It was still an hour to dawn as Markus and Zeke made their way through the eerily quiet side alleys of the capital. This morning, Markus was delivering a sword his uncle had made. He had already been waiting outside the smithy when his friend emerged. Markus's bright smile at seeing his friend turned into a grimace as he stifled a massive yawn.

"Well, this is fun," Markus said as they walked, the words echoing dully in the silence.

Zeke chuckled darkly, "You don't know the half of it."

Markus gave him a sideward glance. "In all seriousness though. How are you doing? Really?" Even though they saw each other daily, they hadn't really had a chance to chat.

Zeke sighed. "I'm not going to lie, it's been tough." He didn't want to burden Markus with his hardships, so he simply said, "They think I'm just some trash with no future. But I'll prove them wrong."

Markus clapped him on the back encouragingly. "I have no doubt you will," he said. His tone betrayed his total confidence in his words. "You have more determination than anyone I have ever met. You'll make something of yourself at the academy. I can feel it."

Even though Zeke didn't share Markus's positive certainty, he couldn't help the flicker of hope that sprang to life at Markus's words. He'd been working hard and knowing that someone believed in him flooded him with warmth. He glanced at his friend, a fond smile on his face.

"So," Markus said, "made any friends yet?"

This question exterminated the warmth in Zeke’s chest on the spot. He frowned and shook his head.

"It's like I'm an outcast or something," he admitted. "I've tried talking to some of the other students, but they just brush me off or give me looks."

Markus's eyes flashed. "Don't let them get to you, Zeke," he said hotly. "Sometimes, people are idiots."

Zeke chuckled at this nugget of wisdom, and Markus grinned.

"You are a good person, Zeke, and a good friend," Markus continued earnestly. "If you keep pushing forward and stay true to yourself, I know you will find your place there. Not everyone is going to like you, and that's okay — but those who'll appreciate you for who you are will find you sooner or later."

"Thank you, Markus," Zeke said, his friend's kindness the only positive thing in his life as of late. Neither of the two boys mentioned Lilly.

They turned a corner into the main thoroughfare leading towards the academy. The way to the academy was very familiar to Zeke by now. As they approached, the towers of the academy were silhouetted against the first pale glow of morning light.

With a pat on the back, Markus turned to leave. "Do your thing, mage boy," he said cheekily, and with a final wave, disappeared into an alleyway, leaving Zeke standing alone in front of the academy.

Zeke took a deep breath and stepped forward. Upon reaching the gate, he offered up the requested toll. Despite working every day, his remaining funds were drying up. If he didn’t find a better solution soon, he would not even be able to attend his classes anymore.

The last three weeks had been long and grueling. The days blurred together as he woke up every morning before dawn to make the long journey from to the academy. Despite the early hour, he was always wide awake and alert, fueled by his determination to succeed and prove everyone wrong.

He had been given a raw deal, but he was still determined to make the most of it. He had thrown himself into his studies with fierce determination, soaking up every scrap of knowledge that was offered to him. Slapping his cheeks, he made his way to his first-class — History of the Empire.

As usual, not one of the other students talked to him. Even the seats around him remained empty. It was as if he had some sort of infectious disease. In turn, he set his jaw and kept his attention firmly on the lecture. His meticulous notes contained the dates of the different treaties. Those would, eventually, culminate in the formation of the Arkanheim Empire.

Today, they were learning about the era of the father of the current emperor, Friedrich Geistreich III. Under him, the empire appeared to abandon diplomacy. It embarked on what could only be described as a crusade against all the other nations on the continent. Zeke wasn’t sure what had brought on this change, and the records didn’t make any mention of it either. However, the textbooks he studied as part of his curriculum, seemed to condone them.

When that class ended, he got up, mindfully ignoring every one of his classmates, and made his way to his next class — Mana Theory. Again, the surrounding seats remained empty, but he was too used to this to care.

The lecturer entered the classroom and swept his gaze around, snorting in disdain. Almost all of his classes were filled with commoners. Most of them had very weak affinities on top of that. There must have been some kind of sorting mechanism that put all the undesirable students together.

Zeke suspected this to be the reason why he didn't share a single class with Lilly. She, with her greater Wind affinity, had no business being in this class. The teacher dropped his bag on the table as he began his lesson without any greetings.

"Today, you are going to learn about multi-affinity Cores."

More than one pair of eyes gathered on Zeke, as he was the only one in class with more than one affinity. His eyes shone. He was excited to finally learn about the subject. For weeks now, he had tried to find out about the advantages of multiple affinities. He leaned forward, careful to catch every word.

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"Let me begin this lesson by clearing up a misunderstanding some commoners have. Multiple affinities are no boon, but a curse. Sure, there are certain advantages. However, the truth of the matter is that every affinity except for your highest one is going to hold you back!"

Zeke reeled back as if struck. Surely, it couldn’t be as cut and dried as that?

The teacher, uncaring of his reaction, went on with his explanation. "This misunderstanding stems from the belief that being able to cast magic from different schools would make you stronger. It sounds like a logical argument, doesn’t it?"

Many of the students started to nod at his words, and Zeke found himself nodding along as well.

"This thought is not inherently false either… in theory. But it never works out like that in practice. It should be pretty obvious if you think about it.” He pointed at a random student. "How many cores do you have, boy?"

The student was surprised by the sudden question but still managed to answer.

"One?" he stammered.

"That is exactly right," the teacher complimented. "And how many cores does a Multi-Affinity Mage have?” Before the student could even open his mouth, the teacher cut him off. “You don't have to overburden your little mind, I'm going to tell you. They also have one Core! So, what does that mean for your spellcasting?"

Realization dawned on many of the student's faces.

"That means that a student with a greater Fire affinity and a minor Water affinity will put many times as much strain on his Core when casting Water spells compared to Fire spells. With such a disparity, I can’t think of a single realistic scenario in which that Mage would be better off using Water Magic." Here the teacher paused, before adding with a smirk: "Unless he wants a glass of water."

Chuckling about his own joke, he surveyed the class before explaining his second point. "That is only the first reason for my statement, the second one is even more important. Let me give you all an example," he said, before pointing at Zeke.

"What was your name again, Blood Mage?" Zeke was surprised at being pointed out like that and even more so by the address. Still, he didn't want to get on the teacher's bad side for no reason.

"My name is Ezekiel, sir," he replied.

"And you have three affinities: Blood, Mind, and Space?"

Zeke nodded, interested to find out where the teacher was going with this.

"So, let's imagine a very unlikely scenario: Ezekiel gets adopted by a noble family," he began, causing the other students to snicker.

Zeke clenched his fist under the table. Still, this was not the first time he had been made fun of by a teacher. He had learned to hold back his anger by now. Uncaring of his feelings, the professor continued making his point.

"What family would that be? Would it be a family of Blood Mages? Mind Mages? Space Mages? There obviously isn't a single family on the continent specializing in all three. So, let's assume, for argument’s sake, that he is adopted by a family of Space Mages, yes?"

The students nodded, listening intently.

"They would teach him how to teleport, how to create barriers, and all the other spells Space Mages are famous for. But what about his Blood and Mind Magic? His new family would obviously not be able to teach him any of those. This is exactly why I said that additional affinities would only hold you back. In order to advance, he would be forced to train his Core in all three of his affinities. But without knowing any spells, what good are they?”

The teacher’s face got stern as he swept his gaze over everyone gathered.

"If there is one thing that you kids should remember from this lesson then it would be the following. It is not the affinities that make a Mage. It's the spells he knows. What would it matter if you had a perfect affinity for every one of the four elements if you didn’t know any spells?”

Zeke pondered the professor's words. Even though he didn't like the man much, he couldn't disagree. If the family he joined could only teach him about a single affinity, his other two would become useless.

Despite knowing all that, Zeke wasn’t overly disheartened. With two greater affinities alongside a perfect one, he had a massive advantage over many of his peers. He would most likely be faster training all three of his affinities than a Mage with a single regular affinity.

"This is the reason why people prefer to join one of the four great families," the teacher continued. "Not only do they have a decent selection of auxiliary spells. They also have the best spells for their respective elements. They have been working on perfecting their signature spells for generations. The origin of their Magic spans back thousands of years in some cases.”

“What spells are those?” somebody asked.

“The Feuerkranz family has their [Crown of Flame]. The Wellenrufer, the [Tide Caller] spell. The Steiner family has their [Stone Form]. Finally, the Windtänzer have their legendary [Wind Dance]."

"If you ever have the pleasure of seeing one of those spells performed by an Arch Mage you will understand. You will understand why those four families stand at the top of the hierarchy of the empire."

After the professor finished his speech he was a bit out of breath. He had been talking for a long time. Toward the end of the speech, he had also gotten excited and raised his voice.

Eventually, a student in the back raised his hand, clearly hesitant. His hand was even shaking as he waited to be allowed to speak. The professor jerked his head in the student's direction, urging him to get on with it. "What sort of spell did the emperor’s family develop?"

The professor didn't answer immediately, staring blankly ahead. After an uncomfortably long pause, he spoke abruptly. "Nobody knows. That's the thing with Mind Mages. Even those who may have seen the spell would not necessarily be able to tell what it was. It could also be that nobody who has ever seen the spell even remembers the event." He paused for a moment, before adding another possibility to the list. "...or is still alive to talk about it."

Upon this revelation, the students broke out into animated discussions. Zeke, on the other hand, was not even listening to anything being discussed. He was too focused on what he had learned today. Before this lesson, he had not quite understood that spells were such a rare commodity for Mages. If entire families and even the Great families were built around them, then he was in trouble. It would be much harder for him to get his hands on spells for all of his affinities.

But what else could he even do? It would already be a challenge for him to get adopted in the first place, but what about now? Even if he managed to somehow find a family that wanted him, they would be able to teach him spells for one of his affinities, at most. No wonder multiple affinities were looked down on.

Zeke had never known how secretive Mages were when it came to spells, but this explained a lot. Without the academy teaching him three spells per year, he might never be able to learn any. But what was he supposed to do after that?

The only thing that came to mind was inventing his own spells. For a moment, he allowed himself to indulge in this fantasy, before returning to reality. Who was he kidding? He had seen what those Spellforms looked like. So far, he had not been able to make a lick of sense out of any of them. How was he supposed to invent his own Magic without a deep understanding of how they worked?

For this to work, he would need dozens of spells as references. Even then, it would most likely take a long time before he could even try. After all, if spells were so easily invented, everyone would be doing it. Ezekiel had never lacked confidence in himself, but not even he would think that he was capable of something the entire Magic community struggled with.

The class was over and the professor had long since left. Ezekiel mindlessly followed the other students out of the room, lost in thought. It seemed that there was a new problem with every day he spent in this academy. Would his luck ever change?