The rune that was inscribed onto the tile confused him.
“Aptitude?” He said with a confused expression.
“Ah, so you get this as well. Don’t worry. It’s going to be easy for you. The problem you will face will be the next tile. It will decide whether or not you can try to get the last two treasures or not,” Nefrati commented.
“So you know this test?” He asked her.
“Yes. I had to take this test at this exact tile. I failed the tile after that, so I couldn’t even try to get to the last few treasures,” she said.
“So what is on it?” He asked her.
“It tests how much aptitude you have to train in the Blood Element. It isn’t going to be high for you, but you just need a Medium to pass,” she said.
“But I don’t have a blood aptitude. I use the shadow element,” he said.
“Yes, but you have Peak Aptitude in that. Anyone with a Peak Aptitude with any element automatically has a Medium Aptitude with every other element. And before you say anything about how that seems unfair, I will explain why.
To have the highest aptitude means to be very close to an element of nature, which means you are very close to nature itself. That means you are also close to the other elements, but just not as close as the element you are training in.
It doesn’t really matter for you, since you will only be training in the Shadow Element just like I will stay with the element I have.” She explained.
“So how will they test it?” He asked her.
“Just enter the tile. It’s harmless,” she said.
He followed her instructions and walked forward onto the tile. When he stepped onto the tile, the rune glowed lightly. The glow disappeared after a second, followed by a pedestal emerging from the ground.
The pedestal was made of a white stone with engravings on it. It rose to his height before stopping. On the pedestal was a transparent crystal ball.
Along with the pedestal, four walls rose along with it, covering the tile he was standing on. Once the walls were completely up, they reached the ceiling, blocking any escape. He wanted to see if he could break through, but Nefrati stopped him.
“Don’t worry about them. They will disappear, regardless of whether you pass the test or not. Just walk forward and put your palm on the ball. Insert your aura into it and wait for a color to emerge. Based on the color that you have, you can know what aptitude you have,” she said.
As she said, he went forward and touched the orb. The minute he did, all the aura in his body started moving while the magic shrunk into his mind.
Till then, his magic was just stationary in his body. He couldn’t use it to cast new magic, but he couldn’t move it either. But now that it moved back into his mind automatically, the magic he had cast on himself disappeared too.
Now that the Valkyr’s Deception was gone, his true appearance was shown. Till then, Nefrati assumed that he was a 20-year-old as his appearance showed. In his mind, she only saw a silhouette of Leo and not his true image. For the first time, she saw him in his true form – a teenager.
“You… you are a kid?” She asked him with shock.
“Yes. Why is that surprising?” He asked her.
“As a kid, you reached the 2nd Circle. Why did you think that I was not surprised? With this talent, you will easily reach the 9th Circle. And here I was, thinking that you were a late bloomer,” she said.
He wanted to reply to her, but the orb in front of him was starting to change color. A white cloud started to form inside the orb. The aura inside his body surged forward and entered it.
The minute it did, the cloud started to change colors. First, it changed to red before slowly moving to yellow. After that, it slowly changed to a green color.
“Red means no aptitude. Yellow is low and green is medium. It means the test should be over and you should pass,” Nefrati said when she saw the color.
As she was saying that, the green color slowly became a bright blue. When it did, Nefrati was surprised.
“Wow! It seems that you have a High Aptitude for the Blood Element. That is very good. You could try to practice a Blood Element if you have the time and it would be worth it,” she commented.
As she said that, the color changed from blue to violet. It settled there so he lifted his hand.
“You were saying,” he asked Nefrati. He wasn’t paying too much attention to what she was saying before.
“How are you human?” She commented. “This shouldn’t even be allowed! How do you have a Peak Aptitude for more than one element? On top of that, it had to be two rare elements. And the Blood Element? That is one of the strongest elements to exist!” She complained.
“I have Peak Aptitude for the Blood Element?” He questioned her with surprise. As he said that, the pedestal slowly sank to the bottom. The four walls also sank to the ground, leaving the next tile open for him.
“Yes, you do. So you should try to gain a proper manual here. If you get your hands on a good manual, then you can try to train in the blood element instead of the shadow element. It will be a shame though,” she commented.
“Why?” He asked her.
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As for the aura techniques, they are way too wasteful. They might work for you, but any random technique you find here will be far more helpful,” she said.
“Well, I can switch to the Blood Element, but it won’t stop me from using the Shadow element. I can still use shadow magic,” he said.
Nefrati let out a sigh. “And then there’s that! How can you even train in aura and another power at the same time and still reach this stage?” She asked him.
“I don’t see the problem. There are so many people just a year older than me in the 2nd Circle. A lot of them are in my stage, and that’s just in the city that I am in,” he said.
“Don’t try to play tricks on me. I learned exactly how much your empire values Aura Knights. If Aura Knights are considered worthless, then there is no way that there are those many talented people training in it.” She commented.
“What do you mean?” He asked her.
“You said you are a commoner, right?” She asked him.
He nodded.
“Do you like the nobles that restrict the magic knowledge like you said?” She asked another question.
“No,” he replied.
“Exactly. So what would you do to them when you become strong?” She asked him.