The Only Son Amongst The Daughters Of Eros

They took Aeric to a smaller building beside the school, amongst other smaller buildings. However, to be fair, this building was not small at all.

It was like a miniature castle, the size of a bungalow but the shape of a fortress. It had spires and a golden door with a painting of what Aeric assumed to be Eros posing like a celestial being with arms stretched and the insignia of all five regions below him.

Aeric scoffed after laying eyes on it. 'Narcissist,' he thought.

They led him inside the building and everything suddenly seemed to be different than the outside. Well, not really when it came to the looks. It was still made of gold and more shiny materials that caused the room to sparkle, but it seemed to be some kind of shrine.

It was structured like a small hall, curved from the ceiling, stretching to the corners of the room and down to the floor where a red mat was spread. There were silver ropes dangling at all corners with something that seemed to be glowing beads that the ropes connected into.

Vines of luminescent ivy crawled along the walls, and they also seemed to glow with some magical essence. They danced across the intricate carvings of celestial symbols that were etched into the stone. At the deepest end on the farthest wall of the shrine was a massive, circular doorway framed by a delicate lattice of shimmering crystal.

Beyond that doorway lied the inner sanctum, where some more stronger divine practices were held.

After scanning the room curiously, Aeric's eyes landed on a strange old man with a white long beard and a beautiful but old purple cloak, hunching with his back facing them. He seemed to be in some kind of prayer.

Aeric glanced at Lysandra and the Divine Speaker, wondering whether they were going to interrupt the man's prayer or just wait it out.

They waited it out.

Eventually, the man turned around and faced them, eyes studying the three of them one by one, but very quickly, as though he was being bothered.

"Divine Speaker." He acknowledged the Speaker and walked toward a chair that looked something reminiscent of a throne.

"Divine Priest," the Speaker greeted back with a nod.

"Lady Lysandra," the Priest acknowledged her as well.

"Priest," the Head Mistress said sternly.

Aeric waited for them to get to him, but when the Divine Priest didn't say anything, he pouted. 'Son Aeric?' he mimicked the Priest's aged voice in his mind. 'Why thank you. Divine Priest.'

After a long inspection, the Divine Priest sighed and sat back, he had this aura of knowledge and power, one that he had certainly earned from his long years.

"This the Son Aeric if I'm not mistaken?" he asked the two grownups.

"Yes he is," the Divine Speaker answered.

The Priest looked at him with more curiosity now, scanning his features. "Why have you brought him here? Should he not be at his Declaration?"

"Well, that is the issue, Divine Priest," the Speaker stepped forward. "The Divine Crystal refused to emit a glow of any intensity. It remained the same when the Son touched it."

The Priest seemed to grunt with dissatisfaction. "Did the boy perform his Coming of Age ritual?"

"He claims so, and his sisters both seem to concur with it. Apparently, the courtesan he performed the ritual with was a spy assassin, sent by Mother Selene, and so she was killed. That is the claim."

"Hmm." The Divine Priest adjusted himself in his seat. "That is a very serious allegation. But for now, I will focus on the Son." He shifted his wise eyes to Aeric who stood still and stiff. "It is against the Divine Laws to speak of your Class and Main Skill before it is Declared, and doing so could affect the intensity of your divine glow.

Did you tell anyone about your Class or your Main Skill, Aeric of Starlight?"

Gazing at the man, almost lost in the ardency in his eyes, Aeric shook his head. "No. I didn't."

The Priest rubbed his long beard with his hands, thinking. "Hmm." He rose up from his seat, mind seemingly made up. "Very well. This is a unique situation. I've never heard of it before but I always believed it to be a possibility. And there could be several instances that could lead to such...

developments."

Aeric frowned. 'I'm sure none of which includes a system that overrides the game world and gives me a unique Class and Main Skill.'

"You will perform an Awakened Test," the Divine Priest announced.

Aeric frowned. 'An Awakened Test? What the hell's that?'

[Awakened Tests are powerful Divinity Searching Protocols which when performed can assess genuine Divinity availability and sustainability inside an Awakened Player.]

'So it's just the Divine Crystal... but stronger?'

[Awakened Tests are usually more refined and nuanced than the Divine Crystal. They reveal the total Divine Body and the Divinity present, while the Crystal only reveals the soul core which is just the reflection of the Divine Body.]

'That's a lot of word salad. Long story cut short, can you block out the Awakened Test?'

[Any attempts to shield against Awakened Tests return futile.]

'Well try!'

[Invalid request. Awakened Tests are irrefutable.]

'Back in the hall room, you said no outside source can not withdraw information from me!'

[Your soul core is the crux of information. Your soul core has been shielded by the system. However, the Awakened Test does not pry into the soul core, they attain information from the Divine Body itself which is what the Soul Core reflects.]

Aeric thought of it like an x-ray device. These Awakened Tests were going to show the Divine Body which was apparently similar to the skeletal systems and nervous systems. That way, it could reveal if there was actually any Divinity flowing in that system, the same way as blood would flow in the circulatory system.

'Fuck. My cover is being blown already?'

"You don't intend to stand there and gape all day, do you?" the Divine Priest asked, turning to look at him as he had already begun walking to that door in the far wall.

Aeric shook his head, returning to the present. "No... Divine Priest," he replied.

"Then move those royal legs of yours. Follow me into the inner sanctum." He turned around and walked further, while Aeric still watched with some hesitance. The Divine Priest opened the door with a magic spell that unlocked it, then he walked inside.