"Now, its your turn, Dylan."
Dylan paused when presented with the opportunity to assess his talent. This might be the first time he was nervous about something in a while.
'What could be the level of my talent...?' Dylan thought as he hoped for a decent result. 'As long as its decent, it would still be manageable.'
He reached out for the Spiritual Testing Orb with his right hand but before he could even touch it, a hand beside him suddenly reached out.
"Where did the light's go~?" Scarlet said as she touched the crystalline ball. She thought that those bright lights were pleasant to look at.
This action from Scarlet, of course, caused a reaction from the Spiritual Testing Orb.
Blinding lights filled the room!
It was so bright that everyone covered their eyes from the intensity of those bright lights.
"AAAH! My eyes!" Scarlet covered her eyes from the sudden intense lights that just blinded her.
The sudden movement from Scarlet also made her shove the Spiritual Testing Orb causing it to roll over to the opposite side.
The intense lights from the crystalline ball hade eventually settled down.
Shockingly, there were ten overwhelmingly bright stars that were circulating. There were faint fiery marks that circulated within the orb as well.
"This..." Alistair could not believe his eyes. "A... ten star talent has appeared in front of me?!"
As he said earlier, the pinnacle of what was recorded in this country was nine stars. Those nine stars all proceeded to become well-known figures like the Maelstrom Sword Immortal and the Ancient Frost Immortal.
But, now a talent that has the potential to surpass them, has emerged. This heaven-blessed genius was the unassuming cute scarlet-haired girl.
But this was only understandable. He was too invested and focused with Dylan due to his potential as someone who just reincarnated.
"..." It was ,not just Alistair, both Dylan and Victoria looked at Scarlet with flabbergasted expressions.
' One Star more than me? She's even more talented than me?' Victoria had also been tested with this Spiritual Testing Orb in the past so she was familiar of its mechanisms.
When it was revealed that she had nine fully dazzling stars in the orb, she was celebrated as the greatest talent of the sect already. Her parents told her that only those that are true nine-star level talents have distinguished themselves enough to become leaders of the entire clan.
This was why she was all the more shocked by how talented Scarlet is.
'I thought that the highest recorded talent was only nine... I guessed that Scarlet was special but I did not think that she was this special.' Dylan thought as she looked at Scarlet with wonder.
"Whoa, there are more pretty lights now." Scarlet ,who sensed that the light had somewhat faded, saw the ten dazzling stars in the orb and wanted to look at it closely.
The orb continued to roll over the table so inevitably, it fell of the table.
But Victoria was there to catch the orb.
"Oops, it nearly fell." Victoria caught the Spiritual Testing Orb in her hand so it of course also reacted.
She thought, 'Last time, I had nine stars. But this time I have the unlocked my Heart of the Sword Sage. I wonder if I will also reach ten stars.'
Then, the crystalline ball shone bright once again. Those intense lights had once again cause everyone to cover their eyes.
Then, unsurprisingly, there were ten intensely bright stars circulating in the Spiritual Testing Orb to represent Victoria's talent like how it was when Scarlet touched it.
Until one more star showed up from the orb... In actuality, there were two stars that showed up...
"I thought there were supposed to be only ten stars..." Victoria slowly uttered as she saw this revelation.
Immediately after she said those words, the Spiritual Testing Orb shook so intensely that numerous cracks appeared all around it. These cracks looked like a little circular sector. The weird thing about these cracks were that the they were clean and symmetrical as though they were being cleanly cut by something sharp.
As it shook and cracked, there were signs of the number of lights increasing more and more.
*Ksshh*
Consequently, the orb shattered into hundreds of perfectly uniform shards, leaving a shimmering mist of stardust swirling in the air around Victoria. It was a beautiful sight to behold in complimentary with her beautiful appearance.
The razor-sharp shards hung suspended in the air for a fraction of a second, reflecting the stunned, pale faces of everyone in the room before gently raining down onto the table like diamonds.
The ambient temperature in the room seemed to plummet, heavy with the residual pressure of a sword intent that had unconsciously leaked from Victoria during the awakening.
The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the faint, rhythmic ticking of a clock somewhere in the room.
"That was so pretty! Do it again, Big Sis!" Scarlet was absolutely thrilled and thought that it was a magical trick of sorts.
"I think there were twelve... no..." Dylan was too stunned to speak coherently.
"What in the world have I just fucking witnessed?!" Alistair was utterly dumfounded by this scenes!
He was so shocked that he lost every bit of decorum in his mind about these two surprise he had today. He had just unearthed two geniuses with the more potential than the legends he looked up to in the past.
Alistair had already somewhat expected that Victoria would be insanely talented since she hails from a True King's Clan. He expected around eight or nine stars. But he was also hopeful that ever since that performance he saw from her a few days ago that if there was someone who could potentially unlock the tenth star, it would be Victoria.
But reality was far more ridiculous than what his expectations were. He actually saw twelve bright stars! Twelve! Her level of talent was astronomically better than anyone in history!
"Apologies for my words just now. Everything that transpired was simply too mind-boggling." Alistair could only put his hand on his forehead as he felt overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events.
"I apologize for breaking the Spiritual Testing Orb. I shall compensate it with something of an equal price." Victoria felt guilty for breaking someone else's property and wanted to make amends.
"Do not mind it, princess. It was of little value anyways." The City Lord replied with more of an amiable tone to Victoria.
"Uncle, do you have another one? I want to see those pretty lights again!" Scarlet asked cutely.
"Of course, little one. Uncle, does have one more Spiritual Testing Orb in his disposal. " Alistair maintained the same amiable tone as he raised his hand and presented another Spiritual Testing Orb.
"Wow! You made it appear again out of nowhere! Amazing!" Scarlet excitedly clapped by this magical trick.
"But for now, let us see how many beautiful lights your brother will have after touching the orb." Alistair said with gentle smiling face.
"Big bro, it's your turn! Hurry hurry!" Scarlet urged Dylan who was beside her.
"Hahaha, you have one adorable sister, young friend Dylan." Alistair looked at Dylan expectantly as well. He placed the orb in front of Dylan, waiting for his turn.
"She is indeed adorable." Dylan replied cordially.
In the business world you would call this "leveraging human capital" or "networking by establishing human connections". To put it more crudely, kissing the ass of someone's prospective future for one's own benefit.
Alistair wasn't just a patient investor anymore. He became an active participant like a shark circling a fresh school of prize-winning koi. His sudden shift in demeanor from professional to obsequious toward Scarlet and Victoria was as transparent as the glass orb they had just shattered.
He wasn't simply seeing heavenly blessed talents, he was seeing future political capital, walking legacies that could elevate his own status to heights previously unimaginable and living insurance that would also protect the city in times of emergency.
To him, they were no longer just benefactors, they were his golden tickets! To which, he was already calculating the best way to secure his commission.
'Such is the fickle nature of human beings, I guess.' Dylan commented.
He had seen countless greedy and money-grabbing tycoons, government officials and underworld criminals who would switch up their attitude just for the sake of profit. Thus, seeing Alistair's change in attitude was nothing new to him.
'It's the moment of truth, then.' Dylan reached out his hand and touched the cool surface of the crystalline ball. The room held its collective breath.
Alistair leaned forward so far he nearly tipped his chair, his eyes wide with manic anticipation.
Victoria gripped the hilt of her sword, bracing herself for another explosive burst of stardust. Even Scarlet stopped squirming, her eyes glued to the transparent sphere.
Five seconds passed. Then ten.
The heavy silence stretched, growing heavier with every tick of the clock, mutating from breathless anticipation into a suffocating, awkward dread.
Everyone was expectantly look to how many stars Dylan will have.
'I wonder if he'll have ten as well? Maybe twelve, even!' Alistair thought.
'He could break this glass again.' Victoria knew that Dylan was way more talented than her so the crystalline ball was probably going to break again.
Seconds passed, until one who minute passed after Dylan touched the orb. Yet, it had no reaction at all.
No stars, no bright lights. Nothing.
It was the complete and total opposite of what had just happened earlier.
'If this goes along the typical plots of isekais, I should be insanely talented. But I guess that was wishful thinking...' Dylan had been somewhat expectant of the results but he did not expect a non-reaction.
'Could this mean I'm trash?' Dylan thought.
In the reincarnation anime/s, manga/s, and light novel's that he's finished, the main character almost always had insane talent to compliment his cheat-like abilities. These two things would propel him to grow stronger at an absurdly fast rate and obtain broken abilities.
But, reality is often harsh and cold. This was the truth of his talent.