The boy called Zakai started to realize he was different when he turned five years old. The village elders had told everyone that there would be an affinity test every year for the children who had turned six years old. Zakai did not understand as his parents never really talked about magic or mana at that matter.

Even though, it was called a test, it was just simply putting one’s hand on to a small blueish stone. The stone would react and give out the test results, and it would show how much mana the person using the stone had.

In this world, an average adult man had the amount of 100 mana, women while they were not as strong as men in physically, they boasted an average of 120 mana. In general, women tend to have more mana than men. Nobody knew the reason why, it had been like this for as long as they had been able to measure the amount of mana.

Zakai’s mother, Elya had the highest amount of mana in their village, she had a whopping 350 mana. Having high mana meant that she was a capable mage. She was a teacher of magic for the village. Zakai’s father, Bahadur was an enchanter. His mana was only half of what Elya had but his talent lied in creating magical items that could be used for almost anything depending on the situation.

Zakai knew that magic existed and he had even seen other children using magic. He had tried many times, but he simply could not find mana in himself to use magic like others did. One day he asked his parents, they were sitting at their table eating dinner.

“Umm... mom, dad? Why is it that I can’t use magic like others can?” Zakai asked after he had swallowed a piece of the bread he was eating.

“Well… Zakai, boy… you see…” Bahadur tried to avoid the question.

“Zak, my dear… We have not been completely honest with you… There is no easy way to tell this…” Zakai’s mom Elya paused.

“… Am I adopted?” Tears started to appear in Zakai’s eyes as he stared at his parents.

““What?! No!”” Both Bahadur and Elya yelled in a sync.

“Oh, then what were you trying to tell me?” Zakai cheerfully asked as if nothing had ever happened.

Elya looked at Bahadur and they both nodded at each other.

“Zak, you do not have mana. When you were born your body did not absorb mana from the environment around us, and it just never happened.” Elya said, trying hard to hide her tears. Bahadur stood up to comfort his wife.

“I don’t have mana… what is mana?” Zakai wondered.

“it is what we use for casting magic, boy.” Bahadur answered.

At that moment Zakai realized that he would not be able to use magic. No mana meant no magic. One would imagine that Zakai would start crying because in this world magic was everything, and everyone had it, if by any chance one did not have magic, they would be considered crippled and in some extreme cases those who had no mana would be cast away in a blink of an eye.

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Zakai, however, did not cry. He did not at the time understand what it meant to have no mana, to have no magic. Zakai just continued eating his dinner. Bahadur and Elya looked silently at the boy who they knew did not understand what they had said. Explaining such would be too much for the little boy for time being.

Zakai turned six years old, and it would finally be his turn to be examined for the test. There was a total of twelve children participating in the test. Zakai was eagerly waiting for the test to begin.

The elder who was in charge of the event came to the big hall where the children and their parents had gathered.

“Welcome!” The elder yelled. “It is that time of the year again, when we of the village Balra, test the children for their affinity. Bring me the orb!” He continued and two burly men came carrying the affinity test stone.

“Let us begin! First is Adal… Come to the orb and place your hand on top of it.” The elder said in somewhat commanding tone, and a small scrawny boy stood up and went to the orb.

Even if he looked like twig, he was still rather talented in magic. He placed his hand on the orb and it started glowing. After a moment some numbers appeared on the orb.

70!

The first child had an affinity of 70? Unheard of! Definitely a talent, normally a six years old child would have something between 10 and 20.

Adal’s parents knew that he had a decent amount of mana, but 70?! That was a huge amount of mana for a child. They were elated, and they almost exploded in joy.

Elya knew she would have to teach the boy… so that he would not burn down the village or kill someone accidentally. Control was one of the most important things, and there were quite a lot of people who were not taught precise control over their mana only to be engulfed by it. Being overwhelmed by mana was not a pretty sight.

The test continued…

11!

16!

12!

The numbers after Adal were normal and there wasn’t any big surprises. However, then the elder called out a name.

“Jerilyn!” A small girl that was easily the tiniest among all the children stood up and walked towards the orb. She was actually the only friend Zakai had. Zakai knew she could use magic and she was good at it. Elya had already taught her a bit as she was quite close with Jerilyn’s parents.

The orb glowed and the number shown was shocking, if a jaw could drop on the floor it just happened. Figuratively, of course. The girl had an amazing amount of mana, even more than some of the men.

101!

It was beyond reason, even Elya was shocked and she knew it would be high… but over 100 at six years old? Elya had 83 when she had the test and she currently had over 300.

This time even the elder had his mouth opened and you could fit a whole apple inside his mouth. He was so shocked he dropped his glasses on the ground, only to wake up after he had stepped on them. Cursing in his mind, he coughed and the crowd woke up. Was this a dream? Over 100? What is going on?! Everyone thought of the same thing.

The next numbers were normal again but there was one impressive one in between… however, it was not even close to what Adal and Jerilyn had.

20!

44!

13!

44 was not bad, but comparing to those two… it was a far cry from them. Finally, Zakai’s name was called and he walked to the orb and put his hand on top of it.

There was no glow, nothing happened. The elder and the others wondered if the orb had broken.

“It seems like the orb has broken… We shall replace it and bring a new one in a moment!” The elder waved his hand and the men who brought the orb ran to pick up another one.

After a moment, another orb was brought to the hall and the same thing happened.

Nothing at all. No numbers nothing. At that moment, Zakai realized that life was… unfair. He had no mana and no affinity whatsoever.