Seed Test

After Cael's injury was healed, he continued taking Nova around on the tour.

『Hmm… Your flame is really a special ability.』[Cael]

They continued walking through the Association's building as they talked.

『Huh? Is it because it can heal?』[Nova]

『No. There are many special properties about it that I can't describe without further research. After you get the points from that healing potion, you should be able to redeem it for a lesson for a spell called "True Sight".』[Cael]

『What does True Sight do? Let you see things about spells?』[Nova]

They finally stopped in front of a door.

『It lets you see how the mana particles flow, and the particles in general. But before we worry about the usage of that, let's get your seed tested.』[Cael]

『Seed tested?』[Nova]

Cael opened up the door for Nova to walk through.

『We're gonna check for the branches your seed can develop toward. Do you know what type of spellcaster you are?』[Cael]

Nova walked through and followed Cael down a hallway.

『I'm a chanter.』[Nova]

『A chanter?! Woooah! Those are rare!』[Cael]

『Really? What are you?』[Nova]

『I'm a caster. Probably the most common spellcaster, but they're pretty conventional.』[Cael]

They walked into a more rustic library-like room.

『Okay. Here is where the culmination of our research lies. 』[Cael]

Nova looked around and found pictures of different groups of people on the wall.

『What are these?』[Nova]

Cael looked up at all the pictures on the wall.

『These are the pictures of all the people who have added to the Association's wealth over the years.』[Cael]

The second most recent picture on the wall featured an annoyed Oswald with his hair down and an unnamed female with black hair messing his hair up.

The most recent one featured Cael, Mariya, Oswald, and the advisors of the association along with a few other unknown faces.

『Ah.. Oswald?』[Nova]

『Oh?! Is he the one who invited you to the Association?』[Cael]

Cael looked up at Oswald's picture with respect.

『He's one of the best researchers I've ever come across! He never takes anything for granted, and even questions the most basic of fundamentals. That's why he's one of the leads of the association!』[Cael]

Nova stared up at the most recent picture, with Oswald standing proud with a smile on his face.

『...Sounds just like him.』[Nova]

Cael nodded with a giant open mouth smile on his face.

『Let's go check out your seed now. How long have you been awakened for?』[Cael]

Cael picked up a blank glass tablet with black grips and handed it to him.

『A few months, just this year.』[Nova]

『Oh?! You lucky bastard! It took me a long time before I got in here!』[Cael]

He messed with Nova's hair a bit before poking the glass tablet a few times.

『It's a little more of a pain, but the accuracy is god-like. It can predict all types of things, up to your latent abilities!』[Cael]

Nova looked at his reflection in the glass screen.

『How do I use this?』[Nova]

Cael pointed at two notches on the side of the screen, motioning for him to put his fingers there.

『Right there. Put your fingers there. You'll feel a bit of a prick, though.』[Cael]

Nova nodded and put his fingers onto the notches before they stabbed into his index fingers.

『Tch..』[Nova]

He winced a little at the pain before a tree began to draw itself onto the tablet with his mana.

『Now, can you imagine all of the abilities that you've used in the past? The tablet will help pinpoint each one.』[Cael]

A circle formed and appeared at the base of the tree near the stump.

『Oh! Here comes the first one!』[Cael]

He realized he was pretty close, so he stepped away.

『Ah.. It's a bit personal for seeds, so I'll keep my distance. Don't show it to anyone!』[Cael]

『Oh. Alright.』[Nova]

Nova looked at the circle that had formed and saw "Blessed Flame Rebirth" in it, along with a question mark silhouette behind the words.

The next circle to form was above it, of course being "Area", which had a black hole icon appear behind it before stopping.

『...I only have two abilities right now.』[Nova]

『That's fine! That's actually a good amount of abilities for just awakening for a few months. It'll fill out with your other stats soon.』[Cael]

Suddenly, even more spells began to fill themselves onto the board.

They appeared on the side, separate from the rest of the seed abilities.

『Oh! There's more appearing!』[Nova]

『Huh?! I thought you only had 2 abilities?!』[Cael]

『Uh… Seed abilities!』[Nova]

Cael stood there with a gaping open mouth as Nova kept looking at the tablet.

At the side there was a window that popped up with multiple tabs at the top reading "Spells", "Modifiers", and finally- "Others".

Nova clicked on the "Spells" tab and saw Inferno Purgatory, Wave, Bind, and Weapon Formation.

He clicked on "Modifiers" next, but only saw those that he had expected- Repulsion and Overlap.

『...This is so much more convenient than testing all of my stats by myself! Such a time saver!』[Nova]

『Right?! Just wait until it gives you your stats!』[Cael]

Suddenly, a new window appeared at the top left that he could scroll through.

『Woah! There it is!』[Nova]

He scrolled through, and it read 850 units, 12 units regenerated per minute, 1 inch per second mana speed, and even some other things like a "Body Toughness" factor, which was at 3.2 units.

『It's not much right now, but it'll grow later! How is everything else looking?』[Cael]

At the very top of the screen, "SPECIALIST" popped up.

『Specialist?』[Nova]

『WOAH! A SPECIALIST SEED?!』[Cael]

He jumped around.

『WE'RE GONNA PARTY!』[Cael]

『Huh?! Is that good?』[Nova]

『Specialist seeds have the highest chances to form in a unique direction! I'm not sure about combat, but you might be good and set to go in the research field!』[Cael]

That last bit took out Nova's excitement a bit, but he clicked on the "Other" category.

To his surprise, there were three things there.

The first one was "Summon: Sir Fluffles", which made sense- to him, anyway.

The second one was "Guardian: Reischneid", but it had a cracked icon compared to the rest.

Finally, was the third one- a glitchy icon.

It filled out with "Raiment:" and had strange characters that glitched all around, back and forth.

『HUH?! WAIT!』[Nova]

Cael suddenly jumped when Nova shouted.

『What happened?!』[Cael]

『Something popped up! Where did it go?!』[Nova]

"Raiment:" kept bugging out before he felt the glass suddenly snap in half.

『Wha...WHAT?!』[Cael]

Cael stumbled to the floor, before he took the scraps of glass on the floor and picked them up.

『...Why did it blow up..?』[Cael]

Nova felt incredibly nervous, because he just destroyed an expensive piece of technology...

『...There was a buggy section in the "Other" tab.』[Nova]

After hearing that, he suddenly cheered up.

『...Alright! 』[Cael]

He took the scraps and picked them up.

『Hey! Won't you cut yourself?!』[Nova]

『With my body toughness factor? No way!』[Cael]

He smiled up at Nova.

『If I do, you can just heal me anyways!』[Cael]

『Ah.. Right. Thank you… Senior.』[Nova]

Cael had a giant smile on his face that infected Nova's nervous face and caused him to have an awkward grin.

『Let's turn this in and get you some bonus points!』[Cael]

Cael opened the door and held it open for Nova.

『Thank you.』[Nova]

『Don't mention it.』[Cael]

Nova's feelings of excitement, anxiety, and confusion settled down thanks to Cael's cheerfulness.

『After all, it's not every day that this Senior has to look after a troublesome junior!』[Cael]