Chapter 16: Testing Warlock Talent

"Testing my warlock talent!" Tyrak's eyes flashed with longing. "How are we to accomplish that here in the wilderness?"

"Simple!" Tamara's lips curled into a gorgeous smile. She flicked her wrist, and two transparent orbs, the size of fists, appeared in her hands. She chanted a few mysterious words, and the orbs slowly floated up into the air. Their surfaces glowed under the illumination afforded by the morning sun as they hovered there without any support.

"These two are warlock talent-testing orbs," Tamara declared. "The one on your left tests spiritual power talent, while the other tests mana affinity. Just place your hand on one crystal at a time, and we'll be able to determine your warlock talent immediately after."

"I only have to place my hand on the crystal. Right?" Tyrak asked while observing the two floating orbs.

"Yes, you don't have to do anything else," Tamara confirmed. "Just place your hand on the orb. The orb will do the rest and determine your warlock talent."

"Okay." Tyrak agreed and chose to test his spiritual power talent first. Taking a deep breath, he slowly extended his hand and wrapped his fingers around the floating orb on the left.

A mysterious wave swept across his body, and something seemed to drill into his mind. His thoughts turned messy, and a sensation of vertigo threatened to overwhelm his brain. Fortunately, the uncomfortable feeling disappeared within moments, and the orb in his hand lit up.

At first, it glowed with a red color. Then, it quickly emitted an orange color before radiating a yellow color. But that wasn't the end. The shades continued changing from yellow to green and to blue until the orb finally blazed with intense indigo color. The glow lit up the entire place, causing an indigo luster to pervade Tyrak's surroundings.

"Oh my!" Tamara gasped. Her hazel eyes flashed with surprise and excitement. "This is superior-grade spiritual power talent. As expected, you're really a prodigy. My divination didn't betray me."

"I'm a prodigy!" Tyrak's heart skipped a beat as his hopes soared. "Can you tell me more about what superior-grade talent is?"

Tamara let out a shaking breath as if to calm herself down. "Every person must possess spiritual power talent before starting to practice warlock arts. In Othea, we rate spiritual talent into seven grades. They include mediocre, low, middle, upper, top, superior, and genius grades. During warlock talent testing with talent-testing orbs, those grades are represented by the seven colors of the rainbow, including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, in that respective order. The genius-grade talent is the highest, while your superior-grade talent is the second best. It will allow you to rise into the ranks of powerful warlocks in a very short time. But that is only if you work hard."

"Oh!" Tyrak nodded, feeling a bit disappointed. He really wished to have genius-grade talent, which happened to be the best in all of Othea.

"What's with your expression?" Tamara questioned. "Let me tell you this. In Othea, most people, even in top warlock organizations, only possess middle to top-grade spiritual power talent. I only know three individuals with a talent similar to yours. One is the princess of the Fire Temple, the other is the 'chosen' of the House of Darkness, and the last is the youngest heir of the Ashmane Royal Family. All three hail from top warlock institutions and are destined to stand at the helm of their respective organizations after they mature. So, my dear Tyrak! If such top individuals only possess superior grade talent, why should you be disappointed after finding out that you're in the same league with them?"

"Well..." Tyrak scratched his nose. "I only thought it was a pity that I didn't possess genius-grade talent."

"Genius-grade talent!" Tamara scoffed, glancing at Tyrak as if he was a fool. "In history, only the four warlock emperors, who ascended to a higher world more than ten thousand years ago, possessed genius-grade talent. After them, no one else has awakened as a genius-grade spiritual power talent. That aside, we're moving off-topic. Let's test your mana affinity first."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Okay!" Tyrak nodded and discarded the stray thoughts from his head. He extended his hand and wrapped his fingers around the orb on the right.

A mysterious sensation swept through Tyrak's body, and a dark speck slowly appeared within the orb. The dark 'speck' was like a firefly struggling to survive within the orb, occasionally glowing in and out of existence.

"How can this be?" Tamara gasped again. "How can a person with superior-grade spiritual power talent possess a mediocre-grade affinity for dark mana? It doesn't make sense!"

Tyrak fought a rising panic and withdrew his hand from the talent-testing orb. "I have a mediocre-grade affinity for dark mana! What does that mean?"

Tamara's hazel eyes dimmed with helplessness. She sighed and said, "In Othea, the mana of different attributes exists as energy particles in the natural world. They can be fire particles (which are red in color), water particles (which are blue), wind particles (which are green), earth particles (which are yellow), light particles (usually white in color), or dark particles. Of course, those are not the only ones. Other unique particles like the lightning, life, death, spatial, and fate attributes also exist in some extreme environments. A person's mana affinity will determine which type of mana particles the person is able to absorb and how easily and quickly that person will absorb the given type of mana particles from the natural world."

"In your case, you have an affinity with only dark mana particles," Tamara continued. "But that isn't the issue. The issue, instead, is that you have a very mediocre affinity talent for absorbing those dark mana particles into your body. With such a low talent, you have almost no chance of ever drawing in enough mana to open your conscious sea, even after training for your entire life. You will most likely die as a mortal. But then again, why do you possess unbelievable fate and destiny? It doesn't make sense..." She trailed off and quickly sank into her own thoughts.

Tyrak left her to her own devices as a bulb went on within his mind. "My mana affinity talent is that bad! Is that why I found it hard to tow the energy particles into my meridians?"

The previous night, he had understood the circumstances of his body while meditating. His affinity with the energy particles was terrible, and he found it really challenging to drag them into his meridians.

But then again, he wasn't overly worried. He had already passed the most 'difficult' stage of his Berserk God Ascension Technique training. He had already opened his twelve primary meridians by relying on the mysterious energy surge that routinely occurred in his body after introducing a foreign energy particle in a given meridian. He only had to utilize the energy flooding into those opened meridians to nourish his muscles, viscera, bones, and marrow, and then, he would continue growing stronger and stronger.

"But why is Tamara constantly mentioning drawing in energy particles to open the conscious sea? Why isn't she talking about meridian opening and body refining? Could the Berserk God Ascension technique be different from the arts practiced by the legendary warlocks?"

Many thoughts flashed within Tyrak's mind, and he quickly made some conjectures. Then, after recalling how the energy described in the Berserk God Ascension technique differed from the energy specks he perceived while meditating the previous night, he was even more sure of his deductions.

Most likely, the Berserk God Ascension technique was a unique training method never before seen in Othea. It was so exceptional to the point of allowing him to continue strengthening himself even with his mediocre mana affinity.

If such a powerful technique entered the eyes of the powerful warlocks, there would surely be trouble. Tyrak immediately resolved to keep it a secret. He didn't wish to die young, so he had to ensure no other soul got wind of it.

"My dear, Tyrak!" Tamara's voice sounded from the side. "There's an issue that is still confusing to me! With such a mediocre mana affinity talent, you should have almost no results after meditating for a night! Yet yesternight, I noticed your aura powering up at an incredible rate. How did you manage that?"

Tyrak shuddered from within but kept his expression calm. "I also don't know what happened. I just mediated and ignited my life spark in a single go. As I speak now, I'm already an official master warrior."

"Really?" Tamara asked and studied Tyrak for a moment. "How can you successfully train warrior arts in such a short time?"

"Why the many questions?" Tyrak waved his arm dismissively and glared at Tamara. "Weren't we supposed to begin training after breakfast? Let's start now. Or have you given up on me after discovering my mediocre mana affinity talent?"

Tamara returned his gaze, steady. Then she said quietly, "My gut feeling tells me you should have some incredible secrets. But then again, you don't have to disclose them to me. Let's commence with your training."

"Let's do that," Tyrak readily agreed, happy to bury the topic of his talent. He didn't wish to disclose the secrets of his Berserk God Ascension technique and its origins to Tamara. Otherwise, if she betrayed him and leaked the news to a powerful third party, he would be in deep shit.