Shifting his eyes, William glanced at the redness that he realized was out in the open. It was getting obnoxious. He thought his sleeve was over it, yet it wasn't.

  “Emblem, again?”

  “Yep, shocking, am I right? Everything resolves around them, but don't dwell on it too much. Chance comes with it, and since its birth rather than yourself. It will show you the way, I believe.”

  William hummed in wonder and pinched his forearm. “Then, what should I know before even thinking of joining that place? If that's possible?”

  “That is not up to me. Even as your proxy, my voice might have its limits because the Academy will send a Director over for judgment. They choose whatever they want, whoever is worthy, and then come out; choices come with trials afterwards. They might even ignore some youths for whatever reason they carry, even if their Affinity is good. The fact of 70 Affinity is a basic number, while more is better. It all comes down to the quality of the Emblem and the things around it. People, you see. Personality. Spirit.”

  Hearing it, William considered why many youths might try really hard to improve their minds and bodies because of it. “Ego... Anything else?”

  “There is... something else. Rank-ups. Rank 1 isn't all that popular in the Academy. The rise and rate are important; the years go along with them as well, and then comes the age. If one gets to Rank 3 in a year, that's excellent. Rank 2 within months is fine. They have various scaling methods that are superior to those of the Federation and the rest of the world. Then, there is... expulsion.”

  “What?”

  “They want the best Walkers, and one has to remain the best. Some might crash into the Walls, get wounded, or get lost or die. It makes sense that any Rank 4 before twenty years of age is rare, but for them, they are the base they had to carry. Rank 5 before turning twenty is insane, and Rank 6 before thirty is once in a red storm genius.”

  “You...” William doubtfully looked at her smirking face.

  “I am not lying, William!”

  “I didn't say that.”

  “I can see and feel your doubts.”

  William sighed and glanced down. “Whatever. Is there anything I can try or do now? If it all comes to the talent, my history is an issue. I am not a good choice, aren't I?”

  “Don't stick yourself to a small branch. I think your Emblem does have its merits. You have yours. Grab them both and use them like two branches. Sticks. Swords. Bigger numbers tend to be better.”

  “I don't like swords,” William mumbled.

  “Anyhow, do you want to know something more? The Academy has a lot of people and principles.”

  Hearing her cheerful tone, William felt depressed and sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. “I guess...” Nevertheless, he saw a small path ahead of him, or it might be called a small wall or a weird road that obscured his view. “I will figure out what I can before the Examination. There are just a few days left. Academy or not, I want to see if I will have a chance.”

  “Yep. Try it, as there is no time for regrets. If you feel sorry or bad about the results, I can assure you that there are plenty of other places with great prospects. Divisions and private businesses have experienced significant growth in recent years. The military has no excess of high-quality Walkers, but it does have a large quantity. Year by year, things are getting better, even if they don't seem like it. That is why youths like you are getting options and choices.”

  “Like Kaufman?”

  Mi-Yung frowned. “What about him? Did he visit you again? His trouble might have ended after weeks... I mean, what about him?”

  “Nothing, because he did not visit me. Military or not, I don't know my choice.”

  “...or, you can try Outside forces. As an Outsider, it will be an option for you that could be worth considering.”

  “Outside?” William questionably mumbled this option, which had never crossed his mind. Because of his life, he always considered Federation-related places and didn't think outside of this bubble. That didn't change even with this library, or Mi-Yung.

  He didn't know them anyway, so he aimed at the Federation itself, and not even at its subsidiaries. Within his mind were still many doubts, and solving them was not a quick fix.

  Outside gave him his life, and being out there, figuring things out as a Walker might not be that bad, but this was about a different sort of 'outside'. Mi-Yung meant leaving North America altogether. It would be more dangerous after everything he had thought, or he might look at the world, and not just north.

  “There are plenty of opportunities to grow there. You must know that by now. Walkers need Outside and change!” Mi-Yung argued.

  “Darks are a necessity for Rank-up, so how come the Academy is so good when it is in the middle of the ocean?” William argued, backing up to change the topic.

  “S, e, c, r, e, t. That is a secret.” Mi-Yung answered with a smile and no further remarks.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “So mysterious and obnoxious. Now, I want to see what the deal is with the Academy.” Smiling, William retorted with a forced smile and found her words quite daring. It left him nothing but unknown deliberations and less certainty.

  He should be a unique case if his Emblem were leaving him from time to time. Throughout his weeks, he never found a single point or an answer to it, and it never changed.

  But he knew and felt it to be a special thing, though it had predated his arrival in the Federation by a long shot. When Walkers died, Emblems would be free, crack apart, die with the body, or change in some way. Could that be part of his case? William never comprehended this possibility, as it might be a fairly advanced knowledge related to the Emblem Association, and not the library.

  He grew up alongside it, did some experimentation alone or with Dann, and never found anything wrong with it.

  His Emblem was lively, his hole in the hand a little stingy, but he never died because of it or felt dead or wrong.

  His Emblem was also never problematic when it happened, nor did it dissolve to dust. Even when he left it out for a week outside, it only made things uncomfortable. Nothing else about the Emblem changed.

  What if there were information on the hidden rooms that he couldn't enter? William clenched his right hand, gazing at the gem-like object, which looked to be staring back. Like a true abyss, the abyss looked back.

  Focusing on the future depended on it— and on everything else—and William endured it for more than ten bloody years.

  “Alright. I guess my path remains as usual. I will wait it out. As for the remaining days, do you have anything to add?” William looked at her.

  Mi-Yung hummed as she observed his actions and his Emblem. “There is something. Both important events will be held at the Emblem Association and its underground facilities. A place where the only Emblem Accelerator resides, and that is your target.”

  Hearing about the Accelerator sounded intriguing, and William nodded in agreement. “I read about it before, but never figured out the rest or... anything. It involves a weird mash of Walker science and general science and... stuff.”

  “Not science. Walkers have no such things. It is more like aspects. Style. System, I mean, and... wait, I don't think I remember giving you a word about the Accelerator. Did...you? You glanced at restrictive data, haven't you?”

  “Who says it is restricted to me? You were gone too, and...” William grabbed a card from his pocket and had no intentions of hiding what he did from Mi-Yung. The matter of Force Awakening was a thing of science and research for decades, and who was he to deny that? Of course, he researched it as the first thing in the ending sequence of his library trial.

  Eighteen years of age has been the standard definition of adulthood for a long time, but not always. Some cultures regarded that number with less weight than others, but Emblems were honest and didn't care for such distinctions. They knew what was natural, and Awakening was simple; when the abundance flow reached its natural crescendo, it couldn't keep up and push, and the System would awaken.

  Eighteen years of age was a general point at which the Emblem acted on its own, regardless of anything else. It posed a wonder, since each of them was unique, so the rule of this limit seemed excessive, contrived, or unnatural.

  Humans were curious by nature, and they often questioned many things. Dawn was full of dubious questions and nasty secrets, and humans embarked on an endless road of suffering to uncover what the fuck went wrong or where. Then, Emblems were no different, and people tried to cut this mystery open for ages.

  They looked and discovered a loophole. Emblem's internal flow was immense and varied, linked to physical and ethereal ways of Emblems and their energy. Rank 0 was the initial process of establishing a stronger connection. Before adulthood, there was a process called stabilization, also known as sterilization, or a simple transition period.

  Rank 1 was the finale of this linkage, where the Walker would possess everything that the Emblem meant or could do at its first stage of transformation. However, the human was a limiting factor because of the Emblems, and there was a significant difference between them.

  How to look at it was a different matter, which Forced Awakening, or a natural one, couldn't divert too much from the truth. People and Emblems were two sides with two faces, and they often looked similar or meshed together.

  When the Emblem reached its potential and united, both Awakenings resulted in similar prose but with different directives.

  Both regarded Arcana in some way, or the System did, but no matter what, people couldn't see the link to what mattered more. What came first: the System or the Emblem? What was greater or worse? William couldn't even guess it; there were way too many things about their depths on the upper floor, and he was unable to notice every little connection with lackluster contexts.

  As for the Accelerator, he read about it like a dumb kid trying to comprehend how a reactor worked. There were drastic developments and a crazy process ahead, and that was about it.

  It went by force. That mere wording sounded painful, and the Accelerator, like its name suggested, increased the progress of the Arcana and literally exploded and cracked the linkage and the body to enhance the growth. It created a great gap and elevated the flow by years in the best-case scenario, while the System would eventually merge it and classify it as Rank 1. Some people argued long ago that these elevations and accelerations weren't equal, and indeed, they weren't, which led to the varying levels of efficiency and affinity.

  The best time to push young Walkers toward this method was around the age of fifteen, when their physical development had not yet ripened.

  This simple gap could increase the potential of Rank-ups and the rate of existence of upper Walkers. Did that mean seventeen-year-olds couldn't do it? No, it suggested it would be less constructive, and the ripening wouldn't be as efficient.

  In the best older cases, the Emblem and Acceleration put great emphasis on specific growths, and a year or two was still passable as a result.

  What about literal months? That would be wasteful.

  Mi-Yung was one of those who grasped this process and became one of the most outstanding examples of Forced Awakening. She wasn't even that old, and around the world, cases of Walkers reached Rank 7 under this Acceleration process should be possible very soon. Bruteforcing it forward, there were indeed some cases, but they were rare, to say the least.

  Early in this process, the Federation was unsure about it, as it felt dubious to experiment with the untouchable and important bodies of Walkers. For the greater good, many made such sacrifices, sinned for results, and did what they had to do. It was a weird gamble, and since then, a lot has changed around this process and areas. Results were public around some Walker circles, yet the truth of the Emblem Accelerator was not.

  Still, the possibility and prospect that humanity could and did touch increased morale worldwide, since people everywhere looked for hope and power. This enabled something crazy, and that was the beginning that led to significant resets in the development of science and large-scale settlements, and with that, the advancement reignited humanity at large.

  William learned what he believed was accurate, and Mi-Yung sincerely wanted the best for him and guided him before the Awakening. Now, she failed, and William had already touched on some nasty subjects before it became relevant.

  But again, he did not know everything, including himself.