[At the military headquarters]
It seemed that the sergeant wasn't going to stop getting unbelievable news as he could be seen huffing and panting slightly as he was standing next to the main table once again to relay information to the main commander.
Normally, the sergeant would huff or pant even if he would have to run for 24 hours non-stop; however, the sergeant was continuously observing the effects of the high-level auras being released by all the high-level officials occupying a seat on the main table alongside the main commander himself.
The atmosphere inside the surveillance room was so intense that even though the sergeant was quite strong, he felt that he was just like a powerless regular human which was he was huffing and panting as he rushed from one console to another and brought any important news directly to the main commander.
A small clip of Mako breaking the crystal and it releasing a small flash of green light continued to play on a loop on the main commander's holoscreen.
The main commander was at a loss for words as he could not believe how much a single cadet could do. He had defied the odds several times and had one of the most unfortunate sets of events ever occurring to any cadet in any test; however, somehow, he always managed to get back on top.
He defeated a horde of sabertooth spiders, carried his poisoned friend on his back for an entire day in search of a cure, had excellent survival skills from seeking shelter, and resource gathering to cooking, dueled against another strong cadet, battle a horde of high-tier beasts with his friends.
He dealt significant damage to an advanced-tier beast, performed an urgent medical procedure on his friends to save their lives with utmost precision, and blew apart a huge hole in the side of the hill to create their shelter that will protect them from the terrible thunderstorm.
The main commander had taken quite an interest in Mako and his friends as all of them seemed to be quite unique and special in their own regard. He was continuously blown away by the young cadet's skill and intelligence.
During the test, Mako's discovery of the primary purpose of the raw beast crystals by breaking the medium-tier crystal was only the seventh occurrence where a cadet had made such a realization.
The raw crystals needed to undergo a unique process to transform into the regular crystals found in ability books. The primary distinction between the two is that the raw crystals contain a small amount of life force and a fraction of the understanding of the ability possessed by the beast that the crystal belonged to.
By breaking raw crystals, people could slowly start the process of understanding the ability contained inside and feel refreshed as the life force stored inside the crystal would slightly improve their body.
The processed crystals had a trade-off, they provided a complete ability just by breaking one crystal, but in order to create such a crystal all the life force had to be used thus it wouldn't improve the person's body.
The majority of high-level ability users in this generation attained their strength by breaking and absorbing thousands of raw crystals of varying tiers.
Regarding Mako's experience, the raw crystal he had used increased his energy slightly, but the potential effects of the crystals were not limited to just that. Different tiers of crystals had different effects, and it was only a matter of time before Mako discovered all there was to know about the power crystals.
"Call Master Sable, I believe he may be interested in accepting a couple of new students," The main commander said to the sergeant with a smile.
**********
[Back inside the cave]
Mako had tried his best to cover his weird behavior by giving the excuse that he had a hallucinating problem. Mako explained that he is used to having very realistic nightmares and that in the nightmare, he loses all of his abilities in the middle of a fight against a very scary beast.
He said that even after sometimes, he wakes up, the nightmare doesn't end and he keeps experiencing it while being awake. He explained that in his nightmare, he could suddenly see a man wearing a loose white robe next to him, who instructed him to break the crystal again to regain his abilities.
Mako explained that he had no idea, he was doing the same in real life and the nightmare only ended when he heard Iris' voice in his head.
Mako had made up the entire story and it was by far his most pathetic attempt. Any reasonable person would laugh out loud after hearing that kind of pathetic excuse and if it were Mako's grandmother, she would have already dragged Mako back to his room, by holding onto his ear for lying to her face.
Mako was an awful liar and deep down, he was thinking that he might have screwed himself over and made himself even more suspicious, but to his absolute shock and surprise, Iris and Bill both accepted Mako's lame excuse in a heartbeat and even tried to console him that it was going to be okay.
Mako had to keep up the act on the surface, but deep down he was dying of cringe and laughter as he couldn't believe both of them had bought that without even giving it a second thought.
'Either they both have also experienced something similar or are completely oblivious to how nightmares actually work,' Mako thought as he listened to Iris' advice on how to sleep better and avoid nightmares.
Afterward, Bill asked Mako if he had felt anything since he did indeed break the crystal in real life to which Mako replied that he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but he was sure that it must have done something.
Bill proposed that it would be better to accumulate their crystals and consult the teachers at the military school to determine their proper use. Mako reluctantly agreed, stating that it would be safer not to experiment with something they did not fully comprehend.
************
After some time, Mako had been brought up to speed about everything that had happened while he was asleep.
Bill had been completely healed by Iris and it took her a little while to narrate the entire story to him, but he was a good listener and was able to understand everything with relative ease.
Bill was given the same version of the altered story that Mako had given Iris before and so no one within his group actually knew that he had resonated his fire and lightning abilities and had unlocked a rare ability.
The trio's conversation was enough to wake up Leon and Erin as well. Even though it had only been a couple of hours since they went to sleep, they had recovered plenty of energy.
One advantage of being an ability user was that individuals required less sleep and could remain awake for more extended periods. However, this was not a hard and fast rule, as it depended on the amount of energy a person possessed and how quickly they were expending it.
Now that everyone was awake and it was close to morning time, Mako decided to treat the group to a massive breakfast feast. Everyone was really excited as soon as Mako mentioned food because they were indeed quite hungry and everyone had tasted Mako's cooking and was looking forward to tasting it again.
Mako didn't have the luxury of adding seasonings, herbs, and spices to his food to elevate them to a mouth-watering level. All he had was salt that he had obtained from boiling the sea water on his first day on the island, but that alone had done the trick as all four of them looked like kids who couldn't wait to get their hands on some good food.
Sir Derek had taught Mako a lot since he spent a lot of time with him even during the holidays. Mako only knew a couple of people such as Gary and Sir Derek, and he preferred to spend time with them instead of being alone in his home.
Sir Derek had given Mako a master's course on practically every single type of cuisine. He wasn't perfect at making them by any means as he mostly just learned the techniques and had fun listening to Sir Derek's stories regarding each dish. Since he was only a teenager, he didn't get much practice, but Mako did have a good memory and he would often try those techniques at home.
It was through trial and error, but Mako had learned many dishes stemming from mostly Indian, Italian, and Mexican cuisines. Mako promised the group that once they pass the test, he will treat them all to a real feast to which Bill's mouth was already watering as he remembered the delectable Biryani that Mako once made for them to eat.
Mako tasked Leon and Erin to gather some more firewood from outside so that they would have fuel for the fire. Secondly, He tasked Bill with creating a vent inside the cave that would open outside so that the smoke from the vent would have a place to escape from. Lastly, he asked Iris to accompany him in prepping the fish and ducks so that they would be ready to cook.
Erin created a water bubble and she and Leon quickly ran out of the cave to collect as much firewood as possible, while Bill got busy using his Earth Ability to create a vent without damaging the structure of the cave which would already be weakened ever since Mako's blast.
Soon, everyone had completed their tasks and were now ready for Mako to work his magic and eat some good food after a long time.
