Lord of The Mysterious Realms

Chapter 13: The Test

Very good, it was very humane.

"Yes sir, I don't mind that."

Jenkins smiled falsely.

Bincy returned not long after he had left, the living creature he was talking about being a large group of grey rats.

He also brought back a form with a header that read 'Ability Test - Exclusive Process for Healing Department Classification'.

"This is the most standard test nowadays, we just need to test as it says and tick the boxes."

Bincy explained, and it made Jenkins realise that the people of the other world were not intellectually inefficient natives, capitalism was booming and the old aristocracy was becoming aware of the rise of the emerging bourgeoisie. Everything is changing, this is an era of change.

(TN: In Marxist philosophy bourgeoisie is the social class that came to own the mean of production during modern industrialisation)

The poor rats were next to suffer, as they were subjected to torment such as slashing, tail-breaking, feeding poison, suffocation and burns.

The end result of the test was that Jenkins' powers could only be activated by contact with the other's wounds. And, his ability was only useful for physical injuries such as cuts, burns, and breaks, but was useless for poisoning, germ infection, and curses.

The test for the curses was aided by Bincy, who pointed his finger at a single rat, whose fur immediately fell off at a rate visible to the naked eye. Although Bincy did not explain it, this is not a trash ability such as hair loss, but is most likely accelerated ageing.

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Although for a middle aged man hair loss is also extremely frightening.

Under the light of a paraffin lamp , both of them carefully tested the standardized process. Even though, the form was only three pages long and in a medium ink size, it took three hours to complete the test.

The pocket watch was an expensive luxury item in this era, but Bincy had one. He informed Jenkins that the church offered a very high monthly allowance and salary, which varied slightly depending on the position, but even a newcomer like Jenkins would be paid about 4 a week.

This was at the top of the five churches in Nolan. Of the five gods, the Sage of Inheritance, who is also known as the Goddess of Knowledge, has a large publishing house and educational institution, while the Storms Lord's priesthood encompasses the sea. The city of Nolan is an excellent port near the sea, so the church has many fixed assets. These two offer comparable salaries to enchanters, while the latter three are a bit shabby.

The above information was given in a bragging tone by Bincy, who also explained that when meeting Enchanters of other churches outside, it was best not to taunt them with this matter, as it would spoil "the great friendship".

"I think it would be a breach of friendship for you to tell a newcomer like me about it."

Jenkins said.

Four pounds a week was an impressive salary, and on average in the Kingdom of Fiddectelli today, two pounds and six shillings a week would be considered middle class. And even that was the calculated amount before tax, whereas enchanters under the Church don't have to pay taxes.

"I've heard of your father, old Williams, and such an income is less than a tenth of what he earns, but I'm sure he'd be glad his son finally has a proper job."

The two men sat back down at the table again and Bincy said this jokingly to Jenkins, whose image as a wild boy was well established.

"I can't change too much at once."

Jenkins was already thinking about trying his luck in acting in the future.

The form with the test results was received by Bincy in a brown file bag, but instead of sealing the mouth of the bag immediately, he took a large stack of information out of it.

Very unexpectedly, the carrier used for those materials was white paper. Apart from the fact that the colour was not as white as modern printing paper and the surface was also slightly bumpy, this was only a bit inferior to twenty-first century writing paper.

"Amazing, the quality of paper is not that bad."

Jenkins said in his heart.

"We've just finished testing your trait abilities, so it's time to choose the right 'job' for you. But before that I need to tell you a bit of common sense."

As he spoke, he held out his hand, and a moment later a strange red flower appeared from his hand. It was a mere shadow, but the veins on the petals and leaves could be seen clearly.

"The Enchanter's trait ability is an effective way to identify them, but an exhaustive test using tools like the one we just did is a very cumbersome affair. Therefore, we have another method, It involves trying to activate your own trait ability, but not using it. When you are able to do this, a pattern representing your [spirit] will appear in your hand and it is called the Soul Emblem."

"Is it different for everyone?" Jenkins asked, then held out his own hand pretending to try it, but was stopped.

"Yes, it's like a citizenship number, it's unique. You don't need to start learning it right here, Mr. Williams, releasing the spiritual patterns is a very difficult thing to do, you can practice it privately when you get back, or ask your guide. Right now we have more important things to do."

Luckily his movements are slow, wouldn't it have been exposed Jenkins if the green ability's pattern activated like it did last night.

A cold chill went through Jenkins' heart.

As he spoke, Bincy separated all the folded papers in his hands one by one and placed them on the table, facing Jenkins' direction.

We are always short on enchanters, in fact it's already July this year, but you are the only newcomer to the church this year."

"Is it the same with the other churches too?"

"Pretty much, of the five orthodox churches in Nolan City, the [Death and End] church has no newcomers this year, the [Storm Lord] has two, and the others are the same as us. But this year is a bit less than average, otherwise two fresh recruit every year is quite common"

"It seems that the number of transcedents in this world is a little less than I thought it would be. Although Nolan City is not the most politically and economically developed city in the kingdom, it has the largest resident population in the Kingdom of Fidectelli because of its unique geographical location. And the Kingdom of Fidectelli has the second largest population among the three kingdoms ...... No, the number of unregistered enchanters shouldn't be small either, after all, civilians who believe in the right gods only make up four fifths of the city's population, in addition to the large number of refugees, criminals and so on."

Jenkins analysed the new intelligence of the world in his mind as Bincy continued to tell him some common knowledge.