Introduction

"Since its the last day of middle school we will be taking the magic affinity test. For those of you from poorer families that have not kept up with the politics, we start learning magic theory and spells in high school.

For review the 10 elements you could have are earth, fire, lightning, water, ice, nature, wind, shadow, light, and summoning. Earth, fire, water, and wind are the most common, lightning, nature, ice, shadow, and light are rare, and summoning is extremely rare."

The students sitting in tables of 4 took out their notebooks and started taking notes, writing down information that would become useful later on. Unlike usual, the classroom was filled with shining faces. After all these years of waiting, they would finally be learning magic! They desperately wrote down everything they could and listened happily.

"The fire element itself is not that common, but all humans are able to use basic fire magic. Rare elements appear mostly from bloodlines, and the only person ever to have summoning magic was the Founder. It has remained a mystery why descendants of the Founder, the fire wielding Walter family, do not have summoning magic but have fire magic instead.

Affinities passed on through blood are also more powerful. The children from these families are very powerful and they become noble families. The normal noble families without bloodline affinities are overwhelmed and die off. Over time the amount of normal noble families are washed out and disappear. That is why all of the noble families today are families with bloodlines. You will learn more about this in your government class in high school."

Ms. Madena walked to her desk and pulled out a blue orb from under her table. She was wearing a black coat with a blue undershirt that complemented her shoulder length light blue hair. Her round glasses protruded from her face as she walked to the table at the front of the class. She was fairly young, but due to being a magician that did not work fighting demonic beasts she had developed some fat that covered her body and a bit of a round stomach.

"This is the magic affinity orb. It is made from the cores of demonic beasts. Due to the way demonic beasts work, the element their species possesses is able to react with the orb and give them elemental powers. That is why their power significantly decreases when their orb is removed.

My affinity is water, which is why the orb is glowing blue. Now then, many of you are probably excited for this so let's get right into it.

First up is…Lawrence Johnson." A boy slightly taller than average walked up to the front of the class. Multiple girls blushed as he walked past, his handsome face attracting the stares of many of his classmates. Even though they had been with him for an entire year they still felt out of place. His smooth blue hair that went down to just below his ears bounced up and down as he walked over to the orb. He held an expressionless face as he placed his hand on the orb, causing it to glow a rich purple.

"As expected, Lawrence has a lightning element. This is an element high in attack and speed, and very low in defense. Users of this element should pair up with someone of the earth element, which is high in defense."

"I mean, would have been embarrassing for a Johnson not to have the lightning element am I right?" Someone said. Ms. Madena ignored them and moved on.

"Next is…Angela Walter." A girl with waist length red hair tied in a ponytail stood up. She had rectangular glasses, average height, and gave off an aura of someone who was diligent and studied hard. Her strong appearance stood out, in contrast to her thin body and flat chest. Everyone quieted down when she put her hand on the orb, even though they knew what affinity she would have.

"The fire element! An element moderately high in speed, defense, and attack. This is an all around element that everyone can use, but ones with an affinity or bloodline for it are stronger. Angela has both the affinity and bloodline for it, so she will definitely become a strong mage." After receiving the complement Angela turned around and smirked at Lawrence, who replied with a "humph" and looked away.

After going through everybody in the class it was finally time for the last person. There were a wide variety of people with the earth, water, and wind element, as well as some people without any. The people without an affinity for magic would have to attend a different high school for non-magicians, where they would learn about history, government, and other things not related to magic.

"Last but not least, Brennan!" Brennan walked up to the front of the desk and took a deep breath. His looks and height were average, yet his blue eyes shone with determination. He combed his blonde hair with his hands, stood up straight, and touched the magic affinity orb. Yet as he stood, the color from his face slowly drained. He waited…and waited…and waited…but nothing changed. The orb stayed the same color.

Ms. Madena looked at the orb with a pained face. After being with these students for a year, she knew all about them. Out of all the students, Brennan was the most excited about magic. He had never met his parents, but before they died they left him a message that told him to study hard and become a great magician. In hopes of doing exactly that Brennan spent all his time in the library, reading about spells and spell arrays, demonic beasts and how to harvest materials and flesh from them, and pretty much anything related to magic you could imagine.

What Brennan didn't know that Ms. Madena did though, was that his family was notorious for having no affinities. Some people even believed it was a bloodline, and that there was some secret behind it. But the reality was that there was nothing behind it, and all his family members had died attempting to become magicians. Looking at Brennan's pained face, Ms. Madena forced herself to say something.

"B-B-Brennan, you know you can consider things other than becoming a magician…right? Won't you consider that option, dear. You know, you can uh…join a beast dissection company or something. It doesn't have to be a mage alright?" Yet as she looked at his unwavering and determined face, she knew that he would not back down.

This must be what Mom felt like, huh. Ms. Madena thought to herself.

Brennan stood there in shock. Part of himself had prepared for this possibility, yet seeing it in person was a whole other experience. All sound seemed to be muffled, and he didn't even hear Ms. Madena repeatedly trying to convince him not to become a magician. He had heard of rumors of his family of people with no affinity, yet he thought they were just that. Rumors. As he stood there he didn't notice the teacher dismissing the class, nor the class leaving early for the day. He didn't see the concerned looks coming from Ms. Madena as she looked up from a picture of someone that looked just like her.

By the time he finished reflecting on what he should do and came back to his senses, it was almost night. He saw a note on Ms. Madena's table that told him to use a heat spell to melt the metal in the door to lock it. As he realized what that note implied, his eyes widened. Ms. Madena knew that he had been illegally practicing his fire magic, in hopes of getting a head start when he finally found out what his affinity was. She also trusted his ability to perform the spells, likely from the decreased amount of burn marks on his hands as the school year went on. Then and there, Brennan decided that he would become a great magician, better than his classmates, better than the Founder. No, he would become the greatest mage to ever exist.