Chapter 4:Becoming a Mage
Ray's second birthday was neigh and he was more excited than ever.
Why?
It was because every child at the age of two could be tested if they had the ability to become a Mage.
As the son of an Adventurer and a Mage. It was understandable that Ray's talents needed to be tested if the adage that a tiger father does not beget a dog son is true. Ray's parents took him to the City Centre of the Alure Kingdom.
Their hometown was quite small and it did not have the necessary equipment to test his magical capabilities, so his parents decided to take him to the closest city to undergo the test.
It turned out that if one of your parents was a mage, then you had a pretty high chance of becoming a mage too! Although the chance wasn't 100%. It was still better than nothing. In fact, a good number of Mages in the current times came from the bloodline of previous mages.
Of course, Ray had no doubt that he could become a Mage. He was previously a dragon. Dragons were rulers of magic. He had more magic power than any human being could ever hope to. However, it was a lie to say that he didn't feel insecure.
After all, he may have been a dragon in his previous life but now he was a human being. He wasn't so complacent as to think that he didn't have any chances of failure.
Ray and his parents finally arrived at the City Centre and he immediately noticed some differences.
There seemed to be a higher number of Adventurers and Mages here. A lot of people were walking with magical tools around, but at the same time, Ray was saddened when he noticed the gap between the poor and the rich.
The rich and the powerful received clout and attention, but the poor and the beggars received nothing but disdain. He was saddened and frustrated by the fact that humans didn't seem to help those that were weaker than them.
Instead, they disdained and mocked them as lower beings than them even though they were all human beings the same.
Ray had once made it his obligation to protect the weak but despite his best efforts.
He had failed.
After walking through the City Centre while holding his mother's hand, they had finally reached their destination. Ray was tired from all the walking; his small body couldn't take much more. And gave out a small yawn.
'These beings when they are born they can't even fend for themselves and now this dreaded curse.'
It seemed like Ray;s father had something to do, and left the two as he made his way back home first before the others.
He looked at the cathedral-like building in front of him and discovered that it was bigger than four adult-sized dragons combined.
Nevertheless, it was a magnificent sight.
Scarlett, Ray's mother, was quick to explain that the building was a school called Roland Academy and that it had a strict policy wherein it only accepted Mages. This was the school that she attended when she was younger, and she hoped that Ray could also become its student.
They walked away from the school building and arrived into an adjacent building. This building seemed less impressive when compared to the main building, but one could easily see that the building wasn't made with less impressive materials.
The number of people inside the building was astounding. There was hardly any space to move.
Most of the people inside were parents with their children. They sat down and waited patiently in the reception room. Every so often, someone would come into the reception room, holding a list in their hand and they would call out someone's name.
The parents and the child would go into the room where the test was being held and after five minutes or so…
They would come out.
Most of the time, crying…
A few minutes later, the woman came out carrying that list again.
"Ray Talen, your turn for testing…" She announced as she swept her gaze across the crowd.
Ray jumped out of his seat and smiled.
He followed his mother and walked with the woman.
Along the way, Ray walked past a child who was furiously crying.
Apart from pity, Ray could only shake his head and scoff.
The world was unfair.
Always had been.
Ray followed the woman into the room that he had caught a glimpse of earlier and discovered that there was a table and two chairs on either side of that table. On top of the table was a big crystal orb and sitting in front of that orb was an old-looking man dressed in a white robe.
The other seat was empty.
Scarlett sat on that empty seat and she carried Ray over onto her lap.
He felt embarrassed that he had to be helped over onto his feet by a mere human.
He wanted to talk to himself, but the old-looking man was already talking.
"Please have your son put both of his hands onto the orb in front of you. The orb will emit light if he has any magical ability. The corresponding colour of the light will show what element he excels in."
Ray inwardly scoffed.
A single sentence was enough…
Ray closed his eyes, raised both of his hands into the air and grabbed the crystal ball from the sides.
"Ga… Ga… Gaaa!"
Ray inwardly laughed, expecting a grand result.
Then, he heard someone's stifled sobbing.
The voice was familiar, it seemed to have come from his mother?
Ray was pleasantly surprised.
Was his talent so awesome that his mother couldn't hold herself back any longer and started crying tears of joy?
She must've been so happy to see me become a Mage. Maybe I had awakened the Fire Element, same as my mother. Ray opened his eyes and realised that the crystal ball had no reaction at all whatsoever.
No light, no colour, nothing…
What?
"Condolences, but your son has no magical aptitude."
The old man said while shaking his head and stroking his beard.
Preposterous!
A dragon with no magic?
He must be wrong!
Ray hopped onto the table, careful that he wouldn't accidentally topple the crystal ball over onto the ground. He started walking towards the old man and mumbled.
"Don't wie…"
"I have mawic…"
Ray glared angrily at the old man while pointing to himself.
"I am sorry young man, but there is nothing that I can do."
The old-looking man let out a sigh and apologized. But Ray was unconvinced. He grabbed the old man's beard for he was so frustrated.
He was a dragon!
He was the Great Dragon Sen!
How could he not have any magic aptitude?
This old man must be lying and he's trying to hide my great powers from my mother in order to scam us!
Ray yanked harder on the old man's beard as he became angrier at the outcome of the test.
Scarlett latched onto his arm, trying to yank it away from the old man's beard. But since Ray was resisting hard, her efforts made it so that a few strands of the old man's beard came loose.
As the hair came falling down onto the ground, Ray was so amused that he started laughing.
"Ga, ga, gaaa…"
The old man was finally able to remove my hold from him as he stood up and shouted.
"Get these two out of my sight, right now!"
Ray stayed silent the whole trip back to their hometown. His mother was still quite annoyed for what he had done to the old man. The son and mother pair gave each other the cold shoulder as Scarlett eventually fell asleep.
But Ray was still wide awake.
What was going on?
'Was the world punishing me for the number of humans that I have killed back then?'
'That doesn't make sense…'
'Otherwise, why would I have gotten this second chance? If the world decided that I deserved some punishment, then it wouldn't have let me reincarnate.' Ray nodded to himself. He reckoned that the world must be testing me.
'If I am unable to become a Mage, then I must find another way to get my revenge.'
Ray reaffirmed his resolve.
He then thought about his father.
When they eventually got home, Scarlett told Jack about the unfortunate news. Jack was understandably upset, but it wasn't as serious as Scarlett.
The next morning, the family sat in front of the dinner table. Having finally grasped the ways of the spoon and fork, Ray realised that these items made the eating experience significantly better than before and there was no need to clean himself and the mess that he made after.
Once the breakfast was done, Ray decisively placed down his spoon and fork onto the table and stared straight into his father's eyes.
"Dad… Cwn you teweach me how to figwht?"
Silence descended.
But at the very next moment, Jack's eyes started shining in an excited light.
It seemed that his dream was going to come true after all.