After a few hours, Kale stirred in the bed of an unknown infirmary, his eyes peeled open, his body still extremely sore, his unconscious hand went towards his forehead, the bandage was wrapped around the cursed mark, and he heard a sneer coming from the side.
The same bored-looking guard who beat him black and blue was sitting there, relaxed, in a chair. Puffing smoke, holding a strange, curved smoking pipe in hand. When he looked closely, the damned thing actually had magical symbols written on it.
The Guard chuckled, "The first thing you check after waking is whether your forehead is covered or not, instead of your injuries?"
It was only then that Kale paid attention to his physical condition; he seemed mostly healed, but there was just a lingering sense of weakness within.
Of course, there was also that feeling of emptiness, as the time limit to his death approached closer and closer with every second that went by.
The Guard explained, "I gave you a healing medicine, which works by supercharging the natural healing abilities of one's body. In your case, your body seemed to have great endurance and stamina. So, you healed much faster than I expected."
For a moment, there was a strange look in the guard's eyes; he knew of the boy's severe internal condition, and he was aware of Kale's barely flickering life force. But in the end, he decided not to speak about it for now.
The guard threw a small coin-shaped token towards him and said, "Anyway, you can now go into the outer library and study for the test. But there is a condition…"
Kale frowned, looking at the strange, ancient-looking coin. He asked, "What condition?"
The Guard breathed in the smoke from the pipe, wearing a tired look, "I'm taking a risk here by allowing someone as problematic as you to attend the test, and so… if you're not able to pass and join the Association, you will have to work under me for one year."
Kale scoffed, "No, that won't happen. Because I will pass. There is no doubt about it."
The Guard gave him a dubious look and shook his head in pity. Such overconfidence was not good. "Whatever, do as you wish."
Just as the Guard stood up to leave, Kale questioned, "You're not some simple Guard, are you?"
The Lazy Guard stopped in his tracks, "What makes you think that?"
Kale answered, "You don't give off the vibe of just a normal Guard, not to mention a mere Guard wouldn't have the authority to allow me into the test so casually."
The Guard snickered, "I guess you do have a brain cell, use that for the test."
As he left the room, he said one last thing, "By the way, I took all of your money. This smoke piper wasn't cheap after all."
Kale's eyebrows twitched, but in the end, the money didn't matter; it was all for the application fee anyway. He was also grateful towards the Guard, though they beat him up quite badly, he could see that this man had no ill intent towards him.
Not to mention, if he actually wanted, The Guard could have simply knocked him unconscious at the very first punch. Then threw him somewhere far away. Kale made a mental note to remember this favor.
Suddenly, his stomach growled. To his surprise, there was a tray full of food waiting right by the side of the bed, which he devoured graciously.
Without wasting a single more moment, he exited the infirmary, going in the direction of the Outer library, and even this smallest within the Main branch of the Association, far outclassed his initial expectation in its grandeur.
Kale showed the token, and the Librarian let him in without much hassle.
The place was disgustingly big, rows and rows of shelves, tightly packed with books. As he passed through, everyone gave him a strange look, and, unlike what Kale thought, no one actually dared to bother him. He wasn't sure why, but from their looks, they knew who he was.
Everyone knew who he was, well, it would be strange if they did not, especially after that stunt he pulled. Something that silenced all the haters.
Flipflipflipflipflip—
As usual, he first picked up the books that would give him a general idea about everything of how the Association operated, its role and power within the Empire.
Flip—flip—flip—flip—
Afterward, he focused on the core topics he needed to know for the test, such as how the evaluation would be administered. All the criteria of judgment, the subjects of information that are required to pass the test, etc.
And in just about 10 minutes, he had read three large books.
But from the perspective of the other candidates who were in the library, anywhere around him, what Kale was doing was not reading, as he was literally looking at a single page for one second. Then, flipping to the next without even trying to be subtle about it.
The constant noise of it infuriated the other candidates to no end. Usually, this action would have warranted the wrath of the Librarian.
Which, in fact, did, as a vein of annoyance bulged on the forehead of the Librarian. But he dared not say anything. He was one of the few who knew the true identity of the Gate Guard.
The man who allowed Kale to attend the exam by his authority alone. The Librarian dared not to offend such a figure for a matter as small as this. So, he could only look away from Kale begrudgingly. Many of the candidates who had been studying here for a few weeks were shocked by this.
They knew very well how disgustingly strict that glass-eyed Librarian was. He would kick out candidates for the smallest faults committed in the library, never letting them in again, no matter how much they begged.
And here was Kale, the cursed tamer, flipping the pages, acting like a stupid child who had seen magical books perhaps for the first time in his life.
Disturbing everyone in the process of his endless flipping, yet even the grumpy Librarian could not say anything regarding him. That baffled the candidates to no end; they could only silently glare at Kale in hatred from afar, yet not have the courage to do anything about it.
After all, everyone present was an Artificer; they could not match Kale in terms of ruthlessness, strength, or endurance. But the candidates all vowed in their hearts to show this Cursed bastard his lowly place on the day of the test.
They would destroy him with their wealth of knowledge and intelligence.
Meanwhile, Kale remained unbothered. After finishing three books' worth of knowledge, he closed the book and his eyelids, leaning his head back on the bookshelf as he was sitting on the marble floor in a kind of meditative posture.
From his semi-photographic memory panel, he began reviewing the most important bits of information he learned.
The Artificer Pathway further included three professions, as follows…
Toolcraft, the path to creating magical tools that aid an Awaken.
Pillcraft, the path to creating magical medicines.
Fleshcraft, the path to modifying living beings.
Now, any Artificer could learn the basics of all three categories, but they would have to, in the end, primarily focus on only one path, thus becoming a specialist in it, as one progresses through the ranks.
While Toolcraft and Pillcraft were evident just by their names, Fleshcraft was something he found that felt a bit odd. Especially, when he remembered the one boy who had awakened the Fleshcraft pathway, he was subjected to extreme hate by the Church priest and every other Awakened kid there.
And the reason behind it had its own history and complications. The simplest way Kale could describe it was that Fleshcrafters were like medical surgeons, except they were Magical medical surgeons, who could do a lot more than scientifically possible.
Not just save lives, but ruin them as well.