Jun flushed as she pulled away from the sphere and rejoined the other students, doing her best to hold her head high despite her embarrassment. She didn’t miss how the others pulled away from her, whispers of “talentless” and “no affinities” stabbing at her from the students she passed. She wasn't that surprised at the result given her sealed trait, but none of the students who were tested had totally empty circles for the basic affinities. They'd always had at least a tiny sliver in every basic affinity. They were never empty, and it had given her some hope that she'd still have something even with her trait sealed.
Reaching the back of the group, she closed her eyes for a moment as a cold emptiness ate at her stomach. Jun could feel the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. An old memory of her father on Earth came to mind. She was just 10 at the time and bullied in school. She'd come home with a black eye, and her father had been disappointed in his "pansy ass son." "You only get bullied because you show them you're weak. You're not allowed to cry, only pansies cry and I won't allow my son to be a pansy!" Jun hadn't been allowed to eat dinner that night because her father said she needed to "get tougher." Her mother had snuck her some food after her father had passed out drunk, but it didn't erase the sting. Even on another world, in another life, her father's "lectures" stuck with her.
Jun could hear the testing continue as another student was called up and the whispering found a new topic. She flinched as she felt someone's warm hand rubbing her back. Through teary eyes, she saw it was Aya rubbing her back and quietly offering her a handkerchief. Quietly nodding at Aya, she took the offered handkerchief and wiped her tears away. By the time most of the remaining students had been tested, Jun's tears stopped. "Thank you," she whispered to Aya.
"You're welcome," she said with a small smile. "Don't listen to the gossiping idiots, they don't know anything."
Jun laughed weakly at the girl's advice. Her hands were warm. "It's just the first day right..." she whispered.
"Exactly! The professors have barely taught us anything yet. Like affinities don't even—never mind. Look, don't worry about idiots. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have talent. Besides, maybe the test was wrong?"
Jun nodded silently, not sure how to respond to the girl's kindness. She went to hand the girl her handkerchief back but stopped, realizing it was used. "I-I'll wash this and return it to you," Jun said,
"Hold onto it as long as you need, I have more," Aya said happily.
Jun opened her mouth to respond, but Sam called everyone to attention. "Now that everyone's been tested, let's get to the heart of the lesson. Today, each of you will be learning a new spell." The students started to chatter but Sam talked over them as he continued. "Before you get too excited, this will be a beginner ranked spell. As such, it won't even show up on your System status. It—"
"What do you mean it won't show up? Everyone knows that the lowest level spells are Novice, and they always show up once you master the basics. My personal magic tutor is an archmagi. Are you saying he's wrong? a student with a gold medallion around his neck said, his voice condescending.
"Thank you, Lord Myron. You are not wrong, Novice ranks are the lowest ranks that are recognized by the System, but there are other spells too weak to be acknowledged by the System that are often used as learning tools. Some spells, such as [Arcane Missile] are evolutions of such beginner ranked skills." Sam held his hand out to the as-of-yet unused target dummies on the other end of the room. A small wisp of mana coalesced in his hand and lazily shot out, only traveling halfway down the range before it dissipated. "Many of you who already learned [Arcane Missile] may recognize this as a failed attempt at casting it. However, that wasn't a failure. That was the beginner ranked spell Mana Wisp. It is not acknowledged by the System as a spell because it is near useless, only capable of teaching the basic steps to cast the novice ranked [Arcane Missile]. Once you've mastered a beginner rank spell, it appears on your System status at Novice 0."
Sam turned back to face the students. "First, those of you that formed your mana cores today with Harold and Stephanie will be learning the beginner spell precursor to [Arcane Missile], Mana Wisp. This is the standard attack spell for all new mages, and is simple enough that you should be able to get it on your System status by the end of the week." Sam gestured to his assistants. "Harold and Stephanie will share the spellform with you and guide you through casting it for the first time. Please go with them to the other end of the range." With Harold and Stephanie leading the way, the dozen students who had just formed their mana cores split off from the class and moved to one side of the range.
"For the rest of you, each of you should have [Arcane Missile] or a variant of it. Instead of [Arcane Missile], you will learn how to add your affinity to the spell to add the aspect of your affinity to it. Observe." Sam closed his eyes for a moment as Jun felt something tickle against the skin of her neck, like the ghost of a breeze. As goosebumps started to rise on her skin, 7 balls of colored mana appeared in front of Sam in red, brown, green, blue, white, black, and one in a silvery grey. As Sam opened his eyes, he smiled at the students and gestured at the colored balls. "Everyone—" Sam paused as his eyes flicking to Jun, "—has at least a sliver of an affinity for each basic element. With practice, you can channel that mana through your affinity into any spell, altering it's base behavior."
"The [Arcane Missile] spell is an excellent way to start learning this technique. The base spell is useful, if a bit unimpressive," he said, sending the silvery ball shooting down the range. The silvery ball transformed into an arrow shape as it flew, and impacted a training dummy with a loud thud. "However, by channeling mana through your affinity then into the spell, you can begin converting your [Arcane Missile] into a variant such as {Fire Dart]," Sam's red spell launched, transforming into a small dart of flames that sped into the target and burst, leaving behind a scorch mark. "Or {Water Blade]." The blue orb shot out, transforming into a crescent shape that into the training dummy, leaving a thin scratch across it. "[Wind Shot]." The green orb vanished as it shot off and the target shook as if being buffeted by wind. "{Earth Spike]." The brown orb formed into a spike of stone, impaling the target. "{Ray]." A beam of light shot out from the white orb and seared a small circle into the target. "Or {Curse]." The black orb shot off and seemed to sink into the target without a trace. Sam summoned a second basic {Arcane Missile] and sent it at the dummy, As the spell hit, black spikes erupted out of it, leaving behind small holes all over it.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
"This technique is called [Affinity Layering]. Practicing this technique until it appears in your System status is necessary before you can imprint Affinity variants of any spells on your status. The first step in learning this technique is to feel your affinities within your core. Even if your affinities are weak, you should be able to feel them as different aspects of your mana sitting just below the surface of your core with your mana senses. Once you find your affinity, pull only mana of that affinity into your spellform and will it to manifest. Your assignment for the rest of class is to feel out your affinities and attempt to cast an affinity variant of [Arcane Missile]. Since we only have 10 targets on this half of the classroom, each of you find someone to share a target with. Also, comparing notes with your partner can help you find your affinity faster."
As Sam finished speaking, Aya nudged Jun in the arm. "Want to pair up with me Jun?" she said with a smile.
"Are you sure? The test said I don't even have affinities... Is it even worth trying the exercise? Would I even be any help?"
Before Aya could respond, Sam approached the two of them, his eyes locked on Jun. "Jun, I heard what you said. Before you worry too much about the affinity test, you should still do the exercise. The affinity scanner is good, but it's not completely accurate. It can have trouble detecting very low affinities. Even if your affinities are too low to register, you should be able to find them with your mana sense eventually."
An ember of hope ignited in Jun's chest at Sam's words. "Thanks Professor Lorne," Jun said respectfully, her spirit buoyed.
"You're welcome Jun, and just call me Sam," he said with a warm chuckle before moving on to speak to another group of students.
Jun followed the man with her eyes until Aya nudged her side. With a start, Jun turned to look at Aya and blushed at the smirk on her face. Luckily, Aya had the good grace not to comment. "So, pair up with me Jun?"
"S-Sure," Jun said with a jerky nod.
Still smirking, Aya passed through the crowd of students and chose a practice lane, Jun following close behind. At their lane, the girls sat on the floor across from each other and closed their eyes, turning their senses inward.
As she scanned her core with her mana sense, Jun tossed over Sam's instructions in her head. [Affinity Layering] seemed simple enough, but she couldn't feel anything in her core other than pure mana. Straining her mana sense to the limit, she felt something strange. A strong sense of heat close to her, as if she stood near a campfire. Excitedly, Jun chased after that heat, following it deeper into her core. Pushing deep into her core was a slow and difficult endeavor, like trying to swim against the current of a raging river as mana rushed out from the center into her mana channels. As she moved deeper, her progress slowed even as the sense of heat grew stronger. It was tantalizingly close.
Jun pushed her mana sense onwards, following the heat deeper until she broke through the current and found herself in a new layer of her mana core that was calm and still.
A flexible membrane of some kind stood in her way. Gathering her will, she pushed against the barrier with her mana sense, feeling it stretch like a piece of rubber before it rebuffed her efforts. Sharpening her will into a fine point, she rushed the membrane again. She made more progress, feeling the membrane stretch even more under her focused assault, but she couldn't pierce it. Again and again Jun refined her probe, pushing against the membrane, but it wouldn't budge. Her head ached from the constant backlash and Jun relented, slowly waking from her meditation as she withdrew from her core.
Jun opened her eyes, her head throbbing, to see that Aya watching her carefully. Several other students stood or sat with their eyes closed in meditation, while others were already up with their hands extended towards the targets, their faces screwed up in concentration. "Are you okay? You look like you're in pain," Aya said with concern.
"I'm fine... did you feel any of your affinities?"
"I think I felt my affinity. It was strange, like a burning heat overpowering everything else in my core. It was something I never noticed before, but as soon as I started feeling for it, it was everywhere. What about you?"
"I'm not sure. My mana felt like it always did, so maybe the test was right and I don't have any affinities?"
"You didn't feel anything?"
"Well—" Jun started to respond, but shut her mouth as she felt someone looking at her. Looking around, she saw Sam approaching with a smile on his face.
"Hello Aya, Jun! How was your meditation? Were you able to sense anything?" Sam said, crouching next to them.
"I... no," Jun said, not sure how to explain the strange heat and membrane in her core.
"Well, keep trying. Affinities can be difficult to detect the first time," he said, before turning to Aya.
"What about you Aya? If I recall, you had a rather strong affinity for Fire?"
Aya frowned for a moment before nodding at Sam. "I felt something like a burning heat in my mana," she finally said. "I was just discussing it with Jun."
"I see." Sam seemed off balanced for a moment before his usual smile returned. "Well I should let you two get back to the assignment while I check in with the rest of your classmates!" Standing up straight, Sam quickly moved to another pair of students, crouching next to the 2 boys to talk to them.
"So, you said you didn't feel anything?" Aya asked.
"Not exactly. I felt something weird but I'm not sure how to explain it. There was a heat, but it was muted, not burning like you said."
"Maybe you have a weak fire affinity?"
"Maybe..."
"Want to try casting with it?" Aya pushed herself back up off the ground and held her hand out for Jun.
Taking the other girl's hand, Jun pulled herself back up. Idly, she noted again that Aya's hand was really warm. "You should go first," Jun said, looking at the target.
Nodding, Aya took a wide stance as Jun moved to give her space. Aya held her right arm straight out, her palm facing the target. She closed her eyes for a few seconds as Jun felt goosebumps rise on her neck and heard a sound like the rush of flames. Instinctively, Jun knew that Aya was successful moments before a red sphere coalesced in her hand and burst into flames. The heat felt like Jun was standing next to a bonfire, and a moment later the spell shot off down the range. Where Sam's [Fire Dart] was small and left a scorch mark on the target, Aya's was massive, looking more like a javelin as it transformed. The massive spell collided with the target a moment later with a loud thump and the rush of flames. Several students screamed as a wave of heat washed over the room before fading, and everyone turned to stare at Jun and Aya. "Oops," Aya said with a shrug, before ignoring everyone's looks and facing Jun.
"Wow that was a rush!" she said breathlessly. Aya started to describe in detail the feeling she'd gotten from touching the burning heat in her mana and channeling it into her spell. As Aya talked her through it, Jun sat back on the ground and started meditating as her headache eased. Despite Aya's help, Jun could only feel the heat locked up beyond the strange membrane she felt in her core.
By the end of class, Aya had successfully connected with her fire and wind affinities, even earning a new spell she called [Fire Bolt], while Jun nursed a headache having failed to detect anything besides the strange heat that she was unable to connect with. She couldn't help feeling jealous of Aya's success, but the other girl's friendly and supportive attitude quelled a lot of it. After their class finished, Aya invited Jun to dinner at the cafeteria, which she quickly accepted.
By the time they split up for the night, Jun felt like Aya was a friend. When Jun got back to her room, she saw that Shiori was still deeply asleep. Settling in for the night next to her Master, Jun dove back into her mana core only to run into the strange membrane again. Several attempts later, Jun lay in bed, her head aching as she probed at the strange membrane in her core and the heat laying beyond it. Nothing that Sam or Aya had said during class sounded like this weird membrane. Sighing, she gave up on probing it for secrets for the night and ignored the strange heat. she could feel beneath her mana. She'd figure it out eventually.