Incompatible Arcane Spirit

Selene stood before the two old men with her hand on the Arcane Crystal Sphere. Her breathing was slow and rhythmic, and her face showed no changes in expression.

However, while on the outside she appeared calm, inside she was experiencing an inner turmoil. The moment she placed her hand on the Arcane Crystal, she began to feel something strange course through her body. It was an incredibly off-putting feeling, as though snakes made of energy were flowing through her veins and towards her heart.

In her mind, she focused on her heartbeat as the two old men instructed. After some time, she felt like she could see a faint golden light appear. It was located right in front of her heart, in her chest, and the energy flowing through her veins all converged into the golden light.

Looking closer, Selene could make out the outline of a small golden egg with different inscriptions carved into the shell. This egg gave off almost no energy, and Selene could barely even tell it was there. As more and more light gathered in the light sphere, the egg slowly became clearer and clearer.

Outside of her thoughts, though, the crowd of children was watching Selene with bated breath. Each of them was anticipating the type of spirit Selene would possess.

Time passed slowly. Gradually, 30 seconds had passed… then a full minute… then 5 minutes! Once the time hit five minutes, all of the children began to whisper amongst themselves with excitement. From Malcolm's earlier awakening, they had deduced that the longer it took, the more powerful the arcane spirit was.

For Selene to take a full 5 minutes as opposed to Malcolms 1 minute, just how powerful would her Arcane Spirit be? Could it possibly be a high-grade spirit?

Even the two old men in front of Selene had fully focused on her. The meditating man had his eyes wide open, staring at Selene with expectation, while the stern-looking man remained expressionless, though a hint of shock could be seen in his eyes.

Finally, after a full ten minutes, Selene opened her eyes. The two old men both stood up, looking toward Selene with great expectation.

"Wow! She actually took a full ten minutes to awaken!"

"Just how powerful will her spirit be!?"

"Could it really be a high-grade spirit?"

The excited voices of the children could be heard, and even Malcolm had a dumbfounded expression on his face. It was unclear what he was thinking exactly.

Finally, in front of everyone, the Arcane Crystal lit up with a golden light… but everyone was shocked by what happened next. The golden light… was just far too weak! It was barely visible, like a flicker of candlelight. Not only that but there was no sound that came from it like the rest of the spirits.

Very slowly, the light began to grow until eventually, everyone could see a small, fist-sized golden egg. The strange inscriptions were no longer visible, making the egg look extremely… ordinary.

Selene looked at the egg with a confused expression. She had never heard of anything like this, and judging by its appearance, this spirit seemed very weak. Gradually, hope fell from her heart, and she felt as though a pit was forming in her stomach.

Finally, the children couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Is… Is that an egg?"

"An egg? It looks so… ordinary."

All of the children felt confused. If the longer it took to awaken, the more powerful a spirit was, then why was a spirit that took ten minutes to awaken just a small golden egg with nothing remarkable about it?

The two old men standing in front of Selene instantly cast looks of disappointment at each other. Both of them had been doing this job for a very long time, so they had seen countless Arcane Spirits awaken. Without a doubt, though, egg-type spirits were the weakest and most disappointing spirits out there.

When a person awakened an egg-type arcane spirit, it meant one of two things. One, the spirit was simply a dud, and unable to awaken, or two, the spirit was incompatible with the person, and hence could never truly awaken, staying in its egg form for the rest of the person's life.

It seemed that it was the latter case for this Arcane Spirit, as the egg still had some fluctuations, meaning it wasn't just a dud.

Taking a deep breath, the originally meditating old man returned to his seated position and sighed disappointedly.

"It seems like your luck is truly poor this time, little one."

This time, the old man couldn't find any supportive words. This caused Selene's heart to sink as she looked at him.

The meditating old man had given supportive words even to the children who had awoken bottom grade Arcane Spirits, telling them to remain hopeful and work hard. Yet, for Selene, he couldn't muster a single word of condolence.

Finally, the stern-looking old man just shook his head and called out.

"Incompatible Grade Arcane Spirit. Unknown type."

His cold voice caused Selene's body to shiver for a moment.

"What do you mean, Incompatible Grade? What is an incompatible grade?"

Selene couldn't help but ask the stern-looking old man, her voice trembling slightly.

"Aii… Little one, it means that your spirit is incompatible with your body. Because even after awakening, it is still in an egg form, which means that your body is not capable of awakening it. In other words… you have no future in training with the Arcane Spirit."

"Not capable… of using my Arcane Spirit?"

Selene fell into a daze, her ears felt as though they were ringing. Without really realizing it, she began to walk off the stage, and as she approached the crowd of children, all of them looked at her with different expressions.

Some of them looked at her with pity, some with confusion, and some even looked at her with contempt. Malcolm was expressionless as he watched Selene.

Exiting through the crowd of children, Selene simply kept on walking. Seeing this, a few of the children reached out to try and stop her, but a cold voice made them freeze.

"Stop, do not bother. She will come to an understanding on her own."

The stern-looking old man stopped the children, his expression not fluctuating in the slightest.

As though nothing had happened at all, he continued on in the same cold voice.

"Next in line, please step onto the stage."