"I- I ugh... I've never seen this affinity before." Cal said just as confused as me. Apparently, I had not only acquired one but two affinities. Cal said there had been a few accounts of someone getting two affinities. But getting a rare affinity like dark plus an unknown one was unheard of.
I was intrigued by the strange affinity I had. It resembled a thin strand of electricity that sprung widely. Removing my hand from the cube the dark orb and electric strand disappeared. Zora and Cal looked at me, confused as to what they should say.
"T-this is no doubt an unnatural occurrence. We should let Lord Aiken know right away." Cal said, his eyes still glued to my hand,
"Wait! Who knows what father will do once he finds out about this! Shin would practically be a prisoner here for the rest of his life!" Zora protested making her objection clear.
"That's not for use to decide Lady Zora."
Zora went back and forth with Cal for a few minutes before he left. Zora still angry she couldn't stop him paced back and forth cursing under her breath.
"Zora I'm sure It'll be fi-"
"No, it's not! You don't know him as I do. Once he finds out about this he won't stop at anything until he understands it. He's obsessed with Xoul energy. There's a reason why the King of Bulgeria sent him away." Zora paced more deep in thought. I never put much thought into why they lived so far from the capital. But it seems like there was another reason.
"What's the reason?" I asked slightly frightened of her answer.
"To put it simply, he's crazy. Before you came here we used to live in the capital. My father was the lead scientist of the Bulgaria Kingdom earning him noble status. However, his insane thirst for knowledge drove him to try some dangerous experiments. The result was that an entire town was wiped off the map because of him. Instead of executing him, the normal punishment, he was only banished because the King still valued his research."
"And your telling me this now? This seems like a pretty important detail if you ask me." I groaned, annoyed at being left in the dark.
"I knew if I told you... you'd react this way. And I thou-... I thought you wouldn't stay here anymore. I'm sorry." She looked sincere in her apology so I decided to press more on the issue at a later time.
"If what your saying is true then we should go stop Cal. Come on let's go!" I yelled gesturing to the door. Using what we learned earlier I willed energy into my legs allowing me to sprint much faster than I normally would. We had left the library and ran through two hallways in what only felt like seconds before we reached Cal.
"Cal wait!" I yelled my voice barely reaching him at the end of the hall. I quickly walked up to him to put me only a few feet away from him.
"Please don't tell Lord Aiken or anyone else about this! I'm begging you!" I prostrated myself in front of him, bowing as deeply as I could. Zora joined me, lowing her head before Cal.
"Please, you know what might happen if he finds out about this." I said trying to reason with him.
"I was instructed to tell Lord Aiken about an-"
"There's no telling what he would do if he found out so please don't." Zora pleaded sounding extremely desperate. Cal had a look of conflict on his face as he weighed his options. I'm seemed he knew that it could be dangerous if he found out, which only helped aid our argument.
"The consequences could be worse if he finds out on his own."
"That's exactly why we won't let him find out. We'll keep this only between us." I pleaded again meeting his eyes this time.
"Fine, but only because I still owe Lady Zora, I was also hesitant to tell him, I was afraid of what might happen if we didn't. With that being said it should be obvious you don't speak of this outside us three you understand?"
"O-Of course!"
With the new agreement between Zora, Cal and I made, we decided to go back to the library to continue learning about our affinity's. What Cal could teach me was extremely limited, not only was my dark affinity rare and hard to master, I also had an unknown affinity which made It harder so I was basically on my own. On the other hand, Cal was able to help Zora much more. Since her only affinity was water which was common. This went on for a while.
Aside from normal Xoul manipulation, I was lost for the majority of our lessons. Cal tried helping me but failed miserably. A few weeks had passed since I discovered my affinity's and so far I've made little progress. I could barley manifest my affinity's while Zora could fill gallons of water at a time.
"Think of your own Xoul as running water like a stream. Flow the energy through your body like water. Once you feel it escape your body mold it into the shape as best you can. Once you have it send it forward with as much force as you could." Cal instructed watching Zora closely.
"I-I think I got it." A ball of water appeared near Zora slowly taking shape into a spike. When it finished forming she sent the spike hurling in front of her, clashing with Cal's energy.
"Very Good! You're progressing quite quickly."
I was a little jealous of Zora's progress so I tried not to pay attention to it. There were a few books in the library dedicated to the dark affinity but most of it was just speculation,
'Uggghhhh this is so annoying! I can't do anything at this rate.' Just then I thought of an idea.
"Cal, can I ask you something?"
"Yes Shin what is it?"
"Zora told me before that there were schools in the capital that specialized in this sort of thing. Would it be possible for me to attend one? I think It'd be better off learning there."
"Hmmm that could be possible, but despite my looks I am considered a capable teacher that's why I'm here. It's just that the dark affinity is so rare we don't know much about it."
'Is he taking it as an insult? And if Cal is considered capable this world must have some sorry teachers.'
"I know, I just think it'd be a better learning experience for me. There isn't much I can learn here from what I've gathered so far."
"You may be right....." Cal considered my words carefully before responding.
"There's one more thing."
"Hm?"
"If you go to school at the capital it would be under the Hazelin family name. I assume you'd know why that's a problem. You'd also stand out because of your race." Cal stated coldly. He did have some good points. I could imagine that Zora's family wasn't liked in the capital because of her father's incident. My race was a completely different problem altogether.
"Y-you shouldn't go. It would only cause trouble for you." I turned to see Zora speaking to me, she had been listening to our conversation.
'That's easy for you to say! You've been progressing like crazy!' I thought to myself fighting the urge to argue with her.
"I'm willing to deal with it. At this rate, I won't accomplish anything."
"But still..." She looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue.
"Well if you're so determined I won't stop you. There are a few prestigious academies that have learning available for kids your age. I'll ask Lord Aiken about it."
"Thank you Cal, means a lot."
I was excited at the thought of attending a school in another world. The thought of being able to receive higher education was amazing. After all, how could I save humanity If I was an idiot?