No treatise on the fuals of magic would be plete without a discussion of the nature of magical affinity. Unfortunately, the nature aionships between magical affinities are as broad and plex a subject as magic itself. Cssification has been, and remains, a tentious subject among magical schors with at least a dozen flig systems being accepted as standard by a signifit portion of the academiunity.

  A magical affinity be thought of as a style of mana, and a theme for how it affects the world. Fire affinity mana has a theme, embodied by spells such as Firebolt, Fireball, Fme juratio, etc. Mana of a particur affinity ot be used to cast a spell or power a skill of a different ued affinity without a costly or voluted version process. No fire affinity mana will ever be able to cast an Ice Lance spell. Unfortunately, magical affinities be subsets of – or overp with – other reted affinities, and mages occasionally have mana with multiple affinities, making the rules plex and difficult to unravel. For example, mages with a nature magic affinity often gain access to lightning magic spells. This shows that there is an overp between nature affinity and lightning affinity. Both affinities have magical effeot present iher suggesting that her is a specialized subset of the other. However, it is widely accepted that nature affinity is the magic of a generalist, having a bre of effects, while lightning affinity is a muarrower focus and is often employed by damage specialists. A nature mage may have access to healing, pnt, creature, wood, and lightning spells, while a lightning mage is much more likely to have a single Lightning Bolt spell and several skills that siderably enhas power. If yoal is to bee a gss-on artillery mage in the army, lightning is a signifitly better choice.

  An affinity be said to specialize or derive from multiple types of mana. For instance, magma affinity is a rare affinity specializing in both fire ah magic. While magma will not likely have access to pure fire or earth spells, such as Fireball, it will likely be the affinity produg Magma Burst, va-based magieteor spells. It is generally true that the narrower and more specialized an affinity, the more powerful the effects be. For instance, many affinities have access to teleportation magic, but the effects are generally much stronger in the repertoire of the space affinity mage. Simirly, if you want a person to heal yroup for quering a dungeon or doing quests, a holy magiight, nature magic druid, or simir css would be appropriate. If you wish to heal aire city, pig a specialist healer – for example, a holy affinity priest – would be much more effective.

  - Excerpt from Fual Are Magic: Theory and Practice.

  Aliandra

  Ali waited while Vivian Ross pushed open the doors to the Town Hall, subjeg her to the cacophony of an unmanaged crowd and the musky, cloying st of too many Humans that threateo overwhelm her after so much time spent underground. She had only o wait two days before the towheir css adva ceremony, and Vivian Ross had suggested they simply present Ali’s offer at the ceremony itself and take the first ten people who volunteered, in addition to Ryn and Basil.

  It sounded fair to Ali, but her nerves were off the charts, ranging across the entire spectrum. Talking in front of crowds had never been something Ali liked, much preferring the safety of her coud a good book. Or a quiet nook in the library. Books were quiet, reliable friends.

  What if nobody accepts? What if everyone accepts? Her imagination ran rampant, providing her with visions of the most unlikely sarios possible. At least with Viviahere would be no issues with security.

  As she followed Vivian and her friends to the front of the crowd, the voices resolved to the sounds of individuals arguing, one passionately and the other with an attempt at official dignity.

  “Havok need shrihe voice sounded urgent and spoke in a heavily ated, broken on.

  “I told you already, it costs twe silver to use the shrine.” As Ali approached, she saw the tired face of a portly man in an official-looking robe, fronting a Goblin, of all things, with the strained patience of someone who had obviously repeated himself a few too many times.

  “Havok has no money!” This fact resented with the same iy and vi as an advocate presenting his closing argument to the court, expeg everyoo finally uand and e to the proper clusion.

  “Then you ’t use the shrihat’s the rule.” The official wouldn’t be budged.

  “Move over! Let others have a turn!” someone yelled.

  “Havok give this. It is good.” The insistent Goblin began unbug his scuffed and torn boiled leather breastpte, which even Ali could tell couldn’t be worth more than a handful of copper.

  “No, I ’t do a trade,” the man said.

  “Mayor,” Vivian interrupted.

  The man looked up from his argument. “Aah, there you are, Vivian.” He seemed intensely relieved by the interruption and, getting wearily to his feet he addressed the crowd. “Quiet down everyone,” he began, waiting for the hubbub to mostly settle before tinuing. “The Adventurers Guild has an unusual offer for you today, so I’ll let Vivian Ross expin.”

  Vivian stepped forward with a anding fidence, and remarkably, silence fell across the room as everyouro face her.

  “This is Aliandra. She has an advanced css shrihat provides a ce at unlog a magical affinity, and several more alternative css options. We take ten more people and it will be on a first-e-first-served basis.”

  “How much are you charging?”

  “It’s free,” Ali said, speaking up for the first time. Her heart was beating hard, but she was happy to find her voice didn’t show her nerves.

  “How do we know it will work?”

  “Unlog a magical affinity is not a guarahe shrine potentially surfa unknow magical affinity if it is present within you. But it’s by no meaain. Some people who try for that will be disappointed.” Ali knew she wasn’t selling it all that well, but she wanted people to kly what they were in for. She didn’t want anyone pining afterward that they were misled.

  There was an instant murmur of chatter that rippled through the crowd.

  “Sounds like a scam.”

  “Do you know anything about this new Adventurers Guild?”

  “’t trust a non-human.”

  “Free? Nobody is going to take your sketchy offer.”

  Ali frowned. Her offer was ho, and not sketchy at all, and she wondered if the fact that she was it for free made it seem too good to be true. She hadn’t expected quite so much pushback from the crowd.

  “Havok will! Havok take sketchy offer!” The little Goblin ran up to the front and presented himself. “Havok need css to bee warrior! But Havok not have money.” The Goblin wrinkled his green fato an anguished frown.

  “It’s free. No money,” Ali told him.

  His face immediately brightened, and he hopped up and dowedly. There was a little unkind snickering from the crowd, but Ali made a certed effort to ig.

  “If this is for the Adventurers Guild, is the offer only for bat csses?” The new voice from the back of the crowd drew some startled looks and nervous shifting. It sounded feminine, but it possessed a sibint lisp and an unily deep resonant uone.

  “It’s avaible to anyone.” Ali was firm on this point. She was not oo py the politics of favorites. “Guild membership is not required.”

  A dark cowled figure stepped forward. Ali caught a glimpse of talons clig on the wooden floor under her singed and burnt dress. All arouhe crowd nervously separated as if mere proximity would be dangerous.

  “Do you truly mean that? This one is not aced to being treated as an equal.” She reached up a hand covered with metallic gray scales and short talons to pull back the cowl c her face.

  There were instant gasps of surprise and many in the crowd backed away further. The girl had short-cropped silver hair. And while she appeared mostly human, her ned parts of her face were covered with delicate silver scales. Her eyes looked reptilian, with rge silver irises and two sets of eyelids.

  Dragonkin

  “Yes,” Ali answered, “I mean that.” Switg quickly to draic, she added in a formal tone of respect, “You are most wele, dragon-child.”

  The dragonkin bliransparent eyelids slipping sideways across her eyes before the outer lids blihe resonan her voice deepened as she sed to draic also. “This one is surprised… but hoo be accepted.” She bowed deeply and cealed her face with her cowl, walking up to stand quietly beside the Goblin.

  There were a few mutters in the crowd about ‘monsters’ but then, a new figure stepped forward.

  He was a serious-looking young blond man with an athletic build, dressed iher armor and carrying a pair of curved swords sheathed on his back. Beside him stood a stocky boy wearing gsses and a pretty woman carrying a bow.

  “Aiden, what are you doing?” the mayor asked.

  “We talked about this, father; I think the Adventurers Guild offer is a smart one.”

  As soon as he revealed his retionship, Ali could instantly see the resembnce. While the mayor was far from athletic, they shared the same eyes and a strong simirity in the line of the jaw.

  The mayor let it go with the briefest of nods and a wave of his hand, but Ali could see he disapproved of his son’s choice. Ali frowned again. It was strahat the mayor had approved her proposal, but clearly didn’t believe in it enough to approve of his son taking the offer. Perhaps something political? The appearan front of the crowd? Ali didn’t know, and the subtle maneuverings of social or political situations like this one usually eluded her.

  As if Aiden’s acceptance was the final stamp of credibility needed, Ali immediately received a quick stream of people signing up until she had a full group. Just as she had hoped, she seemed to draw people from all backgrounds, several of whom had been even waiting in the crowd behind the supposed official applits and had decided to join her ued offer. One or two wore the torn and dipidated clothing of the slums, trasting strongly with Aiden and his expensive gear.

  Ali noticed Malika h protectively as they approached.

  “I’m Aiden Turner, although I suppose you already figured that out.” Aiden introduced himself with the smooth eloquence of someone well-practiced at the social graces. “These are my friends Flynn and Kaitlyn. My father didly approve of me choosing your offer.”

  “I hope it won’t cause trouble for you,” Ali said.

  “I hope not, but it’s also not his choiake. I know he wao do Vivian Ross a favor, but he is skeptical of your shrine.”

  “It works and this isn’t a petition,” Malika said bluntly.

  Aiden smiled, “People arourust Vivian.”

  Perhaps hearing the unspoken ‘but not you, Street Rat,’ Malika’s expression soured further, but before she could argue the point, Flynn put in, “We’re in, thank you.”

  With the matter settled, Ali decided that Aiden’s expnation answered at least one of her questions. Vivian Ross must have called in a favor with the mayor to make this all happen.

  ***

  The trip through the sewer and down to the shrine was uful. Ali’s band of didates mostly stared in amazement at her trees growing underground in the dark and chatting quietly among themselves. Basil, in particur, spent most of his time staring at every tuft of grass, each mushroom, and every tree, expressing quiet amazement to Mato as they traversed the cavern. Ali feared her gardening skills would not meet his expert approval.

  The Goblin, Havok, kept up a running entary that seemed to be a loud aed stream of scioushat was entirely ued by whether anyone was listening or not. The Dragonkin girl, who had revealed her o be Kavé, and the girl from the slums kept to themselves, walking in silence, while Aiden and his friends chatted quietly. It was an eclectic group and Ali was rather excited to see what csses they would unlock. She desperately hoped it would be a spectacur success, but her treacherous imaginatio insisting that they would all probably unlock the most mundane of csses, rendering her offer worthless.

  At the shri was a simple matter of a couple of mio unlock each of them so that they were able to earn css experience. Vivian Ross divided them quickly into two groups – the five seeking bat csses, and the seven that were hoping for mert, crafting, or artisan csses.

  “ and Mato will escort you all back to town,” Ali told the non-bat group. “I uand your non-bat trials sometimes take a couple of days. Once you get the notification that you have unlocked a css, please make an appoi at the Adventurers Guild and I will bring you back to the shrio finish your css adva.”

  There was an undercurrent of excitement among the non-bat csses as it became apparent to them that the offer was no joke, and the shriself was real, looming tall right before them. Their notifications and status now showed they were able to earn experience.

  “It will take more than a few days for me, Ali,” Ryn apologized. “The shopkeeper is still on a trip. Is it ok to unlock it ter?”

  “However long it takes is fine, Ryn.”

  “This ooo, will take longer,” Kavé said, her voice low and speaking draic.

  Ali looked at her for a moment, but she tinued.

  “None of the bcksmiths would take a Dragonkin apprentice.”

  “All of them denied you because they were afraid?” Ali’s opinion of the Myrin’s Keep bcksmiths dropped even further.

  “One deed to talk to me because he is broke and grumpy.”

  “Thuli? The Dwarf?” The description matched Ali’s experience perfectly.

  “That would be the one.”

  “Maybe wait with me? Malika and I take you to the Dwarf and put in a good word for you. Hopefully, we get him to agree to duct your trial.”

  Ali obviously couldn’t guarahat she could vihe Dwarf, but she was certain he was in a better mood now. And if Thuli hadn’t been put off by her race, then she was fident she could at least make him sider it. Myrin’s Keep was ly weling to those its fiizens saw as outsiders.

  “This one would be deeply grateful,” Kavé bowed again.

  and Mato left with the rest of the non-bat aspirants, esc them to town, leaving Ali with just the five who required a bat trial.

  “How should we do this?” Ali asked Vivian. “The sewer has slimes and a few Goblins for them to fight.”

  “Right,” Vivian said. “I highly reend the five of you group up for this. Aiden, perhaps you take the lead? Approag your bat trial as a group will drastically improve your ces of survival.”

  “Ok, but some of them don’t have ons. It will be difficult to keep them alive if they ’t fight.” Aiden pointed out, gesturing to the girl standing off to the side by herself.

  Ali turo see the gaunt and dirty girl from the slums shifting awkwardly as if embarrassed to be drawing attention to herself. Her dark hair was a tangled mess and she had nothing but the torn clothes she was wearing. Not even shoes.

  “What is your name?” Ali asked, and the girl looked up at her as if surprised that Ali would care.

  “Devan, miss. I… I’m sorry, I don’t have any equipment.”

  “Devan, there’s a pile of equipment over there by the tent. Please feel free to help yourself to anything that will help you. I suggest you take a set of leather armor also if you find something that fits.”

  Devan shifted awkwardly in pce for a moment, “Um… maybe? Just a dagger?”

  The girl seemed timid, and Ali briefly wondered why she was seeking a bat css at all. But then she remembered was also a bit shy, and he was remarkably effective. Although he wasn’t quite as shy as Devan seemed to be.

  “Here, I’ll help you find something.” The girl with the bow stepped up to take her hand. Kaitlyn, Ali recalled – one of Aiden’s friends.

  “You don’t have a on to fight with either?” Ali turo the Goblin.

  “No, Miss Aliandra. Havok has no on.” He seemed crestfallen at the admission.

  He’s so polite, she thought. “Your name is Havok?”

  “No,” he said and shifted unfortably, looking down at his feet. “Not like Sneeze, warrior needs powerful name. I want to be Havok. With a K.”

  “Your real name is Sneeze?” she asked to the sound of a few chuckles from the people around.

  “Yes,” he said dejectedly. “Father sneezed when Havok born. Mother thought it too funny and named Sneeze. Not good name for warrior.”

  “Why don’t you also look through the pile and choose a sword or something?” Ali pointed over at the equipment pile where Kaitlyn was busy helping Devan into a shabby piece of leather armor.

  “Havok doesn’t want to owe Miss Aliandra more.”

  His surprisiice stumped Ali. She didn’t want to force him, but he would most certainly need a on for the trial.

  “Why don’t you borrow it?” Malika suggested, ing to her rescue. “Once you earn your css aer equipment, you give it to someone who needs it.”

  “Give?” Havok asked, surprised.

  “Yes,” Malika said. “Among my people, the greatest warriors are the ones who have the power to help others who are weaker than themselves.”

  “Oh!” his face lit up again. “Miss Malika is wise. Havok will be powerful and help everyone!” He scampered off to scrabble in the pile of equipment with great enthusiasm and energy, emerging with a rusty sword and an expression that told everyohis was the greatest treasure in the world.

  Ali watched as the ragtag band of would-be adventurer hopefuls left to meet their trial.

  “I really hope he does well,” Malika said.

  “Me too,” Ali answered. It was a strange feeliing them all on their way, and Ali felt a deep sense of responsibility for putting them all at risk, even though it was the only way for them to earn their csses and advance.

  “Ali, you might want to make a couple moblins or something,” Malika said suddenly. “The novices from the guild were dowhe other day and cleared out quite a few of your creatures.”

  “ht.” It wouldn’t do to have the didates roaming around the sewers finding nothing they could fight. Ali quickly pulled out her Grimoire and summoned several Goblins, grateful for the new advahat allowed her to explicitly choose the low-leveled Skirmishers and Sgers.

  “Is level five too high for them?” Ali asked, eyeing one of the Skirmishers. The Starving Alpha had been a real challenge before they had all earheir csses.

  “I wouldn’t risk it,” Malika said.

  Even Vivian nodded her agreement, so Ali obliged by unsummoning it. She didn’t want to kill the didates by setting them against an unreasonable challenge.

  As soon as she had equipped them all with appropriate gear, she sent them off. “I just really hope I don’t kill anyone,” Ali said as her new minions vanished up into the sewers.

  Vivian Ross g her with an unreadable expression for several moments before she turned and touched the shrine.

  “Thank you for showihis, Aliandra,” she said. “I think I will go keep an eye on our didates, just in case they get iheir heads.”

  And then she was off, vanishing with the unfathomable speed of a high-level warrior, and Ali breathed a little easier knowing she would be looking out for the didates she had just sent to their trial.

  ***

  Ali stepped across the threshold into a transformed smithy. She had several hours before even the luckiest didates would he services of her shrine, and so she had decided t Kavé to visit Thuli.

  “You were right. His mood has improved,” Kavé observed, stepping into the smithy. The entments had all been recharged, and the sounds of the entrance chimes rang out loudly through the brightly lit smithy, tending briefly with the g of steel against steel. An intense dry heat wafted in from the fe area, and a few moments ter, the powerful Dwarf stepped into the room wearing a singed leather apron and carrying an enormous hammer. He stank of sweat and the heavy odor of molten steel.

  “Hi Aliandra, Malika. It’s good to see ya in my smithy once again.” Thuli’s eyes gnced sideways at Kavé’s cowled form before returning to Ali. “What I do for ya this fine day?”

  “This is Kavé,” Ali introduced her, and Kavé obliged by removing her cowl and bowing to Thuli. “I unlocked her experiehis m at my shrine. She would like to bee a bcksmith, but none of the smithies would accept her.”

  “Aye, because of what she is, I bet. Iive, speciesist twats, the lot of them,” Thuli decred loudly, jabbing his chest with his thumb for emphasis.

  Ali wouldn’t personally have put it quite so bluntly, but she certainly agreed with the se. She was tired of being accused of being a ‘monster-race’ herself, and she couldn’t imagihe resistance Kavé would get as a widely feared member of the Dragonkin race.

  “But I ot take on an apprentice. As ya already know, I’m broke, and I simply ot afford it,” Thuli tinued. “I’m sorry ss,” he directed the st part to Kavé.

  “Would you at least be able to duct her trial so she earn a css?” Ali asked.

  “Aye, that I do,” Thuli replied. “e, ss, let’s choose you a hammer. And bring those scraps of iron with you. And the a bucket from that closet and bring some coal.”

  Kavé scrambled to follow Thuli’s rapid-fire instrus, leaving her cape hastily discarded on the floor.

  Malika retrieved the cape, folded it, and pced it oable. Ali watched in fasation as the sounds of f filled the room, and the deep bckish-red of Thuli’s ember magic poured out from his body in waves. They sweated over the glowing fe as Thuli enthusiastically put Kavé to work, rag around on errands, or hammering at the anvil until her arms were trembling. But she had that gleam of excitement in her eyes and it never faltered for a moment.

  “I got it!” Kavé suddenly excimed, her voice filled with awe and wonder. It had taken barely more than an hour of inteivity. “It says my natural css is ‘bcksmith’.”

  Thuli put down the glowing red piece of iron he was holding in his bare hands and gri Kavé. “Good work, ss.”

  “gratutions, Kavé,” Ali said. “Don’t choose that css yet, let’s get you to the shrine first, so you see your other choices.”

  To Ali’s surprise, Thuli closed and locked the doors to his smithy, clearly intending to apany them to the shrine. She just smiled to herself. For someone who had given up on iing with the world, he certainly seemed rather ied in witnessing Kavé’s css adva. Could she allow herself to hope this might still end well?

  Nobody had returo the shri, other than Mato and , so Ali stepped up to the shrine, inviting Kavé and Thuli to join her.

  “Kavé, I suggest you try the tent mana affinity option first. If you have a mana affinity, this will give you access to css choices that are potentially much more powerful, drawing on your mana. If not, you still get several css options to choose from, by using the other shriion afterward.”

  The girl nodded and stepped up to the shrih a serious expression on her face.

  “Good luck, ss,” Thuli enced her with a broad wink.

  She pced her scaled hand upoone, and a deep hum filled the air, starting with a high pitch, but rapidly desding to the listers, causing powerful vibrations to ripple through the ground and shaking Ali to her bones.

  Dereams of quicksilver-like mana flowed from Kavé’s body, p out from her arms, torso, and head, rapidly f into shimmering globules of shinial that floated in the air, slowly cirg her body. The shapes twisted in the dim light, refleg the shrine and the trees as they morphed into disks, cubes, spikes, and myriad other forms before finally settling bato spheres.

  The hum abruptly ceased, and the mirror-like spheres of steel fell to the ground, boung and rolling about.

  “This one has steel affinity mana,” Kavé decred breathlessly, silver eyes wide in surprise. Suddenly, she gasped, “It used fifty-thousand mana? This one is sorry!”

  “That’s ok Kavé, that’s how much it costs. There is more than enough for everyone.” Her expression slowly recovered as Ali reassured her that she hadn’t done anything bad.

  “Why don’t you try the css chooser? That one normally costs thirty-five thousand.”

  “Ok,” she answered, pg a hand on the shrine once again.

  Ali left her at the shrine and walked over to where Thuli was standing. “Why don’t you help her choose? There are a lot of choices, and it be fusing all at once.”

  Thuli g her in surprise, but then grunted and stumped off to join Kavé.

  The two of them huddled by the shrine chatting for almost ten minutes before they finally returned, crossing the mossy ground in thoughtful silence. Eagerly, Ali Identified them as they came on.

  Bcksmith – Dragonkin – level 1 (Steel)Bcksmith – Dwarf – level ?? (Ember)

  “gratutions on your css,” Ali said. “I hope you got something that makes you happy.”

  Kavé bowed deeply. “This one is profoundly grateful for this opportunity. This one has bee a Steelshaper.”

  “It’s one of the stro bcksmithing csses I have ever id eyes upon!” Thuli excimed, clearly excited for her.

  “This one is aware she ot be your appre asks only for the opportunity to watch you work,” Kavé asked. Her tone seemed as close to begging as she could mahout actually kneeling on the floor. “This one does not require anything more than a ben the fe to sleep.”

  “No, ss. If you are serious enough to camp in the fe without pay just to watch me work, then we should do this properly. I ot pay you, but if you insist on learning, you will have the best instru that is within my power to give. You have my word,” Thuli decred.

  Thuli’s eyes shone in the darkness, and the veins on his arms began to glow with the red of molten iron. He reached out his hand and araordinarily plex and intricate struct of his ember mana maed in the space between them. He gestured with his hand pushing it toward her.

  Is that his mana signature? Ali couldn’t be quite certain, but ating for the differences due to Thuli’s ember affinity, it certainly looked a lot like what Lydia had done when she had imbued her work with her mana.

  Kavé stared at it with wide round eyes. “Are… are you sure?”

  “Yes ss, I gave my word,” Thuli said, his mana-filled eyes staring at her ily. “You’re wele to accept it.”

  She made a movement, and Thuli’s maled on her, f a kerhat sunk deep within her chest.

  “Thank you, master,” she said.

  “Hey, I’ll have none o’ that master stuff,” Thuli said, looking rather embarrassed. “You call me Thuli like everyone else. And I will call you Kavé. You will work hard and learn from me, and I will teach you everything I know. But I don’t own you or have any authority beyond that.”

  Kavé rose from her bow. “Thank you… Thuli.”

  “Was that your mana signature?” Ali asked, curiosity burning within her.

  “Aye, it is a Mentorship Tithe ent very simir to the mana signature I put on my work. Except this goes on her css experience. Whenever she learns something, her mana draw from mine, providing additional skill options and advahat are aligned with my css and experie is by far the fastest a way to mentor a student, but many crafters are stingy with it because they give only a limited number of them, and the arra affects the teacher as much as the apprentice.”

  “This one is grateful for your trust.”

  “Teag is much like crafting an item,” Thuli told her, as the two of them turo leave. “And just like crafting, I don’t believe in half-measures, only the best work is acceptable. One day you will have your orentice, and then you will uand.”

  timewalk