Aptitude (1)

Laurellius stared at Avarosa intently in silence. Silence ensued until Laurellius asked: 

"W-What is that supposed to mean..?"

Laurellius asked with furrowed brows. However, his voice stuttered.

Avarosa's eyes narrowed as she stared back at him. Her gaze was nowhere near friendly.

And indeed, Avarosa was very displeased. Perhaps it was her fortune to find someone with an Innate Domain, yet he turned out to be a spineless, combat-inexperienced, weak-willed brat. However, that wasn't what irked her the most.

It was the fact that he wasn't doing things of his own free will.

Avarosa hated that aspect within a person. She refused to believe in the notion of self-sacrifice. She had experienced way too much to believe in such bullshit.

Yet Laurellius just had to be a person like that. Were the heavens messing with her? Well, if it was, then she would tear it down if she could. The heavens, after all, had never been fair.

'If it was fair, I would not be in this lowly place for mortals…' Avarosa thought as hatred once again welled up inside her.

However, she swallowed the hatred and focused on Laurellius. She simply couldn't afford to let him stay naive. She needed to recover her Element as fast as she could. And in order to do that, she needed Laurellius' help.

'Not to mention my soul is dependent on his spirit.'

Indeed, she was taking 'life' from his spirit. Though it wasn't much as she didn't have an Element, it was still severely slowing down his growth. The power Laurellius was currently gaining wasn't even a tenth of what he should have gained from his Innate Domain. Innate Domains were simply that powerful.

However…

"It is not my place to answer for you, nor am I interested in spoon-feeding your answers," Avarosa said to Laurellius in a cold voice, and she then turned to Veronica.

"Veronica woman… add him in this best class you speak off."

Veronica was surprised as she raised a brow, but she declined: "I'm afraid I cannot do as you say. The boy needs to decide for himself." she said as she looked at Laurellius.

However…

"Indeed. However, he will refuse." Avarosa stated.

"Then wh--"

"Because that's inexcusable. I refuse his refusal, so he will do as I say."

"Eh?" Fran uttered in dumbfound.

"Hm?" Veronica too was surprised.

"..." meanwhile, Nell went silent with wide eyes. She was thinking whether to call her big sister or not. She seemed more reliable than her Rell.

"H-Hey! Don't decide--" Laurellius was about to snap at her, but he was cut off.

"Three…" Avarosa spoke in an expressionless tone, but anger was oozing from her, "That makes the third time, Plebeian. I have told you many times; I do not take kindly to disrespect. You have two choices; accept, or die."

"Hey, Y-You've got to be joking...right?" Laurellius asked, but it was answered with a silent glare.

She was serious.

Laurellius turned to Nell but saw that she had fallen to the floor. Sleeping.

His eyes widened in alarm, "Hey! What did you do to Nell?!"

Avarosa snorted. With a heartless smile, she spoke: "It was not hard to imitate; Sleep magic, was it? The Arts you practice are surprisingly adaptable and easy to use. Perhaps I should learn more."

Laurellius gritted his teeth at her words. How did she learn something so complicated from that one glance?! It was unfair! Even just memorizing the nodes for that spell took Laurellius 3 weeks!

And he didn't even see her make gestures not chants! And when did she connect the magical nodes?!

But now that he thought of it, didn't he want to enter the Elite Class? Why was he arguing with her? 

'What was the point of angering her when we clearly have the same goals?' he thought, 'Isn't it just pointless?'

Indeed, it was pointless. He had acted only to preserve his pride, but it wasn't like he wouldn't benefit from it.

After a short deliberation, Laurellius finally decided: "Fine… I'll do it."

He agreed.

Avarosa was a bit surprised by his answer, but it was convenient. At least she didn't need to pointlessly kill someone in order to force him to agree. And to be honest, she was quite fond of his little sister. Innocent, untainted, free from scheming thoughts; she reminded her of someone.

Someone who would never return…

Once again, hatred welled up in her, but she swallowed it down. It was far from a time yet. This emotion is best released at an appropriate moment. Like heavenly wine, she should let it take it's time to ferment itself into something much, much sweeter.

She turned to Veronica, and spoke: "And that's his answer."

"..." Veronica was speechless, but she quickly recomposed herself. It wasn't her first time seeing unreasonableness.

With a sigh, Veronica agreed. "Alright, now the last thing is to test your accurate aptitudes. Though you can do it tomorrow, will you take it now?"

"It's best if we get it over today," Avarosa spoke on Laurellius' behalf.

Veronica made a wry smile, "Very well. Then please wait for us outside." she said to Avarosa and Laurellius.

Without any further words, Avarosa immediately began to move towards the door. Laurellius and Nell followed.

The door made a small creak, and it then clicked as it closed.

***

The moment Laurellius and Avarosa left, Veronica quickly snapped her fingers and a barrier began to wrap the room, preventing sound from leaking.

When the room was finally covered, she immediately let out a heavy sigh and began panting in deep breaths. Her skin began to sweat, and she could hear her heartbeat thunder inside her ears.

The two students who remained, Fran and Hilda supported her and asked in concern: 

"H-Headmaster! Are you alright?"

"Headmaster, please take a hold of yourself."

Veronica brushed their hands gently and shook her head.

"I'm alright. If anything, I'd like to thank you for remaining silent in the discussion earlier."

Fran shook her head, "No. I cannot accept your gratitude. We were unable to help other than keep our silence. I'm truly sorry, Headmaster."

"No, even I hadn't expected such a monster would exist. And she even knew about my race, so it's safe to assume that she knows about my race's Arts," she said in consolation, she then asked:

"How about you, Young Fran. What do you think of her?"

Fran pondered for a while, then answered: "I… I don't know. In the first place, she only revealed what she wanted us to see."

Indeed. Despite the erratic flow of the conversation, the girl named Avarosa had deflected the entire flow of the conversation away from her.

With a serious tone, Fran explained: "Her methods were simple but very effective. When she needed it, she threatened, insulted, added new information along with the mix, and even distracted everyone with her interaction with Laurellius."

Veronica nodded. It was indeed that. She even concluded on her own that it was impossible to probe information from the girl. She wondered just what exactly was her identity… 

Meanwhile, Hilda was curious about something.

"If that was the case, why not just an directly? She shouldn't be able to avoid the topic unless she outright refuses, right?"

Veronica stared at Hilda for a while, then sighed. She was too naive.

"Young Hilda, do you think YOU would be able to do that?"

"That is!.... No. But if it's you--"

"Impossible." Veronica cut off. "I hate to admit it, but my instincts scream danger about her. Most likely, I would not be able to beat her in battle."

"What!?.. Not even you, Headmaster?.." Hilda's eyes widened. It was impossible. This was the Headmaster of Arcanum Academy City! How is it possible for her to lose to a mere girl?!

She was the Witch of the Grand Arcana!

Yet the person-in-question only shook her head. "There are far more things I still don't know about the world, so it might be possible that the girl isn't human. Or perhaps a grandmaster that had changed her outer appearance."

She then turned to Fran.

"Young Fran, I advice you to avoid coming in contact with her as much as possible."

***

Laurellius waited for quite a while until Veronica finally left her office. "I'm sorry for taking long. I had a few things to organize and I needed Young Fran's help."

Laurellius scratched his head. "Umm… We could've just helped you, though? You didn't need to be considerate."

Veronica smiled at Laurellius. He was indeed a good boy. Naive, but a good person nevertheless. She wondered just how did he get entangled with someone like the Avarosa girl. From their interactions, it didn't seem he's voluntarily following her. Was he being threatened?

Well, no matter the case, she needed to keep an eye on the boy.

"I can't do that, Young Laurellius. You and Lady Avarosa aren't students yet, so I can't possibly let you do a student's job." She then turned to Nell who was being carried piggyback by Laurellius, "Besides, your sister--am I correct? I think you should focus more on her."

Laurellius made a wry smile. She couldn't exactly refute her words.

"Now then," Veronica spoke, "let's head directly to the testing room, shall we?"

Laurellius turned to Avarosa. Her eyes were closed as she crossed her arms. It was as if she was saying 'Hurry and get on with it!'.

He took it as a signal for confirmation, then nodded to Veronica.

Veronica nodded back, and snapped her fingers. And after that, they vanished from where they stood.

***

When Laurellius opened his eyes, white filled his vision. It was completely opposite from the pitch-black world Laurellius saw when he first met Avarosa. He looked around, and saw everyone else standing behind him. Or was he the one behind them? Laurellius didn't know.

He turned to Veronica with an inquiring gaze.

"Is this the testing room?" Laurellius asked.

Veronica nodded. She waved her hand in the air, and a large magic circle appeared above them. Laurellius awed at the sight. He'd never seen such a large magic circle before.

However, in contrast to him, Avarosa snorted as she muttered: "How convenient…"

Her words were rather vague, perhaps only Veronica knew what she meant by that.

Like a musician wielding a baton, Veronica waved her hand in the air as more and more complex runes and line appeared in the magic circle. As time passed, the number of circles increased, and the lines that connected them also drastically rose in number.

After about 3 minutes of gestures and spellcasting, a Seventh Tier Magic was formed.

"Amazing…" Laurellius muttered in awe. Did all students here see a sight like this? Perhaps.

The compound magic circle let out a blinding radiance, and it dyed the world for an instant. Laurellius was forced to closed his eyes, and when he opened it once more, a sight of a floated sphere--crystalline in form--appeared in the front of them.

Laurellius deduced it might be about 2 meters in diameters, and it glowed a faint azure luminescence. From within, something similar to stars shone.

If Laurellius was to describe it in a humorous way, then he'd describe it as a lighter tone version of Avarosa's eyeball.

Not that he'd really say it though… 

Meanwhile, as Veronica was done summoning the examination crystal, she turned to Laurellius and Avarosa.

"Which one of you will go first?"

Laurellius turned to Avarosa with an inquiring gaze. He wanted to know if she wanted to go first.

And indeed, Avarosa wanted to do it first. She was curious about how the unusual contraption worked. She asked Veronica: "Instructions, Veronica woman. As someone leading, it is your duty to give instructions."

Veronica made an awkward smile and apologized. She then instructed: "Ahem… Anyway, first off, place your palm on the surface of the crystal."

Avarosa did as she said, and placed her hand on its surface.

"Now pour your mana inside the crystal." Veronica continued, however… 

"Mana..?" Avarosa was unfamiliar with mana. The Mystic Art she practices was completely different from magic. Although she could imitate how mana worked, she doubted she would achieve her desired result with that.

Avarosa was quite bothered, but it seems her worries were unfounded. Veronica continued: "Hm? You're not cultivating under the Magic System? If that's the case, drip a drop of blood into the crystal. It will automatically detect your affinities that way."

Avarosa stared at Veronica for a while. She was silent. She then shifted her gaze to Laurellius and beckoned him over. "Plebeian, come here."

Laurellius really wished she'd stop that way of calling her, but it wasn't like he had a choice. It's not like he could beat her in words nor battle either, so he could only comply.

He walked towards her and asked. "What is it?"

"Give me a drop of blood."

"Pardon?"

"Give me a drop of blood," Avarosa repeated.

Laurellius scratched his head. "Umm… I don't think it works that wa--"

"Silence, fool. Do as I say." She hissed. Laurellius knew that refusals were pointless now, so he complied. However… 

"How do I take it out?" he asked. He didn't bring any sharp objects.

"Then bite it," she said, "I'll heal it later."

Laurellius was surprised to hear she could heal wounds. She seemed like a person to inflict wounds and not heal. Just imagining her heal someone made Laurellius quite strange. It was like forcefully trying to fit a square block into a circular slot. There was an odd sense of incongruity.

Nonetheless, it was better than nothing, so Laurellius bit the tip of his index finger. It began to bleed, so he pointed it to Avarosa's direction.

He then let it drip, and oddly, when the blood left his finger, he felt some of his mana leave his body. The blood floated in the air and hovered towards Avarosa. Avarosa made some gestures with her finger, and the blood then dripped atop the crystal.

When the blood made contact, the crystal sphere released a rainbow glow as it then grew more and more radiant. Not long after, everyone could barely see anything.

The light persisted for a while until it vanished afterward.

Veronica was stunned.

"Omni-Elemental Aptitude..?" she muttered in shock.

Hearing Veronica's words, Laurellius' eyes widened.