Yoel had come to terms with his fate and was prepared to accept whatever outcome awaited him.
At least, that was what he had convinced himself.
His heart still couldn't help but shake helplessly, for what was to come.
His fingers had even gotten jittery as well. Yoel would prefer to be attacked by some despicable monsters rather than go through this aptitude test…
Eventually, after a long and anxiety-inducing walk, he had arrived at the room he was supposed to be in, by 4:15 PM.
He took a long, shaky sigh and pressed his fingers against the glass door, pushing it open.
Upon opening the door, he was instantly blinded by white, mechanical light.
Upon adjusting his eyes, he instantly noticed many men and women dressed in exquisite suits, wearing slightly irritated looks and slightly dark bags under their eyes.
A single man stood out from among them in particular, his attire a bit different from the uptight AD.
His attire, which resembled an old dark academia style, only served to accentuate his striking blue eyes and icy blue hair.
It gave off a familiar feeling as if he had met the mysterious and aloof man before.
But Yoel simply couldn't remember when.
Unknown to Yoel, something stirred deep within his soul the moment he looked into the man's eyes.
..On the surface, however, he believed that the man's eyes were his selling point when it came to women, feeling as if he was looking into a vast ocean whenever he glanced at them.
The Administration Department, however, did not notice this peculiar interaction. Or rather, they did not pay any mind to it.
After a few moments, one of the men referred to Yoel, with almost no enthusiasm or expectation in his monotone voice.
"Student Yoel, I presume? Congratulations on your Awakening. Please follow me, and we will help you find out exactly what kind of Enigma you have been blessed with."
Yoel nodded cautiously, still not too sure what to think of this specific room, and the people within it.
Many scrutinizing gazes fell on Yoel, even before his actual aptitude test began.
That man from before… while he was not looking at Yoel with hostility, he seemed to look at him with a bit of apprehension in his gaze.
Yoel wanted to ask if something was on his face, but the tired AD members moved him away before he could.
"Your aptitude test is a bit special since you were knocked out cold for the last 2 days since escaping that.. accident of ours."
The man who had previously pulled him away began speaking again.
His tone had not been as monotone as before, instead now containing some semblance of politeness in it, a hint of guilt coating some of the words he spoke.
He seemed to be feeling quite guilty as well, since essentially, him and his team had been responsible for causing this incident, so maybe this was their way of expressing apologies..?
Yoel was not quite sure, but he did not care that much either. For him, the incident they had caused became an opportunity to him.
While yes, the restrictions and conditions of his Awakening were quite bizarre… he was still happy that he managed to attain an Enigma of his own.
The man led him to a bunch of equipment and began to explain the purpose of each one of them to him.
"Firstly, we will check if your Enigma boosts your physical strength or an aspect of your physicality since those types are the easiest to pinpoint. And while that is going on, we will also be checking if your body experiences any… different changes to your body."
The last part of the sentence sent chills to Yoel, it would be kind of disturbing not to notice changes to his own body while his ability was active..
Yoel was now standing in front of the supposed physical strength aptitude test, which resembled one of those old arcade boxing machines…
Yoel was quite conflicted at this revelation, was something crude really going to measure whether or not his limbs contained energy beyond human comprehension within them?
"Please, throw the best punch you can with your Enigma active, and we'll let you know if your Enigma enhances your strength…"
Yoel waited for the man to stop explaining and nodded as politely as he could.
Then slowly took a combat-ready stance.
As he did, he activated his Enigma.
When he did so, his right eye transformed from a beautiful dark purple to an obsidian color filling the inspectors with a slightly ominous feeling, and the other shone with a brilliant purple radiance, as if announcing its arrival arrogantly.
This time, his perception did not shift. Not only because there were no shadows near him, but because while on his way to the Enigma training facility he had learned how to control his vision.
The light bruises he had gained and the light dizziness he felt had not been for nothing.
That being said, the myriads of colors the world had, had been drained once more.
Even without looking from the eyes of resting shadows, the perception of the world changed into a cold and heartless one, with the only exception being the hint of purple from the Avon in the environment.
…That being said, the motes of Avon all seemed to hang around the enigmatic man he had laid his eyes on before beginning this test.
It was as if they enjoyed being in his presence.
The person who had been speaking to him seemed to be noting down something and then gave him a thumbs up.
"All good."
What was that supposed to mean? Was his Enigma related to physical enhancement or not?
After that, the man led him to many more devices related to one's physicality, and strangely… each one of them resembled several centuries-old arcade machines.
They even made him play wack-a-mole at some point!
I can't tell if this is serious or not, at this point.
Yoel was not sure if the administration crew was making fun of him, or seriously noting down various things about his Enigma.
Eventually, the physical portion of the test ended, and Yoel found himself staring at the mysterious and aloof man from before.
He was supposed to… use his Enigma to attack the man.
Yoel had been kind of worried, though. What if it randomly unleashed its full power, actually decimating the building and killing the man, along with the rest of the administration crew?
"Relax. Even if you can't properly manifest your abilities right now, The man will sense whether or not you're trying to move the Avon. He's kind of a special case."
The man in question simply nodded and smiled politely, he did not utter a single word.
And so, after a bit of hesitation, Yoel raised his hand and stretched his palm outwards, as if commanding an army of his own.
His intention was to raise the shadows that had been resting near them, trying to force them from their usual formlessness into shapes of destruction and weaponry.
He imagined many types of weapons, ranging from spears, swords, battleaxes, glaives, and so on…
He thought of many ebony chains and tentacles rising from the shadows, rushing to bind his foe.
He even imagined spikes, which would mercilessly plunge themselves into the opponent's flesh.
And whilst in his imagination, it certainly seemed like a sight out of hell, in reality…
Nothing had happened.
No matter how much Yoel tried, the thoughts he had did not manifest themselves, and the shadows lay still and formless, as they had been before.
They did not even flinch, completely ignoring his command.
The man with the deep blue eyes simply sighed and shook his head, prompting the man in the business suit to frown.
Without speaking too much, they moved onto the last test, which would determine what kind of Enigma Yoel had.
This for some reason, hurt his pride way more than the physical tests had. He believed that he would at least get the shadows to move; if nothing else.
But they hadn't even recognized him.
Well, I think that much was obvious. I need to grow stronger on my own.
That's right, he couldn't rely on a borrowed power, Consequence wasn't going to give him a second chance like that.
"Don't worry, Student Yoel. Many Blessed out there still manage to find decent jobs in our community despite not possessing enhancement type or conjuration Enigmas."
Yoel nodded, without paying the man too much attention, mainly preoccupied with his thoughts.
The man from the administration crew approached Yoel, and told him the specifics of the next test.
"The last test for today is the perception test. I am going to put this blindfold on you, and you will have to describe what you see, and what you did to see it."
As the man tied the blindfold to Yoel's head, he activated his Enigma and took on the sight of one of the shadows hidden in the corner of the room.
The familiar world became unfamiliar, as it was dried of all colors and the center of his view changed.