Chapter 85: Affinity
Once he noticed what was happening, Charles used his thoughts and directly flew towards the area where those fire sparks were coming from.
The further he went into his Inner-world, the more he saw his previous life memories.
'This world is filled with my memories in the name of illusions.' He continued to fly towards the sparks' origin and arrived in front of a large red-cubic crystal after ten minutes!
Around the cube were countless Runal letters hovered in longitudinal and latitudinal lines, and it appeared very mysterious and sacred.
He tried to move near the cube, but he felt some invisible force was obstructing him and became surprised.
'Is this the game system?' Charles stared at the cube-like structure and soon squinted his eyes as he saw a total of 9 gems hidden in it. Four were red in color, while the remaining five were black.
"Class Gems?" A look of astonishment appeared on Charles's face as he stared at those gems for a moment and soon turned solemn.
'The one who created this system is not omnipotent. From the looks of it, this system somehow manipulated me to choose the Fire Mage and Trickster class. If not, why are there only two types of Class gems in the cube?'
Then, he shook his head, marked the location in his mind, and then quietly observed the inner world.
Meanwhile, the mysterious Runal letters came out of the cube-like sparks and flew towards the sky one by one.
Unlike the Rank-1 spell models, the construction of this Rank-2 spell model took 6 hours!
Charles continued to observe his memories one by one and also learned a secret that he could even alter his memory illusions in this Inner-world.
'Heh, so this is how high-level [Psychologist] class mystics invade one's Inner world and manipulate others' memories, huh.' He muttered inwardly and soon noticed that the construction of the spell model was already over.
Nodding his head, Charles moved his consciousness to the [Flame Body] spell model and left the Inner-world. A moment later, he opened his eyes and noticed that it was dark outside.
In the meantime, the black cane suddenly rose on its own and soon muttered in an old man's voice.
"Hmm? Something is changed… Why the fire-elemental fluctuations appear denser all of a sudden?" It suddenly stopped for a moment and soon asked in surprise.
"Lad, did you construct a spell model now?"
When he sat in a cross-legged position, it actually thought that Charles was doing meditation to strengthen his soul. But now it became suspicious.
In the meantime, Charles smiled and said with a nod,
"Yes. It took more than 6 hours this time."
"F*ck! Did you really construct a spell model in this short amount of time?" The Holem's Crown couldn't hide its shock and asked in a deep voice.
Charles suddenly noticed something was amiss and revealed a confused look on his face.
"Damn it; you must have a prodigy-level fire affinity." The Holem's Crown said in a startled tone.
"Prodigy level fire affinity? What is that?" Although Charles knew about affinities from real Charles's memories, he was still clueless about it.
"Hmm, elemental affinity allows you to comprehend the secrets of elements. If you have prodigy-level fire affinity, it will take only 5 to 6 hours to construct a Rank-2 spell model. But if you have an average level fire affinity, it might take days for you to construct the spell models. Mostly, Churches and Royals would only pick those who have good affinities and nurture them to become loyal mages." The Holem's Crown responded in a calm tone.
Meanwhile, Charles became more curious about the affinity levels and stared at the black cane to explain further.
Noticing his gaze, the Holem's Crown let out a sigh and said.
"Affinity levels are classified as Low, Average, High, Good, Genius, Prodigy, and Divine. You must have noticed why some take years or even decades to completely comprehend the skills and spells while others take only months." It purposefully paused for a second and then added in an affirmative tone,
"Yes, if you don't have a high-level affinity, you are bound to lose to those with those who have above affinities."
Upon hearing those words, Charles suddenly raised his head and asked.
"Do you have a way to check my affinity level?"
The Holem's Crown suddenly became excited and responded in an instant.
"Yes. And, I'm also curious to know that. Close your eyes and perceived the mana first. In the meantime, I will check the process and give you a correct answer."
Charles narrowed his eyes for a moment and soon closed his eyes with a nod. A second later, he used his wisdom power and concentrated his attention on the surrounding air.
To his astonishment, he couldn't sense anything at all. But he didn't give up, though. Instead, Charles relaxed his mind and focused his full attention on the surroundings to perceive something.
After ten minutes of a long search, he finally managed to sense something in the air and soon turned serious.
At that moment, he finally sensed minute amounts of fire elements and some black-colored elements in the surroundings and became surprised.
"Strange… You have only High-level fire affinity and average darkness affinity. But how could you construct the spell models in a short time?" Even the Holem's Crown couldn't understand how the hell did Charles achieve that and got confused. But the Holem's Crown was not a dumb one, though. In few seconds, it ruled out many possibilities and made a bold guess.
"Could it be…? Do you have some artifact to fasten the process?"
Upon hearing those words, Charles's lips twitched uncontrollably.
'As expected of an intelligent one, this artifact indeed is a problem. Thankfully, I have full control over this artifact; otherwise, It would be too difficult to silence it.'
But Charles didn't reply, though. Instead, he glanced at the Holem's Crown and asked in a serious tone.
"Am I able to increase my Fire Affinity?" He felt that he needed to strengthen his Fire Elemental affinity sooner or later.
'Otherwise, I might end up in a bad situation.'
Meanwhile, the Holem's Crown coldly snorted and said in disdain.
"You think that is an easy matter? To increase one's elemental affinity, you need a help of a Divine or an elemental plane. But would a Divine or the 'will' of an elemental plane help you without getting anything in return?"
A bitter smile appeared on Charles's wrinkled face.
'It looks like I need to postpone this and search for a way to increase my affinity in the future.'
With no other choice, Charles lay on the stone slab, rested in the village for the next few hours, and stealthily left the village before the dawn arrives. But the worry about his future started to increase.
After walking away from the remote village, he chose a suitable open space and cast [Red Wings] and [Crimson Robe] on himself. Then, he flapped his wings forcefully and soared up in the sky like a bird. Unlike the previous one, this upgraded version of [Red Wings] spell strengthened his concentration on flying and moved under his thoughts like they were his own.
He knew that some people might notice his action, but he didn't care. He rose higher and higher and soon reached more than 5,000 meters high.
From that height, his legs started to get chill, and even he felt nervous inside.
'Thankfully, this world has no monstrous birds like dragons, wyverns, and so on. Otherwise, I might die in seconds.' He looked at the almost tiny houses and nearby villages and soon zeroed his attention in a particular direction.
'Go in that direction, lad. Chester City is the safest place for you now.' The Holem's Crown said in his mind.
'The Moon Kingdom?' He raised his eyebrows, flapped his wings wide, and soon flew towards the city at a fast speed.
Hours passed as he continued to fly at a 400 km/ hr speed and soon saw the Moon Kingdom's Capital City around noon.
After that, Charles slowed down his speed and descended from the sky. But instead of choosing to land on the city's outskirts, he chose a lone mountain hill and stealthily landed on the peak. If he flew at night time, he might have attracted the attention of commoners. But in daylight, no one noticed his arrival at all!
Unlike the Arc Kingdom, which was filled with greenery, the Moon Kingdom appeared dry and hot and looked more like shrublands. He only saw rocky mountain ranges and plants like dogwood, alder, Vebrnum, pin cherry, and palm trees all over the place.
'I thought the Moon Kingdom would be a snowy place.' He made a disappointing sigh and started climbing down from the mountain hill.
As he reached the ground, he met a few shepherds and asked them about which route was the best to reach Chester City, the capital city of Moon Kingdom. Once he got the answer, Charles didn't stop anywhere and started walking in the right direction.