Wilt stood in front of a door that was deep into the building. Even beyond the second and third-year classrooms. By the time his classes had come to an end, he had actually ended up with two things he needed to do at the end of the day. The first was to get his Ein values checked, and he was honestly curious to see where he would be graded.

That was where he stood now, patiently waiting for the previous student to finish their testing. At first, he considered eavesdropping but settled for leaning against the wall beside the door. He didn’t really know what to expect from this test but didn’t want to act overly suspicious. It wasn’t a matter of trust, rather, he just didn’t want to look like a fool.

He didn’t get the chance as the door opened inwards. If it was the other way around, the door would have painfully crashed into his nose. Wilt got a good look at the student as he pushed past him. It was obviously an intentional gesture when he bumped into Wilt’s shoulder. Wilt had been standing slightly to the side of the door, and the other boy had stepped into Wilt’s shoulder. However, Wilt wasn’t the type of person to care about something like that, and simply entered the room after the man had left.

The room was smaller than he expected, a single man sat at a small desk in one corner of the room. Wilt’s eyes only glanced at the elderly man, before focusing on the odd contraption in front of him. He expected a crystal of some kind but instead saw something that looked like a tube. Looking at it carefully, he could see crystals lining the inside of it. Wilt didn’t know what to do, as his entrance exam didn’t use this device. Wilt merely turned to look at the old man.

“How do I use this?”

The old man jumped at Wilt’s words, and Wilt noticed the crystal in his hands.

“Are you tryin’ to kill me, boy? Coming in here without opening the door.”

The old man sounded angry, but Wilt had opened the door, hadn’t he? After a little thought, he realized that he had slipped in after the earlier kid and hadn’t let the door close. Wilt felt bad and apologized earnestly.

“Sorry! I arrived when the other student was leaving and entered as he left.”

Wilt thought that he saw the old man’s expression soften a little.

“Fine, just show me your slip and we can get this over with.”

Wincing at the man’s tone, Wilt quickly took the slip of paper out of his pocket. It was the slip that his teacher had given him, and the old man glanced at it briefly.

“So, you’re the freak everyone’s been talking about. Well, let's see if you’re really worth all the hubbub.”

Wilt paid little attention to the descriptor the man used and instead wondered what the last word he said meant. It was something he had never heard before and was tempted to ask him what he meant. Although, he decided to push that question back as the man was clearly upset with him. The old man briefly pushed up his glasses, highlighting his dark brown eyes as he stared at Wilt. Finally, he got up from the desk and started walking towards the odd contraption.

As they walked, Wilt got a better look at the room. There were embedded crystals for light in the ceiling, and the walls matched the color of the hallways. This section of the building was punctuated by its pristine white walls. From the orientation, he learned that it was because they wanted to make sure that any poisons would be visible against the white walls. This was the primary place for experimentation in the institute, and many weapons were tested here. The white walls were merely the most useful for a backdrop.

Following him, Wilt paid attention to what the man was going to do. The old man wore white robes, and his movements made them drag across the ground. Wilt wasn’t really worried about dirt, as the floor matched the walls. Any dirt would be completely visible with the color of the floor.

The old man rested a wrinkled hand on the outside of the contraption. Wilt watched carefully, curious to learn how the machine worked, and wanted to see how much Ein he actually had. The teachers thus far had implied that he had a lot of Ein, though he didn’t know what that meant. He would hopefully find out now.

“How does it work?”

Wilt’s question came out more by habit than on reason. His father and mother both had made him ask every question he had and would write down whatever they didn’t know. After which the whole family would spend the weekend searching through books to find the answers. When he was little, he had hated those sessions, but he missed them already. Going a month without those would feel a bit lonely. Wilt snapped out of his melancholy as the old man actually started giving him an explanation.

“Just put your hand inside the machine. Once I turn it on, you will begin to feel some pressure, just bear with it. After a minute or so, it will reveal your values on that wall over there.”

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Speaking slowly, the old man pointed to a wall across from them. A crystal in the same shade of the wall was embedded into it. It was obvious, now that it was pointed out, but he had missed it on his earlier inspection of the room.

After the man finished his instructions, Wilt stuck his hand into the machine, only to feel a handle at the opposite end. He assumed he was supposed to grip it and wrapped his fingers around the narrow object. After a couple of seconds, the crystals began to light faintly, and he felt a pressure grind against his arm. The old man only had enough time to turn towards the desk, before Wilt heard a ding from the machine.

Looking at the opposite wall, Wilt saw numbers being displayed quickly. He didn’t know what had happened, but he saw the old man staring at the wall. He seemed stunned, and Wilt wondered if he had done something wrong.

“Did something happen?”

Wilt saw some numbers on the crystal, but the values didn’t mean much to him. The grade printed at the end did though. In black lettering he saw that his rank was listed as S. While that did draw his eyes, he didn’t know what that meant. The old man still seemed to be too stunned to respond, so Wilt took the awkward step of tapping the man’s shoulder.

Flinching at the sudden touch, the man adjusted his glasses before speaking. However, it didn’t take long for him to regain his composure. Although the new more polite tone he used bothered Wilt.

“Of course, young man. The grade simply means that you are beyond the point of measure by this machine. The only one who can measure your power is yourself now. There is only one other person of that rank, and he is a councilor.”

Wilt nodded, trying to keep his emotions from his face. The sudden politeness from the old man gave him goosebumps, but he still responded.

“Right, but what does that mean? I know that having a lot of Ein is good, but how much do I have?”

The old man shook his head apologetically. Rubbing his chin in thought, he formulated his response.

“Practically, you essentially have an endless amount of Ein. You should be able to perform any chant you want. And training to increase your capacity is entirely pointless.”

His voice full was of weariness and hesitation, but the old man still told Wilt what he needed to know. The worried shuffling of the old man had made it obvious that he was nervous. Wilt felt pretty bad for how the old man was acting and didn’t want to impose any longer.

He said his goodbyes quickly rushing out of the room and heading towards his other meeting. Originally, he didn’t think it would be that big a deal to tell people of his Ein capacity, but now he knew better. He would need to be very careful regarding that information, especially considering how people would react to it. His next meeting was with Councilor Janette, and he hoped that she would clear up some of his remaining questions.

Her room was in the same section as the testing room, and he was relieved to make the short walk to her room. It was another lab, and he hesitated at the door before knocking. Slipping in last time had been received poorly, and he realized that he should’ve at least done this much before. It was a stupid decision that he made to avoid any more interaction with the guy who had pushed him. Now, he could manage this much courtesy.

The door opened inwards, and he was surprised to see someone that he didn’t recognize open the door. It was a female student who was as tall as he was. She had long red-brown hair which reached down past her shoulder. She had bright blue eyes, and he couldn’t help but stare a little. She was extremely beautiful, with full lips and pronounced cheekbones she looked a lot like the councilor.

“Aunt your guest is here. Hello, I am Stella. Hopefully, we will be seeing more of one another.”

Her voice was sweet, and he got hung up on how it sounded like she was singing. She winked at him as she finished and stepped past him. Maybe that was just in his head. Still, he couldn’t stop his eyes from following her. She was wearing a red blouse that had cuts around her shoulder and embroidery along the sleeves. He stammered out his response, finding himself unable to produce any semblance of composure.

“H-hello, I’m Wilt, and certainly.”

She didn’t say anything else, only giving him a small wave as she walked away. He stared after her for a second but stopped when he remembered what he was there for.

Entering the room anxiously, he saw the councilor sitting in front of a wide metal table. There was something on top of it, though he had no idea what it was. It looked like she had combined random bits of metal together, and only upon careful examination did he notice wards along the metal. The councilor didn’t look up from her work, instead, someone else approached him.

This was another person who wore clothing similar to the councilor, and she waved him over. He walked over to the lady and was surprised by her height as she stood. She only made it to the center of his chest, and while he was tall, this was a bit excessive. She had black hair that was tied into a single long braid. It fell over her shoulder and ended at her waist. Dark brown eyes met his own, as she gave him a small bow.

“Hello, Mister Wilton, I am councilor Janette’s assistant Amanda. Please have a seat, the councilor will be done shortly.”

Her voice was firm, and she pointed towards a seat. It looked to have been dragged into the room along with a hastily set up table beside it. She began pouring some tea from the pot at the center. It was covered in an intricate depiction of a flower garden. Once he realized that she was waiting for him, he awkwardly tried to return her perfect bow and introduced himself.

“I’m Alrick Wilton.”

“I am aware.”

She had a small smile on her face as she responded. He felt some heat in his face, as he took the tea to avoid speaking. He even lifted the cup to his mouth but remembered that he needed to let it cool down. He didn’t say anything, and the assistant seemed perfectly fine with sitting in silence. Was everyone in this place comfortable with awkward silence? He sat there for a few minutes trying to enjoy his tea but being far too nervous to actually taste it. He assumed it was good but couldn’t tell.

Eventually, the councilor finished whatever she was working on, and walked around the table to sit beside her assistant. She sat down, accepting a teacup from the assistant while staring Wilt in the eyes.

“I don’t really want to interrupt your riveting conversation, but we do have something important to talk about.”