Arnos and Mabel continued their walk to Celera Institute's main building. The sun had now already started to set and the atmosphere made it clear night was approaching.

"Hey, do you think one of our seniors built that light fountain?" Arnos asked curiously as he walked beside Mabel. "I mean, it had a light magic spell, and someone has to manage it, I think."

"Hmm, I think it's very likely," Mabel nodded thoughtfully.

"I mean, light affinity is one of the stronger affinities. It's very likely that one in the group of the strongest students in Celera possesses light affinity," she thought to herself.

"And what makes you so sure about it?" Arnos asked, looking at Mabel with a curious expression.

"Hmm, light affinity strong - seniors strong, so highly likely. Understood," Mabel replied.

"I do understand what you're trying to say, but what's with that lousy explanation?" Arnos said.

Mabel raised her eyebrows at Arnos. "It's not lousy. I just thought of the explanation in my mind, and it was," she gave a tired look, "tiring to repeat it, so I decided to ditch the explanation and give you the main keywords. Understood, Mister?"

"She really does give a lot of expressions while speaking," Arnos mentally noted, looking at Mabel.

"Understood, Mabel. Hey, can I ask something else?" Arnos said in a curious tone yet again.

"Hmm, go on. You have my attention," Mabel spoke as she continued to match his pace while walking.

"What's your affinity?"

"Guess!" Mabel replied with excitement and a smile.

"Ice or water?" Arnos shot his answer.

"How did you guess that?" Mabel asked with a shocked expression.

Arnos smiled. "Should I tell her that I just guessed it from her hair color? Wait, no, she would be pissed—or will she? Well, whatever," he thought to himself.

"Your hair color's blue, so I just thought it might be water or ice since they're associated with blue."

"Hmm, that's weird but accurate. I actually have a dual affinity for water and ice."

"That's rare. Dual affinity, huh? I'm impressed. How about now you guess the affinity I have” Arnos said.

"I don't think there is any connection between hair color and magic affinity. Like, wouldn't that mean you have dark affinity?" Mabel gave a small chuckle at her own comment.

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"I do. That's one down, one more to go." He gave Mabel a thumbs-up and a smile.

"Wait, you have dual affinity too?" Mabel gave a surprised expression.

"I do," Arnos chuckled, his voice tinged with excitement. "And you know what? If I didn't have the combo I have, I would have never tried this mage route in my life," Arnos spoke.

Mabel thought for a few seconds and said, "Is it Earth?" She had a dumbfounded look.

"It's not. It's actually fire, one of the most common ones."

"You have dark affinity! It surely isn't common. Be happy with what you have," Mabel spoke, giving a sideways glance to Arnos.

"Oh, I am very happy," Arnos replied with a smile. “It's the best possible combination to have for me, at least,” he said in a warm tone.

"And why's that?" Mabel asked curiously.

"Hmm, that's something we could talk about in the near future” Arnos said to Mabel with a small smile.

And honestly It's a long childish story, and we have already talked about a lot of stuff today, so we should probably save something for the future too," Arnos said as he looked at the bunch of students standing in front of Celera’s main building.

"Okay, should we find Marcus?" Mabel asked, looking at Arnos.

Arnos thought for a few moments before answering. "I'm not too sure. I think he would find us instead if he needed to, and he is spending time with his sister, isn't he? We can't disturb him now, can we?" Arnos spoke in a neutral tone.

"Wait a second, right here," Mabel said to Arnos as she walked forward. She cut through the crowd of students and went inside. Arnos was curious about what she was doing. She came back in a minute and walked towards Arnos, who was standing far from the crowd.

"We still have 10 minutes!" Mabel said to Arnos.

"For what?" Arnos asked with curiosity.

"Ah, the banquet will start after 10 minutes, so we could go stand somewhere else or do something else for the time being." She rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish laugh.

"You went in to check this?" Arnos asked with a smile. He turned back and started walking.

"Well, standing in a crowd is the last thing I like," she nodded as she went a step ahead of him.

"We are surely going to lose a lot of weight today," Arnos added with a warm tone.

"Yeah, hourglass figure it is for us. No, me—oh, shit." Mabel couldn't control her laugh at her own comment, imagining Arnos in that way. Arnos couldn't help but chuckle at her too.

"Hey, I am already on the skinny end of the spectrum, just so you know," Arnos added as he chuckled.

"Sure. Hey, Arnos?"

(Glances at Mabel) "Hmm? Yes, Arnos here."

"Did you ever practice magic spells?" she asked with a curious expression.

"Like stealing a spellbook from an elder sibling and then practicing it?" Arnos asked with a little bit of sarcasm.

Looking away from Arnos, "Ah, something like that, yes."

"I haven't done it yet, I do know basic spells though" Arnos said.

"I see."

"What about you?" Arnos asked, looking at Mabel as he matched her pace.

Mabel turned to him to give a grin. She gave a victory sign. "I sure did," she added in a warm tone.

"You stole your older sibling's book?" Arnos asked in a puzzled tone.

(Waves her finger, gesturing no) "No, not that! I trained a bit in basic spells. My older brother taught me a few spells when I was younger."

"I see. So you are kind of like an experienced mage, aren't you?" Arnos said in a teasing tone.

"Yeah, yeah, experienced mage, sure," Mabel said in an exaggerated tone. "I think we should go now. The banquet's probably about to start."

"Sure.”

Their walk back to the Celera Institute was quick. By the time Mabel and Arnos reached the main building, students had already started moving inside, but there was still a crowd outside, meaning they were on time.

Mabel began walking ahead of Arnos, gesturing for him to follow, and that's exactly what he did. They entered the main campus and headed to a different area this time—not the main hall where the previous ceremony had taken place, but the cafeteria instead.