Affinity Mastery

News travels fast. THE NEW COMER LETHERIAN VERSUS A FIRST-YEAR MIR RANKER. The hype grew with every passing hour. It was like a gladiator fight, sending her over to a lion's den, and they're all in for it.

Amalia who had heard the scene rushed in seconds after it happened.

Bridget squeaked at the sight of her. "A-Amalia!"

The tall woman let out an irritated sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Your punishments haven't even started and yet, you two started another scene." She turned her attention to the black-haired girl. "You!" She pointed at her and she flinched. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of trouble?"

"Um, A-Amalia," Bridget called out.

"What?"

She avoided the tall woman's piercing gaze. "I...nothing."

"In the name of Astrea," she let out an exasperated sigh. "You lots are giving me a headache."

"Lady Amalia!"

She sharply looked over to the new student who came running. "What is it this time?"

"People are causing a racket at the pond. They were using it as a swimming pool!"

"Didn't they stop a while ago?"

"Yes," the student replied while scratching his head. "But they did it again."

"Freaking brats." She clicked her tongue. "Tell them it has Heg's poo in it."

The two girls glanced at each other.

She turned to them. "I'll deal with you two later." Then she left with the other student while muttering curses.

Bridget meekly tugged at the letherian's sleeves. "Um, we should get back to class now."

"Ah." Adeleine scratched her head. "Ew," she said out loud, disgusted as she felt her hair slimy.

"We can wash that in the bathroom…"

She rolled her eyes completely annoyed. How can she forget about the soup-spill on her? She let out a groan seeing her clothes drenched in it too. She would need to change into new ones but walking all the way back to the dorm was such a pain.

Luckily, she doesn't need to. Changing into a comfortable set of loose long-sleeved white shirt tucked in a pair of black pants provided in their lockers, they headed to the junior training grounds for their next subject: Affinity Mastery.

"This is it." Adeleine's movements flared with enthusiasm that even Bridget noticed her sudden change of mood. She could finally learn how to summon Moon physically and earn her affinity. This is going to take her to a new leap.

If she had power to show then she could ensure her survival within this academy, and maybe even outside. This would even make people think twice before crossing her.

The rest of the class were already in the training grounds even before break time ended. This alone shows how much everyone was also eager for this subject.

Upon entering the large dome, all eyes fell on them. The area is exceptionally spacious. Concrete ground and wide-concaved ceiling. Considering that there are only a few of them in one class, about twenty or so, their figures on the center made them look like ants compared to the vast area that was enclosed by the structure. This is the junior's training ground.

The class all lined-up horizontally facing the front and a man stood across them. Hands rested on the curve of his back and a straight posture, holding an air of authority.

"Hurry up! One line, one line!"

The two hurriedly joined the rest. Bridget was quick to apologize for their tardy behavior and the instructor replied with a small dismissive wave of his hand.

Adeleine gazed at him in awe.

Master Sivel stood composed. "It's good to be outdoors." He inhaled the air, nodding enthusiastically.

"But sir, we're inside—"

"So, without further ado-" he cut them off. "Welcome to Affinity Mastery!" His exclamation had students erupting to cheers as if they have waited for this moment their entire life.

Adeleine also went along with the burst of energy. "Finally! Here that Moon? I could learn how to summon you now."

Her enthusiasm was poured with cold water by the sudden realization. Right, Moon hasn't responded to her for almost a day yet her absence already felt like months now. It felt empty in her head…

The noise quickly quieted down as he started to pace around, assessing the people in a meticulous manner. "To wield your affinity efficiently, you need the proper technique to be able to hold up to your highest capacity. If not executed properly, it will run wild." He sharply turned to them. "Worst case scenario, kill you, the contractor.

"This is why children gifted with affinities aren't allowed to summon their spirit beast until they reached the age of eighteen when their body is ready to receive it. Your spirit beasts will remain sealed inside you until the awakening."

Awakening. They use this term as the event of a contractor's first successful attempt of summoning their spirit beast. Adeleine encountered this a lot during her reading so she could follow easily.

And there are also numerous recorded events where people died during their awakening so it was tremendously terrifying. But it did not stop her from trying to summon Moon.

He plopped down to the floor and crossed his legs with his students mirroring his movements. "We will work on first with warming up your body and spirit to reconcile. Then we work on summoning your spirit beast. It needs lots of preparation on the mental, spiritual, and physical attribute to be ready so take your time. The last thing we want is for your body to explode."

Others visibly flinched and sweated.

"Alright!" He clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention. Twisting his torso from side-to-side, he warmed his body up before closing his eyes and entering a meditative state. "First, feel your body, check its state. Do you feel tight, excited, happy? How about burning with intense emotions? Calm your thoughts and let your body relax. Let it be like water, flexible, but not amorphous. Like air, light but not carried away."

"Warm like fire and not raging." She continued. "Strong like the earth but not rigid."

Letting the body be one with the elements lets the energy easily flow in and out of our system. She remembered reading that in one of the books.

"Right. It should be a balance of the elements." Master Sivel smiled. "It's good to know someone's reading the books."

A cheeky smile crept up to her lips and straightened her back proudly.

The master added, "A better and more effective way of summoning your spirit beast is to recall your first meeting. This is what mostly occurred to the majority."

"Recall your first meeting." She echoed and took a mental note of it.

When she closed her eyes, she was instantly swallowed by darkness. She woke up, sprawled on the floor, walls once again all white.

"Huh…I'm instantly transported to the dream circle…" she muttered to herself. She sat there, not knowing what to do next. "Recall your first meeting… Well, I could use this to my advantage." The more vivid it is, the higher the chance she gets, or so she theorized.

The dream circle is…eerily quiet, to say the least, without Moon here. The space felt so unfamiliar. Is she still mad at her?

"Moon, I know you can hear me damn well." Adeleine rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You're so petty, you know that?"

Her words traveled into empty space. No response, not a sound, nothing. She heaved a sigh.

"Alright…I'm-" She scratched the back of her head. "I… I'm sorry." She looked down, her eyes burning and glossy as she mumbled the last word. "Just please talk to me."

Still, silence.

Well, it's pretty much hopeless unless Moon felt like talking to her. But right now, she's wasting her saliva conversing with empty space.

Instead, she diverted her focus in molding the shape of her surroundings. The white walls bled dark blue blending in hues of purple twilight, moonlight drip past the translucent curtains from her small window, wide open, gazing at the twinkle of the night crystals.

The universe reflected in her eyes, beautiful sparkling turquoise orbs. Soul as bright as the full moon, filled with hope and bare to the world. The scent of nauseating floral left a base of an earthy mint engulfing her whole consciousness as a cool breeze blew the flickering fire slowly eating away the incense. Her room bathed in the world of darkness. The playful wind entertained, dancing around her dark locks like a tamed cat clawing a ball of yarn. It whispered soft lullabies as it caressed her cheeks, wiping away the stray tears and a cold touch kissed her forehead. The sensation felt so vivid yet it felt so surreal—standing there, staring in a mirror but of a young naïve child.

"I read that," she started, clasping her hands together as she stared beyond the horizon of tree, "that a falling star grants you a wish. Kids in the village will start talking to me, if I'm one of them. So please, give me affinity. So that I could have a friend."

Incoherent whispers mumbled by the wind, she couldn't understand any of it, but she knew they were comforting her. The night of her seventh birthday—their first meeting, when she seemingly descended from ether above, as if Astrea heard her wish.

There was a bright glow of luminescent blue bursting from her chest, engulfing her room into momentary blindness, before everything went dark once again. The child sat there, star-struck.

'Bless thee child of the moon.' It echoed in the room before she witnessed her child self losing consciousness.

She stretched her arms in an attempt to catch her but her surroundings blurred. An invisible force tugged her ankles and a twisted sound sucked her in a dark hole before she could even make sense of what happened. Before she knew it, her soul felt like it was thrown back when she gasped awake, once again grounded to reality.

A high-pitched ringing stuck in her ear. Screams filled the background and she instantly gripped her senses as she whipped her head around, assessing her environment. They were still in the training grounds, but her classmates were running away in a haste with panic-stricken faces.

"Wait, wha-?" She got cut off when she was pulled away by Bridget. Everything was in chaos.

Her dark locks continuously slapped her face as turbulent winds, created by a magnitude of energy, circled their source. The sound of whiplash was bone chilling that it felt like the invisible force could cut them. Never had she before, seen anything like this, she could only imagine it in books.

"Move! Move!"

A burst of water extended like arms in the air, like strands of whips, it wildly thrashed around, forcing everyone away and sending more into panic. Amidst of it, Adeleine could see the faint silhouette of someone elevated in the air, engulfed in this powerful sphere of energy. Her eyes were wide and glowing white.

"Hera?"

Bridget made a shrill noise of distress. "No, no! No time to gawk. It's dangerous!"

"Get back!" Instructor Sivel yelled to his students and pointed towards the exit before confronting Hera with a focused stare. He then yelled again, "Barak, come forth!"

A electric flash came out in front of him, orange and yellow sparks dancing while the smoke disperse, revealing a spotted four-legged beast. It resembled a cheetah, with its sleek and light form, however if Adeleine looked at it closely, what seems-to-be the fur hardened to micro-spikes while lightning zapped between the points.

Her mouth parted in glee. "A spirit beast! Lightning! Part with fire!"

"Aid me!" he said to the beast while he crouched down, arms close to his sides as he charged up.

The beast nodded and stood behind him, all on fours, ready to pounce incase of any mishaps. Much to Adeleine's expectation, he instantly lit up with charges surrounding him. He bolted towards the direction of Hera, who's out of control and unaware.

He maneuvered his way through the wild thrashes of her tentacles, leaving a trail of electricity from where he stood in a split second. Very much like lightning, his movements are flashes before his silhouette images faded; he was all over the place with a crackle sizzling in the air yet controlled as he directed towards the center of the fiasco.

Adeleine squealed as she clapped her hands together excitedly and jumped on her toes, her eyes sparkling as she watched the action unfold while Bridget was trying so hard to budge the girl away from danger. She wasn't doing so well due to her small frame.

Master Sivel appeared behind the girl. But before he could do anything, Hera's fingers twitched, seemingly to have regained control of her state.

Her body's burning—burning from this surge of energy she couldn't able to properly hold. The power took over her shell, now she's going to take it back. It's been long overdue. She had to control it. She had to show them her power, her true potential, so that, people wouldn't scoff her off.

Adrenaline rushed through her veins, and she screamed in pain, feeling like her muscles were being torn to pieces, her limbs—she can't feel them. Her heart palpitated; her head light. Then it stopped, the shock coursing through her whole body.

Her eyes reverted back and the sudden burst of aura retracted, leaving the whole area feeling oddly empty as she dropped to the floor heavily panting. Master Sivel had a deep disapproving scowl etched on his face as he also dropped to the floor casually. "This," he remarked as he pointed at Hera, "is what happens when you disobey orders."

He peered down at her coldly, despite her fragile state at the moment. She was a wreck. "You're lucky your body didn't burst into pieces."

Students have witnessed what the true danger of being hard-headed. Perhaps, this would serve as a warning to the others, if they're not stupid enough, Master Sivel grumbled in his thoughts.

Everyone stood deathly still on their spots, the terror still written in their faces as they processed what happened. Pale faces and trembling hands. If this is what they would have to go through just for their awakening…

However, some students think otherwise.

"Confidence what makes the brave, but confidence alone is recklessness." Master Sivel faced the class, his eyes glaring daggers at every single one.

And that, they thought, what Hera is—a sample they will avoid.

"She almost had it." Bridget's voice wavered. "She's…very powerful."

"Hera Perrat will be banned from the training grounds for a week," Master Sivel announced. It earned a round of gasps and a shocked Hera.

"What?! You can't!" she shrilled as she struggled to stand up, only to fall forward after. "I need to train for the duel!"

"Make that two weeks," he added, glancing a cold look back at her.

Hera laid there, huffing from over exerting her body and from the outrageousness of her punishment. She wasn't able to rebuke nor oppose when he pointed two students from the crowd.

"You two!" The boys flinched and looked at each other nervously. "Take her to the infirmary."

They glanced at her exhausted state, their bodies stoned. They both gulped knowing the girl would definitely break their bones if they touch her.

"What are you waiting for?" he yelled. "Get your asses moving!"

They nodded fervently and shuffled to pull Hera up. Fortunately, the blonde passed out from exhaustion. And took her to a nurse.

"If that's powerful, I need to be stronger than her." Adeleine needs to unlock her affinity, fast!

"Are you okay?" Bridget asked breathlessly, shook from the previous event that transpired.

Adeleine assured her with a tight smile. "Yeah. I just need to train to beat her."

The girl titled her head confusedly but didn't ask furthermore. "Oh wait!" She gasped. "Do you know how to use weaponry? You should learn them since it'll be your main key survival to the fight."

"There's no need for that." Adeleine smirked.

"But- but! How will you win?"

The letherian was just about to respond until their Master clapped, purposely grabbing everyone's attention.

"Alright, enough yapping. Get back to your lines," he shouted.

Everyone did what they were told, still a little shaken from previous events.

"Just to be clear, I don't want another crazy stunt." One by one, he met their gazes and crossed his arms. "Not one thing that'll interrupt my class…or I'll have you banned setting foot in this room."

As Master Sivel was about to restart, a young male student stepped in and called him out. The master contorted a frown at the numerous disruptions of his class but still decided to listen what the student has to say. They retreated a bit farther from the class which gave the students a room to breathe and chatter.

"No wonder she's a mir ranker," one whispered. "I can feel the jitters right down my back."

Adeleine, who overheard them whispering, leaned towards their conversation curiously. This is probably going to be a habit now since she'll need all information she can get to survive this place.

"Did you see the scoreboard in the entrance exam? Her affinity's shot off the roof!"

"Eh, really? She hasn't even had her awakening yet! That's monstrosity!"

"I know, right? But like, have you heard of the special one? I heard he was automatically admitted since he already had his awakening at the age of fifteen!"

"What?!" the other gasped in disbelief while Adeleine raised her eyebrows expectantly, wanting to hear more of the tea. "That young?!"

Her classmate nodded. "Yeah, yeah. He's currently eighteen and a first year."

"Then, he's also a mir ranker no doubt!"

"Yeah, there are so many monsters among us. Didn't you know? Four first years got mir rank."

The girl shuddered. "Eh, how come I didn't know this?! Four first year mir rankers! This hasn't happened before, right? Right?!"

"I bet you didn't know they're also our classmates." The other giggled.

Adeleine's brow twitched. Mir ranker… She didn't know there was a ranking in this place. And it seems like the ranks corresponds to how much affinity you have. Judging by the girl's reaction, mir ranker is a high rank.

If she awakened, she wonders what rank she'll get. She smirked, "A high one is nice." Moon sounded old and ancient, and ancient means powerful.

"Hey, Bridget." She tapped the girl beside her. "What's your rank?"

"Oh, uhm," she stumbled on her words as she fidgeted with her fingers. "It's… it's nothing special."

"Alright, everyone. Back to your lines!" Master Sivel was already done talking with the male student.

He scoured the students one by one and he stopped at the dark-haired girl. "You! From now on, you don't need to come here."

"What?" she raised her voice in incredulous and shock. She didn't do anything as far as she knew. Heck, why is she getting kicked out when Hera was the only one who acted this time?!

"What are you gawking there for? Hurry up and get out." He pointed towards the exit.