Right after the Herald finished his short speech, he stepped aside as the small crowd on the plaza started rushing toward the entrance. For some strange reason, everyone wanted to be the first to step through the elaborate doors leading to the Great Hall.
I just shook my head as I observed the throng trying to push inside. 'It's probably some sort of prestige thing...' I thought. I, of course, didn't care about such things, so I opted to wait until the bulk of the crowd was inside before lazily getting up from my bench and walking in.
I and the poor peasant family were among the last ones to step into the parlor. I then presented my letter of acceptance to the attendant standing by the entrance and was ushered into a smaller room adjacent to the main hall, where all the candidates for Measuring gathered while the adults continued straight into the main hall.
I eagerly looked around the room, as this was my first opportunity to see all the kids who were about to undergo the Measuring gathered in one place. There were in total 16 other kids apart from me. I could tell at first glance that, aside from that one peasant girl, all of them belong to rich families based on their expensive clothing and how they conduct themselves.
Most of the kids appeared quite nervous and anxious, although they tried their best to mask it behind a veil of arrogance and indifference. I was probably the only one who looked around without any signs of fear, as I already knew I had a talent, so there was nothing for me to worry about in this regard.
Although I was still a little bit worried about the ceremony itself. Theo didn't tell me any details about how the measuring artifact works, so I have no idea if I will be able to alter the results...
I'm hoping that I would be able to somehow block a portion of my essence from being accessed by the artifact, as I now have quite delicate control over my essence thanks to my diligent training over the years. However, I can't be sure until I see the artifact in person and observe how it works, which was making me kind of nervous.
As we waited to be let into the main hall, most of the kids mingled with their peers, forming small groups as they chatted together. I had nothing to talk about with those rich kids from high society, so I quickly found myself standing in a corner with the peasant girl, at whom everyone looked with nothing but disgust and contempt.
I too was a poor peasant once, so I felt a sort of camaraderie with the girl, and as I was still a little bit curious about her since she appeared to have the strongest talent for magic among all the other candidates, I decided to talk to her and try to find out more about her abilities.
"Hello, what's your name?" I approached her with a smile. She looked up with a startled face, and it took some time before she gathered her courage to respond. "M...My name is Jenny, sir."
"A pleasure to meet you, Jenny. My name is Darian. You don't have to call me sir. I'm no one important... yet," I replied jovially.
"So how did you end up here?" I continued after a while as she didn't respond, pointing across the lavishly decorated room we were in. "If you don't mind telling me, of course..." I quickly added, trying to sound sincere, when I saw the apprehensive expression with which she was sizing me up.
"I...I don't mind, sir." She said weakly before continuing. "I was drawing water from the well behind our house like every morning when the other girls came... They often made fun of me, sir, but I learned not to take their words to heart..." She paused for a while as a pained expression crossed her face for a moment.
"But on that day, sir, they were especially vicious, and they started beating me up and tearing my dress, sir... I yelled at them to let me be, but they didn't listen..." Jenny said as she started quietly sobbing.
"I just wanted to make it stop, sir... I prayed to the merciful mother to make it stop... but then everything went black, and the next thing I knew, I smelled smoke and there were flames everywhere... One of the girls' dresses caught on fire, sir... and she screamed and screamed... She screamed so much that my head started to hurt, sir... The other girls put out the fire, but it was too late, sir... Her face was all black and blistered, and she wasn't breathing..."
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She paused for a moment as she wiped her tears into the sleeve of her dress before continuing. "Then the other villagers came and locked me up in a barn for many days, sir... and then the scary men came to the village and ordered my father to take me to the city, sir... and they said I wouldn't be able to ever come back..." Jenny finished her sad tale and then started full-on crying.
"Ehm..." I cleared my throat as I looked at Jenny, dumbfounded. 'What a story...' I thought as I was quickly trying to come up with something to comfort her and stop her from crying. "Well, don't worry about it too much. I know the feeling of wanting to set someone on fire from time to time..."
"Huh?" Jenny looked up at me with her puffy red eyes as she blinked a few times and was observing me with a strange expression on her face.
'Hmm, I probably shouldn't say that... but she stopped crying at least,' I thought with an awkward smile as I scratched the back of my head.
But before the situation had a chance to become even weirder, the grand doors leading to the main hall swung open, revealing a vast chamber filled with various dignitaries, the candidates' families, and other curious onlookers.
Several attendants quickly lined us up in an orderly line before ushering us into the center of the hall. Seeing that the Court wizard hadn't arrived yet, I used this opportunity to look at the whole hall through my magic sense, trying to detect any signs of the measuring artifact.
However, I couldn't detect anything unusual, so I guess the Court wizard must have the artifact with him. 'What a bummer...' I thought bitterly, as this didn't give me much time to try and figure out how to cheat it.
'Nevermind if it works at least somewhat similar to my magic sense, I'm pretty confident I will be able to counter it...' I thought as we were lined up waiting in the center of the hall in front of a small stage. But we didn't have to wait for too long, as in the next moment everyone's attention was directed to a single figure emerging from the side entrance.
The Great Hall buzzed with anticipation as the Court wizard finally emerged. He looked like a venerable figure with a short gray beard and intricate robes adorned with mystical symbols. Sir Roderick then briskly ascended the stage in the center of the hall and looked at everyone with a heavy presence that commanded respect.
"Be welcome, candidates, to the annual Magic Talent Measuring ceremony. Let us begin..." Sir Roderick spoke with a deep, melodic voice before he turned around and carefully placed the Measuring artifact on a prepared stand in the middle of the stage. The artifact itself looked just like a simple crystal ball, and I couldn't detect any essence emanating from it.
The attendants began calling us one by one to come up to the stage. The tension in the air was almost palpable as each candidate stepped forward, nervously awaiting their fate. Luckily, I wasn't among the first ones, so I had the chance to look at everything that was happening before it was my turn.
The process itself looked very simple; you just place your hand on the crystal, and if you have a talent for magic, it will change color based on the tier of your talent. However, I still didn't have any clue how to cheat.
So when it was finally my turn, I was very nervous. I took a deep breath, steadying myself as I walked toward the Court wizard. His gaze pierced through me, studying my every move.
"State your name," Sir Roderick's voice boomed, reverberating through the hall.
"Darian, apprentice of Isadora," I replied, my voice steady.
"Very well, place your hand upon the crystal," He said as he pointed toward the crystal sitting on top of an elegant marble stand.
'Here we go...' I thought as I stepped forward, placing my hand on the polished surface of the artifact. At first, I didn't feel anything at all. But in the next moment, the ball started shining, and I began to feel a strong suction force that was rapidly draining all of my essence.
'Oh, crap...' I was startled at first, so it took me a moment before I was able to react and take control of my essence. I focused intently, forcing it to remain inside my body while at the same time trying to cut off my connection to the artifact.
The artifact, meanwhile, started shining even more brightly than before and rapidly changing colors. The first was yellow, which almost instantly turned orange, followed by red. Then the surface began to gain a purple hue when I finally managed to sever my connection, stopping the artifact from accessing my essence pool.
I released a sigh as I could now finally take a look at the artifact, which seemed in the end to settle at red. Although I didn't know what that meant as no one before got such color. Thus, I nervously looked up at the Court wizard to see his reaction, only to find him staring at me with almost palpable greed in his eyes.
I shuddered as I suddenly got a very bad feeling. Sir Roderick's previous indifference was instantly replaced by a bright smile, which didn't seem genuine at all.
"Well, how did you say your name was..." He said as he threw a quick glance into the documents into which the attendants recorded the results. "Ah, Darian, was it? I think that from now on we will get to know each other very well, Aspirant Darian," He said with a weird smile that made me unconsciously shiver.