The old man waved a hand and the center of the coliseum split to reveal a raised platform. Upon the raised platform was a podium with two palm-sized imprints.
Ryker's gaze grew focused for a moment.
If he allowed this test to see through his real talent, it would be troublesome.
Not to mention the fact that it would definitely overload and explode if he allowed it to, even if it didn't, there would be a whole host of cascading problems that might even end in the exposing of his Three Headed Serpent Phoenix.
Ryker was confident, but he wasn't arrogant enough to believe he was invincible in this world. He knew enough to know how much the rich and powerful liked to cuddle with the strength they had accumulated over their years of effort. The moment they sensed a threat, they would snuff it out, especially if that threat didn't have any backing.
Luckily, Ryker was already prepared for this. Before the old man died, Ryker had asked him about the standard of geniuses in this world.
What Ryker needed now was to analyze the method the Federation was using to test talent and find a way to circumvent it.
Luckily, Ryker had spent a lot of time refining his skill as a Mystery Craftsman. What his eyes could see was beyond what most others could see. It only took him a moment to nod to himself.
By the time Ryker snapped out of his focused state, the first participant had already gone up. Or, more accurately, they were forced up, likely by the hands of the nobles.
"We don't want a bad taste to be left in her Highness' mouth, so it's best you lot go first."
The sneering words came from a young man of the Steward family, Giles. He lined up the commoners one after another like some sort of shepherd, seemingly taking pleasure in their twisting expressions.
There wasn't much the commoners could do, though. After all, Giles was giving them the chance they had all been waiting for, it wasn't like he was barring them from attending.
But, that was what made it all the more depressing when they all fizzled out one by one.
Each commoner that went up pressed their hands into the palm indents, causing a light to flicker in the formation for a moment, but it rose up and fizzled out just the same.
With Giles' ushering, they had already gone through 50 commoners in just a few minutes, cutting down the number of participants left by almost 30%.
The atmosphere only grew heavier, but Ryker's raised eyebrows had returned.
'With the way the formation is set up, if there was no talent to be found at all, it wouldn't light up in the first place. But, for some of these people, the light rises and then fizzles out?'
Ryker could see quite clearly that there was no obvious foul play. At the very least, no one was messing with the process, and there was also nothing wrong with the formation.
That only left one more possibility.
The people themselves?
'Interesting.'
After more observation, Ryker realized that this even tended to happen with the women more often at about a 70 to 30 split. Remembering what he had deduced before, he only grew more fascinated.
Ryker thought back to when he first crash landed on this planet. He was lucky he had had some protections left when he ran into that Spirit Beast, allowing him to calm it down enough to communicate with it.
But, now that he thought about it, the sheer hatred it had held originally was not small at all. Ryker had been forced to use up most of his life saving measures on that one encounter alone.
Ryker didn't consider it much back then because it wasn't a surprise for Spirit Beasts to hate humans. While they had lasting partnerships sometimes, there was often a grieved parent on the other end.
Just take Ryker's Three Headed Serpent Phoenix for example, there might be a mature Serpent Phoenix out there still rampaging, infuriated by the loss of their baby.
Still, this rage had felt far deeper, and far more entrenched.
'It seems this world has its own secrets too, hm? Entertain me well, then.'
At that moment, another commoner girl went up, sweating buckets. Her simple clothing clung to her small frame as she pressed her hands down, squeezing her eyes shut as she waited for the inevitable result.
But, to everyone's shock, the light didn't fizzle out this time!
An illusory pillar rose, flashing with a pale light before it finally stabilized itself.
"Lower 1st Circle Talent! Lower Refreshing Soul! Pass!"
The old man's voice boomed, leaving no room for error.
The commoner girl slowly opened her eyes. When she realized that it was all real, she nearly jumped for joy. But, realizing the gravity of the situation, she instead scurried down the platform, her knees trembling and her eyes watering.
In the stands, her family burst into their own shower of tears.
This sort of day was both sweet and bitter.
From this day forth, their fates had changed. And, a generation or two from now, they might even become the fourth great family of Smoking Tower City.
However, whether or not their little girl would survive the next year was completely unknown.
Giles seemed to lose the pep in his step. Now that one had passed, it was much less fun to continue teasing them like this, so he just let the rest of the proceedings go as planned.
'Refreshing soul, huh? Interesting system,' Ryker thought to himself.
In his world, no one bothered to divide the first three Circle Talent levels into lower, middle, higher and peak. The difference didn't matter when there were 4th, 5th and 6th Circle Talents walking around.
Plus, his world usually had methods of raising a low class talent like that to at least the 4th Circle, so it often didn't matter.
However, Soul Talent was its own interesting can of worms.
From Common to Refreshing Soul was quite a large leap. Of course, Ryker's Pure Soul was outside the scope of what this formation could detect.
About a dozen attempts later, another pillar of light formed, once again for a Lower 1st Circle Talent, but this time with a Common Soul.
Regardless, it was considered a pass.
Two commoners had passed this year, it was an astonishing feat indeed. One man and one woman.
However, there would be a third.
A familiar young man carrying a rusted greatsword walked forward and stepped onto the platform.
He glared at the podium as though it was his mortal enemy, but he didn't move for a long while.
Just when the old man was about to say something, the voice of the young man boomed.
"My name is Emory! The Seeded Hero position will be mine!"
His voice seemed even louder than the old man's, but his claim was even bolder than that, leaving many stunned.
Before anyone could react, though, he slammed a palm down and a radiant light rose up, forming a pillar far more solid than any they had seen yet today.
The old man blinked.
"Middle 2nd Circle Talent! Peak Refreshing Soul! Pass!"