The witch led everyone to another room. In the room were six wooden sticks, each of which was situated on a different table.

The witch cleared her throat. “As all of you have likely heard, we test your affinity for the two magic systems before you start school. This is to make sure that everyone is learning things relevant to them. Learning more than the basics about what a spell circle is and how to construct one won’t do you any good if you can’t use magic, after all. And there’s also not much point in creating class rosters, only to rearrange them after the magic tests. 

“Those of you that have a talent for either form of magic will come with me after this test is over, so that you can find a master who will take you as their apprentice. Magic training is usually done in a more individualized manner. All of the witches and wizards looking for apprentices will come to pick students once the tests are over. Those of you who don’t have any talent for magic will go to the ordinary classes.”

Some of the children nodded to show their understanding, and after a bit of thought, the witch gestured towards the front row of children. This set of children included Felix, Sallia, and I, who had been standing together near the front. “You six, you will be the first ones to take the magic test. You have fifteen minutes. I want each of you to walk to one of those tables and pick up the wooden wand. Then, I want you to wait for my next set of instructions. The wands will make it fairly easy for you to use manifestation essence, if you have any in your body, but I will still walk you through you first attempt. Failing the test while having talent for magic is uncommon, but it does occasionally happen. If you listen to my instructions, all of us can avoid a large amount of annoying paperwork and rescheduling later, okay?”

I nodded, and glanced eagerly at Sallia and Felix. The three of us quickly walked up to three adjacent tables and then picked up a wand.

I noticed, with some curiosity, that the wooden wand wasn’t actually a solid wand of wood. Instead, it was completely hollow in the middle. I could even look through the wand, as if it were some sort of telescope, and in the middle of the wand, I could faintly see some strange indents in the wood that were lined with some kind of light-blue stone.

“Now, you’re not going to be doing any complex spellcasting here. The wand will do all of the actual spellcasting for you, so relax. Now, while holding the wand in your hand, you should be able to feel the wand… calling for something, for lack of a better term. It is very faint, but anyone with manifestation essence will pick up this sensation more strongly. We use extra thysium for these wands, to make it as easy as possible to channel essence into them, so all you really need to do is give the wands what they want. Most students find it helpful to close their eyes. Now, I want you to visualize a giant pool of glowing water in your mind. Then, you should be able to feel the wand ‘asking’ for some water. Just use your mind to open up a little passageway in your mind, letting some of your glowing water flow out of your mind and into the wand.”

I did as the witch instructed, visualizing my manifestation essence as a kind of giant pool of water somewhere in my mind. Since I already had experience using and visualizing absorption essence, it wasn’t too hard for me to do something similar with a different kind of essence.

As I visualized my pool of essence, I noticed how different the two essences ‘felt’ to each other. I had never had a point of comparison before, so I had never really studied the characteristics of absorption essence before.

But now that I could directly compare it with manifestation essence, I realize that absorption essence felt… hungry, for lack of a better term. It would consume mana, as if mana was a kind of food that absorption essence desperately wanted to eat. As I observed this, I realized that the nature of a rune from the islands magic system was to ‘eat’ mana, digesting it within my body and making it part of me. That was why my body grew stronger and more magical every time I made a new rune. Each rune differed in what exactly it did, but every single one was the product of me ‘eating’ and digesting mana. I resisted the urge to chuckle to myself.

That was probably why the Market called it ‘absorption’ essence, in fact. I had a strong suspicion that any absorption essence-based magic system would, at its heart, absorb and devour mana to strengthen the user. The exact details would probably differ from one world to the next; perhaps some worlds would have something similar to runes, while some might ‘absorb’ mana in a different way. However, the core nature of absorption essence was to absorb mana and then do something with it.

In comparison, manifestation essence was more confusing. It felt almost like I was trying to create something out of thin air when I used the essence. However, I didn’t know what to create, or how to turn my essence into an actual ‘creation.’ I guessed that I was supposed to ‘manifest’ something using manifestation essence, but I had no clue how. 

Luckily, I didn’t need to figure out how to ‘manifest’ something right now. That was probably why the wands were here; all I had to do was toss it some manifestation essence, and it did the rest of the work on its own. I quickly scanned my thoughts, found the ‘tug’ that the wand was exerting on my mind, and gave it a little bit of my manifestation essence.

I opened my eyes, and found the wooden wand in front of me lighting up like a small chunk of glowing moss. I grinned, and checked the other children.

Sallia and Felix also had their wands lit up, and one of the other children, a girl with four eyes and pink hair, also had her wand lit up in front of her.

The other two children still had their eyes closed, although there was a tint of desperation on their faces as they searched for any manifestation essence in their mind.

The witch seemed delighted that four of us had made our wands light up, and gave us warm smiles before gesturing for us to put down our wands and stand by the side of the room. However, she calmly continued to guide the two boys still taking their manifestation essence tests, giving them different instructions, visualization techniques, and guidance. 

Six minutes later, one of the two boys managed to light his wand up. He opened his eyes, and seemed incredibly happy as the witch gave him a warm smile. Then, he set down his wand and came to stand near us.

The final six minutes of the test stretched on and on, as the final boy tried and failed to make his wand light up. Finally, the witch sighed.

“I’m sorry, boy, but it looks like you don’t have the talent.”

“I… I…” The boy looked like he was about to cry.

The witch leaned over to him, and gently patted his head. “Don’t worry, even if you aren’t magically talented, that’s no reason to cry. You can always work hard and become excellent in another field of study, even without magic. Just because you aren’t magically talented doesn’t mean you have no hope of succeeding in life. You just need to work hard in a different way. Besides, we haven’t done the Shaper test yet.”

The boy sniffled a few times, before he walked over to the other side of the room and sat down, before burying his head in his hands.

The witch cleared her throat, before nodding to the next group of children. “All right, you six standing near the front. It’s your turn now.”

The witch began guiding them through the same process the first group had just completed, while Sallia, Felix and I grinned at each other.

If all 3 of us were gifted in Manifestation Essence…

We were almost certainly compatible with Alteration too. The odds of all three of us being magically gifted with one kind of essence just seemed too low, unless the odds were rigged from the start.

At the same time, I gave Felix a glance out of the corner of my eye, curious to see if he had any signs of an unusual reaction to Manifestation Essence..

When Sallia used absorption essence, she claimed that it was very easy to manipulate for her. While other people lost a good amount of essence and mana when trying to extract mana from their surroundings, Sallia lost nothing.

I wasn’t quite sure what ‘extreme talent’ would look like when it came to manifestation mana, but maybe Felix had some sort of unusual reaction when trying to do the test? I was hoping that Felix and I could find our ‘extreme affinities’ soon.

Felix caught my glance, and thought for a moment, before shaking his head.

I shrugged, feeling a little disappointed, but I nodded. I didn’t think Manifestation was my extreme affinity either, unless I was missing something. The essence wasn’t hard to use, because I had practiced using absorption essence, but it didn’t obey me the way Sallia’s absorption essence obeyed her.

In that case, Felix and I were either talented in Alteration or Binding.

The three of us couldn’t talk, but I found myself practically burning with anticipation as I thought about talking with Sallia and Felix again. I wanted to see what they knew about manifestation essence in this world. Even if it wasn’t either my or Felix’s primary essence type, exploring a new magic system sounded incredibly interesting. Right now, the only thing I knew about the manifestation magic system of this world was the fact that it was structured around ‘magic circles,’ but I had no context for what magic circles meant or how they worked. I was pretty sure more magic circles meant the spell was stronger, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

Just as I was debating trying to whisper with Sallia and Felix, to get more information about Manifestation Essence magic, the witch started the third round of tests, and I sighed.

Even if I was excited, I shouldn’t talk right now. I didn’t want to distract the other kids who were taking the test. This was a defining moment in their lives, after all. It wouldn’t be fair for me to potentially distract them, even if I wanted to talk with my friends.

Time ticked on, while the witch went through one round of tests after another. Finally, the last round of children finished their manifestation Essence test, and the witch gave the future wizards and witches of the town appreciative glances.

“Twenty-six this year. Not bad at all,” said the witch, grinning. “Usually we get 15 or 16. Pretty good year.”

The witch absently rubbed a small patch of white cloth on her dress, perhaps as a symbol of good luck, and then gave us all smiles. “Before we go to the next test, do any of you have any questions? Not about the nature of magic - after all, your masters will tell you more about that once they accept you as their apprentices. But do you have any questions about what your lives will look like in the future, or anything of that sort?”

I paused for a moment, before I raised my hand.

“Yes, little girl?” Asked the Witch, giving me a kind smile.

“Will we be starting our apprenticeships early? My brother didn’t start his apprenticeship under a sword master until he was 30 years old.”

The witch nodded. “We like to start magical training as soon as a child is old enough to use magic responsibly. Twelve years old is deemed about as young as we can start teaching children. Any younger and they might accidentally blow themselves up while doing an experiment they shouldn’t. Therefore, you’ll be starting your apprenticeship immediately after this. It just takes the place of the school you would have otherwise attended, though.” 

I nodded.

“Are we all going to be apart from each other once we start learning under our magic teachers?” Asked Sallia, giving me and Felix anxious looks.

The witch seemed to catch her glance, and grinned. “Did you already find a few friends, young lady? It’s good to see the new generation of spellcasters getting along so well.” The witch chuckled. “A magic teacher is expected to provide room and board for their apprentices, so you’ll live in close contact with your teacher for five days each week. However, if you have the same master, you’ll be living in the same quarters. And even if you don’t end up with the same master, the city has ensured that all magical apprentices spend at least four hours a day interacting with each other in a building center in the city. The city overseer claims that it’s the best way to keep rivalry between spellcasters to a minimum. After all, children who play together have more time to form bonds with each other and grow up to be good friends.” The witch chuckled. “At least, that’s what the overseer and older spellcasters claim. Personally, I think it’s because most spellcasters still want time to themselves, to experiment with new spells, and so they pressured the city lord into taking everyone’s apprentices out of their hair for a while. But you’ll still see your friends every day, regardless of whether you have the same master or not.”

Sallia’s shoulders relaxed as the tension drained out of her, and I smiled a little. I was glad that I would still have time to spend with Sallia and Felix every day.

“What happens if we have both the talent for being a Shaper AND a Witch?” It was the pink haired girl with four eyes who spoke up this time, her eyes shining with hope and curiosity. I couldn’t help but wonder what particular combination of bloodlines had given her two eyes on her temples in addition to her regular two eyes. She had a bright, friendly expression and a cheery smile as she spoke.

The witch chuckled. “If you end up with both the potential to be a shaper and a witch, you’ll have two masters. You’ll need to study a lot harder in that case. Shaping is… odd, and requires far more practice to use correctly.”

After the little girl spoke up, a few other questions about things such as time with families, food, weekends, and so on were asked by other children. I realized that I would basically be spending each weekday with my magic teacher, and then I would return to my family for weekends before going back to my master each week. 

As the witch clarified the answers to the children’s questions, and the magically untalented shuffled along behind us, we reached another room, where I assumed we would take the Alteration test. I grinned. I couldn’t wait to see what Alteration Magic was like.

acaswell

Shameless plug: You can read up to 21 chapters ahead on patreon!