69 Chapter 69

What left Jeremiah astonished was the fact that the device he was carrying stopped as soon as it was started.

He looked up to see a gate already opened in the direction he was pointing.

How fast was that? Was this fellow lucky? He had already prepared a gate and the direction just happened to be the one he just chose?

He needed to test him again to make sure.

He cleared his throat and spoke to Aaron.

"There was a little issue with the time measuring device and it wasn't able to record the time. We need to redo the test."

Aaron agreed. It was a normal thing.

Jeremiah was ready this time. He had already chosen a direction. And in the other hand he had the time measuring artifact.

"Tell me when you are ready."

"Ready. "

"Now!"

Result was still the same. The artifact stopped as soon as it was started. Jeremiah looked at the time. It was . 2 seconds.

What a freakish timing? He had seen a lot in his life. But he had never seen anything like this. This was almost instantaneous opening of gates.

He was able to somehow control his expressions because of his experience. He once again cleared his throat and asked to move on to the next test.

Aaron knew he had scored an impression. Jeremiah tried to hide his expressions, but he wasn't totally successful. Aaron had caught hint of surprise. His instant gates were really good. He knew it. And looking at the surprised expression he was rather pleased.

Next test was a simple one. He had to at once move as many pieces of sticks in front of him as he could. This was to test the number of partitions he had.

When Aaron had entered the desolate area, he only had three partitions. But being forced into such a area where surving each day was an achievement in itself had forged Aaron's will and mind. He had to move more than one weapon at a time and sometimes had to open gates as well to escape while attacking.

He had successfully increased his partitions to 6.

This had once again shocked Jeremiah. A 17 year old boy has 6 partitions? That's a genius level talent. And those freak gates? The Mage Association made a good move to secure this talent. He needed to congratulate Park for this.

"Okay, so we are done with your non combat evaluations. Before proceeding to the next round, I need to confirm one thing more. "

"Do you think you have created a spell which you think is different from the ones you have been taught?"

Jeremiah didn't know that Aaron had amnesia. Else he wouldnt have asked that question.

"No, I don't think I have. " Aaron replied. Infact Aaron had. He had created a spell to go through the barrier. He knew he can go through any walls albeit a little painfully.

He chose to hide this part of his ability. Such an ability and his appearance in the forbidden forest, would definitely give rise to suspicions about his origin.

"Alright." Jeremiah noted down some stuff on a piece of paper. Not having a new spell was very common. Very few people invented new spells. And out of those spells, the spells which had real practical uses were even rare.

"Next is the combat test. Do you want to proceed to it?"

"Yes, I do." Replied Aaron.

"Alright, there is three things we test for combat mages. "

"How quick one is able to attack. "

"The damage output on a single target."

"And the damage output in an area. "

"Now, the ratings once again aren't accurate. Someone might have a strong enough defense but doesn't have too high of an attack or vice versa. That doesn't necessarily makes them strong. Another thing is movement. Wind mages are almost impossible to aim. They are too agile with their spells."

"The ratings give just a general overview. There are more comprehensive testing facilities in the higher tier cities. So, if you are not satisfied with the result, you can go there. "

Jeremiah knew one thing. Mages who were weaker in combat always refused to believe the result. Saying their ability couldn't be tested properly. So Jeremiah always pointed them towards the cities with better facilities. So he did the same with Aaron.

Aaron had good results with non combat tests. But usually the true mages werent as good as in combat. Their speciality truly lied elsewhere.

Take space mages for example. They could make space rings, gates and could lighten heavy objects. They were really good to have around. But in a combat situation, they lacked an attacking ability.

Jeremiah didn't want Aaron to be too sad at his results in case he didn't perform well. So by saying that there were better testing facilities, he was also giving him hope that he could probably test once again and gain better results.

"So, lets start with the combat tests."