Connor followed Mayor Bueacanon through the wooden double doors of the town hall. Stepping inside, the stone outer walls gave way to wooden inner walls. A rug ran the length of the hallway he had just entered. The hallway was lined with doors on both sides and led to another set of double doors at the other end of the hallway.

Mayor Bueacanon continued walking, his steps were filled with a purpose and quickly took him to the end of the hallway. Opening the double doors at the end of the hallway he entered another room, followed swiftly by Connor, Eric, and the other gifted. The room they entered now was wide open, it had a high ceiling and tall walls, clearly meant to hold a large group of people.

Mayor Bueacanon crossed the room with large strides, he stopped in front of a raised platform with a stone obelisk on it. Finally Mayor Bueacanon turned to address the young people who had followed him.

“This is a Talent Obelisk, it is a mystical item created specifically to, as its name suggests, measure your talent.” He paused with a bitter smile and the continued, “because not all men are created equal, there are those who are simply born more able or with talent if you will. An individual’s talent consists of 3 parts, the body, mind, and soul. The body is a vessel, a person born with a body able to hold more Qi, channel more Qi, and output more Qi is considered to have a talent in the body. Being able to control Qi with a finer touch than others naturally means you are talented in the mind. Being able to gather Qi faster than others means you have a talent in the soul. Obviously these categories have gradients on the level of talent but I won’t get into that.”

Finished with his explanation he pointed to Connor. “Get up here, I might have all day but I sure as hell don’t want to take it.”

Connor hurried forward onto the platform then looked at Mayor Bueacanon. “What do I do now?”

“You see those hand shaped indentions on the Obelisk? Put your hands in them.” Mayor Bueacanon explained slowly, making sure to enunciate each word carefully.

“Yes sir.” Connor responded obliviously. He then lifted his hands and set them in the indentions, his hand fit perfectly in them as if they were cast specifically from his hands. Contrary to its grainy grey exterior, the stone felt cold and smooth to the touch.

Slowly the obelisk started to light up, invisible symbols slowly revealing themselves. The light started out dim but soon brightened to unbearable levels. Connor closed his eyes to shield them from the bright light but that did very little to help. Light seeped through his closed eyelids but he ignored that due to the feeling of energy rushing through his body.

It pulsed through him, running along invisible channels interwoven in his body. After about 30 seconds the pulsing stopped. He opened his eyes and the light was gone too, the only thing left on the obelisk were 3 symbols. Unfortunately Connor couldn’t understand what they meant, mainly due to the fact that he was illiterate.

“Is that good?” Connor asked Mayor Bueacanon in confusion.

Mayor Bueacanon looked at Connor with a deadpan face. “Is that good he asks?” He shakes his head, “lucky bastard.” He then addresses Connor again, “yes Connor, that is good. In fact, it’s great. You have Strong body, below average mind, nothing new there, and an above average soul.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Connor asked, no less confused.

“It means,” Mayor Bueacanon says with frustration, “that you were born with a body far above average when it comes to cultivation, compared to most cultivators you have a weak mind, and compared to other cultivators your soul is above average. In practice this means you’ll be able to hold more Qi and gather it faster than someone else at your level but you’ll have a harder time finely controlling the Qi, although that isn’t much of an issue with practice.”

“Wow, that’s great!” Connor exclaimed, a bright smile on his face and a distant look in his eyes. ‘If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up from it.’ He absently stepped away from the obelisk and off the platform to allow others to find out their results. Although before he could step of the platform the characters on the Talent Obelisk flew off, like a falcon diving onto prey, and branded themselves onto his arm.

A searing pain unlike anything he had felt before blasted his mind. Everything went blank and his whole world was encompassed by the white hot fire that melted his very being. It could have been an eternity or a second before it was gone.

“Fuck.” Connor fell onto his knees and screamed in a horrified voice. He looked at his arm but the symbols were already fading, before long there wasn’t a mark left on his arm to attest to the hell he just went through. “What was that?” He asked with a groan.

Stifling a laugh Mayor Bueacanon responded, “that’s a spirit brand. It allows sects to verify your talent easily.”

“Why didn’t you warn me that was going to happen?” Connor responded in a hurt and confused voice.

“Because it was funny.” Mayor Bueacanon answered with a shrug. Noticing the look on Connor’s face he frowned. “Every cultivator knows that pain, it would have done you no good to know it was coming. Now that it’s gone it’ll do you no good to dwell on it.”

Turning to the 3 others in the room he asked, “who’s next?”