"Ewww!, what the hell Old man!?" Zane shouted as he removed the spit and tea covering his face.
"Sorry about that" Old man said, his eyes still looked at Zane but it was obvious his mind was occupied by something.
Old man suddenly waved his hand and Zane felt a gust of wind blow all the tea and spit off him before a small flame appeared and burnt the liquid into nothingness.
'Such fine control!' Zane would be impressed at how perfect Old man's control was over the elements, however something else was on his mind.
"What happened?" he asked Old man, who was still glaring at Zane with overly curious and envious eyes.
A few seconds later Old man spoke "I will ask again, What element did you awaken?"
Zane moved back a little bit and covered his face with his arms dramatically before answering "I never awakened any element" he repeated.
"Huh, no spit this time?" Zane mocked as he moved back to his seat.
"So tell me Old man what's up?" he asked once more.
"No i don't believe you, here inject mana into this" Old man gave Zane a round orb the size of a basketball. It was black in color, but Zane didn't know that of course.
"What's---"
"It's an affinity orb, used for testing elemental affinity. It will light up according to your affinity. Red for fire. Blue for water. Brown for earth. Green for wind and yellow for the elusive lightning element." Old man explained before Zane could even ask.
With almost shaking hands, Zane held the orb. He already knew that he didn't have an affinity and had made peace with it, however he couldn't deny the fact that he was hopeful and nervous.
What if his element just took longer to appear or what if this orb is the one he was supposed to use to see his affinity in the first place.
Back in the village when Zane passed the age of 10 without feeling his element like William had taught him, he didn't know of this orb, actually he doubted anyone from Nok had even heard of it, including William himself.
With a deep breath, Zane injected some mana into the orb, not healing mana, pure mana. Old man's eyes were opened to a ridiculous degree as he watched the orb in anticipation.
"......"
Ten seconds passed and the orb didn't change color, Zane released and sad sigh as he put it down. He had raised his hopes for nothing.
"See Old man i---"
"YES!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA, they told it was Impossible but i told them and they said i was crazy. Now i have the proof, well part of the proof, but..."
Zane was shocked to say the least. He had wanted to tell Old man that he really didn't have an affinity as evidenced by the orb when Old man suddenly jumped into the air laughing.
Usually when people jump, they come back down, however Old man was pacing and mumbling some incoherent words in mid air!!.
For thirty seconds, Zane looked on as Old man paced around the room in mid air. His feet were even flat like he was walking on the ground.
"HELLO!!" Zane shouted for the fifth time.
"Huh?" Old man stopped pacing and looked around, seemingly looking for the person who just shouted.
"Down here!" Zane waved.
"Ohh right"
BANG!
Old man landed back on the ground with relative force. Unsurprisingly he wasn't hurt, surprisingly the floor also didn't suffer from even a scratch.
"Explain Old man, why are you so happy?" Zane was getting frustrated of looking at Old man's freakishly large grin.
"Zane let's say you are an old man, and you find a once in a lifetime talent whom you can mould to become one of the most powerful existences in history. Wouldn't you be as happy as i am?" Old man spoke so fast, Zane had to think about his words in order to understand.
"Old man what does your talent have to do with me?. You know what forget it, you said Bella has arrived i will go look for her myself" Zane stood up in irritation and prepared to leave. He was tired of Old man's games
'Maybe he is having a mental breakdown, after living for so long' Zane thought.
"Zane you are smart, what does it mean to not have elemental affinity?" Old man said, one could tell he was still trying to hold his excitement.
Since it seemed like Old man was talking about his situation, Zane answered like he was taught.
"It means I don't have elemental mana in my body. Since mana, except for healing mana is always in the form of elemental mana below the supreme mage realm." Zane explained.
Old man nodded "Yes that's right you have no elemental mana right now, and it's Impossible for you to awaken an element since you are already too old, you will never in yoir entire life have an element specialization!. This is great!" he seemed about to go crazy again.
"Old man!" Zane shouted and Old man snapped back to reality.
"Zane what makes it harder to cast a powerful spell of an element one doesn't have affinity with?" he asked.
"The mana in one's body is always of the element they have an affinity in, and in order to cast a different elemental spell one has to convert their mana into that of the element they wish to use" Zane said, it was common knowledge at this point.
"Think about your answer Zane and then think about your situation" Old man said, watching Zane with a gleam in his eyes. He wanted Zane to realize the answer himself.
Zane naturally liked puzzles, riddles and problem solving so he thought deeply about it. Alex wanted to say something but realized Zane's concentration and stopped himself.
Two seconds later.
Boom!
The answer hit him like turbo charged bullet train barreling down a hill laced with butter on a planet with ten times the gravity of earth while...Ahem.
Anyway, Zane got the answer he was looking for, and to say he was shocked would be a great understatement.
"But.....but...if...when....what!" He tried to talk but his mind was still to shocked to think of anything understandable.
A few seconds later and he finally regained his mental faculties.
"But will that work?" he asked Old man who had also calmed down but still very much happy.
"I'm not sure, it has a 30% chance of working out though, The events after entering the Mage realm are unpredictable" Old man said.
What had they figured out?. Well it goes like this: Zane doesn't have elemental mana. He doesn't have an elemental specialization, keep that in mind.
Then comes the second part, The problem of casting spells of different elements is that one would need to change their mana from their specialization to the other element, which makes the mana lose power.
However, Zane doesn't have a elemental specialization, he won't need to change his mana into another element. He will be able to use all the elements like he was specialized in them!!!.
"Hopefully you will get mana when you breakthrough. If you become a mage and nothing changes, you will stay an average Mage healer. However if some miracle happens there is a chance of you becoming one of the most powerful mages in existence." Old man said.
Zane nodded as his mind drifted into thought.
"If only you could defy logic and weild pure mana, If that happens, you will undoubtedly become the undisputed, strongest being to ever live. You would become a mana prodigy."
"And if i am lucky, i just might be able to witness the Rise of the Mana Prodigy."