Rebirth

In the village of Swaying Forest – named for the surrounding trees that grows at an angle as if they are swaying in the wind – there exist a married couple named Roko and a woman named Wida.

A few months into their marriage, Wida gives birth to a boy they name Adal.

Adal is a healthy infant of average weight and is normal in all ways. He is also a demon. He doesn't know it, but he is the reincarnation of a demon once known as 'Minori'. It had died mindless in an infinite black void eons ago and ended up reincarnating as a child in one of the thousands of villages that existed within a country known as Alvir.

This is nothing particularly special. There are many in Alvir who are the reincarnation of demons. There are many who are reincarnations of various fauna. Adal's father, Roko, is the reincarnation of a hoarder mouse.

As Adal is outwardly completely normal, his parents remain blissfully unaware that their child is a demon. Adal too will forever remain ignorant of his previous life. Five years will have passed uneventfully before Adal is even aware of what is outside his home. In the meantime, he mother gives birth to three other children. Two more boys – Data and Doto – and a girl Roko lazily named Bird.

One day, his father comes home and glares at him. "Do you think the boy will be worth anything?"

"How am I to know?" His mother replies not taking her attention off her duties. "That is what the test is for."

'The test' being the test that is held annually in Swaying Forest and that all children that reach the age of five must participate. Its main purpose is to test the magical aptitude of all children. All those in the world are born with power and their power becomes stable at the age of five.

In the world, the easiest way to success is to align oneself with the nobilities – those families whose wealth, prestige, and power are vastly greater than the common man. One way to do so is have excellent connections by being wealthy yourself. Another way is to make a name for yourself as an excellent soldier or scholar, but that also requires a lot of money for schooling and training.

For those families of little means, the easiest way is to be born gifted with great magical aptitude. If they are lucky enough to be born with such aptitude, a wealthy noble family will induct them into their ranks in order to increase their own power. If your aptitude is great enough, you may make it into one of the powerful capital nobilities or even the royal family.

For the people of Swaying Forest who mostly live in great poverty, including Adal's family, it is a great source of hope and thus why they look forward to the test which will test all children using what is known as a 'power stone'. It is the only instrument that can test a child's magical aptitude.

On the designated day which is universally known and looked forward to in the village, Adal's father brings him to the outskirts of the village where all the people are gathered in front of the power stone. A small black boulder with a smooth surface.

At the head of this crowd stand two proctors from the wealthiest and only nobility in the village – the Bear family.

One step forward to address the crowd, "We go through this every year, but there are young children here, so I will explain." He gestures to the stone. "This is the power stone and it is the most important object here today. It is so for it will determine the future of your family. Only by the success of your children can you succeed."

"The method is simple. We will call all the children up one by one. They will place their hands on the stone and keep it there. The stone will sense their inner magical aptitude and once it completes, it will result in a feedback force that will repel your child's hand off the stone. The longer it takes before your child's hand gets repelled, the greater his aptitude."

The protector gives a pointed look. "Do you understand? Longer is better. So I suggest you start praying that your child is worth something. If they can keep their hand on the stone for one minute, our Bear Family will offer to take them into our own family. You will be paid a fee and he will receive generous income."

The Bear Family makes the same offer every year. A child that is inducted into their family has the opportunity to get a noble position that will earn vastly greater income that what they could hope to get as a commoner.

Their standing and marriage prospects in the village will greatly improve. The children will also assist their blood family by sending money home which will make an enormous difference. In other cases, the children may help their family get jobs within Bear making more money than they would anywhere else. Even a servant gets paid as much as two silvers a month.

For a village where most people earn perhaps 10 silvers in an entire year, it is a highly lucrative job.

"One last thing. When your child put their hands on the stone, they will feel something. This is normal, so do not remove your hand. They might feel warm or cold. When they get the feedback, we might see a spark of fire, a splash of water, a gust of wind, or something like that. This is normal and it helps us find out what magic type your child is."

Everyone has one magic type. It could be fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, and, sometimes, there are even exotic types like ice or stone. The most common by far is fire type.

For most commoners, magic types are fairly meaningless. Most will never become adept enough to use their magic for anything even remotely useful. The few that do practice enough to become adept simply don't have the magical aptitude to do more than perhaps create a small flame in their hands.

Finished with explanations, the protector calls forth the first child who is a boy - the oldest of three – from a nondescript family. The boy places his hand on the power stone. 20 seconds later, his hand is thrown back as if hit and a few almost invisible sparks of fire appear. His face is of pure devastation as are the faces of his parents.

The length of time determines your aptitude and aptitudes are separated into grades that are known throughout the world.

Less than 60 seconds is called 'Common' – most people fall into this category and doing so means you will live a completely ordinary life. The 60 second mark falls into 'Earth', 120 seconds is 'Sky', 180 seconds is 'Star', 240 seconds is 'Heaven', and anything above that is 'Divine'.

The grades were determined by a consortium of nobles long ago after much researching and recording. However, there are still parts which remain a mystery. For example, no one knows why the unlimited 'Divine' grade was even created. No one has ever reached Divine grade.

In reality, achieving a grade above Earth is incredibly rare. Sky grades are very rare. The Bear family is blessed enough to have two, but most villages don't have so much as one. Star grades are extremely rare. The most powerful families in the entire country would be blessed to have even one.

There are no confirmed Heaven grades in the country. There are no confirmed Heaven grades in the world. Even the legends rarely have heroes who are Heaven grade as the idea is too difficult to believe.

'Divine' grade is an unlimited grade supposedly because it's considered impossible to reach so there's no point creating anything higher, yet there are no known 'Heaven' grades either so why even bother creating it? The 240 seconds mark for it is based on what is observed with the lower grades, but there is no confirmation that is where it begins.

In fact, in tests where most participants are commoners, it often is the case that there might be only one or two Earth grades found. If anyone gets that achievement today, it will probably be someone from the Bear family.

The next child is called. Then another. Then another. Each one is a disappointment. The longest last 26 seconds and he gave it his hardest forcefully holding his hand against the stone as if he can fight being repelled. The girls generally lasted less than the boys but not by much. Soon, sorrow fills the entire crowd.

At last, Adal's turn comes. His father looks at him with a face of resignation. "Just go up there and get it over with, boy."

So he did. When Adal put his hand on the stone, he feels…nothing. He scowls, but nothing changes. He doesn't feel warm or cold. A moment later, he feels a strong force against his hand throwing it off the stone.

He shakes off the confusion and looks up to see the proctor thinking.

"Hey kid, what did you feel on that stone? Hot or cold? I didn't see anything happen when the stone repelled you."

"I…didn't feel anything."

"Huh, a non-type?" He shrugs. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. You only lasted 20 seconds. You can go now."

'Non-types' or those with no elemental affinity do exists, though they are rare. Theoretically, they have an advantage in that their attacks have no elemental weaknesses, but the opposite is that they have no elemental strengths either. As a commoner, Adal's type is near worthless. He walks back to his father who is stone faced.

The sullen atmosphere of the crowd only lifts when it is the turn of the last two children. Mutters go around. Some are resigned, some are bitter.

"Why the hell are we even watching? Of course they'll do well."

"It's unthinkable that two kids from the Bear Family will do badly."

Despite this, all are paying attention closely. Even knowing it's not their own children, it's hard to ignore the tingling of curiosity and excitement at how high of a rank a child can go.

These next two children are nobles from the Bear family. They are cousins but both their parents are Earth grades. Theoretically, that means they are more likely to be Earth grades.

The first child, a boy named Roccoco, go up. He places his hand on the stone and an audible inhaling can be heard around the crowd. 10 seconds. 20 seconds. He reaches 30 seconds. When it reached 50 seconds, everyone watches completely stiffed.

At 63 seconds, Roccoco gets pushed back with fire sparks and the crowd collectively releases its breath. Even the proctors, who are Roccoco's cousins, let out a breath of relief. After all, Roccoco may be their family and a noble, but that was no guarantee that he would be special.

Next is Roccoco's cousin, Bluska. She gulps nervously and places her hand on the stone. This time, the crowd isn't nearly as attentive but they still watch silently. 60 seconds is just barely hit when Bluska gets repelled with a gust of wind.

The girl lets out a relieved sigh. The proctors also do as much. They may be nobles with good parentage, but it could still have very easily been the case that both Bluska and Roccoco would not make Earth grades at all.

"Only the rich kids make it. Life is still unfair. Big surprise." Someone mutters.

This isn't entirely the end. Theoretically, people can still train and become stronger eventually attaining a higher grade. In practice, though, it just doesn't happen unless your aptitude is extremely close to the next grade. Even then, it is still rare and could take an entire lifetime.

A child that only held on for 55 seconds will most likely not make it to Earth grade. Adal, who only held on for 20 seconds, will not make it to Earth grade.

Instead, people like him – Common grades – will, at most, use their meager power for only small tasks. Perhaps starting a fire or cutting grass. Even then, as Adal has no elemental affinity, he can't do that.

The event moves to the second and final part. A competition. Though the first part – the magic test – only allows 5-year-olds to participate, the second part is designed for anyone who wants to take part as it's meant to be an entertainment event.

It is an inexact competition unlike the first part and what kind of competition it is actually varies between villages, though most don't even have anything beyond the test.

In Swaying Forest, it is a straight forward thing: a one on one fight.

At this point, many of the parents leave with their children because they have jobs to do. Some stay for the mild entertainment, but they don't pay too much attention. The combat test that comes every year is hardly special.

Adal and his father are among those who go home. There, his father falls into a chair as his mother looks up knitting clothes to sell in the marketplace. Her face is momentarily hopeful but falls upon seeing her husband's demeanor.

Roko sighs, "Another year. Another disappointment. Not that I expected anything other than lifelong poverty."

"Oh, can it. Adal is our first child and we have more." Wida says crossly. "There'll be opportunities to see if our other kids make it. Maybe Data will make it."

"All those opportunities will be the same, woman. What are the chances that a common family like ours gets a child that makes the Earth grade?"

"It's possible." Wida insists. "That's why the Bear family holds this test. Because it's possible and everyone knows it too."

"What they know is that it's free to test everyone so they might as well do it." Roko says. "I saw their faces. After each result. They knew the outcome."

"We have more children." Wida repeats. "We might get lucky."

"I would call it lucky if this one-" Roko gestures to Adal. "-doesn't die before he can start working and making money for us. Beyond that? I'm not hoping for a damn thing."

Roko glares at Adal. "You hear me, kid? Make me some money and I'll be happy. I don't want anything else from you." He turns to Adal's younger brothers. "The same go for you lot. I would also tell your sister if I thought she could understand me."

His father intends to make sure he gets something from Adal for all his troubles of raising him. Not even three months passes before he comes home saying that it's time for Adal to learn to hunt. The purpose being for food and for meat to sell on the market.

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