The Apptitude Test And The Book.

As Gram and Jez walked to the testing area, Gram took the time to explained the test. "The test is broken down into two parts, endurance and specialization. Endurance measures how much energy you can release at that moment, and the endurance score will be changed every time you become more skilled." Gram lectured on, "specialization tells what type of magic you will be strongest with. Note, everyone can use magic, and there is no limit on what type of magic they can use, but there is no guarantee that they will be good at using it.". The pair turn the corner and continue heading down the street, "The main reason behind the initial test before starting school is to allow the academies scout out promising students. There really is no point in explaining this to you is there? Your only six and haven't even entered school yet.". It was true that most of that information had been lost on Jez, but Jake had taken it to heart, even if he was dorment for the foreseeable future.

They turned another corner before arriving at a large gated park. It was rather crowded and at the center was a closed room with one door and a set of guards at said door. "That's the testing room." whispered Gram, "testing should start soon, let sign you in and get you your mage card.", "What's a mage card?" asked Jez. "A mage card is the device that will test your aptitude the only reason we are here because it has a specific process needed to bind it to a user.", replied Gram. The pair walked over to a table off twords the side, there was a young man standing behind the table, there were he had a small box and a clipboard in his hand. Gram walked up, "I would like to register one Jez Terask for the magic aptitude test.", "That will cost 12 silvers, and I need a drop of his blood.", Gram took out a small pouch and set it on the table, whilst Jez took a pen knife and with practiced ease, slit his finger, dropping to drops of blood on to the small white card in the young man's hand. The blood looked off, too dark, too red, the young man looked at the drops suspiciously, but eventually shrugged. With a burst of unseen pressure, white rune wrapped around the card and it became an ID, it had Jez's face, name, birthday, and hometown, there were two blanks on the card, both on the top right corner near his face. As if sensing his curiosity, the young man said, "those two blanks are for the type of magic you specialize in and your mana level or endurance".

At this time, there was a loud shout as one of the guards stepped forward, "Everyone listen up, you will step forward in a single file line towards the door then show me your mage card. After we clear you, you will step into the room. After you leave the room when the test is done, you are free to go", almost instantly, the crowd organized into a line and people were allowed to enter the room.

Because Jez arrived at a recently, it took a while for him to get to the front of the line, and when he stepped up to the guards his excitement had jumped to nervousness. He slowly walked up to the building, it was made of some kind of stone, the door was slowly pushed open. Inside was a well decorated room in the center of which was a table with a plate on top. At the far side of the room sat 6 old men, they gestured Jez to the table at the center of the room. On closer inspection, the Plate had a slot for the mage card, which Jez quickly put in, as well as to hand prints, which he set his hands on, as soon as he did so, he felt a sharp pain in his finger tips and palm. This pain eventually gave way to a numb sensation that spread throughout his body, when it was done, it all of a sudden collapsed back into the plate and another set of white runes showed up on the mage card again. The blanks were no more replaced by a one and a spiral of red, silver, and dark crimson.

A gentle murmur rose from the group in the back of the room. The man of the center of the group stepped forward, "three aspect specialization, metal, fire, and an unknown.". Unknown aspects were rare but not unheard of, most of the time they were just more specified versions of another aspect, like how blood manipulation is under both metal and water manipulation. The one under strength was to be expected, the kid was six years old, anything else and he could be described as a monster. All of the people in viewing made a slight note to keep an eye on the kid, two known aspects and one unknown was above avrage to say the least.

After he got his card back, Jez left the testing room to find his father, it was a rather simple task as Gram was right in plain view from the door. They met up and Jez showed him his mage card, "Three aspects, that's pretty good, looks like we will have to get you some theory books". Because the nature of magic is from within oneself, the use of spells and skills developed by others is extremely inefficient, it's a good place to start at but terrible to learn, so instead of spell books there are magic theory books, these explain the underlying principles of certain types of magic and how they can be applied.

The pair made their way to the bookstore, it was attached to the library and was very large. As the two walked they were greeted by a young lady, "Hi, how can we help you today", "I was looking for a set of magic theory books for my son here, he just took his aptitude test and we would like to get the aproprete books for him". As this conversation was playing out, Jez had his mind else where, there seemed to be something in the bookstore that called to him. "hey, Jez, the books we are looking for are on the second floor", Gram peered at him. "Yeah", Jez sounded distracted as they climb the stairs and to the theory books of the store, but the farther he got, the stronger the call. When Gram found a book on metal manipulation, Jez seemed far away, when Gram found the theory book on fire, Jez was staring off in one direction. "Jez, you've been waiting for this day for ages, and when it comes, your mind is gone. What's got your attention", "Father, I don't know, it's like something is calling me over, but I don't know what". This was the first time Gram had encountered such a situation, but the two continued to head twords the call, acording to Jez.

After walking a fair dictance, the pair found an old, worn out theory book, it had a dark red cover with what seemed to be red veins that contrasted the rest of the cover, "Can we get that?", Jez was quiet, but Gram could clearly hear him. "I can't see why not, it looks like an intriguing book.", the rest of the trip to the book store was uneventful, the moment they got home, Jez locked himself in his room with his books.