starless sky

Artus stood in front of Aldric, he took the two pieces of paper.

He started reading, his voice was clear and fluent, his pronunciation was on the spot, his reading was neither slow nor fast.

Then Aldric started asking questions about the subject, it was about the nature of energy.

Artus not only answered all of Aldric's questions, but his answers showed the vast amount of knowledge he had in addition to his unique Insight on the subject, after all, Artus was once a renowned scientist.

As for mathematics, Artus was both precise and fast.

Aldric was very pleased with his Artus performance, he ran to him and held his hand.

"Child, quickly tell me your name?".

"My name is Artus".

"Artus…. very good".

"Artus your performance is outstanding…your knowledge and insights may be even more than some newbie scholars at the academy".

"I am sure you will be accepted to the scholar's division without effort so I will not give a recommendation letter, instead I will give you my personal token, show it to the head of the scholar's division when you meet him".

Aldric was brimming with joy, Artus defiantly would become an outstanding scholar with exceptional contributions to the world, he was even sure that one day Artus would be the head of the scholar's division in the royal academy.

For this type of talent to be discovered by him, his name will soar through the skies and be written down in history.

"Child no need to take the rest of the tests, the scholar's division is your place, you will be an outstanding scholar."

"Thank you, sir Aldric, but I wish to continue, I want to know the limits of my own abilities".

For Artus, becoming a scholar was out of the question in the first place, with his exceptional intelligence and the help of NuroFusion, he was certain that he could become an outstanding mage in the future.

*cough* *cough*

Edir coughed, Aldric immediately stood up and straightened his robe, he showed so many emotions, his appearance was not that of an academy officer.

"Ok, then I will start the second test".

Edir stood forward.

"First, we will have a race around the field, one lap"

"Lineup"

After the first round, there was only Artus, Tom and Maggie in addition to the other two children, they were five in total.

"start"

The children started running, Tom was far ahead in front, he took first place as expected, Maggie came in third place, as for Artus, he was a bit slow, so he took fourth place.

After a short rest, the children were instructed to carry the metal wights.

Tom scored first place again, Maggie and Artus were both in third place as the performance was similar and the other two children came last.

Last was the skills test, Tom held the wooden sword and performed several techniques on the wooden dummy, a slash, a stab and a strike.

"Tom, excellent, your performance is impressive, if you do well in the next test, you will undoubtedly earn yourself a spot in the warrior's division trails".

Maggie's performance was mediocre, Maggie was not interested in becoming a warrior in the first place, so she did not bother to train her physical strength and sword technique.

As for the other two children, their overall performance was good, it was not as close to Tom's level, but it was still acceptable, they still had a chance to become warriors.

At last, it was Artus's turn, he waited for the last to observe everyone else's technique, with the help of NuroFusion, he was able to analyze their techniques and simulate them in his mind.

He stood up and held the wooden sword, he started hitting the wooden dummy.

*slash* *slash* *stab* *strike*

His moves were both elegant and refined, although they were much weaker than Tom's, they were definitely more exquisite.

Edir was about to say something when suddenly Aldric signaled him with his eyes.

"Artus although your techniques are outstanding, your strength is very weak, in the previous strength tests your results were below average, alas if you had more strength, you may had a chance to become a warrior, but with your current body right one, it would be hard…..it seems even fate wants you to join the scholar's division, it's the one for you".

"Ok now for the final test, the energy affinity test".

Aldric put the magic stone on a small table.

"When you put your hand on this stone, you will be able to see energy particles, these particles surround us but not everyone can feel their presence, the stone will help you visualize these particles, you will see them akin to stars in the night's sky".

"Mages, warriors and all other practitioners who utilize energy train to detect these particles and absorb them to increase their power".

"Every particle you detect will be absorbed by the stone"

"The more particles the stone absorbs, the brighter it will shine, in conclusion, we will determine your energy affinity according to the brightness of the stone."

Tom was the first one to start, he put his hand on the gray stone and closed his eyes.

After a while the gray stone started to shine, at first it was dim, then slowly the intensity of light started to increase till the whole stone started to shine gently.

"Congratulations, Tom".

"May you become a great warrior".

"Thank you, Sirs".

Next was the turn of the other two children, both made the stone shine with faint light.

"Congratulations, although not as remarkable as Tom, you also had a chance to become warriors"

Then it was Maggie's turn.

She closed her eyes and put her hand on the stone, the whole stone abruptly shined bright white light, the original gray color could not even be seen.

The light stayed for a few moments, then Maggie opened her eyes slowly and removed her hand from the stone, it returned to its original gray color.

Aldric and Edir's eyes widened in surprise.

They could not believe themselves; Maggie's knowledge and magic affinity undoubtedly made her qualify to become a mage.

"Congratulations, lady Maggie"

"You possess the qualifications to become a mage without a doubt".

Maggie and her family were overflowing with happiness, everyone in the village was also happy, they were proud that their small village produced a mage, although Maggie had yet to take the enrollment test, according to the academy officers she would surely qualify.

The village head looked at Maggie with a slight smile on his face, then looked at his son Tom who was staring at Maggie as if he lost his soul, he started to make plans for his son.

"Everybody before we continue our celebration, let Artus take the test".

They all stopped talking and looked at Artus as he stepped forward.

He closed his eyes and slowly put his hand on the stone.

One minute later, nothing happened, two minutes, three, four, then five minutes later nothing happened. The whole world became silent. The gray stone stayed as dull as ever.

Artus opened his eyes slowly, his facial expressions were unclear, he looked at the dull stone.

Not even a single star was seen in the dark night sky.