Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Peer pressure is hearing everyone turn to page 2 of the exam when you’re on page 1.

I gave my mum and dad a hug before walking through the portal to Koshima academy. Gold wasn’t coming with me today, and he watched me leave from his tree. There was a chime in the air and the portal closed behind me, purple water lapping around my ankles.

This wasn’t the usual portal entryway.

The measurement wasn’t being conducted within the academy walls, instead, each student was going to a church that belonged to the followers of Crijik to hold the ceremony there.

It wasn’t a religious event, but the number of students in the first year was too much for the academy to handle on their own.

Each student needed an individual measurement done by a qualified individual. Most had already been measured once, but the school required them to do it again to update their information.

Only a few institutions had the ability to gather that many professionals in one location and be open to all preferences, coordinating with the school at will, and entrusted with safeguarding information.

Each of us had our own individual appointments, after which we would sit down for exams together.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that the church of Crijik was hosting us for the evening, the headmaster had told me that my results would be private.

The walls around me shimmered in and out of existence. I was going a lot further than I usually did, and waves of purple water rolled over the walls and ceiling in defiance of my sense of physics.

I could see the mana floating around me as it gripped onto the nexus. Unlike the corridors to Koshima academy, these ones were lit by unnatural lighting.

The source was hidden behind the purple mists, And as I drew closer to the end of the corridor, I saw a bright yellow light shining through a doorway.

The purple water was up to my waist, but I could see through the illusion and the dampness of my clothes disappeared.

Slowly the water receded as I entered a lit hallway. Steps broke out of the water, and I stepped up gently. The walls breathed around me, and the mist grew cloudier, and wilder.

I waved goodbye to it as I reached the end of the hallway and opened the door that greeted me.

Soft golden light washed over me as the door opened, and the scent of incense tickled my nose.

My eyes adjusted to the light, and I saw that I was inside a waiting room. A very fancy waiting room.

Silver chairs with cushions of velvet were placed against the left wall, and to my right there were potted plants that had rainbow flowers.

Each petal was a different colour of the rainbow, and the flower opened up to greet me as I entered the room.

The atmosphere was peaceful, and I took a seat on one of the chairs. I sank into the cushion, and it had a pleasant scent on it that overpowered the incense.

A few seconds later I heard the sound of footsteps coming from nearby. I looked towards the end of the room and saw a door there.

The door opened and a man walked in. He had a purple mask on, a single eye staring at me. The moment I came into his sight, he bowed down low, and I saw locks of silver hair flowing towards the ground.

“I am honoured to greet you, Master Silver.” His voice floated into my ear. “I would be honoured if you called me Ophelio.”

I stared at him. I hadn’t been expecting that greeting.

“Hello. It’s wonderful to meet you.” I spoke. “Ophelio, not to be rude, but I was expecting one of the faculty.”

My appointment time had been exact, and the portal had arrived when I knew it was. I had been expecting to see the headmaster, and maybe Gerial.

“Nothing you do can be considered rude, rather, we should be emulating you.” The man raised his head and chuckled. “Your brother is already here, accompanied by his guardian. The church has given me the honour of accompanying you this day to the measurement room. We have made special preparations for your arrival.”

He stood up straight and I got out of my chair.

“May you please lead me to them?”

“It would be my honour.” Ophelio’s hair bobbed up behind his mask and I could feel his glee.

It was strange, normally I showed new people respect, but they normally only gave it back as a courtesy. Ophelio respected me from the bottom of his heart.

He hadn’t even met me before.

He kept his body at arm’s-length from me, and although he gestured where to go, he allowed me to move first.

“You’ll find this church offers many services.” Ophelio’s tone was warm. “To your left we have dedicated a wing of the building to healing those in need.”

I looked through the whole way he was referring to, and I could see a door to the outside, light spilling through the opening. A line of people waited to be addressed, people in purple masks approaching them and walking them to different rooms.

It was a hospital.

I saw a young boy holding the hand of a tall man. A staff member. A tearful mother gave her thanks to the man and he smiled gently and let go of the child.

There was a silver pin on the staff member’s shirt. I couldn’t see the markings on it, but it didn’t look like a scriber pin.

The section disappeared as we continued and Ophelio guided me with a mix of gestures and verbal cues. He always made sure I was in front, so it looked like I was leading the way through the strange building.

There were people in masks walking all around the area, some bowing at Ophelio as he passed by them.

None of them paid attention to me.

It was nice to know that not everyone knew about me. The secret wouldn’t last long if the church told all of their members.

“You’re not one of the knights that guards me, are you?” I asked him as we found ourselves in a long corridor.

“I do not hold such an honour.” Ophelio raised his hands to his heart in the symbol of prayer. “I am a bishop of the order of Crijik. My duty is to look after my church, and the churches of the nearby towns.”

The surroundings were empty, but I heard a familiar sound. There were birds chirping in the air, the sound coming from further down the corridor.

As we drew closer the corridor widened into a ground hall. The first sight to enter my eyes was a pair of potted plants that greeted me at the entrance. I looked at them, and to my surprise they looked back.

They didn’t have eyes, but their leaves followed my body everywhere I went. I raised my hand and waved at them experimentally.

They waved back.

Ophelio chuckled and I turned to look forward. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself, but I would still look at everything to my heart's content.

In front of me rows of trees were stacked in neat lines. Each one rested on a bed of dirt, a glorious display of green, red, and yellow leaves.

Something else pressed against me as I walked through the room. I felt a vibration in the air, a sense of familiarity and connection far stronger than I had ever felt before. I closed my eyes and activated my mana sense. When I opened them the world was bathed in light.

Each section of the room was enriched with earth mana.

It’s stemmed from the dirt, and even the plants. It blew through my clothes and pressed against my skin. I was among friends here.

This church building was a lot different from the ones I'd seen on Earth. This room alone could easily house the first-year students.

I felt a tug at my chest and my eyes wandered towards one of the trees. I focused my mana sense on it, blocking out the earth mana that clouded my vision.

There was a familiar blur laying against the tree trunk.

“Okay, I’m impressed.” I looked in Gerial’s direction. “Did you enjoy your first-hand view of my jaw dropping?”

Ophelio’s expression shifted as he realised I wasn’t talking to him. He followed my gaze and his eyes widened as the mana shifted around us and Gerial appeared.

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“I greet you, Master Gerial. As usual, it is an honour.”

The bishop bowed and moved back as Gerial approached us.

“Bishop Ophelio. Thank you for guiding my brother here. I can take over now.” Gerial’s voice was firm.

He didn’t look annoyed or angry. He had spoken and expected his words to be obeyed.

“Of course, Master Gerial.”

Then he turned to me.

“It was an honour meeting you, Master Silver.”

“It was nice to meet you too, Ophelio. Thanks for the tour.”

Ophelio bowed low, and then stood up and walked towards the corridor we had come from. His silver hair shimmered as his form disappeared down the corridor, and I was alone with Gerial in the gigantic room.

We made our way through the room.

“Hey brother. Seeing your surprise was a fun moment.” Gerial had a smile on his face. “I wanted to say hi before the measurement.”

“You won’t be there with me?” I frowned. “I feel like we aren’t hanging out enough.”

Gerial was famous in the academy, and I knew he was busy, but it felt more like he was avoiding me. He had seen the reception I had gotten on the first day when he had walked me to class.

I knew he was self-conscious about the attention he brought on himself and others around him.

“I’ll stay for the beginning, and then come back at the end, but there’s a few hours between those two points.”

“A few hours?” I stared at him, and he shrugged.

Indra had told me it was a complicated but quick process.

“There’s a reason they put your test so early in the morning.” Gerial flanked me and we made our way down the rows of trees. “Multiple regents have to work in tandem, and they have to perform an in-depth examination of you. A manaless or low mana five-year-old might take a few minutes, but you’re neither.”

I nodded.

My mana had become acclimated to my body, an after effect of how much of it I used every day. The Mark meant that this wasn’t going to be an ordinary measurement. I had made sure that I was holding the maximum amount of mana inside me that I could for today.

I didn’t intend to hold back.

“You know, I really need to add your texting symbol so that I can contact you. Here.” I pulled a book out of my inventory.

He held his hand out and I passed it to him.

“I don’t think this is it.” Gerial looked at the book in his hands. “Wait… Is this…”

I looked at the worn-out book in his hands and realised I had taken the wrong one out of my inventory.

Gerial was holding my copy of ‘I am Marked’.

“I love this book.” A large grin spread across his face. “I had no idea you were into it.”

He held the book delicately and flicked through the pages. I raised an eyebrow at him and then chuckled.

“It’s a new development.” I let him hold it while I took out my texting regent. “Actually, I thought you would hate it.”

He brought out his own regent, a blank white slate, and tapped it against my texting regent. The two glowed and symbols appeared on each.

“Hate it? This stuff was my best friend. I think their representation of Marked ones is hilarious.” Gerial smiled. “Did you reach the part where divine lightning comes out of his body?”

“I’m not sure if you’re pulling my leg or not.” I took the book back. “I’ll let you know when I finish it, you can give me some recommendations.”

We made it to the end of the trees and in front of me was a wide door inlaid with gold and silver inscriptions.

“That sounds great.” He gestured towards the end of the room. “We’re here.”

He pressed his hand against the door and the inscriptions lit up. It opened up inwards and I got my first view of the measuring room.

Its biggest feature was a large transparent crystal in the middle of the room. There were regents around me, bubbling with magic, and standing to the side was the headmaster.

“Hello, headmaster.” I gave him a small bow and he waved his hand at me.

I looked around for the person that would be conducting the measuring. I was expecting a church priest, or someone else in a one-eyed mask.

The room was empty aside from us.

The headmaster looked at me and I heard Gerial chuckle.

“I am qualified to run the test. I wasn’t always an academy director.” The headmaster had a smile on his face. “Considering the need for discretion, I felt it the most prudent course of action. As agreed upon earlier, your results will not be displayed to the public or the faculty without your permission.”

He looked at me. “Are you ready?”

I nodded.

There was no time like the present.

“The process is simple. You place your hand on the crystal and I activate the array. Then it will begin measuring your mana capacity and type for official records.”

“We will be able to tell if you have any predispositions towards other elements for attunement, and if you have any latent issues with your body or manapool. Please note that most people become excited at this moment, however, given your intelligence you would likely have already discovered any strong predispositions that the measurement would.”

That made sense. He was talking about elemental affinities. The measurement was usually used for ordinary five-year-olds, they wouldn’t know any skills apart from their first skill and probably wouldn’t recognise what mana was or if they had it.

The thought still excited me.

“This official record will also be used alongside your exam results to determine which class you will be placed in at school.” The headmaster sat beside one of the larger regents and placed his hand on it. “If you have any other questions, you are free to ask them during the measuring.”

I placed my hands on the crystal and the headmaster released his mana into the regent beside him.

The regents whirred to life around me and the crystal tugged at my body. I felt a connection being established, and I let it happen.

There was a strange sensation in my body, as though I had gained a new limb. The crystal simmered and golden threads appeared within it.

Gerial took a seat beside me, and I gazed at him.

“What now?” I asked.

He grinned at me.

“Now, we wait.”

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