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Chapter 8: Different Affinity

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 Ultima.

As the name suggested, it was a name fit for those with the most destructive affinity – violet, the corroding mana.

As terrifying as it sound, the mana consumption was also terrible. Thus, the people having this affinity were not considered having clear advantage over others. Though they could use it to power destructive Artes or Magic, the amount or area-of-effect would be limited, due to the enourmous mana drain.

People with this affinity, could only use it every so often.

This fact made them less desirable in battle, due to their mana drain. Extreme mana drain caused their stamina to plummet, even made them losing their consciousness. They would be a liability in the frontline, so most frontline commanders rejected them – unless they could prove otherwise.

Plus, the mana drain also meant that mastering their magic would be so much slower than others. To add insult to injury, controlling violet mana was a pain. If handled wrongly, it could cause severe injury to the user or its allies.

That however, could more or less be negated by having higher affinity, making their Artes or Magic efficient, draining less mana. 

As for the general term Peak-Affinity, it was considered a game changer to every specific element. One could use their elements so efficient that the mana loss was reduced to almost nothing. In other words, their mana leak from activating their affinity would be so little, their mana pool could be utilized almost to their full potential. In addition, their control was much more reliable.

This could be calculated to be as much as four to five times more efficient than normal, depending on their mastery. Moreover, their mastery could progress a lot faster.

Such a person was rare.

Even rarer still, was the combination of Ultima, the violet colour with Peak-affinity. That rarity could very well be said as once-in-a decade, even in the largest empire, Kharlussia.

The White Knight overlooking the whole square flicked his finger, signaling his comrade to move.

From the building next to them, a knight with similar white armor and red mantle came out. After him, five similar others came as well. They approached her, curious of her origin.

“Milady, I am Sir Kent, Knight of White Eagle and these are my comrades. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Julia. Likewise.”

“Milady, if you can follow us to the side for a moment,”

“Anything wrong?”

“Not at all. We just wish to inquire simple things, if you don’t mind.”

“…I don’t mind.”

Not the type to speak much, she followed the group of knights. The knights were really courteous towards her, going as far as opening a path.

Most candidates witnessing this either bathed in jealousy or tortured with curiosity. Not many admired her, since in general, affinity was something you were born with, not trained.

‘They still think it’s something akin to luck. Well, almost, but not quite.’

Krone pondered as he observed his surroundings. He used to think so too, quietly cursing the heaven as if it was not being fair. He realized how wrong he was only about a decade later.

Julia and the knights entered the nearby building, going up to the second floor. Inside was a room with a large window – a mirror in fact, one which allowed those within to see outside, while those outside saw it as plain mirror.

There were a set of sofa surrounding a large coffee table. The knight gestured her to sit on a single-person sofa. The knights sat around, while a female knight sat just beside her – pleasantly made small talk, as to assure her convenience.

“Hi, I’m Natalia Nierra. You can call me Natalia.”

“…Julia S. Garde. Just call me Julia.”

“Julia, a nice name. How old are you?”

“Fifteen, this December.”

Julia answered her simple questions. From the elevated floor she could see the whole square through the mirror covering the entirety of the room.

A short moment passed.

“Next!”

Krone stepped forward.

He put his hands, confident smile on his face. Within ten seconds, blinding light emerged from the crystal.

Blinding, white light.

“Eh? White?”

“Seriously, white?”

"The hell?"

“Poor fellow."

“And I’ve just cursed heavens for being unfair."

“Guess we should still be grateful.”

Murmurs filled the crowd. Krone remembered how ashamed he was, knowing he had white colour.

A symbol of neutrality, generally known as no affinity.

Many of them did not know of their own affinity beforehand, especially so for commoners and children from military, aside of children from high-ranked knights. Evaluation usually would be possible when a child reached puberty, but the high cost for a private evaluation deterred many.

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“He had mana, but it’s no affinity.”

“Poor guy, aii…”

The evaluator gulped.

He was thinking whether to announce or not, since it was quite a blinding light. However, it was white light. Having no affinity meant that he was not specialized in any one magic.

His mana was universal, having no inclination to any type of magic. While he could use many types of magic, unfortunately, it was also generally accepted as the weakest and hardest to master.

People having no affinity usually would not appear in tests like this, since they would have noticed that their Arte or Magic was subpar. This one however, was quite different.

The boy was not ashamed in any way, nor was there any hint of his confidence having suffered a blow.

“Krone Kozak, no affinity, err,”

He almost said high, but ruled that it was inappropriate.

The other evaluator beside him just silently took note. The old soldier looked at the boy, Krone. He returned his gaze, wondering what was up.

“Be strong, boy. Having no affinity doesn’t mean you’re disqualified, alright?”

“I see. Of course. Thank you for your advice, Sir.”

“I’m no Sir, but, there’s a lot of path in this world. I just want you to know that.”

“You’re right, thank you.”

Krone gave him a simple salute, walking away without any hint of being shaken.

A lot of candidates gazing at him, either with sympathy or simply bathing in the feeling of superiority. To these kinds of people, he ignored them. That moment when he was walking away while whistling, he felt tingling feeling at the back of his neck.

Turning to his back, his gaze directly fell on the second floor, where the mirror was.

Confirming his target, he smirked.

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‘Our gaze met? That's possible? The mirror...’

Julia was still surrounded by knights, nonchalantly inquiring her of simple, everyday details. When they noticed her interest on what was happening below, they observed the boy with white tunic.

“Poor boy, seemed like he’s one of ours.”

Natalia commented, recognizing Krone’s tunic, attire in reference to military.

Another knight sighed.

 “Well, it seemed he had steeled himself. He’s not shaken in the least.”

“Does that even make sense? He’s obviously putting up a front.”

“Still, admirable. Too bad for him, but it just meant his path is different.”

“Yes, there’s a lot of paths to success."

“A shame.”

Kent shook his head.

Each knight made a simple comment, seeing that their precious candidate was interested in him. In a way, he was like a direct opposite of her. While she was extremely lucky, he was extremely not.

“Amazing”

“Excuse me?”

Natalia asked. Her one word caused them slight confusion.

“That boy, is amazing.”

“Err, I see, you meant of his demeanor? Indeed, it’s amazing.”

“Yeah, he still doesn’t seem to give up. That’s amazing enough.”

“Never giving up. A crucial trait for a knight.”

She stayed quiet from their comments. She had the impression that these knights ought to be sharp, yet she refused to judge them.

‘Our worldview, might just be different.’

Her gaze seemingly locked to him, following his movement.

With clear eyes, seemingly without any impurity.

The knights looking at her had the impression she sympathized with him, and his luck.

His bad luck.

‘Good girl. She actually,'

‘Not arrogant. The quality to be a great knight,'

‘How wonderful. We can nurture her into a blooming knight.’

Their eyes spoke amongst themselves. They were determined to train her even before she could pass the whole test. As for the said person, she simply was in her own world.

‘I wonder, what kind of world he is seeing…?’

She shuddered as she recalled his smirk. Smile of excitement followed.

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Krone took out a handbook he prepared beforehand.

His right hand held a pen with a black jade on it. Sitting not far away from the Evaluating Crystals, his eyes locked onto another candidate.

His build was large, with almost 190 cm height.

He was wearing green tunic, thick brown trousers and boot. At his back was a large green shield. His way of walking was a weird, gaining people’s attention. The way he walked was almost like a toddler, but his muscles kept their laughter in.

He was like a tree walking around.

 “Doran Ashwalt, huh. Moderate green. A bit naïve. Specialty in defense. Hmm, loyal type kind of guy. Movement terrible. Suitable Arte, possibly Ein Gard. Spirit can be nurtured, a bit hard though.”

He noted down everything he got from his observation.

Due to his experience, he more or less able to grasp the nature of these youngsters. For those he did not quite get, he ruled that their trait was simply too weak to make him notice.

Either that, or they were professional liars, all the more reason for him to cross them out.

It was not possible for him to note down everyone, so he was particular in choosing who. Not necessarily those high in affinity, but those whom he considered capable and trustworthy.

“The kind of comrade I wish to have.”

He jotted down the last of his note.

There were already thirteen names in the notebook. He flipped the book, looking at the number one, Ron M. Shamanov and number two, Julia S. Garde.

“These two are must-have. As for how… Em?”

Looking up, his gaze fell on two girls standing side by side.

Two similar looking, blonde girls with yellow tunic and leggings. On their hands, shiny magic gloves with a golden crystal at the back of their hand.

At a sight, he could tell how innocent these two looked. Reminding him of babies, it was as if they had never been tarnish by the cruel world before.

“Naïve, naïve. Lacking in hardened spirit, a bit expectant of this world… Seemed like… Curiousity..? No, expecting questions to be answered?”

His mind moved around at full gear. Whenever he saw interesting people like them, he became like this. It was a habit nurtured due to General Shurran’s influence; who taught him carefully on how to judge people and see through their nature.

The general was an expert on this, and he had polished him enough to be his immediate successor.

“Hm… Lightning? Their physique seemed lack training, but their cardio should be alright – more of a mage type than a knight… a mobile mage.”

He avoided staring at them directly. When people noticed him, he would just slightly divert his eyes, feigning ignorance and innocence. He simply put a front of curiosity to those around him, but in truth, only a few were his focus.

Currently, the twins held his attention.

“Taking in, risky business. High potential, but likely to break during tough training. Lacking physical defense. Damn.”

He felt a waste there. High potential, yet the risk was similarly high as well. He waited a bit until the first of the two placed her hands on the crystal – a few seconds passed, yellow light emerged. Brighter, ever brighter.

Thus, the evaluator mood brightened.

“Thiana Arlance, Lightning, High Affinity!”

He had a good feeling. He preferred announcing good result like this, just made his work felt worthwhile.

The girl stepped aside, waiting for her sister to do the same. The other girl placed her hands. Similarly, yellow light emerged.

With similar brightness.

“Liliana Arlance, Lightning, High Affinity!”

The crowd looked over.

It was rare enough for high affinity to appear, but then two of the same element appeared at the same time. Looking at the twins, the crowd seemingly understood.

“Nice. Lightning – useful one. But still, nevermind.”

There was nothing to worry about. He should just worry about them should they made such decision he had in mind. He jotted down the twin’s information.

…

Some moment passed.

He looked around. It was about an hour since he entered. Most candidates had finished the first test – this Mana Evaluation. The evaluators rejected no candidate here, though the test would be counted later, along with obstacles course and written test.

These three tests were called the first screening. Despite being a white affinity, Krone did pass the first screening previously.

“No more interesting ones?”

Most good candidates were among the early ones. He lamented the fact that he might miss a few early candidates, but the fact was he had evaluated most of them here. He consoled himself with that fact. One by one, the precious crystal was stored.

He was about to close the book when...

“Excuse me, coming through!”

Red light passed by him.

No, it was red hair. He turned to see a girl stopping right before a crystal as the evaluator was about to store it into a large container.

‘Weird, a familiar feeling?’

Krone had this feeling of familiarity coming from her. He did not know why though.

“I’m sorry I’m late!”

Breathing heavily, she told the evaluator, leaving an unfavorable expression on his face. Who could possibly be late for such an important test? Sighing, he really did not want to crush the girl’s hope. He gestured her over, taking her name and number.

“You shouldn’t be late like this, you give yourself bad impression.”

“Yes Sir. I apologize!”

“As long as you understand. Step up.”

She stepped to the front, landing her hands onto the crystal.

Soon enough, bright red filled the entirety of the crystal…

The evaluator shuddered. He was glad he did not bar the girl from taking the test, otherwise he would have wasted a talent.

“Athea Rhemon, Fire, peak? No, High Affinity!”

Hearing the name, he still could not recall anyone he knew. Looking at the bright redness of the crystal however, he had a revelation.

"So a Flamme Vyrusha user. She’s from his family.”

What a coincidence.

Indeed, what were the chances?

With knowledge, you were able to tell apart things.

With knowledge, things people could not recognize, you could!

He could not tell back then… but now, he could!

This girl was a user of a specific Arte – one exclusively belonged to a specific family.

He could clearly tell from how red the crystal was, as if it was about to burn. It looked as though it was about to reach the peak, yet not quite.

Within his heart, he was overjoyed. He had the urge to jump around and shout, but he had to restrain himself.

'I’ll take care of this little sister of yours, or cousin, or niece, I don’t know. Perhaps even aunt. Heh. No need to thank me, pal.'

His eyes locked onto his prey.

The red-haired shuddered, tingling sensation struck her. Wondering if there was any bugs on her back, she checked.

Having discovered nothing, the girl had a puzzled look.

Krone turned his gaze low, his fingers covering his mouth.

Again, a sly smile on his face.

===== Chapter 8 End =====