Tristan and Layla were taken to the second floor. After ascending the winding staircase they arrived at a huge hall, except that half of the room was open, letting everyone see the skies above.

A few dozen people were gathered there, every single one of them human. Meanwhile, on the other side, there were three people sitting behind a long table with serious expressions on their face.

It seems that they arrived just in time, as the test was just about to start.

As if on cue, one of the three stood up and walked towards the middle of the room. The man scanned all around the room and looked at each participant before conjuring a large crystal ball from thin air. Before Tristan could ponder how he could do it, the man spoke with a deep voice, commanding the attention of everyone around him.

“Welcome, people of Erantell! I see there are quite a lot of you joining this month’s test. As per the usual rules, the test can only be done starting from age 15 and above. Those who meet the requirement are welcome to walk forward and touch the spirit crystal!”

Tristan looked around and saw that out of the many participants in that place, more than half were teenagers, but a few were around Layla’s age. However, not even one of the three dozen people who gathered looked quite as old as him.

When Tristan and Layla walked up to join the group, he could see some people pointing and laughing at him from the corner of his eyes. One particularly bold teenager, who stood next to him, even sneered directly and said.

“Hey old man, what are you even doing here? Are you sure you didn’t forget where you are supposed to go?” The teenager asked with a mocking grin.

Tristan knew responding would be a massive waste of energy, and he decided to not even entertain the childish behavior with a response. However, Layla clearly had a different thought in mind. She responded in kind and snapped. “Hey, shitface, can you shut up or do you not know what that word means?”

The mocking youth’s sneer quickly twisted to a white-hot rage and he raised his hand to strike at Layla. Tristan reacted quickly and grabbed the youth’s hand tight.

Tristan narrowed his eyes towards the young man and snapped. “We don’t want any trouble, so back off!”

Tristan gripped the youth’s hand tighter, as a warning, letting him see a little bit of his strength. With a terrified look, the youth yanked his hand away from Tristan before walking away to the other side of the line, not wanting to even entertain the thought of being around Tristan a second longer,

“Nice one, Tris…” Layla whispered.

Right as the guy in the middle continued his speech, the commotion around him quickly stopped.

“As usual, we of the Magus Guild are operating under the order of King Callan himself. We are looking for talented young magicians among you.”

The man looked at the crystal atop his hand and said. “Those who have an aptitude of B and above will receive a reward from the guild in order to help the advancement of their talent.”

The man placed the crystal ball on a small table he conjured in the middle of the room. The three dozen people all walked closer to the crystal and touched it with both their hands.

The first person to touch the crystal was a young boy seemingly no more than sixteen, clad in simple woolen cloth. With his small hands, he touched the crystal.

The crystal crackled with energy before glowing in a bright yellow color.

The man appraised the glow of the crystal and announced. “Earth element affinity, C aptitude rank.”

From the earlier explanation, C doesn’t seem to be a very good rank. However the boy looked very happy and walked back to the corner with a spring in his step, back towards a couple who appeared to be his parents. A bit of ruckus could be heard from the whispers of the others who came.

The next few people were all unable to make the crystal glow at all.

“No aptitude, next!” The man announced, and the young man wearing the simple shirt walked back with his shoulders slumped.

The same disappointment was shared by the next 6 youths who attempted the test, only to receive a similar result.

Finally, it was time for the eighth youth to try the test. With a slight tremble, he touched the crystal with his fingertip, and this time, the crystal glowed twice as bright in a soothing blue color.

“Congratulations! B aptitude, water element.”

The boy’s eyes widened in shock, and the shock made way to excitement. The three men looked at each other and nodded in a similar satisfaction. The excited boy was led towards the table and received an eye-catching vial filled with a sparkling potion.

Tristan grinned and looked at his status.

[Tristan]

[Spirit Aptitude Rank S – Fire Affinity]

He joined to see what kind of test would be done and how they would do it, before letting his sister do the same. Now, after seeing the process first-hand, he was sure that the test would measure the same ‘aptitude’ as the one he saw in his system. At one point, he thought of not joining the test to stay low-profile, but now seeing the reward, he just had a larger reason to take it.

Before he managed to walk forward, the youth who tried to mock him earlier jumped in and cut him off, giving another mocking look in the process.

The young man proudly touched the crystal, and the crystal ball started to fill with energy before glowing a bright red color.

“Congratulations! Another B aptitude, fire element.”

The youth came back with such a proud grin, as if looking prouder than he did before was even possible. He looked up at Tristan and said. “Cih! Old man, did you see that?”

Tristan simply shook his head, resisting the temptation to laugh in his face. He didn’t really care at first, but now he wanted to see how the youths’ expressions would be after he showed the difference between B aptitude and his S aptitude and how their fire elements compared.

Tristan approached the crystal and grabbed it with both hands. Right as his skin touched the smooth surface he felt the gentle crackling of electricity.

Tristan waited, curious to see how bright it would glow.

A few seconds passed, but there was no sign of light at all.

“…”

The next sound he heard was

“No aptitude… Next!”

Tristan bit his lip and cursed.

“What the fuck?!”