Bremin nodded, and Evel proceeded with the trick.
Evel took his last coin out of his pocket.
"Now pay very close attention to this coin."
Bremin, whose gaze was unreadable, shifted his focus from Evel to the coin.
Evel played around with the coin in his hands for a bit, before it disappeared. Evel revealed his palm to show the coin was really gone, but in reality, it was on the back of his hand.
Bremin's expression remained unchanged as he continued watching Evel.
"Now you may be wondering where that coin went," Evel spoke with absolute control and confidence.
Evel reached over the table and pretended to grab something from behind Bremin's ear. The coin was already in his hand so he pulled it back for the reveal.
"Impressive."
Bremin nodded his head, but by the blank tone of his voice, Evel doubted his words.
Aw man, why did I pick the lamest trick? But also, can this guy only speak one word at a time? Is he stupid?
Silence.
At least he's not staring at me so intensely anymore, but damn if he could just stop using his ability!
Eventually, the silence was broken by the waitress, Hera who came in with Bremin's food. It was a bowl of stew, a roasted fish, some corn, and a slice of cake.
Holy shit that's a lot of food, he must have some deep pockets!
Hera politely placed onto the table and quickly left the room, staying in Bremen's presence for only as long as she needed to.
Bremin immediately started eating, breathing a sigh of relief, Evel indulged in his meal.
However, the constant dull eerie aura coming out of Bremin started to push Evel off the edge bit by bit, and before long, his annoyance overcame his fear.
"Could you… rein in your aura for a few minutes? It's killing my appetite."
Bremin looked up at Evel, it had been a while since somebody had the confidence to speak to him so directly. This novelty never reached Bremin's face, though, leaving Evel fully in the dark.
"I can't."
Bremin simply replied, continuing to eat.
"And why not?"
How can he even train for so long anyways? There should be a limit!
Bremin just looked at Evel blankly.
"I can't turn it off."
Wait, his ability is just always on?
"Oh wow, it must be rough interacting with others with such a… unpleasant aura. I suppose it's alright, I once ate almost exclusively stonepods for a month, and in far worse places."
Bremin slightly nodded his head, or at least Evel thought he did, and continued eating. Evel followed suit and they continued eating the remainder of their food in silence.
Evel savoured every bite slowly and the world narrowed down to the taste and texture alone, his thoughts dissolving into flavour and warmth. In the midst of this paradise, Bremin's voice cut through his thoughts.
"Your name?"
Delighted at the rapid progress, Evel was quick to reply.
"I'm Evel, from Yosten, and you?"
Evel already knew Bremin's name but it felt too impolite to use it, especially with their awkward conversations.
"Bremin, from Almer."
Almer?
"The same city that was saved ten years ago by 'Unyielding Fist' from Dissent?"
Thinking a proper conversation was finally flowing, his task of making strong friends seemed to be progressing smoothly.
Bremin gave Evel a deep look.
Then, he simply nodded and walked out of the room. He had already finished all his food, leaving Evel alone in silence.
We exchanged names, that could be called a partial success.
He never asked me why I wanted to eat with him…
Evel finished the rest of his meal and left the restaurant shortly, making sure to thank the staff on the way out. Seeing he had about an hour left, he explored the town and eventually bought a cheap top hat for his remaining riak. Every proper magician needed at least a top hat.
Full of vigor, Evel found a secluded spot and trained for 15 minutes as hard as he could until he no longer had Energy. Then he made his way to the camp.
When he got to the gates, he found his previous group as well as the two girls that he was talking to back on the disk, Juniper and Fern. Aside from them, other small groups had formed as well.
"Glad to see you're still alive!"
Elena was the first to notice him.
Evel smiled, and joined their group. He mostly listened to Elena and Brenton fighting over if each individual strand of grass was its own plant or not.
Once the last of the recruits, 13 of them in total, arrived, a tall lady with long dark hair arrived. She was wearing a high collared tunic and a belt holding some sort of scroll. On her right eye was a crystal monocle, and on her chest was a bronze emblem engraved with a symbol of a book.
She wore a serious expression on her face.
"Welcome to Orsus Camp, I'm Monique. Has anybody explained affinities to your group?"
Affinity was a term that Evel had heard floating around. Broadly, he knew that affinity was a measure of strength within a realm. However the specifics eluded him. After no reply from the crowd, Monique gave a brief explanation.
"Each of you have a core, meaning you have a core ability, and that ability uses Energy to function. More Energy means a stronger ability, and longer usage."
She took a glance around the group.
"If you imagine your Energy to be water, your affinity is the size of the bucket that can hold said water. The size of your bucket determines your strength, and how much Imperium Tempor will invest in you. Of course, strength is a combination of many factors but your ability and affinity will be the most important ones."
She turned her back to the group and entered the gates into the camp, signaling the group to follow her.
Although it was called a camp, to Evel, the architecture felt far too sturdy.
It was a tiered system, and one had to frequently climb fleets of stairs to get to the next level. It smelled of metal and fire.
Somebody probably trained here earlier.
The ground top layer was at least a full 100 meters above the ground outside the camp. The bottom-most layer looked to be a residential area, and Evel saw many people hurrying about their day. The second layer contained libraries, training grounds, and other buildings Evel couldn't discern the purpose of.
They stopped at this layer and Monique led them to a small single storied stone building.
Once they arrived, Monique stood in front of the door and addressed the group again.
"I want each of you to bring your right arm in front of you, palm facing up and activate your ability for about 30 seconds, everybody who can't maintain it for that long, go to the building behind me. "
Hearing this, a few people abided by her instructions and walked to the room, Brenton was one of them.
Elena waved him off.
"Don't feel too bad after getting a worse affinity than me!"
Thinking back, Evel realized he didn't actually know what anybody else could do.
I suppose I'll find out now.
Bringing his arm out, palm to the ceiling, Evel activated his ability.
In his vision, a transparent hand appeared, floating slightly above. It was unmistakably human, but vague differences arose a feeling of uncanny valley. The fingers were too uniform, the thumb a bit too big, and every knuckle in perfect alignment. Within it, lines of faint lights replaced veins and arteries, threading through the clear image.
The light constantly shifted around in incomprehensible ways, yet when seen as a whole, it was as though the current arrangement had always been the only arrangement.
Of course, Evel was the only one who could perceive his hand.
He had conducted many experiments with this hand, and although it could interact with any physical objects, it could deal no damage when used on a living being.
This world was brutal and combat-filled. If Evel wanted some form of control over his own life, he needed to continue down the Path, and staying on the Path required resources, and fighting for such resources.
An ability that provided no combat help felt useless.
He wasn't sure how he could make use of his power, but he stayed optimistic. He remembered what his mentor once told him.
"There are no useless abilities, only useless users."
Maybe I'm thinking about this all wrong, I don't need my ability to be the cause of harm, just give me an opportunity…
A small warmth arose to his right. Looking over, he saw Leo with his eyes closed and fully focused.
Something to do with heat?
Further right, Elena had her palm out, a bright dagger floating above it.
Some form of weapon ability, or maybe it's the light?
To his left, he saw Juniper. At first he didn't notice anything but by her feet, there was an adorable little porcupine standing ferociously on guard.
A summon?
Even further, was Fern, with roots weakly rising up to her hips.
Her parents must have known something when naming her…
Suddenly, his arm went into immense pain and his attention was abruptly brought back. Instinctively he tried to reel his hand back but he couldn't, as if he lost control of one of his own limbs.
Groans and whimpers could be heard all around him, and as something sharp cut across his hand. His blood trickled out and floated in the air.
Slowly, it made its way over to Monique as she examined it through her monocle.
The group ceased use of their ability and Monique examined each portion of blood closely while jotting something down in her notebook. After a minute of jotting in silence, Monique addressed the group.
"Anything above 90% can be considered amazing talent to be nurtured; above 75 means good talent, just above 60 means below average, and you probably won't make it too far. Above 50 means you almost certainly won't go far down the Path, maybe the fourth realm at best. If you're below 50, I'd quit the military within the week, and maybe find some commercial use for your ability, but most people are expected to be in the 70 to 90 range."
Monique was very blunt, and her words carried a lot of weight. Nobody dared to breathe, their entire future may be decided here.
Monique paused, and looked deeply into the crowd, reminiscence in her eyes.
"On your palms, I'll write your affinity with your blood. Share it, don't share it, it's up to you."
She sighed.
"If you want advice, come talk to me later."
SNAP.
At her snap, all the blood which had remained floating above Monique rushed back to everyone's palms. Monique turned around and entered the door behind her, but nobody noticed, everybody's eyes locked on their palms.
THUMP.
Evel's heart was pounding, and his breathing was ragged as he slowly glanced at his palm, scared of what the result may be.
He wanted safety from his pursuers.
He wanted to find his elusive mentor.
He wanted to help the people who had helped him.
He wanted control over his own life.
And a good affinity here would be the first step to getting all those goals.
As his blurred vision slowly focused on the number on his palm, his heart calmed down, and breathing returned to normal.
Fuck.
On his hand, the poorly written, bloodied numbers read:
60.