Magic Affinity Pt.2 - Daney

The pudgy mage that sat on the rightmost chair suddenly burst out laughing as he saw Daney standing there dumbfounded. Others soon followed suit and the seemingly grave and dignified seniors now appeared to be jovial neighborly elders chatting together.

One by one, they took their turns commenting something,

"You go boy, you've been punching the air for weeks, it's time to add some magic to them." said the pudgy mage.

"Don't be afraid, Daney." said senior Golver.

"Don't waste our time, we have a lot of work to do," said Danulo

"Hey, don't hesitate kid. You might even be the strongest mage one day since you clearly don't have any talent being a warrior." said the bulky warrior sitting on the leftmost chair, bringing out the insecurity of the little demon that troubled the entire village with his pranks and antics.

Daney's eyes were wide open from the abrupt change of situation he found himself in. Unable to tolerate being made fun of, he lashed back at the pudgy mage who burst out laughing at first and spoke

"I'm punching air because I want to punch your face. Is your stomach full of wind magic as well, yo—" As Daney had just begun using his ruthless mouth, he saw himself soaring higher in the air with hands, legs, and tongue tied using wind magic.

He quickly panicked and released a pleading whimper as he was unable to speak. Ryne was amused and horrified at this spectacle as the ease with which Daney was subdued was just mind-blowing. He thought,

'So wind magic is that powerful. I wonder how many years would I need to train before I'm able to cast spells like this.'

Danulo suddenly raised his voice as he felt irritated by the antics of his troublesome child and said,

"Little monkey, I'll teach you how to control your mouth later. Make it quick now."

Upon hearing his words, the pudgy wind mage nodded his head and put Daney back on the ground.

As soon as Daney felt the safety of mother earth's touch, he couldn't control himself as he mumbled under his breath

"If I'm a monkey wouldn't that make you one as well." Ryne heard it as he was standing close to him, but the rest of the seniors heard it even clearer due to their heightened senses.

Everyone other than Daney and Ryne, threw looks of pity and amusement at Danulo upon hearing this. He felt his face turning a little hotter as he gave a shout that made even the guard standing outside shiver in fear,

"NOW"

Daney quickly took two steps forward, closed his eyes, and touched the transparent ball lying on the stool with both hands. Ryne stared at it closely as well, waiting for the reaction Daney would cause within the ball.

When 10-15 seconds passed away, a glowing light blue dust particle appeared within, which started multiplying itself and growing in number. Soon, a glowing white particle appeared as well and started multiplying.

This spectacle shocked not only Ryne but also the elders present, but for completely different reasons though as Ryne was merely stunned by the beauty of the magical spectacle but the elders were shocked by the significance of it.

Magical Affinity was divided into three grades - Poor, Good, and Exceptional. Even these three divisions were divided into low, mid, and high levels to classify a child into a talent group and teach him according to their abilities.

Usually, during a magical affinity test of someone with a low-good magical affinity, the ball would only light up with a single colored light and even then, it would multiply slowly, unlike how it was happening with Daney.

Danulo had a self-satisfied expression on his face as for the first time, his troublesome child didn't bring him embarrassment but pride.

Senior Golver looked deep in thought as he caressed his beard and muttered,

"Low-exceptional wind and mid-exceptional water affinity. This is madness, his future as a grade-4 or grade-5 mage is already set in stone. This is.. monstrous talent."

Hearing the complicated undertones within Golver's words, the short wind mage broke out of stupor as he commented under his breath with a light chuckle,

"I'll be taking him as my disciple. As a peak grade-3 wind mage, I don't think any of those folks back there are more qualified than me."

By this time, the multiplication process had stopped and Daney was standing there with a dumbfounded expression. Although he was usually a naughty child, he still felt weirded out by a bunch of elders ogling at him while he stood there simply. Especially the loving gaze of his father made him feel like he had fallen in a pit of roses, with thorns piercing his cheeks.

A single tear rolled down his eye as Golver clapped his hands and said

"Congratulations child, your Magic Affinity is exceptional. You are a rare dual-element grade-0 mage now."

Daney felt bad upon hearing that his path as a warrior was now even harder to walk but he was still determined to take his physical training steadily.

His determination cracked a little though, when he heard Golver's next few words,

"Now greet your master, Esteemed Lumien and he may bestow you a welcome gift."

He quickly jerked his head towards the pudgy wind mage who was looking at him smilingly and said in a frustrated tone

"Why do you want to take me as your disciple? I hate magic, I hate YOU."

All of them regarded his words as empty and naive musings of a little kid and proceeded to talk within themselves. Upon seeing this, all of Daney's grievances turned into a rebellious rage as he shouted back at the pudgy mage, Lumien

"I said I don't want to be your disciple. Have your ears stopped working, you fat pig."

Danulo's and Lumien's expression simultaneously darkened as Danulo turned his head towards Lumien and said in a flattering voice,

"I'm really sorry for my child's behavior, esteemed Lumien. As his master, you may now punish him as you see fit."

"Thank you, brother Danulo. Don't worry, I won't let him break so easily, hahaha, goodbye brothers, I'll be taking a break to teach my disciple some manners for some time." said Lumien before waving his hand and flying together with the bawling Daney.

Ryne looked at everything with a complicated expression as he thought,

'So, there are people who don't want to be a mage?'

Danulo smiled even more widely while Daney was being taken away as he looked towards Ryne and asked,

"Now that my primary trouble is over, let's continue the test. Little Ryne, are you ready."

"Yes."