Three days passed in the blink of an eye as Cang’er immersed herself in drawing design drafts.
Early in the morning, she finished a vial of mid-grade nutritional solution and changed into a black dress. She took a pair of scissors and cut off most of her dry, long hair, leaving just enough to tie into a small bun.
She carefully washed her face. Having eaten and slept well during this period, her complexion no longer looked so sallow, though it was still quite yellow. For the first time, she exposed the small dark-blue mole at the corner of her eye. Carrying all her luggage, she headed toward Taman Academy.
Because her lodging was not far from the academy, she walked at an unhurried pace. Suddenly, a black flying car hovered to a stop in front of her. The window lowered, and Miya poked out her fluffy little head. Her light brown hair glowed softly in the morning sun, and her small face was fair with a healthy flush, making her look very cute.
At that moment, Miya’s green eyes were staring in shock at the mark near the corner of Cang’er’s eye.
“Cang’er, it really is you!” she exclaimed happily.
“You’re an ability user too! Ah—wait for me a moment, parking isn’t allowed here.”
As she spoke, the vehicle lifted into the air and stopped at a suspended platform along the overhead track. Miya came down via a nearby elevator and ran cheerfully to Cang’er’s side. Behind her was still Butler Yas from that day, though the other butler had been replaced.
“That’s great—you’re an ability user too! This way, I won’t be the only one who doesn’t know anyone at school,” Miya said with a beaming smile as she hooked her arm around Cang’er’s, pestering her to add each other on their light brains.
Miya felt an inexplicable sense of admiration for Cang’er. Tracing it back, the only reason she could find was that Cang’er’s shameless behavior at their first meeting had deeply shocked her young heart.
That day on the coach, Cang’er had slept the whole time. When they got off, she forgot to leave any contact information. Just now, Miya had spotted a girl below who looked a bit like Cang’er and immediately asked the driver to pull over. She hadn’t expected it to really be her.
Cang’er nodded in response and raised her hand to share her light brain information with Miya.
“Hello, Miss Cang’er. It’s a pleasure to see you again. I’m Yas, and this is Mira,” Yas said, having recovered from his surprise, as he finished the introductions. He was very pleased that Miss Miya had made a friend before entering school. The group then walked together toward the academy.
Although only a small portion of people across the galaxy possessed special abilities, when ability users from an entire continent gathered together, their numbers were not insignificant.
At this moment, the grand gates of Taman Academy stood wide open. On the red carpet at the entrance, four long lines had already formed. At the front of each line stood a transparent pillar of light, roughly two stories tall.
“Taman Academy only accepts ability users under the age of fifteen,” Yas explained quietly to Miya and Cang’er. “This is mainly to prevent ability users from other continents from enrolling again after graduation in an attempt to gain another chance to be selected by higher-level academies.”
After that, he pointed to the light pillars at the front of the lines and continued, “Next comes the talentgrade test. The higher the colors rise within the pillar, the better the talent. There are two black dividing lines in the middle of the pillar that mark high, medium, and low grades. Because high-grade talent holders are extremely rare, classes are usually divided only into medium and low levels. In the entire history of the Moonshadow Continent, fewer than ten high-grade ability users have ever appeared.”
By the time he finished speaking, they had reached the end of the lines.
“Miss Cang’er, Miss Miya, your talents are different, so you’ll need to queue separately. We’ll part for now and meet again later,” Yas said, then led Miya toward the line for those with green markings.
“Cang’er, don’t leave after your test—wait for me!” Miya pouted. Only after Cang’er agreed did she happily follow Yas away.
Miya walked toward Mira, who was already standing in the green-marked line, while Yas held an umbrella beside her. Mira had come ahead earlier to save a place in line for Miya. As one of Tower City’s most renowned noble families, the Guliya family enjoyed certain minor privileges. Although Miya came from a collateral branch, the fact that she was born with a special ability gave her a high status within the family.
In less than a quarter of an hour, it was her turn. Miya stepped forward and, without waiting for instructions from the senior student in charge of registration, placed her hand on the life-testing stone—thirteen years old.
Then, with practiced ease, she inserted her hand into the slot of the light pillar and focused her attention. A green beam of light slowly climbed upward. After crossing the second black dividing line, its speed slowed, inch by inch. Miya’s small face turned pale. After the beam crossed a short distance beyond the boundary between medium and high-grade talent, it finally stopped.
She trembled as she withdrew her hand and drank the nutritional solution Yas handed her. “Green… high-grade talent.” A wave of sharp inhalations came from behind her.
The director of the Healing Division, Karl, personally handed her a green crystal badge and instructed her to come to his office before reporting in tomorrow.
After recovering a bit, Miya smiled and nodded. She already knew her talent was high-grade—the Guliya family had their own light pillars for testing talent levels—so she was not surprised. Right now, she was eager to go find Cang’er.