Chapter 18.

' Every sentient being, actively practising magic or not has a Magical Affinity. Non-practitioners have of course no use for such a thing, but it constitutes an important subject for mages of all ranks. It is relatively simple to determine an apprentice's Affinity, as it only requires reaching the Attraction step of Cultivation. When a mage gets there, they only have to passively extract energy from the Magical Flow. The energy with which the apprentice has an Affinity will be naturally attracted. The exception to this is Wild Magic, also called basic energy, which many despise for the weak abilities it gives to the point of not considering it a legitimate school. And there is actually no official School for Wild Magic. If an apprentice has a Wild Magic Affinity, then no energy will be attracted during this passive Attraction. It is to be noted that this specific Affinity is as rare as having multiple Affinities, although, if the first is seen as the worst luck, the second clearly is a gift from destiny. Very few mages in history possessed a Triple Affinity and managed to do something with it, and one is still alive as I write this : the only common ranked Grand Master of my time. The city celebrated his five hundredth anniversary last month, that being a testament to a mage's power. It is an extreme case though, as even Double Affinities are quite rare.

That being said, what does it change during Cultivation to have an Affinity ? Multiple things, in fact. Already, an apprentice with an Affinity would have a lot less trouble extracting his energy from the Magical Flow and said energy would be less polluted. Next, the energy this hypothetical mage has purified will be more malleable, making the process of learning the Mystic Arts easier for this particular School. Those advantages are, by themselves, enough to desire an Affinity in a good School. But even more than that, some consider it impossible for a mage to completely master an energy without the corresponding Affinity. It is a highly debated matter and has been for a very long time among us, though considering the small number of mages that mastered even a single energy, only a few thousand in a thousand years, this claim is simply impossible to prove or disprove. In fact, the Affinity is beneficial to shorten the Cultivation within a School, at least that has been proven. It has very little consequence on the mage afterwards : a moron with a fire Affinity will have a hard time being anything but a stupid, weak mage, while another one with no good Affinity but possessing a sharp mind will certainly become great, possibly a Master. '

"So there is actually a possibility that magic is arbitrary …", thought Nick after reading. If this matter really mainly influenced the learning speed, then magic was only partially unfair, but anything more would be a disappointment.

- What step have you reached ?, asked the sweet voice of a blond girl.

The missy was quite cute, but her wary expression and low tone made her look a bit dangerous as if she was on guard all the time. She probably was in fact, as even though the three of them had been camping together for two days, both women still took turns at night to watch him. Nick was about to ask what she meant when she and Enora waved two coloured booklets : one red and one yellow. Recognizing those, he answered with a soft sigh:

- Attraction.

- Really ? I have been stuck at Detection for more than a month, how did you do it ?, excitedly requested the girl, shattering her emotionless wall.

Even Enora seemed to focus on the conversation, failing to hide her interest in his answer. It was in fact the first time he saw her looking at him with something else in her eyes apart from menace and mistrust. Now that they knew, it would have been a bit petty to refuse them information. Additionally, he did not want to annoy them, as his face still painfully remembered their first encounter.

- It's hard to describe you know, like … I just imagine the Flow as precisely as I can, with movement and colours and all, and then I order it to move. I'm not going to say it's easy, but it works for me.

- Order it ?, a surprised voice ensued.

- Yeah. I mean, I make contact, stabilize the link if you want, and then I command it to obey. At first, I did that by mistake, but it actually followed my instructions, so I guess this way is correct to some extent.

The two women fell in a daze for some time, losing themselves to a deep-thinking session. They looked way better than the days before, with less dark circles around their eyes and clean skin : they had had the opportunity to bathe in the nearest river twice by then. Nick could not avoid detailing their figures while they meditated on his words.

Rose was quite the small thing, maybe a little more than one meter and sixty centimetres, with mid-back golden hair appearing in bad shape as no real care could be given to it. She had crystal clear blue eyes and snow-white skin. Quite a few bruises stained her here and there, showing the hurdles she had been through recently. Yet she still looked adorable. On the other hand, Enora was an impressive beast, but still possessing feminine curves and a concrete charm under her layers of armour. She had glistening auburn hair braided in one waist long plait that danced to the rhythm of her steps just above her rear when she walked. Shiny green eyes, tanned smooth skin and a great, one meter and eighty-two centimetres figure made her look ferocious. The ferocity, however quickly disappeared when she looked at her companion, maybe without her knowledge even. Also, her facial features were quite tough, arguably from her serious face, but attractive nonetheless. "Don't want to get on her bad side though, she could probably dismember me without blinking …". After an hour of total silence, Enora finally opened her eyes with a triumphant expression.

- Fucking, yes !