The ominous black hand continued toward his chest. A feeling of displacement occurred. Leon’s chest felt like it parted… as if the organs were being moved. The hand had yet to touch the glowing spark in his chest but its reach was larger than it appeared.

Leon’s body tensed up in a futile attempt to force out the foreign sensation. The hand’s palm opened up as it came only a few centimeters away from its destination. The creases of the palm seemingly highlighted by a white outline.

As if an energy was permeating from the darkened hand, the green spark within Leon’s chest reacted as they made contact. Nothing violent came to fruition to his relief. The two just hummed in rhythm for a while, synergizing.

It felt like an eternity as they indulged in each other’s being. A tranquil experience was all that Leon could claim it to be. Bits of his spark took the form of strings as they playfully surrounded the hand’s fingers.

The time came to a close as the presence of the hand began to retract. The sensation resembled that of letting out a long breath after holding it for an extended time. Pressure alleviated from his chest as the displacement was undone.

The tips of its fingers went to release Leon’s chest but a sudden stifling occurred. If not for more than a mere millisecond, Leon could have sworn to see the previously playful green tendrils take on a darker shade and clasp onto the hand. They tugged on the hand, attempting to bring it back into the fold. The darkened tendrils were then quickly consumed by an overwhelming white light, instantly retracting them back to the core of his spark.

The green core within his chest settled, as if nothing had occurred at all. Leon wasn’t exactly experienced with this whole spacey-star-path-thingy but that did not feel natural. His instincts just wouldn’t allow him to take it as normal and go on with his day.

Looking up, the hand was slowly fading into the darkness of the starry surroundings. He stared at its final place of existence, simultaneously being met with a stare back. Two eyes, dull of color peered back in the distance, hard of sight in its almost cloudy state.

The two scrutinized each other as the world of stars crumbled. Crevices of light leaked into the atmosphere as the pitch black skyline seemed to shatter. Pieces of the black world fell all around Leon’s body, revealing a blinding outside.

Closing his eyes as the light became too hard to process, his ears filled with low gasps.

Reluctantly opening his eyes, he was once more met with another set of irises. This time, they were viridescent… and they belonged to William. His face expressed much confusion and questioning. Lowering his head as the eye contact started to make him uncomfortable, Leon saw the orb. The orb wasn’t floating anymore but laid lifelessly on the pedestal with a prevalent crack across the top.

The orb did not have the shade of green that Leon would have expected when he finished, it was neither colorless as William would have made it when preparing for the next person. No, it was a solid pitch black.

Turning to see behind him, the source of the gasps were found. His fellow ‘earthlings’ were confused and intrigued at the event. ‘Great…’ Leon thought as he obviously enjoyed every moment of his sudden popularity. Being the center of attention was the last thing he wanted and he was pretty sure that it was his spark that broke the orb.

Back at the pedestal, William had looked to his companions for confirmation. With slight nods and looks of understanding, he looked to the audience. “No need to be alarmed. This scanning instrument was apparently faulty. We will end the session short for now. Those of you who haven’t had your evaluation yet will follow Sir Garett.”

William proceeded to point to a brown haired armored man with a spear. The man stood with great confidence. His armor shined brightly on its clean polish, contrasting the scars layering his otherwise blemishless face.

“I’ll have the boy here come with me to guarantee there were no side effects,” William said, waving his hand to Leon.

Leon blinked for a moment but caught on and followed. He didn’t bother glancing behind him, not wanting to acknowledge the attention… honestly hoping that the focal point of the events would turn to another. ‘Please be looking at the broken orb or something,’ he thought, feeling the stares burning into his soul. Luckily, this burning cooled as another event occurred.

With a loud cough, the armored warrior garnered the onlookers’ attention. Walking to the door, the knight faced outside and looked back. “Follow me to take your evaluation.”

Half of the group broke off from the room as they followed Sir Garett. With this, the room went quiet as those who remained looked out the door. Leon trailed behind William to the back of the room where a small door resided, originally blocked from his vision due to a large wooden folding screen acting as a privacy wall.

Reaching the door, William pulled it open, posturing for Leon to enter first. Leon stepped into the room, hearing one last distant noise.

Rhythmic claps refocused the remaining stares onto a woman. “The rest of you will follow me, I’ll guide you back to the banquet hall or your temporary living quarters, whichever you prefer.” Kassandra was seen gathering the rest of the group, energetically walking around.

This view was cut short as William’s back blocked his view as the door was gently shut.

“Take a seat,” William let out stoically.

Accepting his gesture, Leon swiveled himself around to face inside the room. The room was lacking much appeal. It appeared to be an office, based on the desk in the center. The only notable things in the room besides this were the numerous bookshelves and some chairs.

Leon got the feeling of deja vu as he sat in the chair. Unlike last time he was in an office, the chair he sat on was actually quite comfortable. It was solid wood with a sewn in burgundy cushion. Also unlike last time, he wasn’t there to be fired… he hoped. ‘Can you be fired from your quest?’

At the thought, the quest screen scared him as it popped into existence. Jolting his head back, Leon mentally pushed the screen out. ‘That was annoying.’ He hoped that the sensitivity the screen’s appearance had to his thoughts could be lowered, chanting to lower the sensitivity as if it was a game setting or a drawing pad’s pencil pressure setting.

William stood beside the desk at this point, his eyebrows raised in evaluation. “You’re an odd one.”

“Thanks?” Leon let out in a puzzled manner, tilting his head.

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

Leon… didn’t really know how to talk to this guy. William’s face was practically expressionless as he examined him. Silence ensued as Leon waited for the conversation to continue. His thumbs bounced off of each other as he timidly waited for the analyzing stares to stop.

William took a seat behind the desk, generously deciding that it was time to resume their talk.

“Your name was Leon?” To which Leon simply nodded.

“Did you practice mana manipulation before coming to our world?”

‘That’s certainly not what I thought he’d ask,’ Leon thought before nodding negatively. “Where I’m from, mana doesn’t exist. At least, I don’t think it did.”

William proceeded to tap the desk as he thought on the response.

“Peculiar. Truly peculiar. What is your class?”

The conversation kept becoming more confusing. ‘Hadn’t the orb told him? Maybe it didn’t. I did kind of break it… but it felt like an eternity, surely he learned something.’

“I was given the support class.”

“That explains the color…” William whispered to himself. “What race has the system labeled you as?” To which Leon explained how he was called a lesser human. It hadn’t made much sense to him as he knew that he was… well… human.

William quickly put his concerns to rest. “That is what the system titles you if you’re more… primitive. Sorry, that might not be the right word… your world lacks mana thus you aren’t accustomed to it.”

“How does that make me primitive?” Leon asked.

“To put it simply, most beings are born with mana flowing through them. Your world is a rare occurrence where no mana exists, meaning that you also don’t have mana. Mana is practically as important as your blood and organs. Without it, you’d die.”

Leon squinted at the man as he absorbed his words. “Then why aren’t I dead?”

“Because you never needed it before now,” William added on quickly, waving him off as he walked to a bookshelf. “Along with your class that you received, a sort of mana core was forcefully inserted into you.”

Slowly grabbing at his chest, Leon tried to find or resurface that strange spark.

“It isn’t physically there, per se, so don’t bother. Just know that it is there now.”

“Okay, so then what about those bla-” Leon spurted, being interrupted.

“A simple error on my part. Nothing to worry about.” William replied casually. He was skimming through a book, not even facing Leon who sat behind with a million questions in his head.

“Are you su-?” Leon persisted.

“Yes.”

Leon didn’t believe that was all there was to it. It was such a strange event. The reaction started after his spark did something, surely it was the cause. Realizing William’s reluctance to pursue the topic further, he went on. “So what about checking for side-effects?”

“You’re fine. You may leave.” Shooing him off with his free hand.

“Ah.” Pausing with uncertainty. Leon decided to leave it. The man hadn’t answered his first question, he certainly wouldn’t elaborate on this one either. “Alright.”

With this, Leon walked to the door. “I will come find you tomorrow,” William said, closing his book and placing it onto the shelf.

Leon nodded toward the man and walked out. Standing back in the examination room, he noted its emptiness. There was a lot to process but one thing stood at the forefront of his mind.

‘Where do I go?’ The thought was answered pleasantly by the slamming of the office door behind him.