“We need to test your abilities.”
“What abilities?” Orlando asked.
“Magic,” Thrandil said.
“When you were in the water, the Druid’s secret technique reacted to you. You have a strong magical fluctuation.”
Orlando’s mind buzzed.
’Magic? Him? The one who at age six made the crystal ball not move at all, the only zero in the entire town?’
’You’ve got to be kidding me.’
“I don’t have magic,” he said, his tone firm.
“You do,” Thrandil said, his tone even more firm.
Ella stood up from her chair, walked to a corner of the room, and took something from a wooden shelf—a crystal ball the size of a fist, transparent and colorless, set on a wooden base.
She placed the ball on the low table in front of Orlando.
“Put your hand on it.”
Orlando looked at the crystal ball.
He had experienced this scene before.
At age six, the examiner changed several crystal balls, and finally wrote a zero.
He took a deep breath and pressed his hand onto it.
The crystal ball lit up.
Not “a little brighter,” but “exploded.”
White light burst from the center, like a small sun exploding in his palm.
The light was so dazzling that he himself turned his head away.
Ella stepped back, shielding her eyes with her hand.
Fiona jumped off her chair.
Iselin’s red hair blazed like a burning fire.
Then the crystal ball shattered.
It broke into countless tiny fragments, flying out from his palm.
The room fell silent.
Even Fiona stopped swinging her legs.
Orlando looked down at his palm covered in powder.
“I… I tested at age six, and the crystal ball didn’t react at all.”
“That’s because when you were six,” Thrandil stood up from his chair.
At one meter ninety, his white hair fell to his waist.
His light gold eyes looked down at him.
“The magic within you hadn’t been activated yet.”
“Activated by what?”
Thrandil didn’t answer.
He walked over, crouched down, and wiped a bit of powder from Orlando’s palm with his finger, then sniffed it under his nose.
“This crystal ball’s test limit is five times that of an ordinary mage. You shattered it. And you only used about a third of your power.”
Fiona’s voice drifted over from the side.
“So we can keep him?”
Thrandil stood up and returned to his chair.
“You can stay. But there are a few conditions.”
Orlando closed his mouth.
“First, you cannot leave the village. Your body hasn’t stabilized yet. The Druid’s secret technique needs time to merge. Second, you need to learn to control your magic—if you don’t control it, it will control you.”
Orlando caught the implication: he was talking about the dragon lineage.
’My lineage is probably an open book to the elder.’
“I have no more questions,” Thrandil said, leaning back in his chair.
That evening, the elders arranged a room for Orlando on the west side of the village.
The window faced a small stream, with the sound of babbling water, so soothing it made you want to sleep.
He looked around and noticed a problem: there was another treehouse next door, separated by a wooden plank wall.
The soundproofing was probably about as good as paper.
“Great! We’re neighbors now!”
Mavia’s head poked in from the doorway, grinning like a flower.
Orlando looked at her face, which was clearly screaming “I’m so happy,” and squeezed out a single word: “Mm.”
Mavia didn’t mind his coldness.
She leaned into the room a bit, then pulled back and tilted her head to look at him.
“Get some rest early. I’ll come call you for breakfast tomorrow morning.”
“No need—” He didn’t want anyone to call him.
What if he woke up as Olivia?
Who knew how these elves felt about dragons.
“It’s settled!”
She waved her hand and turned to leave.
He closed the door and leaned against it.
From next door came rustling sounds—probably Mavia changing clothes.
Then the wooden bed creaked as she turned over a couple of times, then silence.
Orlando turned off the magic lamp and gradually drifted off to sleep.
This time Victoria didn’t come, but she left a note.
There was only one line on the paper:
“You have seven days. If you can’t complete it, I won’t see you again.”
’What does that mean?’
Dreams are always short.
He hadn’t slept long before waking up.
Orlando was woken by light.
Not moonlight, but sunlight.
Golden yellow, with the earthy, grassy smell unique to the forest.
He squinted and tried to shrink into the blanket, but then realized the blanket wouldn’t shrink—
His body had shrunk.
She sat up from under the blanket, silver hair falling to her waist.
She looked down—wearing an oversized linen shirt, the collar slipping off her shoulder, revealing a bit of collarbone.
The hem of the shirt hung to her thighs like a short skirt.
’Changed back again.’
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and concentrated hard.
’Change back. Concentrate.’
A thin layer of sweat broke out on her forehead.
She opened her eyes—still that small, glowing white hand.
She clenched her fist, then released.
Nothing had changed.
“No way…”
The door was knocked.
“Orlando? Are you up?”
Mavia’s voice was clear and energetic.
“I said I’d come call you for breakfast!”
Olivia’s pupils shrank into slits.
“Orlando?”
Two more knocks.
“Are you still asleep? It’s almost eight o’clock.”
Olivia jumped out of bed.
“Orlando? Are you okay? I’m coming in?”
She crouched down and looked around—the only place to hide was under the bed.
Just as she was about to crawl under, the door opened.
The click of the latch being pulled, the door being pushed open, the sound of Mavia’s bare feet on the wooden floor—each step felt like it was stepping on Olivia’s heart.
“Orlando? Not here?”
Olivia had already hidden under the bed.
Mavia’s feet appeared at the edge of the bed, bare, with round toes and slender ankles.
The heels were less than thirty centimeters from her face.
If she bent down and lifted the bedsheet, she would see a silver-haired little girl curled up under the bed.
’This girl, wasn’t she just saying yesterday that it’s rude to enter a girl’s room without permission? Why is she so casual about coming into my room today!’
“Gone out?”
Mavia muttered to herself.
Her feet moved back two steps.
Footsteps headed toward the door.
“So early… I thought we could have breakfast together.”
There was a hint of disappointment in her voice.
The door closed.
The footsteps gradually faded.
Olivia didn’t come out immediately.
She waited one minute, two minutes, three minutes.
She lifted a corner of the bedsheet and poked out half her head—the room was empty, the door closed.
She stood in the center of the room, panting heavily.
Then she looked down at her body.
It seemed like after a few days, she had developed a bit more.
’But now is probably not the time to think about these things.’
She thought again of those words:
“You have seven days. If you can’t complete it, I won’t see you again.”
’Seven days. The first day has already started.’
’She can’t even change back to her human form. In this village full of elves, a silver-haired little girl claiming to be Orlando Dellfort—who would believe that?’
’She needs to change back first. Then go to Eldron’s Ruins and find the “answer” Victoria mentioned.’
“Why…”
Her voice was very small, with a slight tremor.
“Why can’t I change back…”