In the autumn, cold nights and sunny days were common, today in Hwerwyl City was no exception, early in the morning, kitchen staff brought food rations to the new recruits, although the food was slightly better for those who had the ability or the luck to be under a roof, there were also good portions for those who did not.

The night before, in the Asherit group room, the girls had slept in one bunk and the young boys in another, Alsod and Joana slept in the upper beds while Thyriel and Asherit in the lower ones.

As the two of them were arranged facing each other in the room, different thoughts crossed Asherit's mind as he saw Thyriel, who slept until late at night due to being a little nervous having to sleep in front of Asherit.

When she met Asherit's gaze, although it was cold, he gave off a feeling of calm, different from how all the men saw her, this gaze calmed her a little and when the heavy fatigue hit her, she fell into a deep sleep.

On the other hand, Asherit thought about how everyone has a story to tell, regardless of race, kingdom or status, each person struggling to meet their goals and rambling on different things that happened during the day, Asherit fell asleep, clearly with some level of alertness.

Early in the morning, everyone woke up before the kitchen staff brought in the rations and made their way to the bathrooms, which were communal for personal hygiene.

After returning from the bathrooms to their room, they began to eat the breakfast, already wearing the uniforms of their army division.

Interestingly, Asherit and Thyriel's uniforms were similar, of course Asherit's slightly more special leaving room for his wings and tail, they were battle suits that included light mail armor in vital areas.

It consisted of boots that were suitable for all terrain, with a resistant sole, comfortable insole, the bellows, collar and heel were flexible, durable and pleasant for all types of movement, with a toe made of a resistant material.

They also wore comfortable pants, but with a particularly flexible and quite strong metal mesh coating, had different bag sizes in various locations, and was attached with a leather belt.

In the upper part of the body, they wore a long-sleeved shirt made of a mixture of cotton and another type of material which not only did not decrease the softness of the cotton, but even increased its resistance, this shirt included a type of bandana with special filters to purify the air they breathed.

On top of this shirt they wore a short and closed trench coat, it also included a hood made of a slightly less light material and much more resistant than the shirt, the trench coat had a special shape that did not limit any type of movement and a series of well-designed compartments and located, it was formed from a combination of materials that gave it great resistance and flexibility.

Finally, they wore cotton and wool-based gloves, with reinforcements of an alloy type that made them suitable for any use.

"As you know, when you join the army you are sent to a random Division" Hearing Joana say this, everyone nodded as they ate.

“However, that only applies to two of the three Divisions, I heard that one of these divisions is called the Elite Division, this Division is different from the other two, there the army is not divided into infantry, heavy cavalry, archers,…” Stopping here, Joana turned her gaze to Thyriel and Asherit.

“In the Elite Division, all recruits will learn strategy, espionage, assassination, it is a fundamental Division for the Kingdom that is in charge of various jobs and each recruit can carry out missions alone or with teams, not only that, in special situations may even supplant different positions within the army in the camps of the other two Divisions” Hearing this, Alsod was surprised, his uniform and Joana's were standard uniforms for the new army recruits, so he understood that Asherit and Thyriel should have entered to the Elite Division.

“Although this Division has very few soldiers, as its name says, each and every one is an elite soldier who is worth a whole squad and I heard that to enter the requirements are very high, even for some prodigies, if they do not meet certain attitudes, they will not be able to enter the Elite Division” Looking at Asherit an intense shine passed through Joana's eyes for a moment.

"Congratulations Thyriel, Asherit, I hope you make an effort being there" To everyone's surprise, Alsod was the first to congratulate Asherit and Thyriel who had already understood that they had entered this specific Division.

"Congratulations to both of you, I didn't think I was under the same roof with two people from this Division, hehe" Joana also congratulated them with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Thank you Alsod, Thank you Joana",

"Thank you Brother Alsod and Sister Joana" Asherit and Thyriel thanked at the same time and the four continued consuming their food until filling their stomachs with pleasant talks of little things.

"It's almost noon, they quoted me a kilometer east of the city, by the way, I heard rumors that my Division is the Basilisk Division, as for the other Division, it is named Pyrolisk Division and they will meet south of the city, on the other hand, the Elite Division will meet north of the city, I advise you to hurry there too” The first to get up from the table to undertake his journey was Alsod.

"Is it serious?, I was also assigned to that division, we can go together then" Joana spoke full of emotion and a little surprised Alsod nodded.

"So, we are leaving too, the meeting point that was actually mentioned to me is one kilometer north of the city" Asherit commented and Thyriel nodded.

"Take care guys, I hope I can see you again" As she commented this Joana hugged Thyriel who was resisting the tears.

'Pfa'

On the other hand, Alsod tapped Asherit on the shoulder and approached him whispering "Protect her".

Hearing this Asherit was a little surprised 'He really is a good person' and thinking this, Asherit likewise whispered "Don't worry".

After an assent from both of them, the four left the room and because Alsod would make a stop at an inn where his family was staying, the group of four divided into two and these young guys took different paths without knowing what fate held for them.

...

Asherit and Thyriel traveled without stopping and after an hour they reached the meeting point of their Division, around 50 people wearing the same uniform that they were waiting for in this place.

Upon seeing them arrive, although some people here had seen the face of Asherit and knew that he was the seventh prince, they did not recognize him because he and Thyriel put on the bandana and hood when they left the Headquarters.

Arriving at a nearby rock, the two sat waiting as more people continued to arrive.

After an hour more, there were already around 70 people and when it seemed that no one else was coming, from among the people who were waiting here, someone got up.

"Well, it seems that all are here" It was the voice of a man who could be heard coming out of this guy who was wearing the same uniform as everyone here and wearing the hood.

As he said these words he was spinning a few times, the new recruits here deduced that he meant that all the recruits assigned to this division had arrived and upon seeing him turn they thought he was counting them.

But Asherit, having his senses so highly developed could sense the presence of several strong people surrounding them, it seemed that this subject was not referring to the new recruits, but to all these subjects who had most likely verified that the location was safe.

"Mm, listen everyone, we are going to a safer location to start, I will go at a slow pace so you can follow me, whoever stays behind does not need to look for us anymore, go back to one of the other two divisions" The man was about to leave when someone in the crowd yelled.

"Wait!" The man who spoke before along with all the other people present turned his gaze to this young man who was not wearing the hood.

"They told us to meet here and wait for a certain Vade to come pick us up, how do we know you are that person?" The boy without a hood said what everyone was thinking before.

The man who spoke before hearing this raised his hand and dropped a plate supported by a necklace, it was a small gold plate, had a pair of demonic horns engraved on the top, on each side of the plate a wing was also engraved and a hellish tail was seen at the bottom of the plate.

In the center of the plate a star could be seen in a magnificent way, all these engravings were jet black and the plate was surrounded by a kind of bloody mana that gave the gold plate a cruel and formidable contrast.

"Unbelievable!, That's an Elite Division star gold plate, I heard these plates are impossible to duplicate because only our Abysmal Realm can create that bloody mana, making it impossible for it to be an impostor"

"What?!, A gold plate of a star, isn't that the symbol for a Major in the Army?"

"A Major? Do you mean he is a C-Rank Mage?"

Several people in the crowd were amazed to hear this message come from different people.

"My name is Vade, from the Abysmal Army's Elite Division, now follow me brats" Saying this, Vade no longer stopped and started to move.

And while some of these new recruits still had questions, they had no choice but to follow him.

"Do not get away from me" Asherit was no exception and began to move following Vade.

"Mm" Thyriel started moving as soon as she heard Asherit's words following closely.

Although Vade commented that he would go at a slow speed, his pace was still fast and although the young people here had the necessary speed to follow him, it would also influence the resistance of each person.

'I don't know where we are going, but if we continue at this speed for a couple of days, several people will not resist' This speed for Asherit was easy, even if Vade were at maximum speed Asherit could probably leave him eating dust, of course this revealing all its strength.

However, it seemed that this was one more filter for these new recruits.

...

They spent 3 days running at this speed, Vade avoided populated places, traveling in different directions, he seemed to be camouflaging his tracks, on the other hand, Asherit continued to feel the presence of several people following them, from time to time the presence of one disappeared and some hours later it reappeared.

'It looks like they are escorting us, there shouldn't be any stronger than Vade, all standing amongst D-Rank Mages'

Among the new recruits Asherit was the only one without fatigue, many of the new recruits were drenched in sweat, some panting, but knew that if they stopped they would completely lose the group.

‘At first we were 73 new recruits, in three short days we were only left 55 and it seems that even more will be left behind’ In this situation, aside from Vade, Asherit was the only one so calm as to count and analyze things.

Then, focusing his perception on Thyriel, he noticed that, although she was still following his pace, it was not long before she fell fainted and this surprised Asherit, in her condition there were several who had stopped to rest and then tried to continue, but she was giving every last drop of her energy to continue.

'Mm, she has an amazing determination, she barely awoke her magic spirit and I imagine she doesn't have a cultivation technique, so she also doesn't have mana stored in her Dantian, she is certainly a reckless and talented girl' Without realizing it, a warm feeling peeked into Asherit's heart when he saw Thyriel strive and without saying anything Asherit began to circulate his fire mana.

After a few moments a red glow like a flare covered Thyriel, noticing that this was happening to her, Thyriel was amazed and thought that she had been attacked, but the moment this flare-shaped glow entered in her body, she felt a warm sensation overflow in her mind and body.

Her muscles stopped hurting and she began to be able to breathe better, a few moments ago, she felt her mind go blank, about to collapse, but now everything cleared up and the vivid colors around her continued to pass aside to her.

Then she turned her gaze to Asherit and when she saw him smile she knew that the latter was the cause of this.

"Brother Asherit you ...!" Pretty surprised she couldn't even finish her sentence.

“Don't worry, I used a support magic technique of fire element, its name is 'Breath of the Phoenix' and it can recover different abilities of the target at a certain level depending on the abilities of the user and the target, you still don't have mana in your Dantian, however, your stamina and spirit should have recovered a bit” Hearing this, Thyriel felt shocked, although she kept moving forward it was only instinctively, but from Asherit's actions she can understand that he was already at least a G-Rank Mage.

However, this shock was quickly replaced by a feeling warmer than the flare that had entered her body just now.

"Thank you Brother Asherit" Looking at Asherit gratefully and with a charming blush on her face, Thyriel thanked him.

"Mm, let's move on" And seeing her eyes and her face, Asherit nodded, losing his calm a little and turned his gaze to the front, so Thyriel continued to follow him closely.

At the head of the group, Vade who was the only person to realize what had happened around Asherit and Thyriel stopped watching him thinking to himself, 'Although that elf girl is a prodigy I thought that she would not resist this walk, but it seems that I worried about more knowing that she found the protection of a monster ', denying for himself he continued his way.

After another two days of walking, the group entered a forest where the road was more difficult than normal, trees and brush of all kinds flooded the surroundings, on the other hand, when they reached the forest, Asherit felt the presence of many more people with a strength equal to that of the subjects who had been secretly protecting them.

Occasionally he would feel the strength of some with the same level of Vade, but apparently they entered and left the forest without worrying about them, different sounds of wild beasts were heard in the forest, but curiously they did not find any, and after spending a day traveling inside the forest, they finally stopped when they reached a small town within this forest.

30-meter walls surrounded this small town, claw tracks could be seen in different parts of these walls, on the other hand, in front of them, a gigantic wooden door covered with a certain type of skin stopped their entrance to the town.

"Fshhiu Fhiu" Vade made a strange hissing sound and the gate of this town began to open.

Without saying a word, he entered the town and the new recruits followed him.

Entering the town Asherit looked from one side to the other, the houses here were simple and although it was a small town of about 100 km2 it was still lively, in the streets you could see people walking from one side to another and Asherit noticed that all the people here were strong.

Most wore uniforms similar to theirs, but others had different uniforms, but under the same concept of light, resistant and flexible uniforms.

They walked to the center of town and could see a barracks-style building, but more somber, without stopping, Vade entered this building and when the others entered they realized how gigantic this building was.

They passed through some corridors and to the sides you could see large training fields, small groups of people practiced archery at some points, in other areas movement techniques, in several areas people practiced having battles between themselves.

After several laps they reached a large room and all entered following Vade.

'Chirp'

When everyone entered, the heavy doors were closed and the great hall was sealed from the outside.

'It seems that we will finally start' Taking a quick look, Asherit counted 40 young people, of the initial 73 almost half had been left behind, now that they had arrived they were all more relaxed and began to realize this as well.

Thyriel who was next to Asherit, was remembering right now the two times Asherit used his magic to help her, she knew that if it wasn't for him, she would surely be lost and would not have made it this far, turning her gaze towards him, a warm feeling began to born in her chest.

"Very well, all of you have managed to get here, so you already have one foot in the Elite Division" Turning his gaze among the group, Vade spoke with a calm voice and although he was not loud, everyone could hear him clearly.

"Let me give you a brief introduction to what Elite Division means" Without removing his hood, Vade prepared to give an explanation.

"The Elite Division is one of the pillars of the Abysmal Kingdom, each of the Thirteen Great Armies is made up of several Divisions, but there is one that they will always have among their lines and it is the Elite Division, technically speaking, one could say that they exist Fourteen Grand Armies being the Elite Division an independent body, however, for reasons beyond the scope of your knowledge, we work under the shadow of the Thirteen Grand Armies”

Everyone was astonished to hear this, if so, the importance of this Division was astronomically larger than they had imagined.

“In this Division there are only people with amazing talents, assassination, espionage, strategies, guardians, these are some of the jobs that the Elite Division is in charge of, this small town has approximately 1000 experts, although are few compared to a normal camp, each expert here is worth a thousand men, on the other hand, we have several dozen different points like this spread throughout the Abysmal Kingdom and a few more in other Kingdoms or places on this continent”

Hearing this no one here could avoid be appalled, if such experts were provoked perhaps even several of the Thirteen Great Armies together could not match them.

"This is all the information that you will receive at the moment, each and every one of you was able to get here thanks to your abilities and luck, but it was also thanks to the fact that we wanted it that way, from the moment you arrived at the meeting point outside from the Hwerwyl City, a series of in-depth investigations of each person in this room was taking place, so there is no longer any suspect here”

Hearing the last part of the message, everyone present here felt a tingling in his back, as if they had escaped from the dark oz of death.

'Mm, I had already thought that something strange was happening to certain people in the group, at first I thought that some only circulated their mana inefficiently and made them lose resistance, but it seems that these subjects used some kind of trick to produce this effect'.

Asherit who had noticed how the new recruits, which he thought had the ability to endure up to here strange things happened to them, and combining it with the fact that when these strange things happened some of the subjects who secretly escorted them also stayed behind, he quickly deduced that all of these people did not return to the other two divisions, most likely they were no longer part of this world.

“However…” They all cleared the thoughts they were having, as they heard Vade start speaking again.

"Everyone is forbidden to expose what happens or what you hear in the Elite Division outside of it, the lowest punishment for this would be his death ..." Hearing Vade's cold words, everyone was scared.

The vast majority of the new recruits here were talented, and nurturing young talents like them required great support, so they knew what Major Vade was referring to with this message of 'Lowest Punishment being only his death'.

“On the other hand, as I told you, everyone barely has a foot within this Division, for the next 3 months you will be trained in strategy, poisons, assassination, survival, martial arts, and other skills within this town, after that time, you will be sent in teams to different missions and if you manage to fulfill it, you will earn the right to carry a copper plate from the Elite Division”.

Everyone's gaze was filled with determination, they had already come this far and nobody wanted to surrender, to have achievements in this division, although they could not show them openly, it would certainly give them a very special position within the Kingdom.

"For those who believe to have the ability to complete a G-Rank mission and thus earn a 1-star silver plate from the Elite Division, you may also apply for that mission past this period"

Hearing this rule, everyone was excited at first, but thinking that the G-Rank mission was intended for mages of that rank, they calmed down, some who knew the news of the Seventh Prince thought of this monster who had reached G-Rank at the age of 6 and they secretly started looking at everyone in this room thinking that this prince certainly had the capabilities to be here.

On the other hand, this Seventh Prince of whom some had thoughts, was lost in his own world filling his being with longing.

'Mother, in a few more months I will be able to visit you regardless of the cost' The memories of her mother came to Asherit's mind like a flood.

A chilling resolution was seen in his eyes, he had decided to do anything to protect his mother and no matter what mission they gave him, he was determined to fulfill it so that he could at least see the face of the person he loved the most in this world.