Jan Buron swaggered up to the orb. Before he made it, though, a giant roundswing came from behind him.
"It is a bigger disgrace to our ancestors to let you go first." A deep, pious voice came from behind him.
It was Anis Marks, a branch member of an opposing family- albeit a kinder one.
The old keeper snickered. With a fling of his wrist, a string of energy came from his decrepit fingers. It shot out, encased the two, and flung them against the wall.
"You two go last."
A shy girl, Aoki Tamara, put her hands on the orb. Nobody else was, and she wanted out of this place.
It lit up. Blue.
"D-Rank!" Someone from the crowd shouted.
The colors represented the different ranks. Green for E, Blue for D, Purple for C, Red for B, Gold for A, Black for S, White for SS, and Rainbow for SSS.
The elder reached his hand into a machine. He pulled out a piece of paper. With a flick of his wrist, Aoki was given it.
The paper listed her various talents.
"Next." The elder spoke softly.
Brock Green placed his hand on the orb. Red!
His friends congratulated him. A B-Rank talent was sure to make him richer than his peers.
The process went on and on. Luke was holding back. His A-rank ability was rare. Only 1 in 1,000,000,000 people would rank that high.
If he was instead showing off the SSS ability, [Unyielding Longevity,] he was screwed. Immediate government surveillance, research labs, etc. would all come for him and haunt him to the ends of the earth.
If this wasn't mandatory he'd have run far away already.
Time passed.They were down to 12 individuals. So far, they were all ranked below Brock, the B-rank Talent.
Bandon Starr walked up. Placing his hands upon the orb, it lit up gold.
The people around him sucked their breath. A-Rank Talent! This was a real A-Rank Talent!
Taking his paper, he laughed and stared at his peers. "Fire Manipulation!" He shouted contemptously before leaving the hall. He didn't spare a glance behind.
The next nine did very poorly. Only one of them got a D-Rank talent. The rest were E.
The only people left were Luke and the two from the beginning. With a sigh, Luke pressed his hands onto the orb and immediately wished for luck.
His mind was sucked into his Sea of Consciousness.
A smaller representation of the glass orb had been sucked in alongside him. It immediately went to the rune symbolizing his Unyielding Longevity.
'Not today!' He screamed internally as he pulled the rune away from it.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. He moved the [Innate Spirit] rune in front of it, but no luck. With a curve of its trajectory, the greedy orb wisked around the Innate Spirit rune.
'Get back here!'
With a jump, his Origin Card began to use [Devour] upon the little orb. While the card wasn't strong enough to truly devour it, it still managed to stop it the orb in its tracks.
'Innate Spirit Rune, Go!'
The rune clashed against it. The devouring stopped. Luke followed the now-lit orb directly out of his sea of consciousness.
IT WORKED!
The golden light displayed upon the orb, clearly for all to see.
The old man smiled as he pulled out the paper. Two A-ranks in a single session? This was unheard of.
With a start, he wrapped Luke in a confinement array before adding him to the wall.
Luke freaked. 'Even if they accuse me, I still will refuse to give them more than as little as ever possible!'
The elder pulled Jan Buron to the orb. As Jan Buron had broken the rules, he didn't let him move. His static figure slowly raised its hands as they were placed upon the orb.
He began to shake as the orb lit up. It was pitch black.
With a maniacal cackle, the young man made the three left in the hall nervous as he continued unceasingly. He continued to laugh as he was sent outside by the elder.
"Kid, I think you were right." The elder said as he released Anis from the wall. This time, he let him walk on his own.
Anis Marks made his way to the orb. It glowed until it gave off a golden hue.
'Another one?' The old man shouted internally.
Taking the paper, he eyed it. 'Innate Water Constitution.'
"Kid, you have two choices. Join me now and contract with the army, become powerful enough to utterly destroy your opponent, and return. Choice two is to get your butt handed to you the moment you walk outside."
"…I accept."
"Good!"
"Then the two of you are with me."
The elder enveloped them in a dual protection-confinement array as they teleported outside.
Luke saw his mother's face. She was watching him. He quickly blinked in their family code. "I'll be back."
"I'm taking these two with me. Anyone who argues otherwise can visit the Xilec branch of the Galactic Federation Military."
The crowd of onlookers grew curious. Mia Jaywalker wept alone as her second and last remaining family member was taken from her. 'Not again, not again, not again, not again, not again, not again, not again…..'
With a beam of light, the three disappeared and the heart of a lonely mother broke.