Spirit's Ascension

The next day arrived silently with no special events happening throughout the previous night. Ernest could be seen still laying helplessly in the healing tube in the hospital.

He woke up feeling energized with almost all of his wounds completely healed. He wanted to leave the tube and get up for his regular morning routine but he couldn’t leave the tube without a nurse’s instructions or permission.

"I feel so constrained laying in this tube for so long" Ernest said out loud trying to garner anyone’s attention but unfortunately he was alone.

"Come to think of it, this light that keeps shining upon me has been energizing me and canceling my need for food because I have felt hungry since I have been here " he thought.

Soon after a Nurse walked into the room to inform of his recovery state and also the fact that he would soon be discharged. Ernest couldn’t be more elated to hear that news.

"I can’t wait to get back home" he said to the nurse which kept an amiable smile on her face.

"Ohhh I almost forgot" the nurse said as she was about to leave

"A man came looking for your fat,ohh sorry , slightly chubby friend. He wore a dark rubbery looking trench coat with a very dark expression. I would advise you guys to be careful of him" she said as a shiver went down her spine as she was thinking of how scared she felt when he saw him.

"Noted thank you" Ernest said, slightly confused.

"Who could be looking for fatty" he wondered internally but didn’t really emphasize on it as he continued to think about other things.

*******Zack’s House*******

Zack could be seen lying on his bed in his room without moving a finger. It was obvious from his expression that he was completely lost in thought.

As he was lost in thought as he didn’t notice the figure that appeared in the corner of his room for a while but not long since the man appeared there,Zack abruptly looked towards that direction and said "who is there" not really expecting a reply.

"Quiet observant" he heard a raspy voice from the corner.

Zack obviously shocked by that the reply was about to scream for help but suddenly decided to be calm and listen to what is about to go on

"How did he suddenly appear in my room?" he thought, terrified.

"I am not here to scare you or anything I am just here to offer you a deal" the voice said mysteriously.

"What type of offer?" Zack replied cautiously.

"Before I tell you the offer let me tell you somethings, I am sure you have noticed your friends are a very special group of people, Like the boy that is able to kill a potion beast without even becoming a devourer or the girl that is from the Blouse family with an obvious mutation" the man said still calm as if not bothered about any external interference.

Zack couldn’t deny all of this point but he was still confused as to what the man wants from him.

"I was there yesterday and I saw you break out of the petrification of the petrifying-rat using just your willpower" he said with admiration slightly evident in his voice.

Zack’s mind was currently in hyper mode then," He was there , how , when, where and didn’t Mr Levi notice him or could he be Mr Levi, naaah that doesn’t seem possible".

The man then continued.

"Your amazing willpower is something that I feel you should be proud of and it is what is bringing you good luck now"

" Good luck ,how " Zack wondered

" I have been looking for someone to pass my technique unto for a while now but couldn’t find, it seems heavens was supporting me as I was able to chance upon you yesterday"

" So what do you say are you willing to accept my tutorage" he said

Zack, still suspicious about all of it, decided to say yes for now to avoid trouble until he could find help.

"Yes I am," he answered.

"That was quick, but I can’t blame you, no one can reject the allure of greatness" he said while laughing.

"Since you have accepted, meet me at the Gale mountain range when you finally become a devourer" he said

"Don’t forget, become a devourer before attempting to meet me and also keep it in mind that I am always nearby"

" hahahahahah "he laughed eerily before vanishing.

After he disappeared Zack finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling lucky to survive such an ordeal.

He couldn’t even continue his earlier day dreaming as he left the room briskly to meet his parents.

********In The Hospital*********

A nurse walked in and said "You can finally be discharged Mr Ernest".

Hearing this, Ernest was so elated in his heart that he almost jumped up in joy.

"Finally, I can get out of this tube like a prison" he said happily.

The nurse proceeded to open up the tube in which Ernest was laying and detached every connection to his body.

As soon as Ernest got up he immediately performed a set of movements and actions to test out his state but soon noticed something.

"Why do I feel stronger again?" he said excitedly.

You can get some clothes from the receptionist downstairs since the clothes you wore previously were torn during your injury.

"Mr precious clothes" he thought,slightly pained.

Enerst proceeded downstairs to get some clothes and then left the hospital the bills settled due to his special privilege as the son of slightly powerful devourers.

On his way back home he checked his Digital watch to check lots of messages from his parents with them worried about his health after hearing what happened to him though they sounded completely different with Talia saying he should return her messages as soon as he could but Julian stating how proud he was and how Ernest was taking steps towards becoming a great warrior.

After skimming through his text messages he saw an important one from his class president. It stated that tomorrow there will be preliminaries for the ingredients selection test.

"I can’t wait to become a devourer" Ernest said anxiously

The students obediently filed singly and headed towards the School hall. On their way there they were able to meet up with the students from other classes .

"My blood is bubbling, my hands are trembling" the students said amongst themselves.

When they finally got to the hall. In the hall they could see arrays of very large equipment with a screen and slots for other things too.

"Welcome students," a man wearing a slightly futuristic attire said.

He could be seen standing on a podium close to all of those machines,standing with a group of military men with Stern faces.

"Today will determine your path as devourers , it will determine If you will be amongst dragons in the sky or worm under the earth, it’s a big step for you guys and I hope it is for Gale city as a whole"He said with a serious tone.

"You will be called upon one by one and you are to move towards the machines you can see in front of you and make a cut on your finger and drop a drop of blood on the slots and wait for the results" he said resolutely.

The students after hearing this had a mix of different reactions, some excited, some scared, some worried and some neutral. Ernest naturally falls between the Worried and Neutral one.

"Can the machine detect the slight power of chaos in my body, probably not,but what if it can?" Ernest continued to think worriedly.

"The machine works by detecting the energy signatures in your blood, this energy called Potion energy and it is passively released by the potion tree by non-devourers but Devourers are capable of actively utilizing it" he continued to explain.

"Wowwww" the students exclaimed as they heard that and this further riled them up.

"Different classes of Devourers possess a different kind of potion energy and that is what we will be testing using this machine"

" Good luck to you all , I am Colonel Armstrong and I am glad to be here to witness this" the man named Armstrong said with no real emotion.

"We will begin calling students now," Miss Miranda said in a loud voice.

"Sandra Collins," she called out.

A petite girl with an ordinary face and no special features flinched as she heard her name before proceeding to move towards one of those machines.

After she got in front of one of those she picked up a small blade to make the cut but she hesitated thinking about the pain.

"Hurry up" she heard an impatient voice from behind.

She finally summoned the courage and made the cut, the blood dripped on the allocated slot and was instantly absorbed.

The machine made a series of weird noises before it finally displayed on the big screen "Fighter", seeing this she hurriedly left the place to go back to her place.

"Fredrick white" Miss Miranda called out again.

The boy seeing what the girl did hurriedly went towards the machine and did what he was supposed to, the machine made the sound and finally displayed "Mage-(Fire)" on the screen.

They continued to call students after students until she called out "Zack Green".