Chapter 4: Why is it always the eyes?
With the courage of a meerkat, I stick my head into the room. I'm fully at the ready to take flight if the situation deems it necessary. So eyes wide open and gaze sharp I scan the room for any potential threat. For my efforts, I spotted the reason for my tingling senses. It was a young woman. She seemed very tomboyish. Those squinted eyes, mischievous grin, oval face with a sharp chin and light brown hair tied back into a simple ponytail. Shocked I felt like I was looking at a childish version of Danmachis' Loki. Wearing a pair of loose-fitting shorts that gets to her knees and a short-sleeved close-fitted shirt that covers most of her stomach leaving a gap between her shirt and shorts. Sporting a pair of training shoes and short socks. Fist on her hips and slightly opened eyes I found her eyes to be emerald green. From the look, she was giving me I'm quite sure they were judging eyes. "How's it going whiskers?" Allowing her eyes to return to their natural squint. She put out her hand in greeting. Shaking myself out of my thoughts I went forward to return the greeting.
"Hello! The names Luke, by the way." I said shaking her hand. For her slim figure, she has a rather firm grip. It seems she uses her hands a lot.
"Nice to meetcha Luke, the names' Kestrel. I'm currently 15 this year and still in my growing years. I was born with a duel elemental affinity for wood and fire. A natural-born alchemist and a talented one at that. Both of them are at minor advanced stage and I reach the peak beginner stage in alchemy. If you need medicine you can come to find me at any time. For now, I'll be the one helping you gain wood element affinity. I'll tell you an open secret. It's best if you only train at max 2 affinities. I've been training mine for almost 12 years and I only just made it to advanced a few months ago. If I focused on one I would be at least peak advanced by now." Kestrel Introduced herself and her life though I didn't ask. If she was a guy I would have deemed him a squinty-eyed bastard.
"Thank you for your advice. Also, what's the difference between naturally born affinities and later acquired affinities?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Well for one unlike you transfers, naturally born affinities can be trained from a young age. We also can't get a new affinity till adulthood cause our bodies can't handle extra affinities than the ones we're born with. I for one could begin my alchemy training after getting my affinities to minor Intermediate. This took me 4 years to train both from minor to Intermediate. If I focused on one it would have taken less time but I needed both of them to keep about equal. I don't need to waste the later stages of my life training my affinities, unlike you transfers." She explained
"What do you mean you transfers?" This question earned me a pair of arched eyebrows and a slightly open pair of eyes. I'm not liking the way she looking at me.
She stared for a few moments making me feel uncomfortable. Like she was looking at a small animal trying to look menacing. Then she spoke."Your not serious are you? I mean, do you think that a couple of 100 thousand people appearing in the middle of the town but raised no alarm is normal?" Well if she puts it that way it was indeed not normal. The fact that the people were smiling and greeting us made it seem like they were expecting us. "We already knew that you people were coming. A lot of people signed up to transfer from this world to yours once the war starts and a lot of people decided to stay. I for one want to stay cause I heard your world has no true essence and no monsters. All my training to be an alchemist will go to waste if I transfer. Also because of your stupid question for now on I'm be calling you whiskers. Now whiskers if you don't have any more questions let's get started. We wasted a bit of time and I'm not getting paid extra. Let's get this over with."
She motioned for me to sit in front of her and close my eyes. Placing her soft warm hand on my head I began to feel a cozy warmth spreading throughout my body. "Now focus on the place when my hand is and try to get a feel of it. As we go on I will slowly increase the amount of elemental output. If I just start from the max it would just overwhelm your senses. Just relax and focus." she said softly but to be honest I've already lost my self in the feeling. I feel like I was floating through a beautiful forest trees were everywhere, the different flower smells and small animals chattering. Sunlight flowing through the tree leaves and I could hear the trickle of water in the distance. As I got to the center of the forest the surroundings got more and more vibrant then suddenly...
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Ding! Immersing yourself in the aura of wood you have unlocked the condition to gain the wood affinity.
Will you accept? "Yes""No"
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Waking from my stupor I looked at the message. Though I was sad to be pulled from the feeling I double tap yes.
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Ding! Immersing yourself in the aura of wood you have unlocked the condition to gain the wood affinity.
Will you accept? ""Yes""
Are you sure? ""Yes""
Ding! Minor affinity for wood gained
Ding! Because you were fully immersed in the elements your wood affinity upgraded to basic affinity!
Ding! Since your wood affinity has reached basic level you have unlocked the condition to gain basic wood element manipulation!
Will you accept? "Yes""No"
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My eyes flew open this time. Kestrel, seeing me open my eye stopped the flow of elemental powers. "Did you get the affinity?"
I nodded my head." I did and it also automatically went up to basic!" I said happily
"Ooh... that's good seems like you lucked out of a week or so of training. You should have gotten the manipulation skill too right? make sure you take it cause that's the easiest way to train your affinity. Some people don't cause it uses a slot but training with pure elements is harder than using the skill as a medium. Though if you can do it without the skill training the affinity gets more proficiency when you make progress but it's very slow."
Hearing this I hesitate on whether to take the skill. "Can skills be removed to free up slots?" Asking the question on my mind.
She nodded"They can but it takes money to do so. Just a basic skill takes 100 gold to remove not to mention the more advanced skills. An advanced-level skill can take upwards to 1000 to 5 thousand gold to remove depending on the level." Instinctively I tap no then yes on the screen.
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Ding! Immersing yourself in the aura of wood you have unlocked the condition to gain the wood affinities.
Will you accept? ""Yes""
Are you sure? ""Yes""
Ding! Minor affinity for wood gained
Ding! Because you were fully immersed in the elements you wood affinities upgraded to basic affinity!
Ding! Since your wood affinities have reached basic level you have unlocked the condition to gain basic wood element manipulation!
Will you accept? ""No""
Are you sure? ""Yes""
Ding! Basic wood affinities 1.03 has been added to your status.
Element description: The wood element can be found in any thriving environment. The wood element embodies life expansion and growth. It can be sturdy or flexible to weather any storm. It can give birth to life, even in the toughest conditions as long as there's nourishment.
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I decided to take a quick peek at my status
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Welcome back Luke~
Status*
Name: Luke
race: Human
Age: 25
strength: 7
endurance: 7
Agility: 10
intelligence: 12
Mana: 100% 100|100
Stamina: 100% 100|100
Innate abilities: minor body regeneration 6.87
Absorb true essence from the atmosphere
innate affinity: minor water affinity 0.70
Basic wood affinity 1.03
skill slots-
[Renegade immortal cultivation path]
[Appraisal 0.50]
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I noticed that I had some small increase in endurance and my innate ability increased. I wonder why? Thinking for a bit I began to check my body. Lifting my shirt I realized that some old scars have disappeared. Leaving only flawless skin behind. Seeing my innate ability working already give me pleasant feelings. I heard a cough and realized I just showed my body off to a girl. Feeling the all to familiar shame creeping onto my face I quickly lower my shirt and check to see if she was impressed. She didn't seem any different, then I noticed that the tips of her ears were a slight shade of red. 'So she has those types of blushes. It makes her look cute for squinty-eyed bas..ahem! I mean a young growing lady.' I thought to myself deciding to open my mouth to explain in case of a misunderstanding." I sorry I was checking my status and notice my innate ability had increased in proficiency. I was just checking the cause."
"If you don't mind me asking what's your innate? Mine is the enchanted mind by the way." She declared proudly.
"It is fine. My innate is body regeneration." I stated not really caring if she knew.
"Body regeneration? Why would you pick that? I heard transfers can pick their own innate. I heard some guy going on about gaining telekinesis. Some girls were gathered in groups talking about how they could increase their three sizes." Kestrel pretty much spat that last statement out. It seems she has a complex. When I Instinctively move my eyes to check her figure again I earned an opened eyed glare.
Focusing myself I began to explain. "Well it's simple, I want to be able to use chakra. Since I have water affinity as an innate I wanted to gain wood affinity to complement it. I received the biography of Theodore Matthews when I was transferring and learned from his experiences. So I wanted to follow his steps and achieve chakra control." I told my plan to her since if I succeed it won't really be a secret.
Kestrels' eyes when the widest I've seen so far. She manages to defy the laws of the squinty eyes and opened them halfway."WHAT!! You have the biography of saint Theodor!? AND you want to follow in his footsteps!? Are you crazy!? Also, can I have his biography!? I'll pay for it! No, if you hand it over to the guild they will pay you 100 times more for his research and the kingdom will pay even more. Ah no if anyone knows you have his biography you will be captured and grilled for information. They might even soul search you just to get what they want." Kestrel began to pace back and forth in front of me muttering incoherently. After hearing what she said I realized how serious my situation was. I remember that him giving the warriors the ability to be completely on par with mages had earned him not only respect for his achievements but greed for his research to. although it was just a biography on chakra and not his complete research, it was still enough for people to convert the information to further their studies on chakra, which was claimed to be a lesser true essence. Suddenly Kestrel grabbed my shoulders with both hands and pushed her face really close to mine. Since there wasn't much difference in height our noses were almost touching and a slight lean forward and our lips would be touching.
"Whiskers! No I mean Luke! Since you told me already we're already lumped into this together. Since even if I sold you out to someone for money they might kidnap me to since I might have information on it too and to stop it from spreading. So how about this! You tell me about the biography and your plans and I'll help you tweak the details for a higher chance of success and give you discounts on medicine. How about it!?" She offered, but I get the feeling that she won't take 'no' for an answer. I could only nod my head. Letting me go and moving her face away from mine, she started checking the time and seeing as our session has passed already she fixed herself up returning to her squinty-eyed self.
Nodding to herself she returned her attention to me and said "Good our time is out and I have to go get my commission. After I finish work I want you to meet me outside the guild. I should be finished by sundown. You don't have a place to stay yet right?" I shook my head. "Good!" 'Good!? why does it feel like she's happy I'm homeless?' "I'll help arrange a place for you to get started, this partnership last until you die, so make sure you don't start without me!" She said while walking out of the training hall
'She's definitely cursing me.' I mutter under my breath following her out of the hall.
Following her to the receptionist's desk, she reports that her job was finished. Waving me goodbye she heads off to her next assignment. Once she was out of earshot the receptionist lady turned towards me and spoke with a knowing smile. " Ara Ara~ I didn't think you had the charm to gain the interest of our guilds little rose. You should be careful she likes to test the new medicine she makes on poor adventurers who upset her. She has put more people in the hospital then bringing them out." She said with a hand over her mouth and giggling. Hearing her my face paled. My flag senses were back into overdrive again. I couldn't help but ask.
"Is she someone important?"
The lady nodded with a smile."Her mother was this, branches' previous guild leader. Her father was a peak A-rank adventurer. He died 13 years ago in a monster riot sacrificing himself to kill a half step divine grade monster. Her mother resigned from the guild leader position and spent her time raising her. Because of her husbands' death, she grew depressed and ended up contracting a rare disease that needed many precious materials to heal. Since they couldn't be gathered she died 7 years ago. Leaving Kestrel to be raised by the current guild leader who treats her like his own daughter. Most people stay away from her not only cause of her medical experiments but also cause the guild leader is a bit of a block of wood." she said turning back to the desk to take the next person in line.
Hearing this I couldn't help feeling sad for her. Though I feel it's good she had someone to care for her during her time of need. Thinking this I wonder outside of the guild not paying attention to where I was going. Lost in thought I didn't notice I had wandered into a crowd of people and into the center of a circle of people. Hearing the sudden commotion I look up just in time hear a loud 'swoosh' followed by someone shouting at the top of his lungs "EXCALIBUR!!" Followed by the all too familiar bright as all hell light that was super effective against my eyes. If I didn't know any better I would swear my eyes were dark typed.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone