Royal Castle, Nightingale.
On the rooftop of the highest tower in the castle, two figures were sitting on a chair in front of a round table, sipping tea and looking at a big screen in mid air in front of them. On the big screen was the figure of a silver hair boy that looked very much like these two ladies. The two ladies were Lilith and Lucy and on the screen was Lith who was currently walking through a long corridor.
“Mom, is little brother really embarrassed or is he just putting up an act?” Lucy asked.
“Fufufu…what do you think?” Lilith chuckled and asked back.
“If I had known, I wouldn’t have asked the question, mom.” Lucy said pouting.
“Hmm, isn’t it obvious, dear?”
“No, It isn’t obvious.”
“Ara, you have been with him for so many years and yet don’t know. He is acting, obviously. I am surprised that you couldn’t tell. Fufufu…does that mean mama loves him more and knows more than you do?” Lilith said chuckling.
Lucy wanted to say many things but in the end she sighed and gave up. She put the tea cup to the side and slumped on the table and stretched her hands out. She knew she would never win with words against her mother and her goal in life now had become to beat her in that and not get teased by her. She then said while in the slumped posture
“You know what is my goal in life, mom?”
“Hmm, let me guess. Probably getting drilled in your ass by your littl-“
“Hey! Hey! Stop! Stop! Damn it! Mom why do you need to ruin the serious moment and say so many vulgar words!” Lucy said interrupting her hurriedly.
“Fufufu…it’s more fun that way.” Lilith chuckled and said.
“Ugh. You are too much, mom. Shush now and let me watch my little brother’s performance peacefully.” Lucy gave up on wanting to talk more.
“Fufufu…fine. I won’t talk about your goal of getting your ass pound-“
“MOM!”
…..
Abalax Sky Island, Espat.
Lith was currently in a room that looked similar to the one before. The only difference was that instead of a lady, there was a man in incharge of the test. He was a kind looking man. He had a slim figure and was tall and he had a stubble on his chin and a moustache. He looked gentle, harmless and easy to go along type of person.
The man said in a gentle tone, the same way as the lady from before
“Put one drop of your blood in the liquid.”
Lith nodded and complied. He bit his thumb and a little blood leaked out from it. He poured one drop in a small tub which was filled with certain type of bluish liquid. The pool water turned golden after he dropped his blood inside. Just one drop made so much water golden. He too was a little surprised. The man looked at Lith with a gentle smile and said with the same gentle tone
“Congratulations. You have passed this test. You may proceed through the door on your left.”
Lith nodded and then looked at the man and said in a hesitant tone
“S-sir..”
The man looked at Lith once again and said with a gentle smile
“Don’t be afraid, child. We are here to help you. You can ask us any question without being afraid.”
Lith nodded and said in an embarrassed tone
Sir, c-can I know, how did..I do?”
The man replied with a gentle tone once again
“You did good, child. If the liquid turns black, it means a not so good bloodline. If it turns red it means average bloodline and if it turns golden, it means a very good bloodline. These also represent your potential.
Black means your potential to advance to even Saint rank would be very difficult. Red means you can advance into King rank albeit with many difficulties and golden means you can advance into Emperor rank and even Supreme rank some day. You have a good bloodline and your potential is very good, child. You should be proud of yourself and your parents due to whom you got it.”
Lith smiled in a happy way. He then said cheerfully
“Yes. I am very thankful to my mama for giving me such potential. Mama, if you are watching me from somewhere, please know, I am very grateful to you and also, I love you.”
Although he was acting like a pure hearted 13 year old, the last line come out from the bottom of his heart. Those were his true, heartfelt words. He really was very grateful to his mother for providing him such good things.
He knew that the Liquid in front of him not only changed into black, red and golden but it also was able to remain the same when someone dropped their blood. It only happens when someone had a very very poor bloodline or when someone had a super strong bloodline.
Lith too agreed with all her words. He had read many cultivation novels in his past life and he knew that revealing your abilities to the fullest was the way of arrogant young masters. He didn’t want to become one like that and so he followed his sister’s words religiously.
Lucy had taught him many things and many tricks and ways to cheat in the exam and how to not reveal his full potential. She had told him that his potential was the best in the world and if anyone said otherwise, they were just jealous or ignorant fools. He would thus be targeted if word got out of such a person having so much potential and so, it was better to stay low key, she advised him.
Though Lilith was a God and could always protect Lith, Lucy didn’t want that. She wanted her brother to grow as much as possible and he needed to experience many things in the world. The world was cruel and he needed to know that. Even if he hides his ability as much as he could, he would still be targeted for being the Vampire Queen’s son. She knew this fact very well and so to not let him become a target of assassination everyday, she wisely advised him to hide his true abilities.
Lith, even though he didn’t know the reason for so much concern from Lucy, still chose to follow her advise religiously. He trusted her more than he trusted himself. He knew she would never say anything against his interests. On top of that, he really didn’t want to become an arrogant young master from novels.
Lith thus, revealed only Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Space and Time affinities during the elemental affinity test thereby making the crystal glow red, blue, brown, green, black and silver respectively for the elements.
In this test, when he was dropping blood from his thumb, he had actually, before the test, with the help of Lucy, injected some blood from some Emperor rank’s descendant which Hecate had provided them in his thumb and it was that thing which he dropped. The blood was covered via various spells and so the instructor wasn’t able to tell if he was cheating or not.
This was how Lith was passing the tests. Not only was he scheming by putting on an act, he was also fully prepared to cheat on each and every test.
…..
Royal Castle, Nightingale.
“…I love you.”
The voice of Lith was heard from the big screen.
Lilith looked at him with adoration and love. The love being that of a mother and not lover. A mother’s love was very pure and had not a single impure thought in it for her child unlike a Lover’s which always was a little unstable. A lover may leave you if you do certain things that may make them hate you but a mother would never do that even if her child would become the worst scum in the world. She would still love her child deeply the same way as before.
These cases were rare and not every mother loved her child so dearly. Lilith was among those rare mothers who loved their child dearly no matter what they become and do. Her love towards Lith was very pure.
Lilith would’ve had a little tear in her eye after hearing Lith’s heartfelt words but his acting as a gullible child made him look less serious and Lilith only chuckled after hearing him. She also knew, even without reading his mind that the last sentence were the true heartfelt words of his and the rest was nothing but him spouting random non sense to look innocent.
“Fufufu…he has started to have a glib tongue now.” Lilith chuckled and said.
“I feel so jealous and sad, right now. He didn’t even mention anything about his big sister who loved him, cared for him and trained him all these years. Sigh, this is so sad.” Lucy said in a sarcastic tone.
She knew well that the moment called for appreciating parents and not siblings and Lith was only following that. She also knew that he loved her as much as he loved their mom and so she said so in a sarcastic way.
“There, there. Don’t worry, dear. Mama will always love you even if your brother doesn’t.” Lilith followed along with her joke.
“Blegh, who would want to be loved by you. Mind your own business, old lady.” Lucy said in a discontented tone.
Lilith chuckled and got up from her seat. She went to Lucy and pulled her up from her chair and hugged her. She then snapped her finger and the chairs and table disappeared and a mat was spread on the ground out of nowhere. She sat on it and put Lucy in her lap with her back facing her and wrapped her arms around Lucy’s belly and held her tight in her embrace. She then whispered seductively in Lucy’s ear
“But this old lady doesn’t want to mind her own business. She wants to love you, caress you, touch you and…”
Lucy started turning a little red. ‘Mom is simply too much! She takes a joke too far! Ugh! So shameless!’ Lucy said inwardly. She hated to be embarrassed like this. Her face flushed and she didn’t dare to move or say anything as it would only provoke her mother in doing more things to her.
Lilith went more closer to Lucy’s ear and let out a hot breath and whispered slowly
“…and eat you.”
Lucy’s face was now as red as a tomato. She wanted to dig a hole and hide in it forever. This was simply very embarrassing. She turned around and covered herself in her mother’s big bosoms and hid in there, not wanting to be seen.
Lilith chuckled at her daughter’s cute reaction. This was exactly what she wanted to see. Teasing her daughter was so much fun. She gently caressed her hair and then looked at the big screen once again.
…..
Lith was walking through a corridor. It was very long and only after five minutes did he find a familiar door like the other test rooms. He entered inside and found the room to be like a classic traditional Japanese type of room. There was a lady sitting on the mat below and in front of her was a small table. She was wearing a kimono and had her hair tied up in a bun. She smiled at Lith and gestured for him to sit down opposite to her. Lith obliged and did as he was told. She then said in a sweet voice
“How many odd things did you find while entering this room. Starting all the way from the black metallic door.”
“24.” Lith replied without hesitation.
“How many tiles were there in the corridor before this room?”
“1175.”
“What seemed out of place?”
“The 327th tile at the bottom starting from the last test room’s exit door had itself tilted for around an angle not so similar to the other tiles.”
The lady looked at him with a smile. She said in her sweet voice again
“Congratulations. You have passed this test. You may enter the door on your left.”
“T-thankyou miss.” Lith said in an embarrassed tone, trying to maintain his image of a gullible child.
He answered the questions all very seriously and flatly without any hesitation because he wanted other people who were watching him right now, to know that he was a smart and serious type of kid when it came down to work and a gullible and innocent kid normally.
This was his second step of the plans he made beforehand.
He went to the door he was asked to and walked through a small corridor and arrived in a well lit room once again. Here, a muscular old man was sitting on a chair behind the table and the table had many things on it. The old man looked at Lith and said with a gentle but deep voice
“Come, sit.”
Lith did as he was told. Once he sat down he started fidgeting his legs and he looked down nervously. Not wanting to meet the old man’s eyes. He was showing the image of a child afraid to socialize with a stranger.
The old man looked at the nervous Lith and said in the same tone as before
“Don’t be afraid, child. We mean you no harm. Take the cards in front of you and shuffle it and spread it on the deck.”
He said straight to the point after consoling Lith a little.
Lith did as he was told and shuffled the cards and spread it on the desk. The old man said
“Now pick three cards randomly.”
Lith did as he was told.
“Tell me what these combinations mean.”
Lith looked at the picture of a tiger on a dark background on one card, a blue sky on the other card and a still lake on another. He looked at the old man and said
“Work hard no matter the time. Be calm at all times and reach for the skies.”
The old man smiled at Lith’s response. He said in the same gentle and deep voice
“Congratulations. You have passed. You may move to the door on your right.”
Lith stood up happily. He didn’t say anything to the old man and left quickly in a happy and cheerful way.
What Lith had told the old man, it was what any good student would say. He didn’t tell him the even deeper meaning behind those cards which he knew. This was a comprehension ability test and Lith knew about it. Lucy had trained him a lot to increase his comprehension ability to the fullest. This ability was one of the basic things which everyone in the world needed to have. The higher the degree, the more the person had the chance to increase his rank easily. People with poor comprehension abilities do not go a long way in their magical ranks and so this test was a must to ensure good seedlings.
This little test with cards was nothing but a child’s play to Lith. He had trained in a much more difficult things with Lucy. The hardest test he had gotten from Lucy was
“Two kingdoms are at war. Kingdom A has many troops aligned in a format given below. Kingdom B has lost 80% of it’s troops but it is still on the winning side and their format are given below. What would you do to ensure that Kingdom B wins the war but still has 90% of it’s troops.”
At first Lith cursed in his mind stating what a bullshit question this was. He hated such stupid riddles and puzzles. What was there to even comprehend from such a stupid question, he thought at that time. He wanted to get up and leave but Lucy had pinned him to the ground and she was torturing him little by little as time passed. Lith had to answer or this would continue. Lith had no choice but to rack his brains to the fullest and sometimes later, he came up with a decent answer. It was not the best, but okay enough to have him be free.
Lith remembered this nightmare of his while walking through the corridor and trembled a little in fear. His big sister was even worse than a demon when it came to teaching him. He hated it but he didn’t blame or hate her. He knew it was for his betterment but still, it was too much. He shoved those thoughts to the side and continued his act of walking in a cheerful manner.
He soon arrived in a room where there was a blue dimensional gate in present at the wall of the room. Beside the gate sat a man behind a desk wearing glasses. He looked at Lith and gestured him to come closer. Lith followed the instructions. The man said in a gentle tone
“Child, this is a dimensional gate which will lead you to another dimension. You will have to survive in whatever place you are randomly teleported to from this gate for many days. To pass, you need to survive for a minimum of 35 days. The more number of days you survive in there, the more is your score. You will be teleported out directly after 100 days as that is the highest you can score.
The more your score, the better your chances are to get admitted into the academy. You can have this slip with you. Just tear the slip when you feel that you cannot take it anymore. Also, 100 days in the other dimension is only equal to an hour and 40 minutes here. This means each min over here equals to a day over there. So you do not need to worry about the time too much. Do your best. Goodluck.”
He gave a short explanation and a slip to Lith and asked him to go to the portal. Lith nodded and did as he was told. He went into the portal and vanished from the room.