Altair was in the last class of his first day, and it was Mana Theory. The teacher, an unassuming man in his mid thirties, was drawing diagrams on the board behind him while talking to his students. Despite Altair's usual interest in topics such as these, the conversation he had at lunch kept popping up in his mind.
'I don't know what Deity House Legendry claims to believe in, but several members have connections to Daemon and even Jester. Do you understand now? Alexander could very well have connections to the God's of Contracts, Bargains and Mischief! That's a horrible combination for owing a debt!'
'Really? But Alexander seemed pretty unimpressed when talking about those Gods. And I'm pretty sure he insulted Daemon multiple times over too' Altair argued back.
Sia had shaken her head as she looked at her brother in exasperation. 'That just increases the chances that Alexander is a believer in Daemon. "He" could care less about how "His" believers view "Him" and actively encourages mortals to blaspheme the Gods. If Alexander was a follower of any of the other nineteen Gods, he would have been much more respectful!'
After that, the two siblings were forced to go their separate ways, but not before Sia ordered Altair to come to her first before agreeing to any favours. He had reluctantly agreed, though internally he planned to keep Sia in the dark. While Altair made a point to act natural, he had not forgotten the words Alexander had spoken after the opening ceremony.
'He clearly knows about my status as an "Abomination", but how much? And how did he even find out in the first place, if I only gained the Title several days before arriving at Sky Cross? And if Alexander knows, does that mean there are others who do too? Damnit, I'm surrounded by invisible blades!'
After going through several more classes, Altair had reached the last one before the end of his first school day. His last subject was "Elemental Theory" and was about the various Elements and Affinities in Orvonia. The teacher was a man in his late twenties with short brown hair and an ordinary face, called Mr Ascarte. He had a friendly disposition and seemed excited to teach new students, making his class easy to follow.
"The simplest Elements are the Primal Six: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Ice and Lightning. They are the most common type of Affinities and all fill the usual niches in combat. Fire is primarily offensive and specialises in fast and large bursts of explosive power. Air is a mobility type Element that focuses on speed, but it also has potential in defence and offense in the right hands. Water has rejuvenating properties and is also a good bumper to keep enemies at bay. A highly skilled user can inflict quite a lot of damage with compressed or pressurized water blasts, but Water still lacks the offensive capabilities of the other Elements."
"Earth is mostly focuses on defence and has the best damage absorption amongst all the Elements. Like Water, Earth users can still inflict damage at a higher skill-level, but it will always be behind Fire and Lightning. Ice is an Element that excels at crowd-control and domain-control. Ice users receive the biggest boost while within their own Elemental environment. If given space, an Ice user can completely turn the battlefield into their playground."
"Lightning is considered the best of all the Primal Elements. Its attacks hit hard, fast and can affect groups too. On top of that, Lightning has a solid absorption rate and deflection. However, these positives come with negatives: Lightning uses the most Mana of the Primal Elements, and Skills and Techniques that use it also have a long charge-up and cooldown time."
"After these six Elements come more complex and rare ones, the Advanced Elements. All of these fall under the Prana category, meaning Prana is needed to sustain them. If by some rare chance you acquire these Affinities but can't use Prana, then I am afraid they will be useless to you. If your Affinity is a Mixed one however, you may be able to use the individual Elements instead."
"First is Temperature, which is a combination of Fire and Ice. Temperature users have a much more advanced type Domain Control than Ice, and they pack a stronger punch than regular Fire users. They are the most balanced Prana Element, but are still lacking somewhat in defence. Temperature users are suitable for pretty much any environment, and can also create a Domain of Fire instead of just Ice."
"Metal is when you mix Fire and Earth together. Metal users have intense defence and a near-equal level of firepower too. Metal users can freely manipulate the minerals in the ground, not just the earth itself, and coat themselves in these compounds. Metal users have a unique synergy with Weapon Arts and can control molten metals just as easily."
"Storm is the result of blending Lightning and Air together. While not a Domain type, it still has great crowd-control capabilities and the swiftness of Air compliments the already fast Lightning quite well. The one downside of Storm is that it covers too large an area for precise attacks and often s cars the landscape afterwards, making it more of a weapon of destruction than a tool for your average battlefield."
"Wood is a standalone Prana Element that doesn't need other Elements to exist. Wood grants control over trees and plant life, making it quite versatile but also lacking in any one area. Wood users are not suited for battle, but rather development like agriculture. Of course, a sufficiently skilled Wood user can certainly reach the same level as Storm and Temperature users if they try."
"Nature is when you add Wood, Earth and Water all together and is the strongest Domain type tin the Prana category. Nature allows the user to create and control entire ecosystems and habitats, making them a walking fortress of living creatures. Nature users possess the second greatest healing capabilities amongst all the Elements, just after Life."
"Darkness and Light are twin Affinities that directly counter each other, much like Fire and Ice do on their own. Darkness specialises in debuffs and corruption, causing enemies to suffer madness and lose themselves to depravity. Pure Darkness, which is wielded by Vampires and Devils, is foul and oppressive, and has the nature of causing all living things to degenerate. Aenrys, the God of Filth, is the best example of a Darkness user."
"Light is a supporter Element, though it is very effective and combating Darkness. Light users can grant blessings to others and boost their strength in various ways. It heals to a lesser extent than Nature, but also provides more boosts such as attack and reaction speed. Light users have fairly strong defensive abilities, but only really becomes frontline fighters against the Darkness Element, against which it has the advantage."
"Next is Shadow, the unusual mixture of Light and Darkness. Now, Shadow and Darkness are fundamentally two different Affinities. Shadow is the absence of Light, and Light is thus a variable of Shadow and the Affinity belongs in the Prana category. While pure Darkness exists as the antithesis of Light, and is incapable of withstanding any interference from it. Both belong to the Prana category, but Shadow is a Mixed Element."
"Shadow users are very rare, because Darkness and Light almost never coexist together. Goddess Nyx is the most famous example of a Shadow user, since "Her" Authority is over the absence of the Sun and light, rather than complete darkness. Shadow users are much more versatile than Darkness users too. The strength of their buffs is increased, but they can only apply them to themselves. They can control shadows into pretty much whatever they ant, teleport through them, and have heavy resistance to both the purification of Light and corruption of Darkness."
"Blood is Water and Life, and is actually better at attacking than healing. Blood users, which are primarily Noble Vampires, can separate their blood and form weapons from it. Due to partly being made from Water, Blood users can fluidly manipulate their Affinity almost to the same extent of a Shadow user. While being mainly focused on offence, it still provides a fair amount of healing properties too. Blood users are often tricky and sly, and fond of using their blood to attack in bizarre and unusual ways."
"And now we are onto the five most unique Elements known to Orvonia: Sky, Life, Death, Soul and Cosmic. The last one is practically a myth in particular, with only tales from eons past as source material."
"Sky is a Prana Element with the most sub-Elements and borders on an Aether Element. It is comprised of Air, Water, Lightning, and Gravity. Dragon God Morduch was a user of the Sky Element, while the Almighty Primordial was also believed to have been one. In the Fourth Era, House Yareli possessed the Sky Bloodline, though its quality had been diluted by that point. Sky users can summon storms, tornadoes and all manner of natural disasters. They have a far superior grasp over the weather than simple Wind and Thunder users. They can also use Gravity to "drop" the sky on enemies and crush them. In modern day, only Seraphic still has domain over Sky."
"Life is a less complex Element than Sky, but is not any weaker. The Life Element grants users borderline biological immortality and advanced genetics. A Life user gains more EXP from killing things than other Ascenders and also has an easier time controlling Mana. As the name suggests, Life users can control and create the life of things around them. In simple usage, they can accelerate or stop healing, and grant powerful buffs to others. In more complex usage, Life users can create Homunculi and other life, as well as seize control of biological matter. If you are too weak, a Life user can commandeer your body and control you like a meat-puppet."
"Death is the opposite to Life. but also has similarities. Death users can rapidly drain the vitality of others and store it within themselves for a boost. Furthermore, users can apply the status of "death" to themselves, effectively nullifying the affect of freezing, pain or blood loss. After all, a corpse can't feel anything and neither do they produce blood to bleed. Death users also gain an increased amount of EXP compared to other Ascenders. The biggest threat a Death user represents is their natural ability of Necromancy. While Life users create Homunculi, Death users use Necromancy to command armies of fallen beings."
"Soul is unique in that it has the widest range of uses, and has a bit of every other Element mixed in. Soul was referred to as Neutral Mana or Mind Mana in the 2nd and 1st Era, and only got its current name when the Almighty Primordial delved into it in the 3rd Era. Soul users can do a variety of things: teleport, turn invisible, telekinesis, telepathy, and many more. Basically, any Skill that does not have a blaring connection to an Element likely falls under the Soul category."
"The Soul Element is seen as one of the strangest in the world, since it has no clear origin. Fire, Nature, Space and Blood all have physical applications in the real world, but there is no "soul" for Soul magic to project against. What Soul has Authority over is thus unknown, if it even has Authority over anything at all."
"The Almighty Primordial held multiple Affinities, the most powerful of which were Sky and Soul. Apart from "Him", God of Dreams Chanteur is the only God to rule over the Element in the known history of Orvonia."
"The final Element today is the Cosmic Element. This one is a real doozy, because it is arguably the strongest Element. Cosmic users can allegedly control and create Aether with ease, and they can also dictate the fate of the world by controlling the stars. Cosmic users are said to possess infallible Divination skills and the ability to block any other Divinations. Also, the legends claim a Cosmic user can leave Orvonia and explore different realities without any side-effects."
"They can also control all other forms of Mana and literally bend the world to their will as they please. Giant King Aurgelmir is rumoured to have a partial Affinity for Cosmic, in that "He" possess the Time, Gravity and Space Elements. But whether these Elements existed individually or Aurgelmir truly did possess a Cosmic Affinity is unknown, though most scholars agreed "He" would have never lost to Morduch if "He" truly did possess such an Affinity."
"Consus is another figure that is suspected to have a Cosmic Affinity, but "They" have not shown any of the fabled powers attached with it, so "They" have been dismissed with simply having a dual Space and Gravity Affinity."
"These five Elements are called the Ultimate Elements because of their rarity and power. They are also the only Elements that can resist Ether and Nether properly, making their users natural counters to Devils and Angels. Because of this fact, the two parties have made sure to purge any Bloodlines that awakened these Affinities over the Era's and only stopped in the Fifth at the insistence of the Gods. The majority of the Yareli's were actually killed by the Angels, rather than the Fernandez Family, as an example of how much they fear these five Elements."
"The 22 Elements govern the laws and concepts of Orvonia, and most have or had a God attached to them. For instance, Nyx has control over Shadow while Dendron has control over Nature. Some Gods have conflicting control however, such as Polydorus and Calypso because the former has the Authority of Storm, which is partly made of Water which Calypso controls."
Mr Ascarte then drew up a table on the board and simplified what he had covered over the course of the class. He arranged the Element in their group, and attached the names of the Gods that ruled over them, both Modern and Ancient.
[Primal]
» Fire: Almighty Primordial, Xerxes, Sol
» Water: Almighty Primordial, Chrystalarium, Calypso
» Earth: Almighty Primordial, Gaia
» Air: Almighty Primordial, Zephylte
» Lightning: Almighty Primordial, Sulyvahn
» Ice: Almighty Primordial, Navruavati
[Advanced]
» Gravity: Jester
» Time: Fallacy,
» Space: Fallacy
» Blood: Volanna, Navruavati
» Wood: Almighty Primordial, Dendron
» Nature: Almighty Primordial, Syntharae
» Metal: Metallus
» Storm: Almighty Primordial, Polydorus
» Shadow: Almighty Primordial, Nyx
» Poison: Aenrys
» Temperature: Almighty Primordial
» Darkness: Aenrys
» Light: Almighty Primordial, Seraphic
[Ultimate]
» Sky: Morduch, Almighty Primordial, Seraphic
» Soul: Almighty Primordial, Chanteur
» Life: Tiamat, Almighty Primordial
» Death: Aenrys
» Cosmic: Aurgelmir (suspected), Consus (suspected)