CHAPTER 99: ELEMENTAL AFFINITY TESTING

The third day at the monastery felt different from the others. After breakfast, students gathered in the main hall, talking quietly among themselves. Everyone seemed nervous about what was coming next. Renard could hear bits of conversation—some students wondering what would happen, others trying to guess what kind of magic they might have.

Today was the day they would test everyone’s magic.

Unlike the boring lessons from the past two days, this test would show what type of magic each student was good at. It would decide what they studied next and who they would train with. Some students looked excited, others looked scared.

Elder Miriam stood at the front of the room, but she wasn’t alone. Three other teachers stood with her—two men and one woman. These teachers knew different types of magic and would decide which students should learn what. They all looked serious, like this was very important.

"Today you’ll find out what kind of magic you’re good at," Miriam said loud enough for everyone to hear. Her voice echoed in the round room. "This test will show us what you can do and what you should study. It will also decide how fast you can learn and what chances you’ll get here."

She pointed to a big crystal in the middle of the room. The thing was about as tall as a person, made of different colored crystals stuck together in a complex pattern. It glowed softly with different colors—red, blue, green, yellow, white, and dark purple. Each section seemed to pulse with its own rhythm.

"This crystal can tell what kind of magic you’re good at," Miriam went on. "It’s been set up to read the magic inside you. When you touch it, it will show us which type of magic fits you best."

A student near the front raised her hand. "What if we’re not good at any magic?"

"That’s very rare, but it can happen. Students like that usually study how magic works instead of doing magic themselves." Miriam didn’t sound like she thought this was a good thing. Her tone made it clear that not having magic was seen as a failure. "But most people are good at least one type of magic."

Ian sat a few rows away from Renard. His scarred face didn’t show any emotion, but Renard could tell he was tense.

"We’ll go in order by first names," another teacher said, looking at a long piece of paper. "When we call your name, come up and put both hands on the center part of the crystal. Keep them there until the colors stop changing."

The first student was a nervous girl who walked up to the crystal slowly. Her hands shook as she reached for it. When she put her palms on the smooth surface, the whole thing got brighter. The crystal hummed softly, and Renard could feel some kind of energy in the air. After a few seconds, the blue part lit up bright while the other colors got dim.

"Water magic, pretty good strength," Elder Miriam said, writing something down on her paper. "You’ll learn water magic with Teacher Waves."

The girl looked relieved as she walked back to her seat. At least she had some magic.

More students went up, each one making different colors light up. Earth magic made the green parts glow, air magic made yellow sections bright, and fire magic made the red crystals blaze. Most students only made one color bright, though a few made two colors glow weakly at the same time.

As each student finished, Renard watched the teachers’ faces. He could see a pattern forming. The teachers got more excited about some types of magic than others. Lightning, fire, and ice magic made them smile and nod to each other, while earth and water magic seemed boring to them. They wrote down everything carefully, making lots of notes. Renard realized this wasn’t really about teaching—it was about finding out what kind of weapons each student could become.

The monastery wanted powerful students, not just any students.

When they called Ian’s name, Renard watched closely. The boy with the scarred face walked up to the crystal calmly, his steps steady and controlled. He didn’t show if he was worried or excited, but Renard knew this moment was important to him.

Ian put his hands on the central crystal ball and closed his eyes. His face looked calm, almost peaceful. For a moment, nothing happened—the crystal kept its soft glow without any change. Then suddenly, bright white light burst from different parts of the crystal at once. The light was so bright that some students had to look away. Then all the light focused on the dark purple section, which blazed with intense light.

The teachers looked at each other with surprised expressions. One of them whispered something to another. Elder Miriam wrote a lot of notes, her pen moving quickly across the paper.

"Lightning magic, very strong power. Very good," she said, looking up at Ian with new interest in her eyes. "Lightning magic users are rare and very useful to us. You’ll train directly with Elder Darius for advanced lessons."

Ian nodded once and went back to his seat without saying anything, but Renard caught the pleased look that flashed across his eyes. Lightning magic was rare and powerful—it would give Ian exactly the kind of strength he wanted.

Renard knew that lightning magic could destroy things easily. Someone really good at it could cause terrible damage to enemies. It was the kind of magic that could kill quickly and from far away.

The testing kept going after Ian sat down.

More students went up, showing the usual mix of magic types. Most were okay at common types of magic—fire, water, earth, or air. A few showed weak connections to unusual combinations. One boy made both green and gray light appear, which meant he could do both earth and metal magic. A girl made both blue and white light glow, showing she could do both water and ice magic.

As Renard watched student after student, he started wondering what kind of magic he might be good at. His turn was coming soon, and he needed to be ready.

He didn’t know if his blood crests would affect what the crystal showed. The Eternal Hunger and Wild Heart crests were hidden inside him, but they were powerful. If the crystal could sense them, he worried it might show two different types of magic at once.

But Renard was confident about one thing—he could control how much power he let out. Even though he didn’t know much about magic theory, he was very good at controlling the energy inside his body.

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