Mana affinity
"Sentence... understand... simple..." Omegon says and I don't understand everything. I think he is asking if I understand simple sentences? I do, but not well enough yet, he speaks too quickly. I don't have enough practice with the pronunciations, I place the earpiece back on and will just focus on both what Omegon says and what the earpiece translates.
"Sorry, I need more practice, can you repeat please?" I say with a bit of exasperation.
[As I said earlier, now that you can feel mana, you will need to learn how to manipulate it. Yesterday we worked on all the differences you can feel between space, darkness and abyssal mana. From today onwards you will try and control mana.] Omegon speaks seriously now, and the reason for that is evident if you think a bit. But it can be a presumption.
[But before you go ahead, you need to know about affinities.] Okay, I have an idea of what he is going to say.
[Controlling mana is complex, it takes time to learn doing it, and it is different for each and every attribute. They don't react the same way with your will, and while you can and should learn to control a large variety, you can't hope to control every mana attribute. The more you train controlling one attribute, the more mastery you gain over it. The more time you invest in one attribute, the better you get at using this particular attribute. Their is no known limit to how much control it is possible to have, that means-] I interrupt him, saying what I think he is about to say.
"The potential is limitless, the more you invest, the stronger you get. Right?"
[Yes.] He simply answers.
"And I guess that wanting to master every attribute makes you a jack of all trade but a master of none."
[Indeed, it is simpler if you understand that. But there is also the affinity to keep in mind too.] He explains.
"Let me guess, like people are not all good at the same thing, it is true for attributes too? Some will be better at learning to control fire mana while having difficulties to grasp water mana?" I ask more than explain.
[For example yes. You are quick to understand things, but I would have taken fire and earth to make that example. Fire and water both have a moving response, while earth tends to resist, they are fundamentally different in the way they are handled. But you have the gist of it. Some will be better at handling some type of mana, while others will be bad for this particular one.]
[To proceed with what I wanted to say, we will search what mana you have an affinity for. If you had a better perception we would have just exposed you to the mana directly, but to avoid wasting time we will use sprites.] Omegon says while unloading crystal like stones on my desk. The look like quartz crystals, and there are dozens of them. Once Omegon has emptied his bag of crystals he finally explains what those are and what they will be used as.
[Those are crystals with mana accumulated inside of them. Each has a different mana attribute, all of them is not there, as there are thousands of them, but that is not the point. Those are the mana attributes considered of the first tier, I will explain what tiers are later, for now we will focus on this.]
[All of the first tiered mana attributes are not here either, the sprites of some of them are aggressive and can prove to be deadly. We will test those only if you don't find any affinity with what we already have.]
"Okay, I think I understand what we are aiming for. Except for two things: does everyone have an affinity for an attribute? And are we limited to only one affinity?" I ask, remembering the many op characters I sometime read about in novels. An affinity in all attributes would be quite satisfying.
[Good question. It all depends on the individual, as having no affinity at all is rare, but can still be found. And people with multiple affinities can be encountered somewhat uncommonly.] He explains.
[The fact about affinities is that even if two people have the same affinity, they will not have the same abilities with the attribute. An easy example for that is water affinity, some will be better at using water to protect themselves or others, while some will use it to drown masses in one big wave.]
[And that is all without taking into account the degree of affinity, because if two mages have affinity for say, earth mana. One could have a more profound affinity than the other, making him progress faster than the other.] Omegon takes a bit of a breath, is he beginning to monologue there.
[One thing to keep in mind with affinities, are the related attributes.] He looks me in the eyes to check if I am still focused on his explanations, and I am very much so.
[As the example, I have an affinity for earth mana. It took me time to progress along with it, and even more so with other attributes. But when I try to progress with stone mana, you could say that I have an affinity for it too, if somewhat lesser than the one I have in earth.]
[Earth and mana are related to one another, and we can see that in two ways: how the two mana attributes work so similarly, and by the fact that stone exposed to the environment with slowly degrade and turn into dirt.]
[That means that if someone has an affinity they are not happy with, they can always try to use a relative affinity to the one to have what they could lack with the other.]
[You understand all of this? Any question you may have? It is basic, but also the foundations of what modern magic is built on. Better know it and not make stupid mistake that could have been avoided.] Omegon ask and affirms,
"Yes, I understand this. It is more... complete than what I would have assumed." A tell him frankly.
[Complete? I think I know what you mean. One thing that you see with time is that things can look simple while being complicated, and the other way around is very much true too. Nature is fascinating in this way, but we are digressing, let return to the main subject for now.]
[In the case someone has, let's say both fire and earth mana affinities, you could think they have two affinities. And you are mostly tight, they are capable to progress quickly with two mana kinds that are seemingly opposed. But in this case, what if we tried to test his affinity with magma mana?]
[Which introduces the second tier of mana. A big quantity of tier 2 mana attributes are a mix of two tier 1 attributes.]
[Magma mana would be a mix of stone and fire mana, right? In reality though it is not! because in reality you had tested two affinities that were relative affinities!]
[Fire mana and heat mana are often confounded for one another, while earth and stone can also be confounded. And what happens when you mix heat and stone together? You get magma!] I think Omegon either appreciate teaching, or mana attributes is something that is of great interest to him. But it is all the better for me, if I don't understand something he will probably gladly explain. I make affirmative "Mhm" and "Oh" or "Ah" to show I am listening.
[Now, for a magma affinity, there is two ways it can happen. Either the person really had an affinity for both heat and stone, or even a relative attribute of those, and then those affinities fuse to make a greater affinity with magma mana. Or the more common happenstance, which would e that the person just has an affinity for magma mana from the start and heat and stone mana or relative attributes to magma mana.]
"So, taking my case as an example, the darkness and space mana fusing together to make abyssal mana is either made because the Teneren has an affinity for abyssal mana, or for both space and darkness mana." I say because giving an example with something you just learnt helps you better retain the information. And if you made an error, then you can be corrected.
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[Yes, that is absolutely right. But you can't compare abyssal mana and magma mana easily.] Omegon retorts.
"Why?" I ask. "Are they not at the same tier? Or it has something do to with another thing I don't know about?"
[They are not at the same tier. Magma mana is at the second tier while abyssal mana is on the fourth tier.]
"Ah? And how many tiers are there?" A third tier would have been more attributes put together, but space and darkness make abyssal mana, so how is it so high in tiers?
[As far as we know, there is no limit on how many tiers there are. Only on how many we can understand.] He says a bit smugly, a dorky smirk he tries to hide appearing on his face.
"Okay, I'll play your game. If there is no limit to tiers of attributes, then what makes an attribute rank higher in tiers?"
[Its complexity.] He answers simply. If he was a friend I would probably have said something like 'Then your cockiness must be at least tier 5.' But I don't know how he could react, so I just keep the idea in mind and smile at the jock I just cracked in my head.
[It is something you can not really know about before trying to control those attributes. To explain why abyssal mana is tier 4, you can look at its constituents. Space mana is a third tier attribute, he nears the threshold of fourth tier though. Depending on how you use it in spells you can be obliged to use fourth tier methods instead of third ones. But I will explain this another time.]
[Space mana is third tier, and darkness is in the first one. When you fuse the two kinds of mana, the result is more complex than before and thus gains a tier. But that kind of rising in tier is not true for every attributes either. I will just give one example for this as this is a subject for later.]
[Draining mana is a third tier attribute. It is made from life, mind and devouring mana. While life and mind are second tiered attributes, devouring is tiered 3, just like the draining mana it forms with this fusion.]
"Okay, it is getting a bit complicated there." I tell him, I do understand, but that was not as easy to get as the things before.
[Yes, we will come back to this when you are ready. We are not there yet.] It seems that Omegon calmed himself a bit. It is evident he is enthusiastic about this stuff, but instead of just talking about things I will not understand, it is better to learn what is essential to latter learn about it.
[Let us come back to testing your affinity. I was talking about sprites, no?] He asks, a bit unsure.
"You said there were two ways, either trying to control the attributed mana or use sprites." I say both to give him a track to build his lesson on, and to see if I missed something.
[Yes, I will summon sprites and ask them to circulate the different mana in the crystals inside of your body. You don't have to do anything specific as to know how much of an affinity you have with an attribute, I only need to know how much resistance your body has against them.]
"Huh? So what about the mana entering my body because of the Teneren?" I ask, my mind making the connection.
[What about it?] Omegon asks, unable to follow the sudden change.
"If the Teneren is pulling abyssal, space and darkness mana inside of me, would it not perturb the test? And if I have no affinity in them, is it increasing it?" Is it how I discover that I can increase affinities and aim to become invincible by maxing every affinity?
[Well, you are bonded to the Teneren. That means that your body will give less resistance to the attributed mana the Teneren has an affinity towards, and his for those you have an affinity in. You could call that a mock affinity, but it is not really on par with it.] I am a bit disappointed, but can't have many mock affinities if I link myself to many creatures?
"What if I link myself multiple Tenerens? Would that mock affinity increase?" I might as well ask, it costs me nothing but time. And a look from Omegon as if I was a fool.
[How would I know? A bond is taxing to make, and is a seventh tier spell that is harder than some eighth tier spells to use. You can't even realize how complex such a thing is yet, and before you ask, spells tier differently from attributes.] Well, the answer is honest at least. But it does not appease my curiosity, could you develop infinite affinity if you bond if hundreds of creatures with the same affinity?
[You know enough for what we will do now. Any other question?] I have other ones, but they area bout the stuff he said would be for later. I gesture that no, I have no more questions while I memorize them.
[Then I will begin. Just so you know, you don't have to worry about anything, the sprites I am going to summon will be mostly harmless. The worst you will have to go through are bad tastes, odors, some shaking and some numbing. Okay?]
"Okay, I just stay there and don't move?" I asks for confirmation.
[Indeed.] He answers and does... something. I can feel that something is happening around me, but I don't know what. The best guess is that Omegon is launching a spell, which would use mana, but my mana sensitivity is not accurate enough to know what he is doing. I can barely feel the mana when it is just a finger away from my body after all.
Less than ten breaths later, a small light appears in front of Omegon. Omegon talks to it, presenting himself and instructing the little bodiless thing which somehow radiates light to take the mana in one of the crystals, pass it through my chest and then hold all the mana from the crystal that passed through me.
The sprite moves above a crystal and then comes in front of me, and before I can react it passes through me, and I can feel the mana it has taken from the crystal follow it. The mana passes through me and some of it stays stuck and is then repelled on the side it tried to enter.
Omegon notes something in his booklet and tell the sprite he can eat the mana he is holding and return to his realm. Only now do I hear it, Omegon was not talking common just now. He was making noises that no human mouth should be able to do, whistling and creaking that somehow has a meaning, which is sent to me thanks to the earpiece.
Once the first sprite has disappeared, another one pops out of nowhere and does the same thing as the last by following Omegon's directions.
It takes around 10 seconds for each sprite to pass through me, make the mana they took follow their track, gather it behind me, and then disappear to be replaced with another one. The cycle repeats once for every crystal brought onto my desk, and every time mana passes through me, I focus on it and try to perceive as much of it as I can.
I try to recognize which attribute the mana is, some are cold, others warm, some have no temperature feel to them. They have other sensations, like how touching one would feel like, or its taste, I even got some odors impressions. It is fascinating how the mana can have so much diversity while still feeling like itself. Every single time the sensation varies, something is different in a way or another, but one thing stays the same: it is mana, and I can feel it act when I try to grab it with my thoughts.
All of a sudden their are no more sprites, I had closed my eyes to better focus, and when I open them back up I see Omegon sitting on the corner of my bed, looking at his booklet.
"So? already finished?" I ask, I don't think enough time passed for all the crystals to have been used up already.
[Yes, it has been more than 20 minutes, and all the crystals are empty.] He says while looking up at me just a second before returning his focus on the booklet.
"What affinity do I have then?" I ask while keep all my excitement about being a fucking mage out of my voice AND body language. Play it cool, no need to try to speed up things. I think to myself.
[Your general affinity is in the average, but you don't have an affinity in any of the attributes we just tested.] He answers while writing something.
"Do I need to be tested for tier 2 attributes then?" It would be amazing if I could have a high tier affinity. But it would slow down my early progress no? I catch myself thinking, and I feel a bit odd about this thought. Why does it feel like when I prepare to start playing an MMO?
[No, there are still tier 1 attributes we can test, but not without preparation. It would not do any good to have rotting mana pass through you without anything to counter its effects, don't you concur?]
"Oh, yeah. That could be... uncomfortable." I say, beginning to take in the kind of danger I was in without realizing. I could have been killed by any sprite if they had a mortal mana attribute then?
"When will we do that?" I ask as he stands up.
[Either tomorrow or the day after. You have what can be considered mock affinity for length, darkness and room mana. But that should be because of the Teneren's interference. I must make a report on those data and prepare the materials needed to do the other tests. Saria will not come today, so you should focus on your mana sensitivity for today.] Omegon says before once again departing, placing the earpiece back.
So she is named Saria. I think to myself. He let it slip, either by accident, because he knew not that I don't know her name, or because he wants to try to manipulate me into doing something? I will just keep this to myself and continue acting as though I don't know her name.
I commit her name to memory, I forget names too easily, and then get on with trying to sense the mana entering me. Trying to feel more of it, searching for where it comes from, and where it goes to. And as time passes by, I can't help but realize that for the first time I don't feel bad about being here.