"What's up with such a long queue?" I couldn't help but express my dissatisfaction.

"Duh, you are in the Elemental association branch. That's the only branch in Redien City and its surrounding towns. So the influx of people is never low." Carl chuckled, "You should get going, lest the line gets any longer than this."

Then he headed toward the entrance, swagging. Confused by his act, just as I was about to ask, Carl took out an id card from his pocket and showed it to the guard. Who respectfully made a way for him.

"I will be waiting for you inside." Carl looked back with a cheeky smile.

'Damn! I forgot Carl's father works for the association. So of course he must have made Carl a novice member of the association. But he didn't tell me about it!'

Carl's cheekiness got on my nerves. Even though I was quite annoyed to stand in that long line, I reluctantly did so. After a long wait, I faced the staff counter.

"Reason for visiting?" she asked in an unfriendly tone.

"I want to take my PT."

"Did you bring the registration card you got in your awakening ceremony?"

"Yes, here it is."

Then she gave me a serial token written 13, "Take this token and ask the security guard to take you to the basement." Then shouted, "Next."

Her unfriendly tone made me subconsciously avoid asking any further questions. Next, I showed my token to one of the guards and Albert, that's what his colleagues called him, who took me to the exam site.

To my surprise, the exam site is located in the underground basement. Stepping into the basement, I discovered a gigantic open floor with lots of people and many pieces of equipment.

"Aside from being an exam site of PTE, this is also a training ground for newcomers." The guard chimed in. To prove his claim true, I saw one young fire Elementalist around Carl's age shooting fireballs on dummy targets while an instructor was noting data based on it. They were accompanied by others with freshmen badges as they merrily compare the scores. I also saw wind elementalists practicing levitating, and water elementalists practicing their basic skills to bend water. All of them were young and full of vigor. This scene full of joviality was the best advertisement this single facility could offer, and their target is definitely the youngins who came for PT.

"No matter what kind of background you are from, the elemental association will train and invest in you all equally. Even if your talent in elements is poor, the association will not give up on you. They will assign roles based on something you excel in. This is the only organization in the council devoid of class discrimination as we vow to make the life of our countrymen better. Isn't association a great place for nurturing young elementalists?" Albert continued his passionate speech while pride was pouring out of his voice, which was enough to move any inexperienced boy's heart.

I had the urge to ask him, 'Then why you, a security guard are advertising the association to me. Did you excel in marketing while dual majoring in guardianship?' but swallowed it back.

'Now I know why PTE is taken this training ground. Such a blatant way to attract people to join them.' I muttered in my heart. 'That's why Elemental Association is such a popular choice among newly awakened elementalists from a poor background. They were brainwashed from the day they place their first step on it.'

To me, Alberts' speech sounded like a myrobalan coated with sugar. It can give you a sweet taste but can not hide the sourness inside. Even though Association accepts people of all classes, they belong to the employee class. The true ruler classes who control the organizations have always been the nobles. So even though this place looks like heaven for the weak, it's a massive shackle for people with great ambition. They need obedient dogs, not active tigers.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

While Dad does not like to talk much about Elementalists, he specifically forbade me from joining the association, labeling it as a giant black hole that sucks all the talents of the council. But it not only sucks them but also crushes their future of becoming something greater other than some cahoots of nobles.

I dispelled my inner thoughts and gave him a polite nod with the fakest smile I could master which I wasn't good at. I wasn't in the mood to start a long conversation with Albert. So I could only abstain from answering, and act like I am very tense about my PT. Seeing me unresponsive, Albert soon lost his enthusiasm and took me to the relevant personnel. I also found Carl standing among them. The examiners were taking PT of a Fire Elementalist. Curious about the entire process, I also looked at the sight scrutiny.

"Rachel, release your fire in the direction of the dummy with full potential.", one examiner spoke.

And Rachel did as he was told. He released a wave of fire from his hand which slammed on the dummy, leaving it with burned masks. The examiner said, "Recorded highest temperature 300° C. Average score. Rachel, try to show us your control over your fire."

Rachel tried to control the fire and condensed it into a fireball. But after 10 seconds it exploded.

"Has active fire manipulation, control above average. Check for elemental immunity." Listening to his command, a nurse in a white apron approached Rachel and examined his hand. After examining, she exclaimed," His palms are burned! Not only that, there are signs of constant burning! This made many whispers among themself. The examiner ignored those chatters and spoke while writing something on a paper, "Poor elemental immunity, below average score. But tenacity is commendable. Examinee is advised to get a good body tempering art for fire elementalists and treat the untreated wounds for a more secure future."

He continued, "Mr. Rachel, you scored 51 out of 100, which is in the range of average score. Here is your PT certificate. Note that you got 3 in elemental immunity and 0 in physical attribute multiplier. Make sure to wrap up your weaknesses when you take your PT for Mature core elementalists."

Rachel let out a disappointed sigh as he took his certificate. After handling Rachels's exam, he called out, "Serial 12, June Hutchenson."

Listening to the call, a petite girl walked out of the crowd. As I got the gist of how PT is taken, I ignored them and approached Carl for a chat.

"Yo, feeling nervous?" he teased.

"Of course not. The tests look super easy to me. I am pretty sure I can score 70+ today."

As I retorted, I saw Carl go silent. Curious I could not help but ask, "Boss, what did you score?"

He ended his silence with a bitter smile on his face, "I got only 47."

I was in disbelief. I have been with Carl for a while, I know Carl is pretty strong. He got a good property too. How did he score so low?

As if to he guessed my inner thoughts, he spoke, "My elemental property is weak in the early phases while gets too strong in the late phase. This PT emphasizes your current prowess, which is really weak in my case of mine. So I got a low score on subsequent tests. Not to mention, I got another 0 in wind elemental immunity."

"Oh!"

" Don't 'oh' me. Do you know wind immunity is the rarest immunity among all elements? This immunity is so op that it can even make you feel the sharp wind blades of a tornado like a gentle breeze! Other elemental immunities help Elementalist to wild their elements without any backlash. But wind immunity also provides you a natural defense against the wind!"

"The f*ck?" I exclaimed. What kind of bullshit is he sprouting? Does he take me for a three-year-old child? Does he need to magnify a stupid immunity to this level?

Just as I was ready to stash some sense into this natural wind magnifier, the examiner called out, "Serial 13."

I could only leave him there as he is.