The twins ran in underneath her, between her legs, literally bouncing with excitement and jumping from shelf to shelf, eagerly reading the titles on the spines.
Fey trotted inside more calmly and Rina followed behind.
"That's… a lot of books. Back in my old clan we barely had two dozen for the whole herd and if someone wanted a Class they had to go from clan to clan begging to borrow a book."
"Isn't it? It took us a long time to build up so many. Trust me I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was worth it, towns out in the sticks simply do not have access to the sheer range that Class libraries in the cities do so we provide an incredibly important service getting good Classes to those who need them."
The lamia slithered forward to the desk and flipped open a miniature chest at one end of it. Inside was a crystal on a golden chain, the crystal a jagged explosion of clear crystalline spars that refracted the soft light from above sending rainbows dancing over Rina's skin.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Yes, an Affinity Crystal. Extremely useful for finding a Class that you will be strong with."
"We had nothing like that back home, I had to rely on my feelings and advice from the more experienced centaurs. It was incredibly nerve-racking, I was terrified I could end up with a Class that didn't fit right and would be useless and stunted."
"Hmm understandable. Perhaps our caravan should swing by the centaur plains someday if it's as bad as you say. In any case, Kayla?"
The otterkin looked up at the Lamia with round sparkling eyes, excited to see what would happen next.
Rina couldn't help the corner of her lip twitching with amusement. She coiled downward and put the chain in the otterkin's hand. The crystal looked especially large next to diminutive otterkin and she struggled a little under its weight.
"Wh-what do I do?"
As she spoke however the crystal moved, pulling to the side and angling the chain from where it dangled in her hands. Kayla stumbled forward and was led across the floor by the crystal, pulling and tugging at her and leading her toward a book. It touched up against it, flashed a faint green, and then fell limp.
Kayla blinked at it then read the spine.
"Boxer? I don't want to be a boxer!" cried out Kayla. "I'm way to smol for that!"
"Ah, it appears to be a weak Affinity, only a faint green, it happens," said Rina.
"Uhm, it might be because of Vivi," said Fey, "There was a reason she was pushing talk of being a warrior as much as she did, trying to make you think about it more, Affinity is a loose match to what you are suited to deep down in your soul and that is influenced by your interests and experience. If what Vivi was saying interested you it would have increased your Affinity for something along those lines, although a Boxer is quite a bad version of that, I'm not sure how it chose that for you..."
"Yes, a blacksmith might, for example, have a really strong Affinity for the Warsmith Class because they have a comfortable knowledge of it even if they aren't inherently suited to it. Someone after a specific Class might practice something adjacent to it so as to increase their Affinity, but the Class someone is best suited for will always be the one that is a convergence of their experience, interests, and what naturally fits their soul. Here, move around and try again, you might find something better."
Kayla, very dissatisfied with her first try hauled the crystal away and began stalking between the shelves. It wasn't long before she found her next hit, unfortunately, it was even less promising with barely a flicker from the crystal as it alighted on an axe wielders Class.
"Erm, maybe Vivi's words influenced you more than you realised?"
"I'm not having a useless Class! No way!"
Unfortunately as determined as Kayla was she continued to have terrible luck, each Class she was led to was progressively more useless for her size and build and all with terrible Affinity for her. She, at last, came to one that had an impressive green glow that illuminated the room in emerald but the title of the book made her drop the crystal and cover her face with her hands. The spine read "Wandering Innlord".
"An innkeeper Class?" said Fey questioningly.
Rina simply shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know the details of that one, it seems like it has a moderate Affinity, below average but decent, she could do well with it."