The manifestation ceremony is quite simple. Basically, all those who have reached the age of 7 are supposed to go to the church. Each kingdom has their own deity for worshipping and ours was Nebel.
The nuns took all the children including myself who reached the age of 7 into the church.
There we met a man in white robes and a lady who was wearing a purple armor.
'What a peculiar color for an armor?' I thought to myself.
'I am Father Sebastain, a follower of the king and the one appointed to maintain the Misty Valley church. The lady beside me is Anne Winslot, a member of his Majesty's Royal Army. She is here as an onlooker for the manifestation ceremony. Children who have rare talent in magic will be sent to special camps in order to nurture them. You are to enter one by one into the pool surrounding the statue of Nebel. ' said the man in the robes.
' What is a rare talent sister?' I asked one of the sisters from the church.
We never got to know the names of most of the sisters. This was because of sisters being sent to different churches on a monthly basis. Sometimes, sisters might be transferred to a different church within weeks. I never got to know the reason why they did such a thing in the first place.
' Do you see a box that lady Anne is holding? That is the box of talents. It contains all the known types of magic since its creation 2000 years ago.' said the sister.
'How can it determine the type of magic?' I asked
'When a child enters the pool beneath the statue of Nebel, a specific color of mist surrounds him. Nebel was the only one who was able to determine the type of magic possessed by an individual using the colors that his mist created.' said Father Sebastain.
'Hence, a portion of Nebel's magic is contained within the statue which reacts with the individual in the pool creating colored mist. Based on the color of the mist, the box of talents shows the type of magic possessed by that individual.' said lady Anne.
My friends started going one by one into the pool. I was third in the line.
Rody got brownish mist. The box of talents projected a hologram in which was written 'COLOR-CEDAR; TALENT-CLAY .'
Then there was Ash. He got a blue mist. The box of talents showed ' COLOR-TURQUOISE; TALENT-SOUND.'
Then it was my turn. I was too excited to see what color of mist I might get. I might get the typical reincarnation present of cheat magic or something like that.
1 minute passed and..... there was no mist.
'WTF! Where's the mist? Did it run out or do I really have no talent? What the hell? Am I gonna live in a magical world where only I am the one with no magic?' I asked
2 minutes passed.
'The talent box shows nothing. This kid has no talent. Get out of the pool kid.' said lady Anne furiously.
' Is this it? FUUUUUUUCK!!!!' I groaned and started kicking the water.
Just as I was about to step out of the pool, a black mist started forming all around the church.
'What in the hell is this? Why has the mist leaked out of the pool?' I heard lady Anne shouting.
Everything was covered in black. Even my hand was not visible to me.
' Step out of the pool kid.' I heard father Sebastain shouting.
I stepped out of the pool and the mist started disappearing.
The children were panic stricken. I was overjoyed
'Yes , finally, a cheat ability.' I thought to myself.
The talent box showed 'COLOR : MIDNIGHT BLACK; TALENT: UNKNOWN'
' I was wrong about you kid. Seems like you will be attending the special camp.' said lady Anne.
Then the next kid entered the pool and his mist also spread all around the church.
'Seems like the mechanism in the pool has been worn out with time. I will ask his Majesty the fund for it's mending.' said the Father.
'Well, I'm satisfied with the results either way.' I mumbled to myself.
The rest of the test was nothing special. I got to see a variety of magics and a lot of colors. It soon got quite boring if you ask me.
Later, I went back to the orphanage with the sisters and the rest of the children. We were asked to join lady Anne for dinner. It was going to be my farewell party and I wanted to enjoy myself to the fullest.
I saw the whole village gathered at the community hall. Well, it is kind of rare for a talent to emerge out of nowhere. People were giving me gifts. Most of it was clothes and cash for my travels. After dinner, I was taken into the chamber of nobles where I met a lot of nobles who just wanted to get on my good sides. They gave me quite a lot of money. It was just basic sponsorship. Knowing that the kid might get famous some day, people try getting on the good side.
I couldn't sleep during the night. I just wanted the sun to rise soon and start my new life in this world of unknowns.
The orphanage never allowed us kids to go out of the Village. In the past year, I have tried my best to acquire all the knowledge I could by reading books. But, there was not that many books in the village and people who lived there kept exaggerating their stories of adventures. It was hard to know what was real. But since I am gonna go out to experience it soon, I feel restless with each passing moment.
I stayed up all night and felt quite sleepy when it was my time to leave.
'Shouldn't have stayed up all night.' I said to myself.
Soon, I saw lady Anne and 4 soldiers waiting for me with a carriage. Hence, my journey begins.