"These... are the top secrets..." Margaret looked at Ash meaningfully, and suddenly changed the subject, "But, since you have guessed some, it doesn't matter if I tell you in advance, so you can avoid random thoughts and come to some wrong conclusions... Anyway, you will know these things sooner or later."

Ashes didn't speak, he was waiting for Margaret to continue.

"Apostle... do you know?" Margaret asked suddenly.

"I know, the legendary messenger of God... but in fact it is a relic of prehistoric civilization... the only relic of living." said Ash.

"That's good, and it saves me more from explaining the affairs of the apostles to you... In short, the day of advent was created by the apostles. This is not a 'natural disaster', but a 'man-made disaster'... Although we have not yet understood the purpose of the apostles, we have obtained other discoveries when investigating the ruins of the day of advent."

"Other discoveries?"

"A special force. Although only five percent survived the day of arrival, we found a special force in the bodies of these survivors, which we call it - 'the power of the apostles'." Margaret said softly.

"Is the power of the apostles... there is also in my body? But... why have I never felt the existence of this power?"

"That's because you have not awakened yet. Not everyone with the power of the apostles will awaken. The task of my trip is to select the right 'seed' in the isolation area and take you back. After training and a series of catalytic means, the apostle power in some of you will awaken, and those who have successfully awakened will be called awakened."

"Is Marseille the awakened one?"

"Yes...but without drug assistance, the power of the self-awakening person is very easy to lose control. Moreover, without special training, they cannot master that kind of power, especially in the dark season in the isolation area - have you been curious about why in the dark season, those beasts that are not aggressive on weekdays will turn into violent bloodthirsty?"

"Is it possible... there is also... 'Apostle' in the body of the beast?" Ashes's voice trembled slightly, expressing his guess.

"It's totally correct! Although our research on this power is only in the fur stage, it is certain that there is a special force field in the isolation area. Whenever the dark season arrives, the force field becomes very unstable... Scholars call this phenomenon the "dark season tide". The "dark season tide" can resonate with the "apostle power" in the organism, thus causing the organism to fall into a state of madness."

"If we put it this way, humans should also fall into madness, why..."

"Because human minds are far superior to wild beasts, humans will not enter into a state of madness because of this resonance... However, if the apostle power in human bodies awakens, then the human mind cannot suppress this violent power, and the awakened person will naturally become the kind of madness we just saw."

"If you have trained, even if you awaken that kind of power, you will not become a madman, right?" Ashes asked.

"You can understand this." Margaret nodded.

"What about after awakening?"

"You will gain military status, become part of the Imperial army, and fight for the Imperial."

"Until death?"

"No, if you are thirty years old and you are not dead on the battlefield, you can choose to retire. The Empire will give you a pretty generous retirement payment. Of course, you can also choose to enter the military headquarters to continue working for the Empire. Also, if you can make military achievements in the battle, you will also have the opportunity to be awarded a title and become a new imperial noble." Margaret patted the Ashes on the shoulder, "In fact, the awakened people will be treated better than most officers because the Empire needs their strength."

"...The last question is, why do the seeds you choose must be under sixteen?" Ashes hesitated for a moment, and finally asked.

Margaret did not answer immediately, but looked at the ashes again carefully before speaking slowly: "Because... only children under the age of sixteen have the opportunity to awaken that power, and this power will continue to fade with age after awakening. At the age of thirty, the awakened person is basically no different from ordinary people, so the empire sets the retirement age of the awakened person's troops at thirty."

"In other words... if you haven't awakened after the age of sixteen, even if you have the 'apostolic power' in your body, you can't awaken, right?"

"It's theoretically so, for now, no one can break this law," said Margaret.

"What will the final outcome of these people who have not awakened in the 'seeds'?"

"I don't know what their ending is. I only know that only those who have successfully awakened can leave O'Connell... Well, it's time for our conversation to end, and there are more important things to do. If you need more ammunition or other equipment, you can go to Lyon." After that, Margaret turned around and wanted to leave.

"Miss Margaret..." Ash suddenly shouted, and the figure, whose beautiful curves were outlined by tight leather armor, stopped, but did not look back.

"What else?"

"Are you an awakened person?"

"Of course not." The woman sneered, "If so, it wouldn't be so difficult to deal with that monster."

...

...

The Purgler and the Crazy Man made Margaret lose more than 30 subordinates. The black-clad people had to shrink their defense again, concentrate their troops in the central area of ​​the central market, and use the strong metal carriages to build fortifications - the dead Crazy Man can get them some breathing time, but this time will not last too long.

Margaret ordered his men to drag the corpse of the Crazy Man over, extracted the little blood left in the pale boy, and sprinkled the blood on the periphery of the defense circle like a splashing ink. This behavior was like a powerful beast using a pheromone to draw its own territory, and the Crazy Man's blood could also play the same role.

Ashes were divided into a steam gun recovered from the dead. This weapon was even easier to operate as an old flintstone. Ashes only needed to pay attention to the pressure gauge on the steam valve. There was a steam-powered automatic loading system inside the gun. As long as the trigger was pulled, the bullets would be continuously shot out of the muzzle until the magazine was empty or the steam was exhausted.
Chapter completed!