Affinities and Strange Occurrences (1)

One and a half years later. Early morning.

"It's finally the day!" Solen shouted in excitement as he woke up. The previous night he was struggling to fall asleep thinking about this day. This was the day he and Aloysius would celebrate their birthday and was also the day that they would have their affinities tested.

"I wonder what it will be?" Solen thought to himself. He never knew his mothers nor his father's affinities, so he had no idea of what he would have. It always remained a mystery to him.

"Wahhh! Ouchie!" A pained voice cried outside of Solen's door. Solen looked at his door in surprise, he didn't expect anyone to be outside his door at this time.

"Fera, are you okay?" Solen asked with a small smile as he opened the door to his bedroom. The voice that was outside his door was his little sister, Fera. She was born about nine months ago and could already run around. She was an extremely hyper child, Fera seemed to bounce off the walls at times.

"Ah! Big brother Solen! I am… fine." Fera responded, a few tears streamed down her face. Her pain always seemed to fade quickly. Fera was born from his mother Alice while Essa gave birth to a boy named Alexander. Alexander was born half a month after Fera.

"Are you sure you're fine? That's a pretty big bump. It is nearly as big as your eyes!" Solen joked as he looked at a small bump that appeared on Fera's forehead.

"Uh! Where!" Fera's hands' quickly roved all over her face and stopped at the small bump after a minute. She stared at Solen in anger after realizing that the bump was very small in comparison to how he described. "Hey! That's not a big bump! You meanie!"

"Right! Solen, daddy wants you!" Fera suddenly remembered something after talking to the now laughing Solen. Her face showed excitement that was mixed with a small amount of confusion and anger.

"Alright, let's go and see dad." Solen showed excitement as well and ignored Fera's confusion. She will learn of it soon enough so there was no point in ruining it for her.

Solen and Fera quickly arrived at the main hall of the family manor. This room changed a small bit after Solen and Aloysius were born. While there were still no elegant designs on the walls, there were many portraits of the family on the wall. These portraits were skillfully made and those depicted in the portraits looked exactly like the real person.

Strangely, this room was currently devoid of servants and guards. The only people inside the room currently were the members of the small Fireblood Clan. Garth was originally from a peasant family and rose to power just before Solen and Aloysius were born. Garth was an only child, without any siblings while his parents died when he was a teenager.

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Clans in the city rose as their personal power increased. The only way to become a Low Clan was by having two Iron Ranks in the family. After rising to a Low Clan and swearing fealty to the ruling clan, the family would be granted a small fief of land in the 'Outer City'. The 'Outer City' was actually rural lands inhabited by various small towns, villages, and hamlets. Most of this land was used to produce food for the entire city.

The Fireblood Clan had power over 250 km2 of the outer part of the city. They held control over a few villages and hamlets. This was the average amount of land given to a newly born clan. As for the higher level clans, they would have power over even more land. Every year, the various clans of the city had to pay a tax to the ruling clan as they were the vassals' of the ruling clan.

Vigor City expanded out for many kilometers, reaching past 28,000 km2 and this was only the mountain valley they resided in! The world Solen was born into was gigantic and possibly near uninhabited by an intelligent species. It would take thousands of years for this world to be inhabited once again.

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"Solen, are you ready for the test?" Garth asked with an excited smile. Today was the day that his first two sons' would have their affinity test. Every single parent would be excited for this day, even peasant families would be.

"I'm ready, father." Solen replied patiently as a large smile grew on his face. He truly was excited for this day, since the day he learned of cultivation.

"Mrs. Daya, can you take Fera and Alex out of the room please?" Garth's voice echoed outside of the room and the maid quickly entered the room without a word. She silently took the two children out of the room and remained outside. Aristocrats liked to have the privilege of testing their children in secrecy and Garth took a liking to this tradition.

Two small and smooth stones appeared in Garth's right hand as he walked toward Solen and Aloysius. These two stones were Affinity Testing Stones. The surface seemed to be crystallized while the core was a dull gray. The core would change colors when testing the affinities of children.

"Aloysius will go first, Solen can go next." Garth stated as he handed a stone to Aloysius. Aloysius's face turned red in excitement, it seemed that he was elated this day came as well.

"I will do you proud father!" Aloysius said as he took the stone in his hands. The moment the stone entered his hand, it began flashing. The flashing continued for a minute and the core changed to a cyan-green color. It glowed brilliantly as the room changed to its color and had a nice breeze moved about the room.

"Haha! Aloysius has the wind element like Alice! This is great!" Garth had a large and excited smile. Yet, the smile faded as something strange occurred.

Woosh!

The stone disappeared! The stone that was situated on Aloysius's hand suddenly disappeared! Aloysius suddenly showed a look of confusion as he looked at his hand. He quickly closed his eyes, as if to look inside his mind. He wasn't paying attention to his family's reactions anymore.

"H-how? W-what?" Garth was stunned speechless by this turn of events. He just saw the affinity stone disappear without any explainable reason. Just as he was about to say something, Aloysius's face turned from confusion to excitement.

Woosh!

The stone appeared in his hand again!

"Does Aloysius have a special power or something? Or is he suddenly a street magician?" Solen thought to himself in surprise. "Seriously, how did he do that? Shouldn't I be the one with the special power as a 'reincarnater?'"

"Haha! I have a superpower! Look Solen!" Aloysius yelled in excitement. Sometimes Solen would tell stories about superheroes to Aloysius in boredom. There wasn't much to do other than learn in the house since he nor Aloysius could leave until this year. Thus, Aloysius would often hear about superheroes from Solen.

"I can see that! Isn't it amazing?!" Solen laughed as he looked at Aloysius. His face turned into a new shade of red from excitement "I hope I get a superpower too!"

"Aloysius, how are you doing that? What is a superpower?" Garth questioned with surprise. Alice and Essa also wanted to ask this question as what they were seeing was something impossible.

"Uh… after I used the stone, my head felt weird and the stone disappeared. After I closed my eyes, I could see a strange space. I reached into the space and pulled the stone back out." Aloysius responded in full seriousness, contrary to his excited expression.

"A space inside your mind?" Garth suddenly turned extremely serious and grave. This was something that never happened in the history of the city.

"Should I request an audience with the City Lord or should I attempt to keep this secret?" Garth thought to himself gravely. He didn't know what to do in this situation. Time quickly moved as thought, until he was interrupted.

"Father… Can I have my turn now? After that, you can be lost in your thoughts…" Solen said as he nudged at his father's clothes.

"Alright. After we do your test, I will be talking to Alice and Essa. This is an important matter after all." Garth sighed to himself in worry. Who knows what will happen if or when the City Lord finds out.

The worried Garth quickly handed the stone to Solen and awaited the result. The stone repeated the flashing and turned crimson red. The room seemed to heat up under the red light.

Right as Garth opened his mouth, the affinity stone in Solen's hand burst apart with stone shards burying themselves into the walls and ceiling. Yet, the strangeness didn't end. A bloody red portal appeared in front of Solen as a line of smoke-like words appeared in front of his face.

[ID Create]

"What the fuck…" Solen cursed silently in surprise. He wasn't expecting it, but he received a strange power as well. "Why do I have such a game-like power? This really shouldn't exist…"

"What the hell is that?!" Alice was the one to shout out at this time. She really didn't expect another strange occurrence like this. Shouldn't it be enough for a single occurrence of this and not two?

"Solen… do you know what that is?" Garth asked in a grave voice. Two strange occurrences in one day. He would probably have to request the audience now that this happened.

"It is called [ID Create] as for what exactly it is, I need to walk inside the portal…" Solen slightly lied. He knew what an 'ID' is. ID is short for Instance Dungeon, meaning that his ability was to create a dungeon that was similar to videogames.

Instead of awaiting the worried reply of Garth, he jumped inside of the portal. He wanted to see what was inside this dungeon after all. If it was dangerous, he could just jump back out, right?