Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

Although quite annoyed at being tied up, Malin decided to forgive that tall guy because he neither made threats nor laid hands on him, especially after being treated to pastries by the Church's young ladies.

He had to forgive him; there was no beating a muscular man whose arms were thicker than his own waist. If possible, it was better to keep a respectful distance.

After all, as an adult, one must learn to face the harsh realities of life. Only teenagers would talk about the shifting tides of fortune over decades, and only such protagonists would expect villains to pass by with a laugh—unlike Malin, who would've killed the lad tonight rather than tomorrow morning. He never let a resentment wait overnight, let alone fester for ten years.

Moreover, having lived for so many years, he was not unacquainted with such fools, and this time, due to a stroke of ill luck, he obtained a blessing. The young leader of the Church seemed interested in figuring out how he was immune to control, which is why he was brought back to the Church.

Gaiate and Maya followed along. Maya needed to come for a check-up to ensure she wasn't injured, but Malin could see the concern in the Church staff's eyes. They seemed to fear that Maya had been... parasitized? Or that her soul had been snatched?

It wasn't anything good, but being able to get checked was a blessing. With the world being so terrifying, Malin definitely didn't want to be chased out of bed in the middle of the night by a suddenly transformed cat-girl and resort to jumping from a window to survive.

Even though little Leopard Girl was so cute... it didn't mean she could skip the examination. Otherwise, if she turned into a big live cat in the middle of the night and pushed her brother down a deadly path, in the end, Malin would still have to save himself. But by then, whether he would have to jump out a window or break through a door to live would depend on the mood of the little Leopard Girl.

Of course, Malin had his own troubles as well. The Church's people brought him in through the main entrance to the hall, and Malin immediately turned his attention to the statues on the left side.

"What are you looking at?" the leader asked softly.

"On the left, counting from the doorway, the fifth statue in; it feels strange, like the statue is watching me," Malin decided to tell the truth. Concealing one's strength was not wrong, but neither was stating this. After all, he could also sense a line of sight coming from above, veiled but discernibly surveilling.

So, it was fine to make a good impression, but not too good. Though Malin had a very positive impression of the Church in this world so far, the atheistic Malin still had his doubts, even if this Church claimed to worship the Goddess of Harvest and had a deity to believe in.

But when it came down to it, the only one that Malin could truly trust was himself.

"Mm, that is a surveillance spell formation. You have very good sensory perception," the young leader nodded. "Your intuition could be considered excellent. No wonder you were able to detect The Cutter."

"So that's why Maya didn't sense anything while I immediately smelled something," Malin decided to throw in a bit more weight.

"You could say that, but you still need to undergo more examinations. From now on, everything you do will be part of your assessment. Do you have any new discoveries?" the young leader asked with a smile.

"That one sitting in the corner, he's not human, right?" Malin immediately pointed out the figure who had wrapped himself in a cloak and robe.

"Why do you think that?" the leader frowned slightly.

"There's a sea brine smell on him," Malin told the truth. The large hall had been filled with that smell ever since he had walked in, making him very uncomfortable. "It gives me a very unpleasant feeling."

The tall guy at the end of the group sniffed and said, "I don't smell it," pursing his lips. However, a stern "Shut up" from the leader silenced him.

"Lord Cain, what brings you here today?" the leader approached the cloaked figure, who lifted his head to reveal tiny tentacles peeking out from the edge of his hood before quickly retreating back into the unseen depths of the cloak.

Malin pursed his lips—this Church really has a unique approach to employing people.

It should have been an inner monologue, but Malin saw the leader exchange a look with him, then the leader called the group back to his side: "Your perceptual abilities are even better than I imagined. Come with me, child."

Malin obediently followed him into the hallway. As he stepped forward, he braced himself for the surrounding images to become bizarre, yet following the leader through the hallway, Malin came up empty-handed except for the feeling that the corridor, despite its open design, was unnaturally quiet.

"How do you feel?" the leader turned to ask.

"Nothing, just very quiet. Is it always this quiet inside the Holy Hall?"

"Always this quiet. But are you sure you didn't feel anything?" the leader asked again.

Malin shook his head, then pointed to another corridor: "Why are they walking that way?"

"It's nothing." The leader smiled, shaking his head, seeming a bit relieved yet somewhat disappointed.

.........

After the lengthy examination had concluded, the person in charge took the firsthand data and left the rest area. He ascended the steps leading to the top of the Holy Hall, exchanged greetings with two members of the Church, and then pushed open the door to see his mentor.

"Colin, how did the little guy's examination go?" his mentor, seated behind a desk with arms folded on the surface and hands crossed, concealing half of his face, inquired.

"Exceptionally well. He possesses a very strong intuition, even detecting the purposely concealed Instructor Cain on his first attempt," the person in charge relayed as he handed over the files to his mentor.

"How intriguing. And the Memory Corridor?" the mentor nodded, unfolded his hands and flipped through the document. "No detection data throughout the Memory Corridor?"

"Yes, not a single instance. Considering he was immune to The Cutter's control, I believe this child might indeed possess a talent for immunity to spell formations aimed at mental control," the person in charge posited.

"A fine child. How about the bloodline assessment?" the mentor asked.

"This child carries several bloodlines, somewhat mixed, but what is surprising is that there's a very mysterious one we have never encountered before that is dominant," the person in charge answered with a smile. "It's all recorded on page four."

"Human, less than ten percent, Elves, less than ten percent, Frost Giant, twenty percent... the mysterious bloodline, over sixty percent," the mentor looked up. "The Frost Giant, is it possible to confirm which clan it belongs to?"

"No. We traced back four generations for the Frost Giant and still couldn't confirm it; we can't even be sure if it's a clan from this world. The human bloodline goes back eleven generations with no illustrious lineage and the same uncertainty in his identity; Elf lineage goes back five generations with no illustrious lineage, but we can confirm it's the Lin Jing clan. However, the Lin Jing clan has intermarried with humans for a long time, so that's not very significant. There's no suitable spell formation to trace the mysterious blood."

"How about the child's data?" the mentor looked up again.

"Using our decile rating system implemented over the last decade, the child's strength is 5 points, far surpassing the 3 points average of his peers, even stronger than an average mortal," the person in charge explained. "After all, he carries Frost Giant blood. Continue."

"His reflexes are at 7 points, peers at 5.5 points; constitution is 3.5 points..." "3.5 points?"

In response to the mentor's confusion, the person in charge nodded, "Yes, only 3.5 points. We tested his tolerance using diluted sleeping potion, and he began dozing off after only the second bottle. For safety reasons, we didn't test his tolerance to the Healing Potion since the lowest requirement is a constitution of 4 to handle it."

"Quite peculiar. A constitution of 3.5 with Frost Giant blood, is it too diluted?" The old man shook his head and glanced at the report in his hand. "Intelligence 8... There's no mistake?"

"No mistake. The child is exceptionally good at mathematics. We gave him four-digit arithmetic, and he wasn't troubled by it. Considering he was an orphan just a month ago, we couldn't challenge him with higher-grade math problems."

"You said he's an orphan?"

"Yes, he was adopted by Lord Gaiate."

"...The little bastard does have some luck," the old man sighed upon hearing his disciple's words, and turned to look at the last figures. "...How come this little bastard is so fortunate."

"Indeed. The examiner, Old Gorr, was almost tempted to claim him, but upon hearing he was Lord Gaiate's adopted son..."

"Comparing people can really kill you." The old man put down the file and looked at his disciple, "What's the plan for the second day of testing?"

"We'll do a magical affinity test. If possible, it would be best if the child could stay and grow within the Church."

"If he's not suitable, but his sister is, keep her instead. From today's situation, although he could leave, he stayed for the sake of his sister, so... we need a reliable safety measure." The old man glanced over the report again, looked up at his disciple, and continued.

"I understand, teacher."

"Dismissed."

With his teacher's blessing, the person in charge exited the room. The old man sitting there took another look at the file, where the last column for intuition was scored at Eleven.

This indicated that a score of ten was no longer sufficient to rate his excellence.