Chapter 67   - Elusive Elements

It took Kai an hour to go through Virya’s papers, and another to make sure he understood everything. Dora was more amenable than Elijah and didn’t mind cutting him some slack—if it was for a good reason. He sat in her laboratory to read as she busied herself around her cauldron.

After his five major affinities, the strength of his bond with other elements had a steep decline. He had a grand total of eleven minor affinities, most of which didn’t reach a value higher than 5. The only exceptions were Air at 17, Darkness at 14 and Fire at 9, but it was going to take a long time before he could even perceive them.

“Does everyone have these many low affinities?” He asked the alchemist.

“It’s normal, dear. They are not low, it’s the others that are remarkably high. Usually, people also have a few middling affinities around 20.”

“Is there a point to my low affinities then?”

“Well, it depends on the choices you make. In alchemy, it’s very convenient to have access to as many elements as possible. With minor affinities, it’s hard to control huge amounts of mana at a distance. But when you work in an enclosed space like a cauldron, that is not necessary. Finesse and precision are the most important qualities, and they can be achieved through practice.”

Kai had suspected Dora had not been gifted with particularly high affinities. Her last choice of words confirmed this. He felt a lump in his throat. He wanted to apologize to Dora for making such a fuss before the ritual, but he didn’t know how to broach the topic.

Done with the papers, Kai stood up to help Dora clean her equipment. “Will my affinities be useful for Alchemy?”

Coward!

“Sure, they will. You have the best elements for taking care of herbs. You would have a guaranteed job at the royal gardens or at any high-end mana farm I know. Nature is useful with all plants, with Water and Earth being a close second.”

Kai didn’t see himself growing ingredients for others as a glorified gardener anytime soon. He smiled anyway. “That’s great.”

Dora laughed. “Don’t worry, there are other options if you don’t want a quiet life. I turned it down too. Your affinities will be a great help in the brewing process with elementally aligned herbs.”

He remembered noticing a few mana plants with weird energy. “Is it necessary to possess the same affinity as the plant you work with?”

Dora shook her head. “It’s not strictly necessary. Almost no herbs are completely aligned to an element. You can work with them focusing on their unattuned parts. But if you are gifted in the same element, it gives you an extra advantage. I have a slew of middling affinities, which worked out great for alchemy.” Dora winked at him. “I’m perfectly happy with the hand I got dealt.”

Her tone was casual and light as usual, but it was pretty clear those words had not been chosen at random. Her cheerful and bubbly attitude made it easy to forget Dora was over a century old. She might look a bit absent-minded sometimes, but she was far sharper than she looked.

I guess I worried for nothing.

“I always knew you were the best, aunty.”

***

His schedule underwent numerous changes to accommodate all the new mana lessons. To make up for this, additional weights became the norm during his exercises. No shot Elijah would roll back on his objectives.

Sitting crossed-legged in the middle of the garden, Kai closed off his senses to focus on Mana Sense. There had been a noticeable difference after he upgraded the skill. He had always been fascinated by the swirling motions of the mana around him. The skill evolution allowed him to peek beneath the curtain and make sense of some of its mysteries.

Part of the light particles had assumed various colorful hues. It was negligible compared to the psychedelic madness he had observed during the ritual. They were pale and faint, requiring a great deal of focus to distinguish them in the ever-changing ambient mana.

The motion of mana motes had also changed. Or better, it remained the same, but it was different to his senses. He had always suspected its apparent chaos hid some underlying logic. Now he could begin to grasp some of it.

The most abundant mana color in Dora’s garden was a vibrant green. Kai knew it belonged to the Nature element the moment he saw it. The way those particles whirled through the air was very distinct. They followed a wild dance that talked of life and growth. It was baffling how he had never noticed that before.

The second most common element present in the garden was Earth mana. It had a rich brown color and moved with slow deliberate movements. Like tiny inexorable boulders. Blending in his surroundings, it was harder to perceive than Nature, if he didn’t pay close attention.

Water mana was also visible in the garden, but there were better places to observe it. Floating on the waves was one way, but his favorite method was using a large rock as an anchor and sitting on the seafloor. Having to hold his breath for more than ten minutes was inconvenient, but well worth the effort. It was easier to ignore every other sensation underwater and focus on the flowing blue mana.

Somehow it felt even easier to perceive than Nature. The Water mana rhythmically streamed around him following the motion of the waves.

Unfortunately, not every element came this naturally. The remaining two major affinities gave him a lot of headaches. Practicing at night only offered a marginal advantage. Shadow mana appeared inherently ephemeral. It didn’t want to be grasped. It hid at the edges of his vision as if it had a mind of its own to make his life as miserable as possible.

It was one of the few elements Dora didn’t possess. Elijah took the role of mana teacher in her stead. Shadow was one of his specialties—Kai was not even surprised.

“You need to feel it. Shadow mana will come on its own when you stop chasing it.” That was one of many unhelpful pieces of advice he received from the butler. Kai was starting to think Elijah was purposefully trying to sabotage him, if his progress wasn’t still miles ahead of his last major affinity.

Space mana was supposed to be present everywhere on Elydes, but it was very sparse. There were no convenient places near the estate where it accumulated in significant quantities. Sometimes he could almost glimpse a faint iridescent shimmer in the corner of his vision. When he focused in that direction, it was gone.

Dora had a middling affinity for this element, but her words were not very encouraging. “Don’t worry. Space mana is inherently tricky to perceive. As your Mana Sense grows, it will get easier.”

Kai pruned a plant with more passion than necessary as they conversed. “But isn’t a hallmark of major affinities the fact they can be perceived as soon as you specialize the skill?”

His affinity for Space was only 38, but that was still higher than the minimum threshold of 30. It should be hard, but not impossible. He was not going to give up before being able to observe at least one speck of mana.

“Remember when we talked to you about rare affinities?”

Kai nodded.

“Space is one of those. Without a proper environment or an extremely high affinity, no one ever gets anywhere with it. Most of those who are gifted in the Space element decide to ignore it and focus on other affinities or paths. It took me years before I could perceive anything. And that was after I gained my profession.”

“So, there is no point in training with it,” Kai said. His tone made his opinion on the matter clear. “Is there truly no way?”

Dora stopped what she was doing and walked to him.

“Look carefully.” She put both her palms in front of him. A red rose rested on her right hand.

Kai gave her a questioning look. In a flash of iridescent light, the flower vanished from one hand and reappeared on her left. Kai stared with wide eyes.

That’s so cool!

“It took me decades to perform this trick correctly,” Dora said flatly, making the red rose disappear again.

Kai was looking around to see where it had gone, when tiny red confetti started to fall on his head.

“That is what happens when you make a mistake. And trust me, it happens often.”

Kai brushed the red remains off his head.

This had gotten slightly macabre. If this was what happened to a flower…

“But there must be a way.” Kai stubbornly said. “There must be some space mages out there, right?”

“Yes, and they were all born to very wealthy families or near places with abundant Space mana.” Dora sighed and softened her tone. “I’m sorry Kai, that's just how the world goes. Space mages are almost useless in the earlier grades. I knew many young apprentices who chose this element and got nowhere. No one is willing to employ an inexperienced space mage, and I don’t need to tell you why.

“They require loads of expensive resources to train. They more than make up for it in the later stages, but they need to get there first. If that was your only major affinity you could consider taking the gamble, but you have many better options.

“I won’t tell you to drop it completely, but I’ll advise you to focus on your other elements. Once you improve your elemental perception, we can discuss going back to it if you’re still interested. Even parlor tricks can be useful in some situations.”

It seemed his dream of teleporting around the world was going to be hard to achieve. Kai nervously tapped on his leg, deep in his thoughts.

Is there truly no way? If even Dora says it’s expensive, I got no shot at affording it.

“What kind of places do have high space mana? Is there any on the archipelago?”

Dora gave him a serious look. “Dangerous and unstable places. They are only good for getting you killed. Luckily, there are none around here.” She said, closing the conversation.

As she was about to go back to tend her plants, she paused. “There are also hidden dimensions, but those are even rarer. All known spatial folds are controlled by jealous and greedy groups that would sooner sell their mothers than give you access without signing away your life.”

“What ar—.”

“Enough, Kai. No more questions on this topic. We still have much work to do before the sun goes down.”

Dora rarely told him to stop asking questions, but when she did, she usually meant it. He would get no more answers for today.

***

Affinity training proceeded slowly, but his progress was noticeable. Eventually, he got the hang of Shadow mana. It happened almost by accident. One sleepless night, he got up for a midnight snack. Dora always left the kitchen open for him, but the butler didn’t approve. He had to be sneaky and pray that Elijah was asleep.

As he blended in the dark corners of the buildings, he noticed the tingle of mana on his skin. The excitement for the discovery immediately caused it to disperse.

“It was time you made some progress.” Elijah's bored voice sounded behind him. When he turned, no one was there.

“If you don’t get back to your bed in one minute, you’ll regret it tomorrow morning.” His cold voice echoed in the night.

Kai scrambled back to his house swearing after him. He had not completely understood what happened, but Elijah's cryptic words, and this night's events, were completing the puzzle.

He continued to work on Space. Those motes of mana were becoming the bane of his existence, but he would not give up so easily. Dora remained tight-lipped on the subject, but she wasn’t the only one with a Space affinity.

Eating his pride, he asked Elijah for help. Kai knew the butler would not turn him back if he went looking for more training. The man looked at him amused but made no snarky remarks. Kai soon understood why. Studying Space mana was a masochist's job.

There was a reason why whenever he thought he saw something, and turned to look, there was nothing there. Space motes phased in and out of reality—because of course, they did.

To observe them, he could only pray to the spirits to get lucky. And even then, they would only stay put for a moment before reappearing somewhere else. To properly observe one, he would need to keep it in place with Mana Manipulation. That was not going to happen any time soon. He could not influence ambient mana more than an inch over his skin—and even that was iffy at best.

For the time being, he could only focus on other elements and wait for his skills to improve. After learning to easily distinguish the elemental mana around him, paradoxically, the next step was looking inward.

His body naturally absorbed ambient mana, which included the elementally aligned particles too. However, it was several times more concentrated than in his surroundings, making it harder to distinguish.

For a moment, Kai thought he would finally be able to observe a spatial mote, but he was disappointed. He could not find even one. Nature, Water, Earth and Shadow were all present. But not Space. It seemed his body took too long to absorb them and they escaped before that.

He gained a level of Meditation, quieting down his boiling irritation.

It’s not a big deal, I just need to be patient. I’m good at that.

After Elijah's training that day, Kai walked to the laboratory. Maybe he could beg Dora for help. He had no qualms about using tears at this point. He would be happy with a single mote, just one. His pride would not allow him to give up now.

“How’s it going, dear.” Dora greeted him more chipper than usual, offering him his daily potion. He smiled back.

This is perfect…

He downed the concoction without a thought, his mind calculating the best way to broach the topic.

“Are you ready to try your hand at some elemental magic?” Dora said, obliterating any other thought he might have.