As the sun shined down on the Imperial Academy, a dark clothed man in a long coat and a large hat was resting in a tree branch in the main courtyard, snoozing the day away...up until skull shaped charm hanging off his belt started screaming like a Sonoxen.
"Meh"?
The man looked barely phased at the loud sound as he grabbed at it and placed it near his ear. The charm began to quiet down as it got closer to his head.
"What is it? Really? Here? At the evaluation hall? How strange...very well. I shall go".
The man replaced his skull talisman and proceeded to stretch on his resting perch. With a groan, he proceeded to jump off the branch and landed on his feet while letting out a small noise. As he stood up and stretched, a playful glint appeared in his eyes.
"Another maji here after all these years? I wonder who they are...", the man mused aloud as he walked down the halls.
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"Welcome students, to the Evaluation Hall!", a voice echoed as the four of us entered a large circular chamber filled with people. At the center of the chamber was a huge magic array with a crystal as big as an ox in the center of it. Surrounding the back side of the circle were the professors from the day before, seated and observing us all.
[Well I'll be a Gorerilla's auntie, a potentiality array! I haven't seen one in ages], Voxea commented excitedly.
[A potentiality array]?
[Well the technical name is, "Reaching the Heavens and Grabbing the Moon" array, but that's a mouthful and a tad pretentious. Either way, the important part is that the array is designed to help determine a would-be maji's path. It measures everything from a subject's quality of aether, aether affinity and magical inclination], Voxea explained.
[So it separates geniuses from dunces], I asked sardonically.
[Nope, it just helps a maji figure out what cultivation path they should take to reach their fullest potential. Take it from me, even if you have the highest quality of aether, a mismatched cultivation path can have...less than desirable results].
[Explosions]?
[Sometimes worst].
"Now then binders, attention!", exclaimed one of the professors, a woman with dark hair who reminded me a bit of wolf. Her commanding voice rendered the loud chamber to be effectively mute.
"Standing before you is a relic from the Old Empire called the Determination Array".
[What]?
"You will be called up in groups, and individually, you will inject the crystal before you with a small amount of aether. The array will then determine what class of binder you have the potential to become. We will then assign classes and professors that will help you grow. The Aethersurges will now choose who shall be evaluated first. Good luck binders"! After the professor said her piece, she sat back down as a group of Aethersurge flew out from behind her and the other professors. The Aethersurges then began to hover over random people in the chamber.
The people selected began to make their way to the front of the array and formed a line. The first to go up was a confident looking man in piecemeal armor, a mercenary if I had to guess. He placed a hand on the crystal and his whole body began to glow with the telltale sign of aether flow. A few moments later, the whole crystal began to glow and a symbol reminding me of a sword and a shield overlapping formed within it.
"Erando Natz. Knight Class".
With a curt nod, the mercenary stepped down and allowed the others behind him to go.
[Oh I can already tell I have issues with this], Voxea said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
[Huh? What's the matter]?
[The array is still doing its main function of determining how someone should develop as a maji, granted the names and styles have changed quite a bit, my problem is that the array is murky]!
[Murky]?
[The crystal is supposed to be changed every few decades or cleaned due to it being subjected to so many different types of aether. Otherwise the affinity color and aether purity get washed out and that is very very bad], Voxea explained to me.
I was about to retort, until I felt the presence of an Aethersurge above my head.
[Oh excellent! Now it's time for the fun part], Voxea said ominously. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
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"Oh? Professor Malgorious, what a surprise! I thought you hated Evaluation day!", said a portly looking binder dressed in green.
"Normally yes, but I have a feeling today is going to be...", the man in black paused for a moment before staring at a frontier girl with distinctively dark red hair that reminded him of someone long ago, "..rather interesting today".