German Barns threw the question open for anyone who knew to answer.
In my past life, no one had the answer to the question, not even the best among us.
Considering this, I grew even more sceptical about answering German's question.
Of course, I would answer perfectly if I wanted to but it was not as simple as that.
Thinking about it, I knew some questions would arise from me giving the right answer and this very outcome would put undue attention on my person.
…I didn't want that.
How did I have information on the Elixir of Awakening?
That would be the first question on the list of questions considering that I am still just a fresh and potential trainee.
The information about the Elixir of Awakening was not common knowledge amongst Hunters, at least not the details.
What most hunters who had gone through the Cube knew about the Elixir was essentially the tonic's name and the grade, and that was it.
How it was made along with other technicalities and deeper details of the potions were mostly classified information at this stage.
So for me, a recruit, to even know what the vial contained meant that I had seen it somewhere or had some knowledge of it.
If that was the case, I knew I would be brought in secretly for questioning.
Pfft! That would be too much of a hassle for me… me, who wasn't even an Awakened yet.
I breathed a sigh as I considered the pros and cons of answering the question which floated over our heads.
In the end, the cons were more than the pros but I still needed to gain German's attention somehow and that was the only method I could think of right now.
German Barns, from the much that I recall about him from my past, was an easygoing man.
He was confident, calm and collected. But even with such a welcoming persona, he was also a hard man to impress.
This was a characteristic of the Head Instructor that would come to bite many of us in the ass during the Combat Training part of our curriculum.
That was also part of the reason I wanted to get his attention early and if it was possible, get closer to him.
No matter how hard a man is, as long as he still breathes, there is always room for emotions to creep in, and sentiment clouds judgment to an extent.
I needed to get his sentiment in my favour.
"Nobody?" German followed up with a mocking smile on his face.
He chuckled, his shoulders vibrating slightly as he lowered his hand.
The expression on his face was one that branded us as 'idiots' and he didn't even need to say the word.
It was clear from his countenance what he felt.
"So no one knows what this is, hmm."
He chuckled. "That's fine. I will tell you then."
He glanced at Eric, who then stepped forward and with his highly energetic voice, instructed that we keep quiet.
The murmuring died out in a second and silence reigned over the hall with German's voice being the only one heard.
"This is a Gold Grade Item," he revealed.
German paused, knowing that there would be a wild reaction from the crowd of young trainees in front of him.
He expected these reactions.
After all, many if not all had never set their eyes on a Gold Grade Item.
Such items were not something that came by so easily.
"H-huh?! Gold Grade?!" one of the recruits voiced out, the tone of his voice echoing his curiosity.
"Are you serious? I've never seen one in my life."
"The best I've set my eyes on is an Iron Grade Sword."
"Damn, bro. You are poor. Just Iron Grade? As for me, I've seen a Bronze Grade Item but not just Gold."
"I wonder what he is planning to do with it."
"Maybe he will give us, I guess."
Everyone around the trainee who made the last statement laughed at him in a demeaning way.
…Even I chuckled.
Hold up before judging me. I wasn't laughing at him for the same reason as the others.
I chuckled because he happened to have made a perfect guess and not because of I wanted to look down on him or anything like that.
The boy was right.
German was going to give each and every person present a vial of the Elixir to consume and that was going to happen some minutes from now.
"Silence!" Eric's voice thundered again as a measure to the erupting noise.
Silence reigned once more.
German shut his eyes briefly, nodded and smiled before addressing us again.
I could tell that he enjoyed how ignorant we were.
"Yes. This is a Gold Grade Item," he repeated for the sake of emphasis, "I know most of you have never set your eyes on a Gold Grade Item before, so consider this your lucky day."
German rocked the glass bottle in his hand, causing the liquid to flow back and forth.
"This is the Elixir of Awakening and all of you will be consuming it here and now. Mind you, I will not force anyone to take the Elixir. However, I'd advise that you do so unless you are comfortable with your pairs getting a headstart in this journey of heroism."
"What is the purpose of the Elixir?" asked one of the recruits standing in the front row.
"The purpose, huh?" German repeated after him before extending the Elixir in his hand to the recruit.
"Come up here and find out," he teased the recruit with a sinister chuckle, killing every atom of confidence inside of him that instant.
The trainee swallowed gulps of air, looking around him, perhaps in search of some encouragement but none of his counterparts said a word.
Some even looked away.
No one needed such unwarranted attention from the strongest man inside the hall.
The silence and the manner in which German had made the request made him sceptical and uncooperative.
He shook his head in refusal.
"You don't want the Elixir then?" German asked.
'Bad move, boy,' I thought.
The recruit didn't answer German's question.
"Strike his name out, Eric. He has lost his chance."
"What!" the recruit shouted.
He was about to debate the Instructor's decision when he felt the fierce glare from German and Eric fixed on him at the same time.
His breath ceased in that moment and he began to gasp due to the intense feeling of fear that exploded within him.
In less than a second, he felt like his life had been snuffed out of him from sheer eye contact with these Instructors, and before we knew it, the recruit slumped and foamed from his mouth.
"Oops!" German blurted, raising his arms slightly in a gesture of surrender. "I haven't even done anything yet."
"Take him and check him out," German instructed a few of the hunters present. "Make sure he is alright."
That was the power of a Hunter… a strong one.
'Such an abyssal amount of Essence from just two people.'
While the actions of these two Hunters instilled fear into the hearts of most of the recruits present, I felt good about it.
I felt this longing in my guts for such a level of power once again even if I was reincarnated into my past life.
I had tasted it and even more in the past and now, I wanted to feel it inside of me one more time.
A devilish grin appeared on my face, accompanying it was a deep admiration towards German Barns.
'Such power.'
Seeing how one of us was carried out, the rest were thrown into deep confusion.
They didn't know whether or not to accept the Elixir and sure as hell, no one dared to cross the Instructors again after the shitshow that had just played out.
"Geez, that was scary as fuck."
"I forgot to breathe, man," another expressed her concern, rubbing her hand around her neck. "It was like there was a tight grip around my neck."
"Phew," another sighed and cleaned sweat off his face.
"They are monsters."
Yes, they were.
Hunters German and Eric were, without a doubt, monsters… and they weren't even the worst of them.
…At least at our level right now, they were monsters to us.
However, in the outside world, even German and Eric had not attained great power at this moment.
Compared to those two, the Hunters seated at the top of the food chain were even more monstrous… various beasts in human form.
Well, this view held true to practically all of us because we were still greenhorns in the World of the Awakened.
We were yet to enter the most basic of all the stages towards mastering Essence—the Ore stage.
We were like untouched raw materials.
Some with great potential.
Some with average potential.
…And finally, some without any at all.
That was the true essence of what German was about to do.
The Elixir of Awakening was a catalyst that would help many of us break into the Initial Step of the Ore Stage.
As helpful as it would be to give the Elixir to every recruit present and have them grow stronger with the aim of eventually churning out Hunters in their numbers due to world demand… German wasn't a supporter of that idea.
German Barns was a man who believed in worths and talents.
He was a staunch meritocrat.
He didn't feel that we should get the Elixir simply because we were recruits of the Cube.
The way German saw it, if you wanted the Elixir, you had to prove it to him.
That was the rationale behind him not revealing the reason for giving us the Elixir as well as the true attribute that it possessed.
After the incident with the recruit, German succeeded in dividing us into three factions as he intended.
The first of which were those who wanted the Elixir and didn't care what side effects or consequences came with it.
Then those who were still sitting on the fence, not sure if they wanted to or not.
Finally, those who had made up their minds that they didn't want it due to various reasons, but most were due to fear of the unknown.
German took two steps forward. "Alright…"