Potential and Affinity II

{Magic Potential: F}

{Mana Control: E}

{Elemental Affinity: Earth}

How underwhelming.

His eyes blankly stared at the orb. All that dramatic divine light for this.

"And here I thought she would be some heaven-defying genius." He sighed at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Woohoo!"

Their attention was brought to Tiara, who was hopping joyfully. She had a smile matching the brightness of a star and laughter of a mad scientist.

"What? Why are you happy?" Darius asked. It seemed that she finally lost it. Maybe, the results of her test caused her to avoid reality. No. He would not let a pure and innocent girl like her, walk down the path of delusion.

"I got amazing results!" She squealed and hugged her mother then him. Just as he thought, she became mentally ill. He had met enough delusional, blue-haired, and obese people in his previous life to recognise one.

"Tia, dear, they are not amazing results... Are they?" Fiona dubiously looked at Darius for an answer. Maybe she was wrong. She did not know magic after all.

"You're right, Fiona." He assent to her previous statement, "Tiara, they are not good results."

"What do you know? You're jealous because I'm super talented. Hmphf." She looked away in exasperation.

His head moved back, mouth agape, he said, "Whaaa?~"

"Your results are not good!" He reiterated.

"Of course they are! Look at my Magic Potential and Mana Control. They're (F) and (E)." Tiara continued to not listen to him, "F for Fabulous and E for Excellent. Use your brain, Darius. How can you be this stupid?"

Tiara condescendingly used her hand to toss the ponytail away from her chest, looking at him from above her nose. She felt great fulfillment. Finally, she proved that she also was as smart as him. Even smarter she believed. This was payback for all the times he made her feel like an idiot.

Darius' face scrunched listening to her preposterous claims.

While they squabbled, Fiona chortled. They never failed to amuse her. She reminisced the past few days they spent together. The few days where her daughter was the happiest. They squabbled like siblings; him, a mature and intelligent older brother and her, a childish and annoying younger sister.

Sometimes they supported one another like friends. Sometimes they would compete with one another like rivals. Sometimes they fought as if they hated the other. Sometimes they cared for each other like... Lovers.

She always thought that they looked familiar. Like she had seen this before— a distant memory.

Memories of when she too was like her daughter. She could see the images of her daughter and Darius overlapping with herself and her husband. The painful memories slowly resurfaced.

A tiny seed of fear and doubt was starting to grow inside her conscious. This bond; that was as strong as her and her husband's. She did not want it to see it break. But eventually...

"Fiona!" The name sounded as loud as a ring of church bell. Gladly, she was startled away from her thoughts. She did not want to think about it anymore.

"Yes, Darius." She smiled, noticing a sulking and teary-eyed Tiara avoiding to look at him. It seemed that he broke her bubble of delusion.

"It's your turn to test." Hearing this, she smiled even brighter. Not a hint of her previous thoughts remained at the forefront of her mind, all of it was pushed away to the abyssal depths by the excitement of knowing her potential and learning magic.

She moved briskly towards the orb. As she put her hand on it, the other two curiously looked at the device.

The magical device glowed dimly before giving way to letters.

{Magic Potential: E}

{Mana Control: E}

{Elemental Affinity: Air}

"Why did it not shine like before?" Fiona asked.

"It was because the orb was used for the first time. That's why it produced such intense light." He repeated what the system explained.

"Now what?" Fiona asked, her mood bubbly. Seeing her results did not bother her. Magic was what she desired; to learn many spells.

"First of all, both of you have below average potential; average is D rank, by the way. As such, you cannot learn magic spells that are two ranks above your Magic Potential rank. For example, Tiara can learn F-rank and E-rank magic spells anything above them is not possible for her." Tiara pouted even more listening to him while Fiona nodded in understanding.

"To start you off, I'll teach you spells aligning to your Elemental Affinities." This sentence of his, made them beam thrillingly.