Chương 3: C3: Exorcist Affinities
I walked into the classroom, and no one paid any attention to me. Which was perfect for me. Everyone was more concentrated on an argument between Sei and Agon. the rival and main character.
The place looked like your average high school classroom, with desks and all that. Except there were no windows.
I went and quietly found some seats at the back of the class. But my eyes caught onto one empty seat, next to a young man who looked as if he had been on a steroid cycle for twenty years. He even had a bald head to back up that claim.
But this world hadn't developed steroids yet, and this guy was a sixteen-year-old. He had those JoJo genetics.
"Hi, my name is Kon," I smiled and offered the intimidating guy a handshake.
His scrunched-up face turned toward me. Every instinct in my body felt like I was an arm's length away from an ass-whooping. He looked like he could rip me in half easier than I could rip a piece of paper.
"Bets, my name is Bets," his voice was growl-like. Like a beast hiding under human skin.
I didn't mind his appearance and smiled when we shook hands.
Unlike anyone else in the classroom, they didn't know that deep down that hard ogre-like exterior was a gentle soul. Well, semi-gentle, depending on who you asked. But deep down, we were kindred souls. The kind that can become best friends on their first meeting.
This guy was the first friend I planned to make and I took out of my school bag a small chess board. "Wanna play some chess?"
"Oy, dude, be careful!" One of the people next to me mouthed the words silently. Too afraid the giant bodybuilder-looking guy next to me would hear.
"Don't worry, I just asked him if he wanted to play chess," I waved his worries away, and turned toward my new friend. "Also he looks like a nice guy."
'How does he look like a nice guy?!'
I could read the thoughts on the face of the guy who tried to save me. He was average looking, and unremarkable. I didn't remember him from the Manga, so he was probably someone who died during the massacre.
Every time I thought about the massacre, my heart started beating faster. It was the death place of the original Kon. He would have had a terrifying and grotesque ending. Just to show how brutal and decisive the enemy we were facing was.
Thoughts of changing the original event came to mind. To try and save everyone. But I didn't even have the power to protect myself, much less other people.
Suppose I told others and prepared for what was about to happen. Who is to say the enemy didn't have a plan B? We weren't fighting a one-dimensional "smart" character that can only be as intelligent as the author can write it.
If intelligence and genius status can translate into this world. That would be both good and bad for some characters.
Genius… I couldn't help it as my glance wandered toward a handsome feminine-looking guy. With silky dark hair and pale skin. He looked like one of those K-Pop idols from my last life. He was staring at the main character with an unreadable look on his face. Agon in return was glaring at him and muttering curses under his breath.
This is what I call love at first sight between them. Or maybe love at the first insult. I remember how fans used to ship these two together, despite this not being a BL Manga. Some fans were always weird.
The reason why nobody cared about my fight with the main character during the entrance ceremony was because of Sei. He was what by shounen standards could be considered the rival character. Despite his feminine looks, his talent and background were monstrous enough to keep up with the monster that was the main character.
"You are the white pieces, start first," the sudden growly voice of my new friend brought me back to reality. He pointed at my white pieces. Even his finger was thick, and it looked like he had done twenty years of hard labor and pumping iron. "I didn't think there were many people my age who knew how to play chess. Are you good at it?"
"I know the rules," that was me being humble.
I knew quite a bit about chess. By modern standards, I might be an above-average player. But that was by modern standards.
In these times, chess was at least a hundred years behind. If someone wanted to play chess against someone of their level then they would have to go to a tournament. Travel for days. Not many would do that.
Not to mention the evolved tactics, where every chess grandmaster stood on the shoulders of the giants before them. In the modern world, you can play chess grandmasters a hundred times a day online. The logistics of playing chess in this world were intense.
Sometimes, the internet was a beautiful thing.
…
My confidence lasted exactly nine moves in the game.
"Check," my new friend said. He smirked, which looked like the ugly man in an NTR story.
I won in twenty-four moves by the skin of my teeth.
What most people didn't know about chess was that it was an ever-evolving game. One that the current world champion would be able to defeat all the dead world champions, due to the strategies evolving.
With this world being so backward, chess still existed. But it should be decades, maybe even centuries backward from modern times. Meaning that a good player in modern times would be considered a chess genius here.
So how had this guy almost beaten me?
I knew the answer, but it wasn't a pleasant one to admit. He looked like a bodybuilder, his body still paled in comparison to his mind.
The classroom door creaked open. A man with dark circles under his eyes, and deep black eyes with chains rattling behind him came in. He had two chains tied around each of his legs, and they were rattling on the ground.
"Okay, I don't care about any of your names," he went and drew four circles on the whiteboard and a roughly human shape in between the four circles. Some of the students were still looking on in confusion, but I had already put away the chessboard and sat straight. The teacher turned and his eyes waved around us all. "Why're you looking at me like dumb fish? The lesson has already started! So pay attention! Write these things down!"
Everyone sat down on their seats and pulled out a notebook.
"Now that everyone is ready, I will start explaining," he started writing on the board and spoke the words simultaneously. His writing speed was scarily fast, something the manga hadn't been able to show clearly. "Warrior, Blaster, Creator, and Master. Does anyone know what these mean?"
Many raised their hands. I did too. But the teacher pointed at a silver-haired girl at the front.
She got up and confidently explained. "A warrior is good at hand-to-hand combat, or with a close-range weapon, they can enhance their body with their inner energy. A Blaster is someone who can move and control their inner energy outside of their body. A Creator can make an item out of nothing but their inner energy. While a Beast Master can control yokai, spirits, and demons to do their bidding."
Taking a deep breath, she continued.
"They represent an exorcist's affinities. Some theorize it ties in with their soul. Every soul has the capacity to bear all four affinities but is not necessarily able to use them all. An affinity under 30% is unusable in any Exorcist Technique. The average human has 25% capability in each category, with all four categories always adding up to a full 100%."
"A good enough answer for the basics," the teacher then turned around, staring at the board intently.
He also didn't comment on how the girl called Master affinity the Beast Master affinity. There were some reasons why most people don't know some of the uses of Master.
I agreed with him. It was a book-perfect answer. The basics of it were.
Warrior - Punches hard
Blaster - Kamehameha wave
Creator - Item with special ability
Master - Beast tamer
The higher levels of such affinities had a lot of changes to their structure. Except for Warrior, that was from punch hard to punch harder.
Just on this explanation alone, anyone who was a shounen enjoyer would know what affinity the simple-minded protagonist would have.
"Anyways, every one of you has at least 30% or more in one affinity. That's why you were even accepted here. Today, we will learn the basics and try to figure out your exact affinities," the teacher yawned. As if today wasn't going to be one of the most important moments for an Exorcist and their future development.
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