Chapter 22 You mean I have a tree root somewhere in my body?

"That's good John, very good." 

"It is?" John asked as he opened his eyes again. 

"My god did they teach you nothing about magic in school?" Tanelia said, putting her hand to her forehead before sighing. 

"No," John replied flatly before continuing. 

"For the human race we have to be fifteen before we can take the test to see if we have a capacity for magic." 

"As I'm sure you're aware, the test is done by sending a small amount of magic through your body and seeing if there is a reaction or it just disappears." 

"Forcing magic into an individual's body before they're old enough can cause serious damage to that individual's body because of their incomplete mana veins." 

"While I was still fourteen a few months away from turning fifteen the second youngest in my year turned fifteen and the school decided it was time to conduct the test." 

"When I reminded my teacher that I was still not of age they said." 

"Oh, right you're in this year aren't you, well whatever am sure you will be fine.' Before leaving with a chuckle." 

"In the end I had to decide if I should take the test and cripple myself or not risk it as I still had to work to eat." 

"In the end I decided not to take the test, I figured that even if I did have a capacity for magic which is actually only around a fifty percent chance in the human race, what good would it do me if I was crippled." 

As John finished his explanation Tanelia and Alea had angry disgusted looks on their faces. 

"I'm so sorry to hear they treated you that way John." Alea said before giving him a kind smile. 

John just shrugged his shoulders before replying. 

"I was used to their attitude towards me by then, anyway what does seeing that tree mean?" 

Tanelia took a moment to calm herself before answering with a smile. 

"The tree you saw was 'Yggdrasil' the tree of life and magic." 

"The elves believe that our race originated from Yggdrasil and that when we finally die, we return to her." 

"You being able to see Yggdrasil means that you have a piece of her root inside you and you have the capacity to use magic." 

John's eyes widened in surprise as the two women thought he was surprised about being able to use magic, however his next question made them laugh. 

"You mean I have a tree root somewhere in my body?" John asked in a worried tone as he started to pat his body trying to feel it. 

The two women burst into laughter at John's reaction as they had never heard anything so silly. 

Normally people of the other races were ecstatic when they heard they could use magic, after all only the elves were guaranteed to be able to use magic. 

John, however, was worried that something strange had somehow found its way into his body. 

"Calm down John, that's not what mother meant." Alea said while still chuckling. 

"It's more of a spiritual root than an actual one, all magic in our bodies comes from our root as it is that root that connects us to Yggdrasil, without that root we can't use magic." 

John sighed in relief before saying. 

"I just made a fool of myself, didn't I?" 

"Not at all, though it is strange you did not read up on this in the school library." Tanelia stated. 

"There were no books on magic in the library, the section that was supposed to contain the books was completely empty." 

""Hmm strange, as far as I know the human race still allows anyone to read about magic even if they can't use it, I will have to ask Alexia about this." Tanelia said with a thoughtful look. 

"More likely they took them away so John could not read them just in case he did indeed have the capacity to use magic." Alea scoffed. 

"Regardless let's not dwell on this now, first we should get your medical examination started since we need to check how bad the poisoning is." Tanelia stated before continuing 

"It is advised not to use magic while infected with the MK VI poison since it interferes with the magic circuits, before we first discovered the poison several people died from using magic because of it." 

"Come John this way, we will head over to get you checked out straight away and also sort out your access band upgrade." 

After which Tanelia led them out of the large hall and along some wide corridors. 

John looked away examining the palace while Alea walked beside him and watched him as he examined everything. 

The palace was not what John expected, although he had not really read anything about the elves' palace, he expected it to be grandiose like he had heard the human palace in Eclipse city was. 

This place was minimalist in that it only had a bare minimum of furniture, a few chairs and tables, maybe a couch, the only thing it had a decent amount of were pictures on the walls.

John suspected that this was because they lived inside a living tree. 

As they walked down the hallway John saw something from the corner of his eye that made him say. 

"What the hell!" 

*** 

In the study of Eclipse city palace, the Empress Alexia Bristle was discussing the matter of investigation into her privy council with her oldest daughter Adria and her personal maid and assistant Roberta. 

"We have been here for several hours now, what do we know?" Alexia asked. 

"Not much Majesty, because you are unable to give us much information and it is still limited to just the three of us, we have only had time to look into the bank records of Minister Joseph Dawn." Roberta replied. 

"Unfortunately, until Tia lifts the silencing order, we cannot reveal anything, or the human race will be punished more." Alexia replied before asking. 

"What did you find in his bank records?" 

"There are several suspicious transfers of money to Minister Dawn with regular installments coming from one Malcolm Thomas that started six years ago." 

"Does Malcolm Thomas have a son named Dean Thomas and run a mine in Genesis for the Dawnscape guild?" Adria asked. 

"That's correct." Roberta confirmed 

Alexia and Adria looked at each other, both realizing the same thing. 

"Why six years ago?" Adria asked 

"That was when Minister Dawn took over as Minister for the Dawnscape region." Alexia answered before continuing. 

"Roberta, I want Minister Dawn placed under house arrest as soon as Tia makes her judgment, also look into Dawn's predecessor." 

"House arrest mother? Is that not too lenient? Adria asked.