The Test

William was worried that raising such a question might be sensitive to Berry. He knew she was famous for many things, but not strength and spirit power. And he feared he might have overstepped his boundaries by asking such a question.

Yet unlike what he expected, she gave him a simple glance before her face broke out with laughter. "Is this all? Wow, I thought you were like others."

William didn't know what to say, so he remained silent and waited for her answer.

"It's not a secret anyway," she shrugged and continued with an apparently fake good mood, "I don't know what went wrong, but no matter what I tried, my spirit power never increased an inch no matter what I do. I'm stuck at that bottleneck of ninety-nine spirit power for over a year and half! Can you imagine that? Even my dad asked for all physicians to inspect my case, believing I was poisoned by our enemies. Can you believe that?"

Her true self was a surprise to William. She was cheerful and glowing even when speaking about a matter that would crush anyone.

She was far, far away from the depressed Berry he always heard stories about. If he suspected it before, now he was sure about it. Such a radiant girl would never take her life in less than a month.

"Can I ask you for another thing?" as he confirmed his earlier hunch, he decided to try and see what was wrong with her.

"What? Do you want to try your luck and get that rich reward like many others?" she lightly said but William's expression didn't change. He really decided to help her.

"I just know of a method… It's an ancient one, that I once learnt back when I was in my family," he gave such a white lie to cover up any misunderstanding that might happen later, "do you have a spirit crystal and candle of light with you?"

She didn't say anything and simply touched a bracelet on her right wrist. The eyes of William instantly recognized that extremely valuable storage item, which was considered pricey in the spirit world, very pricey for someone like him.

"Here," she took dozens of crystals and candles out and handed them over to William as if they were dirt, "are they enough?"

"Wow, I only need one from each," he randomly selected one crystal and one candle and waited for her to store the rest away. But unlike what he expected, she didn't retreat her hands.

"Just take them," she said with her kind nature, "I know porters never had any items or supplies with them. I don't know what brought you here in this late hour, but these candles can help in saving your life."

Her kind words and care touched his heart. He looked at her in appreciation while realising that she wouldn't budge if he rejected. So, he simply accepted them. "Thanks," he said while storing everything inside his bag, "now I want you to do as I say."

The method to test the person's spirit must be done by that person. So, he gave back the crystal and candle and explained what she had to do.

She listened with an expression that told him that she took this as an amusement experiment. She didn't hold any hopes for what he wanted to do, mistaking that as a way for him to stay by her side for a much longer, mostly for protection and little for admiration.

Being such a beautiful young lady made her the centre of attention not only in her class, but in many higher classes. Not to mention her strong and wealthy background that made many seek after her.

"Rub it evenly, yes like that," William didn't stand idle and kept guiding her through the entire process before the green material covered the glistering surface of the crystal, "inject your spirit power inside the crystal."

"Then what?" as a little girl waiting for a magic trick, she asked.

"Keep pouring out your spirit power until I say stop," William didn't know if he should laugh or cry at this moment. But he kept instructing her and waited on the side for the result of this simple test of hers.

He already was aware of her spirit type. She had a fire dragon spirit as a direct descendant of her clan.

The moment she injected her spirit power inside the crystal, the green matter vanished, and a change occurred in the centre of the crystal.

Unlike what William experienced, she had ninety-nine white dots shimmering in the centre of the crystal. However, that wasn't what caught his eyes and made them even open wide.

"Wow! There are strange lights inside," Berry never expected this play to turn out to be this fun, "but what are these beautiful lights in there? Red and… golden?" she raised her head in confusion and interest, to be met with the shocked expression over William's face.

"What's wrong?" as she saw his face, she knew something was off. Although she loved the scene inside the crystal, feeling a strange intimacy with those lights hovering around its centre, she only felt anxious when looking at William.

"No wonder! No wonder you couldn't breakthrough before," and when she waited for him to say something funny and amusing, he said something that made her heart clench.

The tone, the attitude, and the expression over William's face told her that he knew what he was speaking about and not simply making it up. She came from a deeply rooted clan, and her knowledge about spirit master ways to assess spirits was unravelled.

Yet the method William used with her right now was new to her. She had never heard of such a method before.

"Phew, I just mistook you for someone else for a brief second," just when that thought flashed over her mind, the thought of William knowing what really was wrong with her, she declined such an idea instantly.

Who was William? He was a weak person, one of the porters. Yes, she felt empathetic towards people like him, but how could she trust that someone as weak as William would know what was wrong with her?

But William didn't mind her last remark and simply raised his head for his eyes to meet hers.

All she saw was a firm look and a mature gaze, one that would never come from a kid of his age, not to mention a weak porter kid like him.

"I know what's holding you back, and I also know of a method that can help you breakthrough."

At this moment, even her breaths stopped for a long moment before she inhaled and exhaled in a ragged way. "Come on, stop saying such dangerous stuff," she patted her chest before reluctantly extending the crystal back to him.