After leaving the Training hall, Ray went straight home, when he arrived home his mother was outside preparing food. It was summer and the weather was perfect for a barbecue outside. Lune was cutting the vegetables and Aaron was grilling the meat.
"There you are Ray, how was practice with Lucy?"
Lune looked at him while crept up her face,she noticed his clothes being all dirty. Which meant he must have learned a lot.
"It was great, she is awesome." Ray was beaming as he said that. Aaron looked him up and couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"hahaha, Go shower before the food is finished, you need proper food to make your training worth it" said Aaron as he signaled him with his head at the door.
"En." Ray nodded and went inside
"Looks like practicing with Lucy did him some good." Lune said as she smiled at Aaron.
"Hahaha, we should have invited Lucy, Ray would like it." Aaron said as went closer to Lune.
"You don't think that he likes her do you? That is called admiration." Lune only shook her head while continuing to chop the vegetables.
"Why not? From admiration into love, isn't that how we got together." Said Aaron before pulling lune in his arms.
"Oh come on, we were different, I was already 20 years then, Ray is just 12."
"Mages live for a long time, a few years make no difference." Aaron went closer to give her a kiss when he smelled something burning.
"........" he just looked at the meat that was on the grill a moment ago and felt silent.
"We still have some in the fridge, go bring it, Ray must be hungry and 3 pieces won't even be enough for him alone, let alone you." Lune told him while chuckling before going back to cutting the vegetables.
"Next time you grill the meat while I cut the vegetables." Aaron scratched the back of his head after which he went into the house to bring some more meat as he said that.
After a while Ray came back after his shower and sat to eat with his parents to have a nice family moment.
For the next few days Ray did he daily training in the forest with Lucy and occasionally hunt some magic beasts, while doing dagger practice together with Lucy who also majored at daggers. She later also introduced Mary to him and had her join their daily training, ofcours for Mary It was the harder version that Lucy set, which was the same as hers. Mary could only look at Ray with false hatred for introducing this training to someone like Lucy.
Ray had told them some methods of earth and Lucy seemed to like them, so she changed them a bit and made it even harder.
A month went by in that fashion, Ray's dagger skills could be said to have no rivals in the same age group, which left Lucy in admiration of his growth, what took her a year took Ray only a month and she was seen as a genius in the academy.
Early in the morning when Ray woke up and left for his training with Lucy, Aaron and Lune looked at his back while having smiles on their faces.
"Looks like it is time, he doesn't even notice the ring"
"En, our son can now choose his own path." both of them could feel the mana from Ray's body, while it was not much, it was enough to be felt by people of their skill, they only needed a slight push to reach the stages where they awaken their bloodline and be known as Archmages.
At the city gates, Lucy was there waiting for Ray, when she saw him she too revealed a gorgeous smile and even Mary who was unwillingly brought there by Lucy (like always) could not help but smile. Both of them see Ray as their little brother, the last month spent together was enough to get them close to each other.
"Seems like your mana has awakened" When Ray got closer to the duo he heard Lucy speak
"I have.... awakened..?" Ray could not believe his ears.
"Yes you have little Ray, come give your big sister a hug, from today onwards you are a mage, although just a mage apprentice but a mage nonetheless." Mary on the other hand ran towards him to give him a hug.
"I have to tell mom and dad, I'll see you two in the training facility later." Ray was elated beyond believe, he immediately got out of Mary's hug and ran back home.
"So is morning practice canceled? Alright see you later Lucy, I'll go sleep a bit more." Mary hurriedly tried to leave just to be stopped by a hand on her left shoulder.
"Oh, no you don't, you and I are going to practice." Lucy said while smiling, Mary could only follow behind her to practice.
....=======
When Ray finally got home his mother felt him coming back and guessed that he found out.
"Mom! Dad, look, my Ring!" Ray screamed as he was at the door. Lune give him a loving hug as she opened the door, she was very happy just seeing him happy.
"Stop screaming already, we heard you. We told you that everyone awakens and that yours would be soon." While he sounded as he was complaining, the smile on his face said otherwise.
"Come let's test your affinity, while it is not as accurate as the academies it is enough to determine your elements."
"En." Ray nodded his head as he followed his father. Aaron brought him to the warehouse and took out an device with an Orb on top of it, the Orb was transparent while the device was pitch black.
"Put your hand on the orb then focus on the mana inside your body, then try to move it to your hand and insert it into the orb, when you do that the orb will light up depending on your affinities with the elements the orb will have a different color or multiple colors, now try it."
"En." Ray closed his eyes and tried to focus on his mana, after 10 minutes of concentration he finally found it and could feel it after that he tried moving it to his hand, which took him 20 minutes to complete and finally he inserted it into the orb from his palm.
Once the mana went inside the orb it lit up, the color of the whole orb was white, which was a sign of the Light affinity, but there was something different, inside the orb there were constant white lightning's and they were the same color as the light, but had a different density.
Both Aaron and Lune were happy and excited as well, they had made a bet about Ray's affinities and both of then had it right, since neither expected a double affinity. Double affinity is very rare, not so rare they you can't find them, but rare enough to limit it to about 5% of the mages, even rarer were those with more than two affinities or BloodPowers, also known as BP, but that is only possible for children with mages who awakened their bloodlines, also know as Mana Awakening. But the chances are so small from a million of those children one might have a BP.
"I guess we both lose the bet" Aaron shook his head as he said that.
"What do you mean lose, we both win, our son has double affinities for both Light and Lightning, and his lightning seem to have some kind of mutation with the light, which is even rarer than BPs. There is no way that this is a loss." Said Lune as she smiled when seeing Ray, her son would now tread the road of a magician and they would support him whatever way possible.
Aaron nodded his head as well and patted Ray on his head "Remember, not only have you awakened, you also have also inherited both your mother and my affinities, never forget that we will always support you."
"Now that you have awakened, it is time to go to the Magic Aademy, the academy accepts students twice a year and the next entrance exam is in 2 months time." Lune added to what Aaron said, their words sounded like goodbyes in Ray's head, he started to tear up.
"Thanks mom, dad, but Mary said the fees for the academy are very expensive, I can go to a different, cheaper one."
"No worries about that Ray, money is no problem to us, just remember to find a good girl to spend time with." Aaron laughed while whispering the later part into his ear.
"I heard that! Don't listen to him Ray, focus on your study, the rest is for when you have grown up."
"En." Ray went upstairs to his bed while the two look at him leaving.
"You know, it took me 1 hour to test my affinity and yours took 1 hour and 10 minutes." Lune said as she was smiling. Aaron looked her in the eyes before having a smirk on his face saying
"His is my son after all."
"What do you mean 'my son', he is also my son and I was even faster than you by 10 minutes." Lune pouted and turned her head.
"Let's go to bed, tonight deserves a celebration." Aaron pulled Lune in his embrace before carrying her princess style to the room.