Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 1142: Verification Centre

Asher’s purple eyes danced across the room as he made a quick headcount. He listened to everyone discuss matters as they stared at him and Acker as though they were some rare gems or gold bars, which was completely different from the stares, reactions, and attitudes of the soldiers outside.

’They seem to be people trying to join the Frontier like me,’ Asher thought to himself as he looked at the people who seemed like they wanted to rush towards him but couldn’t.

A door appeared in space, and a woman and a man stepped out. He wore the same red uniform that Corporal Lilian wore, and the same singular yellow star was on the left side of his chest.

”Welcome to the Verification Centre,” the man began speaking the moment he entered. ”Please be advised that you can talk and discuss matters with others gathered here, but noise isn’t allowed. The moment you make a noise, you will be sent back to wherever you came from,” the man stated, as he didn’t bother introducing himself like Corporal Lilian had.

He spoke as though he had done this a billion times over, his voice almost mechanical at this point. But Asher was focused on something else: the door behind the man. It wasn’t a portal but a literal door. He could see the knob, the wooden frame, and the hinges that screamed it was a door.

’I wonder what other abilities it has,’ Asher thought to himself as he became fascinated by the ability for a moment.

”This is your Call-Up Number,” the man continued as he handed Asher, Acker, Lyra, and Kent a piece of white paper with numbers written on it.

”When your number is called, you respond just like everyone else,” he continued, pausing for a moment before asking, ”Any questions?”

Nobody from Asher’s group reacted. The man simply nodded, then turned around, opened the door that stood in empty space, and walked through it. As the door closed behind him, it vanished.

Asher glanced down at his number, which read four hundred and thirteen (413), then turned towards Acker, who was four hundred and fourteen (414), followed by Lyra, who was four hundred and fifteen (415), with Kent being four hundred and sixteen (416).

Asher waved a hand, and four different chairs appeared from his space ring. He sat in one, with the others also sitting, none of them having to sit on the ground like the others since the Verification Centre didn’t provide chairs. Hours passed as numbers were called one after another, but one thing that Asher noticed was that anyone who went forward and stepped through the door after their number was called never came out.

But nobody was surprised or asked where they had all vanished to. At this point, Asher already understood that this was some sort of screening process or something close to it, a way for the Frontier to weed out people. Their speed was fast, to say the least, as within the span of four hours, they had already gone through almost three hundred people.

As more time passed, Asher’s turn came.

”Number four hundred and thirteen (413), come forward,” a voice announced.

Asher rose to his feet, the chair vanishing as he stood. He walked forward without any delay, opened the door, and stepped in. Within the new room were simply four things and nothing else. The first was a man in a purple uniform with three yellow stars on the left side of his chest, the second was the chair he was sitting on, the third was the table before him, and the fourth was the file on the table. Finally, there was nothing else.

There was no shelf, no source of light, no window, nothing.

Asher walked forward and stood before the man, just centimeters away from the table, as he instinctively knew everyone stood on this particular spot. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he waited for the man to speak.

”Who would have thought we would have the Tenth Sun joining us?” the man spoke as he finally raised his gaze from the file in his hand, his green eyes meeting Asher’s purple ones.

Asher didn’t reply. He remained expressionless and calm.

The man stared at Asher for a moment, then proceeded to ask the same question he had asked everyone, depending on their situation.

”Why are you here?” he asked, his tone level as the smoke he had earlier produced vanished.

At his question, Asher replied flatly, his words concise. ”To grow stronger.”

He didn’t bother saying things like wanting to save the world and all that crap, as that had never been his goal. Maybe his goal would evolve over time, but for now, it remained getting stronger and seeing what lay beyond the World Barrier.

”How did you acquire knowledge of the Algorith Frontier’s existence?” the man asked yet another basic question.

”From my Father, Duke Azaron Wargrave,” he replied, as Azaron had indeed spoken about it during their familiar meal together.

”Have you heard about your Recruitment Stations?” the man asked.

”No!” Asher answered.

”How did you get here?” the man asked another question.

”Through the usual horse-and-carriage method,” Asher replied flatly.

Personally, he had expected a few sophisticated questions, but here he was, being asked some basic and random things. He couldn’t help but wonder whether every recruit was subjected to the same process or if his status had influenced the simplicity of the questions. Regardless, he had no reason to complain, as the process was moving forward without unnecessary complications.

The man paused for a moment, then asked, ”Are you the real Asher Wargrave, or an imposter who maybe killed the real Asher on the way here and replaced him?”

Asher couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow. He had just been talking about answering a bunch of basic questions, only for the question to suddenly change.

But for a moment, he didn’t know how to answer. The way the man before him had phrased the question touched upon the matter of his reincarnation. After all, the real Asher Wargrave had died, and he, Ethan, had indeed replaced him. So, in a way, he was indeed an imposter.

It didn’t take a genius to know that the man sitting before him possessed some sort of truth- and lie-detection skill or ability. It seemed it couldn’t be cheated or circumvented, for the Frontier to trust his abilities so much and rely on them.

”I’m the Asher who left the Wargrave Estate and arrived here without being killed and replaced on the way,” he answered calmly, as his thoughts had taken less than a split second, thanks to the Thought Process Acceleration ability, which prevented it from appearing as though he had hesitated.

The man stared at him for a moment, then replied, ”The way you phrased that answer makes me think that maybe you killed the real Asher while he was still at the Wargrave Estate.”

Asher shrugged as he replied, ”I’m simply phrasing my answer to match how you phrased the question.” His tone remained calm and indifferent.

The man stared at him for a moment as he understood that what Asher had said was indeed the truth.

”How many plans do you have that negatively affect the people of the Zarethorne Empire?” he asked another question.

Asher couldn’t help but pick up on the fact that the man was asking the question under the assumption that he had a few bad plans. Still, he didn’t delay in answering.

”Zero,” he replied in a flat tone.