The Difference

"How's your sister these days?" Jake asked while sipping some juice. "Has she made recovery?"

"Yeah, the doctor said that she has made substantial progress," Creed smiled at him. " but they still need to keep her under observation for some tests and leftover therapy."

"So that's why you keep smiling!" Jake responded honestly. "Well, I am thrilled for you, man!"

"Yeah... things are a little better now," Joy was apparent on Creed's face. "For me and mom too!" 

"So ... Have you decided which team will you choose for the upcoming 'Joint Expedition Training'?" Creed changed the topic quickly, " It's due next month, and registrations have already begun... I know you are good but don't delay your options!"

"Dude I am not delaying my options... I am considering them! I will pick a team soon, although I have already have had an eye on one"

Jake made it sound like he had already planned it through "I don't want to be hasty and choose the wrong team since it's a matter of life and death."

"And what about you?" Jake asked him casually. " Which team are you going to pick?"

"You really think I have the privilege to choose!" Creed rolled his eyes at him, "The registration only provides the options to the best rookies... since every team will want to recruit the cream of the crops."

"Only the bests have options to choose from, whereas the people who are average will not have too many options." Creed still had an unconcerned look, "And with my down-the-drain reputation, I don't think they will even look at my registration form."

"You don't look very stressed!" Jake mentioned the obvious, " So what are you going to do?"

"Easy, I will let the authorities decide that for me," He smiled menacingly " What I mean is... I won't fill any registration form. But JETs are compulsory for every cadet, so they will have to put me in some team, and since they know how weak I am and they are extremely concerned about our lives, so they wouldn't be choosing a 'team' but a 'babysitter' for me."

Creed had a crafty smirk."That pretty much sums up my plan!"

"Hmm, you avoided the worst-case scenario!" Jake murmured softly, "And If you had registered, and with all the monopoly going on here, the teams that are strongest would have forced the weakest team among them... to choose YOU so they wouldn't have to!"

"You are one crafty genius!..." Jake was pondering about his plan. "Wait, Mr. genius... there is a loophole in your plan!"

"Although, you will NOT get the weakest team," Jake looked at him with a concerned expression. "Don't you think... If authorities force whichever team to babysit you that team might use you as a meat shield in the JETs?"

"So what? Any team which gets me... will use me as a meat shield, 'Strong prey on weak, I cannot change that!'," Creed tried to lessen his worries. "So I have no choice but to play it this way. I just want to get on a team that is stronger and has higher chances of survival."

"yeah ... I get your — point!" Jake gave him a fist bump. "Well, that's a meticulous plan." 

———

There was a time when humans had great instincts for danger and survival, but the technological advancements have dulled these senses and instincts over the years.

So it was impossible to expect the young teenagers to get accustomed to the world of Glitches immediately, that's why the military established a yearly training program for the people who wanted to explore the World of Glitches.

In exchange for the training, the Government gave the military rights to recruit soldiers for cosmic forces and military academies. But over the years, these military academies have become an eye-candy to every youth.

Because of the escalation of cosmic struggles, the military academies have transformed over the years to an unexpected degree. They have become the most prestigious colleges which every human youth sets his eye on.

JETs were once-a-year events organized by the military to test the cadets' abilities and deduce the last review of his or her performance at the lowest step.

That's what everybody believed, but their actual purpose was to judge the instincts and analyze their probability of survival in the face of danger.

The military conducted the JETs in such a way that maintained the balance between danger and discretion. The military chose the danger, critical enough to stimulate the instincts of survival and also formed groups to exercise caution and their safety from the teamwork.

The JETs were an enormous deal for the cadets, where they can show off their skills and get recommendations which will later help them join military academies. After taking to Jake in the canteen, Creed dismissed his thoughts about the JETs and went back to his quarter.

It had been three days since the incident with the golden ring. The eggs were not showing any signs of movement, all he could feel was a faint pulse and warmth inside the eggs.

Since then it's been 3 days, he had already collected his next batch of 8 crystals which he would transform next. While in this process he had gained one more saturation point, bringing his total to 15+ (or) 15.3 points.

His Chakra Saturation ratio was by far the worst. When an average person kills 10 beasts, he would gain 7 saturation points, i.e. 0.7 chakra/beast ratio. But in his case, after killing the 10 beasts he would only gain a single point, implying a 0.1 CB ratio. 7 times slower than the average.

7 times might not sound like an enormous deal, but when average people killed around '145' beasts, they would satisfy their threshold for root chakra proficiency. Whereas for Creed... he had to kill '1015' beasts to cross his root chakra threshold.

Not to mention that with each increase of saturation points, the speed and strength of a person would increase too, the average person would need lesser time to get stronger with every saturation point he accumulated whereas Creed could only see his peers passing over him.

He went to his quarters to check up on the eggs' growth; He opened the door and was dumbfounded. He thought he was dreaming when he saw all the four eggs have already hatched, revealing four lively beasts inside their Cages.

"This ring is a beast breeding factory," Creed closed his door quickly and grinned like a maniac. "If I disclose this incident, it would rock the foundation of the researches on the soul-crystals"

"Now, the biggest question is... will this process continue if I killed these beasts and got their soul-crystals?"

Creed was excited, he believed that this process will continue. "If this happens, then a single beast will keep giving me saturation points like a perpetual process. Then I never have to hunt again!!"

Creed pulled out his dagger.

"Okay... Time to check my theory!" He then loped off the head of a beast.

[Purple-Horn beetle killed]

[Gained Earth-based Affinity]

Contrary to his expectations he did not gain the soul crystal again but something entirely different.

"Earth Affinity ... Good lord!" Creed's eyes were wide open. "I can gain the elemental affinity of the beast! What is happening here?"

He then started killing the beasts in the cages one by one.

[Purple-Steel bug killed]

[Gained Earth-based Affinity]

[Purple-Mantis killed]

[Gained Earth-based Affinity]

[Purple-Slime killed]

[Gained Earth-based Affinity]

"Although I didn't gain any soul-crystals, this is not so bad either!," Creed mulled over his thoughts "People grow elemental affinity after opening their root chakra, while I am getting it before! But why no soul-crystals?"

After some time, another notification popped inside his head.

[Gained Saturation Points +2 ]

"What the—? But How? ... Oh my god! How is there such an enormous difference between them?"

"Are these synthesized-beasts giving higher saturation points than natural beasts?" He tried to assemble his thoughts.

"Or does the saturation points from these synthesized-beasts completely ignore my low saturation rate?"

Gaining two-point might sound like very less of an achievement to an average cadet, but this was Creed we are talking about. He was stuck for an entire year because of his slow saturation. He looked at his data to confirm again.

--

Creed Gryffon [ Human ]

Life Span -  [ 100 Years ]

¤ Root Chakra -  [ 17+ ]

¤ Sacral Chakra - [ 0 ]

¤ Solar Plexus Chakra -  [ 0 ]

¤ Heart Chakra - [ 0 ]

¤ Throat Chakra - [ 0 ]

¤ Third Eye Chakra - [ 0 ]

¤ Crown Chakra -  [ 0 ]

¤ Element Affinity - [ Earth (04)]

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