"A test right off the bat? How can he do this to us?" Warren complained out loud.
Gil hushed Warren with a low voice, "Be quiet, you want him to hear us?"
William stayed quiet, he could already tell that Elder Wen had noticed the group, so it was better to pretend he didn't know the group of idiots.
Elder Wen brought out a blue sphere the size of a basketball that seemed to be made of glass. "I'm sure most of you recognize this as an Affinity Orb, but I will explain again in a moment to those of you that are not familiar.
There will be two parts of my test. First, I will be testing your Mana Affinity with this Affinity Orb. Each of you will come up to the stage, state your name, then empty all of your Mana into the orb. Even if you have not awakened any Magic yet, the Affinity Orb should be able to gather a rough estimate of what you are capable of. You will be scored based on your Affinity."
Gil became nervous since he came from a family that didn't have any talent for Magic. "What if we score too low?"
Elder Wen had seen this look many times before. "As the Five Elements Sect, not having talent for Magic means you will not thrive here. You may choose to stay, but only if you can achieve a high enough score on the second portion of the test."
A girl with black double-braids raised her hand. "What is the second test, Elder?"
"The second test will be a ranking battle! I will give more details to those that pass the first test.
No more questions. Who would like to go first?"
A few disciples stood up at the same time including Warren. A boy with black hair and a single green highlight reached the stage first, with Warren just behind.
The boy placed his hand in the Affinity Orb, which gave off a soft glow from absorbing some of the boy's ambient Mana.
The boy waited for approval from Elder Wen, then began injecting his Mana into the Affinity Orb. The color of the Orb changed to light green and glowed brighter, symbolizing a powerful Element of Wind. The intensity of the glow increased gradually, until the light was almost blinding.
The boy ran out of Mana and took a knee from exhaustion. Elder Wen recorded his results, "You forgot to state your name lad."
"It's Arturo, Elder."
"Got it. Arturo: Wind Element, 65 points!" Elder Wen shouted out his score to the rest of the group. No one understood how good Arturo's performance was, so they didn't know how to react.
Warren stepped forward next. "My name is Warren, Elder Sir."
Elder Wen nodded, "Go ahead."
Like Arturo, Warren placed his hand on the Affinity Orb and injected his Mana. After a few seconds, the Orb started glowing a purplish silver color, but not nearly as intense as Arturo's. After his Mana was spent, Elder Wen read off his score.
"Warren: Lightning Element, 32 Points!"
A few more disciples stepped up with eager faces. Soon an orderly line had formed, while William remained seated. He wanted a high score, but was worried about exposing all of his Elements to the other disciples.
System, what should I do?
-Request requires 3 Potential Points. Yes/No?
-The Host will be able to reduce his score by putting less Mana into the Affinity Orb. Try concentrating on one specific Element, and the chances of more Elements being detected will decrease.
William understood. Thank you System.
Even though the System seemed to be an emotionless being, William had noticed a few human-like behaviors from time to time. He felt that he should at least make an effort to treat the System like a companion and not a tool.
The next group of disciples tested their Mana Affinity.
"Su Ming: Fire Element, 23 Points!"
"Rika Matsumoto: Water and Wind Element, 41 Points!"
"Jinny: Darkness Element, 37 Points!"
Elder Wen continued reading off scores. The average was around 30 points, while 20 points seemed to be the passing score for the test, which half a dozen disciples had already failed despite showing promise during their recruitments. He clicked his tongue in disappointment, "Those damn recruiters will pick anyone with Magic ability these days.."
As time went on, Arturo's test seemed more and more impressive in the eyes of the other disciples. No one else had earned more than 50 points on their test, yet he was 15 points above that!
A male disciple with a plain face and brown hair stepped forward. He introduced himself as Yu Min and placed his hand on the Affinity Orb. After injecting just a small amount of Mana, the Orb lit up a bright red. As more Mana was injected, the glow intensified and the color changed to yellow.
The disciples were amazed by the color and brightness of the Orb. With two Elements close to Arturo's intensity, Yu Min was about to break his record!
The color changed again to a pale white color, symbolizing a third Element with less intensity than before.
Elder Wen nodded in approval. "Yu Min: Fire, Earth, and Light Elements: 82 points!"
The disciples were astounded. Arturo, who was previously enjoying the attention of the others had a sour look on his face. How can a piece of trash have a higher Affinity than me? ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by N()velFire.net
As a noble from the Silverwind Ancient Family, Arturo was sure to place first in any contest of talent. Or so he thought. His fingers clenched as Arturo realized he would have to deal with being second the rest of his time at the Sect.
William was also impressed by Yu Min's talent. Three Elements and one of them is rare! Without the System, William could only look up to such a figure.
After Yu Min's test, the remainder became much less thrilling. Most of the other disciples earned scores of 20 to 30, while another two dozen or so had failed including Gil, who only scored 6. The only exception was Lia Rhio, who received a score of 49.
The line was growing shorter, and William was the only disciple remaining who hadn't stood up from his seat. He wanted to gauge the abilities of his peers before deciding how much effort to put into the test. I have to get first, but it needs to be close. he thought to himself.
There was no way William could rank first in the Outer Sect if he didn't receive some benefits from the Elders first. Su Yanyu's strange ability already confirmed that William would be utterly powerless in the wrong situation.
The line decreased until it was completely empty. William finally stood up from his seat, drawing attention from all across the room. Warren and the rest were especially curious as to why he would sit back for so long, but Elder Wen's previous evaluation of William made them wonder how he would score.
Elder Wen knew William had a strong talent for Fire already, so he wasn't worried at all about his test. Hopefully the lad knows to tone it down, otherwise there will be a lot of trouble in the future...