain. He can't do anything about it. He was not the kind to create a fuss over it. He just accepted it, after all he knew his fate was just shit to start with. He never expected something great, but yeah, this was also unexpected.
Soon, he found himself in another room, this one filled with training dummies and watched by two large cameras. Behind a glass partition, Raelion stood with a console, monitors flickering. He blew a whistle, the sharp sound jarring Sezel's nerves.
What now? Sezel stared at him, clueless. Raelion stared back, then sighed, palming his face. "He's hopeless," he muttered, just loud enough for Sezel to hear.
You're the one who threw me in a room and blew a whistle without even telling anything. Who's the real hopeless one here?
"Attack the dummies," Raelion's voice boomed over an intercom. "Try to use spirit energy in any way possible."
Sezel nodded, heart pounding. He faced the dummies, their surfaces scarred from past blows.
Spirit Energy... like in the Spirit Realm. He remembered the feeling, the power that had flowed through him, a gift from the mysterious girl. He swung at a dummy. Nothing. For an hour, he tried—punching, kicking, straining until sweat soaked his shirt and his muscles screamed.
The result? Zero. Just like his rank. Poetic, really.
He collapsed, gasping, the floor cold against his back. Raelion towered above, exasperation etched in his face. "I guess you need basic education about being a Slayer."
You think? Sezel cursed inwardly. _How do you expect me to do anything without knowing anything, you fiend!
Sezel failed to use even a bit of spirit energy during his training session, which led them to two possibilities: first is either he lacks the basic knowledge of using spirit energy or he is completely unable to use spirit energy at all.
There was a third option too, that was if he had received a fable and an ability which he doesn't know how to activate, but all the Fabled Awakeners were Rank 3 or above, and Sezel was a Rank 0, let alone Rank 1, the lowest of the category. He was basically six feet's under.
Raelion led him outside, and Sezel squinted, the sun's warmth a shock after the facility's chill. The sunlight felt like a fleeting gift, a reminder of a world he'd fought to return to, only to be branded nothing.
How long was I in that hellhole? Days? Weeks? He would later learn it had only been three hours. The exchange rate on suffering in the Spirit Realm is terrible.
They entered another building. Raelion stopped at a door marked with more unreadable runes. "In here," he said, pushing it open.
Sezel stepped inside, and his breath caught. A vast classroom stretched before him, filled with rows of desks and hundreds of people, all of them looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and wary judgment. Newbie Slayers.
A class for newbie Slayers?
He shot Raelion a look of pure, unadulterated loathing. You're sending me here... now? After everything?
This man's sense of timing was as impressive as Sezel's Rank.