Harry and Valour had left a long while ago, the journey wasn't that long but it wasn't that short either.
On their way to the camp, Harry gave Valour all the important information that he might need.
The camp was going to last for a year; If Valour wanted to come back to the Capital, he needs to inform the headmaster there.
Harry would come to pick him at the end of the year, obviously discounting the possibility of Valour coming back before that.
Valour didn't really plan to stay there for a year. As long as it took him to advance his rank to 'Intermediate-Veteran'. There wasn't a hurry to reach 'Elite' but it wasn't entirely useless at the same time.
Even reaching 'Advanced-Veteran' would enhance his ability's strength by leaps and bounds. His ability would reach it's maximum potential.
Since reaching 'intermediate' in any rank just unlocks an aspect and then reaching 'advanced' improves the ability's strength and range. Well, it depended on the ability, the increase was catered to the ability's nature.
So for example, a storage ability would see an increase in the total amount of luggage it can hold.
So reaching 'Advanced-Veteran' wasn't useless, Valour wasn't so sure if he can reach that tho. Since the number of Ather orbs would be limited.
Why not just absorb Ather from the environment to increase his rank? Well, he doesn't have an Ather core. Nonetheless, his influence over Ather is adequate to absorb it to increase his rank.
But, this place isn't that rich in Ather, so he didn't even try absorbing it. Yeah, the Belmouth family hogged most of the Ather for themselves.
That also was one of the reasons for there being so many unawakened here. Specially the one's abandoned from their respective cities.
The strong manipulated the resources for themselves. This was the way of the Belmouth family.
Survival of the fittest. Other than that, he couldn't afford being caught.
He would have been easily caught if he tried absorbing Ather from the environment. Most people around him were awakened, obviously, excluding those who weren't.
He was unawakened in the eyes of people.
Generally, orbs were used to awaken children. Obviously, one could naturally absorb Ather till they awakened. But, that process could take a long time.
Most rich folks used orbs to speed up this process.
Valour could easily 'awaken' at the camp. He wouldn't seem unusual. Since most people did awaken between the ages of 10-14.
The Sun was setting, Harry and Valour had reached the camp.
The camp was surprisingly big. The walls weren't as high as the Capital but they were atleast 30 feet tall.
The guards standing on top of the wall were 'Begginer-Elite', all 6 of them.
Even Valour wasn't sure if he could come out alive fighting against this squadron. Maybe, if he utilitized his Hollow abilities then he can.
He had two Hollow abilities, both of them as strong as 'B' ranked abilities.
One was 'nullify' the other was 'Super strength and super speed '. He was an Assassin type Hollow.
Although, super strength was something rarely any Assassin unlocked.
As the child of Hollow Valour was unique to every Hollow, well excluding his mother ofcourse.
Two of the soldiers standing on the wall jumped down, one left a crater upon impact.
'He probably has super strength as an ability.' Valour noted.
They reached the carriage and asked for identification.
Harry took care of everything; however, Harry wasn't allowed entry.
"Only the boy goes." The girl next to them man said.
Harry looked at Valour.
"Well then Arthur, bid your uncle farewell." Harry said as he opened his arms, signalling a hug.
'This bastard.' Valour cursed Harry in his head.
His mother was damn possessive, if she heard of this, Harry and this continent would be flattened.
Valour didn't hug him but just said "See you later." And walked towards the gate.
The man just snickered in response.
"Teenagers" he said as Valour entered the camp. Leaving Harry still hanging.
...
Back at the castle
A girl was seen sitting in her room, reading a book. Her purple eyes following the line of texts.
She was brought out of her reading zone by a knock at the door.
"Come in." She said elegantly, her voice being a testament to her position as a princess.
A maid walked in, wearing a conventional maid uniform.
She let out a bow and said "Miss, you summoned me."
"Ah, yeah. Did someone come to visit me yet?" The girl said, expectation filled her voice.
"No, I am afraid not so; who are you expecting?" The maid inquired.
"No one particular." The princess said, averting her gaze.
The maid looked askance at her reaction. But, this wasn't her place to pry.
The princess was known for being nice and sweet. The story of her bumping into a peasant was heard by everyone in the castle.
Unfortunately, they couldn't find anyone that fit that description. Nathan had told them to find that boy and get rid of him before he could reach the castle.
The maid connected the dots 'She probably wanted to apologise properly'.
Their princess was very sweet after all, the gem of the Belmouth family. Although, she wasn't awakened yet.
Not cuz she couldn't awaken, she wanted it to happen naturally. Without the use of orbs, so it was bound to take some time.
The maid offered another bow and left the room.
"He probably is at the camp." The princess said to herself.
However, she wasn't alone in the room.
Nathan had appointed an 'General' ranked soldier to protect his daughter.
'Should I investigate the camp or inform someone else?' The man questioned.
He decided it was unnecessary; It was just a mere unawakened kid afterall.
Right now, he was using his 'C' rank cloaking ability to hide himself.
He left the room, not wanting to invade the princess's privacy anymore.
...
Back at the camp
Valour was standing in the garden, surrounded by kids engaged in small talk.
Infront of them was a platform elevated, it was evident that they were waiting for someone.
'When is this going to start?' Valour thought to himself.
As if his mind was read, a sound suddenly echoed throughout the premise.
"Attention all students, the principle has arrived."
All the students stopped whatever they were doing and directed their attention towards the podium.
A man dressed in a black skin tight suit could be seen. He wore red pads over his chest, arms, legs and throat.
The man was wearing a black military style cap, his white hair on the sides of his head visible.
Valour tried gauging the rank of this official, to his dismay he wasn't able.
This only meant one of two things: 1) this man was exuding little to no Ather. 2) His rank was too high, probably higher than 'Begginer-General.'
Valour suddenly felt a gaze settle on him, he turned around and saw a boy staring daggers in him.
'Weird' He thought to himsel.
The boy suddenly looked away. A small hue of pink forming under his eyes.
The boy had blue hair and blue eyes , something Valour hadn't seen before.
"Listen up you roaches, I will not spew any bullshit and will get straight to the point." The principal spoke into an artifact, similar to a mic.
"The motive of this camp is to awaken you lads and give you some experience." He said.
Then he continued, taking a deep breath.
"The camp will last for 12 months, the first 6 months will be allocated to your awakening. The latter 6 will entirely be on-feild experience. You guys will be split into teams of 6. You will guard or overlook a certain part of the forest. You will sleep outside, hunt your own and find a place to shit. We will not interfere, you can drop out if someone falls severely ill. Remember, you will be competing with other teams. The team to survive the longest wins. If it's a tie, then both teams will have a one on one battle." The principal said, in a singe breath.
"Each one of you will be given a flair gun, use it if you wish to drop yourselves out. Remember, if a team has been reduced to 3 members then it's an automatic disqualification." He added and left, not wanting to answer any queries.
Another man overtook the podium, the disoriented crowd still in their daze.
Everyone was under the impression that the on-feild experience was going to be at the border.
Well, some of the kids were delighted nonetheless; who here was strong enough to face the Hollows?
Most humans hadn't even seen a single Hollow in their life.
Even then, some kids were disappointed. They really wanted to kick some Hollow ass.
They were confident of their safety; After all, they would have been protected by the soldiers from receiving any fatal damage.
Valour couldn't care any less, he wasn't here to kill his kin. Neither was he in the mood to.
Even if as a Hollow he didn't feel much, it still left a bitter taste in his mouth when killed Hollows.
He obviously did kill alot of them when he was training under his mother.
For some reason, Hollows really couldn't kill eachother. Valour was the only Hollow capable of even having the ability to do that.
His mother did it like breathing, no hesitation.
It was pretty logical, only the queen having such abilities.
Otherwise, just like the humans, Hollows might have also indulged in segregation and divide in clans or factions.
Valour was sure, once he had a high enough of a rank, he'd be able to kill them without hesitation just like his mother.
"Cough..mic testing." The man who took over the podium spoke.
"I am going to be the instructor of this batch, Gordon. You will have to live together in groups of 6. That will be your squadron, one of you will be made the leader. Classes will start at 6 am and end at 2 pm. After that you will be free to do whatever you want, within the camp's borders that is. Arrange yourselves in squadrons of 6. You have 40 minutes." Gordon said as he headed towards the building behind the platform.
'This is a problem, I thought they'd be the one's grouping us.' Valour thought.
Nonetheless, he wanted to inter-mingle in the society; making relations was essential to that.
'Who should I add in my group?' he contemplated as his gaze swept across the crowd.
....
I live in Pakistan, as a result my release schedule might be very inconvenient for those living on the other side of the globe.
I can't really find a consistent time window to upload, expect new chapters at any time of the day. Irrespective of where you live, you will get a new chapter daily.
I will try to figure out a more convenient time, it's not pluasible to cater to everyone.
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