Aldred set off from his home and headed to a nearby building. This is where all the children, in nearby villages, who were old enough to attend school would come to in order to be mass-transported and escorted to Sola City. Upon arriving, Aldred received many stares from the other children. They knew who he was and they knew of his "No-Affinity" status. Nostalgic gossiping whispers erupted, due to his appearance, followed by pointing and laughter. The insults did not affect him in the past so why would they affect him now? Ignoring the idiots, Aldred walked towards the back of the group and waited patiently. A few minutes later, the leader of the escort motioned that it was time to set off.

"Hurry! They're leaving!" A shout echoed.

A few of the children including Aldred turned to look and saw two children, a boy and a girl running towards their group. The boy had red straight hair with golden eyes, broad shoulders, and a goofy grin. Although he was about Aldred's age, he looked to be as tall as a ten year old. The girl had similar features with the boy and she too had long red hair with golden eyes, except she had a more cold demeanor. Both children were wearing red and black outfits, the only difference is that the boy had dragon markings sewed on and the girl had flower markings. When they caught up, the boy said, "Whew! Thought we were gonna be late."

"It's all your fault Mel! If you hadn't overslept, we would have made it on time." The girl pointed out.

"Can't blame me. I was too excited that I couldn't sleep well last night. Didn't you oversleep as well Dora?" Mel excused.

"Hmph! T-that's different. I was just getting my beauty-sleep." Dora blushed as she stammered. She was about to say more when she caught sight of Aldred.

"Mel, look. Isn't that the No-Affinity?"

"Huh? Where? Eh, you're right it is! Let's go say hi." Mel said.

"No wait!" Dora said as she tried to pull Mel back but Mel was too strong and instead pulled her with him.

"Hi, my name is Nimel Dragonfire of the Dragon Clan but you can call me Mel, this is my sister Dora. What's your name?" Mel asked.

Aldred looked at them curiously before remembering his mother's teachings, "My name is Aldred Blackehearth."

"Aldred eh? Can I call you Al?"

"Whatever."

"Great, is it true that you're a No-Affinity?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"Wow, that's cool. I've only heard about No-Affinities in stories. Let's be friends. Dora, you too right?"

"I...um...fine." Dora stammered before resignedly agreeing.

Aldred peered at this curious boy in front of him stupidly grinning. He initially wanted to refuse because he thought it would be too much trouble befriending such an overly optimistic person. But he had heard about the Dragon Clan and how powerful they were. Not to mention his parents had pushed him to connect with others his age. After some thought, he finally agreed.

The boy jumped with joy and wrapped an arm around Aldred. Pulling him close, Mel began talking about how Aldred made the right decision in befriending him. The two newly made friends continued traveling with the rest of the group while ignoring the shy Dora who was following close behind. In the time it took to travel to Sola City, Aldred learned many things about Mel and Dora like how Mel is a Fire-Affinity Novice 4th Stage and Dora is a rare Lightning-Affinity Novice 3rd Stage. In addition, Aldred learned that both Mel and Dora came from the Dragonfire family - one of many branches of the Dragon Clan. Their family can be considered powerful having boasted of producing three Grand Meisters. Mel and Dora are twins and both are six years old. Of course the information doesn't stop there. Blabbermouth kept talking about favorite foods, favorite places, favorite Mages, etc. Aldred even, at some point, regretted his decision to accept this guy's friendship.

After what seemed like forever, the group finally arrived at Sola City. At the front gate, a fat man in his forties was sitting by a desk and assigning each of the children their identification cards.

"Hmm, you are a Wind-Affinity Novice 2nd Stage? Hmph, trash, here's your identification card. Don't lose it during the recruitment. It'll provide easy information to recruiters." The fat man grunted as he thrust a card at the timid girl, "Next!"

"I'm Konnor Frost of the Frost Saint Village. I have both Water and Fire affinities." An arrogant young boy with short black hair and brown eyes replied as he stepped up to the table. He had a slim but muscular figure teeming with magic strength. A smirk appeared on his face as he looked at the shocked fat man.

Aldred frowned when he saw the boy. It's him...the Dual-Affinity from my Affinity Ritual. Judging by his aura, he must be at least Novice 5th Stage.

"A Dual-Affinity?! Genius! What stage are you boy?"

"Novice 5th Stage! I will be breaking through soon."

"Wow, this guy is strong." Mel whistled, "Remind me not to get on his bad side."

"If you don't talk, you won't." Dora joked causing Aldred to laugh out loud.

Konnor heard Aldred laugh and mistook the laugh to be directed at him. He turned around angrily and asked, "Who just laughed?"

Some people pointed at Aldred and Konnor immediately glared at him. Aldred shrugged and made no excuse to his outburst. He didn't think his laughing would be such a big deal. However what he thinks isn't what Konnor thinks.

"I know you. You're that trash, the No-Affinity. What are you doing here?" Konnor pointed at him.

"Same as you, finding a school to attend." Aldred replied.

"Haha, is there any school willing to take weaklings like you?" This remark caused many children to laugh as well. Aldred didn't pay much attention to it and continued to shrug. However, Konnor mistook his actions as cowardice, "Look at this coward, why don't you just get lost already?"

"Hey now, why don't we just stop for a moment and calm down. No need to get aggressive here." Mel interrupted as he tried to mediate the worsening situation.

"Who are you to tell me what to do punk?" Konnor glared.

"I'm Nimel Dragonfire from the Dragon Clan."

"Dragon Clan eh?" Konnor was about to make another remark but one of his lackeys whispered to him, telling him that it's not good for their village if they became enemies with a powerful clan. Konnor peered at Mel before leaving with a humph. After this incident, the fat man continued assigning and passing out identification cards. Finally, it was Aldred's turn.

The fat man sneered at Aldred and said, "No-Affinity trash. You should just go home and stop wasting your time here."

"Just give me my identification card."

"Hmph! I warned you. Don't cry to your mommy when you get rejected by every school."

"We'll see about that. The name is Aldred Blackehearth. I'm at the Novice 4th Stage, No-Affinity."

"Fourth stage?!" The fat man jumped in shock. How can an useless person with no way of channeling mana be fourth stage, let alone first stage? Maybe he is lying. "How can you be fourth stage when you can't even channel mana? Are you sure you're not lying? Drop some blood onto this crystal. I believe you are lying about your abilities."

Aldred humphed while pricking his finger and dripping a few drops of blood on the crystal. The crystal absorbed the blood before shining a few words. When the fat man saw the results, his eyes widened...turns out the boy was right...he was really at Novice 4th Stage.

"Even if you are at the fourth stage, the chances you have of finding a school is still low."

"That's something I will worry about, not you." Aldred replied curtly while grabbing his identification card.

Aldred entered the gate where Mel and Dora were waiting on the other side.