We stood in front of a skyscraper, its imposing presence made you feel as if you were standing in front of a king while its deep blue nightstone seemed to pulse in the sunlight, the pulse like the heartbeat of a creature whose slumber should not be interrupted. The building was a branch of The Cultivation Regulation Agency, or the CRA as most people called them. They had appeared one day and they were so strong that no country on Terra could ever stand a chance against them, enforcing certain rules to make sure that everyone had a fair chance at cultivation.

They didn’t stop rich families from boosting their kids' progress or anything, but they did make sure that certain resources could only be sourced from them. If anyone wanted those resources they had to fulfil certain requirements and they limited the realms at which those requirements could be met. This meant that although rich kids had a slight edge, anyone with good talent would be able to go far.

The CRA also enforced strict requirements for starting cultivation. You were only allowed to start cultivating at the age of eighteen and before you embarked on your journey, you would have to get permission from them.

To get this permission, you need to get your potential gauged. They basically wanted to check your talent and see which elements you would manifest if you embarked on Qi cultivation and which elements would be your strongest if you chose mana cultivation. They also wanted to see what ability you had awoken and if you hadn’t awoken one, they ‘offered’ to awaken it for you.

I entered the building, while the outside was an impressive skyscraper, the inside had a clean and slick design. The blue nightstone was still a prevalent material but they also incorporated reds and yellows. It might sound a bit weird but the interior design was really disorienting, it felt like you were walking in the night sky, if it weren’t for the fact that I could feel the ground, I’d think I was floating.

We were led to a big room where others were seated, they were here for the same thing. Melissa, who had come with me as my guardian, started gauging up the adults in the room but when she noticed that most, if not all of them wouldn’t be able to hurt me in any way, she relaxed.

The other adults on the other hand started feeling uncomfortable. Melissa was scary, she was stronger than most of them and there were stories about certain events transpiring after the CRA had gauged someone’s potential, unpleasant ones.

There was a chance that kids had high potential for a very desirable element, or just massive talent in one of the cultivation paths. If that happened, someone strong might take interest in the child and take them away.

On the other hand, there were also stories of kids getting killed on the spot after people found out they possessed a potential that went against someone’s interests or an element they deemed shouldn’t exist, the most controversial element being Void.

While all this was undoubtedly going through the other adult’s heads, me and Melissa took out some food and started eating. Melissa had had to wait 6 hours for her potential to be gauged and once you enter the waiting room, you’re not allowed to leave until you’re called out so she had prepared lots of things that could keep us busy, well mostly me. Patience was the biggest virtue in cultivation and she excelled at it as if she was some kind of algorithm. I loved her but she also freaked me out at times, both my sisters did. They had both been gauged to have the highest possible talent in their cultivation paths and it showed.

We were called over surprisingly quickly, it turned out that because of both my sisters the people who supervised the tests were curious about me.

Having one genius in your family was possible, having two meant that it was possible the family had some kind special genes or something.

We were led into a clean white room with two rooms in its centre. The room was filled with people, some of them had notepads, others were talking to each other. The moment Melissa saw this, she looked at the person who led us here and he cleared the room.

“What’s going on Melissa?”

“They were here to recruit you if it turned out you had considerable talent. Most people don’t realise that you can request to clear the room so they are allowed to run free. Some of the people who do know just don’t care since they want the offers.”

I nodded in understanding, the people who had stayed all wore CRA clothing so I assumed they were allowed to be here but Mellisa sent another glare their way and at the end only 1 person remained.

“Ah, Miss Kami, don’t glare at me like that, you and I both know that if not for your family’s considerable sway you would not have been able to chase away the last group, you and your sister appearing in one family is just too much of a coincidence so many of them just want to see if your brother here is also extremely talented.”

“Yo Gary!”

“Yes Melissa?”

“If you don’t stop explaining things we both know and start performing the tests I will rip open that old wound and we both know that if there is anything you don’t want, it is for that to happen so get on with it.”

“Gary, isn’t that the guy you da…”

“Oli, you know I love you but don’t you dare finish that sentence, it won’t end well for you.”

I shut up, if there is one thing that had been deeply ingrained in my mind it was the one time I had not heeded Melissa’s warning. It was extremely traumatising.

The first test was a written test. Most potential stemmed from someone’s personality, if you were a hothead then you’d probably have more potential for Fire Qi or Fire magic. The test was meant to gauge your personality and was seen as a way to check if the testing equipment wasn’t tampered with.

When I was done, a computer swallowed the paper and started calculating my potential according to my personality. While it was doing that, I was told to stand in front of one of the orbs, the magic orb and touch it.

The orb was soft, like I could sink my hand into it if I pushed, whispers filled my ears as the orb started to glow in a myriad of colours, the colours started to form distinct shapes as if to show what I might become. Another computer was put in charge of calculating those results.

I was then told to do the same with the other one. This time, the orb was smooth but most definitely the hardest thing I had ever touched. Another round of whispers entered my ears as three distinct colours entered the forefront.

A scarlet as deep as blood, dancing in a way that screamed aggression.

A dark green that seemed to pulse with life, it’s movements like a beating heart.

And lastly, a deep violet filled with stars, each taking distinctive shapes as if to try and grab my attention.

When the three computers were done, the results were in.

“Interesting results, above average potential in both paths.

No elemental potential in magic. He has a branch potential though, Chimeric Alchemy.

His Qi elements are where it gets interesting, immense potential for Dream, Life or Death Qi.

Though none of that matches his personality test, we’re talking about things that are almost never gauged by a personality test. I must say though, the test does show that he has a remarkable lack of respect towards human life and a frightening amount of greed. Oh well, as long as he doesn’t pursue necromancy if he awakens Death qi noone in the CRA can complain.”

After that, we were led to another room, it was time to check if I had an ability and if I did not, it was time to awaken it. I felt excited as I stood in front of someone with an appraisal ability.

People with one of those were rare but incredibly useful. Abilities were wildcards and barring the ones with physical indicators it was incredibly difficult to guess what kind of ability someone would have.

People with appraising abilities had a chance to be able to see this anyways, though it was even rarer than seeing someone who has the highest potential in a cultivation path.

Nobody really understood what abilities even were. Far as most people know, humanity had always had them since we started living on Terra. All we did know was that if your ability wasn’t active or you just didn’t have one, it was possible to kick start or just straight up obtain an ability by flooding your body with Mana and Qi at the same time.

The appraiser took one glance at me before shooing me into the line for people who needed a kickstart. Some people here looked dejected, others hopeful, some straight up didn’t seem to care and some were almost bouncing around the room with joy.

I myself didn’t really know how to feel. I hadn’t set my hopes on any element, nor had I really cared for my talent, I knew where I was going and I didn’t really care how easy or hard it was going to be.

I also didn’t really have any hopes for my ability so it was kind of strange seeing so many people stake their all on their ability if their talent or elements weren’t what they hoped for. Strange how people cared so much about cultivation.