Chapter 170: Aptitude test Aliana took Ethan where a group of young boys and girls were gathered. A handsome young man with silver hair was in the middle of the crowd and was talking to others. Soon, they reached near that crowd. "Hello everyone, meet my little brother the fifth prince," Aliana said. They all stopped talking and looked toward them. The crowd gave some space so that the young man in the middle could also see them. "Hello 4th princess." Everyone greeted her. Then a young woman looked at Ethan, "Oh my, is this the protagonist today? Isn’t he adorable? Hello your highness the fifth prince, I am Eliya Windsor, the granddaughter of the grand duke Sebastian Windsor, it’s nice to meet you." Soon everyone followed her and introduced themselves. Then Ethan introduced himself too, "Hello, I am Ethan Di Raizel. It’s nice to meet you all." Then he looked at the handsome young man and asked, "Are you my second brother?" The second prince, Orion Di Raizel, looked at Ethan with some interest and said, "That’s right. I am the second prince, Orion Di Raizel." Ethan nodded. Then Aliana took him to meet with her friends too. When they left, Eliya looked at Orion with a teasing look, "It looks like his highness the emperor specially loves this brother of yours." Orion did not react to this tease, he started chatting with others. No one knew what was going through his mind. After 1 hour, the guard shouted again, "His highness the 1st and 3rd prince have arrived." Now everyone had come. The ceremony could start now. Cadis Di Raizel stood up and said, "I appreciate everyone for coming to my fifth son’s birthday and giving him your blessings. Now we would start his aptitude test. After that, there are arrangements for food and entertainment." Everyone applauded after this short speech. "It’s our honor your highness.", they said. The runic circle was made at the very front of the stage. People stood on two sides in a row. Ethan was sitting in that circle cross-legged. They were talking to themselves. "Hey, what do you think? What would be the aptitude of the fifth prince?" "His highness is an elemental magus, her highness is also an elemental magus. I think the fifth prince should also have the elemental magus aptitude." "I am not sure about that. The second prince is a knight, remember?" "Yes, that’s right. Okay, let’s see." The grand magus bowed to the stage where the emperor and the 5 empresses were present. "Your highness, I am going to start," he said. Cadis Di Raizel nodded, "Go ahead." He stood in front of the circle and started pouring his mana into it. All the runes of the circle lit up, and the mana started pouring inside Ethan’s body. Everyone stopped talking, it was pin-drop silence. Only the sound of air could be heard. 10 minutes passed, Ethan’s body was still absorbing mana. It was not normal, normally it would take only 5 minutes but as a royal bloodline, it was normal. The 1st prince took 11.5 minutes before he got his Darkness elemental sign on his forehead. Ethan was in another place now. It was his sea of consciousness. It was the process where he would see his aptitude firsthand, which others could not see. Soon he saw the elemental signs were coming into his view. After some time, a clock entered his body, then a few minutes later, a dark cube entered his body, and after some time, a lightning symbol entered. Ethan knew the signs. It was the sign of the time element, the space element and the lightning element. Space and time were only speculation though, as the book said there was no evidence of the presence of these two elements. Ethan did not have the time to ponder, because he saw a core was forming. It was a colorless core, Ethan did not know what was going on. His mother said one could have only one aptitude, but the core was surely the aptitude of the knight. Besides, the core would always be colorful. Because the cores were also elemental cores. Though the knights could not use long-range attacks like elemental magus, they wrapped their body with their elements. But Ethan had a colorless core, which did not indicate any element. He did not even have the time to ponder even at this time, Because he saw 2 seeds were forming beside the core. It was the aptitude of the beast master. Ethan became a little tense. Was something wrong with him? When he was about to panic, some deep feeling told him there was no problem. He was fine. This feeling always remained with him from his birth. Ethan slowly opened his eyes. But what he saw instantly gave him a fright. He saw his father, Cadis Entrama Di Raizel, standing from his throne as well as all the empresses including his mother. They were looking at him with those intense gaze. Then he looked around. All the guests were looking at him like they were looking at some wondrous object of the world. He could not understand what was going on. Then he saw the grand magus who was in charge of his aptitude test sitting cross-legged with a pale face, his whole body sweaty. Ethan became a little nervous about this strange situation. So he stood up and ran toward his mother and hugged her. "Mother, what happened? Why is everyone looking at me like this? Is something wrong with me?" Trina hugged him tightly. "Son, no need to panic. There is nothing wrong with you. You see, something miraculous just happened with you. That is why everyone is looking at you like this." "Miraculous?" Ethan asked, still hugging her. "Yes, you have the rare aptitude of the space element as well as the lightning element, which is the stuff of myth. So everyone is just surprised." Ethan was confused. Didn’t he also have the time element and beast master seeds as well as the knight core? He was about to say this to his mother, but again that feeling of his came, it forbade him to tell anyone, not even his mother. Ethan had two symbols on his forehead, the cube and the lightning. So no one inspected his body for other aptitudes, but if they did, it was highly likely they would not find anything else. Ethan then released the hug. Cadis Di Raizel said with a smile, "Well done my son. I am proud of you." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞 Though it was a totally natural process, still it was a matter of pride for a parent. Trina was also smiling, a little water in her eyes. When Ethan saw his father and mother so happy, he also became happy and forgot every other small detail. Though everyone was not so happy about this. The 1st prince had the most terrifying smile on his face. The 3rd prince by his side saw this smile and he felt a chill on his spine. He knew his elder brother the most, he was a monster, a demon from hell. He could go to any length to achieve his goal. He looked at Ethan with some pity. This prodigious brother of his would probably die a miserable death and he was sure no one would find out what happened.