SSS Awakening: Creating Primordial Beasts To Be My Summons-Chapter 22: New Outlier

The next day’s session was held at one of the city guard’s training grounds.

This place was chosen because the Guild Headquarters hadn’t been fully rebuilt, and for safety reasons, as no one understood the underlying effects of being an Outlier.

The session focused on practical combat—weapon use, fighting other humans, and maximizing abilities.

Cohen had yet to arrive, and the session had already kicked off.

About thirty minutes into the session, all the Outliers were gathered around Officer Brawn, the man in charge of Outliers.

Beside him stood a man with black hair tipped in red and matching red eyes.

He was just twenty, being the tallest here at six-feet-four and having the bulkiest body.

He wore a fitted black sleeveless top and fairly baggy blue joggers that were tight at the ankles.

The man stood imposingly, especially for someone who was only level 11.

Even without moving, he felt like the center of gravity.

"This is the last guy to wake up from a coma, right?"

"He feels even heavier than Dax."

"I heard he’s even more special than us."

All the Outliers began whispering among themselves.

Brawn cleared his throat to cut them off and spoke.

"I simply gathered you guys to introduce you to the last addition to the group. This is Stein, and he’s even more different from you guys.

"Unlike you guys who were unawakened before, Stein has been awakened for a year now, and the recent situation has evolved his abilities considerably.

"With the basic introduction done, I hope everyone gets along. You may return to your practices."

Brawn immediately left the center of the grounds, returning to the edge where he oversaw from.

Meanwhile, the whispers among the Outliers continued as they spread out.

"Will he be joining Dax’s party too? There are already six there though."

"Yeah, they advised that if necessary, we should have a max of six party members at this stage."

"He won’t even fit into any other party. Aside from Dax’s, no party will be able to catch up to Stein."

"Do you think they might replace him with Cohen then? He’s at a low level."

Stein remained at his position, taking in the view of the surroundings while he listened attentively to the whispers.

A proud smile crossed his features as he heard Cohen’s name. He was finally overshadowing that individual.

Spoiling his moment of satisfaction was a statement from someone.

"But... Dax isn’t approaching Stein? Does he not want to invite him to his party?"

Stein walked toward the speaker and asked in an aggressive, disgusted tone.

"Who is Dax?"

The person didn’t hesitate to gesture at where Dax, Maya, and the others loosely gathered, focused on their training.

"So, what’s special about that guy?"

"After Dax gathered those rumored to have potential they became the strongest party. They basically dominate all of us here."

"He gathers people like that, yet he is completely disregarding me?"

Stein bent his head left and right, cracking his neck. A wide smile crossed his features.

"Let’s see who will dominate now that I, the chosen one, am here."

Stein’s eyes started surveying the area. From where he stood grandly, he gestured towards individuals who appeared stronger than most to gather around him.

Just like that, a party that the Outliers believed to threaten Dax’s party appeared.

- - - - -

Cohen wore a normal blue long sleeve shirt and blue pants. He donned his black fitted scale armor and had his common dagger fixed at his waist.

’I can’t believe I actually slept in! I didn’t think I was that tired!’

He hurried over to the city guard’s building which wasn’t too far from his home.

Using the lift, he reached one of the higher floors which served as the training ground.

The doors of the lift opened and Cohen was met with an interesting view.

Aside from the walls which held the doors of the lift, the other walls were made of see-through glass.

The training grounds occupied the entire floor.

The wide floor was partitioned into several combat rings, divided by blue glowing lines on the floor.

Groups of Outliers dotted the zones, undergoing various tasks.

Some ran through basic forms with wooden trainers, while others were engaged in measured sparring under the watchful eyes of senior guild officials.

Officer Brawn sat to Cohen’s left, behind a rail that divided observers from others. He sat resting casually with his arms crossed over his chest.

He didn’t move, his gaze anchored on the newly formed party surrounding Stein, his expression unreadable.

He seemed to be measuring not just their physical prowess, but the shifting social dynamics as the others adjusted to Stein’s heavy, imposing presence.

Cohen, before paying attention to Brawn, noticed Stein.

’Of all people. Did something happen to him too? He... seems stronger.’

At that moment, conversations died mid-sentence.

Everyone noticed Cohen too.

And not only Cohen, but also the slime on his head and most especially, the waist-high ram that was a mix of purple and blue with silver light

Cohen didn’t wait for the silent tension to grow imposing as he turned to Brawn.

"Mr. Brawn, I came late again. Sorry about that."

Brawn turned to Cohen, his eyes struggling to hide the hint of surprise.

"This training is like an observation period too, Cohen. What you do here determines how the Guild will treat you."

He said that, raising his voice for everyone to hear.

’Is this an indirect way of warning everyone?’ Cohen mused.

Brawn continued, "Still, it seems you have a very good reason for being late. That beast... and you’re at level 12 already?"

’Why are you revealing my level? Isn’t there a tacit agreement between Awakened to not talk about details?’

Cohen maintained a forced casual smile."Thanks for understanding."

’If not for these conflicts, I would have reached level 20 in the Underworld Dungeons—drawing attention in ways I’d rather avoid.’

He then walked, ignoring the gaze of the Outliers, and toward the end where Dax and the others stood.

Everyone was silent.

Yesterday, Cohen had been level 1. Today, he stood at the top.

He surpassed the new hot topic, Stein, who had been awakened for more than a year.

Even Maya, who had been in a coma the third longest, hadn’t grown nearly as quickly.

Plus, Cohen had a legendary slime and a rare beast by his side now based on their system appraisal.

What kind of class and talent did he have? Everyone couldn’t help but wonder.

It was evident.

Cohen was going to be stronger than Maya. It was already shown when Bobby was casually beating Maya in killing monsters yesterday.

The new hot question was: Between Cohen and Stein, who was the actual strongest?

’Too much attention.

’What if I had brought out Nox instead of Hide? Blight would definitely explode with narcissism.’

Cohen let out a soft chuckle, reaching his comrades who were midst training.

"Well done, guys. Good morning."

Dana shook her head and hissed. "Telling us well done after you suddenly reached that level sounds like an insult!"

"I guess it does," Cohen scratched his hair. "My bad. All these surrounding stares can be overwhelming."

Abraham slid closer, draping an arm over Cohen’s shoulders.

"Yo, you have to tell us how you did it, man? Don’t leave a bro hanging!"

Dax pulled Abraham away from Cohen and said, "Dude, you should take things calmly, don’t pressure him even more."

"Well, I simply just pit myself in a couple dangerous situation and survived. My armor is a testament to that."

Abaraham looked down and wore a genuinely shocked face.

"You actually did that? Nah, dude you crazy!" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Cohen laughed before turning to Dax.

’Dax... you look less like the chubby kid I now. Is it because my perception is better?’

He couldn’t help but ask.

"Dax, did you get taller and maybe more bulkier?"

Dax flexed his muscles and laughed proudly.

"Since I awakened, I’ve been growing taller and my fat has been cutting down into muscle after I sleep. Soon, I will become the strongest physically!"

"He’s weird like you and Maya too!" Dana chimed in.

’What an interesting change,’ Cohen thought.

"You seem to have gotten another beast," Dax said. "At this rate, I think you’ll become the strongest tamer in this region!"

’Realistically, I am already the strongest tamer here already.’

Cohen smiled at Dax’s statement.

"Meet Hide. During my brutal hunt throughout the night, I managed to get him to join me."

Dana then focused on Hide, her eyes glowing. "Why are all your beasts so weirdly cute looking?"

Cohen shrugged that question off. He turned to Scot to greet the man.

Scot flashed Cohen a simple nod and thumbs up which Cohen reciprocated.

He then turned to Maya too.

But the girl looked lost in thought as her gaze fell on Bobby who was bobbling on Cohen’s head while looking back at her.

Just as Cohen was about to shift the conversation by giving a rough description of Hide’s ability, something dragged everyone’s attention.

Stein had approached the group, a forced smirk on his face.

"Cohen, didn’t you see me there?"

Stein extended his arm to a handshake.

’Don’t we normally just ignore each other? What do you want now?’

"Stein, it’s been a while. I was focused on my party, sorry about that," Cohen replied, extending his arm too.

Their hands met—and neither let go.

Cohen confirmed Stein’s objective as their hands gripped each other.

Stein seemed to want to prove stronger as he tried using his physical strength to put Cohen down.

’So your physical capabilities have evolved to be monstrous, huh?’

Cohen smiled, tugging on his I Am Null while feeling Null Aura increase his body strength.

Stein’s bold smile cracked as he slowly tried to remove his hand feeling a physical weight on him.

The surrounding people also felt the pressure as they all slowly fell to their knees.

Meanwhile, Cohen wasn’t paying attention as he had a realization.

’That energy... It’s the same as the stalker’s.’