Chapter 3: The Stone

When I got home I found mother working on the loom. She was a weaver and knew how to make rugs for the rich using a loom and could make sweaters, pants, and socks out of wool. Most of our money comes from close mother sells to the villagers, she is one of only three weavers in the village and I consider her the best. 

Occasionally like now she will work on rugs like she is now.

They can be sold to traders which bring them to the cities. It is more profitable then selling close to the villagers but her rugs are considered low quality because they’re made from wool and no die is used. It looks like mother is trying to finish this one up before the trader leaves.

“Mom can I bond my egg now and when is it going to hatch?” I asked excitedly jumping up and down with anticipation. Would I really get to have a pet now, I couldn’t wait.

“You can do the bonding ceremony tonight after we get an elemental stone and your father gets home. Did he sell the eggs and tell you what he was doing now?” Mother asked me calmly only glancing over from where she was sitting down weaving the last of the rug.

“Oh yeah, he sold the one egg and he was going to take the second egg for the village elder to buy. He wanted me to tell you he sold it for 1 gold 20 silvers.”

“That much, are you sure you heard him right?” Mother said spluttering in disbelief. She had expected maybe 60 or 70 silvers a piece but they got more than 1 gold for each.

“Yah, I was there when he sold it. He even let father have this bonding scroll. He said since they were double affinity beasts they were worth more than normal ones.”

“Okay, with all this money I think we should be able to easily get you an elemental stone and get you into the academy if you pass the requirements, and even if I hate to say anything good about my father his line has never had anything below average affinity, so it is likely you will possess a high or greater affinity in earth or water.” She told me.

“Does that mean I will get to learn how to use magic and fight?” I said with wide eyes. They had talked about it earlier but it had seemed almost too good to be true.

“Yes, but that’s not for another 10 years so don’t get too excited.” She said laughing at my expression. She set down the loom and walked over to me. “Come on, even without the money your father had I still have enough to get an elemental stone, let’s go find out what your affinity is.”

“I hope it’s something cool like fire or lightning. I heard the King of the royal family was a supreme in both fire and lightning and he could call down storms of fire and lightning, breath fire, and shoot lightning from one of the guards.” I said amazed that someone could be that powerful.

“That’s true; he is the most powerful person in the entire Bellor kingdom. The royal family is the only one with double supremes or supremes that have a second affinity at all for that matter.” Mother said very seriously. “If you’re lucky you will be a greater affinity since only nobles are supremes, but even a greater can become more powerful than you can imagine.”

“Wow” I said. “I just hope I don’t get wind. Who wants to control the wind? All you can do with it is make a big gust or a small gust.”

“That’s not necessarily true son.” Mother had started into lecture mode. “With wind you can also fly and create twisters of wind strong enough to rip up houses.”

“What!” I shouted. There were people strong enough to rip houses out of the ground with only wind and I had to admit flying did sound cool.

“Ones power is only limited by their affinity, cultivation level, and imagination.” Mother told me. “Your affinity affects how well you can manipulate an element, your cultivation how much energy you have to use at your disposal and your imagination what you can do with all your power.”

With that we had gotten to Mabel’s and walked into the little shop. She had one room full of wares and the rest of the house was where she lived. I gravitated over toward the glowing rocks placed on a shelf in one corner. There were five different kinds: jagged brown ones that gave off a brown glow for earth, bright red ones in the shape of a flame that gave off an orange glow for fire, big yellow crystals that sparked that gave off a yellow glow for lightning, clear round ones that gave off an almost translucent glow for air, and blue ones in the shape of a fish that gave off a dark blue glow for water.

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I reached for the lightning stone and felt a shock. “Ow” I cried out that hurt. I pulled my hand back and rubbing it against my leg that hurt. I looked hurt and innocently at mother silently asking mother what happened.

“Haa ha, you didn’t think you could just grab any elemental rock did you?” An elderly woman came out of the house portion of the shop hobbling our way with an old wood cane in hand. This must be Mabel I vaguely remembered she was old had wrinkles and had white hair and this woman matched the description.

“A person must have an elemental rock of the same elemental affinity as them and within 1 rank of their affinity. You can use lower quality rocks but it hurts your cultivation speed.”

I didn’t know this, did that mean I could find out my cultivation rank before my tenth birthday however this was shattered when she continued speaking.

“However, unfortunately I only have 20 or 30 low quality stones and one or two of each element greater quality stones. I am assuming you will need a low quality stone but if you should have a higher affinity I have them though the price is significantly higher.” The old woman said.

This hurt my dreams of finding out my true cultivation level but at I would know if I had more than average affinity or not, if I did I would need the greater stone and I could go to the academy. I nodded that I understood and waited for her to tell me what to do.

“Okay boy, sit down over there.” She pointed to a clear spot in the center of the room. I walked over and sat down crossing my legs in my lap. “Close your eyes.”

I heard her quietly speaking to my mother telling her to put a stone here and there. Finally she said “Clear your mind.”

Sitting there I tried to empty my mind of everything and focus on my core where a person’s pool of energy is located. Eventually I was able to feel a drop of energy in my core. “Now look outside your body and try to find the energy that feels right.” I heard the old lady say.

I reached out with what felt like arms but weren’t. It was some kind of fifth limb; it let me sense the energy around me. It was faint but I could see a sparking yellow one, a burning orange one, a pale windy one, a cool blue one, and a brown earthy one.

Using my extra limb I reached toward the fire energy I had already experienced failure with the lightning and I had no desire to try again. However, I couldn’t quite seem to grasp it every time I almost reached it, it moved out of reach. Discouraged I moved on to the next one wind this time it was even more evident as soon as I came close it would be instantly repelled. Next I tried water but like fire it was just out of reach. Holding onto one last hope I grabbed at the earth.

This time I could feel the energy welcoming me. A trickle rushed down my limb and into my core pooling with the energy already there changing it from completely colorless to a deep dark brown. Suddenly I felt the connection cut and my senses came back to me.

I saw mother and Mabel standing in front of me. She was holding a brown stone that had lost most of its glow and had veins of grey running through it. “It looks like you will need a greater stone” she said “you almost destroyed this stone by draining more than it can handle and channel at one time.”

I was ecstatic, while earth wouldn’t have been an element I would have chosen, being able to go to Bellora Academy to learn about magic and how to fight monsters a dream in every boy’s heart was coming true. I turned smiling to mother who beamed with pride “well aren’t you my talented child.”

Mother turned toward Mabel and said “thank you for your help Mabel.”

“It was no problem at all it’s my business and I always enjoy seeing a child with such potential” Mabel said before going back into the house and coming back with a brown palm sized batch of crystals. “This is a small greater quality earth stone you can absorb energy from the surroundings and it won’t break like the smaller stone. The size of the stone affects how much energy it can hold and your affinity affects channeling or absorption rate. This is the biggest one I have so it will have to do until he gets to a bigger town or the academy.”

Mother paid Mabel for the stone took it from Mabel and we headed home.

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Here is my other story if you want to check it out.  World Update: Era of Monsters