Eugene was always smiling, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking inside.

Feeling Liria’s gaze, Eugene rubbed his face vigorously with his hand.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”

Oops, it seems I stared too obviously.

“I was looking to see what you resemble, oppa. When you smile, your eyes become crescent-shaped like this. It’s pretty.”

As Liria smiled, mimicking him by narrowing her eyes, Eugene perked up his ears and his eyes sparkled.

Then he raised his hand as if to cover his mouth, resting his chin on it, and averted his gaze.

“…It’s too much to say a man’s smile is pretty.”

Seeing his ears turn red, he seemed to be shy. In the original story, adult Eugene had a slick personality, but child Eugene is cute.

“By the way, Liria, you just called me oppa, didn’t you?”

Eugene suddenly asked with round eyes.

“Yes. Oppa. Why?”

“…I don’t think you called me that before.”

“Ah… that’s because.”

In fact, Liria had felt distant from Eugene, who seemed to hide his true feelings behind a smile, and she didn’t remember having proper conversations with him even when they met.

Now she had a good reason to become close to him.

“I didn’t know better then. If you don’t like it, should I call you Lord Eugene?”

She had heard that other collateral female children called him Lord Eugene.

“Ah, no! Just like now is good.”

Eugene answered hastily.

“Alright, Eugene oppa. Let’s be good friends from now on.”

Liria smiled brightly and held out her hand, small like a maple leaf.

Her cheeks, soft like flour dough, and her fluffy pink hair resembled the dessert he had tried for the first time in town recently.

‘What was it… Cotton candy?’

Eugene’s pupils, which had been looking at Liria, grew large, and the corners of his mouth slightly turned up.

“Okay, from now on Liria is my little sister, so if anyone bullies you, tell me. Got it?”

“Yes!”

Though I’m not sure why he’s feeling so proud, it seemed like his shoulders were puffing up a bit.

Clara, who was next to them, was looking at the two with a displeased face, but regardless, Liria was lost in thought.

‘To think Eugene Canel was from Roberg. Unbelievable.’

He had never revealed his original family until the end. The pure-hearted man who secretly watched over and protected the female protagonist Tiana in the future.

There must have been a reason significant enough for him to leave Roberg.

I was curious about it.

‘It’s a bit surprising. To think I’d meet an awakened one from the original story here.’

Awakened ones are not common. It was said that there are many countries without even one.

But to meet one like this, it felt real that this was from the original story, and my heart was pounding for some reason.

‘Meeting Eugene was unexpected, but anyway, this is just the beginning.’

The carriage carrying the children soon arrived at a building in the forest.

Rather than a building, it looked more like a huge tree. Liria recognized what it was right away.

This was the Spirit Tree where the aptitude test takes place.

“We’re here. Come to think of it, what attribute of magic did you two manifest?”

“I have wind.”

So Eugene had wielded normal magic before awakening as an Eternal.

From what she knew, even those with the potential to become Eternal awakeners could live ordinary lives as magicians or swordsmen if they never encountered their awakening trigger.

Could there have been undiscovered Eternal awakeners in the original timeline? Those who never found their trigger?

After all, the magic tool that distinguishes between ordinary people and Eternal awakeners only appeared after Adrian became emperor.

Occasionally, if physical characteristics like eye color were apparent, as with Adrian, it was easier to distinguish.

Eugene’s speed and invisibility abilities are powers that emanate from his entire body, so there must be a mark somewhere on his body.

“Hmph, I’m probably the best among us. I have the fire attribute, you know.”

Clara said proudly, flipping her hair back.

“Hey, Clara. Isn’t fire also a basic attribute?”

“Still, it’s stronger than Eugene’s wind attribute!”

“…We’ll have to wait and see about that, won’t we?”

Eugene, who had retorted to Clara, approached Liria as she was about to get off the carriage and added words of encouragement.

“I hope Liria gets the power she wants. Whatever it may be.”

He probably meant it as a nice thing to say, but it still made my heart flutter for a moment.

“Wow. I really hope that happens.”

Liria clasped her hands together and murmured earnestly.

“See you later then.”

As soon as Liria got off the carriage, Clara spewed venom at her back.

“What can she do? I bet Liria’s magic is so weak she won’t be able to manifest anything. Don’t cry though.”

Clara always speaks in such a mocking way. Liria, who had been puffing her cheeks, smiled and said, “I’ll make sure to make you cry at least once, Unni.”

Just wait, I’ll give you a good flick on the back of your head when I get the chance.

As Liria waved her tiny hand, Clara lit up a small flame at her fingertips.

“Hey! You really are tiny!”

The flame was so weak that Eugene, who was behind her, could secretly blow it out with a soft puff.

“Tch. What kind of strong fire is that… I thought it was a match flame.”

By now, the carriage carrying Clara and Eugene had moved away.

Liria was left alone in front of the Spirit Tree. She craned her neck to look up. It was truly an enormous tree.

“Amazing.”

As she looked around, she found a round entrance that looked like a knot in the tree and entered.

Inside, there was a large circular room like a dwarf’s house, with spiral stairs leading vertically to different levels.

Although it seemed empty now, Liria would be watched by succession education supervisors and monitors through the image orbs installed everywhere.

The guide said that after the test is over, a supervisor would appear to give the results.

Roberg’s magic level was very high. To the extent that installing image orbs everywhere for the aptitude test was no problem.

‘In other words, every single one of my actions is part of the test. The fact that there’s no guide or magician in charge of the test means I have to find everything on my own.’

In that regard, if it weren’t for the guide Suleiman gave me, I would have been really lost.

First, she needs to find the hidden transportation portal, which requires the ability to sense magical power.

But how could Liria, with her weak magical power, have developed such sensitivity?

“Now the real test begins.”

Liria calmed her pounding heart and took out the prepared item from the polar bear bag she had been carrying.

A crescent moon-shaped brooch.

This was a magical tool for detecting magical power, which she had taken from her father Classid’s cloak yesterday.

“When it’s time for your aptitude test, Liria, I’ll give this to you as a gift.”

Since Father said so himself, it should be okay to take it in advance, right?

As she pinned the brooch to her dress, the surrounding magical power became clearly visible.

The transportation portal should be a place that glows particularly blue with strong magical power.

As Liria looked around, she found a large blue transportation portal engraved on the central floor.

“There it is. The Mana Room!”

The aptitude test began with finding and entering this Mana Room.

Swoosh.

As Liria’s small feet stepped onto the transportation portal, her body suddenly floated up.

Then, she was transported to a white room rippling with blue mana all around.

Inside, image orbs were installed as expected.

On the white walls, circles, squares, stars, butterflies, flowers, trees, etc., were drawn in dotted lines as hints.

The first gate was an assessment of control ability, checking how well one could control mana.

Mana control requires stable breathing and high concentration. In other words, it depended on how much one had trained.

Father Classid used to create various shapes using mana to show Liria before she fell asleep. Instead of reading storybooks.

Constellations in the night sky, flocks of birds playing in the sea, fields full of blooming flowers, even windmills with turning waterwheels.

Liria naturally learned this method from her father. As a result of consistent practice, although her magical power was weak, she was familiar with controlling it.

“…I’m confident about this!”

Liria said, filled with confidence.