Chapter 917

Turning

Chapter 917

"...Second gender manifestation? Me?"

Pruelle touched his face in disbelief. Kanna was just as surprised.

"Is it true? I had no idea..."

"It's only natural you didn't know. Your second gender has not manifested, after all."

Kanna, despite her proficiency in gathering information, couldn't have known something even Pruelle himself was unaware of. If there had been even one person with manifested second gender among those who went to the desert, they might have realized it sooner. However, Nathan Zuckerman wasn't an Awakener at all, and both Kanna and Nipollen have not manifested their second gender, so they were not privy to this.

Yuder, too, had been unable to sense Jimmy's second gender manifestation even when it was right in front of him during his non-manifested days. But now, it was different. The energy, still faint but increasingly strong, emanating from Pruelle was unmistakably a sign of an impending second gender manifestation.

'And perhaps... almost certainly, he'll be an Omega Awakener.'

The sensation emanating from Pruelle bore a fundamental similarity to the aura Yuder possessed. Had he been an Alpha Awakener, the feeling would have been different.

"Get up. I'll take you back to the lodging. As soon as we return, you need to lie down. As for what to do during a second gender manifestation..."

"I know. I've been briefed by the Cavalry... Avoid contact with other members except the medical team, and stay put until the manifestation is complete."

Pruelle calmly recited the instructions he had previously heard. It was natural for those who learned of their second gender manifestation to be startled and tense, but Pruelle, having experienced much and come this far, quickly regained his composure.

"Wait. But... what about Nipollen? He'll be anxious if I don't let him into the room while I'm there."

Pruelle, hastily getting up, hesitated to extend his hand towards Nipollen, who was sitting on Yuder's knee. Nipollen's eyes widened, and he whimpered softly.

"Don't worry. Kanna and I will take care of him."

"Right. Nipollen will understand once we explain! So, don't worry too much and go rest."

"I'm causing trouble again... I'm sorry."

"It's not trouble. It's just fellow members helping each other out. Didn't we agree not to talk like that?"

Before Yuder could respond, Kanna interjected with a timely remark.

"Is that so... Yes, that's right. Then, I'll say thank you."

Pruelle smiled weakly and then bowed to stroke his brother's fur.

"Nippy. You must have heard, but I won't be able to see you for a while. Listen to the others... don't skip meals, and we'll see each other later."

"..."

Yuder handed Nipollen to Kanna and helped Pruelle stand up. He initially insisted he didn't need support, but after staggering from dizziness on the way to the lodging, he obediently followed his guidance.

"Ah? It's Yuder."

As they nearly reached the lodging, they encountered a group of Cavalry members. Yuder noticed among them who had their second gender manifested, Gakane and Ever, and he reached out his hand.

"Don't come any closer."

"...What?"

"Yuder? Elle? What's happening?"

Gakane and Ever stopped in their tracks, taken aback.

"I think a second gender manifestation is starting, so we're moving him. Please don't come closer and keep your distance."

"What?"

"If you could also block off the area, that would be even better."

Realizing they needed to avoid contact with someone undergoing a second gender manifestation, they quickly stepped back. In the meantime, Yuder managed to get Pruelle into the lodging and onto the bed in a swift, efficient manner.

Relying on Yuder's hand, Pruelle, having shed his outerwear and shoes, collapsed onto the bed, gasping for breath and covering his eyes with a flushed face.

"...To encounter others at such a moment... I can't understand why this feels so embarrassingly awkward. Is a second gender manifestation always like this?"

"There's no need to think that way. I, along with others who had their second gender manifested, have all been through it, and no one thinks it's strange."

"Is that so... After all, recognizing and responding quickly like this is the best for everyone. It must not have been easy to think of setting up such a system from the beginning... The Cavalry Commander is truly remarkable..."

Pruelle weakly smiled, then suddenly winced and curled up. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his face turned pale. The unfinished scent and energy mixed and seeped out as he gritted his teeth, breathing in short gasps. The pain seemed intense, even though he was doing his best to endure it.

'It's just the beginning, and it's already this severe... This is worse than with other Awakeners.'

In the past, the only option would have been to take sleeping pills and wait out the manifestation. However, currently, at the southern branch, there was someone very useful for this situation.

"Alik. Do you have the medicine for a second gender manifestation?"

"What? All of a sudden? I do have some spare..."

Alik, who was deeply engrossed in his research, pulled out a small medicine bottle from his pocket with a bewildered look. It was a trial version of an innovative medicine created by Master Thais Yulman for his disciple, who had turned into an Omega Awakener.

"There's an Awakener starting a second gender manifestation right now, and he's feeling a lot of pain. Is it okay to use this?"

"Ah... then, not this one, but you should use this instead."

Alik, slightly embarrassed, took out another medicine.

"This is what I had left over when Master was improving the medicine. It's better for an Awakener in the midst of manifestation. It reduces pain effectively, but it hardly suppresses the scent. It's useless for me now, but for someone in the midst of manifestation..."

Alik explained that using a medicine that overly suppresses the scent during manifestation might cause issues with the process. Yuder agreed with his reasoning and took the medicine.

The medicine, passed through the hands of Enon and Lusan, was given to Pruelle. As Alik said, it didn't affect the emerging scent much but greatly alleviated the pain.

"He's properly asleep now. There's enough left, so it should last until the end."

Enon, closing the door behind him, reported the situation with an indifferent face. Yuder nodded, exhaling softly.

"Let me know immediately if there's any problem."

"Take care of your own body. You do realize that your condition could be ten times more dangerous than Pruelle's, right? Eh?"

Enon, somewhere between concern and threat, scrutinized Yuder from head to toe and clicked his tongue.

"Still, you've been sticking close to your Commander, I see."

"Why. Has the soul's state improved?"

"...Aren't you leaving?"

Enon, after a moment of silence, smacked Yuder's back hard, pushing him away.

"You said you were busy, didn't you? Get lost, quickly. If you stay here, the Commander might come too. I don't want to see that, so go. Go and eat something! You barely had breakfast today, right! I heard it all!"

The shouts instructing Yuder to go eat echoed resoundingly through the hallways. With such volume, it seemed likely that everyone inside the branch, despite the controlled access, would now be aware of whether Yuder Aile had eaten breakfast or not.

Yuder, nearly allowing a faint smile to escape, swallowed it and responded affirmatively.

'If I say Enon now seems almost endearing, he would probably hate that.'

"Yuder!"

"Is Elle alright now?"

As he exited Pruelle's room, where access was restricted, and turned into the corridor, Gakane and Ever approached with worried expressions.

"He's fine. He's taken medicine and fallen asleep; now, we just need his manifestation to complete safely."

"That's a relief... To have a manifestation suddenly after returning from a mission, he must have been startled."

Ever sighed. Gakane, too, opened his mouth with a relieved expression.

"I didn't even realize Elle was undergoing manifestation until you told us to stay back. It's really fortunate that the manifestation began while you were with him."

"...You didn't know?"

Yuder thought the energy emanating from someone starting a second gender manifestation would be distinct enough for anyone to notice, though not always. But Pruelle's was not so faint, he believed. It seemed strange that both Ever and Gakane, being Alpha Awakeners and thus more sensitive to the scent of Omega Awakeners, didn't notice at all.

'Could it be that my increased power has influenced my ability to detect such things?'

As Yuder looked down at his palm, pondering this, Gakane and Ever continued their conversation.

"Elle seems to have a very weak second gender aura. Among all who have undergone second gender manifestation I've seen, he is the first whose scent is so faint."

"Right. I didn't notice it either. How did you detect it so quickly?"

"Ever. Isn't that question a bit pointless? We're talking about Yuder. His scent concealment is so perfect it's practically imperceptible, so that would have been easy for him."

"Oh, right. Does his ability to conceal scents affect detection too?"

"...Wait a minute."

Yuder raised his head. Something he had just overheard suddenly struck him as odd.

"My scent concealment, what about it?"