He was now certain—he had no talent. No heavenly phenomenon at birth meant no prenatal talent. A year in the chamber passed, yet he awakened nothing. No postnatal talent either.

  ‘Hmmm…..so basically I am born without talent but there is still hope, I can have acquired talents though it seems it is very hard to get one. I don’t have any more information on the acquired talents so let's leave it for the future.’ thought Evan while he was taken to the Sanctum of Appraisal. It took a while for children to reach the tower. While they were going he saw many chief maids with a bunch of children in the tower.

  ‘So there are many chambers and each chamber has a chief maid who brings the 1 year old to the tower.’ he thought. It was not a big thing, as a clan as big as the Walker clan should have many newborns each day. When they arrived at their destination, he saw a big pitch black tower where a row of chief maids were entering with babies. Some maids were very happy while some were not.

  ‘This is interesting ... .I don't have any talent while among the other two with me, the boy has a kind of ocular postnatal talent while the girl has some speed related postnatal talent. From the expressions of my chief maid, the grades of the talents are not that high. About me, I think the maid thinks I have a talent of high grades. Which is obviously false.’ thinking while still standing in the line, waiting for his turn to enter.

  From the books he read he knew many things like the grades of the talent, there were 9 ranks for a talent. From the rarity levels they were - white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and the last black. Prenatal talents are usually above orange grade while postnatal usually starts from white grade. Acquired talents are almost always above blue grade. But all this was probability as there can be a black postnatal talent and similarly white acquired one.

  While Evan was observing the surroundings and patiently waiting for his turn, high above in the tower there was a discussion between ancestors.

  “Morgan, summon the parents,” Ancestor Dugu commanded, his voice a low rumble. “It’s time they faced their children’s futures.” Morgan’s eyes snapped open, heavy with unspoken grief.

  “Morgan you are getting soft, this is necessary for the development of the clan and potential selection of the clan head and the next emperor.” said Dugu while sighing.

  “I know ancestor Dugu but every time I see small ones leaving the clan for the trial I feel sad for the parents. I wish I could end this.” said Morgan while looking at the sky.

  “It's of no use, many thought the same as you do but no one could change it because it's the trial that has brought our clan to great heights. It's the foundation of our clan, no one can change it.” scolded ancestor Dugu.

  “Leave it, now tell me about the family matter….” asked ancestor Dugu. They continued their discussion till other clan members arrived. As soon as they would arrive they would first greet ancestor Dugu and supreme elder Morgan.

  After all the invited members had come they waited till all the chief maids had entered the tower with the babies. Some members were sad watching their baby enter the tower while some were happy. They showed different expressions.

  “This time I am the one supervising the operation of the sanctum of appraisal. A total of 1024 babies have entered the sanctum. Out of which 12 have awakened a prenatal talent, while the remaining 1000 have awakened postnatal talents. The last 12 have not managed to awaken any talent till now, but don't worry they would awaken with the help of the sanctum of appraisal. There was never a case within our branch where a baby with no talents in the last epoch.” said ancestor Dugu with extending authority. He was very serious about the speech.

  “Now I hereby order the starting of the sanctum.” As soon as the ancestor ordered there was a loud bang in the tower and then a round of applause and cheers from the invited members. Inside the sanctum, as soon as the maids heard the order they started registering who they were and the names of the babies along with the family line from which they were born.

  “I hope this child has a talent of high grade, after all he is the grandson of supreme elder Morgan. He has read many books by now. I hope it's one of the highest grades so that I will get some rewards.” thought the chief maid that brought Evan to the tower.

  The work of the chief maid was basically done, now they just have to wait for the results and rewards. High above, in the topmost floor of the sanctum, all the members were watching the projections of the babies displayed on the big screen.

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  Attrick and lady Saphire were also there , standing beside Morgan nervously staring at the screen. “Father, what do you think Evan’s results would be given the time you had spent observing him?” asked Attrick with tension.

  “Don't worry he will surely score a good grade given his talent. The grade would also be good. Stay strong, you are a grand elder of the Walker clan.” replied Morgan with a smile of his face radiating positivity, but he knew that he too was a little nervous at the moment because Evan was his grandson and who doesn't want their grandson to be talented.

  After the registration was done all the maids left the sanctum leaving the babies each in a separate chamber. Evan was in complete darkness floating around in his special chamber. Observing the surroundings he was in a completely calm state. Just sitting with legs folded in the pose of meditation. He was ready to take whatever the sanctum threw at him.

  “This time the council has decided to go for the full rounds. A total of 5 rounds would be held. First being the body testing round, in which all the talents related to the physical body would be tested. Second round would be the soul testing round as the name implies it deals with soul, Third would be bloodline testing round. Following which the affinity round would be there which would check the affinity towards cultivation and the Dao which they would cultivate. The last round would be a test of problem solving and critical thinking i.e. test of comprehension. Now let the rounds begin.” briefed ancestor Dugu.

  This marked the start of the rounds. The complete darkness slowly changed. A pillar of light fell upon them making babies squint their eyes. High above, all parents were watching with hopeful gaze, as these rounds would decide the future of their newborns. The screens showing the babies started displaying whether the baby has a body talent.

  Soon the names started showing on the screen, some parents were happy while some were showing a difficult expression. A pair of parents was very shocked, “Ancestor Dugu our child has soul related talent. How is it possible for him to have body related talent ?” asked the excited parents.

  “Well it's not impossible to have more than one talent. There were certain cases before in our branch but it's absolutely rare. It's also a blessing and curse for him. Having too many things is not good.” replied Dugu.

  It didn't take a lot of time for the sanctum to determine everyone's talent and its grade. It is also worth mentioning that the tower of sanctum of appraisal did not show the name of the talent, it only shows the grade for privacy concerns. The name is only known by the baby and not by anyone else. While during the first round, Evan was very calm knowing there is no talent in him, and as it happens there was no

  “Hmm good this time we are lucky, we got a dozen talents above blue level. It would have been better if we got a violet or even black talent. Though hope is not lost there are still 4 rounds remaining. Now let's proceed with soul testing.” Dugu commanded the tower.

  During soul testing round the same as earlier a pillar of light fell on the babies and the same turn of events took place. It was soon followed by the round of bloodline testing during which a drop of blood was extracted and tested. Next was the round of affinity testing. This round was interesting as this would literally determine the future.

  ‘Hmm now is the round of affinity testing. I wonder which Dao I would show affinity with. It's usually matching with the talent but in the case of the non talented, it's difficult to guess. From the books it seems the affinity is based on the experiences of the being. I have a long experience of solitude for almost eternity in void. So based on this it could be Dao of space, Dao of time or Dao of darkness or it could even be Dao of solitude. It could be literally anything due to my in the void. I hope it's not one of lesser Dao, it's fine if it's of Major Dao. It would be perfect if it's a Grand Dao.’ Even kept thinking about it until it was finally the time for the testing.

  This time the testing was completely different. He was in an open cosmos with numerous stars. So many that his brain couldn't even comprehend. In this sea of stars some were big while some were small. Some were brightly shining while some were dim.

  ‘The small ones are generally shining brightly while the big ones are not. The bright ones are the Major Dao and the dim ones are the lesser Dao. The bigger the star is, the more popular the Dao is. So it's difficult to find a big bright shining star. There are also those massive bodies which are continuously engulfing matter around it. I guess it's a black hole. These represent the Grand Daos. Now I just have to wait and my projection would be attracted to one of the objects of this cosmos.’ He kept thinking and thinking about the different Daos and which one he would get at the end.

  This time ancestor Dugu was also observing the screens and looking for potential talents among the babies. The screens were rapidly showing how babies were attracted towards the different stars. Just as the testing was about to end they saw a screen showing a baby being going towards a black hole. This caused a huge sensation among the members. Even ancestor Dugu was excited.