After going through the application the whole night, the next morning, Aarav was wandering through the capital's main market thinking about his next move in his journey to the celestial mage. Eleanora Winfield suddenly appeared out of nowhere and asked him to carry her shopping bag while she returned her attendants to their jobs.
Aarav did not retaliate and instead followed her around as she shopped.
"What was the occasion to make her buy this many gifts and clothes?" he wondered after an hour of following her.
When she was finished shopping, she returned to Aarav and said, with a smile, "Triston, you did an excellent job today. As praise for your servitude, take this invitation and come to the evening party dressed in clothes I shopped for you."
"Servitude?, I was simply helping you." Aarav expressed his dissatisfaction.
Ignoring his remark, She handed him an invitation letter as well as a bag of clothes she had purchased earlier. Before Aarav could respond, she turned around and began walking back toward the way to the Royal Palace
"What is an occasion, Eleanora?" Aarav inquired, waving a letter of invitation in the air.
"This is an invitation to my brother's welcome party; my brother recently graduated from Blemsnorth Academy and is finally returning home," she explained, bored.
"Prince Albert, right?" he wondered aloud.
She nodded and rolled her eyes before coming to a halt and saying, "Don't get too worked up about the invitation. My mother forced me to give you this letter; don't think too hard about it, and don't forget that Witch is also coming to the party. So keep a safe distance from her."
"Witch? Do you mean Sierra Whitmore?" Aarav inquired, but she stormed away.
"Does she have mood swings all the time?" Aarav quipped.
[Do you intend to attend the party?]
"As far as I can tell, the invitation is to humiliate me. What a cliché!" Aarav smirked and went on. "Anyway, I have my reasons for going to the party."
[Why are you going if you understand it's a set-up? focus solely on training and increasing your magical rank]
"I'm curious to see what they've prepared for me, and Sierra Whitmore has been invited to a party as well. I'd like to meet her before attending the Academy."
[Sigh!]
[However, don't forget to train]
"un! but You didn't tell me much about my earth affinity, did you?"
[I want you to lay a solid foundation for your core without having given it much thought. But you've made incredible progress, and your foundation is rock solid. So there's no harm in discussing the Earth element right now.]
[While being a combination of both, Earth is the more powerful of its sub-elements terrain and flora. It is the act of bending the earth's properties, such as nature, ground, and sand, to the mage's will and, at times, solidifying it by making it as hard as metals. Because of how diverse it is and how many abilities it comes with, it is an affinity that requires a lot of skill as well as a sacrifice to fully master. It cannot be traced back to single magic, which is why it is a combination of two pre-existing affinities as well as new ones, but sacrifices must be made to develop this. According to legend When not used correctly, the Peccatores, Ashentail, cursed Earth magic, turning the caster's bones to stone. It is unknown whether or not this is true, but the effects of improperly using earth magic are difficult to undo and necessitate transmutation, light, or stronger magical forces to repair or remove the limb.]
He sat silently on the garden bench, like a curious child, listening to Alizeh's explanation.
[Most mages have a main and sub affinity, but those with Earth as their main cannot have another sub-affinity and must stick to Earth alone. However, you are an exception to this rule]
Aarav raised his brows in interest as Alizeh continued,
[You are a jack of all trades. The blood you inherited from your father's side makes you a potential Earth Saint Mage at the very least, while the blood you inherited from your mother's side makes your potential limitless, and you can easily increase your affinity with the wind element with my additional help as I'm a wind spirit. However, to manage these elements, you must have a large reservoir of mana, for which you must train hard and begin training with Sierra Whitmore to enhance your tempo and strengthen your core.]
"So, I can only use Earth spells for now." Aarav reconfirmed.
[Un!, but you can't use high-level earth spells.]
Aarav made an annoyed face, but kept calm and asked, shaking off his stupor, "Tell me more about Mages who have an affinity with the Earth element?"
[Earth users have a similar ability to terrain users in terms of feeling vibrations and locating the intended target within a certain limited distance based on mana usage. They can also feel the metals down in the terrain and manipulate them to make/craft things out of them, which are their strengths, but there is a weakness as well: being high up in the air, or on platforms slightly higher up from the ground, causes dizziness and makes them weaker. They do not receive all of the benefits of Flora and Terrain spells; only some of them. There are distinctions.]
"Can I use all Earth's sub-elements, such as metal, sand, mud, flora, and terrain?" Aarav was curious.
[Thanks to the Barrington blood in your veins, of course! but you have to be patient]
"So, you think I'm ready to fight?" he asked.
[Only spells of the beginner or in emergency intermediate level]
'Somehow, I have to reach the level of Celestial Mage as soon as possible,' he resolved as he listened to Alizah. 'I need to meet Sierra and begin using our life pact to boost my magic level. As per the information I gathered, Celestial Mage has the highest probability of leaving leave realm, so I have a chance to return home.'
"Nevertheless, tonight will be a fun event," he smirked as he clenched his fist.
[…]