The Pyramid and Sphere

"Are you sure this is the right person? I thought your son was supposed to be around five years old, William. He looks like he could be eight years old at this point," Apollyon's coarse voice rang out as he had to double-check that his eyes hadn't failed on him.

Giving a proud belly laugh, William exclaimed, "It's the right person, all right! Raz is just my son! Of course, he's gonna grow up faster! Anyways didn't you say that you had to do this quickly?"

"Ah, right. Let us get started," Apollyon replied as he seemed to unfocus for a split second as a pyramid-shaped metallic, rune-engraved object appeared out of nowhere into his outstretched hands.

Wide-eyed, Raz inquired, "What was that?"

"Ah, I see your father never explained," Apollyon replied as he held out his hand to show a gold ring that had a bunch of intricate etchings on it. "You see, this here is what is called a storage ring, although it can go by a variety of names.

"It contains a small extradimensional space or pocket dimension that can be used to store things, but I wouldn't get too excited just yet.

"These things are very rare to find, and even the ones that you will find don't hold a lot. Mine is probably one of the biggest in this entire kingdom, and it only holds around 40 cubic feet."

"Woah, then what about you, father?" Raz curiously asked.

Coughing out of embarrassment, William held up one finger as Apollyon hid a tiny smirk and dejectedly sighed, "One foot…"

Although Raz didn't expect much, one foot did seem quite small in terms of storage.

The silence hung in the air like a blanket until Apollyon pointed to the pyramid-shaped object and stated, "I don't have all day. Please place both your hands on the pyramid, and don't be surprised if your body feels an odd sensation."

Complying, Raz placed both his still-small hands onto the pyramid. Right as he placed his hand on the small pyramid, the object seemed to awaken as the hundreds of runes etched into the bronze-colored metal roared alive.

Soon a tingling sensation spread from his left arm and spread throughout Raz's body as if his entire being was being judged before the feeling guided itself into his right hand before disappearing back into the object.

The pyramid, with its seven layers, started to light up an almost neon blue that made Raz squint his eyes due to sheer brightness.

Before even blinking, the first three layers automatically lit up without a fuss as the light seemed to be fighting for its survival as it continued to arduously travel up the pyramid to the next layers. Soon a fourth and a fifth layer lit up after a dozen seconds.

A loud crash rang out as Raz looked past the pyramid and saw his father fall over with a shocked expression on his face as he kept muttering, "An incomparable genius. A prodigy. A peerless talent."

Meanwhile, Apollyon wasn't faring any better as his hands trembled, but his expression revealed his true feelings as his eyes widened in disbelief while he seemed rooted in place, frozen from what he was seeing.

However, a smile seemed to paint his face for a split second before it was gone just as fast.

Like two forces clashing to see who would come out on top, the neon blue light continued to fight for its place on the sixth layer until it finally broke through, and without a break, it tried to make its way to the final roadblock: The final layer at the tip of the pyramid.

This final layer was no joke as the light seemed to be stuck for seconds, a minute, and five minutes, until finally, on the seventh minute, the light broke through to the tip of the pyramid, and a blinding light poured out into the room until it slowly faded away.

As the light faded away, both Apollyon and William stayed silent like they had been frozen in time itself with paralysis.

At the same time, Raz had no clue of what the seven layers meant exactly, although he could gather he had done something amazing from the reactions of the two men.

"Uh, what exactly happened?" Raz asked, trying to get details as to what had just happened.

Still slightly dazed and out of, Apollyon responded with his coarse voice, "What I pulled out is an object that tests the various aspects a magic circuit should have, like being complete, healthy, quality, durability, strength, and more.

"Of course, these factors usually change as a person gets stronger and progresses further along as an apprentice, but Academies generally use devices like these to assess students before they start their first year to assess their physical potential and talent.

"Having a strong, healthy magic circuit is a talent as well. Normally this particular device I use is calibrated so that by the time you are ready to graduate to a Fledgling Magus, a person should be able to light up all seven layers.

"Normally, by the time people reach the final layer, they are already well into their fourth year of instruction and a full-grown adult. Yet here I stand in front of a five-year-old boy who has already lit all seven layers."

Taking in all the information, Raz looked surprised at hearing the actual magnitude of his achievement and questioned, "It's really that impressive?"

For the first time in minutes, William spoke up, "It's beyond impressive. It's unbelievable, freakish, and monstrous. The sheer waves this unprecedented show of talent and potential would create could possibly cause this very Kingdom to fall into a very dangerous situation.

"We must keep this under wrap for the Kingdom's safety as well as ours."

"Ha, always quick on the uptake, aren't you, William? It's one of the things I enjoyed about you as a student and disciple," Apollyon praised with a little smirk before once again turning serious, "but yes, this information should likely never leave this room. No one can know of this outside the three of us."

Frowning slightly, William replied, "Not even F–"

"I mean, she is trustworthy, but do you want to leave such dangerous information with her? It could expose her to danger. Of course, you can boast about Raz's talent and genius, but you will have to water it down. The only person who could be trusted with this information is your father, as not many dare mess with him within the Kingdom," Apollyon replied hastily.

Before anything else could be said, Apollyon picked the Pyramid back up before it disappeared in a blur into the ring on his finger.

But before anyone else could inquire, a crystal ball the size of a basketball with a small silver base to keep it from rolling if set down replaced the pyramid as Apollyon gestured towards Raz.

Repeating the process with the pyramid but instead on this crystal ball object, the same tingling sensation spread from his left hand but instead of going through the rest of his body. The sensation went straight into his other hand before returning to the crystal ball a few times.

Both Apollyon and William seemed to be staring intensely at the crystal, seemingly waiting for something to happen.

Still, after a dozen or so seconds passed by and nothing happened, both sighed.

Thinking something bad had happened, Raz's smile suddenly dulled as he asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Not necessarily," William slowly replied as he continued to look at the ceiling while in deep thought of how to explain.

Interjecting, Apollyon abruptly began, "It's not bad. It's just more complicated. Let me give you some context here. Magus can theoretically do as they want with mana. However, complications can arise when one gets into the details.

"Generally, people have natural affinities that develop whether it be by experience, talent, personality, or by something unknown. These affinities do affect a Magus in all sorts of ways.

"For example, let's say a Mage/Magus with an affinity for fire wants to carry out a water spell. It would take him a hypothetical ten seconds to cast this spell, as well as a decent amount of effort and concentration.

"Meanwhile, if this exact same Magus with the exact same skills had a water affinity to carry out this water spell, it would take him only a second or so and be much more natural and easier to carry out.

"Essentially executing a spell that is not to your affinities is harder like doing complex math while you could be working with spells that cater to your affinity that would be as easy as basic addition.

"That crystal just now tested for your strongest affinity. If it were fire, it would've turned red. If it were water, it would've turned blue, and so on.

"No reaction like just now means the affinity is something outside the basic elements like water, fire, earth, and air. Of course, there are common subsets like acid for water and metal for earth.

"The good thing with having your strongest affinity be something simple is that you know what it is, and it's fairly easy to get insights on your countless predecessors.

"Meanwhile, if your affinity is something rare and can not be detected by something like this crystal, then it's a high-risk, high reward.

"You'll have to find it yourself and gain insights yourself but the powers exhibited can be greater and often surprise opponents who have never faced similar magic before.

"Of course, a person has multiple, varying strengths of affinities and even some aversions, but you'll experience them sooner or later."