The first thing Damion did was flip through the chapters that had basic magic seals for an affinity. As he turned the pages he paused only for about ten seconds at each magic seal. Once he heard the system's chime, he moved on to the next one, not even bothering to check the system messages.
Not even ten minutes passed before Damion reached the last magic seal. He had not counted how many magic seals there were, he had simply flipped through the book to look at each one to let the system record them. Now that he was done, Damion briefly wondered if he should go to the beginning of the book and start reading. If he were to return the book so soon after borrowing it Ms. Teft would surely find it odd.
Damion flipped the book back to the first chapter and then mentally brought up the system to look over his gains.
[Magic System]
[Full System unlock in 12:251:12:19:47]
[System Level: 1]
[User: Damion Wells]
[Age: 6]
[Magic Talent: Locked]
[Magic Affinity: Locked]
[Mana: 25/25]
[Magic Power: Locked]
[Mana Recovery: Locked]
[Strength: 12]
[Dexterity: 25]
[Vitality: 85]
[Intelligence: 122]
[Experience: 100/1,000]
[Store Credits: 1]
When Damion saw that his magic affinity was still locked he frowned, but quickly moved on to the skills section. After looking at the skills menu Damion was shocked. He now had two options, Usable Skills and Unusable Skills. Crossing his fingers he opened the Usable Skills portion first and was instantly disappointed. The page in his mind showed only one skill, Mana Absorption. This meant all the magic seals he had just reviewed were useless to him.
After letting out a resigned sigh, Damion opened the Unusable Skill page to look at what affinities he most likely did not have.
[Minor Heal - Active - (F Rank 15 Mana) Channels your mana to treat minor wounds.]
[Darkness - Active - (F Rank 15 Mana P/S) Summon a cloud of darkness over an area blocking out all light.]
[Fireball - Active - (F Rank 20 Mana) Conjure and launch a ball of explosive fire at your target.]
[Flame Breath - Active - (F Rank 5 Mana P/S) Breathe fire up to 1 meter away.]
[Firewall - Active - (F Rank 40 Mana) Conjure a wall of fire.]
[Firey Grasp - Active - (F Rank 15 Mana P/S) Burn your target on touch.]
[Clean Water - Active - (F Rank 5 Mana) Conjure clean water.]
[Rock Shield - Active - (F Rank 20 Mana) Conjure a shield to block physical and magic attacks.]
[Earth Shard - Active - (F Rank 20 Mana) Shoots a rock shard at your target.]
[Wind Slash - Active - (F Rank 20 Mana) Send out a razor sharp blast of wind to slice your target.]
[Shocking Grasp - Active - (F Rank 15 Mana P/S) Electrocute your target on touch. Can temporarily incapacitate your target.]
[Lightning Breath - Active - (F Rank 5 Mana P/S) Breathe lightning up to 1 meter away. Can temporarily incapacitate your target.]
[Ice Shard - Active - (F Rank 20 Mana) Shoots an ice shard at your target.]
[Ice Breath - Active - (F Rank 5 Mana P/S) Breathe freezing air up to 1 meter away.]
[Ice Shield - Active - (F Rank 20 Mana) Conjure a shield to block physical and magic attacks.]
[Icy Grasp - Active - (F Rank 15 Mana P/S) Chill your target on touch. Can completely freeze a target if held long enough.]
[Telekinesis - Active - (F Rank 15 Mana P/S) Manipulate space to control distance objects.]
[Nurture Growth - Active - (F Rank 20 Mana P/S) Channel your magic into a plant to help it grow faster. Also stimulates a plant's natural regeneration.]
[Poison Breath - Active - (F Rank 5 Mana P/S) Breathe poison air up to 1 meter away. Has a chance to poison target.]
[Poison Grasp - Active - (F Rank 15 Mana P/S) Poison your target on touch. Has a chance to poison target.]
Damion was quite disappointed when he saw spells like Fireball and Shocking Grasp on the list of spells he would not be able to use. The book had quite a variety of affinities in it, but none of them resonated with him. This left Damion with the same two possibilities, either he would not get an affinity until the system unlocked, or he simply had not found the right affinity yet.
Given the variety of affinities in the book and that the library had no other books with magic seals, Damion had to admit defeat. His only realistic options to find out his affinity was to wait for the White Zone teachers to come and test everyone or wait until he turned eighteen.
Flipping back to the beginning of the book Damion began reading the introduction. Even if he could not gain access to magic until he was eighteen, he figured this was a good chance for him to learn. With more knowledge he would be able to make better use of magic once he had it.
The book, as it turned out, was a comparative study of magic seals and how certain spells were very similar to each other even though they had different affinities. The idea of spells being similar caught Damion's attention and he thought back to the list of spells he had just learned. Quite a few were very similar, Ice Shard and Earth Shard for example and Damion wondered if Fireball was also similar to them and only named differently.
As Damion read on, it seemed the author had the same thought. Not only were such spells named similarly, they also had very similar magic seals. Continuing to read, he quickly learned a great deal about magical theory and how magic seals were created. Of course, Damion was a long way from being able to truly grasp the theories outlined in the book. And even further away from being able to create his own magic seal and thus create a spell. The bit he did understand though, fascinated him and he continued to read on, completely lost in thought.
By the time Damion finished reading the first few chapters, which were entirely dedicated to theories, he had been reading straight through lunch. His stomach growled at him, but Damion ignored it and moved on to the next chapter which was titled, 'Limitations of Magical Learning.' What he read in this chapter shocked and greatly worried him.
'In regard to the limited number of magic seals a person may learn in their lifetime, a person need not overly worry. While a person may be limited to learning twenty magic seals in their life, the fact that a tier 1 spell, when properly mastered can have power greater than a tier 5 spell, if the tier 5 spell is not properly mastered, shows that hard work and dedication are more important than raw power. The sheer difficulty and time required to learn higher tier spells should be taken into account and compared with the same time and effort spent on mastering a lower tier spell. In the end which mage's spell would be stronger? As to the reason a person cannot learn more than twenty magic seals and if it is simply the limitation of their magical talent or the power of their mind, further research is not warranted, as even if one could fully master more than twenty spells, who truly has the time to do so.'