"Y-Yes," the word just rolled off of Revian's tongue without hesitation.
The Sect Leader leaned forward and asked with sparkling eyes, "Why?"
"Umm, 'Why' What?"
"Why do you want to join our Sect? Your arrival here wasn't happenstance - your feet didn't carry you here, your brain did. So tell ..."
"Revian," he said noticing the Sect Leader's expectant expression. The man smiled and continued.
"Mister Revian. Tell , why do you want to be a part of our Sect?" He asked while approaching Revian's position.
"I... don't know. I an, you offered-"
"Let rephrase the question, why do you want to join a sect at all?" The Sect Leader closed the distance between them even further. Revian felt the world receding, the only voices that remained were his own and the man's.
"I want to beco a mage,"
"Why?"
Again with the 'why's. It was starting to irk Revian. Even though the words were the sa, he could feel a growing sense of pressure urging him to answer truthfully.
"It's..." The Sect Leader's gaze bore down on him.
"It's..." The pressure grew more intense. Revian couldn't take it any longer.
"It's because I don't want to be diocre anymore!"
"You think that magic will let you escape diocrity?" The Sect Leader asked with cocked brows. "How so?"
"Well... It's sothing," Revian reasoned with dismayed and drooping shoulders. "I don't know what to say."
"You believe that with the powers of a mage, your life will suddenly beco sothing different, sothing extraordinary. So let us assu that you've now reached that point. The powers you dread of harnessing are within your grasp, what will you do now?"
"What do you an?"
"It was you who professed that magic would elevate you from your current life of diocrity. Now that you have magic, how will your life be any different?"
"As a mage, I can do whatever I want," Revian declared haphazardly. "I-I won't have to grovel, beg and bow in front of others anymore. If there is sothing I want, I have the power to fight for it and take it."
"Once you beco a mage, your competition is no longer against the regular folk, because you aren't technically even the sa species. By acting the way you just described, you would be bullying the weak. Is that the kind of person you wish to be as a mage?"
"I don't... But then..." Revian was starved for words. Being forced to evaluate his actions and decisions of the last four years with a rational lens really put things into perspective. 'Why am I even going through with all of this?'
He held back his palms from slapping his forehead in embarrassnt. He was just making a fool out of himself now.
"I think I'm going to go now," Revian declared as he turned to leave.
"I do agree with your assumption that magic will raise you from your life of ordinariness. But I think there is a better way to go about achieving it than using said magic as an avenue to suppress the nay-sayers," The Sect Leader said, causing Revian's feet to halt. Sothing about the way he spoke just made Revian want to listen.
"Magic carries with it an unimaginable amount of power. This power is intoxicating like a drug - it will make you feel like you're at the top of the world!" The man's expression grew animated and a trace bit fanatical. "However, just like any drug, an overabundance of this exhilarating feeling can degenerate you. It rots you from within."
"There is an ancient saying that 'with great power, cos great responsibility'. If you have the power to enact change in a more aningful sense, then it is our responsibility to do so," The man said as he spoke in a whisper that sohow resonated in Revian's mind.
"This is where, I believe, you will find the escape route from your mundane life. You can still learn magic and work to beco a mage, but instead of channelling your powers towards hate, suppression and destruction, you can dedicate it to sothing more productive and constructive. I can promise you that it will be more fulfilling and exciting. Besides-"
The Sect Leader leaned back and crossed his arms. A faint smile grazed his lips as they parted with a conclusion, "The fa gained from helping others is far more valuable and long-lasting than the infamy earned from causing pain."
Revian's mind blanked out at this point. His preconceived thoughts were being rewritten, as he underwent a shift at a deep, psychological level.
"You don't have to make your decision now," Sect Leader Larks interrupted, though Revian wasn't fully pulled out of his contemplative stupor. "Take your ti to truly evaluate your decision."
Revian nodded absent-mindedly and walked away. He scrapped his plans to visit the other sects' kiosks and strutted out of the recruitnt grounds, with Sect Leader Larks' words echoing within his mind.
____
Guy turned his gaze away from the retreating figure of the discombobulated boy, only to catch the inquisitive and sceptical expression of his Disciple.
"What's wrong?"
Markus exhaled loudly through his nose in thought before saying, "Do you intend to recruit him, Master?"
"When he returns, I will," Guy said with a mysterious smile. As he finished, he noticed Markus' expression turning unreadable leaning towards suspicion and disdain.
"What's the matter?" Guy asked.
"He didn't match the criteria you gave us earlier. Why are we recruiting soone like him- soone so..." Markus voiced his discomfort.
Guy chuckled and completed Markus' sentence, "Aimless?"
Markus nodded apprehensively. He did not like the fact that he was being so judgental of soone else. This was exactly what he suffered through back at the Academy.
"People's life goals are often built as a result of their environnts. For so, their purpose is derived through the circumstance of their birth itself, and for others, it is ford from their experiences in life. But a large majority of people out in the world live a life without purpose. Their future is more or less set out in front of them, so when faced with the choice between the familiar and the unfamiliar path, they resort to following the known ways since it carries lesser risks. Nonetheless, these people live the rest of their lives with a trace of regret over the loss of 'possible benefits' down the bygone path."
"That boy realised that the familiar path will only lead to a disappointing, albeit stable, life and chose to take a step down the unknown roads. Unfortunately, he lacks the proper guidance to know exactly how to navigate through this unknown territory. He relies on the statents and decisions of those that ca before him, not knowing if it's the path right for him. So, I gave him sothing to think about. He will ponder over his thought processes and decisions, and co to a conclusion, following which, he will co here and register under our Sect."
Markus humd and responded, "Is it right, what we did? Is it right to manipulate soone for our benefit? We practically sent him down a path that matches our expectations from mbers."
"Is that what it looked like to you?" Guy snorted incredulously. "Well, maybe I am a bit guilty of so slight manipulation, but it wasn't for my benefit. It is a teacher's responsibility to give a wayward soul a purpose in life - I was just doing my job. He was struggling to beco a functioning and productive mber of society, and I showed him a way to do so. It just so happens, that the result of my 'trajectory correction' ends up benefitting our Sect. Besides, do you think the kid will face a loss from joining our Sect over another?"
"That's not really fair, Master. I am a core part of the Sect, I am obligated to say that 'No he will not find a better Sect than ours out there'," Markus retorted with twitching lips, as he struggled to hold in his laugh.
"Cheeky brat!" Guy shot back while joining in on Markus' mirth.
____
"That's them!" A thirteen-year-old boy exclaid while pointing towards a kiosk. His hair was tied into a prim topknot. His face was blemish-less and chiselled. His auburn eyes sparkled under the Sun's assault and overflowed with unshakeable arrogance.
"But Young Master, this slave looked into it. The True World Sect was only just ford. Why waste our ti with them when Second Master secured a position for us with the Raging Torrent Sect?" A subdued voice spoke up. It was from the hunched figure of an older man, garbed in common servant's attire with nothing distinctive about him.
"Lowe, you didn't see that spell! If you did, you wouldn't be so suspicious about them as you are now," the boy reaffird vehently. "There were eight out of ten points similar between this spell and the attack Eldest Brother suffered against that bastard Gaige Bori!"
The servant suddenly recollected the sorry figure of his Eldest Young Master who was turned to mush under the weight of absolute darkness. Thankfully, treatnt was administered at the opportune mont, otherwise, he feared the Eldest Young Master would forever remain a mulch.
"You saw how it all went down, Eldest Brother was completely useless against it. We've found his weakness! We just have to exploit it ourselves. I don't have a damn Abyssal Wyrm's blood flowing through my veins, so I can't use the sa attack Gaige did. But this boy doesn't have a special bloodline. I checked - the Detection Artefact didn't even flicker when I pointed it his way. This can only an that there is another thod to tap into the powers of the Abyss!"
The servant held back a sigh of resignation at his current master's words that bordered on fratricide. He saw the boy's gaze turning resolute, which was never a good sign.
"I must get my hands on this power! I must join the True World Sect at all costs!" The boy declared before beginning his saunter over to the kiosk. "And if that fails? Well..." he revealed a malicious sneer and concluded, "I guess so 'motivation' will be necessary."
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