They bowed as they were taught, and then she stalked forward. Danger Sense pinged, and he knew if he dodged to the side, he would avoid the threatened razor water, but this wasn’t about winning. Instead of following his skill’s advice, he launched himself at her like a stupid child would. It was dumb. The deadly spread of water droplets fell toward him and his faith in the watching referee was rewarded. A shield appeared to protect his head, then splashes of the water dug into his shoulders and arms. It felt like they cut most of the way to the bone. Before he could hit her with his hammer, the referee was between them.

“Your loss, Tom.” White healing light flowed over him, and, when he glanced down, he saw that he was covered in blood, but the skin was undamaged once more. “Without my shield, that would have been a killing blow.”

Briana was staring at the red that covered him in horror.

“I’m not hurt,” he told her instantly, but it was too late. An anguished look crossed her face. Her eyes watered, and then she burst into tears and fled. Tom started to follow, but Kang shook his head and went to comfort her.

In the next round, Briana was unwilling to use the water attack. As a result, she was easily defeated by Matthew, whose first punch had the same skill he had struggled to produce in the assessment wrapped around. He had clearly fully mastered it since. Ten minutes later, everything was decided. Tom was happy with his performance. It was time to see if he, Briana, and Kang had done enough to get rewards. The process was simple. The chosen kids were quizzed on their affinities within range. Then these were checked, and then the children were handed one of the crystals. When they touched them to their foreheads, the crystal would shatter into fragments, and, just like that, the child would become slightly better at the specific type of magic.

Briana and Kang were both in the first round, but Tom wasn’t. While he waited, he hovered near the adults, listening in on their unguarded conversations.

“The alliance? Do you think it’s real?” Yukia asked Dimitri.

“What, that the dragons and insects have combined forces?”

“Yes, and that they’ve declared war on the central empires.”

“It doesn’t shock me. Let’s put it that way. They’ve been allied since the start. In the trial the heroes of humanity have completed, those two species worked together. And, more recently, they eliminated an entire species from both sides, attacking from different directions. The GOD’s saw that as a coordinated dual assault. So, yeah, I’ve got no doubt that those rumours are accurate.”

“The rumours say there are now dragons on every battlefield, with three or four embedded in every one of the twenty-three insect hordes. That’s different from before. They have never been integrated previously.”

Dimitri sighed. “As I said, I can’t say I’m surprised. From a strategic viewpoint, it makes a lot of sense. The dragons are singular powerhouses; the insects have numbers, but no true strength, as most of them stagnate at rank thirty. Together, the weaknesses they have as separate forces disappear. Without the dragon support, an elite team of natives can cripple an entire swarm, and the dragons struggle when the enemy runs and goes to ground, which is a behaviour the insects counter. It’s a worrisome development.”

“At least they’re far away enough that we won’t have to go against them directly.”

“Small mercies, but if they have combined and are crippling native empires, we’re screwed on the ladder. I can’t imagine how many extra points that’s going to yield.”

The conversation broke off as the testers finished with the first round of kids.

“Who’s next?” Dimitri asked.

Yukia’s eyes fell on him. “Tom,” she declared after checking his name badge. “You did great. What affinities do you have?”

“Wood shaping and healing.”

A frown crossed her face. “I have nothing for those. But you got told your top five, weren’t you? If we enhance a lower level affinity, that would still be helpful.”

Internally, he sighed in disappointment. This had definitely been too good to be true. “I can’t. They’re not eligible. The others are all higher than eighty.”

“Tom,” Dimitri said firmly, with a warning tone. “You don’t have to tell anyone details like that.”

Yukia glanced at the big man in surprise. Then ignored him and focused exclusively on Tom. “That’s impressive.”

“Not really. Only a little over average. Around a quarter of people start with three affinities over eighty. If Tom’s not eligible, we should assess someone else.” Dimitri took a step away from Tom toward where most of the children were clustered.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Wait!” A thoughtful look crossed her face. “Would you be okay with telling me your next highest affinity?”

“Yukia, no. If it’s above eighty, the affinity stones probably won’t work. Giving one to him would be a waste.” Dimitri huffed in annoyance.

“It was a rank-ninety trial. The rewards were significant. It wasn’t just affinity stones that were almost falling apart.” She hissed back in response. “I have others, beyond the child-locked ones.”

“And those are strategic resources.” Dimitri snapped. “They shouldn’t go to children.” Something told Tom that Dimitri had retreated to his pseudo-system room for this part of the conversation.

“They’re mine to do what I want with.”

“Ours,” her husband reminded her quietly.

“And if I want to give one to this cute boy…” She squeezed his cheeks, an action that Tom hated, but, given the circumstances he put up with it without complaint. “I wouldn’t say no. He was very determined. If a little uncoordinated.”

“But I would.” Dimitri said firmly. “We’re not giving significant treasures to children.”

“I think Yukia has a point,” Kaamil said, scratching his head uncertainly. “We’ve got room to be more generous. We’ve got this batch and a handful of intermediate ones. As I understand, the powerhouses can’t use them anyway.”

“Intermediate ones, no, you’re right, the powerhouses can’t use them. But rising stars can, and it’s the height of ridiculousness to give them to unproven children over the resources we know are going to be difference-makers. He’s five. I forbid you to give them away.”

“Dimitri, you don’t have that power. Under reincarnation rules, you don’t have that level of autonomy.” Yukia told him firmly. “Kaamil and I can do what we want here. So, Tom, what’s your next lowest affinity?”

“Lightning, and it’s eighty-four.” He said quickly.

Her smile brightened. She waved her hand, and a stone appeared in her palm. It was three to four times larger than any of the others.

“That’s too powerful.” Dimitri objected with a strangled voice. “That can raise an affinity by, what, two or three? If someone’s on eighty-nine, it might even push them to ninety. That’s way too valuable for a child of this age. I forbid it. Gifting it to him is basically a crime against humanity.”

Dimitri was clearly letting the title act for him, because he was sure if they were in a safe room, there would have been no debate. Instead of objecting, he would have forced Tom to use it.

“You don’t have that power, and don’t guilt-trip me. I’m happy with my decision.” She focused on Tom and pushed the crystal into his hands. “Use it now.”

Dimitri did not attempt to physically stop Tom, and, having seen how fast the man could move, he recognised that was tacit support of Tom proceeding.

He took the offered stone, and before any further objections could be raised, placed it on his forehead, spending his entire fate pool. While doing that, he was conjuring up in his mind the simple image of getting the most out of the crystal. Nothing seemed to happen, and then the previously rock-hard crystal suddenly felt like it was made of loosely-packed sand.

It crumbled under the slight pressure of his fingers.

“I can’t believe you gave him that.” Dimitri whispered, sounding shocked. “What happens if he ends up as a crafter?”

“We all saw how determined he was. Whenever he got knocked over, he got straight back up.” Kaamil told them. “He’s a fighter through and through.”

“He’s five!” Dimitri spluttered. “People change as they grow older. I’ve seen it dozens of times.”

Yukia glared at him in response. “Dimitri, watch what you’re saying. He’s right here and listening.” Then she focused back on Tom and beamed and waved a tester to come closer. “You did great. Let’s see how that went?”

Tom didn’t wait. He clenched his fist, and an anaemic spark jumped from his fingers. The spell still wasn’t mastered, and the display was lacklustre.

“Ooh… You’re already learning a lightning spell,” she cooed in excitement.

A moment later, the tester arrived.

“To many rules are being ignored,” Dimitri grumbled. “We’re only testing the lightning affinity. Nothing else.”

The man nodded; the complicated screen in his hand vanished, and was replaced with what looked like a polished brass doorknob. He held that out to Tom. “Use that spell I just saw on this.”

Tom flushed red. “Um… I don’t have much mana left. I’ve just used most of it.”

“Do you have any at all?”

He nodded.

“That’ll be fine, then. Go on. Use the spell. Even a single point of mana is enough for the test.”

Tom did so.

The man’s brows furrowed as he assessed the results. “This can’t be right. The affinity is too high. He shouldn’t have been allowed to use one of the child stones. It’s been wasted. Did you lie, boy?”

“No, he didn’t, and we know.” Yukia objected immediately. “He wasn’t given a child stone. What value is the affinity now?”

“Um… eighty-seven.”

“Three whole points! We hit the jackpot.” She squealed in delight.

Tom was not sure of the best way to act in this precise situation, so he retreated into his pseudo-system room. The intermediate affinity crystal had raised his affinity from eighty-four to eighty-seven. The mathematics were not straightforward, but he was confident that the strength of his lightning magic had increased by over forty percent.

It was extraordinary.

And she had gifted it to him without knowing who he was; over the objections of Dimitri, the boss of the place, too. Yes, he had pushed himself in the events they had run him through, but not to a ridiculous level. To put it simply, this was luck.

From what he had overheard, the best anyone else had gotten was only two points, and that promoted an affinity up to sixty-four. That was good, but not amazing, and nothing at all like eighty-seven.

Safely surrounded by metal walls, and also guaranteed complete privacy, he grinned.

That was two unexpected windfalls he had gotten. He had been sceptical about the ring, but the months since had proven how valuable it had been. However, this… even if he were an adult and earning a million plus experience a year, this latest gift would have still been a massive bonus. Raising affinities was hard, and it cost a fortune to do that through the experience shop.

It would help him in both the short- and the long term.

Gaining access to the Divine Champions’ Trial just became a lot easier. He knew the benefit would only be a five to ten percent increase in combat efficiency, or possibly even less, because lightning was not his only offensive ability. But, given the spots went to the elites of the elites, every slight improvement mattered. One percent could be the difference between him making the cut and failing to do so.