Surprised, the war emissary announced in a perplexed tone:
"Epic grade, fit to be nurtured in the academy."
After Arek, the ceremony continued. Another hundred youth went to the stage, out of which only ten managed to awaken rare traits, while about ten odd failed to awaken and died.
A cruel world in the end.
Thinking of this, Arek couldn't help but shake his head. Dying this way was still better than being torn to shreds by demons.
After the last guy walked down the stage, the war emissary gathered Arek and others who had awakened to one corner.
While Arek was waiting for him to begin speaking, a group of black-robed individuals came and started giving them an envelope.
Arek looked at the golden envelope and didn't know what to say.
Just as he was thinking, the war emissary started to speak:
"Congratulations to all of you for successful admission to the Blue Moon Imperial Academy. You, along with others, will be joining the 99th batch of the academy."
"I have high hopes for all of you. Hope none of you will disappoint me."
The war emissary's speech continued for some time, but Arek didn't pay attention after the first two sentences as most of it was pure propaganda. He just urged the awakened to join the war department after three years in the academy.
Ignoring his ramblings, Arek scanned all the figures around him.
A total of fifteen kids—ten boys and five girls.
All of them seemed to have proud expressions on their faces as they waited for the war representative to finish speaking.
Other than Arek, a girl had also managed to awaken an epic-grade trait.
Thinking of this, his gaze slowly turned toward the red-haired girl at the front, looking completely unapproachable.
While he was thinking, every kid was done receiving their golden pamphlets. However, they didn't dare open them but only chose to wait.
Meanwhile, in one corner were the parents and guardians of these kids, staying silently.
Just then the war emissary paused and glanced at every kid present, his expression solemn.
"Everyone that is present here, you have proved yourself qualified enough to join the Imperial Academy, but don't become too proud. The path ahead is extremely harsh and filled with challenges."
"From now, your life is not yours alone, but something that belongs to the Emperor the Great..."
"That is it for now. Ten days from now you can join the battleship headed to the Imperial City... So I wish all the best to everyone, prepare well."
With that he didn't linger around any longer and promptly left. Once he left, a huge weight seemed to have been lifted off the shoulders of everyone present.
All the children let out sighs of relief.
The parents who were patiently waiting also rushed out and hugged their children. Some even cried. Although they were hoping their children would awaken better grade traits, the fact that they were alive and with them was enough.
Arek also walked closer to his sister Serin and said with a smile on his face:
"Let's go, sister."
Serin merely nodded like an emotionless statue, her expression showing no emotion of successfully awakening.
Arek didn't mind—this was just how she was. However, from what he knew, she wasn't always like this, but the accident five years ago changed her completely.
According to the memories, their town was attacked by a group of demons. In that attack, the siblings' mother was killed. This was also the time when the original Arek died and our hero took over.
The incident came as a great shock to both. While the younger brother was slightly altered, the elder sister became cold and distant to ensure their survival.
Arek didn't particularly care about the incident. He even felt slightly lucky—if it wasn't for that accident, he might not be able to hide the drastic change in personality at all.
Just as the two siblings were about to walk away from the square, Arek heard the sound of someone approaching them from behind. However, not caring, the two continued to move. However, before they could go any further, whoever was following them called out:
"Sorry to interrupt, but can I please have a moment of your time?"
A gentle female voice echoed from behind.
Although Arek wanted to continue walking, he didn't have a choice now.
With a forced smile on his head, he turned his head around only to feel slightly surprised.
It was none other than the girl who awakened the epic-grade talent and her mother.
Arek and the girl's eyes met, and just one look and he realized the girl wasn't easy to deal with.
He didn't know why, but suddenly a strong feeling of regret welled up in his heart.
With forced laughter, Arek greeted them, trying to act as if he didn't notice them at all:
"All this excitement got to my head. I didn't notice you calling out at all."
"Oh, never mind that..." The woman could tell that Arek was pretending, but instead of feeling bad or disappointed, her opinion of Arek improved slightly.
This young man was not just talented, but even knew how to deal with situations.
With this, she became even more confident in her choice.
With that, she gestured to the young girl beside her and said in an encouraging way:
"Little Lily, quickly introduce yourself. After all, the two of you are going to attend the same academy. Use this as an opportunity to familiarize with each other."
Hearing her words, the confusion in Arek's mind also cleared.
After saying those words, Lily's mother looked at Serin with a look of hesitation in her eyes.
Arek understood what she wanted to say, so he simply smiled and changed the topic.
The conversation continued. Lily's mother also made no further attempt to talk to Serin.
It was only after five minutes that the two parted ways.
Although the conversation was neither too long nor short, he managed to gather enough information.
It appeared that in these ten days, he couldn't rest at all. At first, after awakening, he simply wanted to rest while waiting for ten days to pass.
But if Lily's mother's words are to be believed, then he had to get to work.