Chapter 10: Jade Princess
1289 Words
A revelation had struck Arion's mind, body, and soul simultaneously when he looked at the back of the mirror's frame concerning his aptitude in the field of magic.
"Why...? Why the heck it's a zero?" Arion was clearly on the verge of snapping his comprehension.
"Well, that's how it is..." Sarra began to doubt his abilities. Her grimaces shoot a mixture of sorrow and sympathy for some reason. She thinks he's not someone who could aid the Althas Kingdom at this perilous time.
Expecting as they were, he guesses he must have at least an average or overpowered magic potential, and it turns out it was worse than common, it's none other than zero.
Back then when Arion leaped high school and directly hit college, he could always get a perfect score no matter how hard the test. They even accuse him of cheating when a teacher presented a fictional scientific theory that has no value, and he made it into reality by actually scoring an absolute hundred percent.
Now facing a trivial aptitude test where he will only touch a magic crystal and look at a mirror for seconds, a smite of heaven has come down crashing at his ego as his pride wouldn't allow such a thing to happen. After all, this world is abundant in magic, and he should also be a prodigy of its ethereal existence.
"It seems you failed the aptitude magic test, so don't worry! We still have another test," Sarra explained consoling Arion's sorry state. Even Lilith was wondering why he has a result of zero aptitudes in the field of magic when she can see the unique light he's emitting earlier ago.
"I can't accept this, present me the second test." Arion's disappointed face was obvious. Though he strains it by calming down so he won't make Lilith be afraid of him.
The second item in the room was none other than, of course, another ball of crystal, and this time, it's kind of resembles an obsidian object based on its natural properties and shading.
"The second test was meant only for those that passed the first one. I'll make an exception just for today," Sarra stated. She's not touching the black crystal ball lying above a cushion or some sort of pillow preventing it from rolling over.
"What should I do then?" Arion just wants to get it over with.
"All you need to do is to smash that with everything you've got." Sarra had a crooked smile. He knew she must be hiding something of vital importance. The dubious face of Lilith too had a subtle difference from before.
If smashing the black crystal ball is all the thing he should do, then it's easy as tying up a shoelace. He cracked his knuckles while he's wearing his Mechanical Exoskeleton, ready to finish what he must.
They didn't clarify what kind of test it really is or what merit he can get in it considering Sarra only needed to check his magic aptitude since this is a world of magic.
"Let's clinch this up," Arion smirked.
Taking the stance of a black belt martial artist, he lowered his posterior and sticked-out his right arm while his left arm is fixated downward, both his palms were lying flat.
The new world he inhabits right of this moment mustn't have the concept of fighting by hands when they can rely on their magic around the clock. It's also the reason why Sarra and Lilith were astounded through his unyielding stance despite not having even the slightest bit of magic aptitude.
Inhalation and exhalation, Arion took a deep breath and as he exhales, he swerved his arm upwards and through the help of his Mechanical Exoskeleton, he was able to focus the strength and impact on his palms in a downwards exhibition.
The midsection of his pinky-finger hit the surface of the ball crystals in a collision, shattering it completely without a trace of its existence. It vanished like glowing fireflies of diverse hues, it isn't a magic ball just for the name since it's literally a ball of mana.
Both Sarra and Lilith widened their eyes in amazement, they were gawking dumbfounded not sure if what they just beheld was the truth. And they closed their eyes in unison and opened it once again, the magic crystal vaporized.
"The black ball of crystal or obsidian or whatever it is, I destroyed it. What's next?" Arion clinched the second test just fine.
"Impossible... you destroyed it?" Lilith couldn't believe what she just witnessed, closing her mouth right after.
"It can't be... wait!" Just like that, Sarra went out of the test room swiftly faster than the gust of wind.
"What's her deal? I only destroyed the crystal ball, is it something amazing for you two?" Arion was pondering over it.
"No... you should know sooner." Lilith was trembling just thinking who he really could be.
Meanwhile, Sarra darted out towards her fellow workers to tell them the news of the destroyed magic crystal. They frantically couldn't believe her report since they understood there's no way a wizard could smash it let alone a newbie who appeared out of nowhere.
"Are you sure Sarra?" Her colleague asks in all seriousness.
"Yes! I'm sure of it. We need her right away!" Sarra was usually reserved and never raised her voice.
But this time, she addressed the unprecedented situation better than anyone, proving there's no way she'd lie about it.
"Alright! We'll call the Jade Princess right away." One of her colleagues confirmed before she crossed out of the reception desk and straight went towards the second floor through the stairs on the back left of the lobby.
The mages and alike discerned the circumstances when they felt the unchanging magical aura of the lady who was walking down the stairs.
A random mage from the crowd elbowed his comrade. "Hey?! That's the Jade Princess! Why is she here?"
"I don't know! She's really beautiful isn't it?" His companion commented.
The crowd solely focused their attention on her, a boundless beauty was at their presence. Sarra ushered the lady known as the Jade Princess towards the room where Arion and Lilith were left behind.
"Is he still here?" She was dignified, one can clearly tell she has an illustrious social image.
Poises and dignified, she was about to turn the golden-brown knob when someone from inside opened it with force.
Everyone who testified the scene was shocked when the door crashed over her face.
"Huh? Why is it not opening?" Arion asked a rhetorical question. He kicked the door multiple times and the people outside were gritting their teeth from the constant collision of the door through her anterior.
The worse part of it was that while Arion's keep pushing it like a madman, the Jade Princess's chest pads inflated that caused her mortification. He didn't realize he disgraced someone in public.
"Lilith, go look outside, there must be some i***t who blocked the door." Arion has no idea what truly happened, and he's about to get rekt.
"O-Okay..." And Lilith looked outside just to see the Jade Princess's outraged face, holding her chest while he's beet-red from the humiliation she undertook.
"Arion..." Lilith called for his help.
"What?" He was still not aware of what he did.
"It's good that I met you..." She sounded so sorrowful.
"Hey, why you sound like I'm going to die, there's no way that–" The fated day has arrived, Arion's speech was cut off when the wooden door bashed right on his head.
The stars of heaven; he saw thousands of stars whirling inside his head as he went motionless, slowly falling unconscious.
"What the... hell..."
- Writer
