Two days had passed since the incident in the library.
During those two days, I spent my time in the library. Fujita and the others also spent most of their time there.
I told Fujita and Kushida about my meeting with Magnus, and as I had expected, both of them had also met him, as well as Haru, Renaldi, and Agatha.
Today, the six of us were summoned by King Cyrus. It seemed this was related to the church wanting to examine our abilities.
"Ooh, I'm really excited today!!"
"Is that so? Are you that happy?"
I was confused by Renaldi's excessive excitement.
"Of course, don't you get it? I don't know if we can use magic, but at the very least, we need to have the power to live in this world. Most importantly, this is a superpower! That's so cool! Wouldn't you be excited to have a superpower like in the movies?"
That was true, we did need power to survive in this world. Moreover, we were the heroes summoned to save it.
I didn't know whether the powers from my original world could help me in that matter.
"Renaldi-san's words are true, Flitz-san! I'm also a little excited and have a small hope about our powers."
Fujita said that, and when I looked at the others, they nodded in agreement.
It seemed I was the only one not thinking about it here. I understood though—perhaps because in their world, something like superpowers didn't exist, which made them so excited.
But it was different for me. In my original world, though uncommon, superpowers did actually exist...
Through various research, some humans could enhance their abilities to the point they were no longer like normal humans.
But with the existence of magic in this world, the system of power we obtained here might be completely different from my own world.
In fact, I already had several hypotheses about what kind of power I would get, but I needed to confirm it.
**********
Guided by an old servant, we arrived at a room. When we entered, there were already several people inside. King Cyrus, and a pair of man and woman wearing white hooded robes—I assumed they were people from the Church.
Seeing us arrive, King Cyrus welcomed us and pointed at the two while saying:
"You're finally here! These are the envoys from the church I told you about. They will examine your abilities."
One of the envoys approached us.
With a friendly smile, he removed his hood and began to introduce himself and the girl behind him.
"My name is Jack, a servant of God from this city, and this is the nun accompanying me. Her name is Anna."
The man's name was Jack. He was quite young, with a bright demeanor, probably around twenty years old. With blue eyes, neatly trimmed blond hair, and a small scar on his cheek.
As for the girl named Anna, she was short, maybe just in her teens. I couldn't clearly see her face due to my higher point of view, but her black hair peeked out from under her hood.
We introduced ourselves to the two of them as well, and then moved on to the purpose of this meeting.
"To save time, we can start right away. Anna, bring it out."
At Jack's command, from under her robe, Anna pulled out a small black cube that fit perfectly in her hand.
Seeing our eyes fixed on the cube, Jack explained.
"This is the Luminis Core, a divine artifact received by the great witch four hundred years ago. She said that with the Luminis Core, we could discern the abilities of people from another world."
Hearing Jack's explanation, Cyrus made a remark.
"Impressive, you're good at hiding things. I didn't know you possessed an artifact from that witch. Seems like I'll need to increase surveillance on you."
"HAHAHA, go ahead and try."
"HAHAHA...."
"HAHAHA...."
Somehow, the two of them began clashing, and seeing their antics, Anna could only sigh and shake her head.
Judging by Anna's reaction, this must have happened often. Were Cyrus and Jack actually close?
"That's enough! We need to start the examination!"
At Anna's scolding, Jack refocused on the matter at hand.
"O-okay... sorry, Anna. Well then, this is the first time the Luminis Core is being used, so I don't exactly know how it works, but the witch explained that people from another world only need to hold it, and then you'll know. So, who wants to try first?"
He explained and asked us who would be the first to attempt it.
I looked at Renaldi beside me, but he just stood there silently.
I was confused by his reaction. Wasn't he the most excited about this? I thought he would be the one to step forward first.
"What's wrong with you? Weren't you really excited earlier? Don't you want to go first?"
"Hmph, you don't know anything! For a protagonist, in moments like this, he has to be the last. And when you see his power, you'll be astonished. And that protagonist... is me."
"".....""
With a smug face, he started spouting nonsense again, and we could only stare at him in silence.
After looking at him for a moment, I turned back to Jack and volunteered to go first.
"I'll do it."
"Alright. Anna, give him the Luminis Core."
At Jack's command, Anna stepped forward and handed me the cube.
I held the cube and quickly directed my nanobots to identify it.
Maybe I could get some information.
But unfortunately, after the nanobots began working, what I found was:
[ Initiating scan__ Material: Unknown__, Energy Capacity: 100%__, Detailed Information: Unknown ]
Another new material! Unlike the strange stone from the destroyed planet before, this one still contained energy. No, don't think about that now. After holding the cube for a while, why wasn't anything happening?
Oh no! Did I break it by identifying it with the nanobots?
"Eh? Why hasn't anything happened yet? Does it take longer to activate? But the witch said the Luminis Core should work immediately when held."
Hearing that from Jack, Renaldi quickly rushed over and snatched the cube from my hand.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?? DID YOU BREAK IT? WHAT IF—ah."
""ah..""
Just as Renaldi shouted, the cube in his hand suddenly emitted a faintly glowing, unique pattern, flowing like water.
In a split second, the patterns gathered at the corner of the cube and became a white droplet. The droplet fell to the floor, hardened, and formed into a small pin.
Renaldi picked up the pin and turned it over. Seeing writing on it, he read aloud:
"Sensorium Materia?"
After reading the writing, Renaldi groaned slightly, then suddenly looked shocked.
"Ugh... WHAT! Just detecting material!!"
From his reaction, the pin must have only displayed the name of the ability, while the detailed information about the ability entered directly into the user's mind.
It seemed I wasn't the only one who thought so.
"Oh, so that's how the Luminis Core works... Too bad, only beings from another world can use it... Detecting material, huh... that's definitely a power the dwarves would desire greatly."
"T-this must be wrong! I'll try it again."
Unwilling to accept the result, Renaldi gripped the cube tightly again, but nothing happened. It seemed a person could only use it once.
Thank goodness—I thought I had broken the cube because of what I did.
"W-why did this happen?... I... There must be some mistake... could it be!"
Renaldi fell to his knees, dropping the cube with a look of despair, muttering strangely to himself.
Ignoring him, Jack picked the cube back up.
"Hmm... the Luminis Core is still working. Why didn't it work with you, Flitz?... Anyway, we need to finish the examination first. So, who's next?"
"I'll go next."
The order of examination was already decided: first was Fujita, then Agatha, followed by Kushida, and lastly Haru.
Fujita took the cube, and just like when Renaldi held it, strange patterns appeared again and formed into a droplet.
[Soul Residue]
Fujita explained that the Soul Residue power was the ability to communicate with souls that had left their bodies.
According to Jack's explanation, in certain special cases, souls could linger for quite a while in the world, but generally, a creature's soul could only remain for about one day after death.
Even so, that power was still very valuable due to its usefulness in gathering information.
Souls, huh...
"F-Flitz?..."
"Hmm?... What is it, Agatha?"
"N-no, it's nothing."
"Is that so?... oh, it's your turn now!"
Hearing me say that, Agatha hurriedly, and nervously, took the cube.
"...."
Sensing someone standing behind me, I turned and saw Haru staring at me from close by.
That surprised me. Maybe because I had been thinking about too many things, I noticed her presence late.
"Haru? What is it?"
"What were you two talking about just now?"
"Ah, that... it seemed like Agatha wanted to say something to me, but decided not to."
"Is that so? Now I'm curious!"
Did I make a strange expression that Agatha noticed? That might be the case.
Well... it couldn't be helped if I looked that way, since the knowledge about Souls was something I had been pursuing all this time.
Though it seemed no longer relevant now that I had come to this world.