The next day I was taken to the Temple of the Fallen God, to be classed, who by the way wasn't fallen, it's just what people called him because he is the old god known to have fallen down to the mortal realm. Though I understand he didn’t stay here for long. My mother was more excited than I was. 'Nondol, I just know you will be dual-classed. There is no way with that powerful of an awakening you could be any less'. Yep, you guessed it, my poor mother wasn't even close.
Being classed was easy. In the temple were a series of orbs. Each orb contained a pure shard of the related class. For example, the Orb of Fire contained an elemental shard of fire. These orbs would react to anything with proficiency in that element. To be classed you would walk from one orb to the next and just touch them. If you were proficient the orb would glow. The brighter the glow the more proficient you were. It's a simple process that has worked for thousands of years until I showed up that is.
So by tradition, the orbs are lined up as follows. Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Sound, Space, Time, Dark, Light, and finally Divine. Which seemed strange to me because divine magic wasn't a class that mortals could use. When I asked where they received a divine shard from, they told me the simple truth was they didn't know. Whenever a temple set up the testing lane a divine orb would always appear at the end of the line. No one bothered to question what was beyond doubt a Divine Will.
So I began the process, as I touched the first orb, that of Earth the orb glowed a bright green color. 'High proficiency in Earth' proclaimed the Lord Cleric of the temple. At that, my mother cried out in joy. Earth mages were in high demand and were afforded a high level of respect. To be rated with a high proficiency meant my future was set. After that, I continued. Touching the Wind orb resulted in a bright yellow glow, 'High proficiency in Wind' proclaimed the Lord Cleric of the temple. At that, everyone in the temple gasped. To have a dual proficiency moved me into the highest orders of the kingdom. To be rated high in both probably made me this year's greatest find. Next, I moved on to the Water orb. When I touched it nothing happened, which was expected. Having a dual proficiency was enough. Making it three would probably scare people. Next, I moved to the fire orb. When I touched it there was a very slight glow. It took a moment before the Lord Cleric called out 'Very Minor proficiency in Fire'. Yes, I was a tri-proficiency mage. Though my fire ability would be about enough to ensure I kept the campfire going it was still three. I think at that point my poor mother was about to start crying. Being a Tri-proficiency mage means I would be expecting royal appointments. There was no way the crown would allow a high proficiency dual class mage to escape but a dual high proficiency mage with a minor proficiency was not something they could allow out of their control.
After that, I wanted to quickly get on with things. Because I knew there was no way a 4th proficiency would occur and I wanted to get it over with. So I quickly moved to the next orb. As expected, the sound orb made not neither a light nor a sound. Moving over to space I touched the orb and nearly passed out myself. The Space orb glowed, a little brighter than the fire orb but it was a glow. At that, even the Lord Cleric himself gasped. 'Minor proficiency in Space', with that several people in the back of the temple stood up and demanded the orbs be tested. There was no way a Quad-proficiency mage had been born.
After a few minutes of debate, the Lord Cleric demanded that the testing continue. A retest would be conducted at the capital later to confirm the results but for now, they would stand. 4 classes, I'm not sure what was going through my head. While 2 were minor, fire being very minor, being a quad meant I had to be taken to the capital and turned over to the Royal Family. The law was clear on that. For over 1500 years the law had been written that anyone ranked as a quad mage was the property of the royal family and must be escorted to the capital within 10 days of testing. That may seem harsh, but the last great Archmage was so powerful that he defeated entire national armies by himself. Now he was a true battlemage, with high proficiency in fire, a mid-proficiency in wind, and minor proficiencies in both time and sound. His power was designed for the battlefield. Earth and Wind would help in a battle but a high-proficiency fire mage would give me a run for my money. That being said there would be no way the royal family would risk it.
Next came the Time and dark orbs. No reaction there. The next heart attack came from the light orb. When I placed my hand on it, the glow was strong. Not overly powerful but strong. 'Mid-level Light proficiency' stuttered the Lord Cleric. At that, everyone in the room jumped up yelling that this was proof the orbs were broken. Never in history had a person classed in 5 proficiencies. The kingdom had a recorded history of over 9000 years. This was just not possible. Perhaps had the tests shown 5 minor proficiencies people would not have reacted badly. Who cares about someone who barely has enough power to be called a mage with 5 classes? I had 2 high and a mid-level proficiency. Had I been a Tri-proficiency mage with dual highs and a mid, I'd have been listed as one of the most powerful mages in recorded history but add a minor and a very minor and people would want to study me. I looked over at my mother whose face had turned pale. I know what she was thinking. She was wondering how quickly she could grab me and disappear.
Not that there was a chance of that happening. When I was first declared a Tri-proficiency mage, the temple reported the finding to the guard as the law requires. At that point, troops were posted to protect me and to ensure that the transport process began quickly. When I was revealed as a quad the Captain of the Guard in a panic ordered that the local squad of battlemages be deployed to protect the area from me and to enforce the royal order regarding my pending transfer to the capital with all haste. When I was declared the kingdom's first Quint-proficiency mage even these seasoned battle mages paled. I found myself surrounded by a group of powerful casters who looked more worried about me than the crowd around me. The Mage Lord commanding the local battle mages demanded that I complete the test so they would begin the transport process as quickly as possible. With a little fear on my face, I quickly reached over and touched the divine orb and fell to my knees when it glowed as well. 'A minor proficiency divine mage' declared the Lord Cleric with a look of total fear on his face.
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With that, I fell to the floor, and everything went dark!
QUEST COMPLETE - Growth
Guess what, childhood is over. Hey, you were the one who said you felt like you were not a child. Well here you go, you are a child no longer. Life is about to begin for you. Good luck.....you will probably need it.
REWARDS: 8 years of group schooling, 2 years of private schooling, Hex-proficiency Grand Master Mage Class given. Clothes on your back and a bonus free ride to the capital. Congrats!!
HIDDEN QUEST COMPLETE - Master of Magic
It took you a while. At first, I thought you were just slow and here it turns out you were just taking your time to build up your power before you bothered to awaken. Go you!!
REWARDS: DIVINE CLASS, Access to 6 types of magic including a divine proficiency. Life-long service to the crown...you don't expect them to let you go do you!!
When I awoke, I found myself in a carriage on the road. My mother was sitting beside me. Looking over at the 2 floating boxes I dismissed them with a mumbled ‘asshole’. Looking at me my mother asked if everything was okay. ‘Mom when you see messages appear do they seem to be written by a spawn from hell?’. With a shocked look on her face, my mother replied ‘Watch your mouth, young man. The gods provide those messages, and you will not dishonor them with your foul words!’ Honor...really. ‘Mother there is no honor on the part of the blue demon from hell that writes those messages. If you could see them, you’d understand!’ My mother looked at me with a pale face and told me I needed to guard my words more closely.
At that moment a new box appeared
....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/`...`/´¯¯`·¸
........../`/.../..../......./¨¯
........(`(...´...´.... ¯~/`...`)
..........................`...../
..........``............. _.·´
.......................…(
............................
With that, I knew my life was over. If my mother is correct the gods just gave me the middle finger. How do you get over that? My mother informed me we were headed to the capital with a large armed escort. Looking out the window I spotted around 200 mounted troops including 10 battle mages riding guard. It seemed I was now important...joy for me. I was now pretty sure this whole being reborn thing sucked. First, no one asked me if I wanted to be reborn, then no one asked me if I wanted all of this power and no one asked me if I wanted a trip to the capital. Looking over at the still floating blue box, I dismissed it with a ‘Right back at you’ comment.
Mother spent the ride letting me know what to expect. Once we arrived at the capital we would be turned over to the Royal Guard and escorted to the High Temple to be retested. It seems others share the view that my testing must have been broken. After that, if the results held, I’d be escorted to the castle to meet the royal court and my future would be decided then.
When I asked my mother when I was going to get a say in things her reply was simple and direct. ‘Dear child, you are now an asset of the crown. Not even I as your mother have a say in anything anymore.’ Looking out the window she continued ‘Great power leads to great duty. You will mean great things to this kingdom’. When I asked her how that was fair, she responded ‘This isn’t about fairness. It's about your duty to your country. Your power will ensure this country's future. The royal family will take care of you, while you take care of us all’.
That seemed like a crap deal to me. Up ahead I could see the capital come into view. Large did it no justice. The city was huge beyond compare. I remember large cities from my old life and this one could stand up to them would fail. Islarian, which from my studies of the old tongue meant ‘Seat of Power’, another reminder that people around here suck at naming things.
As we approached the gates arrayed before us were the royal guard in all their glory. 100 men and women in silver armor with flowing green capes standing in formation awaiting the arrival of their new charge. Beside the group of guards stood several men of the church. Grand Clerics all wearing their robes of office. Standing in front of them all if my memory was corrected based on descriptions I’ve heard over the years, stood the first prince. It seems I was to be escorted with some ceremony.
As we came to a stop in front of the First Prince, he directed his horse closer and stated ‘Welcome back to Islarian my Lady Maria’. ‘Thank you, my prince,’ my mother stated in a clear voice. ‘Allow me to introduce my only son, Nondol’. Waving me over my mother had me stand in front of the prince. Making a slight bow I said, ‘I great you my Lord Prince, and I thank you for meeting us here’. Yes, my mother had spent hours teaching me the proper greetings.
‘Come, let us not stand here any longer. They are ready for us at the Grand Temple’. With that, the prince thanked our former escorts and dismissed them to rest before their return to Drake’s Crossing. Returning to the carriage, we found ourselves now under escort by the guard of the Royal Court. Arriving at the Grand Temple to the gods I was forced to repeat the same process of being classed all over again. To everyone’s dismay, the results didn’t change. With that, I was escorted to the castle to meet the royal family.
The ride to the castle took about 15 minutes to reach the main gate. Once there we exited the carriage and with very little fanfare we passed through the gate and entered the castle proper. I wasn’t really sure if the castle was large enough, to me it looked like it could house hundreds if not a thousand people. The castle reminded me of castles from home, which yes I know my memory from my first life is still crazy. While the castle wasn’t airy and cute looking, it boasted 4 towers and a high wall.
The First Prince let us into the castle and through several long halls to a set of double doors guarded by a pair of very mean-looking guards who opened the doors at our approach. As we passed through the doorway, I had my first look at the king and queen of this land.