With great difficulty, Skye somehow managed to have his dinner and then return to his room. He was aching all over and he could not activate his skill.
It seems like he over exhausted himself and whenever he tried to activate his skill a drilling pain developed in his mind as if his soul was getting teared apart.
Helpless, Skye just laid down on his bed and slowly drifted to sleep.
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Unbeknownst to others, in a large room inside the castle, all the Captains have gathered. There was a long mahogany table placed in the center of the room and the 12 Captains sat on either side of the long ends. It was like a meeting room of sorts.
There was an empty chair on either side of the short ends and the Captains were looking at those positions with reverence in their eyes, waiting for the two people to come in.
Meanwhile a Captain with square glasses spoke in an inquisitive tone , "Captain Stonewall, I heard that you are being heavy handed in your punishment, is that true?"
Everyone in the room turned to look at Captain Stonewall, but he did not respond. He just sat there silently, looking towards the seat at the head of the table.
"I also heard that you have severely beaten up a guy, and that he had been unconscious for the whole day. Is that true?" the Captain asked again, but this time in a slightly accusatory tone.
Captain Stonewall still did not respond. But instead Captain Eleanor spoke up, "Everyone is healed and healthy, you don't need to worry."
Adjusting his glasses and with a frown on his face, he slowly turned towards Captain Eleanor, "I would certainly hope they are fully healed, if not we would have to doubt your competence. But that is not the issue here, isn't it?"
Captain Stonewall slammed his hand on the table, and said "What do you want Stein?"
Both the Captains stared at each other with mean looks, after a brief pause Captain Stein said with derision, "Rogue's like you don't belong in the castle."
"I agree" Stonewall said unperturbed by Stein's mockery.
Just as Stein was about to talk, the doors to the room opened and two people walked in side by side. One was in the uniform of a Major and the other in the attire of a priest. They were Major Cross and Priest Alger.
The Captains rose up from their seats to salute the two, "I see the atmosphere here is heated up, did I miss anything?" Alger spoke while taking his seat.
"It must be nothing, they are just feisty that is all." Major Cross spoke similarly taking his seat, and then signaled for the Captains to sit down.
Major Cross and Alger were sitting opposite to each other and the Captains sat on either side of them.
"It's almost half a week since the chosen have entered the castle, did you find any promising candidates?" Alger spoke commandingly, even though Major Cross was in the room, he did not let people forget that he was also an in charge of the city along with the Major.
Major Cross looked towards Captain Stein and gave a nod, then Captain Stein spoke up, "From our observations so far, there are a few promising candidates. By the end of the month we can shape them up and send them to battle."
"What about their skills? Did you figure them out?" Alger asked.
"We could only figure out the skills of about 60% of people, they were careless an used their skills during the day. The rest of them are being more careful, but I can assure you that in next week's trail almost everyone will be using their skills and we will know everything. "
"I hope you do, the sooner we know the better. We don't want to waste away any valuable skills on undeserving candidates." Alger said looking towards Major Cross.
"What is the situation in other cities?" Major Cross asked Captain Stein.
"Other cities are also in similar situations, only the mid-sized and large sized cities have more promising candidates, but that is to be expected considering the sheer number of chosen they have."
"Some of the cities have reported killings within the castle and they are currently investigating those cases. Other than that, everything is normal." Captain Stein answered solemnly.
"So they already started to kill huh" Major cross spoke.
"It is only a matter of time; once they have a taste of their powers, they can't help it themselves." Alger said gravely.
"Inform the palace workers to be on guard, tell them to always have an eye open and observe the chosen" Major Cross ordered and Captain Stein nodded in acknowledgement and sat down.
A burly looking man rose up and then said" Major, reporting on the trials for next week. All the preparations are complete and the beasts have been captured, they will be tamed within this week and be ready for our use."
"Good. You are doing well Captain Dwayne. Proceed as planned." Major Cross said pleased with Captain Dwayne.
"If there is nothing else to report then you all may take your leave, I have something to discuss with Priest Alger."
Captain Stein wanted to report about Captain Stonewall, but seeing as Alger was here, he thought otherwise and kept silence. When no one spoke, all the Captain's rose up and saluted the Major and nodded to Priest Alger taking their leave.
But just then a Lieutenant rushed in to the office and reported silently into Major Cross's ears.
"It appears our luck has run out faster than we anticipated. There has been a killing in the castle." Major spoke gravely.
"Go and investigate. Find the culprit sooner before he kills anymore people." Major Cross ordered and the Captain's immediately left the room.
Major Cross and Alger were the only two left in the room.
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Captain Stein came to the crime scene to investigate. Every Captain has their own duties and Captain Stein was the head of the internal investigation office in the castle and hence he was the only person to come.
The murder happened in one of the quarters on 5th floor. In the corner there was an open door and inside it there was a chalk outline of a human body, indicating the position the body was found.
A lieutenant walked up to Captain Stein and reported "A palace worker reported the crime, the room door was open and when she came in to check, she found the body like this. The guy was already dead before she even reported."
"The murder weapon seems to be a kitchen knife; we suspect it might be stolen from the dining hall. The killer couldn't kill on the first strike and there are traces of retaliation."
"We are currently inquiring the palace workers on this floor if they have seen anything unusual. There is blood of the murderer scattered around so I think we can find him fast."
"Since you have the blood, just take it to Priest Alger. He is in the castle today. He will tell you who it was. Wrap it up quickly and do not let the information leak to the chosen. "Captain Stein ordered and then shortly left thereafter.
The Lieutenant did as he was told and quickly caught the murderer before dawn. The murderer was in his room sitting in a corner and quivering, when the Lieutenants came and took him away.
The chosen in the castle did not know any of this happened and they were all sleeping in their rooms, peacefully.
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Soon after it was morning again and Skye woke up as usual, he checked his body immediately. His skill slowly healed all his wounds on his body and he was back to normal again.
"Just the restorative effects of the skill are so awesome!! I seem to have done lots of good deeds in past life, otherwise how could I get such a cheat skill. " Skye thought, he was extremely happy with himself.
With his excessive usage of his skill, his life force was decreasing rapidly, but he was happy because his stats were increasing at a rapid pace.
He wanted to check his status screen so he willed it and it appeared in his front.
* Name: Skye
* Title: None
* Passive Skills: Accretion
* Active Skills: --
* Strength 6.65
* Stamina 6.15
* Speed 6.25
* Wisdom 13.15
* Intelligence 18.35
* Soul Strength 5.25
"Hmmm…. I have to endure a few more days of beating just to get my physical stats to normal level, if only I had maintained my fitness back on Earth, then today I would not need to endure all this pain" Skye lamented.
"Well I still have a long way to go, a new day and a new round of beating." Skye thought and motivated himself so that he could endure the beating he would get from Captain Stonewall today.
In the dining hall while having breakfast he met Skanda and they both sat together.
"Bro, how are you feeling today?" Skanda asked concerned
"I am fine. Don't worry"
"Bro, you seem to be constantly getting beaten up, I feel bad for you"
"Don't be, your brother here is going to be the strongest person ever, why would you feel bad? It's all part of the plan." Skye answered
"Bro, since you came here, I did not even see you properly talking to girls. I think even if you become the strongest person you will still be single." Skanda said in a sad tone, but teasing Skye.
"Do you have to remind me all the time? ", Skye said annoyed.