Alden's undeveloped adam's apple bobbed up and down as he gulped down the saliva in his mouth, under his father's stern gaze. He felt weak in knees as his legs trembled slightly, under an immense intangible pressure. He felt from deep inside him that he must kneel in front of the existence infront of him, he must kneel in front of his father. But he didn't, because he knew that it would just disappoint his father. So he exhaled and looked up, straight in his father's eyes.
"Welcome back from Hesta, father", Alden said as he tried his best not to look away due to immense pressure. And soon enough, he felt the pressure that was weighing down on him, dissappear slowly.
"Did Serena tell you about the mana grading?"
"Yes, she did, father"
Gunther nodded and walked towards a huge circular stone slab that was kept on a table, something that Alden hadn't noticed before. The stone slab was translucent with a tinge of grey color to it, it was about 10 cm thick and had a diameter of about 1 meter, it was kept slanting with support of a small traingular steel rod structure. Serena walked to stand to right side of the stone slab and took the initiative to explain to Alden, "This is a evaluation stone, a rare mineral that can store mana and shine. The amount of light it produces indicates the quality of mana, and then it can be given a grade. The stored mana is used to identify which affinities it has"
Alden nodded to indicate that he understood. Serena continued "Now I'll teach you how to channel the mana inside you and make it flow. Go and sit on that chair", she pointed towards a chair that was placed beside the window.
Alden went and sat on it, he was very nervous, and being watched by his father simply made him even more nervous. Serena walked behind him and placed both her hands on his back "Close your eyes and try to relax"
Alden did as told, and soon he felt something moving deep inside him. Serena spoke, "Don't resist this feeling, let it happen. And tell me what you feel"
"I feel like... something is moving inside me", he tried to focus on this specific feeling and didn't oppose it "I don't feel like something is actually moving inside me but more like... like my imagination... but it feels realistic. And it's a bit warm, comforting even"
"Good. Now think of a blob of light, and imagine it flowing throughout your body. There is no rush, so don't be nervous" Serena guided the mana inside him to make it flow in his entire body. "What do you feel or see?"
Alden focused on Serena's instructions "I... see a blob of warm light in my chest... a bit to left side, not in center" he concentrated on the warm feeling as much as he could and spoke further "And... I see something like threads of ligth coming out of the blob of light in my chest... they are... flowing through my head and arms and legs and whole body..."
A smile naturally formed on Gunther's face as he listened to his son's description.
Serena was shocked. 'This boy sensed his mana core in his first try?! What immense talent! No, this should be expected of someone from Ashfeild descent. But still... it's a bit too much...' Serena controlled herself but she was still a bit flustered, and said with a hint of envy, "Good, now try to memorize how those threads of ligth flow"
After a minute, she said "Do you think you can do it on your own now? Try to do it"
Next moment, Serena stopped guiding Alden's mana and felt it flow on it's own 'Amazing! His talent is monstrous! He learned mana channeling so quickly! Only if I had even half the talent he has... world sure isn't fair'. She then took her hands off his back and walked to the side of evaluation stone "Ok, open your eyes now"
Alden opened his eyes and looked towards his father, and saw a rare smile on his father's face. "Good job" Gunther said in a deep masculine voice.
Alden's nervousness instantly vanished and his mood elevated. 'Did I just make father proud?!'. A glint of light appeared in his eyes "Thank you father!"
"Young lord, Alden, place both your hands on this slab. We will now do your mana evaluation"
Alden enthusiastically nodded and quickly got up from the chair and walked infront of the evaluation stone slab, and placed both his hands on it. "Now focus and make those threads of ligth flow in your body, just like you did before. And focus on concentrating those mana channels, what you called as threads of ligth, in your palms"
"Ok" Alden then tried to recreate that warm feeling in his chest, in his heart, again in which he succeeded in a few seconds. He then tried concentrating mana channels, the threads of ligth that originated from the blob of ligth in his heart, on his palms.
Next moment, a small dim white light formed in the center of the greyish translucent stone slab. That light's intensity kept on increasing at a very fast pace, almost instantly that small white light became extremely brilliant, from the center, now the entire slab was creating the intense blinding light. The entire hall had bathed in the brilliant white light, almost no shadows remained.
That brilliant dazzling light was too much for the young boy to withstand, so he removed his hands from the stone slab instantly. Confused, he looked at the royal magic instructor Serena Terne, expecting her to explain what just happened. But Serena just stood there, here eyes wide open and her mouth agap.
'W-what just happened? Why does she look like that? Was that not supposed to happen? D-Did I make a mistake?' As these questions raced through his head, Alden nervously glanced at his father, hoping that he would answer his questions. But even the duke had a shocked expression plastered on his face.
"Father, wha-", Gunther cut Alden's words and spoke in a authoritative tone, "Return to your room, I will call you to tell you of your evaluation results later."
"O-ok" too scared of defying his father, Alden nodded and slumped his neck, and walked towards the hall's door. "And don't speak of this event to anyone, not even your mother". Alden looked back and replied "Yes...", he opened the door and walked out of the hall. Alden walked through the empty hallway, his head filled with anxious and negative thoughts, he entered his room.
Gunther looked at Serena and said "You know what this means, correct?"
Serena snapped out of her dazzed state, and replied after a moment of silence, "A Lord..." she muttered to herself. "He has complete affinity for at least 1 attribute... someone actually has complete affinity for a attribute, outside the royal family of Grandell... a second Lord grade existence in Grandell after over 300 years... at least he has the potential for that"
"Indeed" Gunther nodded "Look for what affinities he has"
"Yes, Saint Gunther" Serena nervously walked to the stone slab and placed her right palm on the translucent greyish stone slab. A moment later, she took her palm off the slab and looked at Gunther. "Haha... this is unbelievable..." she laughed self depreciatingly
"What is?" Gunther expressed his rare curiosity
"Your son has complete affinity for Gravity, Lightning, Ice, Holy, Wind, Illusion, and... Distortion attributes." Serena shook her head in disbelief. "This is simply too much, even for a Lord, isn't it, Saint Gunther?"
"Distortion... Indeed, it's too much. You can return to capital city Hesta" Gunther turned around and gazed at the scenery out of the window and Serena quickly left the hall in hurry.
While looking out from the window, Gunther took a name, "Herald"
A man suddenly appeared next to Gunther. He had a tall burly built and wore a black chestplate that had a symbol of 2 swords crossed infront of a rising sun embedded on it. Without looking at Herald, Gunther continued, "You saw it, didn't you"
"Yes, it was quite a surprise. But if that women tells of this to the Emperor, it will be quite a problem", the tall burly man replied
Gunther sighed, "Yes, a Lord appearing even in the royal family will be threat to the Emperor's position, not to mention a Lord appearing outside the royal family of Grandell"
"He will definitely try to have young lord Alden assassinated, after all, Emperor Ivan IV has been the sole Lord grade existence in Grandell from past 307 years"
"That's correct. Herald, from here to the capital city of Hesta, quite a bit of accidents can happen on the way, right?"
"Yes, my lord"
"Indeed. While returning to capital city Hesta from Ashfeild estate, royal magic instructor Serena Terne's carriage was unexpectedly attacked by a group of Grade-2 monsters. Unfortunately, no one survived the unexpected attack because everyone in the group was unprepared"
"Understood", Herald replied and disappeared from the hall just as he had appeared. Then Gunther also walked out of the hall.
Suddenly, in the empty hall, on the greyish translucent circular evaluation stone slab a crack appeared. More cracks kept appearing on the stone, until it crumbled into multiple small peices. But it didn't end there, the peices kept breaking into smaller parts. Soon only dust remained of the stone slab which was previously 10 cm thick and had a 1 meter diameter. Then the winds enveloped that dust and carried it out of the open window.
Near the ceiling of the hall, 3 illusory orbs were floating. No one knew in what point in time they had appeared in this hall, nor did anyone notice them.
These 3 illusory orbs were eyeballs. One of those eyeballs had a emerald green iris, one eyeball had a indigo colored iris and last one had a golden colored iris and vertically slit pupil. These eyeballs observed everything, from the greyish translucent stone slab producing a brilliant blinding light to the slab crumbling to dust particles which were carried away by winds. And then, the 3 eyeballs vanished from the hall, without leaving any trace behind, as if they never existed in the first place.