Controlling Destiny

Ultrix did not show up to his class that day. While this was expected of Ultrix, who was a bad student, it was also slightly worrying.

Although Ultrix never really paid attention during classes, he had yet to miss a single session.

"Heh, he probably killed himself for being so useless," a pupil said with a nasty sneer.

The teacher though was too busy worrying about what could have happened to Ultrix to rebuke the pupil who made the mean comment.

Fearing that some harm had actually befallen Ultrix, his teacher sent for one of the pupils to go report the incident to the department office.

Ultrix, meanwhile, was at the combustion department office and was completely oblivious of the fact that his fellow classmates were actually searching for him.

He currently had bigger issues to face and that was trying to actually switch his department interest. While the process of getting into a department was relatively easy, once in, the pupil was usually never allowed to switch out unless there was a case of emergency.

The department secretary barely even looked up at Ultrix while lazily skimming through his application.

"You put in your application that you wish to switch from zero affinity in growth magic to an affinity to combustion magic, but do you have proof?" Asked the secretary in a bored tone.

"This-" Ultrix was at a loss of words. "How should I go about proving this?" Ultrix asked awkwardly.

The secretary let out a long sigh and then showed Ultrix to the testing room.

"Put your hands on this platform," she said while demonstrating how to use the testing runic.

Ultrix firmly put both his hands face down on the runic and pressed them downwards.

At first, nothing happened, but slowly the runic started to change green. The secretary was about to say something when the runic suddenly switched from green into yellow and then orange.

However, the runic did not stop there. It went from orange to red and then without warning, the runic combust into flames on the spot.

"Um, does this mean I passed the test?" Ultrix asked sheepishly.

The secretary's face instantly turned as dark as the testing runic and she almost fainted from her anger. However, after a brief moment, she controlled her physical appearance again.

"Yes, yes, you passed" the secretary calmly replied. However, inside her head, the secretary was silently swearing at Ultrix. [Of course you passed, you idiot! If this does not qualify for passing, how the heck is anyone supposed to pass?!]

"What now?" Asked Ultrix yet again in an awkward tone.

The secretary at this point had nearly passed out from the shock of just how ignorant this young pupil was about the department processes.

Calming herself down yet again, the secretary showed Ultrix where to claim his academy emblem and also issued him a combustion apprenticeship identification token.

"Make sure not to lose this token!" The secretary warned sternly.

"This token grants you access to various cultivation rooms that are specifically for combustion apprentices and it also has your identification information on it."

"It's different from the one I'm used to," Ultrix admitted.

"Of course it is." The secretary replied. "Each department has a different token inscribed so that they look unique and makes it easier for identification."

"If you have any other questions I'll be here," she added.

Ultrix nodded silently, thanked her for everything, and walked out of the room.

The secretary meanwhile seemed to change her mood instantly. Not seeming like a bored and tired person anymore she was now ecstatic.

"He's probably a genius!" She said out loud. And then, realizing she said this out loud she calmed herself down again and thought to herself: [If it were known that I tested a random pupil who ended up having such a high affinity for magic, I might even get a raise!]

Unbeknownst to anyone though, Ultrix's affinity for combustion was even greater than they had thought. Under the testing runic, a slight crack had formed from the extreme heat that it had gone through.