Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 117: Elemental Affinity

"...in simple terms, Elements are formed through Energy Units reacting with each other. Friction between energies causes a spark that might turn into what we know as the Fire Element.

Polarized energies turn into Lightning, compact energies turn solid and might later turn into either Metal or Earth, fluidity causes the birth of moisture and water, stillness of water turns into ice, etc." Instructor Micheal stated as he explained the basic knowledge of elements to his students.

"Due to the changes we Humans experienced thanks to Acala, we have evolved and can sense the changes within our surroundings, allowing us to harness the power of nature right at our fingertips. And thanks to our ceaseless pursuit of knowledge and progress, we have formed a systematized way to harness these powers more efficiently, maximizing our potential even further."

"All of us, in this day and age, possess latent affinity towards sensing energies; be they Mana, Ki, Spiritual Energy, etc. This also includes specific elements." Micheal then turned to Isabella with a gentle smile and said: "You, for example, Young Lady. I sense a great harmony between you and the Ice Element, of course this also extends to the Water Element."

Isabella doesn't seem to be moved by what she hears. This wasn't news to her either for her Master already tested her Elemental Affinity before and told her about this.

Michael then looked at another student and said: "As for you, Young Man. I can sense the sheer vibrancy of life around you, which tells me that you most likely have a great affinity towards the Wood Element."

Then, somebody raised their hand to ask a question. Michael saw this and nodded at the student. The student then asked: "Instructor, are you able to sense our Elemental Affinities just by looking at us?"

"No." Michael chuckled, "I was only able to since the ones I pointed at possess strong affinities towards their respective elements and more importantly, trained them to some extent."

"For those who haven't discovered their Elemental Affinities and haven't trained them, I wouldn't sense them, nor could anybody for that matter, under normal circumstances of course. Those who have excellent perception and trained techniques that specifically allow them to notice that obviously would. Sadly, I'm not one of those people."

Another student raised their hand and asked: "Are we safe to assume that you have a way for us to learn what our Elemental Affinities are?"

"Of course! Why else would I be an Instructor for this class if I couldn't? More importantly, why would this Academy even bother offering this class if they don't have a way? That much should be obvious, no?"

Michael said this with a light-hearted tone to prevent the student from feeling embarrassed.

"Since we're already at this topic, we might as well move along with it. Everyone, we'll be stepping outside. Gather at the Altar, we will be identifying everyone's Elemental Affinities there."

Saying that, Michael walked outside of the classroom followed by the students. They arrived at the altar shortly after since it wasn't that far from the classroom.

"When I call out your name, step into the altar and touch the crystal ball. Relax and sink your mind into it, the ball will show a reaction that will tell me what kind of affinity you possess. Let's start with Winston Abigail..."

The student called stepped forward and stood on the altar, he remembered the instructions and touched the crystal ball. Under the whole class' watch, the crystal ball glowed with a Lime Green shade. It also displayed two black lines in the middle as well.

"The green color represents both the Wind and Wood Elements. To identify which one it is exactly, we refer to the color shade displayed by the crystal ball. Lighter Shades are for the Wind Element and darker shades for the Wood Element." Michael explained.

"The two black lines you see represent the innate depth of resonance between you and your Elemental Affinity. In simple terms, it determines the strength of affinity towards an element." He continued.

"A single black line represents a 'Regular' affinity. Meaning that if you were to practice Spells or Techniques that fall under the wind element, you'd obviously progress faster than those without any affinity towards it."

"Two Black Lines represents the 'Intermediate' level of Affinity. Meaning that your progress with those kinds of technique will be twice as fast compared to those who only have a 'Regular' level of affinity."

"Three Black Lines means 'Superb' level of affinity. Four black lines would be 'Extraordinary', and five black lines represent the 'Pinaccle' level of affinity."

"The higher your affinity towards a specific element, the faster your progress would be at mastering them. I'm sure I don't need to explain how valuable this information is."

Of course, the old man was right. Determining one's affinity prevents them from taking a detour, giving them more time to focus their efforts on becoming stronger.

"As we all can see here with Mr. Abigail's results, he has an affinity towards the Wind Element. And by the two black lines we see, it means that he has an Intermediate level of affinity towards the Wind Element."

Cedric then blinked and raised his hand. Michael, even though he wasn't facing him, responded with a: "Yes?"

"You said something about Wind being his 'only' affinity, Sir. Does this mean that someone can have multiple affinities?"

Michael turned to him with a wide smile and said: "100 APs for catching that! Indeed, people can have more than one Elemental Affinity. However, don't mistake this as a sign of supremacy. While it is generally good to have more than one affinity, those who have them will have to double their efforts learning skills for those to be relevant."

"Additionally, having more than one affinity might turn into a curse instead of a blessing for some people. This is supposed to be for your future lesson but simply put, Elements react differently when paired with each other. The most common example would be Fire and Water; they don't mix well as we all know."

"This also applies to affinities, if you still haven't caught on. If someone has a latent affinity towards both Fire and Water, this might cause them to suffer in more ways than one. Don't be afraid though, if any of you encounter this kind of problem, I will be here to give you options." Micheal explained, causing the students to sigh in relief.

"Another question, Sir." Cedric then asked: "Does the specific shade of color mean anything?"

"Mm? And how did you come up with that?" Michael asked in return.

"Well...you refer to them as 'Lighter Shades' and 'Darker Shades'. Every color has multiple shades and the one we saw just now I believe is Lime Green."

"Hah! Another good catch! 200 APs for you!" Micheal gave Cedric an appreciative glance before explaining. "Yes, the specific color shade indeed means something. This is supposed to be for a future lesson but for the sake of your curiosity, I will reveal some information right now."

He then turned to a student who was still at the altar and said: "Lime Green could be attributed to 'Speed'. Since that's your shade, this means that you'd be even faster at practicing 'Movement' technique or spells. Your skills could also be faster than normal."

Michael then turned to the rest of the class and said: "I'll do the same for the rest. As for explaining everything, we could do that in the future. If you're really that curious, you can do some advanced reading in the library."

"Alright, thank you, Mr. Abigail, you may now step down," Michael told the student. "Next, Mr. Simmons."

Just like that, the students discovered the latent Elemental Affinity one by one. At some point, the common elements appeared, a couple of students even had the same elemental affinity but different levels of affinity.

That one student that Michael pointed out to have the Wood Affinity turned out to have a 'Superb' level of affinity, which was incredibly rare given the instructor's reaction. Additionally, the shade of Pine Green was said to be the most suited to the 'Life' property.

From what Cedric noticed from the subtle actions of the Instructor, he might've notified some people of this.

As for Isabella, it's as expected. Her shade was 'Ice Blue', fitting since she's incredibly suited to the Ice spells and techniques. Her level of affinity was also 'Superb' just like the previous guy.

And finally, Cedric himself was tested.

"Vermillion...pinnacle!" Michael whispered with a stunned tone, which Cedric certainly didn't miss.

Vermillion is a shade of Red, which is mainly used to represent the Fire Element. And from what Cedric could see, he has a 'Pinnacle' level of affinity towards it.

He was stunned by this discovery. He already knew that he might have a strong affinity towards the Fire Element but he didn't know it was going to be this much.

"Vermillion falls under the 'encompassing' attribute. It means that any kind of fire-related skills are suitable for you. And since you have a Pinnacle level of affinity, you can learn anything that falls under it with astonishing speed and might."