Joshua blinked. Shook his head, then asked, "Did you say SWORD?? That would weight more than either of us!!"

"Yes. That should tell you just how dangerous they are." The older man shivered. "Combat Specialists are typically some kind of person with an incredible ability-"

"-You mean that people like this are common??"

"No, but they come around from time to time. Espicially after or just before monster attacks- but we should be doing our job, I'll tell you more later. Meet me at Guildur's after your shift is up."

The two of them continued on with their jobs, over Joshua's continued questions. Fortunately, They were replaced in only an hour, and after making their report, they both went to Guildur's, one of the local taverns that was frequented by guards.

After ordering a meal, the older guardsman seemed to consider, then added some heavier drink for himself. Joshua eyed him at that, but even as inexperienced as he was, he could tell that the veteran was steeling himself for something, and decided to stay quiet. Even though that seemed just a little bit ominous to him.

"Alright kid, you have an affinity, right? Fire and... light was it?" Joshua nodded, about to ask what that had to do with anything, but the older man continued on. "Useful affinities, and you have enough mana to actually use them, but do you actually know anyone with more than that?" he queried.

At this Joshua actually felt enough to speak up. "Yes, actually, two. My older brother and my youngest sister. He had pretty good affinities, and my sister has a frankly rediculous amount of mana, but hasn't wanted to use it at all."

"So you know what im talking about when I say that there are measures for magic?"

"Well, yeah, there's tiny, small, basic, moderate, large, strong, and severe at the top end, right? My older brother had an assignment on it, and we all got tested. Although my youngest sister wasn't cooperative even when she was really young, so he couldn't get a really accurate reading for her. He said she probably had a strong mana attunement? And attunement's how much mana you have, so she has a lot." Joshua nodded thoughtfully, then continued, "I have a basic fire affinity, a small light affinity, and a basic mana attunement. My father actually has a typless affinity, but small attunement, whereas my older brother has a large attunement, and a small general affinity, with a few basics and a moderate affinity for wood."

Now the older man actually looked impressed. "You actually do know a fair bit about this if you know general affinities and the sizings." He took a drink from his mug, muttering a barely heard, "that will make this easier. Thank Tahra!"

Setting his mug down, the older guard settled into talking in detail. "So you were mostly right, and seem to know a fair bit more than most people your age, or honestly most folk a decade or so older than you. You are missing a couple details, however, although if this hadn't happened you would ahve learned them in a few months once the people in charge decide you are going to stay around. Strong and Severe are jsut the top groupings, if you studied this somewhere either official or actually academic, you would know that there is an approximate scale that shows the differences in rank. I won't get into detals right now, but suffice it to say that if you looked, you would see that the difference between strong and severe is almost ten times what it would be." Taking a moment to wet his throat, the older man continued

"This means that for anyone either important or knowledgeable enough, we group it further. it goes strong, greater, mighty, and bright. Then you get severe, extreme, critical, and blind. If you really want to get technical there is more after that, but at that point they are basically magic-born, depending on their affinity and attunement, and those have a dcompletely different ranking. Most of these are pretty theoretical, as even most mages only have a moderate or rarely large affinity or attunement. Your brother is very lucky to have a large attunement. While ther is much more to how good a magic user is beyond those two, it doesn't matter too much for us."

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Finishing his drink, the older guard asked for another round, then continued. "This little tangent was to give you better backgroound. Some people grade different combat skills a similar way. again, its complicated, im not going into details that you don't need right now. But combat specialists, like that youth earlier today, are at least strong. With something. and if it is in affinity, they will have at least a large attunement, and vice versa. The one we saw earlier? They undoubtedly have a raw strength of at least large, if not higher. Likely because almost all of their magic is reinforcing their body, resulting in better physical abilities."

Joshua sat there, for a little while. absorbing. Then he gave the older guard a befuddled look, "How...?"

The veteran shrugged. "Took lessons, where I could. Listened around, asked questions. I wanted to be a mage when I was younger, but didn't have much in the way of it. tiny attunement, small sound affinity. lets me hear a little bit better, but can't actually use magic. But i was still interested, and still learned."

Finishing off another mug, he again ordered another. "One more thing to know about Combat Specialists. Because of their strong abilities, and how they hone them for combat, they have an innate aura, because of their raw strength. it isn't really noticeable, for most people, but it is there."

At this point, his expression became grim. "Always keep this in mind: a combat specialist's aura is subtle, but it is extremely dangerous. The effects are similar to getting druk, or some drugs or even some nastier spells. It isn't intentional, it's not malicious, and some can actually withold it, but it makes people act out, often irrationally, or hyper-rationally, to the point where its all logic and little emotion. either way is dangerous, and the worst part is that it is nonselective, and mostly random. Mostly. The exceptions are nobles and guards. It can either make you uresonable, pigheaded, and aloof, that sort of uppity abusive power type, or it can make you almost zealously loyal, almost like a cult follower. And while it can be extremely useful if, say a general, king, or person in charge has this, most of the time combat specialists dislike the responsibilities attached to those positions."

As yet another mug was finished off, and another one ordered, Joshua was impressed at the older man's alcohol tolerance, as well as his knowledge on the subject. At the same time, the veteran seemed to be almost reminiscing on memories that were not the most pleasant as he was speaking, and distracting himself with some monolouge.

Continuing, he stated, "Even if they do end up in a position of power, they tend to do a shit job of it." The older man was obviously inebriated now, but still had a surprising amount of composure. "They either do something radical that doesn't hold up after they are gone, or become a tyrant in their own special way that screws people over that are still there once they are gone. And their followers? Usually end up dead. Not their close companions, no, those tend to take injuries, or die before there is a large following. And even worse, the effects of their aura? It takes time to overcome, and it lingers. So one of those influenced by it, if they do not watch themselves, may make a huge deal out of something relatively minor, that happened before and again that they had much less reaction to. and those actually close to them? they start to carry some of that aura as well, even other combat specialists. Hell, even their enemies are influenced if they interact enough. "

At this point the Older guard was ranting, and slurring more than a few of his words. Almost a dozen emptied mugs sat around him, and Joshua had also had quite a few as well, if not nearly as many.

Eventually his tirade petered out, and some other guards took the two of them to the barracks. This was a little much for Joshua, and being rather drunk as well didin't help matters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following days were interesting, as Joshua tried to piece together his memories of that night. He had most of the first part, but the rest was... difficult to remember. Mostly, he remembered that Combat specialists were dangerous, and they had a sublte influence over their surroundings, and he should watch himself. something about their power making an aura making people behave off.

So he watched himself around the youth, and anyone else that he knew was powerful. He figured it couldn't hurt, at least, even if they did not have the rediculous strength of a combat specialist.

And eventually, he did see the effects of the aura. And far too soon.