After handing the form back to the friendly receptionist, it only took a minute for a slim man in a suit to appear.
"Terran? Follow me." From the man's tone, it was clear he was pretty bored with his job.
Terran followed the man while Sophie was left to wait in the reception hall. After several turns, an elevator, and a few more turns, the man stopped at a closed door. Upon opening the door, a room completely void of furniture was revealed. On one of the walls was a panel of one-sided glass, while all other walls were blank except for the door.
The man directed Terran into the room. While the room gave Terran the chills, he still decided to enter. As he entered, the door shut behind him, giving off a quiet yet resounding echo. The echo had yet to end when a speaker turned on, and a woman's voice came through.
"Please stand in the center of the room within the red square."
On cue, a red light in the shape of a square illuminated itself on the floor. Terran did as told and waited for his following instructions.
"Scanning will now commence. For your safety and accurate results, please standstill."
Three seconds later and a green light filled the room, scanning Terran up and down.
"Alright, please remain stationary while your results are being received."
Once again, silence filled the empty room. Terran would be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous at this point.
A minute passed, but it felt more like ten in Terran's mind. Then, the woman's voice returned with a bit of excitement this time.
"Congratulations, the energy of the blessed has been detected on you. Please place your hand on the orb in front of you for your blessing's rank to be assessed."
While the woman was speaking, a small platform began to rise in front of Terran, placed on it was a crystalline orb the size of a grapefruit.
Blessings had been divided into seven ranks F, E, D, C, B, A, and S, with F being the lowest and S being the highest. Many abilities were tools and could not be quantified by strength, but instead, the world energy required to be used. That being said, it was safe to say that any person with an F rank blessing could beat a regular human that had trained to peak condition in a fight. Meanwhile, if someone had a single S rank blessing, they would have power comparable to a nuclear bomb. While this power was not necessarily destructive, they could easily show the same effect given time. It was a simple fact that all blessings were not created equal.
Following the woman's instructions, Terran placed his hand on the orb. Immediately, a bright rainbow light erupted from the sphere. However, Terrans sight was not set on this light as the system box had popped up without his command.
As soon as the text box appeared, the rainbow light that had filled the room dissipated, and only a slight glow remained. Terran kept his hand on the crystal for another few seconds, but nothing else happened.
A minute later, the door opened, and the man who had guided him to his room appeared. The man's previous blank expression had been replaced by a hint of intrigue. "Please follow me, there has been an error with this machine, and your results were not certified."
Terran followed the man to an identical room. Knowing what would happen, he didn't feel as uncomfortable as he had in the last room. The process repeated, and another crystalline orb rose from the floor. This time, upon placing his hand on the sphere, a feint yet solid glow appeared and did not fluctuate in the slightest.
The man had Terran repeat the process once more in a new room, but nothing about the process or the results changed. When the man appeared again, his face had returned to its previous indifference.
"Congratulations, you have been evaluated as a D rank blessed." The man commented, his words were nice, but his tone was stale.
"Please follow me, so we can certify your registration."
Terran then trailed behind the public worker once more as he was led into a room sharing similarities with a doctor's office.
"Please lay down on the bed, and a nurse will be with you shortly."
The wait was not long as it only took a few seconds for a woman covered in blue scrubs to enter.
"How are we doing today?" The nurse asked in a tone that would have sounded friendly if not for how often she repeated the same question to all her patients.
Terran simply nodded, his eyes focused on the needle that the nurse was holding. Inside was a viscous purple liquid. Maybe it was just the needle, but Terran felt unsettled staring at the liquid inside. After all, why would his instincts respond in such a way to a needle? Especially when they had not spared the slightest worry before he plunged the sharpened antler into himself a few weeks prior.
"What's that purple stuff? Terran asked as his nerves prevented him from remaining quiet.
"All blessed are required to take a dose when they get registered. Don't worry, it's for your, and everyone else's safety."
Terran was agitated by the fact that his question had been dodged. However, he did not take any action. This city was the only habitable location. He would never return to the wasteland. Moreover, Sophie had made it clear that hiding a blessing would come with serious consequences, and he had already shown the federation that he had a blessing. While he knew his blessing was strong, it was not offensive. He was not foolish enough to believe that he could stand alone against the other blessed in the city.
"Maybe I'm just imagining the danger in that syringe," Terran told himself to calm his nerves. Whether he liked it or not, it would be entering his body today unless he wanted to become a fugitive trapped in a birdcage.
"Alright, 3, 2, 1."
Just like that, it was done. Terran immediately felt the liquid flow up his arm, over his shoulder, crawl up his neck, and settle at the base of the back of his head. The process was strangely tranquil. However, a second later, a burning heat caused the cool liquid to sizzle. Terran didn't know how, but he knew that this was happening as his healing fought off the unnatural substance that didn't belong in his body. The sizzling turned into a searing heat, but instead of wincing Terran smiled. Despite the tranquil feeling, he did not trust the viscous purple liquid, and in a matter of seconds, it was gone.
Seeing Terran's weird smile, the nurse assumed he was just feeling the pleasure that everyone went through when the substance first entered their body.
"Bear with me, we're halfway there." The nurse said as she pulled out what looked like a black infrared thermometer.
For a brief second, Terran was worried that the device was going to check if the viscous liquid was still there. Luckily, the nurse's hand stopped behind his right ear and did not reach the back of his head. After which, Terran quickly concluded that the device was used for leaving the serial number. Confirming his theory, he felt a little prick and a slight sting before the nurse's hand moved away.
"Looks like you're all set! I wish you a bright future as a newly registered blessed!"