“What was that about?” Helena asked after I left the room.
“She wants to test for more affinities. I am supposed to et her tonight in a practice room.”
“She thinks you have another affinity? That would be cool! I don’t know what works well with death magic. Earth enhancent magic maybe?”
“Umm… I don’t know. I never thought about having even more magic.” I admitted.
“We're gonna make an aweso team together with Skadi! Hm. Do you think we can form a group with soone in a different class? How big will team exercises be?”
I shrugged. It seed that Helena managed to distract herself with her thoughts. She always liked to imagine epic fights with us in the centre.
The remaining day went by quickly. And soon I found myself walking towards the practice area. Irene was already waiting.
“Good, you are on ti. Follow .” She said,
The room we entered was similar to the one where I had learned venting. As she closed the door so runes flared to life.
“We should be able to talk freely here. There are enchantnts to dampen the sound. In theory we have them because certain spells are quite noisy but they are good if you want so privacy too.”
I was slightly nervous. I knew so people wanted to kill . But I doubted it would be an instructor. Was I wrong?
“What do you know about your race?” Irene asked.
Huh? Not a question I had expected. “Um, I am foxkin. Like all beastkin we are physically stronger than humans. And foxes are known for magic.”
“Anything else?”
“My senses are better, I think. I can see in the dark…”
“Did you know that there are different kinds of foxkin?”
“Uh… I an there are different colours for our furry parts…”
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“It goes beyond that. Foxes are not native to our continent. Although there are certainly so who have settled here. Most foxes have a light affinity, which makes them popular in Ilestria. Dark foxkin are rare and usually not seen outside of Kitara. Which ans there is very little information about them. Many people don’t even know they exist. Well, most people just think all foxkin are the sa.”
There was a lot of excitent in her eyes. She looked at like I was a rare treat. It made slightly uncomfortable but at least I got a lot of information from her.
“So, why are we here?” I wondered.
“Oh, I do want to see if you have more affinities. Even my knowledge about your kind is limited. Studying... I an observing you will be fascinating! While I do not have an affinity for death magic, I have fought with and against necromancers. Do you know what a dual affinity can achieve?”
“No.”
“Undead can be empowered. Burning skeletons are a possibility, if the mage creating them has both affinities. Of course there is a drawback…”
“Mana?” I guessed.
“Correct! Creating undead is taxing and you need a huge core to create an army. Empowering them further with a second elent takes so skill, the right affinity and a lot of mana.”
Now that was sothing I had. My core was already big and it would grow further over ti. She certainly had excited now. Hopefully I did have a second affinity!
“Here are the elental runes.” She handed five sheets of paper. “Sit down, concentrate on them for a bit and see if one of them triggers sothing.”
I nodded, took the sheets and sat down. First I went with light. Nothing happened. Next, I went for fire. Burning undead would be cool. Unfortunately, the rune refused to form in my mind. Air and earth did not get a reaction either. The last rune was water. As I concentrated on it I felt sothing…
It all made sense. The rune just flowed into being. Water mana filled my body. I had another affinity! But it was water. The sa as Helena. Oh no… would… would she be mad? Would she feel useless if I could do the sa as her?
I stopped the rune and vented the elental mana I had created. I had mixed feelings about this discovery. Irene had been watching closely.
“Ah, water! Interesting. Not the most helpful. Undead do not breathe, nor do they freeze to death. Augnting them with water will not grant them more resistances. Although I suppose so form of water shield would help against fire…” Irene paused, thinking. “You know, it could lead to aquatic undead. A bit of a niche case. It could also help them move in snowy terrain.”
I perked up at that thought. Could they synergize better with Helena? If I concentrated on making an army I would not be able to cast large scale spells anyway. Maybe she would even be excited about it. It also ant we had sothing in common and could take water magic together. I started feeling better about the whole situation.
“Well, it is late. I am happy that my hunch was right. I even teach the advanced water class. I highly recomnd you take it.”
“Your affinity is water?” I asked.
“And fire.”
Maybe I imagined it. But her red eye seed to burn and her turquoise eye showed signs of frost as she answered. A mischievous smile ford on her lips as I stared.
“Well, off to bed with you!”
“Yes Ma'am!”
I quickly made my way back to the dorms. I was not sure what to think of Irene. Was I a research project? A fascinating specin? An asset for the military? Or a gifted student she wanted to support?
The halls were empty as I returned. It was already 22:34. It had taken quite a bit of ti to find my second elent. Although learning the rune was probably fast by the standards of most mages.
As I arrived at my room I tried to be silent. I did not want to wake Helena. Which turned out to be a wasted effort. She was still up, reading. As I entered she threw the book away and jumped out of her bed.
“What did you learn? Do you have another affinity? Tell everything!”
I recounted tonight’s events. I told her what I had learned about foxes and my second affinity.
“Water? You will be in the sa class as ! This will be great! We will have an undead frost army! We shall beco the queens of ice and snow! Muahahah.”
I think my friendship with Helena would be just fine.
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