All the people who are waiting outside followed the female priest, who's leading us to the waiting area. During the walk, some kids of my age are eagerly looking at Master Irene, who's holding my hand like I'm a kid with a joyful smile on her face.
Master Irene continued humming while I, on the other hand, I'm eager to swing the sword I'm holding to slice some stuff when I got back home—Even forgetting the purpose of why I'm here. A while later, we ended up in a spacious waiting room where there are vacant seats everywhere.
"All the guardians who are accompanying the children shall wait here, and all the kids who'll undergo the spirit ceremony, please follow me."
Peering dazing at the ceiling, as I imagine the things I could slice with the sword later after I got home.
"Claude!"
"Huh-huh?! W-What?! What's happening? A fight?! Where!"
"Go follow the priest, for heaven's sake. Stop daydreaming, you'll get your chance to play around later if you finish your spirit ceremony first. And give me the sword."
"O-Oh! Yeah! See ya then, Master Irene and Clara!"
After giving the sword to Master Irene, I dash to the crowds of children who were going out of the room, following the priest. While leaving, I glanced back and waved my hand at the two before the door closed. Soon after, we ended up in a sanctuary room, as I could feel an inexplicable atmosphere surrounding the room. Then we sat on the wooden pew. The kids beside me are glancing at me, probably trying to figure out my relationship with the saint, but too shy to ask. But in the end, the lad on right decided to ask either way.
"Are you the son of Saint Irene?"
"Oh, no-no, I'm her disciple." I shook my head in rejection.
"Really?! That's so cool! Um... I'm a huge fan of Saint Irene, but maybe you can probably tell her to let her give me an autograph?"
"Hm? Uh, sure I'll ask."
He smiled gleefully. "Thank you!"
"Okay, children, please proceed here at the front as I call you one by one for mana assessment." holding like some sort of magical crystal sphere. It's my first time seeing it.
One by one, she started calling out names. While doing so, a person caught my eyes, the lad who went to the front had a distinctive appearance than any other kids in here, crimson hair with fierce slanted crimson eyes, and a good-looking appearance with a large sturdy muscle body and a height that doesn't belong to a 15-year-old kid—I'm so jealous!
How come he got some fantastic body, while I'm left with this?! Where's the justice on that one? I've been training and eating a lot to build up muscle mass on my body, but all those stuff are for naught as there's not a single ounce of progress other than my compact skinny body...
Damn it, I'm so envious.
After that guy, a woman whom a similar appearance as him went on the front, with her long hair ponytailed on the side. Just base on their appearance, I could tell they're twins as the similarities are indistinguishable from their eyes, hair, and nose, but the face shape is still different as the lad had this manly square shape while the female one got roundness on her face.
Honestly, I lost track of what's going on right now that I even forgot how the crystal sphere works or how it can assess one's mana. But, I do see that when their hands are placed on the sphere and it will light up different colors, yet I forgot what those colors are supposed to mean, so...
What's the name of the two red hair twins again? I forgot since I'm not paying attention at all. I'm indulging myself in my head, as I imagine the cool things I can do with the sword that Master Irene gifted.
"Claude Weiss."
"Yes."
Finally, my name is called. However, I don't remember my last being a Weiss, though? The priest might have mistaken me as a Weiss because I arrived here with Master Irene? And, I don't remember myself registering... Wait, is there even a registration required? Thoughts after thoughts are appearing inside my head, as I went ahead upfront.
Upon arriving upfront, all the eyes are darted unto me, which's surprisingly got used to it. Nonetheless, I ignored all of that while I felt a sudden chill down my spine. So, I glanced at the person who did that and saw the red guy looking at me with disdain in his eyes—I released a bit of pressuring aura on him to silence him. Strangely, it worked, and he averted his eyes, not only him but also the other kids averted or lowered their gazes; I lost control of the pressure, which probably affected them too. But who am I to care?
"Please don't seek fight in the sacred sanctuary."
"Sorry, sister." I bowed my head apologetically.
"It's just a warning."
"Yes, I apologize for my rash behavior."
"It's fine, as long you understand what you did was wrong, that's all good."
"Thank you."
"Now, place your hand in here and pour your mana in here, even when you don't have any mana existing in your body. The crystal had blessings that can help you on your journey to the world of the spirits."
"I see. Thank you."
A mouthful of gasps echoed throughout the room behind me. I took a quick glance and saw confusions on their faces, or bewildered at the fact that someone like was able to be a disciple of a saint. They're probably patronizing me in their heads as of right now—Of course, I wouldn't care as long as they wouldn't bother me, but once they do—I'll retaliate with a little 'demonstration'.
The red guy who looked at me with disdain earlier had an enraged expression on his face—I completely ignored him. Then shifted my eyes back to the female priest and I placed my hand on the sphere. Although I think this object is meant for mana, I poured my quintessence, which's technically still mana. However, after pouring my quintessence on the object—It exploded violently.
*Boom*
Bits of glasses scattered everywhere, which made me unconsciously cover my eyes with my arm. When I opened my eyes, the shocked face of the priest caught my attention.
"Uh-uhh... I-I'll get another one, sorry for the sudden inconvenience."
She then went to get another one, but after placing my hands on it—It exploded again. The cycle continued on and on. After the 5th time, I pour a minuscule amount of my quintessence—And; it exploded again. At that moment, a sudden realization hit me. Do I need to pay for all of that stuff that I broke? So after the next one, I didn't do anything and just placed my hands on it, which ended up exploding again.
The faces of bafflement caught my eyes of everyone in this room, as they're trying to figure out the cause of the explosion—Not only them, I too am confused. The last one, I did nothing and only placed my hands on it. It's probably because of my quintessence, so I don't know what will happen to me.
Shocked by the situation, the female priest only looked at the shattered magical crystal spheres as she mulls over what to do next. If I were her, I wouldn't bring any more spheres as they will only have the same outcome, no matter what. It'll be an endless cycle of me, breaking those things.
Out of nowhere, a handsome-looking priest opened the door abruptly, which startled everyone in the room, as well me. He scanned everyone in the room until his eye came across mine and smiled joyfully. He then headed towards me.
"Oh! Claude! Why are you here? Didn't Irene tell you you need to find me and we'll proceed with your spirit ceremony? Don't tell me, she didn't? Haah... What a forgetful saint."
Upon his arrival, the female priest was shocked when she saw him, and said. "Y-Your Eminence, h-how may I help you?"
"Worry not, young sister. I'll just be getting this kid since he's a bit of a special. From the shattered glass everywhere, it seems you used 'it', huh?" Then his gaze became fixated on me.
Nervously sweating. "Y-Yeah... I apologize for it. If I may, I'll just pay for it."
"How many did he destroy?"
"Uhm... 6, Your Eminence."
"All right, I'll pay for it. Then let's go kiddo. Anyway, young sister, go tell the office that they can just cut it off from my salary for this month. Bye~"
Then that person dragged me out of the room, leaving all the people in there speechless. While walking alongside him in this vast hall, I can't seem to get my head around this guy, so I asked him.
"Eminence..."
"Call me Sir Luke. Just be informal when you're with me. Since you're Irene's disciple, just call me Sir instead of Eminence. Anyway, I'm a Cardinal."
When I heard 'Cardinal', I panicked and apologize promptly. "Sir Luke, I apologize for breaking those things earlier—"
"Nah, don't worry about that. I mean those crystal spheres are for mana, but yours is different. Irene already told me all about you, plus you're an odd kid. I don't know what's going on, with your head to accept Irene's suggestion about forcing your body into creating a mana capacitor. But, I admired your guts kiddo, not all people can survive from the pain and it can even lead to that person going mentally insane or much worse, it can even lead to your own death."
The last part of what he said hit the spot—It all made sense since, after a few minutes of the intense pain, it all subsided quickly. Well, I do always have migraines which made me always wanted to end my life, in my last life. Perhaps my mental fortitude? Nevertheless, I just need to get over this spirit ceremony and have fun with the sword later.
"I-I didn't really think much through it..."
"That's fine, as long you're fine now, also that means the decision you made that day was the right choice to do. Right or wrong, there are no take-backs if something happened to you because of your decision. Just go along with it and learn to live with it. So, what's your goal when you got your own spirit?" He then looked at me with expectant eyes.
Hm... Well, at first, I want to conquer the girls on the game, but upon my first encounter with Lily; I started thinking twice if it's a wise decision or not since I have Stephanie who's a super tsundere, Master Irene whom I can't understand, and lastly, Clara, who's unlikely to be one but it's worth a shot. But now...