Silver approached the red haired kid "Hello, I'm Silver, who are you?"
The red haired kid looked Silver up and down, before saying anything, as if he was studying everything about him. "You look like you could be strong. I hope you are" he confidently said as he turned back and walked away.
"Wait! What do you mean?!" He tried to ask the boy but he ignored him as he disappeared into the party crowd. 'What is wrong with that kid?' he thought to himself but was interrupted by guests coming up to him to wish him a happy birthday. After an hour of greetings and getting acquainted with some of the people, Perthan suddenly called out to him.
Silver heard his dad call "Ah sorry, it seems I have to cut our conversation short" he apologized to a couple standing before him.
"Oh no worries! Please go to your dad, it must be urgent if he's calling you" the lady politely responded.
Silver nodded his head as he quickly headed towards his dad. After arriving there his dad pulled him off to the side "Silver before we get started with the ceremony, I'm quickly going to explain how this is all going to work."
"What do you mean daddy?" Silver asked with a curious look.
"So for every child's fourth birthday their magic potential gets tested by a magical testing device. It tests your magic aptitude as well as the magic you're most attuned to" his dad quickly blurted out.
"Wait what? What do you even mean?" Silver puzzled. "Why didn't you tell me about this yesterday?!" he complained to his father who was throwing him under the bus with no time to prepare.
Perthan softly rubbed the back of his head with one hand "Ehe, sorry I forgot" he said with a remorseful smile. "But that's not a problem! All you have to do is put your hand on a glass ball and it'll do the rest! So cheer up champ!" he said, trying to move past his own mistake.
Silver rolled his eyes "Do I have to do it here? In front of everyone?" he sighed, it felt awkward being the center of attention like that. Of course it was his birthday, but people were usually off in their own world talking to one another. However if he did something like this then, everyone's eyes would all be on him at once.
"Unfortunately yes" his dad replied "It's the only way we'd be able to get our hands on a scanning device, it's nearly impossible to get your hands on a personal one. Even the king only has a single one himself."
Silver reluctantly agreed as they both walked to the center of the room. Waiting there for him was a purely white marble pedestal with a humble looking glass sphere on top of it, resting on a purple cushion. The orb only seemed to be twice the size of his own hand.
As he walked towards the pedestal he noticed there was already a crowd circling it. As they heard the echoing footsteps of Pethan and Silver, a path slowly formed to let them through.
"Thank you everyone for coming to my son's fourth birthday party!" Perthan gushed out "Silver is my first son and no matter the results of the test, I'll always be proud of my little boy! So please everyone give a hand for Silver!"
The crowd started cheering for Silver as Perthan gestured for Silver to walk up to the glass orb.
Silver hesitantly walked up and reached out his hand and rested it on the orb.
Moments after his hand touched the orb, he felt a surge of magical energy rush throughout his body. Before he could even react the energy was already in his chest and his hand seemed glued to the orb. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't take it off. His heart beat quickly rised and his hands started to sweat.
"Calm down now Silver, it's okay this is normal" his dad reassured him.
Before Silver could even react, the energy flowing around him quickly left the way it came. As he glanced at the orb he could see a bright red energy cloud, but it was barely a fraction of the orb's size.
As he looked around at the crowd's reactions, all of their faces reeked of despair, almost as if he lost his life at that very moment.
Perthan looked at the orb and felt remorseful for his son, but his face only displayed a wide smile and cheerful eyes. "It seems my dear son is most attune with fire with a poor aptitude" he boasted. "Just because he has poor aptitude doesn't mean he won't become a strong warrior in the future!" he further insisted.
Silver slowly took his hand off the glass orb as his eyes teared up. Everyone looked at him with pity glowing in their eyes, wishing to alleviate the child's feelings. Though, that couldn't be further from how Silver felt. His tears weren't of sadness but of joy.
In his previous life he could only dream of being able to become a great wizard that defends his nation and everything he cares about, but in this life he could turn that into reality. Even if low aptitude was an omen to other nobles.
Perthan quickly held his son close by as he announced "Thank you everyone once again for coming to my son's birthday, and I believe after such a great event we should end it here!" He nodded at the staff, signaling to them to end the party, as he held Silver tightly as he left.