'That was too dangerous!'
Ian was truly scared this time as this was really an undeserved calamity.
'So, she had been affected by the Whispering Expanse? Even more, a monarch-level figure?'
As Ian knew, there were three forbidden zones on this Gravethrone Continent: Ashen Spires, where he had been, the Umbral Rift bordering the Velmoria Empire, and the Whispering Expanse bordering the Mistveil Empire.
Since Aurora was from the royalty of the Mistveil Empire, it made sense for her to get entangled with that forbidden place.
However, Ian never thought there was an involvement of a monarch-level figure. He was now truly surprised at how Aurora had even lived until now.
From the Arcane Passage, he knew that Monarchs were those powerful figures who were equivalent to Tier 8 or higher-level Wizards. They were the true ceiling-level power of this world, Aetherion.
To be honest, being involved with such a level of figure this early was really a little scary.
'No wonder the system said I had guts,' Ian thought while looking at Aurora.
'Huh?'
While Ian was looking at her, Aurora also looked into Ian's eyes as she felt a brief, familiar presence in him. However, it was so short that she didn't know if she had felt it correctly.
'Whispering Monarch: Ulthera, huh?'
In fact, Ian was really confused as to why this time the system directly prompted him with the names of those beings rather than showing "??" in the Quest.
'Warning?'
Ian guessed that this new chain quest was related to that Monarch figure.
From the way he was able to save himself this time with his Ethereal form, the system might be warning him and allowing him to make a decision on whether to take this quest.
"Ian, are you really alright? How about you test your qualifications first?"
Seeing that he was still musing over things, Lyra asked in confusion since even she was now embarrassed by holding up the line this long.
The crowd was already on the verge of going berserk.
"Oh? Haha, I'm sorry. I was just thinking over some things. You won't mind, right, Wizard Ron?"
Ian laughed after realizing his gaffe and turned to Ron, apologizing for his behavior. Although, how much of it was his true feelings, only he knew.
"It's okay, let's just complete this test so that we can enter the Ignisia Tower faster."
Ron didn't mind and felt at least comforted after Ian's superficial apology. It was better than nothing.
'That old bastard is too partial.'
Carl couldn't help but complain after seeing Ron's completely opposite behavior. When he just wanted to talk earlier, hadn't he cussed him out? Why was he showing smiles to Ian instead?
"That guy seemed to know that wizard. Be careful, kid."
Ruther also warned appropriately, seeing Ron's behavior towards Ian.
"I know."
Carl clenched his fist in complete annoyance but still held back his impulsive thoughts for now.
'Let's see what your qualifications are.'
He then remembered their earlier bet and couldn't help smiling. At least, he could see Ian's defeated look when he lost.
While Carl was going through his monologue, Ian swiftly took out his Ignisia Token and inserted it inside the circular groove just like other people.
He then lifted his right hand, placed it atop the Keystone, and relaxed his nerves allowing it to test his body and mind.
"Swish!"
Suddenly, he felt a very thin trickle of mana enter through his hand, spreading rapidly throughout his system in numerous thinner strands.
These mana strands traveled to every part of him, even reaching his mind at an extreme speed. He even sensed a few strands surrounding his Life Seed, though they couldn't penetrate or test it.
Along with the influx of mana, the Keystone also began to show brilliant colorful light while showing the corresponding test numbers.
"Magical aptitude: 10 points,"
Ron also began to voice the data with no surprise in his eyes. He already knew Ian's qualifications must be outstanding. After all, he was so young and already a bloodline wizard, even on this barren continent. This little test was nothing.
"Mental power: 10 points."
Up to here, Ian had no problem equaling Carl. However, Ian faintly felt that his elemental affinity qualification wasn't up to par, as the reaction from the Keystone had begun to slow down.
'Sigh, just as I thought.'
Ian wasn't surprised. Even being able to score 10 points on Magical Aptitude was due to his earlier bloodline awakening.
As for Mental Power, this was a kind of flawed test, as when you entered the Wizard Apprentice level, you would score 10 anyway.
But the Elemental Affinity wasn't so easy to change and was mostly innate.
So, Ian, of course, couldn't score perfectly in it unless he cheated his way. And that was exactly his plan from the beginning.
'Let's just use Water and Dark elements.'
Ian decided not to be ostentatious and only released the blue and black linings inside his Life Seed, making contact with the wandering strand of mana from the Keystone in his body that was about to withdraw.
Since this was a simple test, it wasn't that hard to cheat.
He had already tested the superficial use of these elemental linings on his Life Seed. However, due to insufficient mana, proper testing needed to happen after entering the Ignisia Tower first.
Sure enough, when that strand of mana made a resonance with those blue and black linings in his Life Seed, the dimming Keystone also showed brilliant corresponding colors.
"Elemental Affinity, Water: 10 points, Darkness: 10 points, Wood: 8 points, Earth: 6 points, others below the threshold."
'Woah, it seems getting attributes from Sylvia also helped in the elemental affinity.'
When Ian saw the 8 points on wood affinity he couldn't help raise his eyebrows in surprise. Except for getting Nature's Blessing attribute from Sylvia, he couldn't think why it was so.
"Qualified!"
Ron was confused as to why the Keystone reacted slowly since there was no such issue before. However, after knowing it was Ian, he didn't dwell much on the issue.