Arcane Prism

"I am thankful of this opportunity, father. But I will need a little time to prepare myself. After all, I might not see you and lily for a long time. I will also miss this house."

"That won't be—"

"Actually, that's a good idea," Thaddeus said. "I am leaving in a few days. In the meantime, you should spend more time with your father. The academy is far from here, make sure you don't have any regrets after you go."

Aldric couldn't say anything else after that. He wanted Malachi to leave as soon as possible, but delaying it for a few days shouldn't be a problem. 

"But, I sensed some sort of magical presence around you Malachi. It's been bothering me ever since I entered your room and noticed that. Would you care to tell me about it?"

"Magical presence? I haven't learned any magic yet, professor."

Aldric frowned.

"Every person actually has magical presence around them, one is more distinguishable than the others. Yours are the distinguishable type which mean there was a chance that you may have magical talent."

"Magical talent?" Lily's head suddenly came from behind Aldric's leg.

"That's correct. Everyone has different magical talent. Talents were divided into different ranks. Some region had a different name for these ranks, but the academic world agreed to just simply used the alphabet as the order of rankings. From F to A rankings, from least talented, to the most talented. Although talent does not determine how far one could reach in the future, they had far better chances. A high magical talent could learn magical skills and comprehend them to a higher level much faster."

"Does Malachi has a high magical talent?" Lily asked innocently.

"That might be possible. Have your talent been tested before?"

Malachi shook his head. He had never believed in talent and therefore didn't even consider to test it before. In his past life, he worked as hard as he possibly can to gain his strength. All of his achievement were all possible because of his effort and hard work.

"Would you mind if I test your talent?"

Malachi became a little curios of his talent but he shook his head thinking that it didn't matter.

"You should test your talent, Malachi. You're a bright boy. I am sure your mother birthed a talented child, so don't be shy." Aldric scoffed inside. Malachi's mother was a woman without any remarkable magical talent. She was terrible at magic, so terrible that she didn't even bother to learn about it and instead chose to delve into business.

Professor Thaddeus turned to look at Malachi and smiled. "What do you think?"

Malachi relented and agreed. He was a little curios anyway. "Alright."

The professor then snapped his fingers and then light seemed to gather in the air before a crystal orb appeared in its place.

Lily's eyes lit up when she saw the professor showed his magical power. She rarely saw magic with her own eyes. Most of the guards here cannot use magic after all, and even though her dad learned some magic from the church, he had never shown her.

"This…" Malachi's eyes lit up. The crystal orb in front of his eyes right now was called Arcane Prism. It possessed a unique ability to discern and reveal innate magical talent of any individual. There were many artifacts that could determine someone's talent, and they weren't that hard to find, but this orb was special.

The orb had renowned accuracy and never failed to unveil a person's true magical potential, but the reason that made it legendary was its ability to change one's talent.

Legend had it that the Arcane Prism was a gift from celestial beings, bestowed upon the world to help and guide magicians towards their destined paths. It was said that the orb drew its power from the very fabric of the cosmos. It was usually used to help powerful magician to break through their limit and reach a higher form of strength. This artifact was usually guarded by powerful entities and shouldn't even be shown to the world because it was considered to be the lifeblood of an academy or even a nation.

Its existence was so secretive in fact that he didn't even know about its existence until he massacred all the students of a famous magic academy and killed its headmaster. The artifact was too precious that the headmaster decided to destroy it before he could put his hands on it.

'The headmaster even sacrificed his life in order to destroy that thing rather than letting me have it. To this day, I still don't know how the Arcane Prism actually work.'

The fact that this man could bring such artifacts everywhere he went meant that he must be a powerful magician.

'I couldn't sense his strength at all. The former me would have seen through him with a glance.'

"What is that professor? I have never seen that artifact before," Aldric said.

"It's just another artifact used to determine someone's talent. This one is created by our academy with slightly better accuracy than you find on the market. Don't worry too much about it. Every academy has their own artifact to determine their student's talent." Thaddeus smiled.

Aldric nodded, thinking nothing of it. He didn't know much about the academic world because he put his focus on the political situation of the church.

"Okay, are you ready, Malachi?"

"What should I do?"

"Put both of your hands on the crystal orb and then look into it."

Malachi did as instructed. The crystal orb did not respond at first, but as seconds passed a vivid display of lights and colors appeared. The mix of colors intertwined with each other until it gradually turned into white bright light.

"What is the meaning of this?" Malachi asked.

"This is interesting. The artifact can not only determine your talent, but it can also tell whether an individual has a natural inclination towards a certain elements or magic such as healing arts, illusion, or other disciplines. This white bright light meant that you are suitable to use holy magic, and your talent is the very rare A grade."

"What?" Aldric was shocked.