18 Chapter 17: Time to Act

Seely was trying to sleep when...

"We've finally arrived, the Death Beach!"

Can't a growing healthy boy get any sleep here!?

Seely complained in his heart.

The sleeping Angelo opened his eyes and looked at Leylin, "We've reached our destination!"

Wait.. what? We're here!? ...Oh hohoho Merry Christmas... for meeeee.

Seely was excited for his simple yet brilliant plan.

As they neared the sea, a small town-like place appeared at the end of his line of sight.

Numerous tents of various shapes and sizes stood together, and they formed a huge camp. Surrounding them were dozens of carriages similar to the one Leylin was driving.

And what numbered the most were acolytes of similar ages as them, around thirteen to fourteen years old, each and every one of them carrying looks of curiosity on their faces. Leylin did a rough estimate and counted that there were at least hundreds of them, filling up the entire camp, just like his brother said.

From time to time, some acolytes walked out from the tents, many different expressions adorning their faces.

"Alright! Ladies and gentlemen! We all had a very... unpleasant experience but you're here. Welcome to the intermediate stop of our travelling destination, the Death Beach! You will all decide on your future academy here, and then return back to your respective academies with your teachers to practice magic!"

Hmmm.. That second sentence wasn't supposed to be there. I guess he must be really upset about losing those crystals.

Seely shamelessly pointed out after noticing the difference using the chapter.

The horse carriage halted, and three white robes came out and gathered the acolytes, then the leader Crow began speaking.

"Now, follow me into the campgrounds, and choose an academy. Remember, you may check on all the various academies, but once you have signed a contract to join one, you must not renege! Anyone who disobeys will be hung to death at the gate of the camp!"

Crow's frosty words made the acolytes hearts turn cold.

"Haha! Crow! You guys are pretty late today!" A voice sounded, and a fatty walked out from the camp grounds. He too was wearing a white robe, and he greeted: "Don't scare these adorable newbies!"

"There were some difficulties along the way!" Crow explained.

"Alright! Newbies! Now follow me into the camp!" Fatty spoke with Crow and the others for a while more, then turned his head and shouted to Leylin and the rest.

"You guys can call me Jevon, of the beautiful Ennea Ivory Ring Tower. Trust me, if you are to choose an academy, the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower is definitely your best choice!"

Jevon said as he brought the acolytes into the camp.

Once they entered, various sounds travelled into their ears, reminding Leylin of the marketplaces in his previous world. Leylin could also see Seely acting like a person eager to shop all day.

'Seely, calm yourself. We're not here to buy things.'

'Huh? What? Buy things? I would never hehehe'

'Who are you fooling? You're face show otherwise.'

'Its the truth brother. Don't worry I won't waste our magic crystals.' This brilliant and lovable brother of yours wouldn't even think of using magic crystals to buy something. Rather... I'm here to earn hundred Hahahaha *evil laugh*

Somehow Leylin felt cold and shivered a little.

'What's this brother of mine up to again?'

'I won't embarrass you so stop it. I'm just excited to get our aptitudes and elemental affinity tested.' That's a half-truth though since I already know my aptitude but I am excited to learn about my elemental affinities.'

'You're right... This a pretty big deal for us.'

As for Crow and the other two white robes, they seemed to have something else to do, and they soon left the group.

The surroundings were bustling with activity, mostly due to acolytes just like them. Some of them had gathered in a circle, while there were others who were entering or exiting the tents.

Jevon brought Leylin and the rest, a total of 29 odd people, into the middle of the camp grounds.

Here, was a large tent of pure white colour, and there were still strange flower patterns on the outside of it They seemed like both ornaments, and yet resembled writing as well.

Leylin could not help but look at it closely, "A.I Chip! Begin Scan!"

[Beep! Forming Image!] The A.I Chip sent the information, but in the constructed image, there was nothing on the white tent, as if the pattern had never existed before.

"How could this be?" Leylin stared at the tent once again with disbelief.

With every passing minute and second, the patterns on the tent seemed lifelike, constantly twisting itself.

"Hehe!" "Haha!" "Ji Ji!"

Various noises travelled to Leylin's ears. The surrounding lights seemed to distort itself, and Leylin looked at his own hands. At this point, his arm seemed to have been pulled into a long shape, which looked extremely slender.

*Slap* "Oh sorry brother, you have a mosquito on your face." puhaha-... Hold it in Seely. You only did this because you already knew using the chapter that this was gonna happen. Still it's really funny to slap him back to reality hahaha.

Leylin's whole body suddenly quivered, and he came to his senses. Looking at the surroundings, the acolytes were still listening to Fatty Jevon's speech, and everything seemed to revert back to its normal state.

'Leylin, you okay? I felt something wrong and saw you there blankly staring at something.'

'Yeah thanks. I think I was in an illusion.'

'Oh... okay. Then just be more careful from now on alright.' I don't want to dragged this on any longer. Its enough to wake him up earlier than the original timeline.

"Could it be that it wasn't an illusion earlier?" Leylin got scared, "A.I Chip, reproduce the situation I was in earlier!"

[Beep!] A pale blue light display appeared, and the series of images earlier appeared continuously in front of Leylin's eyes, [An anomaly in the cerebral vessel, an immediate inspection is proposed!] [An anomaly is found in the Host's condition! Staying away is advised!] [The Host body has returned to normal!] Numerous lines of data kept emerging, which let Leylin know that it was not an illusion earlier.

"Phew...Magi, are they always this mysterious?" Leylin wiped his cold sweat off, still carrying a lingering fear of the events earlier.

'Yep, they are.' Seely commented.

Where did Jevon stop at?" Leylin hurriedly asked.

"Oh! We need to fill in a form, and take the aptitude test! And then it will be free time, and we can choose our academy autonomously!"

"Because you guys have come a day late, you only have a day's worth of time left, and in this span of period, you must choose an academy where you will practice magic in, if not you will have to wait until next year!" Jevon was still speaking loudly ahead of them.

Now, all of you line up and take the form from me one by one, and then enter for the test!"

Jevon sat behind a white table, and took out a stack of forms and placed them down.

The line moved forward quickly, and very soon it was Leylin's turn.

'Good Luck Brother!'

'Yeah you too Seely.'

I can tell he's nervous. How about me.. Am I Nervous?... Do I even have an elemental affinity?

No, don't think about negative thoughts. If Leylin who came from another futuristic version of earth has elemental affinities then I'm sure I'll have one too...probably?

"Fill in your particulars in this form, and then enter the tent and follow the instructions of the person inside!" a guide said.

Leylin took the form and realised that it was made of sheepskin paper. The particulars required were minimal, only a name, age and location born, as well as a few others.

Picking up the goose feather pen on the table, Leylin filled in the form very quickly.

The faint, red coloured, inked flower patterns on the sheepskin seemed to be very beautiful.

"I never thought that this brat's handwriting from the mainland is still pretty good!" After Leylin finished writing, he picked up the sheepskin paper and entered the white tent.

"Come over!" An ancient voice sounded.

It was very spacious inside the tent, and there was only a white-haired old lady sitting on a black chair and a crystal ball which rested on a table.

'Okay! Why would I suddenly think of those divination witches!'

"Hello!" Leylin greeted the witch.

"Bring the form here!" Clearly, this witch was not having any of it, and her voice was still frosty cold.

"Leylin huh? Place your hands on the crystal ball!"

[Chapter 14 is now Available]

Hmmm... He must be already at the witch's hand. I mean... getting his aptitude tested. Now let's see the details of this chapter.

...

Leylin followed the witch's instructions and placed both of his hands on the crystal ball.

Icy cold! Vibrations!

A strange tactile feeling was transmitted from the tip of his fingers.

Leylin's head hurt as if there was a glass rod stirring inside.

Along with the start of his headache, the crystal ball in front of Leylin also emitted a faint glow.

"Very good! Don't let go! The witch stared attentively at the crystal ball.

As the pain increased, the crystal ball in Leylin's hands also grew brighter, "No! No more!"

Leylin clenched his teeth, and the pain that practically split his brain into two caused him to loosen his grip uncontrollably.

"Okay! So you are at this level?" The witch nodded her head. She took out a goose feather pen and scribbled on Leylin's form.

"We have categorised the aptitude of the acolytes into five grades, with the first grade as the worst and the fifth grade as the best. You are in the third grade, a middle ranked grade!"

The witch said as she turned a ring on her hand and made a strange mark on the sheepskin, which had been shining brightly with light.

"My examination here is over, you go on behind me! Next!"

Seeing his brother entering the tent, Leylin nodded to him, took the sheepskin paper, stood up and gave his thanks, and then lifted the hanging curtain of the tent, heading to the next procedure in line.

The area was still as spacious as the one earlier, and in the middle, there was a white bearded old geezer.

"From the layout of this tent, there should only be two tests. It is really simple!" Leylin thought, as he sat in front of the old geezer and handed the form over to him.

"Third grade? Not too bad!" The white-bearded old geezer stroked his chin, "Alright! Now to test for elemental affinity!"

The old geezer knocked on the tabletop and it split open, and a black basin rose from the centre.

This water basin was not smooth. It seemed to be made of stone, and there was a kind of liquid metal flowing inside that resembled mercury.

"Carefully look into the water!" The old geezer's voice sounded, seemingly carrying an authoritative tone.

Leylin could not help but to divert all his attention towards the centre of the water basin. With his constant focus, the mercury in the middle swirled continuously and turned into a whirlpool, as if a mouth had opened at the bottom.

"Now, tell me, what do you see?"

Leylin's eyes were a little glazed over, "Shadows, and a black coloured whirlpool! And there are red spots near the outer circumference!"

"Anything else?"

"There are also green specks of light in the surrounding area!"

"Is there a lot of green?"

"Not at all! Very little!"

"Okay!" The old geezer snapped his fingers, and Leylin suddenly came back to his senses, "What happened to me!"

"Your test is already over! In the aspect of elemental affinities, you have the highest affinity with the Dark and Shadow elements, after that is the Fire element, and you also have a smidgen of affinity with the Plant element!"

As the old geezer spoke, he rapidly filled in the form and added his handprint.

"Let me give you some advice! Magi are able to use every kind of energy! But only by following the path you have the highest affinity with, can you progress the furthest!"

The old geezer handed the form back to Leylin, "Alright! Your test is over. Walk out from the back entrance and start choosing your academy!"

Leylin bowed, and then left the tent.

As he lifted the canopy at the back, a ray of sunlight came shining down.

"A.I Chip, reproduce the state I was in earlier!"

[...An unknown interference has caused the host to enter a state of hypnosis!]

"As expected!" Leylin's face darkened, and then he exhaled helplessly, "Thankfully, the other party does not have any bad intentions, if not..."

Deep in his heart, his thirst for power only grew more intense.

...

System? Did you get all that?

[Yes]

Then show me my brother's elemental affinities using percentage.

[Name: Leylin Farlier

Elemental Affinities:

Darkness: 90%

Shadows: 90%

Fire: 50%

Plant: 10%]

Oh... it worked. I can see the percentage of his affinities. I wonder what would be my affinities. They say affinities are based on the soul. Since my soul has the system, ...no... let's not assume things... I don't want to be dissapointed.

"You. Stop daydreaming and give me your form."

Seely was deep in his thoughts when an annoyed ancient cold voice suddenly got his attention.

"Yes, I'm sorry! I was just nervous."

The witch gave the same instruction to Seely.

Seely did what he was instructed.

Cold. Colder than the carriage floor.

'Why do I even keep on thinking about that carriage floor? Am I traumatized?'

'This feeling... this could be an a good massage for the hands if they only lowered the force.'

At first Seely was fine but his head gradually hurt but not to the same amount to Leylin.

The crystal ball glowed brighter and brighter little by little.

"Another good one! Don't let go!" The witch stared attentively at the crystal ball.

For Seely, the pain was still just a headache pain and a mild one. The crystal ball in Seely's hands grew brighter and brighter.

At this time Seely knew this was the moment Leylin finished but being considered third grade isn't enough for him. The benefits of being considered a 4th grade is much more even if Seely already knows his true Aptitude is 5th grade.

'Let's wait for a few seconds and until the crystal ball grow a bit more brighter.'

...

'Oh, That's bright enough. Time to act.'

"NOOOOOOOOOOO, I can't take this feeling anymore! Stop! STOP! I'M DYING!"

"Well done! So you are at this level? Too bad, a little more and you would be considered as a 5th grade." The witch nodded her head. She took out the same goose feather pen and scribbled on Seely's form.

'Too close. Being a 5th grade is too much attention for me. Too much attention is bad too. 4th grade is the balanced between being important enough but not being considered best.'

"We have categorised the aptitude of the acolytes into five grades, with the first grade as the worst and the fifth grade as the best. You are in the 4th grade, a top ranked grade"

She also made left a mark using her ring on Seely's form.

"You can go now. The examination is over!Next!"

Finished! Now for the real test.

Please give me at least one elemental affinity for the mission reward. It would be wasted if I don't even have one!