-Monday Afternoon, 7th Of the 1st Month, Year 910-
'It's...coming from the altar?' Just like the crystal ball, the altar is shining with a reddish-black light, and the inscriptions on it are releasing the reddish-black aura covering the room.
'What's going on!?' I try to take my hands off the crystal ball, but they won't budge, 'Seriously!!?'
I try to call out to Mrs. Russo, but I can't even open my mouth under the pressure coming from the reddish-black aura.
Suddenly, the reddish-black aura starts to gather behind me, and my body starts to heat up. As more and more of it gathers a pressure way stronger than anything I've ever felt before presses down my body. I don't know what's going on right now, but I can feel a familiar presence behind me, but I don't know who or what it is. Under its pressure, I can barely think, let alone move or circulate my Qi.
'Kid.' I feel a huge hand touch my head, and all the strength in my legs disappears.
I hear Mrs. Russo gasp as I fall to my knees. I can barely feel my body anymore, and my clothes are soaked with sweat, but my hands are still clinging to the crystal ball.
"Huuu, Haaa..." Using what little strength I have left, I take deep breaths, trying to calm down.
'So weak.' The being above me sighs, sounding disappointed.
'...I am weak, but you're too strong, way too strong to compare yourself to me,' I complain to myself, feeling a little angry at the being.
'You're too weak right now. You need to become stronger, much stronger before you can even think of accomplishing your goal...stronger...become even stronger...' The being's presence fades away, and the pressure disappears along with the heat.
Free of its pressure, my body feels lighter, and strength returns to my legs again. After taking a couple of minutes to calm down and recollect my breath, I slowly get up using the crystal ball to support me. I try to take my hands off again, and this time they come off without any trouble, and the reddish-black light starts to fade away.
I open and close my eyes a few times, unable to understand what just happened, 'What was that presence?'
Wanting answers, I turn to the only other person in the room.
"Mrs. Russo?" I call out to her after stepping down from the altar.
She doesn't move, so I call out to her a couple more times before she finally responds, "...Yes?"
"What just happened?" She never said anything like this would happen, so I'm feeling confused because I don't know if that was supposed to happen or not.
After getting up, she stays quiet for a moment before saying, "A very, very rare occurrence."
I tilt my head, wanting a better explanation, so she takes a deep breath and explains, "The crystal Ball and altar are part of the Mystical Artifact known as the Spirit's Blessing Detection Device. The function of the artifact is to figure out what kind of blessing a person has received if any, and how strong it is. It does this by sending a strand of energy into your body and making contact with the Spirit's imprint in your body-"
"U-Um- I don't really understand what you're saying," I scratch the back of my head with a weak smile.
"I'm sorry, I forgot that you didn't learn all of this yet." I shake my head back and forth, feeling bad that she's apologizing for my lack of understanding.
"Haha, I'm okay, you don't have to worry about me." She laughs a bit and waves her hand.
"I'm sorry," I apologize one last time, still feeling bad.
"It's fine," She smiles and pats my head softly, feeling her hand's softness most of the bad feelings go away, "Better? Now let me give you a simpler explanation?"
She takes her hand off my head, and I nod, still wanting an explanation.
"Alright, think about it like this, the Crystal Ball moved a strand of energy into your body when you placed your hands on it. You felt that, right?" I nod my head, remembering the strange energy I felt entering my body when I touched the crystal ball. "After it entered your body, it searched for and made contact with the Spirit's signature in your body. The signature contains a bit of the Spirit's authority that is gifted to humans. It has a couple of other functions, too, but it's better for you to learn about them later. Now, normally it would create something like a channel between the crystal ball and the imprint. Through that channel, strands of Divine Energy are sent to the crystal ball. Based on the amount and type of energy sent, the crystal ball will shine a light. Do you understand so far?"
"Mm," I understand the meaning of most of the words she said, and I experienced it myself, so I can still follow her explanation.
"Good. The reason that the altar ended up releasing the light as well is more complicated, but simply put, the crystal ball overloaded. The energy coming from the imprint was too much for the crystal ball to handle, so it was sent to the altar. That happening is rare, but I've seen it a couple of times today. What happened next is the amazing part," Her start eyes sparkle as she continues, "The altar overloaded as well, so it had to release the energy or else the entire artifact would have broke. From the energy released, the Spirit was able to manifest an image of itself, although it didn't last long, and it wasn't clear, it's still amazing! I've never seen anything like it before, and from what I know, it's only happened seven times on this continent, making you the eighth-no the ninth in the history of this continent to make the artifact react like that!!"
"What about my blessing?" From what she's saying, it sounds good, but I want to have a clear answer.
"Well, the crystal ball overflowing signifies that you're a successor and that your potential is-" She hesitates for a moment, and her excitement cools down, "-Well your potential is good, and as long as you train hard enough you can reach a high realm."
I smile a bit, hearing that my potential is good, but something about her explanation bothers me. But I don't know what, so I ask about something else from her explanation that I haven't heard of, "What's a successor?"
"Well, a successor is someone who received the highest blessing from their Spirit and a portion of their authority, allowing them to use a special authority that others can't once they reach a certain realm. Spirits only choose one successor each and won't pass on the blessing until the holder dies or commits an act that betrays the Spirit's expectations." I nod my head understanding that being a successor makes me more special than others, but I have a bad feeling about it, remembering her hesitation.
"Can I ask you a couple of questions?" I nod my head lightly, hoping that she won't ask questions that I can't answer, "To start with, where are you from? Who are your parents?"
"Cara Village. As for my parents, I can't say." My parents told me not to tell anyone their names because it could cause problems.
"Are you an orphan?"
"No," I shake my head strongly.
"Then why can't you say?" She frowns and looks at me strangely.
"Because they told me not to," I tell her what my parents told me.
"Wh-wait your blessing," She thinks for a moment and murmurs some words, "...A reddish-black light...Spirit...Xygen...Destruction...Black Dragon Clan…So that's why."
She must have figured something out because she goes quiet for a moment. I don't want to interrupt her, so I stay quiet and wait for her to talk.
"...I understand your situation now," She pats my head even softer than earlier and sighs before telling me, "You're such an unlucky child."
I don't say anything not because I don't know what she's talking about, but because I don't want to talk to someone I just met about it.
"I won't ask you anything else about that, but I'll tell you this, you passed the test, your aptitude is more than enough to practice Mystic Arts." She takes her hand away and looks at her watch. Her eyes jump, and in a hurry, she tells me, "We've been here for a while, so we should go."
She turns around and starts walking toward the hallway we entered from. I take a quick look around and chase after her, then I remember the letter and stop, "Mrs. Russo, can I give you something?"
"What is it?" She stops walking and turns around.
"A letter from my Dad, he wanted me to give it to a friend of his, but I have no idea how to find that friend, so I was wondering if you could give it to them in my place?" I scratch the back of my head feeling bad for asking her to do something that I was supposed to do, but I'm not sure I'll pass the exam, so it's better if I have someone in the academy deliver it instead. Mrs. Russo seems like a nice person, so I should be able to trust her to deliver it.
She thinks for a moment, and her eyes widen, "This must be what the Vice-Principal was talking about before."
I don't know what she's talking about, but I take out the letter feeling that it would be okay and hand it to her.
"I promise, I'll get this letter to your Dad's friend," She pats my head one last time, "Now let's go meet up with the others, I'm sure they're waiting for us at the entrance."
Author's Note:
Second Chapter of the week! The final part of the Mystic Arts Aptitude Test! Thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed the Chapter! The next chapter is a pause before the Combat Exam, my favorite part of this Arc! So I hope you're looking forward to it!
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