The peculiar location of this land had great climate and safety, but it was also away from everything. Caring for materialistic goods, resources, and trying to get them was an endless problem that hindered the upper echelon ever since this concept was on paper.

  Everything took time and additional resources, and manpower, and it was exactly how it sounded. Certain choices came with principles, costs, and each Division had to put effort into making it work, since this was hardly about excuses or saying no.

  Thus, there was a lot about their workings beyond basic military, which was extensive for those reasons, and maybe even more. Regular people had to take part in it too, either as supporters or workers.

  Young Walkers couldn't do much there at the start. It wasn’t a privilege, of course. They'd better wait, know things first, and not dying early sounded kind of better than pushing them over the edge.

  So William took the last half an hour for a very intense lesson and realized there was a life-level choice ahead. Mi-Yung said it without implications. She described Divisions, their jobs, work, and interesting aspects.

  There was a surveillance Division called Red, which worked with traveling, spying, and rare variants of Walkers with suitable elemental properties. It gathered information across arrays of topics, ranging from the world to the Darks, and resources all over North and South America.

  Yondu was kind of broad and close to steady military practices. Teams of Walkers made up the tightest rule, and their focus was similar to what Walkers have always done. Fight Darks and do whatever it takes to secure certain perimeters or missions.

  As for Misudo, Argon, Eagle, and Trunthe Divisions, they also had their perks, but Mi-Yung glossed over them quite a bit. Simply put, the Mitsudo Division was about assassinations and very deadly focuses. Argon was defensive but also strength-focused. Eagle was about flying, work of space and wind, and rare subdivision about tamed Darks. Trunthe was a mixture of support and team-based ideas.

  Pretty much every Division had a focus built for Darks and their reasons, yet their effects and methods could vary or mix fairly well between them. Thus, there were specific and great examples of Divisions working together, which hadn’t always been the case.

  There were also other matters, such as personality traits, or simple team-based friendships and competitions.

  William considered the distant examples Mi-Yung had mentioned. For example, could he go to New Zealand, Japan, or even deep China if he wanted to? It seemed odd, but it could be possible if he got invited or accepted.

  Of course, he didn't want to do so without thinking. It was a choice, and the Federation was lenient with the concept of consent and gave it at least some attention.

  If anything, that was the ultimate fairness they had to give to youths in this rough era. One such choice was clutching their lives, and making them into who they will be.

  It was everything. For the future and his life and arm, William feared it, and there was no way to take back such decisions without bearing costs or further choices. Unless one would be tossed away, mess up something very important, or be called for it, betraying the hope of influential people was never fine.

  But it was possible to go between them, albeit with fairness included.

  Throughout this topic, one thing was missing. William caught it and asked. “What about the Emblem Academy?” Mi-Yung never mentioned it. Was it reasonable, or intentional?

  “What about it?” she asked.

  “Is it not an organization you are familiar with?”

  “I guess. Do you want to learn about it?”

  “Can't I join it? Recruits and all, it is a place for Walkers. I am a Walker.” William played with his Emblem over his shirt as he spoke.

  “Pffhhahahah.” Mi-Yung laughed ever so softly, finding this idea interesting or silly. William wasn't sure which was right.

  “Sure. Sure. If you are lucky to do so, join it, but don’t forget my words yesterday. The Academy is dozens of times harder, and recruits even die early. They accept the best crops imaginable, so their students are known as monsters of our kin. I say it as fair as I can. Maybe it isn't right for you, but I speak of it as someone aware.”

  Mi-Yung found his words rather naive, and maybe even a little bit provocative.

  Then she found her own voice lacking weight, and she hesitated. Before William had a chance to voice another question, she hit him with wisdom as a person very familiar with Fain and his Academy.

  “One can't join the Academy because they want to. There are tough screenings and test trials. Invitations aren't really earned simply because someone wants it. Any talented youth needs to be worthy of a mere invitation. The Academy decides on that every single Forced Awakening, which points to the Examinations, as that’s where the truth lies bare.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Is it… that hard?”

  “It's the very top of the Walker pyramid, so yes. Every recruitment is a sensitive matter, if not an equivalent to the cream of the top elites of this world. Where do you think the word academy comes from? It is a school and institution, and in this era, nothing like that exists besides that one. It is... their principal's yard, I guess.”

  Mi-Yung rolled her eyes at Fain's mere imagination and continued.

  “But more than that, words don’t give academy names. Add to it the word Walker, and guess what it means? It is the strongest force in this world for a reason. That is not the assumption people make without validation, but it is far too individual, self-centered, and independent. I call it arrogant. They could afford to forget humanity, so… that’s it. I don’t work with that land every day, and I am glad about it.”

  William lost his words.

  “Research regarding the Emblem is also very deep over there. They are second to the Federation, but I think Japan and China are nothing to scoff at either. They do their fighting and training much better over there, and everything they do is for one purpose. To make the most monstrous Walkers and do what Fain wants.”

  “So... everything comes to the so-called affinity or whatever that is? Does it describe the talents of Emblems and the whole Awakening?” William assumed in a single breath after gaining a bit more context.

  “That too, but not only that. There are criteria they can decide on depending on the further context of talent, Emblem, and so on. After all, what is Rank 1? What is Rank 0? What might happen at Rank 5 or 6? That’s the thing, William. There are special tests for young Walkers, and even many young Rank 2 or Rank 3 Walkers wish to join it.”

  “Sounds kind of rough. For a place to be so distant, it doesn’t sound comforting. I kept hearing about its mysterious tales all over the Outside. Is it propaganda?”

  “No,” Mi-Yung said firmly. “But you can call giving hope to people that. I can’t blame it. I even think people out there do that on their own. Maybe for their own good.”

  William didn’t disagree with that.

  “I hadn’t had a chance to get in because I was unlucky to be born in Korea, and... well, I was important in other ways and my place is here. It needs a fine spirit, and it isn’t just about generations going through the Forced Awakening. I am sure I had plenty of talent and potential, so it fetched me more advantages than disadvantages.” Mi-Yun said in a melancholic tone. Her words sounded harsh to William's ears, but also encouraging.

  Or way too intriguing. He wasn't sure which was more important.

  Getting closer to William, Mi-Yung put one hand on his head, and the other struck the buttons of her blouse, revealing a corner of her Emblem. It shone in this relatively darker room quite a lot, or she was getting restless.

  William saw just a peek of it and wasn't sure how much further down it went. William wasn't lucky enough.

  “At first, my Emblem was small. Almost like a pencil in my neck. As I was reaching further Ranks, the embodiment of my Emblem became more active and changed my body from within and out. Emblem did too in return. It is almost thirty times larger and stronger after I became a Walker. What do you think it implies?”

  Looking at him up close, she wanted to make her point.

  “Start is not the finish?” he guessed.

  “Exactly. I trust myself that I am strong enough to play with any Rank 7 Walkers of the Federation, but the Academy is something else. I wish it were my assumption, but it isn't. Fighting between Walkers makes very little sense, in my opinion. Training and seeking fights is good. It is better than using Darks as training, but... how could it be right? It is right. It can be done. Hunters gather experiences by hunting, so does it make sense to fight against one another?”

  “I... don't know. It does?”

  “Of course. Extermination of those pesky Darks is a finer question, however. Infighting is not. I would not lose to them. For the most part, that is.”

  What a proud woman. William lamented in his mind and tried to learn more from her words.

  “So, does that mean your Emblem is special, or is this change going through this System, or does it improve on its own? Does size even matter?”

  “Clever words. It is all wrong. Why? You should know the answer.” Like a teacher, she scolded him.

  “Unique growth?”

  “Nay.”

  William pondered it for a while. Then he realized the truth. “Every bit is unique, yet it grows to be less unique, so... nothing is good or right. It just is. It grows with a person while Arcana is kind of... same?”

  “More or less. There are minor similarities among the variety of Emblems and even among Walkers. The System could make those little things vaster if it is what everyone wants. They are quite incredible in their effects and changes. I am not kidding.” Mi-Yung stopped her fierce gaze and frowned.

  The System was its own little realm and war, and hers was always hers. She had never heard of other Emblems being like hers, but a couple of them could be close, but never the same, or like her from the inside out. It was like an iceberg. Not every one of them was the same, but the body or what was on the surface might be comparable.

  “I won't share my secrets with anyone. You included,” she smiled in amusement.

  “Then what about this System or how Walkers play with it? Luke never told me anything, but I watched him. He showed me his Arcalyst and made a bunch of absurd and great shows.” William lied a little and treated those small grey lies as nothing. “Outside can't do much better to me either, and don't even let me start on the upper floor. I doubt it’s not incredible, but I spent very little time over there.”

  By now, both of them have forgotten about Ellie and Celeste, or Hound. They were too busy in their close discussion and lesson.

  “Since you insist, what should even Outside know?” Mi-Yung asked in piqued curiosity. She also grew up Outside, albeit that was a Federation’s perspective.

  For her, South Korea was something else than the consensus of the Outside. It was a term used by the Federation describing rough lands far away, and it slowly integrated into other places. That was about it, and anything not in the Federation was Outside.

  “What do I know? Um... Fine. I will talk like someone from the Outside, but I have already discovered and learned a lot of other facts here. Outside, we know Walkers are users of powers and strange abilities they have. They can be upgraded and borderline magical. They can get stronger with each killed Dark, and it could get wild, difficult, and intense. It is about absorption, success, and a lot of enduring works.”

  William described to her the truth that no one could conceal from anyone.

  Emblems and various of their discoveries via Walkers or their deaths were familiar to many lands out there. Fights within the camps, out, or close, or whenever they could be, showed a lot of their power.

  “That is a rather simple way to put it. Not wrong though. We are hunting the hunters. One has to kill the other and grow. Darks do the same thing, and their number and rates are stronger from—” Mi-Yung smashed her mouth with her hand and turned away from William. She didn’t want to go that far.