As Emrys walked down the paved stone road, she was acutely aware that she definitely should’ve hesitated. She shivered as a cold breeze blew by. She was wearing her blood stained too big shirt and patchy rolled up pants, but they were too thin and offered little protection. Moreover, she also wasn’t wearing any shoes. Her shoes had been destroyed in the accident so she had been barefoot this entire time, but it hadn’t bothered her much before. She hadn’t even realized it was winter, her aunt’s house was always warm even though there was never a fire going, and no AC unit that she could see. It must be some sort of magic. Her eyes sparkled as she quickened her pace, making her way towards the center of the village. On one of the occasions Cinar had taken her out they had passed by the Guidance Center and Cinar had tried to go in. They had been turned away of course, told to return when they turned five, but she could still remember the way.

By the time she arrived her feet were numb and her lips were starting to crack. She looked up at the large red-bricked building, taking it in. There was a large sign on its front, but she couldn’t read it, and the doors were made of red wood. She pushed the door open and was immediately greeted by a small green humanoid. It was only slightly taller than her, completely bald, and smiled at her with a mouth full of sharp teeth.

“Here for counseling? What’s your name?” it said, still smiling.

“It’s… Emrys.” she said, resisting the urge to gape at it in horror. It looked just like a monster she knew of, a goblin. She gave it a small smile instead, watching as it started flipping through some papers on a clipboard.

It nodded, stopping on a paper and examining it. “Emrys Duscellis? Congratulations. Please head back to room number four.” it said, pointing towards a hallway to the left.

Emrys nodded back, “Well, thank you.” She said, walking towards the hallway and examining the center as she went. Other than the green humanoid there was no one else around. The small foyer didn’t contain anything other than the three hallways that were to the left, right, and straight. She looked straight ahead, then to the right but she couldn’t see anything but a row of doors. She turned down the hallway on the left and looked for room four. Luckily, the numbering system was the same as she was used to so she found the room easily. She walked up to the door and knocked lightly. A muffled “Enter.” came from inside and she pushed open the door. Entering slowly and looking around, she found that the room looked like a common office that could be found anywhere on Earth. The walls to the left and right were lined with bookshelves, while the back wall behind the desk was lined with what appeared to be file cabinets. In the middle of the room sat a large desk, with two cushioned chairs in front of it. A woman with canine-like ears was sitting behind the desk in a large cushioned armchair. Emrys couldn’t see because the desk was in the way, but she imagined the woman must also have a tail. The woman examined her critically, although she kept the bright welcoming smile on her face.

“Welcome, please sit down.” The woman said, gesturing to the chairs. “My name is Roshia and I’ll be your guidance counselor for today.”

“I’m Emrys Duscellis.” Emrys said, taking the seat on the right. “What’s a guidance counselor?” she asked. Although the woman was definitely judging her, she could overlook that in exchange for some answers. After all, she would judge a half-bald kid with ratty blood-stained clothes too.

Roshia started flipping through a pile of files on her desk, answering as she looked for something. “A guidance counselor is someone who provides life and career advice. In general, most kids already know what path they want to take, but a counselor will help you make the best choice based on your results and circumstances. Ah, here we are,” she said while pulling out a thin file and opening it, “you haven’t selected a class yet, right?”

Emrys shook her head “No, should I have chosen?” she paused, then asked, “What’s a class? And what results?”

“You can think of a class as a path of focus. Today you’ll take three tests. One will find out your talent grade, the second will check your elemental affinity, and the last will be a perception test. It’s good that you haven’t chosen a class yet, since you can’t change it. You don’t want to be stuck with an ill-suited class.” She said while flipping through the papers in the file. After she read the last sheet, she looked at Emrys and smiled. “I’ll explain more after your tests. I see here that your parents were martyrs. According to the file, 100 silver in compensation has been put aside for you, which you can gain access to today. Your parents also had pretty good talent grades. If you can get a similar grade, you can sign a contract with the Talent Acquisition Bureau. In exchange for a certain amount of years of service to the government, they will pay for you to enter an academy.” She leaned over and opened a drawer on her desk, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Emrys.

Emrys took it, but couldn’t read a word. She did note that the numbers ‘50’ and ‘100’ were on the paper, but she couldn’t understand what they were for. Emrys looked up at Roshia, waiting for an explanation.

Roshia continued naturally, apparently expecting she wouldn’t be able to read it. “This contract lists several small and medium sized academies where the Talent Acquisition Bureau, TAB for short, is willing to cover the tuition for you to attend. They will also provide a stipend of 50 bronze a year. The contract conditions state that after you graduate you will take up a government post with a reduced salary for at least 100 years.”

“I see.” Emrys nodded thoughtfully. It was sort of like getting a student loan, except she needed to directly work for the government to pay it off. But 100 years? Did they expect her to be able to live that long? Or was she supposed to work until she entered the grave?

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Roshia reached over and took the contract back. “You don’t need to decide right now. There’s also the option of applying for an apprenticeship. In exchange for a certain number of years of service, you can work and learn skills from individuals or businesses. Though if you can make the cut, I would recommend going to an academy. They offer a wider range of skills.” So going to an academy or getting an apprenticeship would allow her to learn skills? Then what about the skills store? Would she still need to buy them if she could learn them from others? If not, then going to an academy would probably be the best choice. It would let her save her skill points for skills she couldn’t learn from others.

Emrys blinked and thought of her apparent compensation. “Then, can I afford to go to an academy with the compensation fund?” she asked. She would prefer not to spend the greater part of her life in debt.

“You can, but even small academies require 10 silver a year in tuition. That doesn’t include accommodations, food, clothing, equipment, and studying material. General education is usually 15 years. Based on current prices you would be at risk of running out of money after two to three years and only apprenticeships hire children.” Roshia said, flashing her another bright smile. “Just think about it some. If you can’t decide, you can always consult your aunt. For now, you can head back out to the foyer and go down the hallway on the right, to room 16. Ellist will take you through the tests, and you can return here so we can discuss your results when you’re done.”

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Ellist was a tall blond human man with kind green eyes and a gentle smile. He gently explained every step of the process while walking her through the tests. He measured her talent grade by passing a gun shaped stone scanner that was covered in glowing runes over her lower stomach, which he explained was scanning her mana core. The grade of her core determined how much mana she started with, as well as her cultivation potential. From lowest to highest, potential was graded F, E, D, C, B, A, and S. He also explained that potential acted as a hard cap on cultivation, which was important because your cultivation level limited the grade of the skills you could learn, and how high you could raise your skill level. The example he used was that if she had E grade talent, the highest cultivation stage she could reach would be stage 2, and her skills would be capped out depending on the stage. If she only reached stage 1, she could only raise her skills to level 10, and at stage 2 she could raise them to level 20. She would also only be able to learn skills rated E and below. Ellist hadn’t kept her waiting and had revealed her talent grade was S. However, he had helpfully reminded her that it was only her potential, and she could still fail to cultivate to higher stages.

The next test was just as uneventful. She had placed her hand on a crystal ball and waited as it shifted through several colors before settling on a deep black color that dominated the crystal, surrounded by a thin milky white color. Ellist explained that her highest affinity was dark mana, which was common for dark elves, and she had been somewhat startled to finally find out her species.The second highest affinity was spirit mana, represented by the milky white color. Spirit mana was supposedly rare, and was a sort of mana that targeted the mind. The final test was a perception test, which would test how fast she could perceive mana. Ellist explained that most people had no problem perceiving mana, but how fast she could learn to do it would somewhat reflect on how well she would be able to learn mana based skills. She was surprised when Ellist pulled out two skill books for her to read. The skills were Mana Perception and Mana Manipulation, which he explained were basic skills that classes that were magic focused depended on. If she could learn them within the time limit then she would be suited for a magic focused class, and if she couldn’t she was suited for physical classes. The time limit was two hours, and Ellist had patiently read the skill books to her and explained the diagrams.

She had initially been worried, especially when thirty minutes had passed and she was still trying to learn Mana Perception. She wanted to be a mage after all, so she hoped her results encouraged that. She had been meditating and listening to Ellist’s soothing voice as he gave her pointers when she finally felt it. She breathed slowly, keeping her breathing even when she suddenly felt the existence of something more. She slowly became aware of small motes of light drifting through the air. The colors varied, but she was surrounded by mostly black motes, with milky white and green motes mixed in. She followed Ellist’s instructions and reached for the black motes, trying and failing to pull them towards herself. Over the next hour she practiced with the motes of mana to varying degrees of success. When she finally felt a bone deep exhaustion she stopped, realizing it was the feeling of mana exhaustion Ellist had warned her of. After that Ellist had encouraged her to open the Guide, and she had been elated with the results. Her Guide now had two new skills.

Name:

Emrys Duscellis

Cultivation Stage:

N/A

Class:

None (options available)

Active Skills:

Passive Skills:

None

* [0] Mana Perception

* [0] Mana Manipulation

Skill Store

Cultivation Store

She had been surprised that Mana Manipulation was considered passive, but Ellist had explained that it was because moving the motes of mana around didn’t actually have any effect on the world. Instead, she would need to manipulate them in a way to cause a reaction, and the result would be an active skill.

She had been happily walking back towards Roshia’s office with an envelope Ellist had given her when she had run into her aunt and Cinar. Both had acted like they didn’t see her while the green humanoid directed them down the hall to the left. She wasn’t too surprised to see them. She knew Cinar was the same age as her, and she had been somewhat suspecting that his birthday was close to hers when her aunt easily remembered hers this morning. She stopped in front of Roshia’s office and knocked, listening for her response. After Roshia called for her to enter she went in, excited to find out what came next.