Mana Affinity

"Whoa!"

"Who the fuck is he?"

"How did he just appear in front of us?!"

The Mages and the knights were thrown in disarray when the middle aged man appeared in their midst. Even Zemfry who was calm on most occasions had a look of shock on his face.

He was fairly sure that it was impossible to appear out of thin air. That only left two possibilities, either he concealed his presence for so long and only decided to make himself visible at the end of the physical test or he moved so fast that he appeared in a flash.

After reviewing his theories, he decided that the first theory he made was the most likely one.

"Alright, if you'll all follow me" The middle aged man said.

He led them away from the large yard to another outdoor section of the castle. There was a small wooden shed in front of which was a large metal stand.

The metal stand was a cylindrical and had a hollow interior. There were different gauge points on the cylinder denited by long, thick gashes on the surface.

"Alright, most of you have probably never heard of this before, so I'll explain what Mana Affinity means" The middle aged man said with a sigh. He walked over to the cylindrical stand and leaned on it. "Now, many of you wonder why some people have a relatively easier time raising there strengths than most others, it's because of their Mana affinity. Mana affinity is basically a representation of one's ability to effectively manipulate the Mana in the surrounding and use it to increase their level of strength".

He looked around for a few seconds, waiting for them to comprehend what he just said. He said up and tapped the cylindrical stand. "This here is called a Mana guage. With what I've said before, who can guess what it's used for"

Almost immediately, Zemfry knew the answer. The Mana guage was definitely there to measure the Mana affinity of a person.

To his surprise though, no one raised their hand when the question was posed at them.

"Well, since no one will talk, I'll just go ahead and say the glaringly obvious answer, the Mana gauge is used to test one's Mana affinity" The middle aged man said. "You all can see the the markings on it's surface, those are the levels of Mana affinity a person can have" That middle aged man explained.

"The levels are bad, poor, mid, good and excellent" The middle aged man finished explaining and brought out a file and opened it.

Everyone nodded in understanding. Even though they all knew the answer to the question the man asked, it wasn't like anyone was going to risk answering and getting embarrassed.

"Alright, what to you say we start. I have all your names filed here, arranged in alphabetical order" The middle aged man said. "All you have to do is to inject a little bit of Mana inside the gauge and then it starts moving until it reaches your level of Mana affinity. Those with bad mana affinity will be sent home immediately" The middle aged man clapped his hands and turned towards the Mana gauge.

"Alright, Aaron Fellwaters, you're up!"

A plump faced teenager walked out from the crowd and stepped towards the Mana gauge. He rubbed his palms before closing his eyes in concentration.

Thin wisps of milky white substance appeared from thin air and danced around his palm. He heaved a sigh and made a pushing motion and sent the milky white substance towards the Mana guage.

The milky white substance went into the Mana gauge and lit up the hollow interior, making the markings that served as a measurement of one's Mana affinity very visible.

The gauge continued to light up until it reached the Poor level. It remained stagnant for a while there before moving further slowly.

It probably would've continued moving if the person controlling the Mana from outside didn't just collapse on the floor.

The middle aged man looked at the plump faced teenager on the floor and shook his head. "I've told you all, if you feel that it can't advance any further, withdraw!" He kicked the plump faced boy's body towards the crowd. "Passed,poor Mana affinity!"

"Next up, Abel Adams" The middle aged man called out. He looked at the name and furrowed his brows. "Well, that's quite a fishy name"

"Passed, poor level Mana affinity!"

"Passed, mid level Mana affinity!"

"Mmhn, I'm sorry kid, get the fuck out!"

"Passed, poor level Mana affinity!"

"Alrighty, next up is Alder Richemaunt!"

The best result so far was a good level Mana affinity. Alder rubbed his hands a d went outside. He closed his eyes and rubbed his palms. A wisp of Mana escaped his fingers and shot into the gauge.

The hollow interior of the gauge lit up, a bit brighter than everyone else who had given a go that day.

The interior of the gauge continued to light up, passing the gauge for the Bad Mana affinity. This made Alder sigh in relief. The light from the interior moved towards the level of poor Mana affinity and passed it.

"He actually had mid talent in him after all, I'm impressed" Zemfry muttered to Tiana who smiled back in response.

The interior of the gauge continued to light up and reached the mid level Mana affinity, shocking Alder himself.

Tiana had a look of pure disbelief on her face while Zemfry had one of mild surprise... And excitement.

Once again, the light continued moving and passed the gauge for the good level Mana affinity.

"Whoa! What the fuck!"

"Who the hell is this guy!"

"Wasn't he the one that couldn't lift the weight? How come he has such high Mana affinity!"

"Good level Mana affinity, what the actual fuck!"

The crowd were thrown into an uproar when the light reached the good level Mana affinity.

They didn't really care when he reached the first three levels of Mana affinity. They thought it was completely normal, but for the person who couldn't even orioey lift the weight few minutes prior to reach this level... What the actual fuck was going on?!

While the crowd were going on and on, the light inside the cylindrical gauge... Was moving towards the excellent level!