Chapter 2: Finding an Affinity_The End is Just a Beginning

Chapter 2

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It’s been 8 years since the day I’ve been born into this world, and just as the voice said it relies heavily on magic. From lighting the house to cooking your good.

In this world being able to use magic is generally common, however it being strong enough to be used in battle is actually pretty slim at around 20% of the world's population. Since this amount is low the bigger cities need to utilise any that can find it and will call everyone under their influence to have their affinities checked at the age of 14.

My mother explained all this to me about a week ago and to say the least, I’m not looking forward to it as this results in them forcing me to have a fighting role if I have a decent affinity in anything. Unlike the other kids my age who all seem to practice magic, even if it's only a little, I tend to stay to myself and practice my skill, instant teleportation.

Shortly after my second birthday my parents told me about getting a younger brother, this actually turned into a good thing for me as it made things easier to practice my skill without getting seen by others. My mother didn’t say anything about skill bearers getting drafted but I don’t want to take the chance. Regardless 4 months after they made that announcement they left me to my own a lot more making it extremely easy for me to practice.

I could use the skill twice moving around 5 feet, this meant that I had around 200 Mana. Sadly being low on mana was slightly annoying as it caused me to get a headache, that or my body isn’t used to teleporting. Regardless time or wisdom should fix that problem, and so everyday I practiced it. Using it twice a day everyday for the next 3 and a half years the headaches still came so it was in fact a mana induced pain.

Now I was a few days before my 8th birthday and my mother was telling me about the future and how things worked in the world. She did her best at leaving out all the “complicated” matters that a normal kid my age wouldn’t understand like going to war after I’ve been recognized as having an affinity.

She explained that if I do end up with an affinity I would end up in a boarding school where I would study my strongest affinity with all the other children my age. She also explained the chances of them all and went pretty in depth about their actual roles.

First is wind magic, this is what most people will receive at a 10% affinity rate among the general population, it is mostly used for ranged attacks and enhancing speed. They don’t usually become mages but archers or agility based fighters who use body and weapon enhancements.

Next would be water and earth magic, they have roughly the same affinity rate at 3% each. Water is a more awkward magic as it’s use varies with healing properties, some enhancing properties as well as shielding. They usually end up as a protector class of a sort who sit between the healers and the front lines. Earth magic is pretty set in stone though.

Authors note: Sorry not sorry about the pun Tongue [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/tongue.png]

They usually are all tanks who create walls to block magic and enhance their bodies and armor to take more hits.

Then there is fire, they have the lowest affinity at less than 1%, anyone with this affinity will be trained to be a mage without question and their life is basically changed forever as they become an important asset to armies and countries alike. This is the one affinity I want to avoid at all costs.

Finally there’s holy magic, this has a little more than 3% affinity rate and also has a sole purpose, this time with healing. They will be instructed not only with holy magic but also other forms of healing such as potion making, learning about herbs etc. This affinity also seems awful, mostly because it sounds boring and I hate sitting at the back. Healing at the back would be even worse.. Especially with my teleporting ability.

Regardless i still have 6 years before then, for what i’m going to be doing… training. I'm going to do my best to increase my agility by sprinting through the forest everyday. My parents haven’t told me how I can see these stats but the voice said they would represent my power, i'm assuming this means i can view them somehow. Eventually i’ll try to ask about it someway that doesn’t seem too suspicious.

After my mother's lecture about the affinities I decided to walk out back and head to the forest. As I walked out i saw the farm in which we live on, 3 fields of wheat to the left of the house, 2 fields of corn to the right. Across from the house there's 4 fields of potatoes, personally I didn’t help out much with the farming whereas my younger brother always did. I don’t know why he enjoyed it so much but I never complained as it saved me time.

Regardless I went out and did my normal routine, sprint at the fastest I could go for as long as I could go, this resulted in around 150-200 feet. Afterwards I would teleport another roughly 15 feet per cast, I found this was my limit after some testing. After walking for another 2 minutes I found an empty field, or my favourite place to stay as nobody ever came here and I could lay down and simply relax.

While looking at the clouds I thought about why I do this everyday, it doesn’t really make sense as to why I would try and get stronger when i just want to relax. However taking over a farm or finding my own job doesn’t sound exactly easy where if i become something so strong a country can barely oppose me it sounds a lot easier money wise. I would simply need to say “Give me more money” and if they say no I leave to another country.

Of course this means I have to fight but if i'm strong enough i can simply say I don’t want to. Anyway this made sense to me and it’s been around an hour.

“Guess it’s time i head back…” I muttered while getting up. This place really was nice though, it was a small patch of grass free from a rock and tree covered forest. It seems some animals think so as well because a pack of 3 was laying down and eating. I turned and started to head back to the house.

When i walked back in my mother was cooking dinner that would be served in 20 minutes. I offered to help and was handed some potatoes to peel. While peeling i decided to finally ask about the stats in a roundabout way.

“Hey mom, I have a question.” I feel this was a pretty kid like start.

“What’s on your mind honey?” My other answered without turning to me as she was in the middle of something.

“You mentioned going to school for magic earlier, but they all aren’t the same right? Like how does someone become strong?” After finishing my sentence I had finished half the potato.

“Hmm that depends, well the main way would be to raise your limiters.. Ah i guess you wouldn’t know what those are, they are basically what defines you as a fighter and by increasing them you can become faster and stronger.

So the stats are called “Limiters” here, I guess they do limit you but the person who thought of that must have been a pessimist.

“How do i know what mine are?” This caused my mother to actually look at me.

“You use a magical device called the Liat and it will show them to you, of course the school also has one but instead of only you being able to see them they are also able to view them. I’ll let you use ours after dinner if you’d like.”

“We have one?” I’m actually surprised considering were a farming family.

My mother sighed a little at this. “Yeah, everyone has to be one if they have kids”

“Hmm I see, well thanks for letting me use it mom!” She gave me a smile and we both went back to work. After a couple minutes I finished the potatoes and went to sit at the table.

A chicken stew was served and light talk was made, mostly about the farm and how the crops were doing. After we were done I helped clean up and my mother beckoned me to follow her. We went upstairs to her and Dad's room and she opened a closet, she pulled out a flat piece of glass with a handmark in the middle. She brought it to a small table in the corner of the room and put it down.

“Just put your hand on the glass and you’ll be able to see your Limiters above it” My mother explained while gesturing at the handprint.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

After a slight nod i placed my hand on the glass. It glowed a slight blue and after a while the stats started to appear.

Limitation

Details

Limitation breaker

health

The amount of Damage you can take before you die

310

Mana

The cost for skills and abilities

250

Strength

increases the amount of weight Muscles can withstand as well as power being physical attacks

Agility

Increases overall speed of the person as well as reaction time

dexterity

Increases health and reduces damage taken

Intelligence

Increases magical damage and improves memory

Wisdom

Increases mana and reduces effects of low mana

Well damn, my intelligence and wisdom is pretty high… I guess it's because of the 16 years in the other world. Hmm 250 mana… If i teleport roughly 1 and half feet i’ll be able to teleport 3 times… and I can teleport around 13 feet max.

“Well what are your limitation breakers at?” My mother looked with a sort of enthusiasm.

“I have 300 health, 250 mana, 16 strength, 36 agility, 12 dexterity, 20 intelligence and 30 wisdom.” After saying everything my mother was a little shocked then a look of confusion. However as soon as it appeared she quickly regained her composure and laughed.

“Those are great… you’ll either join the academy for magic or you’ll end up in the army.” As she said that her face looked a little pained but she still smiled at me.

It seems she didn’t want me to fight either…

“Well i’ll go tell your father… it’s getting late so go get ready for bed”. As she said that she got up and walked to the door and help it open for me.

“Ok mom, good night!” with that I turned down the hallway and went into my room.

I went to the bathroom connecting to me and my brothers room and brushed my teeth, while in their I heard the breaking of glass from downstairs. It seems my father didn’t take the news well either. I quickly hopped into bed and fell asleep after a while.

The next few years passed as generally the same, I trained my skills ate and slept. I didn’t try to make friends at the gathering my family went to for things like birthdays and new years as the kids actually bothered me so much. They all demand attention and get it through being retarded, for example this one kid legit through a goddamn glass cup so his mother would listen to him.

Anyway i avoided as many kids as I could but now I was 12 years old, My agility had gone up to 44 but once it hit 43 it took me an entire year to get to 44, meaning I needed a new way to increase it. In 2 years I would go to get my affinities checked so my mother once again spoke about the academy, this time in a lot more detail.

“As you have higher stats you may very well get an affinity so today I will be teaching you about the school and how to interact with the nobles.” When my mother mentioned nobles I got a bit disappointed, I mean i knew they’d be here as we ride on carts to travel but that doesn’t make them any more appealing, regardless i still nod.

“Nobles always get the front, doesn’t matter where you are just leave it for them, whether it be seating or something else. They also expect things to be given to them no matter what it is, if you're not willing they may try to buy it off you or simply take it. Try not to anger them to much or it may cost you.

The academy also teaches basic knowledge, i'll teach you some math so it’s not too hard later but besides that just study and you’ll be fine. Any questions?” I shake my head as I seriously don't care for nobles, If i have to learn magic I will and i’ll become to strong for them to handle me.

“Good, now you already know the number system as i taught you when you were younger so now we're going to do something called addition, you’ll have 2 different numbers and have to increase 1 by the other. For example if your adding 1 by 3, it goes 2, 3 and then 4. She held up her fingers as she counted, now if i gave you 2 + 4 what would you get.

“Six”, I instantly respond, i don’t care enough to not try at this, it’ll be more effort to struggle with each question. My mother looked a little surprised but proceeded to ask more questions which i gave the answer to. When she seemed satisfied she explained subtraction and I answered all her answers again.

It took an hour but she had explained addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to me. It seemed she expected it to take longer and was pretty surprised about my ease of understanding.

My mother let me go and as i turned she started to mutter. “I didn’t even have to explain using potatoes….” I assumed she meant the classic if you have 5 potatoes, and you buy 3 more how many do you have. But i'm simply not interested enough as I need a new way to increase agility.

“Sigh I wish i still had internet… I never really did any sports so speed wasn’t an issue, how do I get faster?” I thought it over but couldn’t come up with anything.

What creates speed? Fast acceleration, quickly moving my legs. To increase acceleration I can just use that gym thing, sprint 10 feet touch the ground sprint back touch the ground. I feel like that may work, and for faster legs…. Maybe put weights on my leg and sprint? The first makes more sense so i’ll invest more time into it then the latter.

After a month of doing these exercises my agility went up by 2 which surprised me at first then remembered it's really only 1 because of the double agility bonus. Regardless this seems to work for now so i'll just continue with it.

Today marks the day at hit the age of 14, in 2 months the school will start as my birthday is in July, in a week's time I will be tested for my affinity determining if i’ll go to the academy. My family made a cake and we spent the day out having a picnic near a lake.

The week slowly approached and I continued to do my training, while my mother was out shopping and my father was out farming with my brother I checked my stats again.

Limitation

Details

Limitation breaker

health

The amount of Damage you can take before you die

470

Mana

The cost for skills and abilities

295

Strength

increases the amount of weight Muscles can withstand as well as power being physical attacks

Agility

Increases overall speed of the person as well as reaction time

dexterity

Increases health and reduces damage taken

Intelligence

Increases magical damage and improves memory

Wisdom

Increases mana and reduces effects of low mana

I was happy with this as my average should be around 30 meaning i'm at the level of a basic soldier. Now I just had to wait for the affinity test.

The cart ride to the main city was long and painful, the seat has minimal padding and the road wasn’t maintained at all. Every bump, crack and rock was easily felt as they hit the wheels. I didn’t complain though as I had more to worry about. Honestly I was happy as long as I didn’t get fire or holy, if I got earth i could use it to pack more of a punch when i strike, if I get wind i can use it to increase my agility. I literally don’t even know what to do about water, i feel like it’s useless but still does stuff at the same time.

This was the first time I’ve been to the city though, as we got closer the gate was the only thing I could see as it completely surrounded it. It had a large entry way with what looked like guards, and some towers on the inside behind the gate.

When we reached the gate one of the guards approached our cart.

“Name and business” The guard said with a bored expression and a voice that sounded like he’d rather be anywhere but here.

“Rick hull, affinity test for Sayn hull.” My father responded with a stern voice but without any aggression. The guard looked in the cart and at me then nodded.

“Open the gates” He yelled to the guards behind the door. It slowly began to open and I was able to see the city.

Honestly I expected more from it, there was some stalls with people buying from them but nothing really out of the ordinary, after seeing it I quickly got bored and sat back onto the seat. The cary continued on the road which was slightly better maintained and brought us to a building with a giant sign that read “affinity testing and academy sign up”

Me and my father got out of the cart and walked up the stairs, my brother and mother stayed behind wishing me luck, both meaning different things. My brother hoping i get one and my mother the opposite. Regardless I stepped up and my father opened the door for me. Upon entering there was 3 booths with people at all of them. A sign read afinity testing on the two on the left with academy sign up on the one furthest to the right.

We walked up to the shortest line for affinity testing and waited, it took half an hour but we eventually got to the front where I could see what was going on.

The woman behind the desk would ask you to release some magical power in which she would use a machine of some sorts to analyze it. After some tapping of it she would show the screen to the kid, the words were too small for me to read but after he read them he visibly slouched. It was then i remembered what my mother said on the cart.

“The affinity test will show you numbers, if you get below 15 you basically have no affinity and it can't be used in combat effectively, At around 25 you can manage as a soldier for the army, if you get 50 or above you can become a decently strong soldier, anything above 75 is extremely high and your affinity will basically guarantee your future. Anything above 90 and you're treated as a prodigy.”

She looked pretty depressed while saying the information for above 90, but she continued.

“They’ll ask you to release magical power, it's pretty simple just imagine your mana flowing out of you and it will happen.”

After trying it myself it really was easy, I barely had to think about it. Regardless the kid walked out, nearly crying. Seeing as he didn’t sign up for the academy he got all below 15.

“Next”, I was taken out of my thought cycle by a bored voice of the woman. I slowly walked up to the counter.

“Name and origin please.”

“Sayl Hull, town of hubry, delrona.”

“Ok please release some magical power” As soon as she finished i began releasing it and she started tapping the machine. After a few minutes she looked up at me then showed the results.

Magic Type

Affinity rating

Fire

Earth

Water

Wind

Holy

“Congratulations, You can go to the academy”.

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Chapter 2: Finding an Affinity

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