Taylor returned home in no time. When he entered his house he noticed his father was sitting in the living room and reading the news.
He thought nothing of it as he had done so various times before, so he just headed upstairs to his room.
Taylor stopped as his father called out to him.
"Taylor. Can I speak to you for a moment?"
'Did I do something wrong?'
He walked back to his father taking a seat across from him. "Yeah, what is it dad?"
His father sighed before speaking. "My colleagues say that you have been all buddy-buddy with a Tragnantian boy."
"I have." Taylor confessed.
"Do you not listen to what I've told you? What you are doing is immoral. Nothing good has and nothing ever will come from the large influx of them coming over to our kingdom. All they do is take the valuable resources that would be afforded to the people of Sol."
"It may not conform to what everyone else calls moral, but since when has being friends with someone because of who they are rather than the blood that runs through them been morally wrong. Everyone just wants to prove themselves right. By treating them terribly, and making them feel worthless, they are successfully creating the terrible monsters that they are so afraid of."
"Alex is different, he is strong. Somehow and someway, probably through sheer perseverance, he has remained pure."
His father listened to what Taylor had said but took none of it to heart. "Nonsense, the temple, our religion tells us to not prance around with the sinful. What you say can be considered blasphemy. I don't want you hanging out with that boy anymore." His father said raising his voice near the end.
"It also says that all people can turn away from that path, so who is to say that he is sinful just because of who he is? Our religion contradicts itself all the time, and only because we have some puppet head pouring his interpretations into our heads." Taylor said speaking his doubts.
"I won't stop being his friend just because it is considered immoral. Because to me, it is morally right. Much more so than cutting all ties." Taylor finished leaving his father who's face was an unreal shade of red.
He went to bed hoping his father would leave it all as is.
'That boy, if he wasn't so strong I would have given him a whipping. To say such words and not be afraid of being smitten to death.'
He picked up his phone to call an old friend. "Hey, do you know that boy who has been hanging around with Taylor? I'll need to ask you to gather all things about him, I plan to make a trip to the temple."
He pulled out a pen and paper writing down everything his friend told him.
When morning came Taylor was surprised to not see his father. "Oh, your father said he left on a business trip. He said that he would be back in a month."
Taylor nodded. He had a bad feeling in his gut. He knew that his father might have left not due to business but due to Alex and wanting the two of them split up.
——————
Alex had sighed as he opened his eyes.
'Just another week and the Expert class will be within my reach.'
Alex had been pushing himself to the limit for the past few weeks. His control over the spacial element had grown quite a lot. He had even invented a new technique.
Alex opened a portal and sent his energy through it. By doing so his range had nearly doubled in one direction, but his control had been weakened. He didn't stop he opened more and more until he was straining himself to hold the portals open.
He walked through the portals. 'Almost a thousand feet traveled within a few seconds. But most importantly I should be able to create two halos at once very soon.'
Alex had already left the cave a few hours ago with Taylor, but he often came back to learn some more English.
He could read a lot of the book from the car. He understood that it was a user's manual for the car and he from what he had read he was able to guess that the car used a combustible fluid that was injected into an engine, somehow generating electricity without the need for mana.
However, a lot of the energy was wasted since the vehicle was just sitting there. That lead to the energy gathering and forming a lightning catalyst.
Alex didn't come here to learn more English, not this time at least. This time he was gonna do his fifth attempt at creating two halos.
He created one very easily. The darkness began pouring out filling the room. He began forming a second one. This time however he used the higher purity of darkness.
'It's already somewhat condensed, it should be easier to form into a halo.'
'The hardest part is compressing it, if I get past that it'll be easy sailing.'
Alex was strained as he cleared out a vacuum for the halo. It was significantly harder to keep the darkness within when he had two of them running.
He pushed and pushed the energy together, both halos were vibrating very violently as if they were about to fall apart.
But they didn't.
Alex sighed as the second halo shrunk down and darkness began pouring out of it.
In between each breath, Alex let out small laughs. 'It's done, with this my efficiency will only grow.'
With every second he could feel his dark affinity growing in strength and size. Not only that but his spacial affinity's control was strengthened with every second under the pressure he was put through.
"The first time is always the hardest. Next time it will be child's play."
Alex felt his light affinity. It was vibrantly shining, the lightning catalysts have long lost their ability to hurt him. He turned the vehicle on, and rather than waiting for it to grow, he began drawing the excess lightning mana into his light affinity, wasting no energy on having to heal himself.
Alex closed his eyes feeling himself growing stronger.
——————
He felt a crack suddenly as his view of the world changed. A new affinity had appeared within him. Alex stopped drawing in the lightning mana with his spacial affinity and began drawing it in naturally. He looked at his hands as his summoned lightning arched between his fingers. He could now feel lightning mana without using his spacial affinity.
He smiled for a moment before he continued using his spacial energy to put the lightning mana into his light affinity.
Alex continued strengthening himself in silence. After a few hours, he felt the feeling he had been anticipating.
His body glowed and gave off warmth as his light affinity awakened. He felt a fire within him spread out, all of the fatigue from his sleepless nights, all of his scars, all of his malnourished muscles were healed to their prime instantly.
'Just as I thought, unlike Taylor's light, I have awakened a grand light affinity.' He thought as he felt the changes.
His range had increased from a hundred and forty-five to one hundred fifty feet.
The amount of growth for the dark affinity had increased by a third.
The Beginner class was sixty feet and the Adept class was eighty feet. He was currently nearing the hundred and forty total limit, sitting at a decent hundred and twenty.
He had gained ten from the two new affinities. And his spacial affinity hadn't changed yet staying at twenty feet.
Alex looked at the time. 'the sun should be up soon.'
He had noticed that he had destroyed the two halos when his affinity had awakened.
He smiled as he began summoning light. He felt the cold cave beginning to warm up as his light permeated through it.
'Will it work?' He thought as he began planning his next path.
'I'll get my dark affinity to the Expert class, then I will let my light affinity catch up, and then I will see if I can create a spacial halo.'
'They said spacial energy can only be created when light and darkness are equal.' Alex thought as he pondered how long it would take.
'It'll be a few months before that will be possible.'
He recreated the halos and started drawing in the lightning mana into his lightning affinity. A huge grin filled his face as he pressed the pedal in the car down. The amount of lightning mana being created increased as the vehicle roared loudly.
——————
Alex stood up as his alarm went off. "Time to go." The vehicle had turned off for the first time while he was meditating, and he was forced to spend half of the extra fuel.
He left the cave.
When he was outside he readied himself before dashing forward. He flew forward as the dirt behind him was flung up.
"Oh, crap!" Alex said. When he landed he had noticed that his foot was directly touching the dirt.
His already old shoes were completely broken. 'Well, I guess I should have expected this. I needed a new pair anyway.'
He entered his room. Alex grabbed some food, that he had bought and told his family that he was heading off to school.
It was the weekend, but the magic classes still met even though there were no regular classes.
A few weekends ago he was forced to tell his mother that he had an affinity. She had taken it rather well, as he had expected. He had also watched as her eyes filled with greed. He felt sick to his stomach as she pretended he was her favorite child. He could already see her going over to her friends and telling bragging about the child she had birthed. Claiming all of his hard work, pain, suffering, and success as her own.
She had reduced her yelling at him and even put on an act around him. He just ignored it and went on with his days.
——————
Earlier this morning.
"So what aches you, to come all the way out here." The man with the fancy white robes asked.
"It's my son. Recently he has been hanging around a Tragnantian boy. I fear that he will be corrupted over time if this continues." Taylor's father could be seen sitting in a confessional stand.
"There is no need for payment. The temple of the one true god would be always willing to help its members in their times of need." The man said a serious look on his face.
"Now tell me about this boy who your son has made friends with." The man said.
"They go to the same school, he comes from a poor family, and his name is Alex Erebus."
The man's face went white after he heard Alex's name. "I'm sorry but we can't help you with this problem."
"What, but you just said you would help in a time of need." Taylor's dad exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, but we can't afford to take the chance. Every time we attempt to mess with anyone with the name Alex, the potions guild jumps in to defend them. I'll see you next time you come to visit old friend." The man said before turning to leave.
Taylor's father seeing the man leave panicked. "Wait, he is a dark mage too."
The man in the robe stopped suddenly. "He is?" Taylor's father nodded. "Well, this certainly changes things. I can send a few members to capture him. I need absolute silence though, if we are found out there will be retaliation from the potions guild, so keep quiet about what will transpire."
Taylor's father nodded before sighing. "Thank you, head priest."
"It's my pleasure thank you for sharing this information with me. You are free to go, I will send a few members with you to accompany you back." The head priest said while leaving the confessional stand. 'We get to take out a few future threats. Today was a prosperous day.'
——————
Alex wearing a fresh and stronger pair of shoes entered the school grounds.
'I have a lot to look forward to. Tomorrow the instructors will claim themselves as my mentors, basic training will finish, and I will begin learning a lot more about runes.'
He had already learned all of the runes used for the project they were working on.
He walked up to the big building with a small spire above it, not knowing of the events that were in motion.