Frantic footsteps of people could be heard everywhere as they continued to arrive, some in groups and others brave enough to visit the stadium all alone. The occasional sound of the tolling bell accompanied with laughter and cheering could make anyone think they were here for a celebration, or perhaps a festival.

They weren't.

People from all the nearby towns and villages were currently visiting the kingdom to have their abilities tested. All with hopes that they could somehow be admitted to one of the three Academy of Summoner in the Kingdom of Wren.

Kai was of course one of them. Dressed in a brown tunic and black pants, Kai looked nothing like the decrepit man the other day. He stood away from the crowd, eyeing the sea of people in front of him. Despite the heat, some people still dared to wear Wren City's traditional long sleeve clothing made of wool and fleece, accompanied by thick pants. Some with the insignia of their clans. His eyes then roamed towards the stadium.

Unlike the Ergon Clan's temple that was located near the mountains a few hundred miles away from this kingdom, the Capital of Wren had little to no trees around it. It was however full of concrete houses that one could easily used to hide from the scorching sun. He squinted his eyes at the platform on the stadium a few meters away from where he was at. The testing was supposed to start at eight in the morning, yet there was still no sight of anyone from the Academies.

As if on cue, gasps and whispers about their arrival reached his ears. He looked at the six people who stood on the platform. Their backs straight, chin raised as they stared at the crowd in front of them. He could feel the pride from their gazes laced with a little disgust.

"Everyone who came here for the test, please form a line in front of me." A voice echoed. It did not take too long for everyone to start scrambling, pushing and chaos followed as the parents and relatives that accompanied the youths uttered their prayers and words of luck.

Ignoring the sea of people, Kai immediately joined the line as he examined the people wearing white cloaks with green and red insignia on their chests on the platform; every one of them had a serious look on their faces.

Today, the youths here would undergo two types of testing. One to determine the color of one's Aether Core—this would inform them what kind of entity would they be able to summon in this lifetime. The other to determine the level of Anima that they have in their bodies. Ten thousand years ago, Anima was called mana. Along the way, the term changed and Kai had no idea why.

Both tests were beneficial and needed to determine the level of one's summoning abilities.

Unlike these people, Kai was already aware of his abilities. An SS class summoner that only existed in the legends. As someone who lived as one of the Ancients, Kai had ways to see his Aether Core. It was an ancient method that no longer existed in this world. From the moment he woke up three years ago between the dead bodies of his parents, he already knew that he had dual cores capable of summoning elements and plants.

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He chuckled inwardly as memories of his previous life resurfaced in his mind. Ten thousand years ago, someone like him was considered a god, someone powerful, revered for their ability to summon such powerful entities.

Now, however, people who could summon plants were required to take pharmacy classes. They could not take archery or martial arts classes. He could only create potions for the real warriors — people who could summon beasts and weapons.

This was something that he could not accept. He could not understand why people had forgotten the amazing abilities of plant summoners. Was it because they thought plants were useless in combat? Probably. But this was a question that even his late grandmother didn't have an answer to. He shook the thoughts out of his head.

"We will start!" A bulky man said. His thunder-like voice echoed from the huge speakers that stood next to the platform. "We will start with the colors! The first one, please come in front."

"Here!" a voice answered. It belonged to a tall and lanky man wearing a brown wool jacket on top of his brown tunic. He jumped towards the meter-high platform, beaming excitedly at the crystal ball as big as a toddler's head, sitting on top of a pulpit in the middle of the stage. "It's me!"

"Come." The man gestured for him to approach the pulpit, his face turned stern. "Put both of your hands on top of the crystal and think about the stars."

The stars, the universe, the never-ending space where the dimensions of their entities came from. One should think about this to determine the size of their cores.

The man instantly complied, still beaming as his eyes turned towards the group of people to his left. Soon after, his beamed turned into a smug smirk as the crystal shone. Red-orange, then it turned orange, slowly turning into yellow and finally green. For a few seconds, the color switched back from yellow to green before finally turning into white.

Gasps and cheers echoed. White! B Class Summoner!

"B Class Summoner!" the facilitator nodded. "Right-handed?"

The tall man nodded.

"Then put your right hand on the crystal ball. Close your eyes and concentrate on your white core. Think about it, imagine holding it in your hands." Once again, the man complied as silence blanketed the whole stadium.

Despite seeing this kind of testing yearly, everyone around still stood in amazement as they watched the Crystal turn white before turning blue.

"Beasts!" someone yelled from the back.

"Beasts!" the group of people to the left said before they started clapping. Their faces were all smiles as they watched the man accept a ring from the facilitator. Just like everyone else's it was made of gold, though the man had a white cushion cut stone that would correspond to the color of his core.

"Next!" the facilitator said after saying his congratulations to the tester. Another man followed. This time it was a green C Class Summoner that had the affinity to summon weapons. Of course, to the people of Wren, this was nothing special. Green C Class Summoners were considered standard and were one of the requirements for a person to become a soldier of the kingdom. One after another, youths at the age of sixteen walked onto the platform to have their abilities tested.

Some ended with tears in their eyes as the verdict was obvious, their colors were below the green threshold. They had failed the test. While some were not as dejected, however, their fake smiles were still pretty obvious. After all, someone with a green core could only summon average weapons, average beasts, while the other above it could control some creatures with their own consciousness.

"Next!" the voice echoed, and everyone's eyes turned to Kai.

....

UNEDITED