Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: Magic

The magic in this world manifests itself to an individual once they turn 7 years old. A person can only use one type of element. This can either be using fire, water, wind, earth, light or dark attributes. It is customary that once a child reaches 7 years of age, they are taken to a temple to determine what attributes they possess. This allows them to incorporate their magic with their fighting styles once they reach 10 years and are taken to a combat training center. Only 2 months remaining, I hope I get the earth attribute. Why the earth attribute you ask, well I picked up a hobby in the last two months. In fact I would go as far as to say I would like to be a blacksmith. After our house and its compound was completed 2 months ago, I finally got my research and development space. A talented blacksmith known as Duran was hired to be my assistant. He is a very jolly who likes to hide his beer behind the forge when any other person besides me enters the premises. He is very skilled both as an earth mage and a blacksmith. He is able to form complicated shapes with metal using his earth manipulation. In fact, the next business venture will be making carriages for the nobles. The current world lacks knowledge of transmission and wheel axles needed for smooth riding. Instead, they compensate by ensuring the chairs are made with very thick cotton cushions to minimize the impact from rough roads. Duran has no problem churning out springs and other items I design. We carried out a test with one of my mother's horse drawn carriages after receiving her permission. The result was that she insisted that we do the same to her other carriage as well. According to her, the journey was so smooth that she could apply her makeup on her face without fear of making a mistake. Later I discussed with her the prospects of turning the carriage business as our next business venture. "I cannot deny that your idea may even surpass the mill business in terms of profit but the starting capital is also too high. With the Baron currently undermining our efforts by introducing punitive taxes, our monthly profits have fallen by half" my mother said. "Aaah, by half? That is downright illegal. have you tried complaining to your rich powerful noble friends. It is possible that they can help? " I asked. "The order as far as I am aware comes from up top" she answered. That statement did not inspire hope at all. After all, we knew who exactly was responsible for this mess. It can only be one person, the queen. The queen, my father's bride even came as far as demanding that her son be part of the ownership of the mill. Her argument was that her husband, my father facilitated the endeavor hence it was only natural that her son is included. This is not to say that the royal family is broke. No in fact, I would estimate their wealth to be at least 10,000 times that of ours. Why then bother with us I wonder? We have faced various acts of aggression against us in the last 3 months including forced health inspections of the mill, court summons about failing to pay required taxes and the most preposterous of all was that we were charged with treason. Her reasoning was that I conduct myself with dignity and tact as would a prince hence i want to steal the throne from her son. My father King Silva, solved most of this issues but the persistence of the queen meant that for every issue solved, two would arise to take their place.This conclusively meant that any plans of undertaking a new business venture would have to be placed on hold. The only way forward would be if I could awaken the earth attribute and help Duran in blacksmithing. With halving of profits, it would be unwise to hire additional employees for a new and untested business venture. The two months to the awakening passed on slowly with no unforeseen development. The constant harassment was normal at this point.Finally the day has arrived. My fingers remain crossed that I awaken to the earth attribute. I am finally seven years old. We are travelling on our carriage with mother and Nathan as our guard to the temple. Mother is explaining to me the importance of having an open mind and being content with what I receive. Of course I know the probability of getting earth element is a sixth. Even then, there is no guarantee that I will have the aptitude for magic. I may only have enough power to cast low level spells. The temple has about 10 kids my age. This is because this ceremony takes place at the end of every month all year round to prevent swelling of numbers. The first stop is to test the aptitude for magic. This is done by placing both arms on two different crystals at the same time. The color acts as an indicator of aptitude. There are four colors, white, green, orange and red showing the highest to lowest aptitudes respectively. Numbers are given the colors as shown below:White- 8 Light orange – 3 Dark green- 6 Dark red -2 Light green- 5 Light red- 1 Dark orange – 4 One of the crystals was used to measure the rate at which an individual can absorb the surrounding mana (input) while the other measured the rate at which the mana can be expended (output). The difference between the two was an indicator to how much mana an individual could store. An output of at least 3 and input of 4 was preferred. A storage of 1 which is the 4 minus 3 was ample. In fact this was the same ratio of 4:3:1 that Mr. Duran the blacksmith was working with. My mother, a fire mage had a ratio of 4:2:2. Mr. Nathan a wind mage had a ratio of 6:5:1, not bad for someone who was once a lieutenant in the royal guard. In fact, he was among the people with the highest ratio recorded in the whole force. Majority of the population has a ratio of 3:2:1.