Lucas woke up annoyed and tired, and with an incredibly strong desire to stay in bed.

He was about to roll the blanket over his head and sleep for just 5 more minutes when he remembered what day today was. Today is the 21st, to be more precise, today is the 21st of September. Today he learns if he can Awaken. This is why last night Lucas had so much difficulty falling asleep and now is even having more difficulty waking up.

“I need to get prepared.” Today he was going to be interacting with licensed mages and maybe even maguses, he needed to be at his best, and because of that, even though it was still just 6 in the morning, Lucas decided to take a quick shower. After that, Lucas put on his best clothes, not that there were many clothes in his closet.

Now cleaned and well-clothed, it was time to fill his belly, but as he entered the kitchen, his passive face quickly turned into a small frown, his uncle was already there.

“Good morning.” Lucas tried to act as if this was a normal morning, but looking at the ugly frown on his face, it didn’t work as well as Lucas hoped.

“You wasted hot water, you already took a bath yesterday, and Oscar wanted to go to the bathroom.” Of course, his brat of a cousin always goes straight to his dad, so now he had to remember his uncle what day it is and hope he doesn’t become even angrier.

“Today is Awakening day, I don’t want to annoy a mage by looking or smelling bad.”

“You’re annoying a mage right now.” Replied his uncle, his frown somehow becoming uglier with each word. As usual, the man always takes every chance to remind his nephew of his magical abilities.

It’s getting late, I need to go quick, or I’ll be late for the Awakening ceremony. I guess I’ll just go and hope I become a mage and can use that as leverage.

“I have to get going, have a good day.” And as fast as possible, Lucas grabbed a bit of bread that should be enough to keep him fed for the whole morning and got going.

He went to his small bedroom and grabbed his identification and the document his grandmother gave him as proof that he had certified mages in his family and as such a connection to the Tower. As fast as he entered his room, he left it again and went straight to the entrance of the house, which he left while hearing his uncle screaming his name loudly.

Lucas was walking towards the venue where the Awakening happens each year. It is a large building without much in terms of decorations placed even further from the center of town than his own home, to be more accessible to the NoM population. This building served this purpose for people who like him had never belonged to a magical education institution, and as such are going to learn if they can use magic at all for the first time today.

As he walked, the same thoughts that plagued his mind yesterday passed through his head—if he fails, he’s going to become like the parents of his friends, working in the vineyards so that English noblemen become richer, or in the mana crystal mines so that Portuguese noblemen become richer. On the other hand, just a low affinity in any element can give him an allowance of LDMs so that he can train his magic, he will also be allowed to enter a high school with a magic curriculum, he would need to have special classes since there’s a lot he didn’t get to learn in his NoM school that even the most basic of magic schools teach, the best part is that most of those schools have dormitories where he could live without having to deal with his uncle, cousin and aunt.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

When Lucas reached the venue, his mind was so occupied with his fears and desires, he didn’t even notice, but the number of people around him was all the distraction he needed to leave his musings.

The building was not as packed as he expected, and everything was quite orderly, probably because little arrows were pointing where to go. He followed them until he reached a series of desks, with small lines of people waiting in front of each of them, a pamphlet next to the last arrow saying to join the line with the fewest people, so that’s exactly what he did.

The line only had 3 people, so soon enough he reached the desk where a somewhat attractive woman that looked to be in her later twenties or early thirties was seated. She waved to the empty chair in front of her.

“Do you have any official identification?” Lucas gave her his ID, and she wrote something on a small piece of paper. “Any mages in the family?” He gave her the document his grandmother had given him. As she read what was written on the sheet of paper, her eyebrows raised.

“Why is the grandson of a tier 5 senior Diviner taught at the Universidade do Porto here? Shouldn’t you be in a school for mages?”

“My parents are both NoMs, my grandfather was one, and my father took after him.”

“I see…” The lady quickly made some more notes on the piece of paper on her desk and gave him the piece of paper. “Go to the awakening stand 7 and wait until someone calls number 31 when they do step forward.”

Lucas thanked the lady and followed the arrows to what they called the awakening stands. He passed through the doorframe with a big 7 next to it and heard a man with a deep voice call "Number 28!" As he did, a person went to the front of the room and put his hands on top of what looked like a glass ball, and a few moments later the ball started to shine, it was a shade of blue, and the same voice exclaimed: “Evocation, Water tier 1”

Not exactly the best combination, and the affinity was quite low, but if he can survive the mandatory military service, there will be no lack of jobs for a water mage.

After that, 29 was called, but this time the globe didn’t glow, and the only thing the manly voice said was “Next! Number 30!" The Number 30 which Lucas was able to notice was a girl since she was in front of him surprised everyone. “Conjuration! Salt tier 1!”

A Salt Mage! And a Conjuror at that! The affinity isn’t the best, but just because of her elemental affinity this girl will be given chances most will never have—

“Number 31!” Suddenly Lucas was called and hurried to the sphere and the man next to it

“The paper they gave you at the desks, please.” He just gave it away, part of him excited and another part terrified about what he was about to do. “Thank you. Just put your hands on the Awakening Stone if you can become a mage, then it will do the rest.”

Lucas put both his hands on the globe and waited… And waited, the terror that he might not be a mage was coming to him when suddenly he felt something click, the globe started to shine, and when it stopped, he had a smile on his face. He was a mage! The newly minted mage looked to the mage in front of him to know what his affinity was when he saw his frown.

“What’s the problem, sir?”

“Hmm, well, you have an incredibly well-defined divination sigil, I have never seen anyone awaken with such talent in a school, but…” He paused for a moment, and Lucas felt his panic rise. “You have no elemental affinity, I remember reading about it in the manual they gave before coming here, what was it called?”

“Ah, that’s right, you’re what’s called a null mage!”