Courtyard

As the cohort walk through the main road or Elaris, they are met with a grand city bathed in a pristine white light. The main architecture of the city is mainly 2-3 story tall medium sized house with golden inlays accentuating throughout the building. Occasional tall domed tower rises above the mundane houses and stood tall as it reflects the golden gleam of the sun, in stark contrast with the bright blue sky. 

In the far distance, which is where the main road is leading to, is a huge castle that stood like a pure white mountain shimmer in gold. The castle's outer perimeter are filled with greeneries and grand mansions and bastions. long stretches of castle wall could be seen meandering through the greeneries, creating a bland of man-made architecture and greeneries . The main castle was like a amalgamation of multiple bastions, each with their own domed ceiling and a golden spike on top. The chaotic bland of domed buildings created a exotic beauty as it reaches tall into the sky, making it visible from a long distance away. 

As the cohort marches down the main road of Elaris, the cobblestone streets are lined with enthusiastic crowds, their cheers and applause filling the air with a sense of excitement. Colorful confetti were being dropped from the sky and occasional fireworks could be heard. 

"Saintess ! Welcome back"

"Saintess ! please bless my child" 

"Woah ! General Roland is as cool as ever !"

"Did you see that teleportation magic ? That has got to be at least saint class !"

The knights leading the cohort walked through the street in a organized manner with Roland leading and the saintess' cohort following closely behind. 

Zeraphina walks with a grace of a true saintess as she smile and waves to the welcoming crowds. 

Soon, they walked towards a large plaza with a circular platform with several white and gold robed figure standing in the middle. 

The knights quickly spread apart and allowed the saintess cohort and Roland to walk to the front to greet the figures. 

"Glory to Zephiron !"

"Glory to Zephiron !"

Rio was used to this atmosphere from his pervious world, as he usually gets this kind of reception from expeditions in his previous life, but the grandeur of the city still gets him a bit dizzy. 

Rio tugged on Zeraphina's sleeves and asked "What's going on big sis ?

"The holy cardinals are preparing to teleport us directly to the main church, or else it would take ages to get there." Zeraphina then continued in a slight smile " Then I will take you to the orphanage to get you registered while me and dad go talk to mom about you... There should be no trouble... hopefully haha."

After Roland and the robed figure finished speaking, Rio watched as the cardinals approached him. The face of the robed figure remained hidden in the shadows of their hood, adding an air of mystery to them.

'Tsk... Concealment magic, how shady' 

Then, multiple voice of a old man suddenly ranged close to Rio, as if he was directly next to his ear. 

"So you're the new potential that saintess has found ? "

Then another aged female voice "Good, good. To be able to hear the voice of god, he must be special" 

Then a third aged voice joined "General Roland said he has plans for you ... You better not disappoint. Now follow !"

Rio shivered at the cardinal's comment on him as it jogs a certain unpleasant memories from his previous life.

"What are you guys talking about ? Old man ? hag ? Don't bully Rio like that." Zeraphina asked in a curious voice.

Rio could see the cardinal's eyebrow twitching.

Then after they formed a circle together, the cardinals begin be chant silently, soon their figures disappears from the plaza. 

The cheers from the crowds were instantly gone, replaced by a solemn atmosphere. 

Rio opened his eye, and saw that they were directly teleported into a inner sanctum of a grand place. 

"Rio come with me, the rest of you follow the cardinals. " Roland ordered. 

"Yes sir !" The knights begins to make their way to the cardinals. 

" Dad ! I thought you're going to talk to mom about this !" 

"Zera, I'm just going to have a walk with him, nothing to worry about. We will join you soon after. "

Zeraphina looked at her father with a pleasing eye before conceding. 

"Pinky promise ?"

"Pinky promise !"

Rio looked at the scene unfolding in front of him with interest, as he could clearly see Roland is embarrassed by his daughters antics in front of his subordinates. , but unable to reject her nonetheless. 

"Follow me Rio" Roland commanded again. 

Rio did not say anything, but just follow closely behind. 

Soon they walked out of the inner sanctum into a wide hallway with minimalistic designs and after a few twist and turns of what seems like a complicated maze, they reached a courtyard where a group of young man could be seen swinging swords in repetition.

The commanding presence of a war general was immediately felt by the entire courtyard. 

"General !"

"General !"

The group of young man dropped their wooden sword to the ground and stood in a salute.

"At ease ! This is not a official visit, don't be so tense." Roland said in a warm voice 

"Yes sir !"

"Galwin ! His name is Rio. Explain the basics to him and we will conduct a aptitude test on him in a few minute. " 

'Aptitude test...' Rio thought to himself 

'Performing too well is out of the question... Should I at least show that I am a promising talent ?' 

After some careful considerations, Rio decided that he should at least show some talent if he wants the resource to become stronger. 

But considering he is in a brand new body and a quite unhealthy one at that, he would have to try very hard to get a passing mark. 

The young man named Galwin soon approached him and began explaining "Hello Rio, you may call me Galwin !" 

The young man have an unremarkable aura overall, so Rio did not put too much evaluation on him.

Galwin then continued " You don't have to be worried about the test ! Just try your best and you'll do fine." 

"The test is just to see what your talents are in weapons or magics. " 

"I'm a apprentice magician and a expert swords man. Heh, if it weren't for my mana quality being just tier 4, I would've become a expert magician already. Cough cough.." 

"Oh I should also explain ! Mana quality ranks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best quality. In terms of combat strength and magic fighting ability, it goes from Mundane to Apprentice then Adept, Expert, Master, Champion, Overlord , Emperor, Archlord , and Divine"

"People usually are able to feel what level they're on when in combat, hence the need for a aptitude test."

"So ! Start by going over the weapons rack, and pick what weapons gives you the itch to try it out!" 

Then Rio looked over to where Galvin was pointing, and see a row of various weapons. 

'Hmm, the tier classification system in my previous world seems to follow this system somewhat'

'I guess I was a emperor in spear, bow and dagger. And a Archlord in sword arts... All of that allowed me to formed a unique style of my own and allowed me to become close to tier 10 in the past, heh. As for magic, I should have the mana control of a archlord . But I will have to retrain the mana circuit and muscle memory. ' 

'I wonder how will the mana quality test be conducted. Forget that, which weapon should I choose'

After some careful thought, he decided to wield a dagger for now, as his body currently only allow him to freely maneuver with a small weight. 

Rio picked up a dagger, then stealthily picked up a few more dagger and shove it into his pants and shoe in a concealed manner. 

After declaring himself ready, Rio and Galvin walked towards Roland to commence the test. 

Roland stared at Rio's stomach and shoes without saying anything and declared "We will now begin the aptitude test for Rio ! May god witness this duel between two man !" 

Rio then looked at Galvin and said "Galvin big bro, I hope you'll go easy on me !"

Seeing the young boy in front of him looks like a frail stick that could fall over, his heart softened a bit "Just do your best Rio! I won't be countering or attacking. May god witness our duel !"

Rio then said in a low voice "May god witness our duel."