Melvin was done munching the food that had been brought by a stunning young woman. It was the same girl Aurex had waved his hands to while the crowd passed.
Now, he understood the meaning behind that signal. He had thought it was some kind of crushing stage between the two lovers… but it was actually a message.
Turning to Aurex, he asked, "If you know nothing about this barrier, then how am I even going to pass through it? Principal Edrin made you my guide with hopes that…"
"I know how to pass through the barrier," the stunning young lady interrupted.
Both Aurex and Melvin stared at her.
Noticing the stare from Aurex, the girl tried to defend herself. "I didn't say I have tried to pass through the barrier."
Then, she turned to Melvin and continued. "It's simple. Just place your two palms flat on the surface of the barrier; it is going to scan your credibility."
"If you have been truly infected by flux, it will begin to emit a colorful glow depending on your soul rank," she said and added. "Most of its glows are usually purple, considering most climbers are at the second stage of their soul rank…"
Melvin opened his mouth to talk, but the girl was speaking so fast, and as such didn't give him the opportunity to.
"I heard that you are an anomaly. So, I don't particularly know which colorful glow will be indicated for you since you will probably be in the first stage of your rank."
Then she mellowed her voice and whispered, enough for the two boys to hear. "But I have never seen what's beyond that barrier."
That was the last utterance she made before keeping her mouth shut, standing like someone who would be petrified for giving out information many inductees like her shouldn't know.
Melvin gave a deep exhale and looked at the girl. "What is it you say about soul ranks?"
Once again, the girl immediately began to speak as if she was in a debate challenge, claiming to have read about soul ranks in a book.
That was an excuse she also gave beforehand to avoid suspicion from Aurex, since it was common knowledge that all they needed to know would be made known to them, but only after their induction was over.
According to her, she mentioned that there are supposed to be eight stages of a carrier's soul rank.
There was the Awakened stage, which was marked for new flux carriers like Melvin, who hadn't awakened their magical affinities. Then, she mentioned a similar thing the principal had told him, saying that these Awakened were expected to pass through a trial to awaken their affinities.
Only then would they be able to become Initiates, and so on. The stages further advance to Disciples, then Adepts, then Masters, Sovereigns, Ascendants, and…
She didn't make mention of the last stage of a climber's soul rank, claiming not to have read any book where it was recorded.
For a moment, Melvin's mind reeled to the system that had awakened in him before regression. He tried to remember the option the system had given him, but his mind was a bit foggy.
Alas, he let it go for the meantime and returned a focused attention to the girl.
So far, the girl had also spilled an information that the principal had refused to tell him and that, for ignorant reasons, Aurex didn't know about.
She had told him what the testament was really about and what it was truly called.
She also had to add that her information could have invalids, since it was only theoretically based on what she read.
"Thank you," Melvin appreciated, "and for the food also."
"You're welcome."
The poor lad then turned and advanced closer until he hit the barrier preventing him from venturing further.
Then he closed his eyes and turned to the duo behind him.
"Are you ready?" Aurex asked, with a concerned tone.
"Of course, why won't I?" Melvin replied in a sarcastic tone but tried to keep his calm regardless.
***
Aurex and the stunning lady left several minutes after to rejoin the induction ceremony going on somewhere far into the academy blocks.
Melvin didn't think much about the fact he was going to be absent. After all, he believed not much was done during induction ceremonies. It was just that period when some instructors come to show off by telling stories and achievements of their past, all in the name of welcoming their new scholars and making them feel great expectations ahead.
If, however, there was going to be any welcoming ritual accompanying it… well, Melvin didn't seem to care.
All that mattered was staring right into his purple eyes.
With a deep exhale, Melvin kept his mind off anything that could act as discrepancies to activating the barrier and placed his two palms on the surface, focusing his whole attention on it.
For several minutes, nothing seemed to happen.
Melvin began to get the feeling that he hadn't even been affected by the flux. If he remembered clearly, the stunning lady had mentioned that the ability to activate the barrier was what truly made one a flux carrier.
A few more minutes and nothing happened.
Doubt settled into the poor lad as he almost lost hope. Hence, he was about to withdraw his two palms when a tingling sensation washed over him like he was having goosebumps.
The process continued, flowing from his feet up to his head and repeating itself consecutively, until the barrier gave off a colorful glow.
The barrier began to shimmer with a cosmic green color; it had several other combinations of light, unidentifiable colors with a dominant green.
Then, when the colorful glow became intense, Melvin pulled his hand and made a few steps back and watched.
The barrier, which was protecting the circular dome and the lightless void that led into it, began to tear apart like a divide that had appeared in space. Within moments, the divide on the barrier soon transformed from a thin line to a wide opening, enough for people to pass through in a linear line of twenties.
What Melvin realized, however, was unbelievable to his eyes. He was no longer seeing the dome and the stair that led to a lightless void.
It had all been an illusion to the outsiders all this while.
Hence, there was the possibility that the likes of Principal Edrin hadn't even seen beyond the dome, but only relied on information given to them by climbers.
What he was seeing, was according to the lady's description, she read from a book. He was seeing the real, physical representation of the testament.
Calming himself, he walked through the wide opening and noticed it immediately close behind him, with a hundred times the speed it had used to open.
He was immediately surrounded by a cosmos, with thick fogs slowly fading out to simultaneously reveal a clear path for him to trudge further into what was waiting for him.
Into the first step of the magnificent flight of stairs booming with misty ethereal flow of… probably, flux.
Once the fog cleared to reveal a marble-floored path that led further into the celestial stairs, Melvin realized that the system had really survived with him but chose to remain dormant until now.
The sweet, feminine voice he had heard when at death's door echoed in his mind.
[Welcome to the Silver Spire, Carrier Melvin.]