Snapping out of his stupor, Mr. Robert quickly wrote his rating on his clipboard. He gave a sharp nod of confirmation to Emi, who nodded back.
"Now I want you to place your hand on this crystal ball". Emi said, referring to the shimring orb behind her.
"Which one?". Levi asked, being cautious. He knew from his past life that many sorcerer artifacts had strange requirents— using the wrong hand or making the wrong gesture could be dangerous. He needed to know if the ball had any restrictions.
Like a certain canteen bottle that if you use your right hand to raise it for a drink, the water would be clear, refreshing and stimulate your body, removing tiredness.
But use your left hand, and you would get a foul, dirty water that bring your body energy down. Levi didn’t know what restrictions this ball had or even if it had any at all, but it was better safe then sorry.
"Any hand will do". Emi smiled softly. She appreciated his caution; a sorcerer needed shrewdness as much as strength.
Levi gave a nod of understanding and placed his hand on the orb. For an awkward mont, nothing happened.
’Is this thing broken?’. Levi wondered. Just then, he felt sothing move from the cold orb into his hand, followed by an intense feeling of violation. He instinctively tried to remove his hand, but before he could, sothing invisible seed to pull a trace of his essence out of him.
The entire ball suddenly lit up. A giant, swirling nebula appeared in front of the orb, a projection made of many colors: red starry areas, blue, violet, and more.
Levi’s gaze pierced the veil of stars, and he noticed that Emi’s eyes were wrong. Not just her eyes— her entire face had changed. Her eyeshadow and lips had turned a deadly blue, and her pupils had disappeared, turning her eyes to pitch black.
’So this is the famous constellation reading scene.’ Levi had often visualized this mont nurous tis back in his ho planet.
The nebulae was the projection of his own celestial alignnt. ’And that intense violation I felt was likely because of the orb scanning my soul.’
Though he hated that sothing could easily barge into his soul, his current weakness left him unable to stop it.
Emi’s voice, though deeper, broke him out of his thoughts.
"Aries Path... Celestial Gambit."
As he expected, the scan confird his alignnt to the Constellation of War, the path of Aries. ’Star reading... nice, definitely Aquarius path’. Levi thought.
The Aquarius path, Constellation of Wayfarers and travelers, specialized in reading celestial alignnts.
The orb dimd, and the projection of the nebulae faded. Emi’s pitch-black eyes returned to normal. She gently massaged her head, and Robert quickly handed her a glass of water. Emi drank the water, mouthing a thank you.
Robert then turned to Levi and pushed a stack of paper across the desk.
"The next step will be taken after you revise and sign the paper". He said with a reassuring smile.
Levi quickly went through the contract. It stated that in return for the Apex Doctrine nurturing him, he would work under them for five years, with the possibility of extension by both parties later.
The only crucial financial details were the paynt options for solo missions:
He would take sixty percent of the pay, but the cost of any damage done to the client’s property would be covered by him.
Or take forty-five percent, and the cost of any damage done by him would be covered by the company.
Levi chose the second option. Given his destructive tendencies of sorcerers or loose artifact, he wasn’t going to risk financial ruin.
Aside from those points, the contract contained a lot of dense, confusing language that made Levi’s head hurt. Like any normal person from Earth facing endless legal jargon, he started to sign ’yes’ all the way through without reading the rest.
Robert took the signed papers. "You will receive a copy by the end of the day". He assured Levi.
Now ca the last test. Emi brought out a lump of clay. "Pour your origin energy into it". She instructed. "It will determine your elent(s)."
Levi placed his hand on top of the lump. ’It feels... hollow’. He noted, like tapping on an iron can. Paying the feeling no mind, he poured his origin energy into the clay.
Removing his hand, he began to pray internally. ’Fire, please be fire, or wind, or Earth.’
The lump of clay reacted imdiately, dividing from the center. It didn’t divide physically, but one side started to shimr like an illusion, an impossible ripple of light. On the other side, a miniature typhoon of red sand began to form.
"Wind... Illusion... and an extrely weak Fire". Emi said in mild bewildernt, not because of his triple elents, but because they shouldn’t be a illusion elent here.
’What?’. Levi was baffled. He understood the fire— it was a fragnt from the Golden Crow’s rebirth essence, a sliver of the fire affinity he knew he inherited.
But where did the Illusion co from?
He knew the Constellation of War (Aries) involved blood and chaos. Since his body couldn’t handle pure chaos and his Avater was of low purity, it manifested as Wind.
The wind manifested as a twisting typhoon, representing the moral distortion and chaotic nature of war.
But illusion?
’Could it be because of my chessboard?’. War did require planning, but even that fell under blood— the planning revolved around spilling the enemy’s blood.
Then, he felt the presence of the Stargaze artifact resting in his pocket. ’Could it be?’. But Levi quickly shook off the thought.
The murals in the rune described protection. It should give him Earth or sothing defensive, not illusion. Besides, the Stargaze shouldn’t be able to affect him from inside his pocket, should it?
"Although you got Fire, it is very low and impractical to train in it". Emi stated, bringing him back to the present. "Although we don’t know where the Illusion ca from, it could be because of the unique nature of your Avatar."
Levi outwardly nodded, pretending to agree with the convenient explanation. He had already co up with the sa possibility.
After a few small talk Robert nodded towards Levi, gesturing for him to followq. He led Levi out of the sterile office and back down to the slightly crowded reception hall. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Robert turned to the waiting applicants.
"Next up". He announced, checking his pad. "Dana Vance."
The delinquent girl, still in her torn jeans and oversized hoodie, imdiately jumped up and followed Mr. Robert back up the staircase.
The girl with the button nose, Chloe, rushed over to Levi. "Did you get in?". She asked, her grey eyes wide and hopeful.
"Yes". Levi replied simply.
"How was it? What did you have to do?".
Levi gave her a calculated, short description. "It’s nothing to worry about. They mostly check your origin energy and elent affinity. As long as you have talent, they’ll take you." He needed to reinforce the idea that talent was all that mattered, encouraging the others to be overly fearful.
A few tense minutes later, the door to the second-floor landing burst open, and Dana Vance— the delinquent girl— stomped back down the stairs, fuming. Her face was red with a mix of fury and embarrassnt.
"Let’s go!". She snapped at her two companions.
As she walked toward the exit, she turned sharply, addressing Levi and the others with a loud, defensive tone. "The reason I didn’t join is because the contract was too extre! It had nothing to do with my talent— they ask for too much control over your future."
Levi chuckled inwardly. ’Overcompensating much?’. He thought. She was clearly trying to hide her failure by blaming the terms.
As Dana turned to leave again, one of the delinquent boys gathered his courage. "Boss". He stamred. "what about us?"
Dana stopped dead. She spun around, her eyes blazing fiercely at him. "If I couldn’t get in, what makes you think you could? Or are you implying that you are better than ?". She shrieked.
"W-we wouldn’t dare". The boy quickly replied, terrified. The other delinquent boy beside him looked stunned, clearly thinking, ’Why did you say ’we’? You’re the only one who dared ask! You’re pulling into your ss!’.
The two boys scrambled to chase after Dana, who stord out of the building.
Levi shook his head. Not only had the girl furiously overcompensated for her failure, but she had also completely contradicted herself— if the issue was the contract, her talent would have been irrelevant.
Just then, Mr. Robert erged from the staircase, clipboard in hand.
"Chloe Johnson". He called out.
The girl with the button nose imdiately leaped to her feet, excitent overriding her curiosity. She hurried to Mr. Robert, and the two headed up to the second floor.
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