Talents and Scores

There were many mysteries surrounding the ancient ruins where Sherry's parents went missing.

One day, during one of their expeditions, her parents happened to stumble upon an old and dusty book containing the coordinates to an ancient ruin.

The book had torn, incomplete pages, but there was mention of an ancient ruin said to contain buried ancient and forgotten knowledge.

It's important to note that historical discoveries revealed relics of the past were more complex and powerful than those of the present day.

Even today, a scroll with a fraction of a lost spell or an imperfect artifact can fetch millions, if not billions, as people scramble to acquire it.

Sherry's parents were part of this passionate group, deeply engrossed in history and archaeology. They explored ancient civilizations, unearthed lost scriptures, and unraveled mysteries of the past.

Fredrick and Emma Barnet, renowned explorers and researchers, were well-respected for their contributions in the community.

Little did anyone know that this particular expedition would lead to their mysterious disappearance.

The location of the ancient ruins was no ordinary place, labeled as a mana radiation zone due to its chaotic mana.

Many explorers had visited, yet none had gone missing, but they also hadn't discovered any trace of a significant ancient ruin.

Things changed when Fredrick and Emma found a way to locate and enter the hidden ruins.

Three years ago, they, along with fellow researchers, set off for the expedition but never returned.

No one from their team came back. A search party was dispatched after losing contact with them.

Retracing their steps and methods proved ineffective, as the place seemed to have vanished.

Eventually marked as dead by the authorities, they were assumed to have entered a forbidden place, never to return.

Everyone, except Sherry, lost hope. She later found the key to the ruins at an auction, managing to locate the entrance.

However, there was a problem; it was inaccessible to her. She couldn't unlock the entrance.

Her comprehensive research led her to a realization: the key could only be used with the help of someone with an exceptionally high affinity for the dark attribute.

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'The location of that ruins will take us days to reach, and who knows how much time I will need once we get there to find her parents. It can only be done during the summer break.'

Alex contemplated the details of this new quest and the time required for it. They had already decided to do it during the summer break, almost a month from now.

Leaving these thoughts aside for the moment, Sherry led him to the Magic faculty's training grounds.

Aurora and he needed to have a nice talk about what happened earlier. However, it was not possible now as they were with Sherry.

The trio, consisting of two humans and the spirit of a witch, arrived at the Magic faculty's training grounds.

Being an Elite class student, Sherry had certain privileges and a surplus of credit points to spend.

They booked one of the advanced private training rooms, reserved exclusively for the cream of the crop students at the academy.

'The academy sure does provide for its best students.'

Alex marveled at the interior of the private training room. Although it was named a room, it was massive in size, exclusively for their use.

Aurora was the least fazed, having already toured the entire academy. To her, it was nothing special.

"Alex, you can practice here."

Sherry guided him to one of the practice target ranges where he could cast spells on target dummies.

After showing him around, she explained the features of these targets, "These dummies are specially made from a unique magic-resistant crystal and can also measure the power of your spells."

The dummies were crafted from pure transparent crystals, with a screen on top to display scores.

"These dummies look similar to your tamed Crystal Golem, Sherry." Alex noticed the resemblance between the crystal dummies and Gleam.

"...Oh, Gleam actually comes from the same crystal mine."

'?' Hearing Sherry, Alex had a puzzled expression and a question mark on his face.

Aurora caught onto this and explained, "Golems naturally occur in a mineral mine and share the same constitution as the mineral of that mine. Her Crystal Golem should have originated from one of these crystal mines."

Alex finally understood the reason, 'So there can also be Iron Golems or even Gold Golems?'

His thinking was not wrong; it was just straightforward, considering minerals found on Earth. There were more than simple Iron, Copper, or Gold Golems in this world.

Leaving this new discovery aside, Alex was more interested in seeing how powerful his magic had become.

He was not the only one; the other two women were equally eager to see the results.

'He seems more powerful than before; let's check how much he has grown recently.'

'I am seeing someone with an SS rank talent for the first time; I can't wait to see him in action.'

Without wasting any more time, Alex aimed straight at the dummy and casted <Dark Bullet>.

A black magic circle manifested, and a dark projectile shot at an astonishing speed, hitting the target in the middle.

The score displayed as the spell hit the target: 217 points. Alex was astonished but unsure if it was a good score.

He turned to the others in the room. Aurora had a typical, as-expected expression, but Sherry seemed unusually quiet...different from her usual self.

"How did I score? It was my best spell." Alex said shyly, unaware of the outcome.

With no response, he grew anxious and added, "My mastery of this spell is only D rank, so it might not be that great."

'Wait! He has only D rank mastery of this spell!'

Sherry, who had been quiet earlier, now wore an expression of disbelief, muttering, "...What?...How?...No, maybe this is what it means to have SS rank affinity."

'Now, this is what a normal reaction should be. Finally, I have someone who understands me. But she is only partially correct.'

Aurora thought as she observed Sherry's flabbergasted reaction. Any person with common sense would react the same way.

Aurora knew of Alex's monstrous talent and how he could easily one-shot an E rank monster, so it wasn't much of a surprise to her. Sherry, on the other hand, acting strangely was completely understandable.

Alex turned to Aurora for an answer.

"The score till 20 can inflict some minor injuries. Scores above that and below 50 mean serious injuries, like breaking bones. Above that and below 200 means substantial damage, like passing a hole through your body. Scores above that and below 500 can obliterate a normal person without any protection."

Listening to Aurora's explanation, Alex understood the metrics of the scoring.

"So my magic power is 207. What if I overcharge it?"

While Alex and Aurora discussed, Sherry thought, 'This much power in a Tier-1 spell with D rank mastery only. Is this what it means to have the power of SS rank affinity and talent?'

She was right; usually, the power of a Tier-1 spell with even D rank mastery should be around 50-70 points, even with very good talent and affinity, like A rank.

As affinity and talent increased, so did the magic power of the spell.

Sherry approached Alex with shining eyes, as if she had found her idol, and looked at him with full reverence and respect.

Being from the Elite class of the Magic faculty, she had seen quite a few geniuses, some even with S rank affinity and talent, but everyone paled in comparison to Alex.