Chapter 2: Affinity Test (2)

"Congratulations my students!" Above was the Principal of the local academy #1200, Principal Waters.

Obviously, whoever named the schools in this world has the same naming sense as Kain's orphanage director.

"This year we've had a record number of students achieve the required spiritual power to undergo the affinity ceremony and hopefully become beast tamers" He said with his bushy grey brows twitching constantly from joy.

After all, the more of his students successfully awaken an affinity, the higher the school's funding will be next year. Along with his salary, most likely.

"Now, although not all of you will awaken an affinity. Do not be disheartened. There are still many prestigious careers for non-beast tamers: pharmacists, blacksmiths, and above all the evolutionary planners."

'True. It'd be considered great if even a third of these students awaken an affinity. Which is why no matter how certain I feel I am to awaken an affinity, I still took all of my academic courses seriously.' Thought Kain. 'Although, I have already experienced normal college life in an academic major, and it is not something I want to do a second time. The tiring labs, taking notes, being yelled at by my Supervisor. No way I want to do that again! Especially not in a world as fascinating as this one'

"Now, the ceremony will begin shortly. Although, some of you may already know what to expect from your family members' past experiences. I hope you all will listen carefully."

Kain and Bridge sat up straighter. They had absolutely nobody to tell them what the ceremony was like. The orphanage director was just an ordinary man whose spiritual power didn't even meet the requirements to enter the ceremony.

"From your first year at the academy, we had taught you the technique on how to collect spiritual power from the stars until your soul was fully saturated. While this first step is easily achieved by even children, the requirement to partake in the ceremony is to condense all of the gaseous spiritual power in your soul into a sphere, a star, that does not unravel without your conscious effort. This star will be the home for your first contract. The goal of the affinity ceremony is to mold this star into the most optimal environment for this contract."

"Once the ceremony begins, you will enter a space. If you possess an affinity you will see it's appearance in the form of an egg. Once this egg hatches, its form will reveal your affinity and fuse with your star, transforming it into an environment inhabitable by only a select number of creatures – those matching your affinity. Once you bind to your first contract, the star will further continue to grow and transform with your spirit creature to its most optimal habitat. Meaning that every individual's star is unique, regardless of whether the contract species is the same."

"Now, some of you will have very narrow affinities, allowing you to only bind a small number of creatures, for example, three years ago we had a student whose affinity was to ice-attribute goldfish, achieving only an F-rating."

There were some snickers, particularly from the legacies. Goldfish were a notoriously weak species, not to mention this student could only bind to an ice- attribute mutant that could probably only cool down drinks for its beast tamer. However, at least this student awakened an affinity.

"Others may awaken affinities to whole elemental attributes or beast-types or even multiple affinities. Just two nights ago at high school # 1011's affinity ceremony, a student achieved an S-rating. After today, the next S-rating in our great Celestial Empire, and the first in over a decade from our Brightstar City may be one of you."

At his words, several of the more confident students puffed their chests out with pride.

'Good luck!' Kain thought. 'There's rarely more than 30 students with an S-rating in a given year.'

"I don't need an S-rating," Bridge said shakily. "All I need is a B, to have a shot at entering a top college's beast taming department. Getting a C or D-rating to enter lower-tier colleges would also be okay. I can't afford to be picky"

"You will, don't worry." Kain said, patting Bridge on the back. Trying to convey confidence he didn't feel into his voice. After all, although genetics are a major component on whether you can awaken an affinity, one's mentality is probably the next most important.

Principal Waters continued, "Clear your mind, and you should instinctively be drawn towards your affinity in that empty space. This year is your best chance, with each additional attempt greatly decreasing your chances of awakening an affinity, last year less than 10 repeat students in the entire empire awakened an affinity. After the third chance, the strain on your soul will not allow for a fourth try."

"Teachers please join me on stage and we will begin the ceremony."

While the teachers moved to the stage, the principal revealed a large statue of a humanoid creature with childish features, gills on its neck, and webbed fingers and toes. Strangely, it was shown playing an instrument similar to the violin. It was a creature Kain had never seen before in any of his textbooks.

The teachers placed their hands on the statue while channelling their spiritual power. Engravings around the base of the statue lit up. Prompting a beautiful melody to ring through the air.

'I see. So the spell of this creature is what makes the ceremony possible.' Kain thought before sinking into darkness.