Edward and Snow walked together in silence, neither side trying to strike up an conversation.
The perpetual snow was pouring over the ice covered pavements, layering over the pavements in thick sheets of ice. The residents of the Riffy Cliffs, were mostly in their homes enjoying the warm comfort of their fires.
After taking a right turn towards a narrow street the pair of father and son eventually arrived at their humble house.
Snow walked into the house wearing a passive expression and just when he was at the door, Edward suddenly clutched his shoulder as he began to give a pep talk, which he was terribly bad at.
"You know… all hope isn't lost," he began awkwardly.
Snow did not turn around.
"You might not have talent in Qi or mana," Edward continued, fumbling for optimism, "but that doesn't mean you're powerless. There are warriors who rose to greatness through pure martial skill. Some relied on enchanted weapons. While some relied on sealed artifacts. And there are even those who rely on cursed blades."
He forced a small smile.
"All we need is to find you a weapon and I'll teach you proper sword techniques. You'll see. You'll be fine."
Snow finally turned his head.
His expression was passive.
He understood what his father was doing.
Trying to fill a void with words.
Yes, there were legends of individuals who defied limitations through skill alone. Yes, there were those who wielded sealed artifacts to compensate for lack of talent.
Such feats were rather more based on the backing of the countless powerful guilds behind them than their individual strength.
The Riffy Cliffs was an independent small town with no interactions with other towns, cities or kingdoms.
They did not possess knowledge to raise forgemasters, nor did they have sorcerers in their arsenal who could inscribe and enchant enchanted items.
The art of creating weapons was a lost art for then so such hope was hopeless.
Snow also suspected that the town didn't even have much of a single sealed artifact in their possession, and its resources in runes were barely sufficient in maintaining the heat warding runes sorrounding the town.
So all this talk that Edward was giving him was nothing but cheap words.
Meanwhile at the same time, at the Dark Cathedral, that served as Lady Agatha's home and office, stood four figures.
One was a middle-aged woman with black hair tied into a bun.
Then beside her was a large man, with robust posture, thick neck and bald head.
Then there was another person beside the bald man.
This was a young man with a thin body frame , dark curly hair and hollow dark eyes.
Then the last person was a young lady who looked to in her mid twenties.
She had long black hair, blue eyes and was clad in a blue warlock winter robe.
These four alongside Lady Agatha, Chief Edward Cane and Vice Chief Rolland Cane were what comprised the Council of Elders of the Riffy Cliffs.
As the four figures stood in waiting, soft footsteps that were measured began to sound in the large cathedral.
From the shadowy confines of the cathedral's corridors emerged an old lady, who was dressed in a large thick and warm coat.
Lady Agatha moved towards the group with grace and serenity, her wooden staff producing soft taps on the ground.
As she approached, one of the four visitors, the middle-aged bald man, then spoke.
"Good evening Lady Agatha. "
"Good evening Elder Rashid."
The old seer returned greetings of her own.
She then began to greet the other people inside the room.
"Lord Erek, Lady Amar and Lady Siana, good evening to you all."
"Please Lady Agatha, you know you don't have to use our honorifics when greeting us. None of us are even close to your age, so we don't deserve such respect. "
The one who had spoken, was the middle-aged woman with dark hair that was tied into a bun.
Lady Agatha just smiled amicably before replying with a gentle tone.
"Whether l am older than you or not, you are all still respective members of the council."
Lady Amar coudn't help but sigh when she heard those words.
She wanted to say more but, lady Agatha didn't let her, as she began to give the report that the council members had come for.
"So today I have conducted the Apitude Apraisal of the the chief's child."
As soon as that topic was brought, everyone's attention was drawn, since all of them were interested in this topic.
"So what result was it? l hope his apitude is water, l had always been eying him for a potential student. "
The one who had spoken was Lady Siana, the young woman who was in her mid twenties and who was donning the blue winter warlock robe.
Before another could talk, the enthusiastic lady then added.
"It would be a shame if he were to take after his mother's prowess?"
Lady Amar interjected her at that moment.
"How is that a shame. If he were to take after Winter herself, containing her talent and apitude, then our fighting capabilities would be tremendously amplified. After all Winter was the only warrior to ever reach C rank in the entire history of the Riffy Cliffs. "
Lady Siana wanted to rebuke when her older sister's outstanding feats was brought out for her, but she had nothing to say.
Once no one had anything to say they both turned to Lady Agatha, waiting for her to reveal the results of the test.
Lady Agatha sighed as she said softly with a gentle tone that was unlike that of an old lady.
"The results of the apitude test was black"
She spoke tersely waiting for the four elders before her to interpret the results themselves.
The four elders exchanged confused glances.
"Black?" Siana frowned. "You mean dark affinity? Shadow? Corruption?"
"No."
Agatha's voice was steady.
"Black."
Silence followed afterwards.
Elder Rashid was the first to figure out the implications of this information.
His brow furrowed, then slowly—
His eyes widened.
"No…" he muttered.
The others looked at him.
"What does that mean?" Amar demanded.
Rashid swallowed.
"The Orb reflects mana… or in genral term life energy. "
He looked toward Agatha.
"And black is what appears when there is nothing to reflect."
Siana's expression faltered.
"You mean… low aptitude?"
Agatha shook her head.
"Not low."
She tightened her grip on her staff.
"Absent."
The cathedral seemed to grow colder.
"He has no mana," she continued.
The words echoed unnaturally against stone.
Lord Erek finally spoke, his voice quiet and hollow.
"That's impossible."
"Yes," Agatha agreed.
"It is."
Lady Amar's expression hardened.
"If he has no life resonance… then what anchors his body?"
No one answered.
Because they all understood the implication.
The soul was what anchored the body. Without a soul one, the body coudn't survive.
"Could he be an undead?" Asked Lady Amar already having recovered from the shock.
Lady Agatha was silent for a moment before saying.
"That's my initial assumption as well but l can't be certain."
The cathedral entered another round of silence before Lady Siana asked.
"So are we going to report the news?"
As one of Snow's only relative she was concerned on what this news would do to her nephew's reputation, which was already not so good.
Elder Rashid was the first to speak.
"This news is very sensitive and important. And due to Lady Agatha's circumstances, its impossible to hide them. The town would need to know the evaluation results, since Snow is now old enough to join the town's hunting expedition team."
Siana coudn't help but sigh.
She knew that this was inevitable. The Seer wasn't able to lie to the people, so this news was bound to go public. As an aunt, she was overly concerned for her nephew's social life.
His relationship with his peers was already strained as it was , but with this news he would definitely remain alone, being loathed by almost everyone in the town.
'My poor Snowflake is going to remain single for the rest of his life' she mumbled inwardly.
Strangely it was Snow's love life that concerned her the most among everything else that would be affected by this news.
As the elders exchanged thoughts, they eventually concluded the meeting.
The news of Snow's apitude results would be revealed to the town on the following morning, on the day Snow was to join the one week hunting school.