"You mean..."

"This is the first test. Get to the top before sunrise and you can get your talent tested. Now get going, I can't accompany you any farther kid."

The old guard smacked Shinra on the back and waved him goodbye.

Shinra looked at the old guard walk away and looked at the mountain in front of him. No matter what, it looked like an impossible task.

But no mountain was as big as big as his aspirations; so he started climbing the steps.

On the way up, he saw many other different people climbing the mountain. Most of the people were residents of the island, some were even seafarers.

"Damn! It feels like I've been climbing forever, but I can't even see the top."

"Are they trying to kill us before the test even starts!"

Shinra heard the complaints of many people as he got further and further up the mountain.

The higher he went, the harder it was to breath, and of course, the more tired he was.

It felt like he had spent an eternity climbing the mountain. His legs were shaky and burning. His arms were dangling to his side, and his back was starting to give out.

The sweat covered bandages on his body started to fall off, revealing the scars he had incurred from the previous incident. Luckily they had healed for the most part; surprisingly much faster than normal.

'My wounds have healed?'

'It's only been a day...'

This thought lingered in his head for a bit, distracting him from the searing pain he was feeling while scaling the mountain, but soon he snapped back to reality.

Shinra realized that he was only about half-way there, yet something felt different.

His body didn't hurt as much as it did earlier. He was still exhausted, but definitely not as tired as he believed he should have been.

Leaving it up to be just his imagination, Shinra continued his ascent.

He saw progressively less people as closed in on the mountain top.

The second wind he had experienced earlier had seemingly remained. Throughout the rest of the climb, he experienced relatively less hardship.

...

"Hah, I made it."

Shinra eventually made it to the top, and it was still the middle of the night. He was surprised he even got there, even more surprised by the fact that he made it so fast.

After catching his breath, he realized that there was already a sizeable group of people waiting. They were mostly dressed in luxurious clothes and looked like they had gone absolutely zero hardships.

Shinra was initially confused because he thought everyone had to ascend the mountain, but then he realized that some people's houses were built on the mountain.

'They are definitely the noble's children.'

It was quite obvious.

However, other than that group of noble children there were also some more plainly dressed land dweller children that had clearly made the ascent their own.

Taking note of all the children here, he shifted his attention to the main attraction.

In the middle of the mountain top was a contraption of rock pillars with glowing crystals embedded into it. There were also mysterious symbols carved into the stone, seemingly formed with a language he was unfamiliar with.

All the pillars stood up, but leaned a bit towards the center of the formation.

Standing in front of the formation was an elderly man dressed in regal purple robes. He was clearly the tester.

The old man was surprised by the presence of Shinra, alluding to the fact that a seafarer had probably not made it up the mountain in a very long time.

However, now that he really paid more attention, it was not just the old man, but the other children were also looking; some with interest, some with disgust, and some with ignorance.

It seemed like he wasn't welcome on land, even if they were children.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Believing that his company was unwanted, Shinra sat by himself in a corner of the testing ground, passing time, until he was given further instructions.

"Hey."

Shinra was startled, he hadn't even heard anyone approach him.

He turned around and saw a young girl with long black hair staring at him through her cerulean eyes. They were beautiful...

*cough*

'How long was I looking for...'

Quickly pulling himself back, he responded.

"Hey."

...

...

...

"So, why are you here?" Shinra asked her.

"You looked lonely."

...

"Oh..."

"well, I guess I am... I... was"

"haha" the girl giggled.

"My names Eve by the way, what's yours?"

"Shinra."

"That's a peculiar name... I like it."

"..."

"Are you not..."

"Am I not what?"

"Are you not afraid or disgusted of me? I mean, you're elegantly dressed, smell nice and carry yourself like those noble kids over there, while I have scars all over my body, and wreak of the ocean."

"..."

"hmph, hahahaha... That's a lot of details you took note of. Seems like you were looking quite intently."

Shinra cheeks became redder. He tried to think of a way to explain himself but it seemed like there was no way out of this situation.

"And don't worry, I don't care about how you look or how those other kids think about me. They wreak more of their arrogance than you do the ocean."

Shinra didn't know if that was reassuring or an insult, but before he could continue the conversation...

*CLAP CLAP*

"The aptitude test will begin now. Everyone line up in orderly fashion and cease any action until you are called upon."

All the children quickly got into place.

"Alright, you first, state your full name and step into the center of the formation."

The person that was called was a noble child with golden hair. He was well dressed and had an extremely arrogant air surrounding him.

"My name is Arthur Winthers sir."

"Mhm."

"Now sit in the center of the formation and do not move. We will conduct the aptitude testing very soon."

Shinra watched as the old man began to pull out transparent crystals from his seemingly nowhere. Although the crystals looked transparent, put side to side, they all clearly had a tint of a unique colors in them. One was red, one was blue; one was green, yellow, white, orange, purple, brown and even black.

With the wave of a hand, all the crystals floated from the old man's hand and fit snugly into the oles which had been carved into every pillar.

Shinra's eyes were glued to the scene, as finally the old man pressed his hand on one of the pillars, seemingly activating the formation.

In that moment, the stars in the sky seemed brighter, and they were dyed in different colors Shinra had never seen them in before.

It didn't take long for him to realize that they were the same colors as the crystals that were placed in the formation.

As the testing process continued, some stars began to dim out as other stars became brighter. The colors within the crystal's were also becoming more and more emphasized until it lit up the entire mountain top.

"Magnificent" said the old tester, clearly elated by the current situation.

It took a few more minutes for the test to conclude. The results: the red crystal seemed like a live flame, illuminating the surrounding in an incandescent blaze. The other crystals, although still shining were overshadowed by the brilliance of the red crystal.

"Young man, as expected from the Winthers family, you are blessed by Ruin, the second star of the Constellation of the Warrior, your future will be boundless."

"I will work hard sir."

"Indeed, you have a fire in your eyes just like your father."

"NEXT!"

One after another, each child got to test. First were the noble children, then it was the other land dwellers, and finally it was Shinra's turn.

Many talents were revealed during this time, one of them being the black haired girl he had conversed with earlier.

The crystal that shone the brightest for her was light-blue.

At the climax of her test, the grass surrounding the formation began to freeze over, alluding to the fact that her gift rested in ice.

The radiance of the crystal was even brighter than the one conjured up by the first noble child, surprising the purple robed old man even more.

A few more standout performances were seen after that, but none as great as those two.

Then finally it was Shinra's turn. Being the only non-land dweller, the others looked at him with scorn and pity.

He didn't pay them much attention and simply sat in formation plate as he was instructed. The formation activated like usual, but the stars didn't seem to shine any brighter than normal.

The noble children all giggled at him, and even some of the normal people, all except Eve, who smiled.

His test had seemed hopeless until a sprout grew through a small crack on the stone formation.

This change went unnoticed at first, even my the old man in purple, but as time passed it continued to grow.

It grew up the pillars and around the formation, encasing the stone in a thick veil of vines that eventually bud flowers. The phenomena puzzled the old man, and also annoyed him a little bit as the testing apparatus was now covered in vines.

Shinra was also surprised. None of the crystals lit up like for all the previous test, which worried him. He was thinking about how everything went wrong until his train of thought was interrupted by the old man.

"Take off your shirt."

"Hmm?"

"I said take off your shirt, is there something you don't understand?"

"No... sir, it just seemed a little..."

"Doesn't matter, take it off."

Shinra reluctantly took off the plain leather shirt the old guard gave him, revealing a slew of scars covering mostly his shoulders and arms.

"When did you incur these injuries?"

"... Today, sir."

"Hmmmm"

"Interesting."

"..."

Shinra was a bit scared, unsure if this was a good or bad situation.

Suddenly, a small blade appeared in the old man's hand, deepening his fear. But instead of what he thought was going to happen, the old man made a cut on the back of his other hand, leaving a wound dripping with blood.

"Hold my arm and try to channel your energy to my wound."

"What do you mean... sir."

"Just close your eyes and imagine pushing an invisible force into my body."

Just like that, Shinra closed his eyes and did what he was told. Everything seemed weird, but he did feel something following the instruction of the old man.

Unbeknownst to him, the wound on the old man's hand was healing at a pace visible to the eye.

When Shinra opened his eyes, he felt exhausted for some reason. He felt like falling down to the ground and taking a nap. But before he could do that, he noticed that the wound on the old man's hand had disappeared.

"..."

"Did I do that?"

"Yes, yes you did. Your future looks exceedingly bright. I welcome you, Shinra, permanently, as a resident of Arter."