Chapter 34 Hits Different

Only the sound of the small waves of the otherwise still sea remained. The night had seemed to gotten darker as the clouds above expanded.

Eulene widened her eyes and arched even forward, her chest almost touching the table. 'Calamity Class'- it sounded so khool.

"And how strong are they?" She asked.

"With a wave of his hand, a Calamity Class Hydromancer can wash away an entire port city out of existence. An Aeromancer of the same level can call forth category five hurricanes, a Geomancer can quake regions to shambles, and so on," Xavier explained.

"And how strong are you?" Eulene asked. Even though she knew the answer, she wanted to hear it from Xavier's own mouth.

The waiter returned, interrupting the conversation. He went to a side of the wall and began to swivel a crank handle. After a few turns, he opened the hatch beside the handle and pulled out a trolley. On the silver plated trolley, lay two teacups and five teapots- all of them made from high grade porcelain, designed intricately and embedded with jewels.

The veteran waiter finished arranging the set on the table in no time. After he filled the two cups with yellow hued tea, Xavier excused him. The waiter bowed and left, leaving the pair alone again.

A strong but gentle fragrance of jasmine permeated through the air as steam rose from the cups.

Xavier picked his cup of tea. "How strong am I?" he returned the question back to Eulene and began to swirl his teacup. A chaotic vortex formed on the yellow tea while Xavier inspected it.

The peaceful music of the ocean suddenly turned into chaotic gurgles of wrath. Eulene looked outside.

The sea was no longer calm. The waves reaching the shore became violent. But it was nothing compared to what was happening a couple of nautical miles away. The waters there were rising hundreds of meters in altitude, as if a monster underneath was trying to awaken.

Xavier blew the steaming cup of tea, scattering the mist.

Suddenly, the air began to whistle as the gentle breeze picked up its speed. In a matter of seconds, the once-calm wind began to rage at blistering speed- blowing away the sands on the beach, wrestling the sailboats and swaying the trees.

Eulene looked up. The clouds covered the entire sky, and it seemed to have taken a spiral shape- with the eye just above them.

The play of 'nature' was far from over.

Xavier began to tap the carpeted floor with his foot- ever so gently. But with ever hit of black shoes, the world shook- and the magnitude only increased over time.

Panicked screams entered the duos' sensitive ears. The customers below strived to escape the building, but the storm outside put them in a dilemma.

But Xavier and Eulene remained nonchalant.

"Enough." Eulene sighed in defeat. Controlling nature- a part of heaven itself- it was something even she would find hard to do. But Xavier was doing this nonchalantly, without breaking a sweat. Worst of all, she had yet to gauge his full power.

Everything calmed down. The ocean became as still it was, tucking the monster beneath back to sleep; the wind called of the strike, as if its demands were accepted; and the earth below stopped shivering.

Collective gasps and sighs sounded from below, but the panic had yet to completely wash away.

"Equivalent exchange," Xavier took a sip from the cup, "remember?"

Eulene picked up her teacup, thought for a second, and replied, "I have already exposed my third eye to you."

"Fair enough." Xavier did not push any further.

Eulene sipped the yellow hued tea. It tasted both bitter and sweet. The aroma of the Jasmine seeped into her tastebuds and nose. The taste felt nostalgic to her.

"Jasmine, right?" She asked.

Xavier nodded.

The waiter rushed in again. "Are you okay, sir and madam?" He was panting, with sweat perspiring from his skin.

"Don't worry too much." Eulene smiled and eyed Xavier. "The nature acts foolish sometimes."

Xavier's cheek twitched. He tossed a silver coin to the waiter. "You can leave."

The coldness and the sight of the silver brought surprise and smile to the waiter's face. He thanked Xavier and left.

The duo tasted all the remaining types of tea.

"They are good," Eulene said, "but not as good as the ones back in my world."

"Aramon offers better teas." Xavier wiped his mouth with a white handkerchief. "But I am curious of how the tea in your world tastes like." He eyed the storage ring on Eulene's finger.

Eulene shook her head. "I can't fit that much in the ring. My sword and a few trea-" she coughed, "a few other items is all I have. Besides, how do your people check if someone has powers or not?" She tried to change the topic.

"Unfortunately, the process is really inefficient." Xavier shook his head. "According to a study, there's one person with a meta-cerebrum among every 1000 people. So, Avarynth's three million population should have around 3000 kinetics. But less than a thousand have been recorded by the Thriteenth. And almost all of them are either from kinetic families- who inherited their powers from their lineage, or detected by a special artefact."

"What about the others?" Eulene asked.

"There are a few precedents every couple of years where someone accidentally discovers their powers. For example, a boy had wanted playfully manipulate fire from a stove. And he just happened to have a good grasp over how combustion reaction worked, and a meta-cerebrum. Guess what?"

"The fire moved?"

"Precisely. There are other instances where-" Xavier suddenly stopped in his tracks. His eyes widened in realisation as he looked into Eulene's eyes. "You are an absolute genius!"

It was Eulene's turned to be surprised. Her heart began to race. She had no fucking idea why she was praised, but it felt so good. She was praised a lot before in her own world, but it hit different when the praise came from someone worthy.

"I know I am a genius." She coughed, trying to get the red off her face. "What happened?" She still had no clue what she did. All she wanted was just to change the topic.

"Smart children, water body, burning fire, open space, driven into a corner- the whole events were not that of rituals…"

Xavier's eyes turned grim.

"But tests."