After half an hour of debating the pros and cons of the spells they liked for Joe, most of them being lighting spells, Kendell suggested they test Joe with their number one pick, [Storm Cape]. It was similar to [Chain Lighting], in that it hit one target before jumping off to others. Cape’s advantage was it was considerably more dangerous close-up, whereas Chain was great at very long distances. While Joe needed a ranged spell for the Badboons, most of his fights so far had seen Joe in the thick of battle. [Storm Cape] would get out to medium range, which would be good enough for the ape fight, but it would also pay dividends in future melee fights.
Kendell went to one of the drawers under the bookshelves and, after a bit of looking around, took out a box of crystals. The contents of the container seemed very similar to the crystals Joe had bought at the general stores. Myllo explained the difference. These crystal points did not impart the spells onto the user. Instead, they measured the base compatibility the person had with the skill in question.
Myllo explained that the shard glowed a color along the spectrum when fed either mana or stamina. Since Joe wanted a Spirit-based skill, he’d be using mana. There was an eleven-point scale running from no glow at all, which they called black, to a weak gray followed by a light pink. After that, there was the classic ROY G. BIV spectrum, though they called blue teal and indigo blue. At the very top was the almost unheard-of ‘perfect affinity’ indicated by a magenta bloom from the shard. Most spells would likely be in the middle, indicated by the yellow Moderate affinity, the green Favorable, or the blue Strong. Any red auras indicated a Weak compatibility.
They were all surprised when the [Storm Cape] crystal glowed the orange Poor in Joe’s hand. [Chained Lightning] was only a slight improvement, glistening with a slightly more yellowy orange; still Poor but a tad better. They pulled out the crystals for all of their top choices, and each and every one of the Air and Lightning spells lit up with, at best, yellow, but mostly orange, even a few reds and pinks.
That was when the pair of trainers realized that Joe had no idea affinities were even a thing. Since Joe had not objected to any of their suggestions, they assumed that either Joe was an all-arounder, which was quite common, or that the spells they were picking were among his strong affinities.
Myllo slapped a loud facepalm, realizing they would have to go back to the basics with Joe and test him as they would a child. Myllo took out a small, very well-worn box. Inside it were sixteen crystals laid out on the velvet interior in four rows of four shards.
“These are the primary spell affinities,” he began. “There is still much about magic we don’t know, but we are sure of this. These sixteen are the building blocks of every form of magic as we know it. Every other affinity is based on combinations of these.”
“What are the sixteen?” Joe could not help but ask.
“There are your four elementals: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water,” Kendall replied, leaning over Joe’s shoulder to look into the box. “Next are the four existentials, Life, Death, Beast, and Wood. Then there are the energetics: Cold, Force, Lightning, and Time. And lastly, the esoterics, Light, Dark, Chaos, and Mind.”
“We should have done this from the start,” Myllo continued apologetically, looking somewhat abashed. “You’re my first newcomer. Most kids figured out their affinities while they’re still in school, so I’m so used to people just knowing their natural affinities.”
Kendell reached over and plucked the first crystal out of the little case. “Might as well see how bad Air is in general.”
It was terrible; a pale pink aura, meaning his connection to Air magic was Minimal. Joe groaned. He had been thinking that maybe he could trade skills with Hah’roo someday. If he was this bad with her type of magic, it would never be worth it.
The next stone she handed him had entirely the opposite result. It was amazing. As soon as Joe energized the Earth shard with some mana, it filled with a profound blue aura. There were even hints of purple in the blush of light.
“Woah,” Myllo puffed, beaming happily. “You’ve got a really great affinity with Earth there. At the very top of Exceptional, just shy of Superior. Okay, now we’ve got something to work with. Let’s test the rest of the primaries to see if there are any other surprises and then rework our plans accordingly. Take him through the others, Kendell.”
Kendell handed him the other fourteen crystals one at a time as Myllo recorded the results. Joe had a Moderate affinity with Water, Death, Wood, Force, Darkness, and Mind. Lightning, Fire, and Light join Air as affinities he was subpar with. Chaos was his only complete incompatibility, barely illuminating with a flat gray light. On the plus side, he had Favorable green indications from Life, Cold, and Force, as well as Strong teal shines for Beast and Time.
Joe pondered the system as the pair of trainers discussed his results. Myllo said that each of the sixteen was combined with another core type. Joe did the math and realized that meant there were a hundred and twenty subtypes. He was tempted to try them all, but each testing drained some of Joe’s mana. Even though he had boosts to mana recovery, that was an awful lot of crystals to go through. And that was before picking the final spell itself.
“Are we doing all one twenty subtypes too?” he inquired, even though he was pretty sure of the answer.
“No, no, no. That’s the kind of thing most folks figure out over weeks, not in a single session,” the bearded trainer assured. “We will do some targeted sub-type checks but not the whole array.”
“So I think it safe to assume he’ll get the best bang out of Earth,” Kendell stated, placing the core affinity crystal on the desk, “or where Earth intersects one of the other affinities he’s also strong with.”
“That is a good guideline.” Myllo agreed, giving his jawbone a good scratch through his thick red beard, “but it is never a sure thing. I, for example, am crap with Fire and mediocre with Air, and yet I’m great with Smoke magic. These things can be flukey.”
“Good point. Oh, and your affinities can change over time, Joe,” Kendell added, turning to him. “I’m pretty sure your strength with [Life] is new. Given your history and health before coming to Illuminaria, you were likely well below green with those magics until you devoted yourself to becoming a healer.”
Joe had given her the barebones of his story already. Myllo raised an eyebrow, but, being polite, he let that topic slide when no one elaborated further.
“So let’s see if any of the obvious combinations are worthwhile,” Myllo mused. “Kendell, Earth and Cold?”
“That’s easy, Ice. Classic, heavy-duty cold spells. Particularly good for building barriers. Plenty of great ranged attacks. [Icicle] is a staple of pretty much every Ice-user ever.”
“Correct. Okay, Joe, let’s see if we can pick from a huge list of offensive ranged spells for you.”
The korrigan handed Joe a crystal from one of the boxes on the desk in front of him. As soon as Joe fed it some mana, it emitted a royal blue aura.
“There you go. Not quite as good as your Earth connection, but that’s a solid Exceptional affinity. Now we’re getting somewhere. Ok, Earth and Life, Kenda?”
She scoffed back at him. “You know I know all of these, Myllo. Bone, of course. Very versatile affinity. Good for buffs and curses. Helpful for skeletal animations that stay away from the true evils of necromancy. [Bone Shards] and [Bone Spear] are well-regarded ranged attacks.”
“Yup. It’s another magic type loaded with good damage spells, like Cold and lots of other utility and defensive abilities. Give her some mana, Joe.”
Charging this stone also yielded a rich blue bloom.
“Two for two Exceptionals. Now we’re cooking. I know you know it, but Joe doesn’t, so what about Earth and Force?”
“Metal. Like the last two, it’s a pretty nice mix of spells. Thanks to Earth, its got some great defensive buffs, but it also has some of the best weapon enhancement spells out there. As for ranged attacks, there’s spells like [Rain of Darts], [Iron Stars], and [Steel Stars]. [Pinning Spike] and [Razor Chains] are both damaging and controlling.”
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“Nice recap,” Myllo remarked. “Hit it, Joe,” he added, handing over the crystal under discussion.
Metal was not as good as the other two. An emerald green glow lit the stone with hints of a teal-shading.
“Not so good, but not bad. Riding the boundary between Favorable and Strong,” the man stated placing the Metal crystal back in its box. “Alright. Those are your Favorable mixes with Earth, and all of them are affinities you could consider. You also have two strong affinity mixes we haven’t tried yet. Here’s a tougher question, Kendell: why did I skip them in lieu of checking the Favorables first?”
“Well, Joe is Strong with Time and Beast, which, when combined with Earth, would give him Sand and Carapace. I’m assuming you skipped the second one because it’s primarily a defensive affinity, which is not what Joe is looking for. It’s a great tanking affinity, but it has almost no offensive ranged attacks.”
“Spot on, as usual. And Sand?”
“Sand is an unfocused affinity. While it has more offensive spells than Carapace, it is mainly used for battlefield control, debuffing, warding, summoning, and construction. It’s not an affinity one typically goes for when looking for an attack spell, even though it’s got quite a few I can think of.”
“Exactly,” The small man declared with pride in his voice.
Kendell shook her head, and Joe heard the younger guilder mutter quietly something about knowing this stuff better than her boss. She took out two shards, holding one and handing the other to Joe. “Let’s do Sand first since it will have more options than the other one. Fire it up, Joe,” she prompted.
For the first time, Joe found one even better than Earth. The Sand crystal lit up with a radiant purple shine.
“Holy Majik!” the short man swore happily. That is one splendid synergy! Kendell, what are the top five medium-range Sand attacks?”
“Ok, there’s a challenge.” The bright-eyed trainer tugged an earlobe and glanced at the ceiling as she ran through her memory. “Ok, the greatest sand user we know of is the djinkin warlock Caliban from the Voiceless Dunes. About ten years ago, he replied to a letter we sent asking him about offensive Sand spells and how he ranked them. His top twelve were [Sandstorm], of course, a classic persistent AoE. The others were [Sand Scour], [Sand Scythe], [Sandstar], and [Scalding Sands]. Along with those were [Flaying Gale], [Grit Razor], and [Haboob]. Then there was [Breath of the Desert], [Fists of Dune], and [The Ruination of the Wastes],” she finished with a breath and satisfied grin.
“How the heck do you remember all that?” Joe asked, amazed.
“That’s her gift,” Myllo stated as he wrote the skill names on the room’s chalkboard. “Kenda’s second class is Savant, and her specialty is skills and traits. Never met anybody better at figuring out what goes best with whom,” the bearded korrigan exclaimed, beaming with an even greater note of praise in his voice. “Alright. I know some of those. [Sand Scythe] starts as an immediate-range skill, only getting to close range at high levels. So, that’s out.” The guild leader swept a line through the name on the board.
“[Abrasive Arc] and [Breath of the Desert] are also close range,” Kendell added.
“I think we can skip [Sandstorm] too,” Joe stated. “I really don’t want a large area-effect for my first spell. I’d rather something more targeted. It doesn’t have to be single-target, but I’d prefer something at least fairly focused.”
“Then you won’t want [Haboob] either,” the savant stated, causing Myllo to cross out both AoE’s. Kendell also had the bearded instructor strike off [Fists of Dune]. Joe was a bit bummed about that one since it was an awesome-sounding name, but if it was not what he was looking for, better to get it out of the way for now. He promised himself he’d look up what the skill did sometime later.
“That leaves [Sand Scour], [Sandstar], [Scalding Sands], [Flaying Gale], and [Grit Razor],” Myllo exclaimed, tapping the names on the slate. “Those I’ve heard of. What the heck is [Ruination of the Wastes]?”
“I don’t know,” Kendell admitted in a long, slow voice. “I’m going to need the book for that one.” She walked along the wall until she reached the shelf she wanted. Pulling out a thick tan volume, she flipped quickly through the pages. “Got it,” she announced without looking up. “Ooh. Oh. Oh Gods. No, no, no. This is a very bad spell. It creates desolations. The spell, while harming its targets, also kills healthy terrain, leaving nothing but sand and grit behind. I guess it’s great if you live in the desert like Caliban does, but anywhere else, that would be catastrophic.”
“That’s a hard no,” Joe confirmed.
“Agreed,” Myllo concurred sharply, scraping a thick seventh line through the destructive spell’s name. “Ok, then. Let’s grab the shards for the remaining five and see which are suitable for our new recruit here.”
One after another, Joe held the shards Kendell handed him and touched them with mana. He had Exceptional connections to [Flaying Gale], [Sand Scour], and [Scalding Sands]. The best two, though, were [Grit Razor] and [Sandstar], each emitting the violet glow of a Superior conjunction.
“We have our winners, it seems,” Myllo cheered, heading over to the pitcher to refill his mug. “But, before we put everything away, why don’t we give him the Carapace stone, Kenda? I know its offensive attacks are almost non-existent, but since we are checking his likely affinities, we might as well … wow,” Myllo broke off as the affinity stone Kendell had passed him flared with a violet shine as bright as Sand had.
“Good to know,” the small man continued, “but let’s save Carapace for another time. [Sandstar] and [Grit Razor] are two solid spells. Even better, they are both distinctly different skills. We can pick which one fits what you want, Joe.”
Kendell explained the two attack spells.
[Sandstar] formed an orbiting mass of sand that fused into an enchanted glass-bladed star for the spell's duration. Joe would be able to direct the deadly missile around the battlefield telepathically. The spell would pair very well with his [Spot Weakness] skill. Also, it sounded phenomenally cool. The battle spell was not without drawbacks, though. First, casting it was very mana expensive. Secondly, it took concentration to manipulate. Lastly, if the star hit something hard enough, it would shatter, forcing Joe to recast the resource-draining spell.
[Grit Razor] allowed the caster to crumble a rock into a pile of little flinty fragments. He then would let the mana trickle into the handful of debris, charging it up. When the caster felt he had enough mana invested, he could throw the grit, and it would form into a long arc of super-charged slashing stone splinters. It could hit multiple targets, but it took much more training than most similar spells to learn how to aim correctly. The spell was extremely versatile, allowing Joe to choose how much damage he wanted with each shot. At its maximum hold-time, it would be doing damage comparable to a rare or even an epic-tiered spell. Its biggest downside was its casting time. Joe would have to hold the spell for seconds before he even had a slightly powerful attack, and seconds on a battlefield went by incredibly quickly.
Joe could see advantages to both of these spells. So could Myllo and Kendell. They also saw the disadvantages.
“There is a reason [Grit Razor] is so unpopular with mages,” the bearded trainer observed. “The spell disrupts when you try to hurl any other sort of destructive effect. That means you are stuck charging it up and can’t do anything else offensively.”
“Anything else magically offensive. You could still make weapon attacks,” Kendell countered. “Joe is a healer, not a damage mage. He will have plenty of things he can do while his Razor is charging.”
“I can heal and charge the grit spell at the same time? Joe asked. “Would I be able to heal and keep the star going?”
“Ehhh,” Myllo keened, tilting his hand back and forth quickly. “You’d be able to maintain it, but [Sandstar] requires a lot of focus to attack with. It would take a lot of practice to make attacks with it while you were focusing on other tasks simultaneously. If you are thinking of multitasking in battle, then Kenda is right; [Grit Razor] would be a better choice.”
Joe thought about his place in fights and realized that it would be inevitable that he would be healing and moving about. He was not going to be a wizard who could tuck himself safely behind a sizeable armored meat-shield. [Grit Razor] would be effective against single targets and even small groups of them in a way [Sandstar] would not.
“Ok, I’m sold. Let’s do the [Grit Razor] spell. How much is it going to cost me?” Joe asked with a bit of a wince.
“Actually,” Myllo replied, “you are going to have a fair amount of money left over. I already looked up the costs. [Sandstar] would have gone a bit over your funds but I could have lent you the difference. On the other hand, [Grit Razor] is not a popular spell. It goes for nine fifty with your guild discount.”
“If it’s that bad, then maybe I should look at one of the indigo spells or a straight Earth spell.”
“Actually, Joe, I think it's perfect for you,” Kendell exclaimed, taking Joe’s arm. “One, it is not a bad spell, but it’s a very niche one. You need someone with enough Spirit to power it up and who can afford to spend the time it takes to get charged. Being a healer, both of those things work for you. You have a very high Spirit and plenty of battlefield duties.”
“Not that I’m doubting you,” Joe asked with a bit of a wince, “but … second opinion? Myllo?”
“I have to admit. All of her reasoning is pretty damn sound. I think the spell lends itself to your strengths and fills that weakness you were trying to shore up.” He stopped and gave Kendell a mock scowl. “Give this one another year and she’ll be taking my job.”
“Only the training. You run circles around the rest of the guild with artificy.”
“So there is still one part I’m not happy with,” Joe admitted. “What if I need to make a ranged attack and [Grit Razor] is not ready yet?”
“I’m glad you asked,” the brown-eyed girl replied with a large smirk. “I think I know exactly how to fill that gap.”