With the great opportunity to finally be a part of the storm tribe, Kaya's worries settled down. She did not want to be someone useless to Penta after all the trouble he went through for her and her little sister.
With this in mind, when she had went and latched her little hand onto the testing orb. She deeply prayed for there to be a miracle so that she may get accepted. Her wishes were granted when she saw the gentle lady pass her a bronze card.
"Haha, I know exactly what you are thinking but I really would not have left you two had you failed. You should trust this honorable brother more." Penta softly said as he hugged her before dropping her next to her sister.
"I-I still wanted to be useful to you!" Kaya replied which surprised Penta before he gently rubbed her head.
"Hey no fair, Howububble bwutha! ME TOO!" Little Sana protested before Penta gave her head a gentle pat as well. Wondering what the future would hold if he kept spoiling this little one.
"Next" The gentle girl once again called as she looked at the trio celebrating while those behind were getting impatient.
"Alright, Alright! I'm heading up." Penta said with a little annoyance at the crowd behind him.
As he made his way up the testing platform. He noticed the middle-aged man on the side with his eyes closed and he approached the gentle-looking girl. Blue eyes, light blue hair, and a voluptuous figure. He couldn't help but get dazed for a tiny second which was clearly seen by the testing apprentice. Though to Penta this did not matter, It was his second life and a hell of life it was.
"Oh my spirits!" Penta loudly said as he faced the blue-haired beauty.
"Ah?" She took a step back in surprise at his shocked face.
"How rude of me. Let me introduce myself. I am Penta, I am pleased to make the acquaintance of such an unparalleled beauty on the day of my testing." He softly spoke as he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it with a smile.
Little Kaya and Sana immediately pouted at the sight of him flirting with the blue-haired gentle-looking girl. As though he had offended them in doing so.
"Bwutha! BAD!" Little Sana being the child she was immediately reported. While Kaya holding her sister back also looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes.
"Oh... w-why thank you." The blue-haired girl had seen her fair share of admirers and those wishing to court her but never had she seen a normal person outside the tribe do such thing so she blushed and thanked while remaining composed after her initial shock. Especially as this was the first time she had her hand kissed.
"Thought it may be arrogant for me to do so but may I request this beauty's name?" Penta didn't let up even with the piercing stares he got from his sisters and the crowd behind him. As though his skin was compressed from heavy minerals. It stayed thick.
The gentle blue-eyed beauty gave an odd stare before just going along with it and replying.
"Lynn, Lynn Seabreeze. Now let's stop here and continue the testing shall we?"
"Of course Lynn, can't have you hand me a black card for no reason now can we?" Penta replied while grinning which surprised not only her but the rest of the crowd as his unbridled confidence appeared again.
"Please! Stop showing off such a miserable scene of confidence!" One of the members of the crowd sneered and yelled.
"Yeah! Get down if you're here just to pretend!" Another continued.
"Stop wasting our time and hurry up!"
Penta ignored the jeering and sneering while smiling at Lynn. Who seemed to be surprised by a commoner who was already calling her by her first name.
"Uhum, please place your hand on the orb if you would." Lynn ignored his offense and continued the test as she didn't want to stay here all day after all.
"Of course," Penta said again before placing his hands on the orb. Though no one noticed the middle-aged man had snuck a peek at this overly confident fellow. Considering no one in their right mind was ever so confident of receiving a black card, even the middle-aged man was surprised and took a look but what he saw surprised him.
Extremely young, advanced tier apprentice aura, brimming with vitality and seemed to possess very durable skin akin to low-grade armor. Penta may not have noticed but he was hardly ever injured since gaining his more "human" appearance and that was solely due to the massive amount of dirt, minerals, and ores he had ingested which then finally compressed onto his body. He would always creak the floorboards anywhere he went and walking up the stairs in the inn was something he had to do carefully not to destroy the steps. Though he just took extra care when going upstairs. Everyone knew he was a heavy fellow. It wasn't hard to find out.
The middle-aged man already knew where the kid's confidence stemmed from but even if he was an advanced tier apprentice, he had to have decent affinities for anyone to truly care as becoming an official shaman was a lot harder than one would imagine.
Placing his hand on the orb. Penta concentrated on emptying his mind in order to allow the presence of his affinities to be made known. However, Penta studied a mystical technique called "Nature's Evolution" It was an immensely powerful cultivation technique that improved one's ability to detect, absorb, and refine natural energies of the world.
As the orb lit up and started shining Penta started feeling as though something was probing him. It felt slightly unnerving but as he only felt it on contact with his skin.
It was an odd sensation that he received from the probing energy, but soon he calmed down as his secrets wouldn't be so easily discovered though more powerful beings may possess such abilities a mere orb shouldn't be able to.
As the results finally came out. Lynn was actually surprised as she didn't believe it. The crowd was even more shocked as they noticed the gentle beauty walk over to the middle-aged man and make a few hush remarks. Without opening his eyes while keeping his "Mysterious aura" he replied and Lynn walked back to Penta and grabbed a card from her pouch.
"It seems you weren't boasting arrogantly and really did have the talent," Lynn said while grabbing a black card and inscribing quite a bit on it.
"Oho, I was actually joking around since I didn't know my affinities as I only have advanced apprentice-level strength so I figured I would get in anyways. Hahaha well good for me now hand that over, Lynn!" Penta said grinning while exposing his lies without care.
The crowd was shocked, to say the least, as this was a first for them to see an advanced level apprentice not already being a part of a tribe, and one that didn't know his affinities meant he never got tested.
"Wait you were already an advanced level apprentice? Do you mean you never got tested for your affinities until now?" Lynn asked surprised as he didn't seem to be lying about not knowing his affinities.
"Yeah and nope. I had an old man give me a cultivation technique for gathering energy before he passed and so I never got to know anything else aside from knowing how to gather energy within my body. Now seriously Lynn, hand that card over! I want to know my affinities." Penta said while getting slightly impatient.
Lynn gave the card while looking curiously at this flirtatious rascal. She didn't expect his boasting to turn true but here he was proving her wrong as when she asked the elder that was with her, he didn't even flinch as he just said give the card over after she mentioned his affinities.
Looking at the card even Penta was surprised.
-Darkness affinity 75%
-Nature affinity 75%
-Earth affinity 85%
-Metal affinity 85%
-Spirit affinity 88%
'Five mid-grade talents? Holy shit, I was actually so talented, or is this because of my Agaran origins? No wonder an emperor roach is so great. Hahahaha' Penta thought as his smile never left his face. He saw the customary three-day notice on the card that Kaya also received and just grinned before taking Lynn's hand against her wishes and kissing the back of it once again.
"It seems our time together has run short beauty Lynn, I hope to see you again in three-days and with that, I shall return to go feed my little siblings. Oh and thanks, uncle." Penta whispered the last part of his sentence while letting go of the hand of the blushing Lynn and focusing his whispered words towards the seated middle-aged man.
"This rascal! Taking advantage of me!" Lynn blew a top as she was kissed on her hand twice now and by the same rascal that was going to join her tribe.
On the other hand, the resting elder was surprised by the kids' words. "Uncle?" he thought. 'I am a respectable elder you brat, just wait until I discipline you in the tribe. Hmph!'
Penta walked back down from the platform and couldn't help but be surprised again. His two little sisters were giving him deadly stares to which Penta had no clue why.
Having gotten closer to the two, he couldn't help but ask.
"Why are my cute little sisters giving me such a dangerous look? I just got a black card, I thought you two would be...well happier?" Penta asked slightly nervous as the looks clearly meant something and he couldn't help but wonder what he did.
"Oh. Congratulations honorable brother. I'm sure you are very happy now." Kaya said with slightly cold words while not looking at him anymore.
"Yeah. So happy!" Little Sana added while also following her sister's actions and looking away.