29 Affinities, Attributes, Weapons (1/2)
”Huh?”
Rather than the muddy splatter of blood like last time, Jae allowed a single drop fall onto the paper. After the magic paper revealed Jae's status for anyone to see, it was not there. No name, no race, nor any words at all. The paper remained black.
”Hm? That's peculiar. I checked with the dwarves if all the papers were working, but apparently one fell through a loophole,” the human healer, Alfred, commented as he passed another to Jae, ”Here, try again.”
Jae did as he was told and once again, the paper's pitch black hue persisted.
”Uh, I don't think it's working,” Jae replied.
Valorie glanced at the paper, ”When you first registered as an adventurer, you did use the paper, correct?”
Jae nodded, ”Yes. At the time, the paper worked and my status appeared.”
”In that case, it should be recorded by the guild. I can go check on it later. For now, we should just move on,” Valorie gestured toward one of the helpers.
The helper brought a metal sieve, convoluted stand, wooden board, and a bucket of ginger orange powder.
”What's that?” The rabbit beastman asked.
”Magic affinity tester,” Valorie promptly replied, ”There's no point for the races created by our goddess, Ath, to use it unless you're a part of the demon race. So, you three, come with me to do a physical test.”
”Why can demons use magic and not beastmen or mermen? Not even dwarves can use it. We're all birthed from the same goddess,” the elk beastman, another newbie, inquired.
”Demons are a special case. Furthermore, it's not like Ath's races cannot use magic, but our natural magic capacities are too low to make good use of magic. It'll take some time to explain and I don't get paid for overtime. Quit dilly-dallying and just go take the tests.”
The two beastmen and single merman left to the other side of the field with Valorie. Jae curiously observed as the helpers assembled the affinity tester.
”Okay, who wants to go first?” Alfred, the human healer clapped once.
The human girl next to Jae stepped forward excitedly, ”I do!”
”Alrighty, first you need to hold the sieve and sift the powder as if it were flour, easy right? But make sure to channel a bit of mana while doing that,” the human healer explained.
As instructed, the girl tapped on the sieve's sides. Orange powder filtered through the metal openings and onto a wooden cutting board. From ginger orange to a fresh green apple and yellow tint, the powder changed its chemical properties. A unique symbol shaped on the board. It seemed like a snake, if not a worm.
”What is it?” The human girl asked.
”Hm, it means you have the affinity to be a healer like me,” the Alfred nodded, ”Considering that type of color, you have the attribute of life and earth. If combined, you could manipulate small plants. Were your parents the same?”
”Yup, I've seen my parents do have the same type of attribute,” the girl replied.
”Yes, it's mostly genetic when it comes to magic attributes. However, that doesn't stop anyone from using magic from a different attribute. For instance, it's difficult for an earth attribute to manipulate wind.”
”Okay, so between you two over there, who wants to go next?”
The boy next to Jae was tested next. Dissimilar from the girl, the boy created a wine red to crimson bear, which reminded Jae of Ursear's face.
”A fire attribute with the affinity of a strong warrior,” the healer noted, ”Common, but good. Okay, next.”
As Jae sifted the powder, he reminisced about the last time he made a cake. The spongy Japanese cheesecake he ate in his past life sure was delicious.
”A spiral is pretty good. But, bright silver, huh, that will be tough. It's uncommon for humans to get such an attribute, but it's still seen in one in ten thousand women.”
In response to the healer's response, Jae inspected his pile and discovered a light silver swirl growing incrementally as he continued to tap the sieve.
'Wait, women?'
”Um, did you just assume that I was a girl?”
”You're not?” Alfred looked at Jae skeptically, ”That's impossible for this color. Are you sure you're male?”
Jae hurriedly confirmed that he was still male. And sure enough, he was a bonafide boy.
”Do you want to check?” Jae responded, irritated. While originally he didn't care about letting his hair grow freely, he was definitely going to cut hair once the training session ends, er, after he reverts from his dryad state. It was waist length after all.
”I'll just take your word for it,” Alfred shrugged, ”Anyway, a spiral means you can choose any job you want and you can still grow a constant way as those of the equivalent job. Except, that's not the same as being the jacks of all trades, but rather you can choose any a single job. As for your color, you have an affinity with the moon or the spacial attribute, which no one here can help you with.”
”Why?”
”As the children of the goddess, Celeste, celestials are probably the only ones who know what to do with spacial related affinities. However, I heard they huddled within an island east of Alkbestia's coast and refuse to leave their home in the past two hundred fifty years.”
Dismantling the tool, he continued, ”I still find it uncanny about how you can have such strong affinity with one of Celeste's attributes despite being human. Even though Eva's creations can have any attribute, it's never a single attribute or color completely .”
Before Jae could ask what the healer meant, Valorie returned with three exhausted youth under her arms. Dumping the three ”corpses” onto the ground, Valorie conversed with Alfred about the results.
During that time, a helper brought a paper with Jae's information so Valorie could glance through it.
”Who the hell was the receptionist who filled this out?” Valorie cursed. Several parts were illegible.
The boy recalled that a weary male receptionist haphazardly did Jae's guild registration documents.
'Thank you mister receptionist who's probably laid off by now,' he saluted to a random direction.
A certain receptionist sneezed in a distant town.