Five years in a poor farming village felt like fifty. Ren learned the language quickly—it was disappointingly simplistic compared to Japanese legalese—and learned to hide his adult intelligence behind the quiet obedience of a sickly child. His physical body was weak, prone to fevers, and much smaller than the other village children, who already looked like sturdy little oxen.

  His red hair, a rarity in this region of browns and blondes, made him stand out, marking him as an oddity. His family loved him, but they pitied him. He was another mouth to feed that couldn't pull a plow.

  Their only hope, the only hope for any commoner, was the Awakening Ceremony held when a child turned five. A mage from the capital would visit the village, bringing a Mana Resonance Crystal. If the crystal glowed, you had mana. You could become a mage, a warrior, or an adventurer. You could lift your family out of the mud.

  The day arrived under heavy gray Clouds. The village square was packed. Ren stood shivering in his thin tunic, sandwiched between his hopeful, anxious parents.

  "Don't worry, Ren," his father whispered, his hand heavy on Ren's small shoulder. "Even a little magic is enough to get a job as a lamplighter in the city. It will be a good life."

  Ren nodded silently. He didn't want to be a lamplighter. He wanted to rule.

  He watched as other children stepped up to the robed mage. Most touched the fist-sized crystal, and nothing happened. A few made it glow faintly, earning gasps of excitement. The blacksmith's son made it glow a solid, bright blue—an Affinity for water magic. He was immediately offered a junior apprenticeship contract by the mage.

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  "Next. Shinra Ren."

  Ren walked up the wooden steps to the platform. The mage, a bored-looking man with greasy hair, gestured impatiently to the crystal pedestal.

  "Place your hand, boy. Don't take all day."

  Ren took a breath. System, any advice?

  [Observation: The crystal measures active, controllable mana output. Your mana is currently a pressurized ocean behind a dam of divine seals. It is unlikely to register normally.]

  Great.

  Ren placed his small hand on the cool surface of the crystal. He closed his eyes and pushed. He tried to tap into that thrumming volcano inside him.

  Just a little bit. Come on.

  For a second, the system flashed red in his mind.

  [WARNING: MINOR SEAL BREACH DETECTED. CONTAINING LEAK.]

  A spark. A microscopic, infinitesimally small spark of pure, chaotic energy escaped before the System clamped down.

  It wasn't light. It wasn't an element.

  The crystal didn't glow. It shivered.

  A horrendous, grinding screech echoed from the pedestal as the clear crystal instantly turned a swirling, opaque, muddy gray color, like sewage water. Then, with a soft pop, a hairline crack appeared down the center.

  Silence fell over the square.

  The mage stared at the ruined crystal, then at Ren, then burst out laughing.

  "By the Gods!" the mage wheezed, wiping a tear from his eye. "In twenty years, I've never seen that! Boy, your mana isn't just absent; it's so chaotic and impure it actually choked the crystal! You don't have zero talent; you have negative talent!"

  The silence broke. First, the other children giggled. Then the adults started muttering.

  "Impure..." "Did you see that color? Disgusting." "Only the Shinra family could produce a dud that breaks the tester."

  Ren took his hand back. He looked at his parents. His mother was crying silently. His father just looked crushed, unable to meet his eyes.

  Ren didn't cry. The negotiator didn't cry when a deal fell through. He just analyzed the new variables.

  He turned and walked off the stage, the laughter of the village ringing in his ears like a declaration of war.