章 4: Affinity Test
*Yaaawn* 'I am not a morning kind of guy, never have been. Yet here I am, walking around town at 7:30 in the morning. I would've loved to sleep in for a bit longer but 7 o'clock sharp, Anne was already banging on my door. Actually, that's giving her too much credit. She knocked twice and simply barged into my room… if you can call the small space allotted to me a room.'
As we were strolling around town, she suddenly threw me a question seemingly out of the blue. "Hey Arden, you're not in a party right? Wanna join mine?"
'Well, that was awfully direct.' I assume she's talking about some sort of grouping system like the one used in games. "Can you explain to me what a party is first? And, why do you want me… we literally just met yesterday."
"Well, you never know what'll happen in the wilderness. Traveling in small groups is the most efficient and safe method of completing dangerous quests. These groups usually consist of around three members and I just so happened to have a spot open in mine. As for why I want you… you have good reflexes, you're dependable, and surely your affinity can't be that bad either. How about it?"
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense but… what's this affinity thing that you're talking about?"
Her brows creased. Obviously, this was not the first time I've seen this look and I don't think this will be the last. "Affinity? The basic measurement for your potential as a practitioner? Don't tell me you haven't taken a test yet…"
"Ah well… the village I was from was REALLY shabby you see…"
She shook her head, "Was your village under a rock or something? Did you guys eat dirt and leaves too? Ah whatever! You should take that now, follow me. There are tests available at the guild hall."
…
The guild hall stood out like a sore thumb in this town. Firstly, it was ginormous. The guild hall was also largely made from stone rather than wood, unlike the other buildings. The perimeter was also encircled by a towering stone wall. It almost looked like a medieval castle.
As we approached the front gate, I saw a giant board with countless papers pinned onto it. Near the front entrance also stood three banners: one was green, the other was white, and the third was blue, each with their respective symbols.
"This hub oversees all the practitioners of this town, and this is also where we get our quests," Anne explained. As we arrived at the front desk, she fished out 5 bronze coins, "one affinity test please."
"Yes miss, enter the door to your right and you should see an elder that's in charge of the affinity test. There's currently one other person being tested but the wait shouldn't be that long."
Anne thanked the lady and began to head towards the guided direction. As I followed, I began to sense a potent force condensing in the room.
As we entered, there stood a well dressed young man with one hand placed onto a large glowing sphere. Beside him stood an old man with a lengthy white beard, classic. Foreign symbols floated around the sphere as power was inserted into it. The older man seemed to be in deep concentration while observing the texts darting around the sphere.
"Before you start, let me go over the basics," Anne whispered. "Practitioners of the arts are anyone who learns a combative art or a magical art. Your affinity with magic usually dictates your future direction but there are three paths. The first is your standard warrior. They use a regular physical weapon as their main source of power while also utilizing simple magic to amplify their strength, defense, or movements. The second is mages. This path requires a higher affinity as they use more complex magic. As a result, their magic tends to be their main source of power and they often carry a physical offhand but only as a backup. The third is the rarest and the path that requires the most affinity, a magical warrior. These encompass both parts and integrate advance magic into traditional physical arts. The affinity test takes into account your mana, intelligence, and processing speed and calculates a number between one to one hundred that reflects your future potential."
"Wait wait wait, before that, what's the difference between warriors and magical warriors? I mean, regular warriors use magic too right?"
"You're not very good at this whole listening thing are you..."
"Your explanation was just bad."
"Well, there are two main differences. Warriors can't perform physical arts and magical arts at the same time. For example, when I used air arts during our fight with the goblins, I couldn't push the goblin back while shooting at the same time. The second is the grade of the magical art. Magical warriors can use the same arts as mages but regular warriors are often limited to the most basic arts. You shouldn't worry too much about that though, even mages are quite rare given the raw talent needed to produce one, magical warriors aren't even worth mentioning so you can stop your daydreaming."
The youth who was taking the affinity test seemed to be done. He didn't seem too pleased with his results as he was throwing quite the tantrum. "Your sphere is broken! It must be! How can my affinity only be 48??? This is UNACCEPTABLE!"
"How childish… there are people out there who would kill for an affinity over 40…" muttered Anne. I had to agree. I'm not one to judge a book by its cover but... man is his cover bad.
The old man was as expressionless as he was since I entered the room, "Whether you accept it or not, the result will stay the same. Please move to the side or exit the room, there's someone else waiting to take the test."
"Hey Anne… is 48 bad?"
"An average human's affinity is usually around 20. To become a warrior, it's best if your affinity is at least over 40. For a mage, it's 60. It's not a bad score when compared to the entire population but, the guy testing has a slight superiority complex. His dad's also a big shot." We paused our conversation as the target of ridicule walked past us.
He passed me with his arms crossed and stood near the entrance of the room all while glaring at me. "Approach the sphere and place your hand on it." said the elder as he beckoned me over with his cane.
Anne walked back towards the entrance and stood next to the youth, "Hehe, nice 48 Cris." He was slouched and looked up at her with a reddened face. "You can laugh at me now but we'll see who's laughing when your friend doesn't even get above a 20." I'm starting to reconsider getting involved with this girl, she sure has a talent for pissing people off. I placed my right hand on the sphere and the light and symbols began to emit once again from the sphere.
"The affinity sphere will absorb your mana, just relax and don't fight against the power. If you're feeling weak or nauseated, remove your hand from the sphere." explained the elder.
Suddenly, a warmth spread throughout my entire body and began to gather at my arm. Slowly, I felt the warmth depleting. It was quite an uncomfortable feeling, but I felt like I still had plenty of warmth left so I tried my best to pace my breathing and maintain focus. The light around the sphere was gradually getting brighter, and brighter. It didn't seem like it was dimming down any time soon. The power I feel is on a completely different level than the one I felt before. Suddenly, a faint ring of energy was released from the sphere forcing even the elder to take a step back. His face was incredulous.
'I'm no affinity expert but why do I feel like this isn't normal…' The power around the sphere was still rising. 'Relax and don't fight it, relax and don't fight it.' I tried my best to follow the elder's advice, but the light was almost blinding now. Even keeping my eyes open felt like a monumental task given how close I was to the source of it all. A large portion of my warmth was gone at this point, my physical and mental states were also depleting with it. My body was getting colder by the second, 'Should I remove my hand?'
My question was answered as all the energy that was radiating from the sphere suddenly returned to its source and a thunderous sound roared through the room. As I lowered my left arm from my face to look, I was met with a glowing 95 that appeared on the sphere.
"Impossible… a ninety-five?" The elder had a look of complete bewilderment as he examined the sphere. "Mana is one hundred… intelligence ninety-six… processing eighty-nine. Affinity score is… is ninety-five!!!" He finally took his eyes off of the sphere and looked at me with newfound interest and fear.
A voice screeched from behind me, "There's no way… THERE'S NO WAY! I scored a 48 and this nobody scored a 95?!? Old man, is your sphere broken? Are you sure this wasn't a mistake?!?"
The elder regained some sense and shook his head. "The intricacies of the affinity sphere utilize technology from the ancient days, the technology is beyond me but... it's highly improbable for the sphere to be incorrect." The elder turned to me and studied me more carefully, "Youth… what is your name? You're not from this area are you."
"Arden is my name, and you're correct sir. I come from a faraway land, a land where a lot of things are… much different."
"I see… this is most definitely extraordinary. I suggest all parties in this room keep this event a secret. The information could put Arden and yourself in danger. I'll alert the guild hall leader immediately. I'll seek you out in a day or so Arden, try to keep a low profile until then." I watched as the elder awkwardly hobble out of the room and when he left, Cris started to approach me. 'Oh boy,' I thought.
"My name is Cris, son of the town mayor. I have royalty in my veins and I refuse to accept the fact that a complete nobody has a higher affinity than me. I challenge you to a duel, Arden!"
'Is this kid brain damaged? He just saw that I got a 95 on the affinity test and the first thing he does is pick a fight with me? No wonder he's at the tutorial town…'
"If you refuse… I'll expose your secret to everybody! My father can protect me but, can you protect yourself? It seems like talent is all you have after all."
I looked back at Anne hoping she'd tell this guy off but, she just gave me a shrug. 'Something tells me she's actually enjoying all of this. Well, Cris may be retarded but he is somewhat right.' I looked at Anne again and she made a slashing gesture with her thumb across her throat. 'Welp, that's that.' I sighed. 'I'll just take a beating this one time to satisfy this guy's ego…'
"Fine, I accept your duel."
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