Wels walked into the summoning area. He kneeled down at the altar and cut his thumb. As his blood hit the paper, instead of turning the dark red color of the others, it turned to a shade of grey.
"A mage!"
The guards couldn't contain their surprise. Mages were one in a thousand. However, that number is also misleading. The number of strong mages is actually one in ten thousand. Most mages don't summon as many pages because their own magic power limits the magic power of the demons that can come through.
Regular mages can summon around three pages. Ones with a small amount of talent can summon five pages. The greatest of mages in history reportedly summoned ten pages.
The magic power in the air condensed to the point where I could feel it even though I hadn't made my contract yet. The portal opened and out came a Corrupt Raven.
Corrupt Ravens are very strong and have massive energy reserves. It was one of the best summonses a mage could have. One could even tell the quality of the raven by their beak color.
The color of the beak determines its mana reserve size. The least was black, then gray, brown, purple, red, orange, yellow, and then silver. The one Wels summoned had a red beak. He had summoned a very strong Raven.
Then he walked back to the guard and showed his grimoire. The guard looked shocked. He took a minute to compose himself before he could speak.
"Wels Angora, seven pages!"
The whole building went into an uproar. The last mage to get seven pages was the countries Grand Court Mage, Alkisa Moore. To them, this was a sign that they were observing history. Many of them looked at Wels with new respect.
Then Jol had to follow that. I felt bad for him. Having to follow up the talent of the century made even someone like Jol seem normal.
Jol carefully entered the summoning area. He kneeled down and cut his finger. The book cover turned a dark red. The portal cracked and a massive figure walked out. A fifteen-foot-tall Brimstone Golem stood there. It let out a massive roar before it flew into the grimoire.
Then Jol walked to the guard and handed him his grimoire. The guard took it and began to flip through the pages. Once everyone heard the sixth-page flip they waited in anticipation. Each page after six was exponentially rarer. When the guard flipped the twelfth page you could have heard a pin drop. His parents rejoiced at the fact that the test had been right.
Everyone almost had a heart attack when the guard said thirteen. When the word fourteen came out of his mouth even he was in disbelief. He then was forced to turn the page again. He counted again to make sure he wasn't wrong. He then composed himself.
"Jol Bralus, fifteen pages!"