Unknown Danger.

"Alright so the next test is the talent test, now this is also relatively simple",the man behind the desk spoke up as he stood up and beckoned them to follow him, he took them to a separate room that looked more like someone's living space complete with the necessary amenities, in the middle of the room was a grey mat that looked like it had been barely used a few times in a while, to which he pointed to Jaden to sit on, so he did as he was told, waiting for the next step.

"What I'm basically going to be testing is your comprehenl5, and your innate talent, How long you take to finish the test and other things will be taken into consideration. Alright are you ready?"

Listening attentively to what he was hearing, he nodded his head as he closed his eyes at the same instant, he had already been briefed on how to do it so there was nothing holding him back. Concentrating carefully he focused on his core where his ever increasing bundle of elemental energy was. He knew from Astral that this wasn't a common occurrence in most people so he also knew it was enough to prove his talent but regardless he had to show it first, even he wasn't sure how far his talent would take him, pulling the energy within out from it's passive state, he moved it through his meridians into his veins as it got closer and closer to the back of his waist.

To actually engage in cultivation, one had to activate the pathways within the spine, the spine was basically the place that housed one's talent as the pathways contained what was called the elemental circles, they were the respective multifunctional circles for their owners with their corresponding elements, there were speculatively 12 circles corresponding to the twelve segments of the spine, but the most that most had seen were ten circles, laying eyes on someone with eleven circles was rarer than rare not to mention those with twelve circles. So when the pathways in the spine are activated, they release the circles into the atmosphere to move under the command of the cultivator and the only way to activate the pathways was passing elemental energy through the spine all the way up from the bottom. It was the most basic movement that was meant to be as easily done as breathing and as quickly done as snapping ones fingers. As the energy within Jaden got to the bottom of his spine, he moved it up and as it came into contact with the spine, the spine lit up in a soft glow as the energy kept on rising, apparently without enough energy it would be impossible to actually reach the highest possible pathway, the first few days of cultivation involved those cultivators cultivating without the circles to accumulate enough to do it, it took months for some lesser talented people as the speed usually varied, and Mr. MC here was blessed by someone (+Me and me alone+) and was able to pass that fundamental stage between the time he started cultivating and the time when they got here which was around three hours, it was shocking enough but the others didn't know so he couldn't yet bask in the glory of his talent being admired. Continuing upward it almost immediately passed through the first pathway as the pathway immediately lit up with a pristine white glow that was different from the white of his other element (+there are just so many shades of white+), before a cultivator gets to the sixth stage of cultivation, his elemental circle will always unfailingly be of the white color, no one exempted, for humans it was like this, the other races out there also had some similarities in this aspect.

At this point, the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth had already been passed through and the two people watching him were staring behind him as six pristine white circles that all looked to be two rings of white light overlapping on each other with odd looking symbols taking up the spaces in between them, very soon a seventh one appeared and at this point the two men watching couldn't help but open their mouths slightly, Although Matthew had seen many examples of talented people like this, this was his first time seeing someone activate the pathways so quickly, but thinking about something for a moment he calmed down and just watched as the eighth one appeared, all that could be seen in his eyes was a deep feeling of joy and a little admiration. The other man on the other hand was just stunned in place as he witnessed the scene in front of him, when he was able to get himself together a glint flashed across his eyes deep within.

When they both slightly expected the scene to continue with the same pace as before as it was already a minute yet the ninth circle had yet to appear, but at the next second it came into view albeit slowly as if it took all his strength to force it through and then for five minutes nothing else appeared. At this point, Jaden was forced to open up his eyes as he looked at the men in front of him and spoke up "I couldn't activate the Tenth circle"

"And why is that, you ran out of energy?", the man spoke up with his eyes gleaming.

"No I still had energy, I just felt like I couldn't do it", he replied completely unaware of the oddity in the man's eyes.

"Haha, it's okay this is amazing enough, a nine circle lightning Elementalist, a true rarity. "

"I'm proud of you Jaden, it's already good enough, don't worry", Matthew finally spoke up with a look of satisfaction on his face, he was happy his friend's son was no less of talent than his peers, even though it was not the highest, with that thing's help, he would quickly reach the sky.

"Haha, alright you've passed the test, starting tommorow you are an official student of the academy, coming back tomorrow you can come get your accommodation and all other things, these things have to be fixed and adjusted since you're part of the select few late ones to register", the man laughingly said as he said the few words that Jaden was eager to hear the most. Hearing it was the final confirmation he needed to go into a wild frenzy but due to where he was he held it in and instead kept a happy smile on his face while he cartwheeled all around in his head.

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It was fairly deep into the night, when Jaden decided to cultivate again to while away the time, since he was completely unable to fall asleep, then as he was about to begin he remembered something that happened earlier and spoke to the one currently residing in his head

'Astral'

*Yes Jaden* he got a response almost immediately, not like he had any other thing to do though.

'Earlier today, two times, you cautioned me to not fully reveal what I had , first it was the white element, then it was when I opened up the pathways, I clearly felt the fact that the Tenth pathway could be cleared, yet you told me to stop at the ninth, I even had to lie to two of them using your excuse, care to tell me what's going on'

Silence prevailed for a quick while before a sigh was heard from Astral, waiting quietly to hear the reason he wasn't disappointed as Astral spoke with a slight oddity in his tone

*You see Jaden this life as you know it, isn't exactly as the colors you see are, bright and pure, perhaps once it was like that but now, humans have given in to their inner greed and tend to do a lot of things without concerns for other, The man Matthew brought you to was a sly fox and had somethings up his sleeve, I could clearly feel his ill intensions which was why I asked you to do that, it was something done to protect yourself at least until you're strong enough, the name you bear and the people you're associated with are, if I should say in the way you understand best, are in deep shit. If I'm not wrong, they already compiled details about you and would watch you closely, you're not ready to face the truth yet which is why you haven't been told yet but I trust they'll tell you about it when it's time. Till then ask no more of and condense all your circles freely now, take it slowly unlike how I told you to quicken the flow previously*

Although he was tempted to ask again, he chose to keep quiet, he could vaguely guess what it was about and couldn't help but have a bad feeling, he felt he was getting angry and frustrated but couldn't release it in anyway. He calmed down and closed his eyes and very slowly unlike the first time, the white circles appeared behind his back, this time they seemed to follow a set kind of rhythm that felt very harmonious, and like that for some seven minutes, the activation was all he did and also unlike last time, it wasn't nine circles at his back but thirteen!!.

One more than the said highest number, even Jaden couldn't help the surprise he felt, he was excited when he felt the number of circles he could activate was more than ten but he never dreamt of something like this happening,

'Astral, what is this thirteenth circle, it one more circle than the usual and feels odd as well', not only did it feel odd but it looked different, all the other circles were presumably bigger than the size it was during the test but it was only this one that was actually smaller than the rest with three circle inlaid within each other, the symbols that he was told were called runes on it were also more strangely written, all in all, it was a mysterious oddity that Jaden couldn't understand even with his one day of arduous cultivation.

*This circle is called the sovereign circle and is only granted to those who have the sovereign essence within them, not only does the benefits when cultivating with it proof itself awesome, it also has some other characteristics that you'll see yourself*

'... So basically, the sovereign essence is a cheat code that allows me to gain benefits above the masses'

*Something like that I guess, now calm your mind and immerse yourself in cultivating, you can't just slack off due to all the benefits you're getting that seems to fill up your head and make it swell*

Smiling sheepishly at being caught red-handed feeling conceited, he cleared his head and began cultivation. This time around with the circles around, you could see the visible flow of energy towards him as if they were acknowledging him worthy.

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Meanwhile at the time when Matthew and Jaden left the office of the Nameless man, a sharp light moved through his eyes (+I have no idea how that happens+) and a smirk was on his face as he tapped on his watch a few times with beeps resounding, and then he spoke into it with a hurried tone as he knew talking slowly would only anger this fearsome person,

"The boy has gone through the test and I had no choice but to pass him, his is lightning oriented and is actually a top class nine circles, I fear his potential is really high sir"

Then a voice came out of the watch as it said " hmm, that's not a problem,there are many others like him,unlike his father he doesn't seem to possess much of a threat... nevertheless we can't let our guard down... Alright,you did a good job, you'll get your reward soon enough, don't look into the boy's matter anymore, I'll take it from here"

The man listening with a respectful disposition couldn't help but shiver with excitement a little,this was a typical example of bad eggs in the society and this time around they were their pungent smell at Jaden,it was expected, at least for the people around Jaden who knew the truth and even Astral, and it was even more the reason why they were guarding him, he was their hope and future, they couldn't let him fall.