So I'm just going to skip the speech Mr. Halliway made because it is way too embarrassing after a few people interrupted him left and right saying they were witnesses to my prowess. And I don't even know half the people in this room. It gets late and everyone starts to line up now to greet me and shake my hand. Some even thanked me for helping them with something. Not sure what I did but okay.
After saying hi to so many people I was finally able to talk to Toba and Rolba for a while. Mrs. Halliway for some reason followed me to meet them.
"Toba. Rolba." I call out.
"Tessa!" Toba calls back nervously. "Why so many beings at once here? Toba thought adoption ceremony different."
"I thought so too but apparently not. You guys don't mind staying behind for a while would you? I got some stuff to show you for the language lessons."
"New books!?" Toba is now excited.
"Yup!"
"Oh don't worry about the ceremony. That will start in a few moments." Mrs. Halliway says behind me. Wait did she understand them!? "And for the language lessons I heard about, will it be possible to help you in compensation for something else?"
The bargains!! Woman!! Who are you!?
"That do well."
"Then we work well. Terissa welcomes you."
The three of us are amazed at her responding in goblin.
The party finally ended and I was able to negotiate language lessons with Mrs. Halliway's help and we sent everyone home. Thankfully, I didn't need to sing to that giant crowd of people. I head to my room and lie in bed super tired from the day and try to sleep.
... I'm sorry.
What!? Oh not you again. I said your forgiven. Lemme sleep.
I'm sorry...
Help us.
Huh? Us?
Help us. Help...
Me.
What the...?
Help me. Release me, child.
Help me.
I'm sorry...
Help me.
What the fuck?! I sit up and look around the room. All I see is my room in darkness until my marks start glowing. No. Not those marks. A new mark on my chest glowing through my shirt. I go to the mirror and remove my shirt to find two hook like marks on me. Both were huge. Both were incomplete. Both glowing black and white light.
Also that was a seriously demanding way to ask someone for help, man! And who the hell is talking to me this time? Where the hell am I supposed to find you in the first place!? No first of all! why am I even hearing all of these damn voices!?
"Tessa! What's going on in there?" I hear Christa shouting through my door. I jump at the sound of the knocking and cover back up. I go to open it to find her ready to knock again. Her face turns as red as a cherry moments after she sees me with my shirt partly opened.
"What?" I say now annoyed with that reaction. She's making me subconscious of my masculine figure and I don't like it.
"Ah!! Y- you were being so loud all of a sudden. Is something the matter?"
Oh, I was thinking out loud. Oops. "Sorry. It was nothing to worry about. Just thinking aloud."
"I-I see..."
"My eyes are up here, girl."
"Aah!! Sorry! I will leave you be!"
She finally leaves and I go to bed.
The next few days pass before I decide to head back to the guild to start my training and see what it's about. I get there and again all eyes on the little goblin in fancy clothes. Vanessa told me to wear a semi formal attire before I leave because of nobleman formalities and the fact that I will be meeting the elf again, Mr. Maul. Good think I put my other suit in my bag before leaving. I ask the receptionist, Lefana, if there's a place to change my clothes and show her the bracelet Mr. Maul gave me and she guides me to the back room where I took the first portion of my test.
I quickly switch out of the formality and get comfortable in the armor. Lefana tells me to wait in the room for Mr. Maul and Mr. Brights to come in. I decide to start singing to myself some Billie Eilish as I wait when the door opens after about the end of the third song. To my horrendous surprise, Xyle the hero walks in and sees me then gives me a confused look before taking a seat near me. Not next to me that would be too awkward to deal with. Instead of singing out loud this time I have the songs play in my head for a while to ignore the silence filling the room until Mr. Maul and Mr. Brights walk in. Brights looks and sees me first then gives me a gleefully cheerful smile that lifted the tension I felt. I couldn't help but smile back bashfully.
"Hello, you two." Mr. Maul says to us. "... Halliway."
I perk up out of nervousness from hearing him address me like that and bow to him. "Good morning, Mr. Maul." I say back. Why do I feel so good about this? He smirks at me then looks to Xyle.
"Mr. Vaticus. It is an honor to finally make your acquaintance." He tells him. Wow the change in formalities got heavy in here. "Have you decided to take the placement test then?"
"Yeah, sure. I figured I could give it a look even though I was sent here as a hero title. I might as well see what kind of hero. Pretty sure that I'm a lightweight champion though but who knows."
Jesus. You couldn't be any more self centered. Guess that's to be expected of a guy that was told he's a summoned hero. Best not to think any better of him. I suddenly noticed him glancing at me with a cocky smirk that followed that statement and I instantly knew he was showing off. Ew.
"Alright then. Mr. Brights."
"Yup." Brights didn't seem to like the attitude either as he pulled out three orbs this time. He sends them to Xyle and a rainbow of colors flow through two of them. The other doesn't react. "Huh? Hang on."
"Whatcha you do? Give me the wrong one?" Xyle asks.
"Well you said you wanted to be a lightweight and that's what that orb is for. So it doesn't look like it fits you much. Lets try these two."
Maul rolls his eyes. Subtle. I was forcing myself to hold a straight face and hold back the giggles in my stomach. Brights sends two more orbs to Xyle and they both glow. One for the first three colors of Xyles Rainbow and the other the last three. Seems he's compatible with something else.
"Alright that works."
"What?"
"Well your choice of title is closer to mild frontline and shield. So you're able to do some heavy weight stuff with the light weight. So that makes you a front guard which is actually perfect for the title hero. So congrats on that."
"Oh cool!"
"Alright. Next for both of you. We're gonna need to analyze you physical prowess and endurance. But first we need to tell you why you don't have any elements." Wait, he doesn't have an element either?! "For starters do either of you know what your stat's actually say?"
"I don't have an element because I'm not really a living person, right?"Xyle answers.
"Uh... Yeah. Basically because you two are golems, you're unable to be given a base element." Well that makes sense but... Him too? Really? I'm not the only one!?
"That's just because I'm a summoned spirit and had to be given a new body of earth and bone. That's nothing weird."
"... Halliway." Mauls calls to me suddenly and I jump from how he said it again. "Can you verify this?"
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
"Uh... I... Don't know if I can since I don't know much about reading my status." I admit.
"You don't know that little basic?" Xyle asks me.
"What can I know if no one tells me that's an actual thing to do?"
"Hah! Watch and learn, goblin." I swear to god. I hold back my rage and watch him as he goes quiet for a while. He closes his eyes and opens them again to show a status window that you would normally see on an rpg. ...Well then. He blinks and it vanishes again then he throws a cocky smile at me.
Irritated, I think of how to do it and close my eyes imagining what the screen would look like for me.
Status call inefficient. Unable to call status view.
Huh. Guess it's just for special cases. Why am I not surprised? "I don't have the ability to summon one."
"Seriously? Aren't most other beings able to see one?"
"There are cases where some don't need to see one, Mr. Vaticus." Maul corrects him. "It's nothing new or uncommon." Awe~ I'm getting giddy from that defence.
"Uh... Oh."
"Now then. Since Halliway can't see hers, we shall move on since there are no other ways to see it other than testing. First as golems, just because you can't have an associated element, it doesn't mean you can't have one to use. On the contrary, you are more compatible to all elements of your choosing than most. But it depends on your pain tolerance and how great your base life force is as a being. And that only depends on who made your base."
"What does that mean? It depends on who made your base?" Xyle asks.
"... Does that mean whoever made our bodies determines how much we can endure?" I ask.
"That's exactly what it means. But where your endurance is now doesn't mean you can't enhance it. Nor does it mean you can't grow. So my question to you two is how much are you two willing to go for an endurance test?" ...why do I feel like that question was directed at me?
"Let's do this!" Xyle cheers. "I know I'm ready." Again with the glances.
"... Nothing is achieved without perseverance." I say mildly disheartened. I'm determined to do better. I have to become stronger than I was. I will persevere.
"... Good." Maul pulls a tiny orb from his sleeve as the other orb around Xyle float away to Brights. He holds the orb up and it starts lighting up then bursts into a heavy flame in an instant. It died as fast as it appeared. "This is an element orb that allows you to choose an element as your base. Sometimes, if you cannot choose, it chooses for you depending on your willpower and personality. The stronger you are in both, the greater the element with flash. What I just demonstrated was my choice of element in contrast to my given element."
He holds up his other hand and a ball of water forms in his palm like it was being pulled straight from the air. Brights takes the small orb and holds it. It glows and flashes like a strobe before dimming out again. "This is my element, light." He explains. "But I can't use it well because of my blessing from Bateyalo. So I use these to enhance my element."
I see. So it doesn't matter if you have one or not but rather if you can call for one in exchange for your original life force. But compared to us, we don't have a defining life force as golems so it will hurt us if we pull any power out.
"I wanna try now!!" Xyle shout excitedly as he stands with stars in his eyes. That was unexpected.
"Good. Let's head to the training field then and get you both started."
"Oh wait a minute! Before that I wanted to know what the goblins blessings are." Me!?
"... I don't see the harm in it. Do you, Brights?"
"Not really." He pulls the three orbs I had before and they flash through my three colors twice; blue, green, and white. They suddenly turn completely black right after that. The air around me goes completely cold like winter just hit and the mark on my chest starts to feel warm as if protecting me from the sudden chills. "... What in all that is holy...?"
Maul and Brights stare at me in disbelief as the orbs crack and fall to the ground and scare me.
Release me.
The voice was so clear in my ears it felt like it was right behind me. I feel a pull on my stomach like a hand was reaching through me. HEEEEK!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS FEELING!!?
It stops again. I hold my stomach from the sudden fullness I had.
"Halliway." Maul says in a harsh tone.
"Y-yes sir!?" Dammit! I'm scared. What the hell was that!?
"We'll speak with you later for that."
"... Yes sir."
"What? What happened?" Xyle asks. "Was that weird?"
"Don't worry about it, Mr. Vaticus. It's nothing for you to concern yourself with." Maul says with content. "Come, you two."
"Wait a minute! What!?" He stands as Maul and Brights walk out of the room. Brights was watching me with a worried expression as I follow after them.