“Come on, Karn, we’re going to be late!” Ashara shouted at me, rousing me from me slumber. I could feel her slender fingers on my shoulders, shaking me. “Today’s the big day! We’re having our aptitude test!”

Her words made me snap open my eyes, shooting out of bed. “Fuck, Ash! Why didn’t you get me up sooner?” I called back to her while rushing to get dressed, too distracted to notice that Ashara was still in the room.

“Well, I tried, but someone just kept mumbling nonsense in their sleep.” She responded in a teasing tone, making me yelp as I realized she was watching me change. “Now, let’s hurry up, the test is starting in ten minutes!”

As she said that, Ashara ran for the balcony, her black dress fluttering as she jumped and allowed her wings to spread. I watched her in a daze for a moment before coming back to my senses, hastily dressing and following behind her.

Ashara and I had been living in this apartment for six weeks now, but our aptitude test was finally here. These last six weeks, we were forced to constantly study the kitsune language, told that it would be the only thing that we would be hearing from them for the rest of our stay. Some took this news better than others… I’m sure that there are a few that still haven’t gotten the hang of it.

Ashara and I were different, though. We had each other to practice on. Though, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been possible to learn an entire language that fast, if it had been before the ‘game’ system appeared. With my scholar levels, I had already noticed that I was able to learn new subjects faster than before.

Once I was out of the room, I let my wings spread, flinching slightly as my eyes adapted to the light beneath the tinted lenses. Pushing just a little bit of ki into my wings, I gave a strong beat to propel myself forward, before gliding away from the balcony. Thankfully, the test area was nearby, and it took less than a minute for me to reach it, landing with a thud next to Ashara before bringing my wings in to hook against my shoulders.

“You did that on purpose.” I said under my breath, looking at Ashara. In response, she just looked away innocently, a small smile playing on her lips.

It looked like I was the last to arrive, or at least the last to arrive on time, since the kitsune woman that we had met on our first day began to speak up after our arrival. “Thank you all for joining me today.” She spoke, her accent sounding much less noticeable when she was speaking her native tongue.

“Today is a very special day. Today, we’ll be testing each and every one of you for your innate soul aptitudes, which will help direct you on your most suitable path to grow.” As she spoke, she waved a hand towards a nearby table, where a large metal contraption stood. It looked like a clunky piece of tech, a large display on the side with some buttons and a single large hole in the front.

“This is our Soul Tester, a new prototype version. Previously, we would use a smaller, handheld device that only required a bit of blood to function. However, the accuracy of that test proved to be too low, so we created this.” She stroked her hand along the side of the machine affectionately as she spoke about it.

“After you stick your hand in this, and I activate the device, it will read the elements of your soul. These elements will then be displayed on the screen for me to see. For the sake of privacy, I will be the only one to see the results of anyone’s tests. However, I will write the results down to hand to you, as well as my suggestion for your development path.”

“Uhm, Miss Lyrha?” Ashara called out, raising her hand. “What if the path we want to take doesn’t match our ‘soul elements’?” She asked in a curious tone, drawing the attention of others who were likely thinking the same thing.

“Well… certainly, nobody is forcing you. However, it is incredibly rare for someone not to want to follow their soul’s path. I’m not trying to say it’s your only option, just that the elements of your soul would have likely influenced your mindset up to this point, influencing your talent to make you most suited and willing to follow that path.” She explained, albeit a bit hesitantly. It seemed not many people asked that question.

“Mmm, alright!” Ashara said, stepping up to go first. “Is there anything else, or…?”

“Huh? Oh! No, go right ahead.” The kitsune woman smiled energetically as she saw that the same questioning ‘student’ also volunteered to be the first to take the test. Ashara nodded, bending down and slowly sliding her fist into the hole of the machine.

I could tell that more than a few eyes were drawn towards how her dress lifted up because of her tail when she bent over like this, as if hoping it would go just a little higher. Perhaps thankfully, her dress was kept low enough that it didn’t become indecent. Miss Lyrha moved over to the display, pressing a few buttons before the machine began to whirr to life.

“Heheh, it tingles!” Ashara called out with a giggle, her back shaking slightly as she struggled to keep her arm steady. The eyes of the crowd were once more drawn to her while I silently covered my face with my hand, embarrassed for my own roommate.

“And… done!” The kitsune woman called out, pulling a piece of paper out and hastily scribbling a few words on it. As we watched, the paper began to glow with a faint light, which twisted and warped in around itself. The light condensed the paper down to the size of a small playing card, which she passed towards Ashara. “There you go!”

This was the special power of Deckan, the power of the cards. Anything produced or killed here could be converted into a small card for easy storage. Thanks to that fact, Desbar was repeatedly trying to set up trade agreements, hoping to get Deckan to manufacture certain goods for them. Unfortunately those deals haven’t made any progress, as far as I know.

“So, who’s next?” Miss Lyrha asked, and I saw Ashara shoot me a brief glance. With a sight, I moved forward for my turn. Unlike Ashara, I didn’t need to bend down to place my hand in the device. For once, something was actually on the proper level for me.

Like this, we took the tests one by one, slowly filtering through the class. Some people ‘unpacked’ their test results to read them immediately, while others kept them sealed to view later. Ashara and I were both in the latter category. However, nobody left the area after the test. Rather, Miss Lyrha asked us to stay behind.

We weren’t quite sure what she had in mind, but she seemed to get more and more excited as people took their tests. Only when the last one was done did she clap her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Now, everyone, please! I know this is really sudden. But, we have a couple of very special guests appearing today.”

As if on cue, a dark shadow engulfed the area, causing everyone to reflexively look up. A golden cloud had appeared in the sky above us, scattering to reveal a symbol of power that had carved its way into the hearts of every living creature I knew about. The Sky Citadel, hovering thousands of feet above us and blocking out the sun.

Two streams of golden mist broke off from the citadel, turning and flying straight for the ground in front of us. They impacted without even the slightest sound, Miss Lyrha clapping her hands excitedly as two figures stepped through the mist. Ashley and Udona, two goddesses, had descended together.

Like I had originally thought, Ashley looked like the spitting image of Ashara in a few years time. Her face was slightly more defined, her bust slightly larger, but otherwise the two might as well have been clones. The resemblance was eerie to say the least. Though, it seemed that Ashley was not plagued with our weakness to daylight.

As for Udona, she was a golden haired kitsune woman. She wore a white silk dress embroidered with vines that went all the way down to her feet. Her smile was warm, filling the crowd with awe as she looked at them.

“Sorry for dropping in like this.” Ashley apologized, glancing towards us. “We wanted to get a look at the new recruits up close.” Her eyes settled on Ashara for a moment, and I could see a brief look of surprise and recognition, no doubt as if she were looking into a mirror.

Udona shook her head with a smile. “More like we wanted to give a motivational speech, but close enough.” Ashley’s head dropped slightly at that, though nobody dared to laugh at the obvious joke. She was still a goddess, after all.

“Tough crowd…” Ashley said with a groan, shaking her head as she righted her posture. “Anyways, Udona is right. This is a special day for you. The eighty-seven of you… wait… oh, three of you slept in… Okay, the eighty-four of you are about to undertake a huge step in your goal of defending your world.”

“All worlds.” Udona corrected with a soft smile. “And not just for now. What you learn will help pave the way for generations to come.”

Ashley gave a small nod at that. “Right. And, we wanted to take this moment to apologize together. We didn’t tell you about the other gods, or the other worlds. Not because we didn’t feel you didn’t deserve the knowledge, or because you weren’t ready, but because we wanted you to explore on your own.”

“If we just give you all of the answers, then you’ll expect us to do that in the future as well. That’s why we haven’t told you the secrets of the system that Dale set up. We want you to struggle, to experiment and improve on your own. If you can do that, the lessons will stick with you throughout your life, and you’ll be able to teach those lessons to your students, your kids.”

Udona smiled as Ashley spoke, before speaking up herself. “So remember, give it your best shots, everyone. We’ll support you as best we can, but you have to rely on your own power. After all, it’s all of you that are the future protectors of these worlds.”

When they finished saying that, the two of them gave a quick bow, golden mist springing from their bodies as they vanished again. Those of us gathered that had seen their speech were left staring in awe.

The goddess that we had grown up to worship wasn’t some arrogant being as the legends said, but instead… almost like a normal person. I could feel the power radiating off of her, but she still looked and acted fairly normal. Now, I was almost positive there was another side to her when she got angry, but I was equally certain that I never wanted to see that side of her.

Miss Lyrha was excitedly clapping her hands after the two goddesses left, turning to look at us with a wide smile. “I can’t believe we really got to see them! This just shows that the Legion program is really kicking off, and they are starting to believe in us!”

Ashara rolled her eyes slightly, a bitter smile on her face. “Are we dismissed, Miss?” She asked the overly excited instructor.

Miss Lyrha blinked in surprise, tilting her head in thought before shaking her head. “Oh, no. Sorry, that was all! You’re all dismissed for today. You have until tomorrow to decide whether you want to follow the path on your paper, or try for something else.”

Ashara gave a light laugh at that, reaching over and tugging at my arm. “Let’s go back and see what we got, Karn.” She smiled as she said that, pulling me to head back towards the apartment.