I showed up to a meeting spot for children my age feeling incredibly excited, looking around the massive room as I hoped to spot Sallia and Felix before they spotted me. Each year, somewhere around a hundred and fifty to two hundred children turned twelve. All of us met in a large conference room to get tested for magical affinity, before we were separated into classes and apprenticeships. And unless someone had been born at a weird time, two of those children should be Sallia and Felix this year.
I scanned the meeting room again, wondering if I was the first to arrive.
From the corner of the room, in a place I had somehow failed to notice, I felt someone slam into me from the side, before someone started crushing me into a hug.
“MIRIA! It’s been way too long!” said a female voice while my ribs creaked in protest.
I turned around, and briefly materialized my friendship bracelet, even though I was pretty sure I knew who was hugging. The moment I finished confirming the identity of my attacker, I gave her a massive grin, and gave Sallia the tightest hug I could. The two of us quickly retreated to the side, to make sure we could keep an eye out for Felix and also avoid others eavesdropping on us.
“I missed you so much,” I said, as we finally released each other. “How have you been? I wanted to see both of you earlier, but…”
Sallia nodded. “When you’re not even old enough to swap out your pink clothes, parents get super strict about moving out of their sight. Mine were especially bad,” Sallia said as she winced. “I really wanted to see you and Felix as well, but my parents never let me out of their sight for more than a couple minutes. I get it, but…” She sighed. “Oh well. What matters is that we’re together again.”
I grinned. I was at least glad to have Sallia back. I took another look at her clothes, before realizing that she was still wearing pink clothes, with gray sewn in. “Healing?”
Sallia snorted. “My parents, especially my mother, want me to become a healer, so they make me wear pink with gray sewn in. I do not appreciate it. If I had it my way, I’d be wearing black and gray, like you,” she said, giving my black {Lake-Gazer’s Dress} an appreciative nod.
I winced. “That sounds pretty irritating.”
Sallia nodded. “Once I’m forty they won’t have much say in my life anymore, at least.” Sallia paused. “In fact, I’ll be fairly independent much earlier than that, if my suspicions about how our bodies interact with essence is correct. Do you… also think our bodies naturally get affinity for whatever essences are available in a given world?”
I nodded. “I imagine it needs to be genetically possible to be compatible with an essence, but… While the slave races didn’t have much magical potential compared to the Orthan, our species still clearly has the ability to give birth to witches and Shapers. So we should have the talent to become both, I think.”
Sallia nodded. “It’s a shame it only works for essences present in a given world, or I wouldn’t have wasted a few months building up my compatibility with Absorption Essence again. Oh well. I’m really excited to see Felix soon. And the city will have 3 new apprentice Shapers today,” She grinned. “That’ll be a sight. There are only twenty six shapers in town right now, and on average only one is born every half a decade or so. Three in one year will be… fun. A lot of doors will open up for us after this.”
I grinned. “I really hope we’re correct about how essences works.”
Sallia nodded. “Guess we’ll find out today. Do you have any idea how the test works?”
I shook my head.
Sallia grinned. “My family isn’t quite nobility, but we have some connections with some important people. My mother is the physician for a Grand Wizard, so I’ve learned a bit about the test beforehand. We’re going to be tested with a few magic wands. They’re designed to help anyone with magical talent funnel some mana into the end of the wand, which has the first-circle spell ‘light’ inscribed on it. So basically, just pick up the wand and channel essence into it.” Sallia frowned. “I’m not quite sure whether Wizards use Manifestation or Alteration Essence yet. I’m guessing Wizards use Manifestation and Shapers use Alteration, but we’ll have to make sure later.”
I grinned. “Thanks for the tips about the witch test. What about the shaping test?”
“Same thing, except it’s a cube. If you channel Alteration Essence into the cube, it’s designed to change color from blue to orange. Nothing exciting, but simple enough to check.”said Sallia.
“Interesting. Do you know if it’s possible to be both a Witch and a Shaper?” My last worry was about compatibility. I didn’t know if there was some sort of inherent issue in training as both a witch and a shaper. If there was, I would need to make a decision about which one to train.
“It’s absolutely possible. Three of the current Shapers are also Witches. It’s not common, but we can absolutely train as both without any issues.”
“That’s really exciting, then. I really hope Alteration or Manifestation is my extreme affinity, because once I can find mine-” Before I could finish, my {Friendship Bracelet} pinged at me, and I cut myself off mid-sentence to focus on the door again.
Another boy crept into the room, his eyes darting around as he looked at each person carefully. I glanced at his wrist, and saw a {Friendship Bracelet}. I grinned again.
“Felix!” I said, quickly pouncing on him and giving him a huge hug. Sallia quickly followed me, and the three of us ended up in a group hug right next to the doorway. Then, a few moments later, we quickly shuffled back into the corner of the room so we could finish catching up.
Felix laughed, giving both of us huge grins. “I’ve missed both of you so much. You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to seeing you guys again.”
I grinned. “I missed you too. Being alone for twelve years was… lonely.” I felt a small pang of frustration as I thought of the years spent without either of my friends to talk to, before I shook my head. We were together again now. “We were talking about the odds of us being gifted in both Shaping and Witchcraft.”
Felix nodded. “I strongly suspect we’re guaranteed access to both magic systems. My parents are retired adventurers, and they’ve already done a test at home to confirm that I have talent for being a Wizard, at least. They don’t have the supplies for testing for Shaping ability, but if I’m already compatible with one when the odds are only one in ten…”
I grinned. “We should be good to go, then!” Then, I chuckled. “Come to think of it, on the Islands, you were the child of Vanessa, a retired hunter. Now you’re the child of two retired adventurers. You’ve somehow ended up with martially inclined parents twice in a row. You and Sallia really need to consider swapping parents next time.”
Felix chuckled. “That would definitely fit our personalities better, at least. Sallia, if you ever meet my parents I bet you guys will get along really well. But that’s a discussion for later.”
I nodded. “Any ideas which magic system uses which essence?”
“Shaping is related to Alteration essence. Witches and Wizards use Manifestation. Witches and Wizards use spells, which are divided into magic circles. Those are… complicated, and I don’t know much about them yet. I have no clue what shapers do, although I do know that they were the ones who created the slave races. Witches and Wizards seem more… fighting-oriented,” said Felix. “We’ll have to wait to learn more about shaping though.”
I nodded. “I guess we’ll be finding out more after our tests.”
Then, I paused. “How are your stats, by the way?’
“Let me go first,” said Sallia, who was grinning now. “My rolls weren’t amazing, but they were solid.” She shared her Status Screen with us.
Physical
Mental
Essence
Strength: (1+97)
Grade 4
Intelligence: (0+84)
Grade 4
Absorption: (20+101)
Grade 6
Agility: (1+95)
Grade 4
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Willpower: (10+92)
Grade 5
Manifestation: (0+120)
Grade 6
Fortitude: (10+87)
Grade 4
Perception: (0+104)
Grade 5
Binding: (0+101)
Grade 5
Alteration: (0+126)
Grade 6
I frowned. “Why are your physical Stats so low? Didn’t you build your Runes yet? I was expecting them to be way higher.” I nodded. “Though, your manifestation and Alteration Stats are both pretty good, and you didn't lowroll anywhere important, once the rune magic system is factored in.”
Sallia frowned. “What are you talking about? I have five runes built - ah, I wonder if the Friendship bracelets only show our initial stats? A bit weird, but I guess we did just swap from one kind of Friendship bracelet to another.”
I thought about it for a moment, before I nodded. “I can actually see where you invested soul stats this time as well. Last time, I think I only got your total numbers?” I frowned. “Although, the fact that it doesn’t show any effects from runes is pretty annoying.”
Sallia and Felix shrugged. “Either way, my rolls aren’t bad at all,” said Sallia. “My physical Stats are a bit low, but I have five runes now, and I’m pretty sure I can push to seven or so before I need to stop. Maybe even eight. So I’ll have enough Perception to fuel my body’s Stats just fine.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of Sallia’s talent. Even though Sallia had an entire Grade less Absorption Essence than I did, her ending point for the rune magic system was much higher than mine. Even if Sallia’s extreme affinity for Absorption Essence hadn’t helped her much last world… it obviously had insane benefits the moment one started taking the same magic system to new worlds. Still, although I felt jealous, I could feel a grin tugging at my lips. I was glad that Sallia was doing so well now that she had her most important keyword ability.
“I’ve also gotten some helpful bonuses from my training suit and my ramen noodles,” said Sallia. “My Intelligence is nearly back to Grade 5 just from eating soup every day, although my Willpower and Perception might need another decade of soup bowls to get to the next grade. My Physical Stats have all gotten a boost from my soup as well, and I’ve made some decent progress with my training suit. So in practice, I had grade 5 in all physical and mental stats besides Intelligence, plus three grades to physical stats from runes. And two abilities. See if you can guess what they are?”
I frowned, trying to think. I remembered that it had been rather difficult to figure out where Sallia was when I had entered the room, and the other children were rather conspicuously ignoring us.
“Some sort of Stealth ability?” I asked.
Sallia nodded. “Stealth and healing so far. Since my mother has no magical ability and she’s still a healer to an important person, I figure that, at the very least, witches and wizards aren’t great at healing. So I decided to pick up healing for my second rune ability. I can build my third any time, but I wanted to wait and see if there was anything we needed as a team, or if there was something I wanted that this world’s magic systems can’t do. So I’m going to hold off on forming my sixth rune until I know what ability I want.”
I nodded. “Makes sense. When I form my fourth rune, I’ll probably need to think really hard about what we’re lacking as a team. We’ll talk more about rune abilities once we know more about this world’s magic systems.”
“My turn?” asked Felix, once Sallia and I finished our discussion about rune abilities. “My Stats are… weird. Sallia, I might want to borrow your training suit later.”
“No problem,” said Sallia. “Honestly, my Perception is a bit low to take advantage of my physical Stats right now, so I can lay off using my training suit until I finish forming my seventh rune, or until my Perception hits Grade 6.”
“Good. My physical abilities lag behind by a lot since I don’t have the rune system,” said Felix. “There’s nothing modifying my Stats right now.” Then, Felix shared his Status Screen with both of us.
Physical
Mental
Essence
Strength: (0+110)
Grade 5
Intelligence: (20+117)
Grade 6
Absorption: (10+74)
Grade 4
Agility: (20+81)
Grade 5
Willpower: (20+129)
Grade 7
Manifestation: (10+101)
Grade 5
Fortitude: (20+97)
Grade 5
Perception: (20+109)
Grade 6
Binding: (10+76)
Grade 4
Alteration: (10+79)
Grade 4
I looked over his Status Screen and winced. His Essence Stats were… abysmal. His Physical Stats were pretty bad as well, at least compared to what he could have rolled. However, his Mental Stats were all strangely high.
“I can’t tell if your Stats are excellent, or trash,” I said.
Felix nodded. “I also had a hard time figuring out how to feel about this.”
“First thing’s first. Felix,” said Sallia. “You are going to eat from my noodle bowl for a few months. That should boost your Intelligence to Grade 7. You’re only 3 points away, so it just seems like a huge shame not to give you priority over my magic noodle bowl for a while. Your Fortitude is also just three points off, so it’s very easy to train it up.”
“I appreciate that,” said Felix. “It’s a shame there’s nothing we can do to boost my Essence Stats. I really hope I’m not gifted in Alteration Essence, or my Stats will be very awkward.” he chuckled. “At the very least, the Stats suit me quite well, in a sense. Mental Stats are pretty helpful for learning how to make items. The Stats suit me.”
“Perhaps a bit too well,” commented Sallia, grinning.
I nodded. “Honestly, Felix, in addition to Sallia’s noodle bowl, you should probably use Sallia’s training suit too. Your physical Stats are pretty far away from Grade 6, except for your Fortitude, but we have a lot of training time to use. It would be a shame not to make the most of it, and all of your Stats being at Grade 6 would make adventuring much easier.”
“Adventuring?” Sallia grinned. “Looks like you’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking when it comes to earning Achievement.”
Felix seemed to consider it for a moment, before shrugging. “I was thinking more about trying to invent something amazing that gives humans an edge over the Orukthyri, maybe letting us reclaim some of the surface instead of small surface settlements. But I guess adventuring could tie into that. Finding old notes and learning more about magic would probably help with crafting, if we find the right notes or old relics and such.”
Sallia seemed to think about it. “You know, if we get that far, we could probably expand on the ‘improving the status of the slave races’ idea. I was a noble in my first life, and I know a thing or two about managing an estate. If we rack up enough wealth and influence, maybe we could found a town in the underdark or something?”
I shrugged. “It's not a bad idea. It would probably be worth a lot of Achievement. Let’s think more about that if we make it big as adventurers, though.
“Fair enough,” said Sallia. “We’ll consider it a stretch goal.”
“What about you, Miria?” Asked Felix. “What do your Stats look like this time?”
Physical (+65)
Mental
Essence
Strength: (20+84)
Grade 8
Intelligence: (20+108)
Grade 6
Absorption: (20+120)
Grade 7
Agility: (20+97)
Grade 9
Willpower: (20+128)
Grade 7
Manifestation: (20+105)
Grade 6
Fortitude: (20+110)
Grade 9
Perception: (20+70)
Grade 4
Binding: (20+70)
Grade 4
Alteration: (20+123)
Grade 7
“You really need to use my Training Suit too,” said Sallia. “Even if you can’t make the most of upgrading your Agility, since your Perception is trash, there’s no shame in bumping it up a little. You’re so close to Grade 9. Assuming you have at least 3 runes.”
I frowned, realizing the {Friendship Bracelet} didn’t include Ability modifiers either. “You’re forgetting my +5 to physical Stats from my Swordsmanship Ability. Which doesn’t show up when I share my Status Screen, apparently,” I said. “My Agility is already at Grade 9.”
“Ah,” said Sallia. “Fair enough. I did forget that. Hmm… wow, your Perception is really awful. But the rest of your Stats are amazing.”
I grinned. “Apart from my Perception, I’m very happy with my rolls.” I paused. “Though, I am hoping that this world’s magic system either gives me a way to boost my Perception, or isn’t too reliant on making use of my body. Even if my body is pretty strong, the low perception really hurts my close-range fighting abilities. And long range fighting abilities.” I frowned. “Honestly, that one roll really hurts my fighting abilities in general.”
Sallia nodded. “Once Felix gets his Intelligence and Fortitude to the next grade, you get the next use of my soup bowl. I can get Perception from runes, but you’ll probably struggle to do the same, since your Ability doesn’t fit you as well as mine fits me.”
I smiled. “I appreciate it. With Grade 5 Perception I’ll be pretty darn strong for this world.”
“Let’s all get strong enough to explore the wastes of the surface together!” Said Sallia, far more excited than I thought she would be about giving resources to Felix and I.
It took me a moment to make the connection.
On the islands, Sallia had struggled with feeling useless, and had been the weakest of the three of us. Now, in this world, she was currently stronger than Felix and I, and was in a position to help us out. While that might chance once we started training with this world’s magic systems, right now, Sallia was incredibly well position to be the strongest member of our group. To Sallia, this probably counted as confirmation that she was finally useful, since it was a direct role reversal compared to our time on the islands. And she seemed thrilled about it.
I gave Sallia another hug.
“What was that for?” she asked, briefly hugging me back.
“No reason,” I said, grinning.
Before we could continue our conversation, an older woman walked into the classroom. “Are you the children attending school this year?” The children fell silent, and I observed the woman’s dress.
Light blue, with a very small amount of white trim. She was a witch with a few accomplishments, but not many.
The woman smiled at all of us. “Good. Come with me. It’s time to take your magic talent tests, and see if any of you have the potential to become a witch, wizard, or shaper.”