Dryth stared at the card without really seeing it as he processed the revelation. He was a Contractor. That was... within expectations. He'd never expected to get one of the incredibly rare Classes that turned people into national heroes or immediately paved their way to immense magical power, and he'd avoided the Classes he really didn't want, like Mage Vessel, a class dedicated toward storing magical power so it could be transported. The jobs they got didn't sound very magical at all despite their blue Soul Cards, they just moved from place to place transferring energy into depleted enchantments, which required a lot of travel and not much time to make a life for yourself. Contractor was solidly on his list of acceptable options and was roughly in the middle of the same list when sorted by how much he'd like to get that Class. All in all, an average result that would definitely lead to a stable life.

  Actually, calling it just "average" might even be downplaying it a little. Being a Contractor was actually considered fairly prestigious, once you'd been doing it for awhile. Contractors were the kind of mages that built up power and connections as time went on, as long as they put a modicum of effort into it, and didn't have much of a plateau when it came to growth, so it was sought after by the kind of people that thought that far ahead or thought they were particularly suited for it, not that there was any way to actually make sure you got one Soul Card or another, but people still tried.

  Having paid attention in all of his classes, Dryth knew what the basics of the Contractor card were and wanted to jump down to the bottom to read his silver text, the part of his card that made him unique, but he restrained himself without too much difficulty. Knowledge was power, and the society he lived in cared about controlling power. He'd seen how the teachers and other figures of authority maneuvered certain questions to avoid answers or to make things sound more or less achievable. There was a chance that they'd left out information about the Contractor card or others, or they might have entirely lied about some things. While his experiences so far didn't point toward that level of information control, "trust but verify" was the name of the game.

  He started at the very top of the lines of text on the card and made sure he actually understood everything before moving on to the next line.

  He paused at the end of the first sentence, already a bit out of his depth, thanks to the words in parentheses. The sound of a faint thud had him looking up from the card, startled at something moving in his soul space that wasn't him. A tall glass instrument that looked like something out of a chemistry lab was now sitting in the corner of the table. It had a brown wooden base that almost blended in with the color of the table and a cylinder of glass rose from that. Halfway up it split into four equal tubes that curved until they were perpendicular to their start and fed into a large glass sphere the size of a basketball. A small display flipped up with led lights against the wood that spelled out "0/100 MP". As Dryth watched in surprised confusion a small amount of glowing blue liquid appeared in the bottom of the device and began to slowly rise, just fast enough for Dryth to doubt whether or not it really was increasing, When it reached twice the volume it had originally he confirmed it was, and the display changing to "1/100 MP" confirmed it.

  He wasn't sure how the card had changed or why having it displayed that was his personal choice, he didn't remember anyone calling magical power by a shorter name or an acronym like that, although it did sound useful, so how could his personal choice be to use something brand new? Even as he started thinking about that he dismissed the thoughts and went back to reading his Soul Card. He'd already decided to deal with the strange things in his soul space later and this wasn't later.

  He did, however, consider a different thought that slowly trickled its way into his brain. He hadn't been taught anything about personal choice affecting how a card was read. It was like he had actually changed anything about the card, just how easy it was to read, which was a very simple and ultimately low impact event, why had none of his teachers ever brought this up? It was simple and effective without changing anything fundamentally and something about the newly discovered idea was putting Dryth's teeth on edge. He'd explore that later though, for now, reading his Soul Card was still the priority.

  Dryth glanced up from his Soul Card again as a bright light began shining in front of him. He reached out toward it and it changed into a rectangular shape that flashed and turned into a card as he grabbed it. It said "Form Magical Contract" across the top and the images on it flickered between two unidentifiable figures signing at the bottom of a beautiful scroll with the contents written in impressive calligraphy to two similarly unidentifiable figures silently discussing something before shaking appendages. When the pictures stopped moving text appeared the same as what had happened to his Soul Card. He set the card down on the table to read in a moment. He knew generally what it would say the same as he knew the generic text for most mage Soul Cards, and his silver text might change what the card said anyway so best to wait until he'd read the rest of his Soul Card. His silver text should be next anyways.

  He let his eyes drift town to the glittering text at the bottom of his Soul Card. Seeing it in person, he wasn't sure why they called it "silver text", it was more than that. While silver was definitely part of it it also shimmered with motes of gold and platinum colors. Personally he thought it was much more of a "metallic prismatic text" than just mere silver. Reading, he noticed for the first time it referred to him personally instead of just Contractors in general.

  Dryth stared at the last line after reading the bit of text that told him how he was unique, how no other Contractor was just like him. Then he read it again, and again. After the third time he took a deep breath to calm himself, his eyes still locked on the gorgeously glimmering words.

  "This could be a problem." He said slowly, almost sounding out the words.

  He felt a pair of hands grab his shoulders and shake him, the sourceless sensation shocking him so much he physically jumped backward. His vision spun for a moment and he found himself slamming into the back of the chair he was sitting in with the two older mages still facing him. He grunted in pain as the back of the chair dug into him and looked up to see Mage Annyerie holding his shoulders.

  "Sorry about that!" She said cheerily as she let go of him sat back. "That was more than enough time for you to read your card and learn about your facet, and we do have more people waiting behind you."

  "Is that why some of the lines are faster than others?" Dryth asked before he could stop himself.

  "Yes, well..." She glanced away with an annoyed look, "Some of us who assist in this think that the Reveal has some mystical importance and that everyone that goes through it need to spend as much time as they feel like to get spend their first time in their soul space." She looked back over with a professional, and empty, smile. "While others that take up this duty know that anyone who's been through their Reveal can go back to their soul space whenever they like when there aren't other anxious new adults waiting behind them."

  "Oh, I see."

  "Great! Now, I'm happy to be the first person you'll get to answer this question for, what's your Soul Card?"

  Dryth carefully didn't look at the other mage, who was sitting with his writing utensil against a piece of paper, eyes intently on Dryth. "I have the Contractor Soul Card."

  Mage Bolem wrote that down quickly, still staring intensely at him.

  "Contractor! A wonderful Class to have. And what was your facet? What makes you unique?" Annyerie asked.

  He wasn't sure if it was a a product of his own nervousness after reading his prismatic text, he decided to change what he called it, at least in his own head, or if it was something else, but both of the mages looked tense, like they were waiting for bad news or something to happen that they weren't expecting. It wasn't obvious, but Bolen's fingers were tight around his writing instrument and Annyerie's shoulders were much tenser than they had been before Dryth entered his soul space.

  The tension didn't help his own trepidation, but he did his best to keep that from showing. Calmly and without rushing he told them what his prismatic text said.

  The stiffness in their bodies leaked away as he told them, and their expressions went from deliberately blank to faintly confused.

  "I'm not a Contractor myself," Mage Annyerie said slowly, "And neither is Mage Bolen, but that sounds..." She trailed off. "Well, I'm sure whichever mentor you're assigned to will be able to assist you with understanding better than I will!" She finished with forced cheer, a hint of pity leaking into her eyes. "If you step out the door behind me, there are Association workers who will make sure you have everything you need until your mentor is assigned!"