A woman with long black hair led Nick"s group towards the north entrance, which was on the other side of the wall. This group was composed of six different cla.s.ses; two were from the offensive division and three from the defensive division. There was another cla.s.s from the support division besides the one Nick was in, making it a total of seven different cla.s.ses.They silently followed the woman.It took them roughly an hour and a half to make their way around to the other side. When they finally arrived, they lined up so they could enter Mt. Hessian.
There was a silver gate that was ten feet tall.
Slowly, they made their way inside, but before they entered they had to stop at an armory to pick up EXO weapons. There was a check in and check out center.
Those who had their own weapons did not need to wait and could enter the gate directly. However, how many of these freshman students had their own weapons?
Katherine and Freya surely did not have their own. Nick and Matthew waited for the two of them to grab their weapons before they went through the gate as a small group.
Freya was checking her black sniper rifle as they were entering. It was sixty inches in length, but she could break it down into three different parts.
There was no ammo for it, as she supplied it with the essence in her body. It would convert her essence into a bullet. The more essence she provided, the greater the power of the bullet.
However, since it was an older model, it would take time for it to fully convert into a bullet, leaving her wide open for any attacks.
Katherine, on the other hand, picked out a handful of silver throwing knives. Sheathed in a small belt, Katherine strapped the small belt around her right thigh. Her skirt covered a vast majority of it; if you did not see her put it on, you would not be able to tell she had a weapon.
"Over here, if you are in cla.s.s ten, meet over here!"
Matthew shouted and waved his hand in the air to create a rallying point. They were not far away from the gate, so it was easy to spot them as soon as someone entered came in. Slowly students started making their way towards him.
Once the whole cla.s.s was gathered, Matthew went over what was going to happen.
First, they were at the edge of the mountain; they would make their way towards the center. There would be more gra.s.s, trees, and animals. They would set up a base there, where they would live for these two weeks.
Freya nudged Nick in the arm.
"Look at him, if I did not know his true self I would think he was some mighty leader."
Matthew was serene when he was giving out instructions to the cla.s.s, and everything he said was thought out. In the eyes of everyone, it looked like he had done this many times before.
"He"s a great leader; he needs to be if he wants to become a Crusader."
Nick told her.
Matthew acted differently when he was around Freya and Nick. Without those two around he truly seemed like he was fit to be a leader.
"Look at them Nick; they act as they"ve never lived alone before. The look in their eyes are like they are listening to a prophet."
"You"d be surprised. A child cannot walk right from the start; they need to crawl. To them, Matthew has something they do not, and they want it. The best way to find it in themselves is to watch and learn from him."
At Nick"s explanation, Freya giggled. Nick sounded like he was an old man preaching to the young.
"Nick don"t talk like that; it makes you seem old. You are not bursting with infinite wisdom."
"Freya I don"t understand how you can be in such a cheerful mood when our bus was just attacked earlier."
"I"m not exactly cheerful; I am just reacting to the situation in my own way. Being super serious is not exactly my thing."
Nick glanced at Freya and checked out her body. Without her wearing gla.s.ses, she looked even more beautiful.
"You know, if you were a bit more serious, when you grow up you"d charm many men. Mature women have this appeal to them that no one can replace. Even if you were some supermodel at a young age."
"Please Nick, you think I want to be popular with the guys? They are the last thing on my mind."
Nick smiled at her, at least her priorities were in order. A vast majority of young ladies wanted to find a strapping young lad to marry. That was all they could think of, as long as they had a powerful partner they need not worry about anything. Their life would be set.
To him, those kind of women were a turn-off. Especially if they could not protect themselves.
"Alright, let"s get moving now."
Matthew told them as he led the way deeper into Mt. Hessian.
Freya walked by Nick who was towards the back of the crowd. He had his eye on Katherine who was ahead of him.
She had not spoken to anyone since the accident, at least not to him.
"Freya, have you talked to her?"
Nick asked Freya, as he pointed towards Katherine.
Freya shook her head.
"No. She is not much of a talker. She has this mysterious air around her; I"m quite curious as to why."
After an hour of walking, they finally made it to a suitable location. It was a s.p.a.cious gra.s.sland area, and off in the distance, you could hear water rushing.
Matthew stood up on a tree stump and overlooked his peers.
"As you can see there is no shelter, so we"ll break off into smaller groups and gather supplies. Those of you who are good at foraging, make your own group and find us something to eat for dinner."
The students moved to his command. While a lot of shifting was going on, Nick grabbed Katherine by the arm and pulled her aside. He led her into a denser part of the area, where it would be hard to see them.
Matthew came down and found Freya by herself. He saw Nick holding onto Katherine"s arm as she was pulled into the forest.
"Where are they going?"
Freya shrugged her shoulders. How would she know the answer to that question?
Matthew saw that she seemed a little down and he thought it would be nice to tease her a bit.
"Bet he went to do that."
Matthew said as he made an ok symbol with his left hand and kept making his right index finger go in and out of it.
"Shut up! Is that all you think about?"
Freya asked him with her cheeks a bit red.
"Mostly. I"m a guy so… that"s like all we think about."
Matthew replied with his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner.
"Shouldn"t the all mighty leader be, you know… leading by example."
"The good thing about being a leader is that I can give orders and not work as hard."
Freya rolled her eyes at him, what kind of leader was this? She wished the students could see his real face.
Inside the denser part of the forest, Nick was leading Katherine away from the rest of the students. She suddenly snapped her arm back from him and gave him a cold glare.
"What do you think you are doing?"
She questioned him.
"Obviously getting us away from the crowd, what does it look like?"
"Smarta.s.s. Why?"
"I"m interested in you. You are not human are you?"
He asked her in a pressing manner.
Katherine did not take kindly to his question.
"Of course I"m human. Do I not look like one?"
"Looking like one and being one are two different things. A human cannot do what you did; they cannot regrow a whole new body part."
From the look on her face, he knew he hit something. She bit her lip and clenched her fist together.
"How?"
"On the bus, I saw you. My EXO ability lets me see the flow inside a person"s body, you are a control type, but you used a healing type of ability. That ability was one that far surpa.s.sed anything a normal EXO user can do, so what are you?"
Katherine leaned against the tree.
"I guess you were not trained by Furutsensei for nothing. I happen also to be interested in you as well, why did she train you who seems to be ordinary? What makes you so special?"
Nick gave her a gentle smile.
"Nothing, we just happened upon each other by chance. That is all. Now answer my question, what are you?"
"I heard you the first time, no need to repeat yourself. Since you are her disciple, I think it is fine to inform you. Just to be clear, I am human. My mother is Dania Wells, as for my father… I do not have one."
She could tell by the look on Nick"s face that he did not understand what she truly meant.
"Do you know what a modified human is?"
"Yes, but they go through body modification to enhance their strength. You do not have anybody modifications, not from what I can see."
"My mother experimented on herself, or should I say the egg that was inside of her. It was a project the government deemed too dangerous, and they would not fund, or allow her to test it on any other human being. Since they would not let her experiment on others, she was left with no choice but to use her own body.
She is a genius beyond anything the world has ever known. She manipulated my DNA, giving me a one hundred percent chance to become an EXO. However, that is not what makes me so unique. In my genetic code, I"ve been given various abilities of demon lord ranked beasts. One of which is regrowing my body parts, as you have seen."
Nick was stunned by what he heard. How was that even possible, changing the genetic code? Manipulating it so that it will mix with a demon lord ranked beast?
There was no way he could believe such a thing was possible. There were reasons as to why he thought that way as well.
"There is no way that is even possible; a person is only capable of handling one EXO ability. Having two is the maximum limit, but the amount of people who have two are barely pushing the thousands. A person with one can go unstable if they are not careful, a person with two is like a walking bomb. I cannot imagine anything more than that."
Katherine removed her black jacket and unb.u.t.toned her blue top. Nick did not turn away from her; he could see her black colored bra and her smooth skin.
What caught his eye was not her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Instead, it was the various markings on her slim stomach.
"A seal?"
Katherine nodded.
"I"m sure you are aware that there are two types of locks that can be placed on a person. One type is a limiter, which limits the person"s power they can use. This limiter can be unlocked and locked again at any time, as the person who has the limiter has complete control over it. The second kind of lock is a seal, which seals away a person"s full power. The only way to undo the seal is to have the person who put it on you take it away.
I have one seal for every ability I have. Besides my natural ability which does not have a seal, there are four seals all over my body. However, as time goes on they slowly weaken. The seal here on my stomach is the one that seals the ability you saw earlier. It is called "Rebirth" as long as I"m not dead I"ll heal from any wound. The more damage I take, the weaker the seal becomes."
Katherine explained to Nick.
"A genetically modified human, you would be very valuable."
When Nick said that he meant it. If humans could be sold for money, Katherine would be worth billions. Considering the power of those abilities sealed within her, they will more than likely pa.s.s on to her children as well.
"Not valuable to everyone it would seem."
She said in a low voice, but it caught Nick"s ear.
"That attack earlier, it was not a declaration of war. It was an attempt to end your life wasn"t it?"
He asked her.
Given what she just said, he was sure that they were after her.
"If I am not mistaken, it should be. Before I can control each ability, I am the definition of a walking time bomb. If I overflow, there would be hardly anything that would be able to kill me."
Nick could not refute her words. Rebirth alone would make her difficult to kill if her other abilities were on the same level… he could not even imagine such a scene.
"Wh-"
"Nick!"
Freya shouted out causing Nick to turn around. Freya"s face was flushed red, and her finger was shaking as she pointed at Nick. Matthew who was next to her took a glance at Katherine.
"d.a.m.n. I"ll take her and leave, sorry for interrupting."
Matthew grabbed on Freya and turned the opposite way.
They came to find Nick and Katherine, but what they caught was Katherine with her top almost off and Nick looking at her almost naked body. This was not something two people would do unless something were going on in between them.
"As much as I like gazing at your b.r.e.a.s.t.s you should put your top back on before it causes others to misunderstand. Now that I know, you can bet that once they find out you are still alive, they will return."