Chapter 3 – The World of Arts – 3

Grabbing a chair, I sit down after hearing the loud bangs come at the door watching as Mother answers the door.

Mother: Hello, Cleric Men. What can I do for you so late in the day?

Cleric: We are here to inform you that your sector will undergo its half-decade inspections this Friday. Please ensure you and your husband are present, along with any children you have.

This will be a formal review of your current spiritual outputs and to get the kingdom attuned to your children's developing spirit energy. If it is deemed your child has a higher-than-normal spiritual energy, he will be selected at the end of the year to come study under the capital's school system.

Mother: Thank you, my husband will not be present as he is currently enroute to the kingdom. I will ensure myself and my child are present in 3 days. Thank you.

Cleric. Very well, have a good day.

Mother Closes the door and signs a breath of relief.

"So, Mother, what is the issue with the clerics again? I'm not sure I'm seeing what's so bad about them."

Mother "It's a multilayer issue, son; I will tell you when you are older, but for now, go ahead and finish showering up and get some sleep. "

After this, I nod and finish up the rest of the day, showering and reading up on the history of the nation. As I'm going through one of the prominent history books, I find a lot of pages are ripped out, and others are smudged off. Thinking maybe the library wasn't as good as I thought it was before closing the book and passing out for the evening.

Over the next couple of days, Arlo and Kya would hang out outside the library and discuss ideas on how to grow our specialties best. Kya is very well-versed in fire magic, and she says, unlike others, she can manifest her fire into many different shapes.

She herself isn't fully understanding as to why. But I think it's safe to assume she might be a prodigy. Those who are exceptionally talented usually struggle with explaining the hows of their own abilities.

Arlo has been working on ways to construct better-range weapons and has even started using wind to shoot off projectiles more. He seems to have liked the projectile test we had run and started working on ways to improve his own system.

As for myself, I have been more focused on the fighting styles mentioned into the book and trying to figure out why Father would choose to master a style that is different from his own Magic typing. I have mainly been focusing on physical training to prepare my body more for sword combat, as I believe it will only strengthen my abilities later.

Along with all this, we spent the week pushing our magical powers to a limit break, and we all discovered that we could release our magic without releasing our own elemental abilities to it. Exactly like a glass pane with no coloring on it. It's more like a rigid shell or wall that hasn't been bent or constructed to do anything yet.

Before I know it, Friday has rolled around, and Mother is waking me up earlier than normal, right around 5:00 AM at the crack of dawn.

We spend the entire day going over proper etiquette and what to say and not to say. In essence, she instructs me the less I say, the better.

The short answer is, above all else. I still don't entirely understand the cause for concern if their only objective is to see where children and adults are spirit energy-wise.

Nonetheless, I do as I am told and practice short sentences and quotes before we head down to the main inland area of the town. Even though we live out in the farmland area of the kingdom, the main town area is filled with hundreds of buildings and houses that span out miles long.

All the houses and buildings are made of a polished concrete fixture with different wrappings of stone that give them a unique fixture to stand out. We come by the city hall building, and it's broken into five sections that spreads out in a donut structure with the main entrance protruding from the concrete roads as if built from the ground up.

We come up to the main entrance to a marble door painted in an emerald green dye. The sign on the door states, "half century Spirit check."

So, Mother, why do they wait six years to do these inspections? Surely that is a long time between checks, right?

Mother: Yes, however, it's a long process, and they travel around the kingdom year-long, visiting all 5 of the Lord's territories to ensure it's done properly. In total, it can take them 5-6 years to make a full trip, even if they have large groups that travel out.

The door creeks open for a surprising rusty sound from such a clean-looking door.

Cleric: State your name

Mother: Marris ReLeaf and Toki ReLeaf

Cleric: Please come in and have the child sit. We will conduct your spirit evaluation first.

Toki: What felt like a long time sitting in the steel chair letting my feet dangle over the hardwood floor looking to be an inch or two off the bottom.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity Mother comes back out looking drained of life and just exhausted to the bone. Mother, are you okay?

Mother: Yes, just drained of energy.

As she slumps into the chair next to me, she says remember what I told you, and you'll be fine.

I walk into the door my mother came out of and find five clerics sitting at a round table as If I was at a promotional hearing in the old world about to be scrutinized and peppered with questions.

They begin asking me endless questions, such as my age, my parent's names, and just general information questions, such as math questions and general locations around the kingdom. I answered short answers and pulled from the information I had gathered from my studies.

At this point, I notice out of the corner of my eye a short girl in the clerics' white and blue robes having a confident smile.

Guessing to myself she must have been excited to see myself here.

Thank you for answering our questions. Finally, we will instruct you to hold this clear orb and pour your soul's energy into it.

Remembering what Mother told me, I decided not to ask any questions and take the orb as instructed and instantly started to expand my energy into the orb.

It begins to glow a bright brown before turning into a vibrant rainbow and a plethora of colors.

Shocking most of the clerics in the room, and a man in the background that I did not notice slowly stands up.

The cleric in the middle states that is enough and pulls out a talisman and throws it my way, landing right on my forehead, sending a shockwave paralyzing my entire body.