The spectator that joins the magic level test ceremony has to get in from the front door of the church and pick a seat.
Only those of the highest rank will have a reserved seat, but someone like Velvet has to find her own.
And due to their new mansion being on Landon's outskirts, their arrival is quite late compared to most noblemen.
This church was made out of white marble, coated with reservation and ventilation magic.
Inside, the most iconic thing is the status of the Light goddess, four giant wings with a gold bar and sword on each hand, she wearing half armor and half dress imbued with a magical light that makes the statue grow along with the sunlight.
The goddess represents Growth and Wealth, she is the most sacred religion in the current time.
But the main focus of today is 9 spheres floating around the status because the higher the sphere, the higher the future.
"Oh look, isn't it the failure of Anderson in the flesh."
One of the noble spectators greets Velvet after she sits down in the far corner of the church.
"Can't believe you still have the nerve to come to a public event. Shouldn't your family have a seat reserved? Oh, you are not part of it anymore!"
Many low-class nobles start to make fun of Velvet that she has to join them in the far corner.
"Mistress…."
Julia holds her mistress's hand while trying to suppress the rage, her fist is now full of vine popping due to the anger she accumulated.
"It's ok Julia, lions don't need to concern themself with a sheep, these are just barking noises, ignore them."
Velvet smiled and patted Julia's head to calm down the situation but deep down she also hurt a lot by their words.
"Lion? Maybe if your son is the son of the invincible wall of Landon, BUT if he isn't, I wonder what he was…"
One of the noblewomen teases her but before she can continue the pastor came in and rang the bell.
*Ding* *Ding*
"Everyone please start praying for the Goddess so she can visit us and give our descendants a good future."
--
"You weird."
The daughter of Goldriver assaulted Ark while looking him in the eye.
"What?"
Ark steps back and tries to walk away, from his experience this type of person always brings trouble.
"You aren't what you seem? Why do you look so old?"
Her words make his feet stop in his tracks.
"What did you just say?"
Ark feel surprised
'Does she see who I am?'
"You magic, It looks like my father."
She tries to describe what she saw in him but lacks the knowledge and word to do so.
"My magic? Oh! you mean it looks in control, right?"
Ark's current magic flow is different from normal people, let alone a kid.
Normally magical energy or mana will be unstable and flow in and out everywhere from your body but in the case of experienced magic users, they can organize this process to some extent.
The benefit of this method is that you will always have higher mana capacity than those that let the flow run free.
And in Ark's case, his mana is always at max, which means he is always at his strongest no matter the condition.
"Yes. But more than dad, how?"
She tilts her head in confusion, she always asks her dad how to do it but her dad always said that this method is reserved for only those with a high level of control.
Because if you try this and it backfires, it will end up as you suffocating yourself magically.
Like if suffocating physically wasn't painful enough….
"If you didn't know then I think your dad did a good job."
Ark laughed nervously, it was like normal breathing for him now after doing it for so long, but he always remembers the time before he mastered this technique.
"Please tell me. I'll give you a cookie."
She picks a cookie out of her pouch, the smell of chocolate is very tempting!
'I mean, someone gotta start somewhere. Maybe starting with a cookie is not bad'
If she can sense or see his mana, helping her learn to control her mana is not a bad idea, and she even got the cookie!
Before his hand can catch the cookie, one of the teachers comes and grabs both of their hands and quickly pulls them to the church.
"Ah…."
Adeline's face is full of disappointment while she watches Ark get separated from her.
Adeline is the crown jewel of Goldriver house which means she will be one of first the testers to get out, alongside Son of Westrich and other powerful noble descendants.
"Haha! You are still clumsy as ever my dear Adeline, I think you need a responsible man to take care of you, such as ME!!"
The moment she gets in the line, the Son of Westrich rushes in and speaks with pure confidence.
Adeline looks at the man before her, head to toe, and then exhales while shaking her head with disapproval.
Comparing the chaotic nature of this guy's mana to Ark's is like comparing the river to an aqueduct that feeds an entire civilization.
'YOU F***!!!'
The son of Westrich follows Adeline's eyesight and of course, it has to be that guy!
'The line is very long, it's gonna take a while. Ughh… I hate ceremonies! Can we just take a test and go home!'
For a former hero, he sure has to attend a lot of rites and ceremonies but because he knows how the power system works, he knows how much it is a waste of time.
The only purpose of the ceremony is either showoff or boosted morale.
If it was for the second reason, he can tolerate it.
But a ceremony like this is for the first reason!
He is only here because his mother wants to see it.
"Ok, everyone! When the prayer is finished, we will go out by ten. If anyone wants to go to the toilet please hold it in, ok~!"
One of the nuns happily announces to all children while rallying out the first ten children.
"First, The son of Watersor, Vincent Watersor please step up to the altar."
The old man pastor in a pure white garment speaks with a lot of respect.
Because Watersor is the royal house.
"Why doesn't he have a prince title?"
"Vincent is coming from the minor house of Watersor, so he is not a prince"
Velvet answered Julia's question quietly.
On the Altar appears to be a young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, his outfit is the same as the other but on his white tie appears to be a gold button representing the royal status.
"Put your hand on the orb and let the goddess guide you."
Vincent did as the pastor said and put his hand on the orb.
This orb is linked to the nine spheres around the goddess statues.
After Vincent presses his hand on the orb the 9 spheres start glowing like a constellation.
"9 stars?! As expected from The royal house of Watersor!"
"Looks like those princes in Royal castle have some tough competition!"
"We must make a connection now, I need to inform my children to befriend him!"
There are 9 levels of magic and 4 levels for the user.
Every 2 levels you can cast make you a corresponding user level. except for the last 3 level spell.
1-2 Beginner, 3-4 Apprentice, 5-6 Expert, 7-9 Master
'Oh! congrats to that kid! He would be useful if trained correctly.'
Ark, alongside other children, starts clapping for Vincent's high score!
But he knows how hard it is to reach level 9 of magic.
In his time, there were only 3 people who could use level 9 magic.
The First was the wizard "king", the old sage in the mountain, "he" was the one who helped him perfect his plan of stealing the god's power, also "he" is Ark's master.
The second was the Queen of elf, she was a bitch.
The third was his "Best friend".
'Hope that kid will get a good teacher, Oh I can be his mentor!'
It is not easy to find someone with the capacity to grow into the level of Master, let alone a level 9! and the kid is human so that is a plus for humanity!
"Next! The son of Westrich, Rory Westrich please step up to the altar"
'The royal bloodline proves to be strong but as a noble house I will not give up!'
Rory places his hand on the orb and lit up 6 spheres.
"6 levels, not bad, but I heard his cousin got to level 8."
"Maybe this is why the lady of Westrich has left before the test, she knew that her son can't compete with her brother's son, and when I saw her dress, I thought she was a clown!"
Many nobles start gossiping, making Rory very angry but all he can do is step down and go out another way.
"Are you ok, Mistress?"
Julia saw Velvet's face had gone cold after hearing someone talking about Westrich's brother.
"No, I'm just too excited, what level do you think our Ark will be?"
Velvet quickly change the subject and ask Julia
"I don't know… In my home tribe, we didn't have the levels system, we used trial by combat to test someone's levels."
Julia answered.
"Oh… that sounds…. oddly interesting. Can you try to test Ark With that?"
"Yeah! Good idea, mistress!"
From the moment she saw her young master absorb the water from her cloth, she always wanted to test her young master's true strength!
"Third! The Daughter of Goldriver, Adeline Goldriver please step up to the altar"
The moment Adeline walks up many whispers can be heard.
"That the secret child of Goldriver, I heard the royal house and the top noble houses have interest in her, I wonder why…"
"She looks even more pretty than in the rumor, I hope my son didn't fall for her.."
Many parents are afraid their child will try to catch the fruit too high for their league.
No one wants their status to get rid of because their son falls in love with the wrong woman.
"…."
Adeline looks at the orb and glances back at Ark.
"What is she looking at?"
"Maybe her friend?"
Many wonders where the beautiful eyes go.
'Oh no!!'
Ark quickly stops his mana control, but it is too late!
The sphere starts growing from 7…
"Level 7! Not bad from a new noble house, but still doesn't explain why all the high rank wanted her so much…"
Many in the royal house were secretly tested and more than half got to level 7 or higher, so the girl with 7 spheres should not spark their interest.
But before anyone can deduct the reason why the girl is so much wanted
Another Sphere lit up
"8! Wait how?!"
And then another lit up!
"9!!! Another 9! But why is it climbing?"
Never before has the level been unstable, the result always static.
"Maybe she is the chosen one! The goddess has blessed her with a higher future!"
"So that's why the top ranking noble and royal house want her so much!"
"She may be out of my son's league, but girl and boy don't need to be lovers! I should teach my son about friendship..."
Many including the pastor and the nuns are in awe of what they saw.
But before Adeline stepped down from the altar.
Blood…
Blood coming out of everywhere!
"Cough!"
Her mouth, her eye, her ear, there a stream of blood explodes out of her face!
"What?! What happened?!"
The panic erupted.
"Ah!!!"
She cries in pain while the nuns rush in and try to help.
"Don't let the chosen one die! Someone get the doctor!"
"I'm the doctor!"
"Heal!"
All of the nuns place their hands on Adeline while the doctor rushes from the emergency station.
"ARHHH!!!!!!"
The [Heal] only made the situation worse, Adeline sprung up and her blood vessels started to pop and blood flowed out everywhere.
The vein on her pale skin popping up made her look like a monster.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!"
Ark jumps in and pushes out all the people around Adeline.
"Who are ----!!"
All of them suddenly can't speak, no, can't breathe, like the air around them suddenly disappears.
"You stupid kid! Why do kids these days don't listen to their father!"
Ark presses his hand on Adeline's face and sucks out her mana.
The pain suddenly multiplied, and she started crying and tried to crawl away from Ark.
"Just stay still, everything is ok now."
Ark said calmly and Adeline suddenly stopped.
Oh no, she didn't stop because she calmed down. Ark used wind pressure to hold her still so she can't move.
Inside of people is complicated, some people spend their entire lives understanding and taking control of their bodies but it takes multiple lifetimes if you want to start control inside of other people.
And that is only for the "Start".
The only being who can fully control another body is the Gods.
Luckily
"You are such a troublemaker, aren't you?"
There is someone here even more skilled than the gods.
After carefully extracting the excessive mana out of her body, Ark finally lets her free from his wind prison.
"…."
Adeline's expression is back to being motionless but the wound is still open.
"The rest is on you, doctor."
Ark releases the air back into his "domain" and other spectators finally can get inside.
"Thank you."
Adeline grabs his hand and speaks with gratitude, also admiration
LOT of admiration.
"You should be."
Ark flicks her hand out with anger on his face.
There is a reason why someone prohibits someone from doing something.
Is that too hard for people to understand!
'Or maybe she's just a kid, Now, there are two people on the list to teach!'
What Adeline has done is try to copy the flow of Ark's mana.
She only copies the outside but the inside is different for each person, that is why too much mana has gone inside her and makes her almost explode because she can't control the flow inside her body.
That is magically suffocating.
Ark casually walks back to the lines and pretends like nothing significant has happened while other children are watching.
"Who are you?"
One of the children asks him.
"Hm? My name is Ark Anderson, nice to meet you all."