Chapter 5: Evaluation

After waiting for around an hour, that same priest appeared again. Felix wasn't exactly happy that he was going to be evaluating them, yet still put on a smile in front of him.

'It will be fast, you will be in and out before you even know it.'

That thought calmed him down a bit.

"We'll start with the lady, so if you'll follow me." The priest opened to door near them, revealing the room, its walls were stacked with different gemstones, with a small table and two chairs in the middle. On the table was the orb Andres mentioned.

Aysha looked at Felix, who nodded, got up and entered the room, the door closing behind her. 

While not really on board with the idea of leaving her alone with him, Felix realized there weren't many other options, and none ended good for them.

He stayed in his seat, waiting for them to finish, when something caught his attention. A person, covered in a black hood, had snuck in. Someone else probably wouldn't have noticed, however Felix saw the collection of strings around him, similar to the ones around the church, yet a couple of them were pitch-black and almost vertical.

He still couldn't understand what they meant, but was sure they didn't spell anything good.

***

After some time Aysha left the room, with the Priest behind her.

"Ah, just wonderful! She has a gift, you know!"

Ignoring him, Felix turned to Aysha.

"What happened?"

While obviously a bit uncomfortable, she looked at him.

"Turns out, I have a pretty large supply of mana. And apparently an affinity to healing and water magic."

'This sounds great. Why is she this nervous?'

It was obvious that question wouldn't be answered right now.

"It's your turn, mister. Follow me."

Felix got up from his seat, both reluctant and excited at the prospect of learning just how powerful he was.

Following the priest into the room, he finally managed to get a good look at it. It was made of the same stone that the church was made from, albeit much more decrepit.

Sitting on one of the chairs in the middle, the priest gestures Felix towards the other one.

"Now, we'll begin by measuring your mana pool. If you would, please put your hand on the armament in front of you and feed it some mana."

The priest's still smile, now a bit wider, continued to creep Felix out, yet he managed to disguise his feelings and did as he was told.

Touching the white, glowing orb, he pushed some mana outwards like he did back at Andres's house, but this time he felt it being sucked into the object in front. It started slow, consuming just what Felix expended. However, after finishing that, it managed to continue sucking out his mana right from his hand, glowing more with each passing second.

After a short time, however, he felt his mana hitting a roadblock. Instinctively, he knew the orb hadn't taken all his mana, yet it also didn't stop trying to take it out. It just...stopped.

Noticing the now unchanging glow of the armament, the priest signaled to Felix he could take off his hand.

"Congrats, your mana reserves are impressive, although a bit lacking compared to the last before you."

'Wait, what? How's that possible? I was sure mine would have been bigger.'

His thoughts were interrupted by the priest, who had pushed the orb to the side and now put a small, polished yet lusterless gemstone in its place. He also took out a stone from a small cabinet in the table and handed it to Felix.

"With this, you'll gain a bit of your mana back, so we can proceed with the next test. Just break it and allow the essence inside to flow through you."

Felix nodded and broke the stone. When he did so, a stream of white particles and those same strings appeared around the arm, before drawing near it, and eventually in it.

With it, he felt the push against his mana subsided, before fully disappearing.

"Now, place your hand on the gemstone in front and feed it some mana."

Felix touched the gem, this time with just his fingertips, as it was too small, and fed it some mana.

It didn't take long before an array of light beams shot out of it, hitting each and every gemstone hanging on the walls around him.

Some shined so bright that they blinded him and he had to look away. Others barely reacted, while some didn't even register what had happened.

The two that shone the brighest were a big gemstone on the wall opposite him, colored blue, and a simple white one, placed on a small shelf near the priest, like an afterthought.

Looking at the results, the priest nodded and checked some stuff on the report in his hands. When he saw the shine of the white gemstone however, Felix just noticed a greedy-looking grin flash on his face, before returning to its normal, still smile.

"Pretty good! It looks like you have a large affinity to water-based magic, as well as above average to the other general elements."

Feeling that there was more, Felix asked.

"What about that one, didn't it also shine like the others?"

"Oh, that one? It's just a defect that reacts to anyone and anything, don't mind it."

While his answer might have sounded reasonable, Felix saw the strings around the priest tense up, as if readying for something.

He knew a confrontation with the priest would both be fruitless and dangerous, judging by the number of strings around him.

"Is there anything else?"

"Ah, yes! If you would kindly write your address, I would be most appreciative."

Picking up the inked feather, Felix scribbled something on the document in front of the priest.

Leaving the room he saw Aysha sitting on one of the chairs and took a sigh of relief.

'At least she's still here.'

"You two have a truly exceptional potential! If you would wait for a couple of days, I can most likely secure you a scholarship to a magical academy. When everything is done, we'll visit to inform you."

Leaving the church, Felix could finally breathe easy again. While he was happy with his results and the new prospect of attending an academy, he still felt that something was wrong. He decided to pay it no mind, as he thought the worst was over.

How wrong he was.