1 New World!
Read the prologue to understand what led to this.
Slowly Logan opened his eyes, he stood up, his eyes still blurry, he noticed his surroundings with his half-closed eyes and realised he was in something like a hut with wooden parchments littered everywhere, he saw something that looked like a door, it was made of wood that seemed like it had withered with time and had multiple holes through with the orange rays of sunlight passed through, he reached out to open it.
'Click'
The wooden door knob was pulled as the door slowly opened.
'Rumble'
The sound of the door crashing down jolted Logan awake as his blurry eyes seemed to have regained their clarity.
"Damn, what's with the mud house? I thought these stopped existing a long time ago. But what...." Logan realized as he stepped out from the house.
He was about to continue mumbling but turned speechless as his mouth hung open when he saw that there were multiple houses like that through the corner of his eyes.
'Have I gone back in time?' This was the first question that came to mind because he knew that none of such buildings existed in modern times.
He soon realised something, he didn't know if it was because he had just been confined to a room but the air here smelled fresher than that of where he was from, the air here felt invigorating and seemed to contain some refreshing effect.
Logan could not help but inhale slightly before tilting his head to study his surroundings.
He tilted his eyes up and the first thing he saw was the pale blueish-green sky, it looked like it was right out of a fantasy world.
'Is this still earth? Or am I in heaven? Wait! Am I dead?' multiple questions ran through the mind of Logan as he slowly brought his hand slightly below his nose.
"Phew, at least I'm still alive' he said as he pinched himself a little to see if he was dreaming.
'Not dreaming, not in heaven, definitely not reincarnated! Then could it have been that portal led me somewhere? But where?' he pondered as his hand rested on his chin.
After a moment of walking his eyes suddenly caught something, an extremely large building with "AZURE FACTION" written boldly on it.
The building was extremely tall that one just could not ignore and it seemed like a gigantic castle from ancient times.
Is that supposed to be a school? And what's with the olden days design, wait! Could I have gone to an alternate reality? I've seen those happen in some movies.
Logan questioned no one in particular, but due to having read books where faction was often used to describe something similar to a school he could not help but be curious.
The faction was so large that he couldn't see the end of it, with countless other buildings that appeared to be connected to the Azure building as it housed them all.
He was speechless as to how he ended up here in such a place, all he recalled happening last was losing his consciousness after entering that strange portal.
What the heck did that strange little girl do to me?
Suddenly a voice was heard, it portrayed an announcement, it seemed to come from a far place but at the same time, it sounded close.
"All new intake interested in enrolling in the Azure faction should come to the assessment hall. Follow the directions of the man you'll see up above"
Following the sound of the voice Logan looked up and saw a man in the air the man was clogged in a sleek olden days fashioned black robe, he had a brown moustache with bold grey eyes.
Logan noticed something strange as he looked behind the man's back, he realized that the man had some wings coming out from his back, the wings looked like they were made of some strange essence, they looked like that of a butterfly but more masculine and pronounced, they were slightly bright orange in colour.
Logan gasped as he saw this, he looked to his side hoping to encounter others who shared a similar surprise as him but every other person looked at it like it was a normal thing.
Different thoughts were going through his mind, 'Is this man flying? What's that strange thing behind his back that looks like wings? What sort of world did I find myself in?'
"As always, they always do this every Monday" Someone muttered from behind as Logan overheard it.
He took a moment to analyse the situation at hand. 'That portal let me somewhere, a simulation perhaps, But how did I encounter that strange little girl? I can't recall what happened before that and it seems I'm forgetting someone, someone extremely important to me!'
After pondering on a couple more issues Logan decided to follow the strange man, maybe he could enrol in this faction and gain more knowledge about this strange world.
The man directed the stream of people to the hall and when they entered Logan was once again surprised.
The hall looked small on the outside but inside was entirely different, it was large enough to accommodate the thousands of new intakes.
What the f""k is going on, first the gigantic school, then the man with strange wings and now this hall that seems like space is twisted!?
Logan looked up and saw a tall figure standing on a platform. The figure was dressed in dark green formal attire and held a wooden staff in his hand.
Logan found an empty seat and sat down, waiting for further instructions.
The figure on the platform, presumably an administrator, cleared his throat and began to address the assembled new intakes.
"Welcome, new intakes of the Azure faction," he announced.
"You have chosen to join our esteemed faction, where talented individuals from various backgrounds gather to hone their skills and abilities."
Logan listened attentively, his curiosity piqued.
The administrator continued, "Before you can fully integrate into our school, you will undergo an assessment to determine your aptitude and potential. This assessment will test your affinity with the essence of nature, and your talent grade"
He paused for a moment studying the diverse faces of the crowd before continuing "Those with low affinity grades or possessing one element unfortunately won't be accepted, so if that's your case please excuse yourself and not waste our time" the instructor said firmly giving no room for excuses.
This has happened quite a number of times, where talentless individuals come to the faction begging to get accepted but their request can only be declined for the status of the faction to not plummet among the ranks of the other six factions.
'I'm pretty intelligent, so if it's an assessment test I'm sure I'll pass. Element? Oh chemistry? That's simple! But why would humans possess an element? Should I have come with carbon or silver?' Logan thought confidently as he smirked awaiting this so-called test.
The administrator concluded his speech, instructing the students to follow the appointed guides who would lead them to their respective assessment areas.
A young man with a sleek brown moustache dressed in a pale green robe soon came to meet Logan's group, presumably their guide.
Logan, along with the other new intakes, followed him as he led them through the maze-like corridors of the school.
As they walked, Logan couldn't help but scream in his mind 'What a waste of money! I could probably sell all this gold for some big bucks' as he realized that the corridors seemed to be made out of gold.
He touched it and realized it was actual gold due to having encountered one while he was younger. 'Seems I'll have to come back to these corridors at night, hehe, at least I could gather some income before returning to my world'
While Logan was still having some mischievous thoughts about the innocent corridors they soon reached where the assessment was to take place.
Logan was shocked once again by this strange world because he was expecting that they would be handed a sheet of paper containing questions that they needed to answer but all he saw in this hall was a blueish-stone marble at the platform ahead.
What sort of test are we then going to go through? Perhaps we'll have to identify the element that stone marble is made of... What element is that? Diamond? hmm...
Looking up, he saw some words written boldly on a plane projection that was hung at a particular height where it could be seen by everyone.
He had just noticed them now, they read:
The 10 elements and their representative colours:
"Red - Fire
Blue - Water
Green - Wind
Brown - Earth
Cyan - Ice
Purple - Lighting
Indigo - Sound
Silver - Space
White - Light
Black - Darkness
.
.
.
Grade: Affinity compatibility.
Black - Lowest affinity
White - 2nd grade
Yellow - 3rd grade
Red - 4th grade
Blue - 5th grade
Purple - Highest affinity."
The assessment began and Logan saw the first intake approach the marble stone. It was a boy with brown hair, who had an air of confidence.
'Now let's see what this assessment is about' Logan looked vividly at the boy as his golden eyes seemed to sparkle with brimming brightness.
The boy placed his hand on the marble and Logan saw a flash of blue colour emanate from the stone before different words manifest in the air.
They read:
Essense Affinity - Water.
Grade - Yellow.
'Hmm? What is this about?' before Logan could question the receded light started to glow once again, this time a green colour.
Another line of words appeared
Essence affinity - Wind.
Grade - White.
"Damn! How could I get the water and wind element, those are probably the worst elements and what with the white grade, such shit luck" the boy muttered as he headed to his seat.
"Dual Elementalist, that's nice," the instructor said in a displeased tone, obviously Dual Elementalist was extremely common.
***
The assessment went on for a while and Logan had been able to pick up on what was going on.
'It seems that the marble reveals the element you possess like fire, water, etc...but would I possess an element as someone from another world? A world of no magic?'
While Logan was processing his thoughts on how to deal with this strange world he found himself in, there was a particular intake that caught the eyes of everyone.
She stepped forward, her eyes, resembling crescent moons. She had fair smooth skin and a pair of slim slender legs. She walked gracefully and placed her hand softly on the marble.
As her results manifested, everyone gasped as the stone revealed a remarkable combination.
Element affinity - Earth
Grade - Red
Element affinity - Wind
Grade - Red
Element affinity - Darkness
Grade - Red
Element affinity - Light
Grade - Blue
"Oh wow, a quad elementalist, that's nice, sorry miss what's your name? " the instructor praised the lady as she smiled sweetly seeing her results.
"Annabelle. " the girl said in a whisper as she slowly walked back to her seat earning stares from multiple boys.
The assessment continued…
"A tri-elementalist, good"
"A dual Elementalist, that's manageable"
"Only an element! I thought you were told not to show your face here loser!"
As the assessment continued, one could not help but notice the rarity of the following four elements: Light, darkness, space and sound.
Only a few hundred individuals among the thousands of intakes present possessed one or two of the four rarest elements.
Three individuals had great affinity compatibility with the essence of darkness, earning a blue grade in that category.
Similarly, five individuals displayed great affinity to the essence of light, also achieving a blue grade.
However, there was one student that caught even the eyes of the higher-ups.
His name was Mark, he earned a purple grade affinity for the space element leaving everyone in awe because someone with a purple grade can learn cultivation skills at thirty times the speed of a normal cultivator.
And he would certainly be a peak powerhouse except he dies.
It was finally Logan's turn as the last, he walked up to the assessment marble feeling nervous. As he slowly placed his hand on the stone, gasps of surprise could be heard.
