A day had passed since I witnessed the brutal nature of the pits, along with the subtle moral dilemmas that came with it. I found myself preoccupied with my thoughts when a familiar sound cut through the silence, followed almost immediately by the sharp sound of approaching footsteps.
Tak, Tak—!
For a moment, I wondered what the deafening toll could possibly be about. The Butcher’s Call wouldn’t be due for another few hours. More unsettling, however, was the fact that, according to what I had learnt from Azrael, the bell wasn’t rung so easily. Very few events warranted such an announcement. Hence, the suddenness of it all left me unsettled, especially considering how rarely the bell had rung since I arrived at the aberrant pits.
Or maybe I am just being paranoid.
Exhaling, I glanced at Azrael, hoping to glean some clues from his reaction, but he seemed unperturbed. Then again, I doubted I’d ever seen the young Terrisman fret over anything.
In the next few moments, the Roman soldiers stepped into the pits and herded us out of our respective pit. Stretching my body, I took note of my surroundings, realizing then that the aberrant pit gladiators — mostly those working for lesser nobles, the various innumerable tribal factions, and the highly ranked gladiators all wore relaxed expressions. That led me to an unsettling conclusion: They had either known about this in advance, or had been informed by their respective patrons.
My lips twitched slightly at the realization.
Faint footsteps reached my ears and I turned to face the approaching figure. Much to my lack of surprise, it was the young Terrisman. And was it just me, or did he seem to be in a good mood? I mean... it was hard to know, considering he was almost always smiling.
Azrael smiled as he rested an arm around my shoulder.
"How many possible worst-case scenarios have you thought of?"
My lips twitched at his words, however, I forced myself to maintain a blank expression. He laughed and said, "The Racpurnia Gladiatorial Pit conducts a maximum evolutionary stat assessment of its Awakened every once in a while."
A Genetic (Evolutionary) Limit Assessment. Very few instruments could thoroughly assess the potential of an Awakened. Moreover, the cost of doing so would be nothing short of astronomical. So why would Racpurnia allow such an event to take place in the first place? And judging by what Azrael said, so... frequently?
"It serves as a means to scout for talents for the lesser noble families," Azrael said, taking a step forward as he fiddled with the strange coin. "As you know, a few great talents are wiped from the face of the earth due to one mishap or another. Moreover, this happens before their latent potential kicks in.
At this point, I was sure beyond doubt that he could... read minds. And the realization didn’t sit well with me.
"The assessment simply reduces the chances of that happening. Besides, if any of the noble families can get their hands on an Awakened with the baseline potential needed to make it to the elite trial ranking, it would, in one way or another, serve as a source of income and even lead to higher social and political standing."
Now... that was more like the Romans. Every single thing they did served to benefit them, even if it wasn’t obvious at first. The Roman Empire wouldn’t have conquered numerous nations, countries, and empires if its nobles were chivalrous fellows. Even less accomplished empires had ruthless noble families, much less the Great Roman Empire.
Moreover, if I was right, judging from the reactions of the gladiators and the never-before-seen, somewhat less gloomy atmosphere of the pits, the mask of kindness — the reward given to the gladiators upon assessment — must be quite significant. Significant enough to brighten the mood of even the gloomiest of gladiators — those who had given up on hope, life, and, more than anything, power.
"Interesting," I muttered under my breath as we walked behind the other gladiators.
I was now even more curious about the assessment.
"I’m sure you must have realized why every single Awakened holds the assessment in such high regard," said the young Terrisman. "No one would be stupid enough to reject a "free gift," anyway."
"Free indeed," I chuckled, eliciting a light laugh from Azrael.
We soon arrived at the assessment room after walking for what felt like hours and passing through numerous complex routes and passages, some even requiring password authentication. It made me realize just how foolish my previous thoughts of escaping had been. Forget escaping; even getting halfway through would be considered a great accomplishment.
Exhaling heavily, I took in the sight of the biotechnological device before me. And it was just as I had suspected.
"An Aetheric Potential Gauge," I muttered absentmindedly, slightly stumped by the sight of the device.
An Aetheric Potential Gauge, due to its underlying quantum principles — assessment of an Awakened through the bioelectric signatures emitted by the body — could be considered a mid-tier technological creation in this current era.
The fact that the Roman nobles were willing to make use of such a device showed just how much value they placed on the assessment. After all, not only could the APG pick up on the resonance field emitted by an Awakened, but it also assessed, among many other things, an Awakened’s muscular state, physical conditioning, neural and cognitive integration through neuroscientific analysis, genetic and epigenetic markers, and most importantly, it was able to grade an Awakened’s soul-borne abilities.
Its market value was beyond astronomical. For a middle-tier noble such as Lucius to purchase one, the acquisition and maintenance of such a device would literally bankrupt him. Which led me to conclude that the creation of such a device must have been commissioned by a high-tier noble family. And Lucius, along with the numerous nobles in Racpurnia city, were no more than pawns for said family.
The realization was unsettling, to say the least.
However, I was much more concerned about my abilities. How was I going to hide them? I wasn’t stupid enough to reveal them, not even for a million Atium shards. The Roman nobles wouldn’t hesitate to send me to the afterlife should my latent potential be revealed. That much, I was clear on.
Troubled and unsettled, I raised my head, assessing the APG in greater detail.
The device was a large, upright chamber about the size of a modern machine, three to five meters tall and two meters wide. However, it was more open and less clinical, crafted from hardened natural minerals with etched gladiatorial motifs. It had a central podium meant for the subject to stand upon, surrounded by articulated arms, sensory nodes in the form of glowing orbs, analog readers displaying various metrics, and many more components- each serving a significant purpose.
It was just as I remembered it to be...
I glanced around and noticed a certain pattern among the Roman soldiers and a few tribal factions. Each and everyone of them was paying attention to the current developments, whether from the shadows or in plain sight, which led me to wonder just how many of us were on the Romans’ payroll.
Considering that Azrael had already informed me of the talent-scouting program employed by the nobles of Racpurnia city, I wasn’t surprised by such a development. But that didn’t make it any less disturbing. The fact that even in such a hellhole, politics existed was rather... unsettling.
Valerius stepped into the room at that moment. His presence brought about a tense silence. He said nothing for a while, tension simmering before his voice resounded through the large hall.
"The assessment shall now begin!"
In an instant, the various tribesmen, along with a few Roman soldiers, all made their moves.