What he holds within his hands is an small very well decorated satchel, opening it he takes from within its only content.

He takes the object close to his face so he can analyze it's every detail.

It is a crystal, completely black and radiating a strange shine as it produces it's own light. The crystal is of the size of an fist and has an spherical shape.

He had read about it in books but it is the first time he has seen one personally.

An void crystal!

This crystal is very rare and outrageously expensive, with the piece he is currently holding having been borrowed by his parents for the duration of the ceremony, even with all their wealth the price required to buy one would be unreasonable for them so they just rent one from the order to limit the expenses of the ceremony.

If he were to break this crystal the whole territory would suffer an halting of their development in order to pay up the debt.

So those among the expectators that knew the value of the item in his hands couldn't help but become nervous and start praying for him to not damage the crystal in his hands in any way. 

While on the side Salasha finds very amusing watching everyone's reaction, especially the boy and his parents wich are the most apprehensive. She could have told them that even if they tried they wouldn't be able to even scratch the crystal, those crystals are much tougher than any other naturally formed crystals and the order wasn't worried that they would be damaged in the slightest.

But she chose to stay silent, after all watching a bunch of Frontier nobles fumbling around was too fun. It could be said that her mood had reached rock bottom when she recieved this assignment but after scouting an prodigy that was sure to bring her generous compensation when she returns and seeing a bunch of nobles making a fool of themselves her mood was now at an all time high.

Alabaster then takes an deep breath and prepares to have his power revealed.

He closes his eyes entering an state of focus similar to meditation while effortlessly guiding his energy so it enters in the orb wich starts to absorb it. 

Suddenly he feels his consciousness slip by and he starts to enter an deep trance and his sense of time as well of his awareness become faint.

....

...

Darkness, complete and utter darkness.

I find myself in a place where my senses are completely useless.

Neither hot nor cold, no smell nor sound can be heard as I float and stay without any purpose or emotion.

After my conciousness remained floating in this place for an time that was simultaneously short and unimaginably long. I fell an stir in my conciousness, and instinctively I let it carry me as I intuitively know that it has something important to me.

Now I find myself being guided by this unknown force, the time and distance in this place are inconsequential so I don't know exactly for how long or how far, I can only vaguely feel that I'm moving as I can't use my natural senses to confirm that.

After a while the force suddenly vanishes and I'm left wondering for what purpose it has brought me here since as far as I can tell my surroundings are just as plain and undiscernable as they have been since my conciousness was brought here.

But the empty and calm atmosphere of the place doesn't last long as the surroundings starts to rapidly change in order to form a much more defined landscape. 

Despite my lack of an physical form and sensory organs. I still need a little time to have my senses acostumed with the new environment after standing in the void for so long.

This new environment he encounters himself in is simultaneously familiar and somewhat foreign to him.

He encounters himself in outer space. He has certainly already been exposed to such an sight but it was aways from the observation platform of an ship, he has never been directly exposed to the cold void of space as seen by the fact he is still alive and well. But even when only his conciousness is present and he has no need to breathe or fend of the cold, the experience alone is very daunting for him.

After calming himself down, he starts to survey his surroundings and try to identify where he is right now.

He can tell that he is currently in an solar system as shown by the presence of an sun that is radiating an strong light and the presence of planets orbiting around it.

Looking into it more deeply he can clearly see that the star in question is an red giant by its very bright colors, average size and frequency of eruptions and solar flares and it doesn't seem to be very young nor too old as far as red giants are concerned.

The planets orbiting around it are 8. And due to being quite far he can't identify the exact characteristics of this planets aside from one being larger than the others and possessing an ring around it wich he can easily tell it is an gas giant.

But without any extra information or an very discernable landmark he can't exactly tell wich star system he currently is in since it's clearly not within the ones he has visited on the von Graad house's territory. Wich left him wondering: 'What is so special about this place?' 

But he is not left wondering the purpose of his presence for too long as he once again feels the force try to guide him.

He follows this 'guide' wich brings him closers to the star system wich allows him to better identify the planets wich some that are farther from the star are completely frozen and lifeless and some wich are nearer seem to be extremely hot and equally lifeless.

But the one wich he is brought to is the 3rd in relation to the sun and from what Alabaster can tell from the sun and it's energy output seems to be one of the few that are located within an human habitable range. 

He quickly descended until the surface and there he was confronted with a wasteland that was completely barren and devoid of any life despite what the planet's position suggested.

But somehow the current barren state of the lands started to overlap with another landscape that he was unfamiliar with. There was vast Plains of green, beaches with an blue ocean sending waves crashing upon them and fauna and flora that was completely foreign to him but he could at the same time feel an sense of familiarity and belonging.

But before he could make sense of what he was seeing, the scenery suffered an radical change and he suddenly was surrounded with conflict and war. In contrast to the previous empty and tranquil environment the new one he was shown was filled with noises of gunfire, screams, engines of machines and space crafts flying above, wherever he looked he could only see chaos and misery, the corpses were impossible to count and the devastation took over whatever scenery was there as the skies were covered by spacecrafts and the falling debris their fight was generating.

But whoever was showing him this was far from done as he ended up in a completely different place. This time he was indoors in a place which had an architecture that he could not recognize despite all the knowledge he has accrued. The lighting was scarce so he could not see the room in detail, but his attention was quickly averted from the architecture as he wasn't alone in the room. In a very poorly illuminated section of the room there could be seen a figure which the only two things he could distinguish is that it has an humanoid silhouette and it's eyes, they were easily the most attention catching part of this person as the irises were glowing in the dark witch let him clearly see them. They were very different from any other eyes he has ever seen as the pupils were a vertical slit giving a very dangerous feeling while the irises were a mix of purple and pink wich flowed and alternated in an almost hypnotic manner.

But before he could try and approach this figure to figure out its identify the scenery changed once again, this time he found himself once again on what appears to be the edge of the battlefield. But this time he didn't give any attention to the battle going on as there was place where all his attention was gathered. Above an rock, in an strategic point that overlooked the battlefield there was a man, he was standing with his hands behind his back and surveying the battle, His garments are an mix of an futuristic suit with archaic design and accessories. From this he can be identified as an commander, or another important figure on the battlefield. But what attracted Alabaster's attention wasn't his role but his aura that was both majestic with an noble air and fearsome with an warrior's resolve. But beyond all that even if the person is facing the opposite way he can still feel a connection with this person.

But this mysterious man apparently hasn't remained oblivious to his presence as he suddenly turned around allowing Alabaster to see his features that are: black hair and eyes, a very well shaved beard with his hair reaching his shoulders that swayed freely in the wind. The man that has an astounding resemblance with himself looked surprised that someone was able to get so close without him noticing but before he could utter a single word the scenery changed once more.

This time he was in a very familiar place, His family mansion's courtyard, in a clearing with a nearby lake and on his hand the void stone. The time was still somewhere before morning and he was still standing on the same position as before.

The first thing he felt was an overwhelming nausea and a brief loss of his balance. Even if his real body wasn't the one experiencing everything just now, he still had to deal with the after effects of the 'extra-corporeal experience' He just had.

But as he covertly looked around to see everyone's reaction he saw that everyone had expectant gazes and none of them looked puzzled or confused which led him to believe that not a lot of time has passed witch was the correct assumption as all that Alabaster has just experience has lasted for no longer than a fraction of an second.

So in order to not raise any suspicions in the watchers he forcibly swallowed the bile that was on his throat, took a deep breath to put himself in order and once again focused on the stone in his hand witch he previously hadn't put enough energy to show his power due to the previous interruption.

Once the stone was sufficiently filled with his energy it started to glow and show his energy witch was inside it moving in an interesting way. It would flow freely as if it was alive then it would divide itself before connecting with itself and merging back into a single mass. He had studied extensively before the start of the ritual so he already knew with 90% certainty what kind of conductor he is.

The ritual has already technically come to an end, the only thing left to do was show the result to the elder that was present so she can confirm and announce it to every one that was present to finally put an end to his to the ceremony so he can take his firt steps into adulthood.

Salasha that was eagerly awaiting for the result sees that he has already finished his part and an instant is all it takes for her to approach him and take the stone from his hands without him even realizing but it seemed that the surprises that Alabaster would give her were not over yet.

She was in the back of her mind wondering what had happened when he stopped supplying energy to the stone the first       time. Alabaster may have tried his best to conceal his confusion and the winded state that he was but even if to everyone else that fraction of a second was undetectable it didn't scape her senses but she didn't mind as all conductors would keep some secrets and she knew that even if she asked he would just feign ignorance and she didn't mind it in the least.

But her expression had a sudden and very radical change. It went from an expectant and hopeful to an extremely complicated and sour expression. Her face was that of someone who had a very big and appetizing slice of cake just within her reach just for it to slip by his fingers and fall beyond her reach leaving her to only be able to stare at it in both regret and unwillingness would be an apt way to describe her.

But after letting out an long sigh she got back into her neutral and unreadable expression before speaking in an forced and resentful way but Alabaster could still feel that she held some bitterness in her heart. And the reason why?

Her rewards? Gone!                                                   

Her promotion? Gone!       

Her plans of taking him as her disciple and use him to get a better standing within the order? Completely and utterly gone!

And all that for one simple reason.

"It seems that the will of the stars had different plans for you. It would seem that your talent is that for an augumenter." She spoke with an calm and serene voice just loud enough for everyone present to hear but her inner thoughts were very different.

'Why did of all powers this monstrous genius that I found after accepting this shitty job could had awakened he had to get the only one that the order doesn't accept among its members!' She shouted internally showing all her frustration.

The will of the stars can be fickle indeed.