Ian was sitting off to the side while Liam went up to the orb to change its rune. While Liam was setting up the orb again, Ian had a thought, "Wait, why isn't the energy going into Liam?"
He kept trying to figure this out but wasn't sure what the reason was. Since the energy in the orb had nowhere to go it made sense for it to stay in it. However, Liam was now making contact with the orb and it wasn't flowing into him. The energy now had somewhere to go but it didn't move.
It didn't take long for Liam to finish setting up the orb again. Once he was done, Ian asked him about what he was thinking.
"The answer is quite simple. The energy in the orb belongs to you so it won't flow into me."
"I thought everyone had the same energy at the beginning until they reached silver," Ian said.
Liam was walking back to his desk as he said, "Nope. Everyone's energy is unique. It's like how everyone has a unique fingerprint, no two people have the same one. So as long as you don't touch the orb the energy will have nowhere to go."
Liam had studied runes and lifeforce energy for many years so Ian did not argue with him.
Ian was still not able to get up from the chair so he just waited for Liam to activate the rune. By now Liam had cleared his desk and was ready to start the test. He went up to the orb and pressed the rune to initiate the test.
The rune on the orb began to glow again and the energy inside started to liquefy. The liquid energy inside was swirling as it flipped through all of the colors.
Ian was wondering what his proficiency or proficiencies would be. He was hoping to get something powerful like fire or lightning, but he would be fine if he got wind or water. On the off chance that he got an odd element proficiency like light, healing, or plants, then he'd be even happier.
Liam thought that Ian would get more than one, or maybe more than three elemental proficiencies since his power score was very high. However, if Ian gets only one then he'd have more questions than answers.
The energy in the orb looked like it was about to take form. A few seconds have passed since Liam activated the rune so the energy should have finished changing.
Ian and Liam were waiting patiently for the results to show, but after a while of the energy changing shape and color, it reverted back to its pale color and sandy appearance.
Ian was confused by this so he turned to Liam in hopes of getting an explanation. However, Liam also looked confused.
The rune had stopped glowing which meant the test had ended. This didn't make sense.
Liam frantically went through his notes and books to try and find an answer. Ian just stared at him, waiting for him to say something. Liam flipped through dozens of books and hundreds of papers, but he still couldn't find anything.
Ian finally decided to speak up and said, "Sooo…did the test fail, or what?"
Liam stopped searching and said, "I don't know, this has never happened before."
Instead of continuing his search, Liam decided to restart the test. Both of them sat and watched the energy once again change shape and color. However, the results were still the same. They redid the test a few more times with no change in the results.
Liam was dumbfounded, he had never seen, heard, or read of this ever occurring. Ian was more confused than anything else. He wasn't an expert in the study of lifeforce, so he didn't know what to make of the results.
After a moment of silence, Ian asked, "So do I not have a proficiency, or do I have a neutral proficiency?"
"No, if you had a neutral proficiency, then a gray sphere would have appeared," Liam said as he flipped through a few more notes.
"Could the orb be broken?" Ian asked, still confused by everything.
Liam closed his last book and replied, "That may be a possibility, but I'm not sure."
Liam took another pause before saying, "For now, hows about you absorb your energy and go home. I have all of the data that I need to create your item."
Ian didn't complain and did as he was told. He scooted his chair over to the orb using a lot of effort to do so. Once in front of the orb, he placed his hand on it and allowed the energy to flow back into him.
The energy slowly flowed into his hand and towards his core. Ian felt as his energy made its way from his hand to his core. It felt refreshing. His body was gaining back its strength, and soon after, Ian was able to stand up again. It didn't take long, but when he was done, he felt way better than when he first arrived. Now with everything done, Ian left Liam's workshop and headed home.
On the way back, Ian decided to stop by the testing hall. The testing hall was open to the public. If people wanted to take a test then they'd have to go in to make an appointment.
Inside the testing hall, Ian saw that the receptionist had left a sign saying that they were out for lunch. Ian wasn't going to make an appointment but was there to check something out.
On the wall next to the reception desk, there was a board that had a lot of symbols on it. Ian wanted to check out the board to see all of the possible elemental symbols someone can get. Next to each symbol, its name was written. Below the name, there was a description.
Ian still thought that he got neutral proficiency and that the orb might be broken. Looking at the list, Ian found the symbol for neutral proficiency under the rare section. Underneath the name, the description states that someone with neutral proficiency can learn any element more easily than someone who doesn't have a proficiency with that element. However, they can't learn it as easily as someone who does have a proficiency with that element.
With Ian's test being inconclusive, he was hoping to have a unique proficiency rather than a common one. But if he does get a common one he'd still be happy knowing what it is. Until then, Ian could only guess what he had.
Ian didn't want to stay too long in the testing hall, so after a few minutes, he left. It was still early in the afternoon so he decided that it would be best to go home and tell everyone that he was ok. He had been gone for more than two days so everybody must have been worried about him.
However, on the way back, Ian thought that it would be better not to mention what had happened at Liam's workshop. With that in mind, he decided to tell them why he went to Liam's workshop. But if they asked him about his score he'd tell them a fake number. He hoped that no one would be able to tell that he was lying.