The months passed quickly as Alex was mostly meditating during classes while he was being taught by Mrs. Natpiea privately and soon the second year began.
Vizbourne didn't teach the immature children how to fight, however, spell casting needed to be practiced from a young age to perfect and fortunately there were a lot of useful everyday cantrips available for the students to master.
As Alex turned six years old, in October, Mrs. Natpiea had taught him all kinds of practical skills, such as levitation, a spell only able to be cast with either the wind or earth element, the former conjuring wind Force to lift up while the latter changed one's gravity to float. Both forms were the preparation for flying spells, they used up much more Force though, not mentioning the risk of a novice manipulator taking high into the air. Alex had the luck that he could wield both elements as gravity manipulation took a lot of time to master but with the help of his wind Force his training hours were cut in half. In general his aptitude to all four major natural elements, fire, water, earth and wind, enabled him to excel in most cantrips, providing him the perfect base for his upcoming life.
Of course there were many sorts of different spells and Alex would need a few years to master them all, especially the advanced ones but with his talent he would be rushing through them.
What mattered the most though was the invention of spells for one's own unique Force. Becoming a master Force manipulator entailed inventing his own abilities and since everyone had a personal combination of Force affinities, new spells were invented almost everyday. Naturally you could derive your own ones from already existing magic but most chose to reinvent them, personalizing them even more.
Completely inventing a spell, weave or incantation, from the ground up, was hard arduous work for which one would need a solid foundation of magic knowledge to succeed. Knowing this the hard working Paketa decided to teach every single cantrip she knew to her pupil, preparing him for his unique path. She even made the choice to train Alex in combat magic when he turned seven, she didn't have much experience in the subject but at least knew some of the spells.
This decision went against everything she stood for but the boy's parents insisted since he had to be able to defend himself should things go south.
In the following year shortly prior to Alex seventh birthday, Dorothea managed to successfully steal a B.M.D., or bloodline measurement device, with her husband. She was able to distract the security guard over a cup of coffee after spending over one year befriending him. Meanwhile Harald went into the storage room and replaced one of the B.M.D.s with a defect one, obtained cheaply via the darknet.
They waited for the start of the next winter holidays and invited the teacher, now tutor, since Alex already had a second new one in his third year. Those two never learned about his affinities though and only knew about his fire, wind, water and earth affinity, which already made him exceptional among his peers.
The Paketa jumped at the chance to travel to a new country, particularly when the trip would be free for her.
In the last few years she traveled to most of earth's continents but never got a chance to go skiing. Her own home planet didn't have any snow covered mountains so Mrs. Natpiea never had the chance to learn it. Nonetheless she was more than content to ride along and maybe even visit a ski instructor. Before they could enjoy the icy slopes of Kitzbühel, a small medieval town situated in the Austrian Alps, in Tirol, they had to test the families blood though.
Testing for bloodlines was rather simple, all one had to do was prick their finger and let a drop of blood fall onto a gals panel, which would then be inserted into the device resembling a note pad. It was just one big touch display without any fancy design. In comparison the E.S. it looked rather plain and cheap, especially since there was no holo-monitor installed. This was the case to ensure a greater privacy for the users, as no one wanted the results of a bloodline displayed for all to see.
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Determining a bloodline's potency was a rather complex process though. There were multiple factors playing a part in it. First any individual could create a new bloodline, said person just had to be lucky enough to have their affinities ingrained into their D.N.A. to a substantial degree. To let one's descendants inherit the bloodline this was absolutely necessary. Secondly even if someone had a bloodline, didn't guarantee that they could pass it onto the next generation. The D.N.A being the main factor behind this phenomena too. So some bloodlines just lasted one generation while others have lasted since the beginning of the federation.
Inbreeding became a huge problem because of bloodlines too, as some people had relations with their siblings and even parents just to secure a higher chance to pass on their bloodline. This method resulted in more bloodliners being born but a lot of them had gen or mental deformities, leading to all kinds of internal mayhem.
For the Stronos none of this was important for the moment though as they just wanted to exploit any potential their blood held. Unfortunately although all of them had some affinities ingrained into their D.N.A. no one, except Alex, had the potential for a real inheritable bloodline. For the family this news wasn't tragic in any way, since no one of them had plans to reproduce anymore and Alex creating a bloodline was just right with them.
Before they could gloss over the results though, Mrs. Natpiea explained to them, "Although no one of you can father a completely new bloodline doesn't mean you can't exploit the traces of affinities in your D.N.A. Except Kazimierz and Harald everyone of you has access to the four major nature elements, namely, fire, water, wind and earth. As soon as all of you have developed your Force pathways you will be able to utilize them. Harald has absolutely no ingrained aptitude for specific elements and Kazimierz instead has death and darkness affinities, sadly since he is an inept, he won't have any chance to make use of them."
'Strange. This is very strange. How come it looks like some of their ancestors were powerful bloodliners? Earth didn't have Force permeating throughout it before the year 2000 this shouldn't be the case, right?' Kathia thought, while wrecking her brain trying to find a reasonable explanation for this unfathomable situation.
"In any case Irena you focus on completing your pathways and Dorothea, Harald you two will begin training under me alongside Alex. He's farther ahead then both of you and mastering his spells at the moment so it won't hinder his training to teach you new cantrips. Alex you just do as you have been doing for now, your future prospects look very bright, not only have you monstrous talent but also a crazily strong bloodline too. With a time-space, death, darkness and quadra elemental bloodline like yours you will be able to reach heights only imaginable to the scions of the founding members of the I.F.!" the Paketa directed each Strono on their own path ahead and praised Alex as if his achievements and luck were somehow related to her.
All family members nodded and began planning their respective training schedules. There wasn't much to do on the first day of the holidays anyways since they were too tired from the road-trip.
Meanwhile the personal Force instructor made her way to the ski resort and asked for a skiing school for adults. The tourism industry of earth had long been revolutionized so it wasn't strange at all for extraterrestrials to be seen here and there, enjoying the local culture and traditional cuisine.
Receiving help as soon as possible she was informed that classes would be from 7 to 10a.m. or 4 to 6p.m. As she had to teach the Stronos in the evening she decided on the morning class and left to rent some skies and a snowboard. It was her first time going down a snowy mountain slope she wanted to try all sorts of methods.
'Now from what I have heard from the Stronos snowboarding should be easier than skiing… I will try out skies first then and if they aren't top my liking I will go with the board. Either way this is already looking like a fun little trip, even if I have to guide amateurs on their way to novice Force manipulators.' overjoyed with her prospects of a fun vacation she kept looking around the town, full of curiosity for the unique buildings and foods she could see all around her.