The dust still hadn't settled.
Not in the air. Not in anyone's head.
The pedestal was empty. Just scorch marks and black chips spread across the stone. The mystic stone's enchantment was still running, thin lines of light crawling over the floor looking for pieces to pull back. There were none.
No one spoke.
On the blue screen the number stayed burned in.
[JACK SHADES] — 10 POINTS
Ten.
It didn't look real.
The assessors in gray were all standing. Quills down. Their leader, the old man with the scar, kept looking from the empty pedestal to Jack and back. His jaw worked once.
'A ten'. The records don't even go that high.
He didn't say it. None of them did. But every assessor was thinking the same thing.
Stanter was still in his spot. Arms crossed.
'That hit was heavier than mine, way heavier.' He thought in head.He didn't like it. He didn't say anything either. Just watched.
Kevin's hands were in his pockets. No grin.
"I got a '9' and the stone cracked. He got a 10 and it's dust." He also mumbled underneath his breath.
He glanced at Jack, then looked at the ground.
'He must be a first stage warrior like me, huh and I thought I would have been the best.' Kevin thought.
From the stands, Minny hadn't moved. Her hands were tight.
"He's first stage. I know of that but that power...how did he do that?
She didn't know about Gordlock. She didn't know about anything else. And that made it worse.
Jack looked at his fist for half a second. A little surprise on his face. He hadn't meant to put that much into it. He just wanted it to land hard.
Inside, the dark core gave one pulse and went quiet. It wasn't alive. It didn't think. It only surged because he did, right at the last second, when he wanted more power.
He dropped his hand. Turned. Walked off the pedestal without looking back.
The crowd shifted to let him through. Still quiet.
For a few seconds, nothing.
Then the announcer's voice rang out, steady, like he was reading from a script.
"Attention."
Heads turned.
"The strength test is concluded. Results will be posted."
A pause.
"All participants will remain. We proceed immediately to the next stage. This stage is for mages only. Non-mages will observe from the marked area."
Actually there were about five people still left to have taken the strength test but due to Jack's recent performance and shattering every expectation there just personally informed the rest they had passed that test.
A ripple went through the square. People started moving to the sides. Mages stepped forward.
Stanter walked toward the mage line.
Kevin followed, eyes still flicking back to Jack once.
Minny stayed in the stands, eyes locked on Jack as he moved to the observer area.
Jack didn't look back.
He just walked to where they told him to stand, with that echo of the punch still in his ears and no idea what came next.
The square shifted quickly once the strength test was over, and ropes were strung up while benches were dragged to the edges to mark out the observer area, but the dust from the shattered mystic stone was still faint on the ground even as all eyes turned toward the center of the platform where two assessors were setting down a tall stand of black wood.
Resting in a cradle of silver at the top of it was the staff, and it was taller than a grown man with smooth white wood carved all down its length in runes that pulsed with a faint inner light, and at the very peak sat a globe that was clear like glass yet glowed softly from within as if there was a small sun trapped inside it.
"The Affinity Test," the announcer called out in a voice that carried across the entire square. "Mages only. One by one. Touch the globe and do not force it, for you must let it read you."
A hush fell over the crowd because everyone knew what this test meant, since the color that flared inside the globe would reveal a mage's main elemental affinity, whether it be fire or water or wind or earth or light or dark, but more importantly the brightness of that light would show how much affinity the person had with magic itself, which was the true measure of their potential.
"First participant. LIRA HALEN."
A girl with short brown hair stepped forward and placed her palm against the globe, and almost immediately green light began to swirl inside it like a small storm before settling into a steady glow that was clear but not overwhelming.
"Affinity: Wind. Magic Affinity: Average."
"Next. DARIUS KELL."
A tall boy came next and the globe showed brown light, thick and heavy like earth, and the reading came back as low, so he stepped aside with his head down.
"Affinity: Earth. Magic Affinity: Low."
"Next. SELEN VARK."
When the quiet girl touched the staff, deep blue light filled the globe and it shone brighter than the first two had, and the assessors noted it down before she moved back to the line.
"Affinity: Water. Magic Affinity: High."
One after another the mages went, and colors filled the air as gold for light and violet for lightning and gray for earth all flashed in turn, while some globes barely lit and others made the runes hum, but none of them drew much attention because the crowd was waiting.
Before her name was called, Minny slipped away from the mage line for a moment and stopped in front of the rope where Jack was standing with the other non-mages, and she kept her voice low so only he could hear. "Jack," she said, and when he looked at her she asked, "Do you think I'll do well?"
Jack gave a small nod and answered, "Yeah. You will," and that was enough for her because she exhaled and gave him a quick smile before returning to her place.
"Next participant. MINNY AEL."
The entire square seemed to get quieter as Minny walked onto the platform and laid her hand on the globe, and the moment she did, red exploded inside it, not a dull red or a soft red but a deep burning red that looked like fire given form, and then the light came and it was brighter than anything that had appeared all day, so bright that the whole platform was washed in it and rings of fire-colored light burst outward over the assessors and the nobles and the ropes while the runes on the staff began to hum in a low, clear note.
The assessors all stopped writing at once, and their leader, the old man with the scar across his throat, stared at the globe and then at Minny, and inside his head he could not help but think.
'That amount of mana from such a young girl at her age?,She is definitely almost at the edge of becoming a Star-one ranked mage.' He thought.
"Affinity: Fire. Magic Affinity: Peak High."
Minny pulled her hand back with her palm still warm and went to stand with the other mages, and the tests continued after that, but no other light came close to what hers had done, and by the time the last mage had stepped down, that image of burning red was still stuck in everyone's eyes.
The knights, Stanter and Kevin, remained in the knight section with their arms crossed, and they did not take part in any of this, while the rest of the participants waited as the announcer stepped forward once more.
"The Affinity Test is concluded. Results will be posted. Mages will remain for the practical stage. All others are dismissed to the stands."
People began to move, and on the platform the globe was being sent away.