Chapter 47 - Hunter talent

  Adam was shocked to find the Grand master staring right at him after he had formed his core. The process had taken several minutes and he had his eyes shut in concentration for most of them. He had noticed the old man staring at him when he stabilized his first core and was creeped out at the thought of the guy staring at him silently for several minutes without him knowing.

  The bearded guy was a few feet away from Adam’s cross-legged position on the carpet and simply nodded at Adam when their eyes met. Adam was confused at this, but decided to look around at the condition of his group rather than dwell on the creepy old man.

  Surprisingly, most of the others still had one or two pills left in their pouches as they sat on the soft red carpet. He saw that his sister was on her second pill and sweat was appearing on her forehead as her body periodically tensed.

  He only now noticed that the people lining the walls were probably making sure nobody did anything stupid or overdosed on the pills, as they were staring at the people who had the most pained expressions on their faces.

  He didn’t get up since he was clearly the first to finish, and instead decided to probe his fancy new muck colored core. This mana sense was now much better at sensing his core as he tried to extract a drop of mana.

  Adam’s confusion only mounted as he probed the core since he didn’t see any pulses arriving to reinforce his body like they would do at every advancement on the alien world. Coupled with his inability to extract any mana from his new core gave him a sinking feeling.

  He didn’t have access to the status window to confirm if the core was properly formed, and nor did he have any reason to believe that this world had access to such a thing. The Grand master could probably have told them if a screen would appear in their vision if they were successful, yet nobody ever mentioned it.

  He didn’t have any pathways either, so his core wasn’t connected to his soul and therefore couldn’t send mana along its pathways. He didn’t dare do anything further with the core and opted to simply wait for further explanation.

  His sister was the second person to open her eyes and look around with a wide grin on her face. She had also managed to form a hunter’s heart and appeared to want to scream with excitement as she looked at him with sparkling eyes. Those eyes turned to confusion when she saw Dorian look right back at her, but she wasn’t too disappointed at not being the first to succeed, since becoming a junior hunter was too great of an achievement for a petty sibling rivalry to spoil it.

  Adam couldn’t but smile as he saw the pure joy in Ellio’s eyes. It helped alleviate the mounting worries in his heart, after all, hunters were clearly magically enhanced people. Just because their magic was slightly different didn’t mean it was useless to Adam. He simply had to wait for further explanations about how to use it. And of course, hope that it wasn’t due to his soul issue.

  After a while, most of the other candidates managed to form their cores, and the only one who was not able to do so was carried away after he began to groan in pain. With everyone done with the awakening, the Grand master walked up once again.

  “Well done, as of now you are no longer simply candidates, but true junior hunters of Malder city. Now let us test your talents to discover what path you will follow to protect humanity.”

  The room's atmosphere had completely shifted, from nervous silence to unbridled excitement. Even Adam was eager to discover what came next. In front of them all, long wooden tables adorned with several different objects were facing them. The bearded man stepped up to the table and grabbed a flat stone slab the size of a sheet of paper.

  “As you all know, awakening as a hunter entails taking the dangerous power of the Niorbo and injecting it into one’s body. Those compatible would therefore inherit the powers of the slain Niorbo. Yet these creatures have all sorts of diverse abilities, and the pills you have used to form your hunters’ hearts are made with the essence of several different Niorbos.

  As a result, your powers can manifest differently, some will become warriors with superhuman bodies that can punch through solid stone, while others can manipulate the elements and bend the world to our will.”

  He waved his hand in the air in a precise and controlled pattern, that left small red lines. Moments later, fire sprang to life above his open palm, it was the size of a fist and rounded. The flame danced about for a few seconds before he closed his fingers around them and snuffed them out.

  “I am a fire mage, I use my hunter's heart to ignite my flames of rebellion and burn the Niorbos alive. I may not have the strength to crush the skulls of the Niorbos with my bare hands like the city lord, but I’m still the absolute best fire mage in the entire city.” He was clearly happy to show off and brag, and he deserved it. Even Adam was impressed, fire magic was always something he had wanted to have, and this guy had just performed it.

  Ellio’s excitement about meeting the Grand master of Malder was now making more sense. She had always dreamed of being a fire mage and this person was now standing right in front of her. She was clearly meeting her hero and from the look in her eyes, she was loving every second.

  Stolen story; please report.

  The others in their group were also wide-eyed as the old man clenched his fist over the flame. But Adam’s main amazement wasn’t necessarily the conjuring of a flame but rather the strange sigil he had drawn in the air beforehand.

  “Listen carefully now, your new heart can manifest all sorts of powers, but to discover which you possess, perform the final ritual of your awakening. The blood trial.

  Each of you will draw a few drops of blood onto this tablet. The power you have will then manifest itself by moving towards the closest gem.”

  He lifted the stone tablet he had in his other hand and showed it to the gathered group. Although the back was a flat grey stone, the front of the tablet had several multicolored gems indeed in it. There were various interconnecting pathways on the surface that all originated from the center of the tablet, which was adorned with a small rounded spike the size.

  “There are thirteen of you, so this time, there are enough tablets for everyone,” Said the old man with a smile as he placed the tablet back on the wooden table behind him.

  “So who will go first?”

  The group was silent before a voice spoke up.

  “I’ll go.” Said Ellio, shocking Adam and the rest as they simply stared at her.

  “Good, brave and talented, come then. It isn’t too painful, simply press your thumb to the spike in the center and let a few drops of blood flow. Then you will know your hunter heart power.”

  She walked over to the Grand Master's side and reached out her thumb. With a final deep breath, she pushed down on the spike and winced as blood dribbled down the spike and onto the board below. Ellio and the entire room held their breath as the blood began to move down, borrowing several paths.

  The board had a multitude of different carved paths with some having a slightly different color than others. They all interconnected and overlapped like the shadow of a ball of spaghetti. Her blood dripped onto several of the different colored paths as it seeped down and slowly grouped into a gradually larger red pool at each intersection.

  After several seconds, the blood was spreading around the shallow carved paths. It had formed into two groups with the largest descending down to one gem on the tablet and the other smaller group heading to a different gem. She clearly didn’t know what it meant since she glanced over at the Grand Master with a questioning gaze.

  “How interesting, let me explain how this little device measures your hunter talents. You see, now that you have formed your heart, your body has taken on the powers of the Niorbo. As such, your blood contains a hint of this power and even a single drop is enough to estimate what one's powers are. This young lady has two main powers resonating with her blood.

  You should remember the candidate test you undertook before your awakening today. This is a similar process, the gems you see on the sides of the device are similar to the black orb used in the hunter candidate test. These gems each attract a certain Niorbo power, and the paths carved in the center are covered with particles of the same type of crystal.

  As the blood flows across the pathways, it's dragged along by the path covered with the gem most attracted to the power in your blood. In this case, the young lady has a strong affinity with the lightning power.”

  Ellios' face darkened at the enthusiastic old man's words as she looked down at the device. Adam felt bad for his host’s sister since she had been so excited to become a fire mage. He grimaced at the outcome and hoped Ellio wouldn’t be too upset.

  “Why the long face missy? Is it not what you wanted?”

  “I was actually hoping to become a fire mage like you, sir” She replied with her bottom lip starting to quiver. The Grand master must have noticed her mood too as he moved closer.

  “Hey now, did you know that I always wanted to be a lightning mage myself.” Ellio looked up at him in confusion as if he had just said something outrageous.

  “It’s true, fire is good and all but lightning is incomparably better. It is fast and packs a real punch, it is a much rarer power than fire which is why I always envied people with it.”

  Ellio didn’t seem convinced but her tears had been pushed down for the moment as she seriously considered the words of the Grand master.

  “And look at that, your blood has a strong affinity for lightning but also a lesser affinity for metal. You are quite the lucky girl. The two powers can work brilliantly together and they are both mage powers rather than one mage and one warrior, which is more common for dual talent.”

  Their group was impressed at that and they now seemed a lot more eager to proceed with their own blood tests.

  “Good job young lady. You have a promising future ahead as a hunter. Steel and electricity go well together and if used properly, can cause destruction far more powerful than anything a fire mage could be capable of. You should consider yourself very lucky.” He said as Ellio walked back towards Adam. Her mood seemed to have flipped now, as not even having her childhood dreams could be crushed when her hero was congratulating and encouraging her.

  “See that Dorian, I’m a lightning and metal mage. Now it's your turn to see what power you got.” She said with an excited and slightly arrogant tone. After all, now she was back in the spotlight and her little brother wasn’t. He simply smiled and congratulated her before moving forward to get himself a tablet.

  Five people had moved towards the large wooden table and were all given an identical tablet placed in front of them. Adam reached over and pressed his thumb onto the spike and watched as the blood dripped down. The Grand master was walking along the table and observing each of the teens.

  Then the blood started flowing down into the pathways and Adam held his breath. Similarly to his sister, the blood separated into two groups as it traveled along the overlapping paths and towards the gems at the edges.

  “Ah, look at that young hunter, you seem to have become a muscle warrior. It is the best power for fully controlling one's body and extracting all the potential inside oneself. Both strength and regenerative powers are heightened.” Remarked the old man to one of the teens performing the test.

  “Look at that, you have the talent of a water mage, young huntress.”

  He went down the line and explained to the various teens what the gems corresponded to. He arrived back at the end where Adam was located. He peered over at the tablet and grinned.

  “Another duel talent, young hunter, your talent is both one of a warrior and a mage. Surprisingly, they seem to be evenly split between the two. You have both the talent of a muscle warrior and a fire mage. Not too rare a duel talent, yet your lack of a primary talent is intriguing.”

  Adam looked at the Grand master with shock as he explained the results of the test. Becoming a fire mage was something he had always wanted ever since he discovered magic was real. Now this old guy was telling him that he had both the power of a fire mage and a warrior?

  The kid down the line had shown an aptitude for being a muscle warrior and it was apparently just a straight upgrade to one’s body. What he was actually interested in was the fire magic part.

  “Good job young hunters. Once everyone has done the test, we will explain how you can learn to use your various powers.”

  Adam walked back over to Dorian’s sister as he pondered this revelation. He had no status screen here, but if his core actually allowed him to augment his body like normal mana, perhaps his experience with the enhancement spell would come in handy.

  He had worked on it extensively back in the alien world. If he could push any further training on that aspect out of the way, he might be able to fully dedicate himself to the truly exciting part of his new reincarnation… He would finally become an archmage of hellfire.

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