Ilsung woke up at 6 AM, took a bath, and headed downstairs. Eun made a breakfast of eggs and toast, along with a cup of espresso, Ilsung was in the middle of finishing his breakfast when Jung-Hwa came down to eat. Soon Kang came down from his room "Are you both ready ?".

Ilsung and Jung-Hwa nodded.

"Great, let's go"

They got into the car and headed toward the city. As it was quite early in the morning the roads weren't busy and they soon arrived at the newly set up testing facility, which was set up near the city hall. As they entered the facility, Ilsung could see a lot of young men and women waiting in the lobby. People were heading up and coming from the 2nd floor, of people who were coming back from the 2nd floor, some had gloomy expressions, some were grinning, and some were indifferent with a hint of worry.

*They must be children of officials and businessmen*

After his father walked up to the front desk and talked to the assistant, they were told they would have to wait until their assigned number is displayed on the large monitor in the hall, they found some seats in the lobby and sat down.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you, what were the equipment and boxes of stuff you got delivered at the farm?" Kang said, with a curious expression on his face.

"Oh they were for my company, the equipment includes a lot of machining and CNC tools along with metal ingots and sheets. It's a small workshop. Once I find a good place, I'll move them, the warehouse is an assembled prefab, it can be taken down in a few hours." Ilsung replied.

"No, it's alright, the farm is quite big, and the warehouse wasn't an obstruction. You should keep it there on the farm but why would you want metal working tools, shouldn't you be using 3D printers for prototyping?" Kang couldn't understand why his son would need such tools.

"I'll show you after we get back home, we can drop Jung-Hwa at home and then head to the farm. You will be surprised, dad."  Ilsung Sai with a smile.

"I can't wait to go back." Kang said as he smiled.

After waiting for 20 minutes, their number was displayed on the monitor.

"Let's go." Kang said.

They went up the stairs to the 2nd floor, which had several rooms with numbers.

"Our room number is 6.... That's the one on the right" The three of them entered the room and closed the door behind them.

"Hello, I'm officer Park, you two must be Son Ilsung and Son Jung-Hwa right?"

"Yes." they both replied.

"Ok let me explain the process briefly, you just have to put both of your hands on this orb here.." He pointed to the watermelon-sized translucent orb placed on the desk behind him. "and there will be a reaction from the orb, I will judge accordingly and finalize your result. Miss Jung-Hwa, please step forward."

Jung-Hwa stood in front of the table and looked at the officer. "Should I place my hands on there?"

"Yes, go ahead" The officer replied.

Jung-Hwa put her hands on the orb. The orb emitted a dim light. A warm feeling crept inside her as she could feel an invisible force washing over her. The light from the orb turned yellow and was gone in a few seconds.

"Miss Jung-Hwa, you have passed, which means you have an aptitude for mana and you can get stronger. Your body will slowly learn to absorb mana and grow stronger, but since humans aren't acclimated to this, it will take a while, but if you join the academy, you will be trained in combat and you can compare and contrast with your peers and you will also understand how to control this mana. The break the Arken mentioned are dungeons, and inevitably people will have to fight the threats looming inside, if people don't clear the dungeon before the set time, the creatures inside will come out and wreak havoc, and by then entire cities and nations will be under threat, and needless to say, people will have to fight them to survive. Only by enrolling in the academy can you and your family be safe. Please choose wisely."

Ilsung rolled his eyes. *What a long-winded and well-practiced sales pitch*

Jung-Hwa's face twitched. *Who will reject after such a threatening speech*  "Ok, I would like to enroll."

"Excellent, since you are one of the first batch of people to be tested, you are assigned to academy number 2, we will send the details to your mail, the location and other details will be in there. It's a boarding academy, make sure to pack up before reporting."

Before Jung-Hwa could say anything, the officer called on Ilsung.

Standing in front of the desk Ilsung placed his hands on the orb, which started to emit a dim light. In just a few seconds, the light turned green, before it turned off.

*These past few days I was wondering how they planned to test people, I thought it would be someone with a low-tier read skill, guess I was wrong, but who made this orb, was it given by the Arken? It's a very simple mana flow tool, which measures resistance to mana. I should enroll to know more information regarding the dungeons, maybe I can learn the exclusive information the system provided to the leaders of the government.*

Before the officer could speak, Ilsung said "No need for the sales pitch, I will enroll."

The officer's face twitched.

"You have an excellent aptitude for mana, you are assigned to academy 1, congratulations."

Ilsung nodded.

"Can we leave officer?" Kang asked

"Yes, you may leave." the officer said solemnly.

*This young man must be one of the first ones in Korea to evoke the green light from the orb.*

~~

On the way back home, Kang expressed his happiness for his kids achieving good aptitude with this mysterious mana. Though Jung-Hwa hated Ilsung, she respected her stepfather, he loved her mother and was caring, and she didn't dislike that her stepfather was happy. She had a smile on her face. She looked at Ilsung who was casually checking out the passing scenery outside the car.

*Just wait. Now that I can become stronger, one day I'll tear you to pieces*  looking at the relaxed Ilsung angered her beyond words. She was now sure that she was beaten by this bastard and it wasn't a fall that landed her in the hospital. She was confident he had something to do with her mother's death, and she vowed to find out and settle scores with him.

~~

While dropping Jung-Hwa at home, Ilsung got down and ran to his room and brought a bag with him, and got back into the car. They headed toward their farm.

After reaching the farm, they collected the warehouse key from the security that's posted on the farm and went inside the warehouse. Ilsung turned on the lights.

Son Kang was surprised "Wow."

~~

END OF CHAPTER 7