Upon acquiring permission from the casual voice inside the tent, Danulo walked in, followed by Daney, who was visibly shivering by now. Ryne didn't waste time hesitating anymore and followed them both in.
As soon as Ryne entered the glorious tent, he felt himself being scrutinized from all directions. 7 sets of solemn eyes were assessing his every step and gesture as if inspecting their goods. He got goosebumps as he felt his heart thumping at an escalated pace.
Forcing himself to analyze the layout of the room, he found it much simpler than he had expected. The inside of the tent had minimalistic decorations and the people that sat there wore little adornments.
There was no furniture other than 9 simple wooden chairs placed around the tent in a semicircle, with 3 chairs in the center being bigger than usual.
6 middle-aged to elderly people sat in those chairs in an upright manner and 3 chairs, one of which was the bigger one right next to the left of center, were left empty.
The one who sat in the center of it all looked like a common elderly man with a broad forehead, a square face, and a slightly crooked nose. Ryne felt the intense stare of this man and felt confused as to why his affinity test required such a serious meeting.
In front of this man, whom Ryne assumed was the tribal chief, was a little wooden stool, upon which rested an unassuming transparent crystal ball.
He felt as if something within him was attracted to this orb as if it were a delicious fruit that was inviting him closer with its scent drafting out. Quickly he shook his head as he threw these weird thoughts aside, yet an attraction was still stirring up within him as he looked at the crystal ball again. As Ryne wondered about the possible uses of this ball, a light cough broke the silence of the room.
It was the Tribal Chief, Hans who gestured for Danulo to sit on his left side, on the bigger chair right next to him, and spoke in a neutral tone,
"Now that 7 out of 9 elders are present, the convention and the affinity test may commence. What do you say, senior Emertius?" Hans looked towards his right, where a wizened old man sat slouched with his eyes closed.
This was the strongest and most esteemed mage of the tribe. The backbone of the mages and a former Chief himself, Emertius.
Ryne felt a little scared as he wasn't even aware of this old man's presence up until Hans pointed him out. The old man opened a single eye and started speaking with a strained and raspy voice,
"I'll personally slay those two panthers that forced our tribe to move for the second time this month. You and Danulo would need to come with me to interrupt and trap them while I cast my spells. There's not much need for anyone else's involvement anyway when it comes to dealing with two grade-4 beasts. After that, we won't be moving for the next few years, so prepare to hone yourself within this same place for the next few years." Vigorous words that didn't match his wizened body came out of his mouth as every other Elder listened with rapt attention. Suddenly, Ryne's body noticeably shivered when he felt the fleeting gaze of the skinny old man assessing him off-handedly,
"As for these two, even if they're supremely talented, I can't accept disciples at my age, so don't wake me up again unless it's something critical. I'll be going to begin my preparations for tomorrow, and you two remember, we leave tomorrow morning for the hunt."
The disinterest and apathy radiating from the words of 'senior Emertius' were clear for all to see but nobody took it as a blow to their pride as even the two other strongest warriors and elders present inside the tent, Danulo, and Hans nodded their heads seriously and gave a bow. The elderly Emertius nodded his head at the two other leaders calmly glided in the air and drifted outside.
The tense atmosphere inside the tent seemed to have disappeared as soon as the old man left and Ryne even heard a couple of visible sighs of relief.
Hans and Danulo looked at each other before Danulo looked straight at Ryne and began speaking,
"Little Ryne, the senior who just left the tent, is the guardian and the supreme protector of our tribe, a High-Grade-4 mage, Senior Emertius. Although, you would have little contact with him in your upcoming days, remember to never lose even an iota of respect around him." After informing Ryne of the old man's identity, he paused a little before looking towards his right and continuing,
"This is the Tribal Chief and the leader of the main hunting group of our Zaputa Village, Senior Hans. On the second right of him is Senior Golver, another sacred mage of our village, who would be taking your magical affinity test and assessing your potential in the field of magic. As for everyone else, you'll know about them soon." Danulo took a deep breath before looking at everyone else in the eye once and speaking loudly,
"..and everyone this is the kid I wrote a letter about, a native of a far eastern kingdom, Ryne."
Suddenly, he felt a change occur in the demeanor of these people as all of them, even the Chief gawked at him with their piercing eyes.
One round-bellied mage sitting on the rightmost chair had his eyes shining as he whispered to himself,
"So we weren't wrong. Even though our exploration squads in the east didn't find anything, it's simply because they didn't traverse deep enough. A kingdom in the east, hehe, an entire kingdom."
Ryne didn't notice it as he felt creeped out by the gazes of these people once again, giving him an urge to shed tears in a corner to calm his heart. Taking a deep breath, he forcibly ignored all of them as he kept nodding his head now and then to the elders after Danulo introduced him.
He found the man Danulo called Senior Golver rather pleasing to the eye as he had a consistent kind smile on his face. He had white hair and a white beard and his soothing and symmetrical facial features made him appear trustworthy.
Towards the end of Danulo's speech, Ryne bowed down towards everyone and spoke with a little stutter,
"H-Hello Seniors, I'm mry-Ryne."
Daney, who was standing at a dark corner gave a low chuckle at this before shutting up even quicker when he felt one of the eyes turning their focus towards him.
"You can rest easy kid, no one here is going to cause you any harm." The pudgy mage that just whispered, that seemed to be around 40-45 years old, spoke from the rightmost chair. Ryne immediately bobbed his head twice to show affirmation.
Meanwhile, the white-haired senior Golver coughed lightly to attract his attention and pointed his index finger towards that unassuming orb at the center as he spoke,
"This ball is a runic medium for mage acolytes or potential mages to test their affinity. All you need to do is to close your eyes and try to interact with the world around you as if it's alive. Try to call upon the forces of nature and keep doing it for half an incense stick of time." Pausing a little so that Ryne could comprehend everything he said, Golver continued again,
"Anyone that has the potential to be a mage would make the ball react. The more the disturbance, the more the lights, the more talented a mage is. If your talent is sufficient, a mage would ask you for discipleship within the next three days. Do you understand?"
"Yes, senior Golver, I'll do my best," Ryne answered back with a nod to signify that he understood everything.
"Good, then come forward... Daney." The white-haired mage suddenly turned his attention towards the forgotten corner of the tent and spoke with a light chuckle.
Stunned, Daney pointed a finger at himself and stammered,
"M-Me?"
"It is MY decision, now come forward and have your affinity tested without causing trouble," Danulo ordered in a domineering voice.
Ryne, who was supposed to be the center of focus for this gathering, felt his shoulders turning lighter by a few notches as he kept looking back and forth at different people and the drama unfolding while they talked.
"I don't want to be a stupid mage. I don't want to stand in front of my enemies and chant horseshit. I want to punch people. I want to fight my enemies." Daney responded with his true thoughts almost immediately without thinking much of the consequences but when he saw the black lines forming on his father's forehead, he quickly tried to swallow his words back as he 'apologized' to the two people sitting on the right side of Chief Hans,
"I'm sorry dear esteemed senior godly Mages, but I don't want your cool white hair and elegant poses. Please let me be."
Living in a family of warriors, Daney felt his blood boil every time he remembered his father's exploits and adventures. He felt a deep disgust towards the risk-averse attitude of the mages and their inability to fight at the front lines.
He remembered how his father had discouraged him to train for becoming a warrior and told him that he possessed no future if he continued on the path of a warrior. At least there was still some hope in Danulo in regards to his Magic Affinity as mages with 'Good' affinity with any of the seven elements usually had a lot more potential for growth than warriors whose path would almost certainly be cut off much earlier than mages at higher grades.
Daney still disliked mages through and through but he was unable to express himself entirely as Danulo, who saw that he was avoiding the Magic Affinity test again, released a menacing aura and said,
"Shut up and start moving."
Daney was unable to utter any response as he stood there silently within the shadows, blank and uncertain.