In the upper district of the city, where the major guilds and merchants did business, stood a tall tower carved of glistening marble. It seemed to pierce the sky with its radiance, carved into the walls of the tower were murals of magic casters battling with demons and monsters. On each of the eight piques of the tower stood the statues of famous mages donned in robes. As Cain approached the tower he felt an overwhelming pressure in his heart, as though he was being watched by a powerful entity.
He felt as if he was underwater without sight or sound, although he knew that he had not moved from his original position. Within just a moment that feeling vanished, he looked around and saw nobody paying him mind. He had wondered what just happened but understood he wouldn't be able to find much out and chose to look into it later. He found himself standing before the imposing door of the tower adorned with what seemed to be precious gems and gold, with the carvings of ancient devils and gods on each door. They slowly opened as if acknowledging his presence. Cain was admiring the doors craftsmanship and once they opened he was shocked again. Each of these door had to weigh a few tons at least, and they had just gently opened as if they were made of feathers. Stepping inside the tower he saw many people moving about in long robes of different colors indicating their element of magic.
At the top of the tower in a luxurious room filled with magical stones and staves, there sat an elderly man with a long white beard and a smile on his face. He stroked his beard while staring out of the large stain glass window behind his desk with an intrigued glint in his eye.
"What an interesting young man, I can't seem to see through him. It seems like this tower will become quite lively soon. Haha."
The old mage was the head of this tower, Corvus Bastion, and a level 8 lightning mage, he was contemplating the young man who had just come to the tower. Not many new people came to his mage tower, and those who did had come to test there magic power and element. He took it upon himself to test them before they walked through the door, after all not just anyone could be a mage. What interested him the most was when he sent his magic sense over Cain he was not able to see into his mind, nor was he able to tell his power. However, when he looked in at his soul he found it was surrounded by a few others, swirling around it like the rings of a planet.
Most would go insane with other souls circling theirs, nobody would be able to hold more than one soul in their body, but this man was able to achieve what could be considered impossible. Even though the souls circling his soul with the intention to attack it, they could not as if there was a force keeping them at bay. Stroking his beard and staring out the window Corvus smiled and then vanished.
In the lobby of the tower as Cain was admiring the mages and the murals, a tall lanky man came up to him. Donning a brown robe with one stalagmite embroidered on it stating that he was a level one mage.
"Are you here to test your magic? The testing stone is on the second floor, if you head up there you will be tested among the other applicants."
Heading up to the second floor Cain noticed many people in different colored robes, but none of them seemed to have more than two symbols with most of them not having any symbols at all. Once he arrived at the second floor to the room with the testing stone he found several other people of seemingly noble birth. They were briskly chatting with each other as if they had no worries at all and only did this for some recondition.
One of them noticed Cain walk into the room and saw the average clothing he wore, the only thing that seemed to be of value was a cheap looking long coat on his back. With a look of disdain a tall youth walked up to him with a smug look.
"In case your lost, rats are suppose to be in the sewers not up here. Now why don't you run along and leave commoner."
After his comment the other seemed to laugh, except one young woman who was silent and seemed unmoved by what was going on. Her cold eyes and lavish clothing made it clear she was a true noble, not like this quick talking rick boy who seemed only interested in stepping on the weak.
"Oh I believe I'm in the correct location, and we will see what I am after I'm tested, a rat or a lion."
Scoffing the man turned to the others and chose to ignore Cain mostly, though the girl in the corner of the room seemed to taken an interest in his cold way of speaking and his calm demeanor. Most commoners would tuck their tail behind their legs and run when faced with the ridicule of nobles, but this man had simply stood their smiling while being insulted and then brushed it off as if nothing happened.
In the center of this room there was a large spherical clear crystal resting on top of a pedestal. An old man with an unfriendly face entered the room telling everyone to be silent. He took a glance at Cain and scoffed.
"Listen up everyone, we will soon test your talents and potential with magic. You will place your hand on the crystal ball and the color that it changed will be your element, how brightly it glows will be your power with that element. Regardless of how bright or dull it shines do not fear, power can be enhanced through meditation and practice. You, commoner, will be last understand?"
Cain stood there and simply nodded his head as if not bothered. The tester was satisfied that this commoner seemed to know his place.
The first to place their hand on the crystal ball was the arrogant young man. When he placed his hand on the sphere it glowed deep blue like the ocean.
"Aaron, you seem to be of the water type, very good. Your magic power does not seem to exceed 5 units. With a few months of work you will be able to raise it to 10 and become a level 1 mage. Congratulations."
The man seemed to be very respectful of Aaron, showing just the disparity of treatment between nobles and commoners. Not many people could raise there magic to 10 units and become a level 1 mage, even getting to 8 units qualified him to be an apprentice right away.
The next to be tested was the young woman, when her hand had touched the sphere though it was completely different than when Aaron did. The ball shown bright purple that seemed like static. Shock plastered the test administrators face.
"Th-this element! Lady Eva, you are of the very rare lightning element, and seem to already have achieved 13 units of magic power. I will have to call the grand magus right away."
"No need Charles, I am already here."
Just as that voice sounded an old man seemed to shift into reality standing adjacent to Charles. He was Corvus the grand magus of the tower, as well as one of the few lightning mage in the city of Drolik. With his eyes scanning the young woman and for a moment stopping on Cain he smiled.
"Haha, what a great talent you are Lady Eva, as expected of the granddaughter of the Lightning marshal."
Charles bowed respectfully towards him as well as the other, all except for Cain.
"What brings you to the testing chambers my grand magus?"
Charles was flustered, he had not expected to see the leader of the tower down here. It was not often that he left his study chambers.
"I had spotted an interesting youth at the front gate and wanted to see them for myself."
"Of course your grace, she is quite the talent."
Charles praised Lady Eva for being able to raise the interests of Corvus who was known to not care for the outside world or take interest in new mages. Little did he know that it was not Eva but Cain that had piqued his curiosity.
"Well don't let this old man bother you, please proceed with the test."
During the whole interaction Eva nor the other students dared to say anything to this magus. The pressure he gave off was enough to make them tongue tied. nobody except for Corvus had even noticed that the Cain in the back had not lowered his head. It only seemed to raise his interest more.
With the process continuing as normal, the rest of the youths placed their hands on the stone. Some of them managed to pass with the minimum of 3 points of magic, but a few with poor power levels in magic became discontent with low grade elemental potential and left. Those who passed were able to join the guild as apprentices to train their magic more.
Soon enough, the time came when Cain had to place his hand on the Crystal. When his hand rested on the cold sphere, he tried to push magic power into the crystal as instructed. The crystal did not seem to have much change on it at first causing Aaron to laugh, but soon the ball dimmed and became black. At that moment everyone became silent, it was not a common element color. In fact, it wasn't a color any of them had ever seen, and soon it changed again.
An eerie green started to emit from the center of the black, the room soon became cold like the life had been sucked out of it. The light was dim, but it was menacing, as if staring into to eyes of death. The administrator sucked in cold breath not knowing what to say, he had never dealt with this situation. The only thing he could tell was that the magic power of this seemed to only be a measly 1.
"Your magic power is one, you seem to not have talent in magic. Please leave now."
After the administrator had said that nobody in the room, including Corvus, had said anything against it. Charles had said it with a calm expression but his heart was a mess and cold sweat could be felt running down his back. Even though it was only 1 unit, the fear that he felt from it was far too great, to the point that when Cain left the room he sighed in relief.
For the first time, Corvus had stopped smiling. As the oldest and most learned magus even he did not know what he saw, only that it was not the power of an element. He had lived for more than 600 years studying magic and the first thought that came to his mind was demon. That was it, it wasn't the power of a mortal, it was the power of a demon. He inwardly hopped that he would never meet that man again.
The only person in the room who seemed to be disappointed in his exit was Eva, she found that power of his intriguing and wanted to learn more about it, but for that she would have to wait until they met again.