The four of us had just recently become 11, and there was a small shock from the village since the magus has come early for the test! There has been rumors that the Empire has been looking for more young children with good aptitudes to become magus in the recent years, something must be happening in the capital.

Gathered in front of the village chief's house, a building that was clearly more superior to the rest of the village because of it was created using a reinforced metal called crystalmite, it gave off a small metallic shine. The elder being a retired magus was chatting with the Imperial Magus in front of the main entrance, almost as if they were old friends that have just met after many years of separation.

The four of us was waiting eagerly for this test; while there were 10 more children near us waiting for this test, we were the most eager; even Bessa had a glimmer in her eyes that I have never seen.

After sometime the elder had finally spoke.

"People of Pillu, This is the Imperial Magus Tory! He is here to give the children a test of their aptitude for magic and hopefully they will be able to go to academies and gain an amazing education! Ah... I still remember my days... in the academy... You know... there was this.... and..."

Seemingly the elder had started drifting off into telling everyone his school days which after 10 minutes the Imperial coughed and interrupted

"Lord Magus Nepia ... I believe it is time for the test..." politely the magus had patted the elder on the back.

"Oh yes... right.. the test... will the children that are of age 11 to 13 please come to the front?" Nepia finally said after coming back to his senses

The magus Tory took out a crystal ball and had put it onto a table he prepared.

"Alright children, first put your hand on the crystal ball and then look into it! What you see will determine your aptitude!"

The first was a boy that was age 12 named George, his family was quite well off in the village and he had quite the aptitude according to the village chief.

George had put his hand and closed his eyes, a faint aura had appeared on his body! After 2 minutes he had opened his eyes and told the Magus what he saw.

"Very good George you have a great aptitude in Fire and Air Elements with a hint in nature! You will definitely be able to get into a good academy! Next!"

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George was indeed very happy and even his parents were giving him big hugs.

Slowly and slowly, it was our turn, Bessa and tess both had an aptitude of 7 which was very high! The rest of the village had an average of 5. The aptitude system was designed to see how much you are naturally able to grasp the magic in your body, 1 to 3 was a very low and people who had scored this most likely will remain as a student or an acolyte to their mentors and master for their lifetime; a simple assistant with a small increase in their life. 4-7 was quite good as they could one day become a Magus if they work really hard or have an amazing mentor to nurture them. 8-10 was considered geniuses and had the highest chance to become a full fledge Magus and more! The difference in these levels were to the extreme, as a 3 it might take you 5 years to fully control a spell while a 4 might be able to control it in 3 years. The time difference would cause the teachers to invest more into the students with a better aptitude!

It was finally my turn and I placed my hand on the crystal ball, peering into this ball I saw a large cloud that was Red around the red cloud was shades of blue and finally a bit of black on the very edge.

"What have you seen young man?" questioned Tory.

"Lord Tory I saw a big red cloud surrounded by blue and black on the very edge!"

"ho ho interesting... was there a lot of red and a bit of blue?"

"it was maybe 65% red and 25% blue and the rest was black!"

"Very good! You have a high affinity for fire and a bit of water element in you and some dark element as well! Your aptitude seems to be around 7 being able to see 3 different types of elements! Stand with the other children now!"

"Thank you sir!" and I had skipped to the other children in happiness!

It was Julien's turn! I hope he will be able to get just as high aptitude as us and we can go together to school!

Julien had walked up to the ball, an uneasiness seem to dawn over him as he placed his hand on the ball, it felt like an amazing aura had fell on him but after he spoke to the Tory, he seemed to only have an aptitude of 5. Although he was the only one out of the 4 of us with a lower aptitude we were all very happy! Although I thought I saw a smirk on his face when he had told Tory what he saw in the ball.

Julien seems to be have the highest affinity to the dark element with some fire on the side and very tiny bit of water.

"Good job Julien! We can maybe both go to the same academy!"

"Sorry Andre, but my affinity is more to dark... and I am two aptitude lower than you... the chance seems to be slim"

"No! I think we can be close!" Andre cried.

Julien gave me a gentle smile "Ye..yeah.. I am sure we'll be close!"

"Listen up children!" shouted Tory " We will depart from the village Pillu in a month's time! The convoy shall arrive and you will meet up with the other children with good aptitudes! Go and prepare yourself now! The journey will be long and quite dangerous!"

After the aptitude test, we all celebrated in my house, our parents were quite proud of us! George was bragging about his aptitude being 8 and the highest among us all. He had kept putting his hands around Bessa which made Tilly very annoyed. Even Julien had joined in the fun, I was quite happy! It feels like my best friend Julien was back!

The night continued until we were all quite tired and we all returned back to houses to sleep. In a month we will all depart on a convoy that will have many other young children like us, and our journey will be to a place called the Vikito Beach, where we will all look for our own academies and hopefully they will accept us.