"Do you want me to help?" Caelen asked the old man, Idel.
Idel looked at Caelen, only to frown. "Don't mock me. If you are in this village at your age, it means your crest is at the first stage, and a scared one at that.
I know the barbarians like the back of my hand. I know what kinds of barbarians live in this village."
"Well, you are wrong," Caelen said with an angry tone.
"Will you tell me you are not scared?"
"It is not that." Caelen hesitated for a moment, but then he continued. "I didn't run away, I was sent here without my consent."
"What? Did you commit a serious crime? No, they would kill you, then."
"No, it is not like that." Caelen raised his left hand and showed the back of it. "My crest wasn't activated at fifteen or even later."
"Huh? How is that possible? Did you sleep all day without training before the age of fifteen?"
"No way!" Caelen answered. Of course, he didn't need to. His body showed how hard he worked.
"Then, how... Wait!" the old man said and checked his pockets.
From one of the pockets, he took out something.
"Is that a crystal?" Caelen asked in shock.
It looked just like the fragmented crystal they used to test the stage of the crest and its owner's potential at fifteen.
"This is why I am here. Sit down, I will tell you about my research and my quest."
Caelen did as he was told. It was obviously going to be another story.
"This probably isn't the same crystal you're thinking of," Idel said.
Caelen leaned in. On closer inspection, it was definitely different. First, it was about twice as large.
Even though it still looked like a shattered fragment, it gave the impression that two pieces had fused together.
And second, it wasn't all red. It had a red hue on one half and a blue hue on the other.
"It looks beautiful," Caelen commented without realizing.
"Hehe, of course it is. Because this is the source of our crests."
"What!?" Caelen was shocked by the sudden revelation.
"The crystal you saw at fifteen was called a fragment. This one is also called a fragment, but it's made by merging two."
"That's... confusing," Caelen admitted.
"Sigh... Let me explain it simply. There are five types of crystal fragments, each with a different color. But they're extremely rare.
The barbarians only have five red ones. That's why there are only four official places where people can get measured at fifteen.
The same is true for the blue ones—or the green ones. Ah, by the way, blue fragments are for the Crest of Knowledge. That's what we magi use.
They're so rare that no nation dares send them outside its borders. Well, except for me.
I brought one blue fragment from Elarith, the magi's homeland... and stole one red fragment from the barbarians."
"I see. That is why the barbarians are after you," Caelen said.
"Well, that is correct. I was caught while stealing it. So, they came after me.
Anyway, the thing I am holding now was created after I merged one blue and one red fragment, one belonging to barbarians and one belonging to magi.
It is still called a crystal fragment because it is not a whole. I need to find the other three colors to make a whole crystal and do more research on it.
However, since this is the end of the line for me, I can't continue the research."
"What kind of research is it? Will it reveal more about the crests?"
"Hehe, that is not the only thing. First of all, as you said, we will know more about the crests if we do that.
Secondly, we, magi, believe that it has something to do with the birth rates. Barbarians might have done something to change the birth rate of the Crest of War through the crystals.
And finally..." He hesitated. "It's still just a theory, but... these crystals—there's reason to believe they didn't originate in this world."
Caelen frowned. Nations, of course, could have their secrets. But this much unknown... If the crystals didn't belong here, then what if their owners came?
But it wasn't the time for that now.
"Now," Idel began, "if you don't mind, can I measure your crest? It shouldn't be possible for it not to awaken.
Of course, the barbarians didn't think twice before tossing you out. But you clearly trained hard. It should've at least reached the first stage."
Caelen's face didn't change. When his crest was measured at the age of sixteen and seventeen, he still had hope.
But after two more failures, he also lost that last bit of hope. So, when they measured him this year for the third time after the age of fifteen, he wasn't hopeful.
And, as he didn't hope, he wasn't disappointed when his crest wasn't activated.
"Sure, go ahead," he said nonchalantly.
Upon the old man's directions, he prepared a chair and put the crystal on it.
"Whenever you are ready," Idel said.
Caelen took a deep breath, steadying his racing heart.
I can't hope for anything. Please... settle down.
Then, he reached out his hand and put it on the crystal.
Red and blue light flared to life, and he felt the familiar wave of energy enter his hand. Normally, it would reach the Crest of War, then pull back.
But this time, that didn't happen.
The energy entered his left hand and started covering the crest on the back of his hand.
Hot! Wait, no. It is warm.
It felt warm as it covered his hand. But the energy didn't stop.
It continued going up his arm, then his shoulder. Then, it jumped to his other shoulder and slowly climbed down to his right hand.
"Aahh!" Caelen's right hand hurt a lot. It felt like something inside was resisting or blocking the energy.
But the energy was forcing its way through.
"Boy, what happened? Hey!" Idel asked. It was shocking for him to see Caelen suddenly bending and shouting.
"Tell me what happened so I can help," Idel also shouted in the end.
"My hand! My right hand hurts!"
"Right hand? What?" Idel closed his eyes.
Like Crest of War's Barbarian Spirit, Crest of Knowledge also had a passive ability called Mental Overclock.
To activate it, a magus needed to enter a heightened state of focus, similar to how barbarians needed to be injured to trigger their own.
The passive made their mind operate faster. The stronger the magus, the faster their mind would work.
Idel's thoughts sped up. His mind ran ten times faster than the world outside.
For every second outside, he would think for ten seconds. And he was focusing every thought on solving this puzzle.
Why does his right hand hurt? He is definitely a barbarian; the Crest of War on his left hand is active right now.
Also, why is it active? Didn't he say it wasn't activated? Did he lie? No, he didn't. He was also shocked when it was activated.
Then, what? What is different?
His Crest of War wasn't activated before when he used a red crystal fragment. But it is activated when he uses a red and blue fragment.
Also, his right hand is the one hurting. The right hand is for the magi's Crest of Knowledge.
Wait! Is this possible? Could I be this lucky?
Idel smiled and decided to test his theory.