As soon as Orion put his hand on top of the device, it didn’t glow red, green, or blue—it glowed a bright golden color.
The teachers and examiners were shocked. The talent evaluation devices had been crafted thousands of years ago by the greatest artificer to ever live. He had made thousands of these devices for academies across the continent—and in all of history, not a single one had ever malfunctioned.
So, what was happening now?
"What?... Is this thing broken? Marcus, can you check if this thing is alright?" The teacher called out to the man in the green robe, who appeared to be a mage class holder.
"Let see," the man in the green robe said as he stepped forward.
He called over a student who hadn’t been evaluated yet. "Hey, co here and put your hand on this," he ordered.
The student obeyed, and as soon as he did, the device glowed a dim blue light.
"It seems to be working just fine. I don’t know what happened before," the man said, turning toward Orion. "Can you repeat the process?"
Orion did as he told—but the result was the sa.
Panic began to rise in him. ’Maybe it’s because I’m a dragon... oh no, will they figure it out now?’
The examiners were baffled; none had ever seen anything like this.
The crowd murmured and speculated loudly. So thought Orion’s talent was so low it registered below red; others guessed it was so high it broke the device.
All eyes turned to the bald, nervous teacher for an explanation.
Clearing his throat, he said, "Alright. Our evaluation device seems to be having a slight problem with one student, but it works fine for everyone else." He paused, then continued, "We will continue with the evaluation process. As for Orion, we’ll look into the problem—but for now, we declare you passed."
Orion exhaled in relief—but he knew this was far from over. Who knew what they might discover when they investigated him? For now, though, he was just happy he had passed.
By the ti everyone finished their evaluation, it was noon. The crowd thinned, and Orion saw Lilian approaching.
"Hey! Did you pass? What color was your talent? Did you rank first?" she asked, all at once.
Orion smiled helplessly at her questions. "You won’t believe what happened..." He told her everything that had occurred.
At first, Lilian couldn’t make sense of it. Then she sighed. "Knowing you, it probably ans you’re uniquely talented." She looked at him with admiration. "You never cease to amaze ."
Orion felt flattered. "Oh, thank you. And what about you—what was your evaluation? What color was it?"
Lilian paused. "Mine was pure white."
Orion frowned. "Wait... I thought I was the only one with a different color. Isn’t the evaluation limited to red, green, and blue?"
Lilian nodded. "Yes, but that’s only for regular people. Mine was white because I’m directly blessed by the goddess. My astral energy carries a spark of divine energy."
Orion’s eyes widened. "Wait... does this an you have divinity—?"
"Don’t mistake it for divinity," Lilian interrupted. "Divinity ans having a source of divine energy inside your body. What I an is that my astral energy carries a spark of divine energy that belongs to the goddess. She can take it back whenever she wants."
Orion finally understood.
"Anyway, what’s the next test?" he asked.
"Now that you’ve passed the evaluation test... sohow, it’s ti for your written exam," Lilian said.
Orion panicked. Written exam? How the hell am I supposed to pass this? I have no knowledge of what people study in this world!
Seeing his panic, Lilian reassured him. "Don’t worry. If you want to be a combat-focused student, it doesn’t matter whether you pass this test or not. The written exam is mainly for students aiming to be scholars, alchemists, or any profession that relies heavily on brains."
Orion exhaled in relief. "Oh, thank God. So I can skip it?"
"Yes, but you should take it anyway. Who knows, you might learn sothing new. Plus, I’m taking it too, so if you skip it, you’ll have nothing to do while you wait for ."
Orion sighed. "Alright, I’ll take the exam."
And they both went to their exam halls, which were different from each other—Orion’s because he was a commoner, and Lilian’s because she was a hero candidate.
When he saw the question sheet, he imdiately panicked. History? Magic formulas? He had no idea what any of this was—he thought magic was a skill. ’Magic formulas? What the heck is that?’
Then he saw a section called Math. His eyes lit up.
Yes! Finally, maybe sothing I can do!
Most of the questions were geotry and math related to finance. The nas and wording were slightly different from Earth, but the concepts were simple, and Orion recognized them all.
He eagerly answered every question. What he didn’t realize was that the average student in this world wasn’t expected to know all the answers—so problems were ant only for real scholars. These questions were included so the examiners could see the approach each student would take in attempting to solve them.
And by the ti Orion finished, everyone else was still deep in their exams.
Not wanting to sit there like an idiot, he submitted his paper and left.
The academy was unusually quiet as he stepped outside. He found a bench near a training ground and sat there.
Then a boy with blonde hair and a strikingly handso face approached and stood in front of him.
"Hey, man, can I sit here?" the boy asked Orion.
"Yeah, sure," Orion said, not giving him much thought as he shifted his attention elsewhere.
The boy frowned. "By the way, why are you here in the middle of the exam?"
"Nothing, and I could ask you the sa thing," Orion replied.
"Well, I don’t care about the written exam. I’m just waiting for my sister to finish," the boy said.
" too," Orion muttered.
"Oh, you’re waiting for your sister too?"
Orion’s annoyance spiked. This guy was clinging too much.
"Look, I don’t know who you are, and I’d appreciate it if you either sit quietly or leave," he snapped.
"Don’t be so rude," the boy said. Instead of getting angry, he seed even more curious about Orion. "I’m just trying to have a conversation while we wait."
Feeling a little guilty, Orion softened. "Look, I’m sorry. I just wanted so peace. By the way, what’s your na?"
The boy smirked and flicked his hair. "Behold! You are now in the presence of the great Esteban Askari!"
Orion stared flatly at him. She was genuinely speechless by his behavior.
"What? Why are you staring at like that?" Esteban asked, confused.
"Do you always announce your na like that?" Orion asked.
"Yes, Why? What’s the problem?" Esteban was clueless.
Orion shook his head. He understood now—Esteban was a noble, and he had probably been told he was superior to others from the mont he was born.
"Nothing. Anyway, I’m Orion. A commoner," he added, emphasizing the last word in the hope that it would make the boy leave him alone.
"Oh, you’re a commoner?" he said, thinking for a mont. "Anyway, do you know what happened to last week?"
Orion sighed. To his dismay, Esteban didn’t seem to care that he was a commoner and instead forcefully made Orion his friend.
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