“Next hero please step forward.”

Noticing that it was my turn to be appraised, I step forward. Not knowing entirely what to expect.

“Sir hero, please state your name and then hold your hand out.”

Doing as instructed I begin to say, “My name is Er-”

[System recommends not using your true name here.] Being cut off by the voice, I stop speaking and stare blankly for a moment.

“Sir hero? Are you alright?”

Realising my silence, I blink a few times and look back at the clerk, “Ah, my apologies, I am fine. Thank you”. Trying to think as to why the voice said to not use my real name, I realise I have a more pressing matter.

‘If I can't use my real name, what name do I use?’

[Recommended names similar to your current one are: Eliah, Elrix, Erofix, Ereliah, Orion, Oriehl…]

Thinking for a moment, I decide on a name somewhat hastily so as to not make my silence any more awkward.

“My name is Erja, no last name.” I feel a sense of fullness after I say my new name, almost as if I was missing a part of myself before I said.

“I see, thank you. Now, hold out your hand and wait.” The clerk continues.

Doing as instructed, I try to figure out how the clerk is going to appraise me. Is it with some type of spell? Or a machine that does it automatically?

The clerk picks up a rough looking almost glass like rock, placing it in my open palm.

“Please wait for a moment. Depending on the colour and intensity of light that comes from the rock is how we preemptively measure your magical aptitude, along with your stats and abilities.”

With the clerk explaining how the procedure will take place, I can’t help but wonder how they are going to test our physical abilities.

And yet again, luck comes to my rescue as the clerk explains exactly what I was thinking.

“After testing your magic, stats, and skills, depending on what your skills are you will be brought to another area to see your physical prowess.”

This is a lot more practical than I thought it was going to be, I gave it too little credit. ‘I can’t help but be curious as to what skills I have.’

After waiting a few more seconds, the crystal starts to make a soundless hum, sending vibrations through my hand and arm. I then feel a sense of invasion, as if there was something looking through my being and into my soul.

Praying for the feeling to be over, I wait. Seeing as none of the other summoned people showed any sign of discomfort, I immediately think that it's something wrong with me that could only be a bad thing.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Hoping that the clerk doesn't notice my discomfort. It stops as abruptly as it arrived, and the crystal stops glowing.

Not wanting to hold it a moment longer, I place it down on the desk. The clerk looks at me in a mild surprise for a moment, before picking the rock and a pencil up, one in each hand.

She starts writing something down on a piece of paper with her eyes closed, I wait. After a few moments the clerk opens her eyes, and hands me the paper.

“Here is your information and skills, you will soon be taught how to summon a window that will tell you this information in real time at will. Until then, consider this the equivalent of an ID.” The clerk says.

I look at the piece of paper and have a realisation, ‘This looks almost identical to the information that the voice gave me when I scanned everyone earlier…’ Taking a moment to see if my hypothesis is correct, I call the voice to attention.

[Confirming the command to bring up the status of the user: Erja, proceed?]

Giving the mental confirmation once again, I start to walk away from the clerk, as she points me to a door where a number of the summoned people are gathering.

[Request to bring up status information has been confirmed, the following information is for the user: Erja, this message will not be displayed when user info is brought up again unless specified otherwise:

Name: Erja

Race: Humanoid

Class:

Vit: 14

Agi: 13

Str: 12

Mag: 11

Def: 13

Status: Fine,

Innate Ability:

:Voice of nothing: - (Hidden)

Skills:

Lower water affinity: lvl 1, Lower blood affinity: lvl 2, Lower axe handling: lvl 2, ]

Looking at the paper I received from the clerk, and the stat block from the voice. I realise that the two are different, ‘On the paper it says that I'm a human, but the voice says I'm a humanoid… and the paper doesn’t have my innate ability. Is one of them wrong?’

Trying to figure out why the two were different, I step into the group of people that had finished the first part of the assessment.

Giving up on figuring out why the paper and voice were different with my current knowledge, I get pulled from my thoughts by a loud voice.

“Now that you all have finished your basic magic assessment, I shall now be testing your physical abilities.”

Recognizing the voice of Sir Roland, I look up and confirm that he was the one who called out. Without warning, he opens the massive doors that we had gathered in front of.

Getting blinded for a moment by the sunlight coming through the door, we are ushered out onto a smooth cobbled path.

“The way I and the other Knight captains shall be testing your strength will be through a set of light spars, a stamina and agility course, and finally if you have any martial or weapon skills, we shall test your proficiency with said skills. Weapons needed for the corresponding skills will be provided, unless the skill can summon a weapon.” Roland calls out.

“But first, you need more practical clothes, so we shall provide a simple set of clothes before we begin.”

Walking for a few more minutes, we come to a fancy barracks-like building, with a colosseum-like court nearby that I assume we will be tested in.

Walking into the building first, I'm greeted by the calming and beautiful scent of cut cloth, and more importantly, books!