Chapter 006

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‘ ‘ for thoughts.

“ “ for speech.

* * for actions.

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Short old man: “So first on my list is Ceolfrith Mah Wayne.”

A small 4 feet tall girl with blue-green hair worn in pigtails and a somewhat flat nose followed a tall lanky man with slight buck teeth with the same blue-green hair. They went towards the far end of the hall, and approached the Grandmaster Magus.

Short old man: “Once your progeny’s affinity is evaluated, you can retire to our residence. I will get in touch with you shortly and present options so as to nurture the young talent of our clan.”

The Grandmaster’s voice suddenly turned stern as he glared at the crowd assembled, particularly at two of them assembled there. Leofric could swear he heard his father gulp quietly. But the sound passed so swiftly, he wasn’t sure.

Short old man: “I should remind everyone, that whether you are of the Mah branch or the Vainy branch, or whether your progeny have suitable affinity or no, we are all of the same clan! Scorn and discord will not be tolerated at this occasion, no matter what excuse you give!”

There were hushed whispers in the gathering. Some of the participants, particularly from the Vainy branch, who were returning visitors to this gathering were surprised. The Grandmaster of the Mah branch, who was in charge of this event for the past couple of decades, was deviating significantly from his earlier gatherings. Little did they know that a couple of his unruly grandsons had infuriated him with their antics, when he had far more important things to worry about!

Short old man: “Let me remind everyone of something. Our Ancestor, who is an honored sage, was initially a Water Magus. He was a genius and became a grandmaster Magus within a century of practicing!”

There were gasps of surprise and amazement from the gathered crowd, particularly from the young people present. Reaching the rank of a Grandmaster, that too as a magus, within a century was astonishing! It spoke of talent and dedication in the path of cultivation to achieve such a result. But the whispers hushed up as Ealric’s grandfather continued.

Short old man: “He was stuck at this bottleneck for another century! He seemed unable to breakthrough to a sage as a magus. He then concentrated on training his body and within another century reached Grandmaster as a warrior!”

The whispers of gossip and speculation intensified immensely. It was known to most adults of the Wayne clan that their ancestor was a sage; they didn’t know that he trained initially as a Magus and then as a warrior, upon becoming a Grandmaster! The Grandmaster seemed to be in a mood to divulge information about their honored Ancestor, and the hall attained pin-drop silence as he continued.

Short old man: “In another few decades, our honored ancestor broke through to become a sage as a Warrior. He became a sage in less than four centuries of practice overall; but had become a sage as a Warrior in less than two centuries of martial cultivation!”

Short old man: “This was a few millennia ago, and now he is a Warrior-Magus Sage on the Elemental Path of Water! He is one of the stronger sages not only in our Kingdom of Albaria, but in our glorious Empire of Creoca!”

As the attending clan members got excited over these revelations, the Grandmaster Magus walked with the blue-green haired child and her father, to the door on his right. After a few minutes, the trio exited. Evident smiles were visible on the parent’s face as they left the great hall. It was obvious that his daughter had scored favorably in her affinity test.

Ealric’s grandfather continued calling out names and shepherding them to the testing hall. There were around a five children of the Mah branch, excluding Leofric and Graham’s twin sons. However, after rest of the Mah children were called, Leofric or Graham’s twins weren’t called. Ealric’s grandfather instead called around two dozen Vainy branch children.

Soon, only Graham and his twin sons, Leofric, Labasi, Ealric and his grandfather were left in the hall. Clearly they were intentionally made to wait. After the last parent and child left the Great Hall, the short old Grandmaster beckoned both of them towards him. Gulping and clearly nervous, they approached him.

Short old man: “Now I know both of you have grudges towards each other, but that was a while ago. There is trouble brewing on the horizon, and we cannot afford discord in our clan now! I don’t care what you two do, make sure your decades old grudge doesn’t propagate to the next generation and create an irrevocable rift in our clan branch, or I will have to discipline you both. Is that understood?”

At the mention of discipline, both of them paled visibly. Their grandfather was serious; otherwise he would never threaten them with that! They resolved that their grudges should be limited to them, and not adversely affect their children… at least as long as their grandfather had an eye on them.

Ealric and Graham: “Yes, honored grandfather!’

At their response, their grandfather’s pudgy wrinkled visage cracked into a smile, and he addressed Graham’s twin sons.

Short old man: “Now follow me with your father, Godred and Geldfrith, to test your elemental affinity.”

While Graham, his grandfather and his twin sons left, Ealric left a sigh of relief. Labasi was amused at this, and gave a mild chuckle.

Labasi: “I take it that you aren’t too fond of his ‘discipline’?”

Ealric groaned audibly, and an ashen look of despair was visible on his face.

Ealric: “Don’t remind me. Instead of being a loving indulgent grandfather, he terrorized my generation…”

Labasi: *serious tone* “Looks like your grandfather is serious now and there is more going on than what meets the eye. Otherwise, an esteemed Grandmaster would never lose his cool with that speech and reinstate the need for unity among the clan.’

Ealric: “You heard about our Ancestor, what could possibly threaten our clan?”

Before Labasi could reply Graham and his twin sons returned, with the Grandmaster in tow. Graham had a smug expression on his face looking extremely pleased. With each hand he was ruffling the hair of each of his twin sons.

Ealric: *whispering* “Look, they are back. Look at his smug expression; he is sneering and taunting me… the nerve!”

Short old man: “Ealric, it is finally our son’s turn. Follow me!’

As Ealric, Labasi and Leofric got up to follow the grandmaster, he paused and addressed Labasi.

Short old man: “You are not a member of our clan, so you may wait here.”

Labasi: *respectfully* “Esteemed Grandmaster, I have been in service to the Turner clan of Leofric’s mother for over a century. I owe the Turner clan a lot, and am sworn to serve and protect their bloodline.”

Short old man: *frowning* “That may be, but this is a private affair…“

Labasi: *sad smile* “I understand, please forgive my presumptions.”

The short old man nodded curtly; Leofric and his father followed him to the testing hall. It was quite small compared to the Great hall. It was quite dark and had two rows of 3 crystals each and a formation glowing with a dull grey light which was 6m in diameter.

The six crystals were translucent and of different shades and were three feet tall. Each of the crystals was raised on a two feet tall square pedestal and the crystals themselves were egg shaped and around one foot wide. They were red for fire, deep blue for water, ocher yellow for earth, green for wind, light yellow for light and purple for darkness.

The formation was quite intricate despite its size, and it had six tall pillars, made out of an opaque material similar to marble, surrounding it. Each of the pillars was around ten feet tall and a foot in diameter. The pillars had crystalline transparent rings, each about one inch thick, spaced one inch apart from each other.

On top of each of the pillars was a magicite crystal, each the size of an adult’s clenched fist. Next to the formation, there was a raised pedestal around four feet tall. The pedestal had beads arranged on it, like an Abacus. In the far end of the testing hall, there was a cloaked and hooded figure sitting cross-legged on the ground, seemingly deep in meditation. Ealric’s grandfather addressed Leofric.

Short old man: “Now young Leofric, all you have to do is touch the colored crystals one by one, for a few seconds. It will light up, and its intensity will let us know how strong your affinity is.”

Leofric nodded and approached the crystals. He approached the red crystal and pressed his palm against it. After a few seconds there was no change in its brilliance, and he looked at his great-grandfather quizzically, who just instructed him to move on to the next crystal. His affinity with fire was zero.

Leofric then repeated the procedure with the deep blue crystal. The scene with the fire crystal repeated…there was absolutely no response, which meant that his affinity with water was also zero! There was slight frown on Ealric’s face. He recalled his test of elemental affinity.

Most people had the crystals responding slightly to every affinity, no matter what their dominant affinities were! For example, he had high affinity with fire. But every other affinity crystal glowed visibly in his affinity test, even if the glow was dimmer than that of a candle.

In Leofric’s case, two of the crystals did not show any reaction at all! Leofric then proceeded to the ocher yellow crystal which would test his earth affinity. He repeated the process, but this time he pressed both his palms for over ten seconds on the Earth crystal and there was no response!

His Earth affinity was also non-existent! He repeated the process with the wind, light and dark affinity crystals, and the results were same! Leofric had not even a shred of affinity with any of the six elements! Leofric was in a panic. If he had no elemental affinity, how would he be a mage?

He wanted to be a Warrior-Magus like his mother and his teacher. He recognized that both warriors and mages had their pros and cons. While mages had more destructive potential and dazzling spells, warriors could slaughter them in the blink of an eye in close combat!

Ordinarily everyone would have minimal affinity with all the elements. Usually one or two (very rarely three, and once in a blue moon - four) affinities were dominant. The speed of one’s training as a magus was directly proportional to one’s elemental affinity.

This meant that, potentially everyone could train to be a magus as long as they had some elemental affinity. It was just that they would die before they even reached the Journeyman (rank 4) or even Intermediate rank (rank 3). Leofric, however had no affinity at all according to his test! This meant that the path of the Magi was completely closed to him.

His great grandfather looked worried and muttered something under his breath. He called back Leofric, whose disappointed expression mirrored his father’s. He then walked to the crystals and touched the wind crystal. There was a bright green light, comparable to that of a bonfire which illuminated them.

He then touched the light yellow crystal, and it was as if they were bathed in daylight. He then touched the other crystals for a few seconds, and each of them radiated a dim light of their color, comparable to a candle flame.

Short old man: “Ealric, looks like your son has no elemental affinities. The crystals are functioning to my touch as you just saw.”

Ealric: “But how? Although my wife and I may not be the most talented magi, but Leofric should have high affinity in at least one element. But it is as if he has absolutely no elemental affinity! That is impossible!”

Short old man: “Not quite. Perhaps one in a hundred million will have high affinities in three elements. Even rare, perhaps one in ten billion will have high affinities in four elements! These cases of four strong affinities in recorded history are in the double digits!”

Short old man: “Even rarer, there are people completely cut off from the six elements. Extremely rare, but it happens.”

Ealric: “But that means my son will never become a Magus…”

Old short man: “Did you not hear my speech? Our ancestor became a sage through the Warrior’s Path, even after he became a Grandmaster Magus! The path of a warrior is still open to him… and more suitable to be honest if you look at his robust physique.”

Suddenly, the hooded cloaked figure stirred and said something in a melodious voice.

Cloaked and hooded figure: “Meldwin, test his spiritual force!”

Ealric was about to question the shady looking cloaked man who addressed his Grandmaster so casually, but was even more surprised to see his grandfather Meldwin Mah Wayne bowing deeply to the figure.

Meldwin: *bowing* “Of course, esteemed Ancestor!”

Hearing his grandfather addressing the cloaked figure as his ancestor, Ealric was stupefied into silence. Regaining his bearings after a few moments, he too deeply bowed to the Sage of their clan! Seeing both his father and grandfather bowing, and learning of the cloaked man’s identity as a sage, Leofric imitated them.

Leofric: *bowing* ‘An almighty sage! I sure am lucky to witness such a powerful cultivator at my age…’

While Leofric was bowing, his heart was filled with admiration and reverence. He soon heard his great-grandfather’s voice, stirring him from his reverie.

Meldwin: “Leofric, go stand in the center of that formation. I will activate it. Try to keep standing up as long as you can.”

Leofric: “Yes, great-grandfather.”

He then walked into the center of the formation and waited. His great-grandfather walked to the nearby pedestal, and arranged some of the beads. The first rings at the base of each of the surrounding pillars lit up with a gentle glowing yellow light.

Almost immediately, Leofric felt a mild sensation tugging at his mind. It was as if something was suggesting him to kneel. He easily resisted the urge to kneel, and his great-grandfather manipulated the beads again.

This time two of the rings from the bottom lit up, and the compulsion to kneel intensified in Leofric’s mind. Still, he was able to easily brush off without much effort. Meldwin continued adjusting the beads, and the rings steadily lit up on the pillars.

As the number rings lighting up continued rising, Leofric felt a progressively stronger urge to kneel. By the time ten rings lit up, Leofric had to exert some effort to remain standing, but was still comfortable. At this point both Ealric and Meldwin was somewhat amazed at the results.

The formation tested one’s spiritual force, relative to a baseline. Before this clan gathering, it had been calibrated such that a single ring lighting up on each of the pillars signified the average spiritual force of a human eight year old child.

While elemental affinity was important for mages, spiritual force was an essential requirement too! This was because, spells used up a bit of spiritual force in addition to mageforce! If a mage used up too much of his spiritual force for casting spells, it could lead to fainting and in severe cases comas for a couple of days to a week.

This was another drawback of the magi. Using spiritual force indirectly via spells allowed them to have increased power in the mortal stage of cultivation. However, forcibly depleting one’s spiritual force as a mortal in this manner took a heavy mental toll.

An Expert magus may have enough mageforce and spiritual force to cast six Expert rank spell. But if their maximum spiritual force was too low, they would faint after casting just three Expert rank spells! In extreme cases, enduring with their willpower, they might be able to cast five Expert rank spells, but the resulting coma they end up in may take anywhere from a few days to a fortnight to recover.

Generally speaking, having a spiritual force at least 8 times higher than the average of one’s age (8x) was the minimum requirement for prospective magi. The clan had higher standards and 10x was the bare minimum spiritual force required before one’s education as a magus could proceed.

The rings kept on glowing one after the other as Leofric endured and Labasi kept on operating the formation. By the time thirteen rings lit up on each of the pillars, a few beads of perspiration could be seen on his forehead, as he had to devote significant amount of his willpower to resist the formation’s pressure.

After every few seconds, the number of rings glowing kept on increasing at a steady pace. By the time fifteen rings were glowing, he was panting audibly, but was still standing. Fifteen times the spiritual force! This was already considered exceptional innate talent!

The higher one’s spiritual force was, the stronger was one’s soul! The stronger was one’s soul, the faster was the speed of comprehension during cultivation, and the higher were the chances of gaining insights and achieve breakthroughs! High spiritual force was a boon to anyone aspiring to become a sage, be they warriors or magi!

Leofric’s panting got louder as sixteen rings in each of the pillars started glowing. Along with the compulsion to kneel, he was feeling an incredible pressure on his body. He felt like a giant hand was pressing down on his neck and shoulders to make him kneel.

Using every shred of willpower, he resisted the urge and the pressure, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to endure for long if the pressure intensified further. Finally as seventeen rings lit up, Leofric couldn’t endure longer, and he involuntarily kneeled with a resounding thud.

Labasi had a bittersweet smile as he pondered the implications of the relative magnitude of his son’s spiritual force. Fifteen times was already considered incredibly exceptional. Perhaps one in ten million would have such a strong soul! His son had seventeen times spiritual force, when compared to the average eight year old human child.

Even if his son had a single elemental affinity at average levels, barely considered qualify-able for mages; with enough hard work, his son could have easily become a Journeyman Magus (Rank 4) by the age of 25, no 20!

In that scenario, with his strong soul if his son was lucky he could become an Expert Magus by the age of 30 and a Grandmaster (Rank 7) Magus by the age of 70! If his son had high elemental affinity, his son could become a Grandmaster Magus by the age of 40! If he had exceptional affinity, he could become a grandmaster as early as 30!

Leofric: *bittersweet smile* ‘The universe likes irony. Here my son has one of the highest levels of spiritual force recorded in history, making him extremely suitable for a magus. But he has absolutely Zero elemental affinity. A Grandmaster Magus by the age of 30…damn’

Leofric: ‘Hypotheticals aside, this is a good thing. My son with his robust physique is extremely suited for martial cultivation! With his strong soul, he should have not much problem breaking through to Rank 5 as a warrior. Perhaps if the heavens favor him, he will become the next sage in our clan!’

Meldwin: ‘Seventeen times the spiritual force? Damn! And I thought I was talented when I could withstand thirteen times the pressure in my evaluation. I bet he could become a Grandmaster warrior by the age of 50, no 40!’

Leofric’s disappointed voice, suddenly stirred both of them from their contemplations.

Leofric: “I am sorry for disappointing you father. I have absolutely no elemental affinity. On top of that I could withstand only seventeen rings on the pillars.”

Meldwin didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry at his great-grandson’s attitude. Seventeen times the spiritual force is a disappointment? Then most of the clan members evaluated today were utter trash, with the highest reaching twelve times! He wanted to know his reasoning, so he asked Leofric.

Meldwin: “Why do you say you were a disappointment for withstanding seventeen rings? “

Leofric: “Because each pillar has sixty rings? I couldn’t even withstand a third of it!”

Hearing his reasoning, the cloaked and hooded ancestor laughed loudly. After the laughter subsided, Meldwin hurriedly explained lest Leofric misunderstand the esteemed Ancestor.

Meldwin: “Leofric, seventeen is a very good result! Other than you, the highest was only twelve. You have an exceptionally strong soul. I believe that if you work hard as a warrior, you could be the next sage of our clan! That of course will require centuries of hard work in the path of cultivation”

Hearing his great-grandfather saying the possibly of his becoming a sage, Leofric’s face broke into a smile. He slowly stood up from his kneeling position; he had a determined look in his eyes as he motivated himself.

Leofric: ‘That’s right! Once I become a sage and can access my spiritual force, I will demolish mountains with a single punch. Then it won’t matter that I couldn’t become a magus…’

Meldwin was observing Leofric and admonished him.

Meldwin: “Don’t get too full of yourself now, you cheeky brat! You are not even an Expert right now and dreaming of becoming a sage. You must work hard with dedication!”

His great-grandfather’s admonishment quickly shattered his daydreams and deflated him. The hooded and cloaked sage coughed suddenly, as he rasped.

Sage Ancestor: “None of what you all learned here, whether it is his lack of affinity or his exceptional spiritual force does not leave this room or don’t blame for being harsh with every one of you. Understood?”

All three simultaneously: “Yes, Ancestor.”

Sage Ancestor: “Leofric, you stay. You two can leave and wait outside in the hall and don’t allow anyone to come in. I will send him when I am done.”

Meldwin was extremely puzzled. The honored Ancestor was a recluse. It was extremely rare to show such favor to an eight year old child… that too who lacked any elemental affinity. Although his spiritual force was very high, still it was no guarantee that he would become a sage as there were many talented practitioners simply stuck at the bottleneck…like he, himself! Nevertheless, he was not the one to question the actions of the honored ancestor, and quickly left the testing hall after bowing.

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A/N: Instead of splitting two piddly chapters, I decided to combine them as one larger chapter! Those of you who follow Asunder Online, I might not update this weekend as I have RL obligations to fulfill this weekend. Or I could, if I finish stuff early. I dunno.

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