Chapter 32
Thirty minutes later, the carriage rolled into the bustling heart of Willowess City, its wheels rumbling smoothly over the paved stone streets before finally coming to a halt in front of a grand, imposing structure.
The Warrior Guild of Neltan stood proudly amidst the surrounding architecture, its heavy stone pillars and the unmistakable guild crest gleaming above the grand double doors.
Damnern descended from the carriage first, offering a steadying hand to Elina as she stepped down. He then carefully assisted Elyra and Eldern onto the pavement, and the family made their way toward the entrance in a comfortable, relaxed formation.
"Today, we are going to examine the dominant elemental affinities of your Fue," Damnern explained casually as they walked through the courtyard.
Eldern blinked, looking up at his father. "Didn't we already do that test before?"
Damnern nodded. "That was two years ago. Back then, the results merely indicated that your strongest resonance was with Light." He glanced down at his son with a knowing smirk. "Considering how much you've grown, I imagine things have shifted since then."
I wonder what element I'm dominant in... Elyra pondered quietly, her gaze fixed on the heavy oak doors ahead.
Beside her, Elina offered a warm, encouraging smile, her slender fingers gently squeezing Elyra's small hand as they crossed the threshold.
The moment they stepped into the grand lobby, one of the guild attendants happened to glance up. The man's eyes practically launched out of his skull.
"C-Count Damnern?!"
Stumbling over his own feet, the employee sprinted across the polished marble floor and bowed so low his nose nearly touched the tiles. "Is there any urgent matter the guild can assist you with today, My Lord?"
"We are here for a routine Fue affinity examination for my two children," Damnern replied evenly, his voice carrying the effortless authority of a seasoned warrior.
"O-Of course! Right this way, please."
The attendant scrambled to his feet, gesturing eagerly toward the restricted inner corridors. "Please, follow me."
They were escorted deeper into the guild, leaving the noisy main hall behind until they reached a private, quiet chamber specifically designated for advanced Fue diagnostics.
At the exact center of the room sat a crystalline pillar roughly twenty centimeters tall, its core pulsing with a soft, ethereal luminescence that cast a soothing glow across the surrounding walls.
Elyra stared at it, her sapphire eyes wide with curiosity. What on earth is that? I've never laid eyes on anything like it before...
The attendant hurried over to a side desk and called out, "Bina! We have clients."
A young woman with striking emerald-green hair and luminous golden-yellow eyes looked up from a stack of parchments. "Coming!"
She briskly crossed the room. The second she recognized Damnern standing near the doorway, her posture snapped straight and she dipped into a respectful curtsy. "Welcome to the guild, Count Solv."
Her gaze then drifted downward, landing on the two children. A soft, delighted smile touched her lips as she looked at Elyra. "And you must be the Young Lady. You haven't visited us before, have you?"
Elyra offered a solemn, silent shake of her head.
"My name is Bina Cayo. You may simply call me Bina," she said gently, offering a polite bow to the toddler.
Before Elyra could formulate a reply, Eldern proudly crossed his arms over his chest, puffing out his cheeks. "Even if it looks like a boring rock, she's actually an expert at reading Fue resonance! That's why she's qualified to test us."
Bina flushed crimson, waving her hands defensively. "Young Master Eldern, you exaggerate far too much..."
Completely ignoring her flustered reaction, Eldern continued to nod sagely, radiating the aura of a seasoned academic who had personally supervised her training.
Bina could only offer a helpless, fond sigh at his antics. Shaking her head with a chuckle, she picked up the glowing crystal pillar and knelt down until she was eye-level with the children, holding the artifact out between them.
"Alright, let's begin," she smiled. "Who would like to go first?"
"I'll demonstrate," Eldern declared grandly. He placed his palm firmly against the smooth crystalline surface. "This is a Fue Crystal. You just press your hand here and pour your internal energy into it."
He explained the mechanics with such supreme confidence that he sounded less like a five-year-old child and more like a tenured professor.
Bina covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. "You truly are a natural genius, Young Master Eldern."
Pressing her own hand against the base of the crystal to activate its diagnostic array, she turned to the attendant. "Zasco, fetch the parchment."
"Right away, right away, I'm on it!" Zasco stammered, hurrying over to slide a blank sheet of specialized rune-paper into the receiving tray beside the pillar.
The moment the parchment made contact, microscopic lines of golden light began darting across the surface. One by one, glowing alphanumeric characters manifested in real-time, burned into the paper by invisible magical ink.
As expected... Bina lowered her eyes to the emerging data.
The sight triggered a vivid memory. She vividly recalled the day Eldern had undergone his very first affinity assessment at the tender age of three. Even back then, his raw potential had stunned the entire guild staff.
Fire = 1%
Water/Ice = 0%
Earth = 1%
Wind = 1%
Lightning = 1%
Light = 12%
Darkness = 0%
Total Fue Energy = 6%
Back then, those numbers had been considered extraordinary. A toddler displaying five distinct elemental affinities alongside a dominant Light resonance was a rarity indeed—and now, two years later, he had developed even further.
Bina detached the finished parchment and handed it over with a respectful nod. "As expected of the young master's extraordinary lineage."
Eldern snatched the paper proudly, immediately holding it up for his parents to inspect.
Damnern and Elina leaned in close.
Fire = 9%
Water/Ice = 0%
Earth = 3%
Wind = 6%
Lightning = 7%
Light = 19%
Darkness = 0%
Total Fue Energy = 14%
Bina's eyes widened a fraction.
Most practitioners focused exclusively on spiking their primary dominant element, letting the rest stagnate. Yet, in the span of just two years, Eldern had systematically elevated every single affinity he possessed. That kind of balanced, exponential growth was practically unheard of.
"Oh, look at that!" Elina gasped, her eyes sparkling with unadulterated maternal pride. She pointed eagerly at the figures. "Eldern's Light affinity jumped to nineteen percent! That's incredible! And look how much his Fire, Wind, and Lightning metrics grew!"
Damnern chuckled deeply, affectionately ruffling his son's unruly hair. "To bring your Fire affinity up that high alongside the rest... you truly are an elemental genius, Eldern." He beamed, his smile wide and full of satisfaction. "Phenomenal work."
Elyra stared up at the glowing document. Though she couldn't read the technical terminology fluently yet, the collective awe in the room made the implications crystal clear.
I wonder how my numbers will look...
Beside her, Eldern let out a smug, victorious little snort. "Hehe."
Bina turned her attention away from the boy, smiling down warmly at Elyra. "Now then, Young Lady. It is your turn."
She carefully extended the crystal pillar toward her.
Elyra stepped forward, placing her small palm flat against the cool, pulsing surface.
"Young Lady, you need to gently circulate your—"
Bina's voice abruptly died in her throat.
Her eyes dilated into dinner plates.
Without needing a single word of instruction, Elyra had already begun circulating her internal Fue with flawless, terrifying precision. There was zero hesitation, no wasted energy, and not a single micro-stutter in her rhythm.
This... this is her very first time touching an affinity crystal... Bina stared at the toddler as if witnessing a ghost. And she's already channeling her energy with instinctive perfection?
I've spent days meditating just to gain a proper grip on my internal pathways ever since Eldern explained the basics, she noted, her thoughts turning cold and analytical. In my past life as Ryudien, I relied entirely on brute-force sigil manipulation because no one ever bothered to teach me the foundational mechanics of raw Fue. If I had mastered this circulatory control back then... perhaps I wouldn't have fallen on that day.
She paused, the train of thought abruptly stuttering in her mind.
Wait... if I hadn't died...
Her eyes softened for a fraction of a second before a faint, dark smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.
...I wouldn't have been reborn into this family.
The dark memory brushed against her mind before she ruthlessly shoved it back into the abyss.
She focused her attention on the crystal. Several tense seconds ticked by before fine, glowing script began burning itself into a fresh sheet of parchment.
Bina locked eyes with the text, her jaw slackening until her mouth hung open in absolute, unadulterated disbelief.
"T-That is statistically impossible..." she breathed out, her voice dropping to a trembling whisper.
She looked at Elyra. Then down at the paper. Then back at Elyra.
"This... these metrics are average for a twelve-year-old child... but she is only two years old..."
Damnern, Elina, and even Eldern fell into a stunned, heavy silence.
Why is everyone reacting like that? Elyra thought, a sudden spike of paranoia hitting her. Did I mess something up?!
Before she could process the oppressive silence, Eldern abruptly stepped forward, snatched the parchment from the tray, and scanned the glowing runic script before reading it aloud with deadpan innocence.
Fire = 0%
Water/Ice = 0%
Earth = 0%
Wind = 0%
Lightning = 0%
Light = 20%
Darkness = 0%
Total Fue Energy = 8%
For three full seconds, the examination room was as silent as a tomb.
Then—
"THAT IS MY BABY GIRL! A CERTIFIED GENIUS!"
Damnern erupted with the force of a detonating charge, sweeping Elyra off her feet and crushing her into an ecstatic, bone-crushing bear hug.
Elyra's soul nearly left her body through her nostrils. "Ugh—! Air—!"
"You and Eldern both inherited the supreme Light affinity directly from me!" Damnern bellowed, utterly intoxicated by paternal pride.
Eldern stared down at Elyra's paper, then checked his own, and finally looked back at his sister. Instead of feeling upstaged, a wild fire ignited in his eyes.
"I have to train twice as hard now!" he declared, his competitive spirit instantly supercharged.
Elina burst into a musical laugh, clapping her hands together in delight, while Bina slowly joined in, still recovering from the shock.
Three years spent mastering the art of reading Fue resonance, followed by two years working at this guild... and this is the first time I've ever laid eyes on stats this insane, Bina thought, her mind racing. Though... I suppose Eldern gave me a similar heart attack two years ago.
A two-year-old with a twenty percent Light dominance and an eight percent total Fue capacity... Bina swallowed hard, staring at the young siblings in quiet disbelief.
As expected from the direct bloodline of the realm's Strongest Warrior... their generation is going to absolutely terrify the continent.
Thirty minutes later, the Solv family finally stepped out through the grand arched doors of the Warrior Guild.
"Please do visit us again soon, My Lord!" Zasco waved frantically from the entryway, practically weeping with relief.
As the carriage finally pulled away down the cobblestone street, the attendant slumped against the stone pillar and exhaled a massive, shuddering lungful of air.
"Thank the gods..." he muttered. Managing the bureaucratic anxiety of serving Count Damnern Solv had shaved at least five years off his life expectancy.
Meanwhile, the velvet-lined carriage rumbled deeper into the heart of Willowess City as the evening bled into a true, starry night.
Vibrant magical lanterns strung across the thoroughfares cast a warm, golden illumination over the crowded streets. The night market was alive with a symphony of sound—merchants shouting out the prices of exotic goods, the rich, savory aroma of grilled spiced meats drifting on the breeze, and throngs of citizens, travelers, and robed adventurers weaving between taverns and shops.
Children chased each other with glowing wooden toys, their laughter echoing in the cool night air.
Suddenly, the carriage slowed to a smooth halt.
"Hm?"
Elyra peered curiously out the window.
The heavy carriage door swung open, and her parents stepped down onto the bustling street, gesturing for the children to follow. Elyra scrambled out, her small brows furrowing in deep bewilderment as the chaotic, lively energy of the night market enveloped them.
The guild examination was long finished. The hour was late, and night had fully swallowed the horizon.
Why did Damnern bring us here now?
As she glanced up at her parents' faces—both beaming with wide, secretive grins—Elyra realized with a quiet jolt that she had zero clue what her chaotic family was plotting this time.
To be Continued...