188 - Reevaluation: Test 2 (Patreon)

It began like just any other day. 

Erill Li woke at the sound of a single bell that never rang out loud but always clamored in the consciousness of all the chosen. 

The entire dorm got up in tandem and set to complete their waking duties within the allotted time frame. 

Washing. Eating. Eliminating waste. 

All of that was perfunctory. 

All routine upkeep was performed as quickly as possible, with the least amount of attention, because such human obligations no longer concerned them.

As Mother Superior liked to say, the chosen were no longer human. 

Erill didn’t know this was where his Priesthood would lead him. Of course, he was ecstatic nevertheless, as every priest dreamed of being chosen for such a vital role in maintaining the system brought by their High Ascendant and the Sentinel, the one Uniter, the Great Protector himself. 

Every morning, they paid devotion to all the deities and the Sentinel in particular. Erill swore it was like he could feel the touch of the divine one during those sessions. 

All priests dreamed of an assignment such as this, and he did not have regrets.

That was what he told himself when he woke up every morning after having only three hours of sleep or when he was assigned mind-numbing or complex tasks. 

It was all for the good of humanity. It was an honor to serve. It was an honor to transcend one's human limits and become something unhuman, not immortal but divine nonetheless.

And he could see it in some of the seniors who had been here for decades. They had clear gazes and graceful strides. They oozed purpose despite the lack of sleep, and they completed each of their tasks with quiet dignity. They were ignorant and uncaring to the outside world. They did not stop to make small talk, nor did they eat or drink past their allotted time. They did not perceive the outside world, or anything else that was not their given task, which they dedicated all their consciousness to. 

Sometimes, he got disconcerted when he saw them. When he would call out a greeting, they would only bow and continue on their way. Sometimes, they would predict the fall of an item and extend their hands to catch it before it did.

Some days, he had doubts he would ever be like them.

That would fade with time, he was told. Once he understood more about his purpose, once he got the divine blessing, the concept of doubt would no longer exist to him. 

He would be a True Heart. 

He would reach that point eventually. For now, he had only been here for ten years, and he still could not help noticing things. 

Like the visitors who arrived. Eight men, a woman and a younger girl. He was to be on his way to the divining crystals but he lingered in his morning devotion to watch them.

It was unusual, he thought as he stood from kneeling before the Truthsinger, especially given how young she looked. 

He knew what she was here for. They had received an alert this morning that there would be visitors to the center for a mandatory reevaluation. He’d never seen the reevaluation done before, but according to one of the older Chosen, it happened sometimes when the system noticed a mass discrepancy in perceived statistics and true ability. Usually, it meant that the individual had done something highly illegal, unethical, and likely a sacrilege to boost their own ability without the system's knowledge. 

Sorcerers, they called them. Those who tried to create powerful magic outside of known ascendancy. They were a plague on the very system and its workings. 

People did not realize how much the system relied on careful calculations of everyone's ability and output. Most of their work was constant readings, predictions, constant evaluations of thousands and thousands of mages who existed, and the spells they utilized. Of course, this was complicated by things like magical instruments that anyone could use, and even batteries which stored essences and could be used without the EPUQ scanning. So much of their system was being made redundant by new technology, yet they had to maintain the balance regardless, or everything would fall apart.

It was all for the same purpose. Maintaining the ideal number of magic users in a given civilization who would never grow powerful enough to cause what happened in their first Earth to happen again. That caution controlled everything: the number of mages who graduated every year, the number of Masters and Archmages allowed, down to the number of magical instruments developed. There was a delicate balance of freedom and control that must always be maintained, and finding that balance was what the Chosen did with the system. 

So, reevaluations must be done on those who were tagged, and nonproductive or criminal cores needed to be suppressed. It was not a pleasant thing to do, but core decay was inevitable when a core wasn’t used for some time, and that was even more painful than a quick suppression, and was unsurvivable. Those undergoing core decay almost always sought out sorcery, and the more of them there were, the more destabilized the system got. 

So when he heard there was a reevaluation today, he assumed that it was a sorcerer, here for a suppression. 

But the young girl looked anything but. 

And though she was accompanied by what looked to be very powerful mages, it did not seem like they were restraining her or watching over her, as they would be a prisoner. It was mostly curiosity rather than suspicion on their faces. 

The young girl walked forward, and Erril noticed something else. 

One of the Archmages with her was Gio Li. 

Gio was a distant cousin he’d only met one other time, before he said goodbye to his family and left for the temple. He was still recognizable, though, with his long whitish hair and the signature feline gaze of the Lis. He oozed power also, even though he kept his authority largely under control. 

They were both the descendants of Lucera Aurelius, the creator of the Luxarium and the woman who pioneered the idea of the system. She had been a genius in the old world and so was her creation, but with time, the cracks were starting to show. 

It was part of their job at the center to find and patch those cracks. The senior agents were working on long-term fixes for the inefficiency, while the juniors handled archiving, calculating and meditating.   

They were all assigned different projects, but all of them, from the most mundane to the most important, were to be given the same level of attention. He didn’t know much about the high-level research, having only been working here for ten years, but he did know that one of the long term goals was to increase the number of essences in their world while maintaining stability. They were also trying to expand the system and perhaps attain a better way of divining those who should have power early on, so that everyone else would have their cores suppressed after birth, such that it wasn’t so agonizing for them to live a normal life later on.

As a Priest of the Truthsinger, he would likely be assigned to help out with the divination project once he was mature in his purpose. For now he was a junior archivist, working under Father Jade. 

The Jade was an enigma.

No one knew where he came from, what family he belonged to, or what priesthood he’d served under. There were rumors that he might be as old as the Ascendant himself, because no one had ever known him as a young man. Or that he was from the old earth, one of the few remaining from that era. There was also the theory that he was Lucera Aurelius reincarnated or that he had served her in some capacity when she had created the first system. 

But no one knew anything about him for sure, and probably no one had the bravery to ask. They didn’t even know what specific skills he had. 

They had seen him use magic before.

Once a sorcerer had gone wild, summoned a giant gorgon and tried to escape, and Father Jade had wordlessly killed the creature with the ease some people would use to smack a fly. 

They had reportedly never seen him use magic again, and he did not seem to have any authority. If one attempted to pull up his stat sheet, nothing would appear, and there was no sign of his power.

It was terrifying. So was the fact that he seemed to know things about people without ever asking. 

The evaluation began, and Erril felt the rush of Luxa orbs in the room heading toward her. As a Priest, he had more essence sensitivity than most, although it was geared toward Luxa. He wondered if Luxa was her strongest element. She was attracting a lot of it, despite the fact that 

it was difficult for him to know how much power she held. 

Everyone else who accompanied her had some kind of authority. The girl oozed none. It was odd that she would be there, given that, but he told himself it wasn’t his business. 

That was until, as he attempted to pass to get to the divining room, he heard Master utter that statement. 

“What on earth am I looking at?”

He stopped and turned around. 

The girl was still standing, seemingly done with her intake.  She looked perfectly poised. Another oddity. Usually intakes could be rough on mages, and the rush had forced many of them to their knees, gasping for breath. 

The girl did not look even the least bit labored. Not a strand of hair was out of place. Her eyes were expectant, as though she knew that the intake had stopped and she was waiting for the next thing. 

Father Jade had an odd expression on his face. 

Very little seemed to surprise him, but something surprised him now. 

His expression didn’t change much as he walked forward, observing the girl. But Erril could tell that the man was unsettled and perhaps even confused. Why?

The intake was one of the more straightforward tests in the evaluation, and it should not have any particularly shocking components. 

“Is it done?” one of the Masters who accompanied the girl asked. “Is it over?”

Father Jade ignored him. He kept staring at her, and it was clear that she was getting uncomfortable under his regard. She avoided his gaze and stared blankly into the air, and her finger twitched before she tugged at the material of her heavy wool skirt. 

What was she? What was it about her that made Father Jade react like that?

No. It was not his business. He had a task to complete. 

Erill continued on his way until he received the order. 

“Stop,” fhe Jade said, directly into his head. 

His steps faltered once more, and he turned around. 

“Me–e?” He stammered. He couldn’t help it. He’d never been addressed directly by Father Jade before. 

The Jade replied, still looking at the girl. 

“Build a knowledge tower. Now.”

Erril’s breath caught. 

Three doors opened, senior chosen members striding forward purposefully. 

“What’s happening now?” One of the Masters murmured, but they were once more ignored.  

The senior members began to arrange themselves in a star formation, having likely received the same orders from the Jade. 

Erril was the only one who hesitated. 

He’d never built a knowledge tower before. 

Only senior members had, and while he’d been taught in theory, as they all had, how to build one, he’d never before had the fortune of actually testing it out. 

Knowledge towers were extremely complicated, and one wrong move could destroy the entire frame and cause devastating consequences.

“Move.”

The order in his mind was unmistakable. He could not disobey. 

He immediately got into position, swallowing as he did. 

If the Jade had given him this task, there had to be a reason why. It meant that he believed he could do it. Which meant that he could do it.

“[Knowledge Tower],” the sister in the center of the star called out, and immediately, the runes at the ends of the room glowed. 

They began channeling the essences, the spell structure etched in his mind. He felt the flow of Luxa, estimating the amounts he would need to complete it.  

Yet doubt continued to leak in. What would happen if he got it wrong? If he channeled too much or not enough? If the spell broke?

He’d heard of one, and only one, knowledge tower failure, and it had had devastating consequences.

The spell had gone haywire and had even managed to bypass the spell blockers and runes etched in the ground, nearly escaping the confinement of the chapel. It had also rendered the rest of the people in the room catatonic as a result. 

The casters had survived, but they’d been unable to tell anyone so much as their own names. It was a tragic incident that no one wanted to repeat.

And it wouldn’t be repeated now, right?

He would not fail. 

Right?

He swallowed and held the spell, siphoning more Luxa, watching for the signs. 

The first flash of light meant that they had completed the first stage successfully.

The second flash meant that the setup for the second stage, the compound spell, was also successful. 

Now they just needed to complete the third and fourth step. The hardest part. 

If the spell broke, the Jade would save them. Erril was almost sure about that. But he wasn’t watching them. He was still watching the girl. 

It didn’t matter. They were doing well. 

But a bridge was only as strong as its weakest link. 

He wasn’t sure if the nudge he felt in his back was his own imagination, a manifestation of the fear inside him, or if it was someone else’s interference. But it broke his concentration, enough that the spell faltered.

His heart stopped. He didn’t even have time to scream as horror grabbed him by the throat. 

The spell was going to break. They were all going to lose their minds.

It was all his fault.

But it didn’t. 

By some miracle, the backlash did not follow, and somehow it held despite his mistake. 

He caught himself within seconds and quickly corralled it back in place, in time for the third light to flash. 

His heart raced, and he wondered if anyone else had noticed what just happened. Perhaps not the onlookers, but the other casters.

None were looking at him. They were only focused on their task. The Jade…had he been the one to stabilize the spell?

He still was not looking at them. He was looking at the girl. 

And Erill saw something he’d never seen on the man before. 

The upturned side of his lip. 

***

Arielle wasn’t sure it was the right move to stop the spell from breaking. 

It was incredibly risky to stabilize a spell in a place where she was being evaluated for her odd abilities. 

But it wasn’t like she could just let it happen. It was a massive spell, and the backlash might have killed all the casters or seriously damaged them in some way. And maybe other people in the room might have been casualties, including Elric. She couldn’t let that happen. 

Besides, she didn’t think anyone noticed. She’d only held one side in place for a couple of seconds, long enough for one of the casters to get himself together. She’d only used a single finger, which she quickly tucked back against her side, and that was that. 

They probably would not know the help came from her. Probably. 

“Shall we begin?” the pupil-less man said.

She nodded. “What will I have to do?”

“You will cast as many spells as I tell you to, in quick succession,” he said. “And we will read your casting efficiency and core control. Understood?”

“Okay.” Arielle reminded herself: not too fast, and not too well.

Those were the rules she stuck by.

Most of the spells that she was asked to cast were those in her textbook. He started from the beginner level to advanced, and she cast all of them with relative ease. The average casting time for a master was 0.1 seconds, so she did just that. The average spell success rate for a first-time spell was 60 percent, so she made sure to do much better than that but let herself slow down or ‘fail’ a few of the high-level spells. 

She could feel Elric and the Master’s watching her and she used Elric’s reaction to gauge how good she was doing. So far he didn’t look horrified. Gio appeared smug, and the Masters…well she didn’t know. She was still not very good at reading stranger’s emotions but they were silent in their intense regard, and would only occasionally murmur to each other. 

She gave as unremarkable a mastery as possible, and once she was done, she finally took a deep breath, hoping it was over.

“One last test,” the pupilless man said. “But we will do it alone.”

“Is that necessary?” Elric said. “I am her guardian. I cannot allow you to take her alone.”

The pupil-less regarded him. “You can be there. But I sincerely doubt you want the rest of them there.”

The comment caused Elric to pale, and Gio to grin.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” one of the masters from the council said. 

The pupil-less man did not reply to him. He just kept staring at Elric.

“Can you please answer the questions?” the woman asked, sounding tired. “Are her cores that unusual, or are they not?”

“She has the most exceptional cores I’ve ever seen,” he said. “But there’s something more I need to test.”

Elric's jaw clenched. He stared at the other man for some time before he nodded.

“Fine. Let’s go.”