Ros Side Story - Chapter 2 – With Hopes of Redemption

“What in the Under Realm are you talking about?”

Ros stabbed a small yellow potato with his fork before repeating himself in an excited whisper. “I can get an affinity! I got a message from a time traveler, and they told me how.”

The affinity-less youth knew that wasn’t the most important part of the message, but it felt that way. Jonas was currently alive and well, so there was no reason to focus on that aspect of the message. Besides, it would probably freak Jonas out to learn he’d apparently died in another timeline.

“Cousin, I have no idea how to process that.” Jonas shook his head in confusion before starting on his meal. Ros had seemed nearly manic when he sat down, which was a significant change from moments before when he’d been slightly more functional than catatonic. He wasn’t sure quite what to think of it yet.

“Well, obviously, we should keep it secret, but the message came from someone in the Epikairos Sect. The system validated their identity.” Ros eyed the other youth. Technically, they were adults now that they had system access. But nobody actually saw it that way.

“So, a Time or Fate Mage of some sort sent you a message two years ago that mentioned you awakening without an affinity?”

Ros nodded in affirmation as he chewed his food.

“And they told you how to awaken one?”

“Not just any affinity,” Ros whispered, leaning closer to his cousin. “Arcane.”

Jonas hummed thoughtfully as he ate. A few moments later, he asked, “What else did this message say?”

Ros hesitated. His expression froze as he looked away from the other boy, suddenly unwilling to make eye contact.

“What? Why are you acting so strange? I thought it was good news?”

“It is!” Ros said quickly. “But there was one part…”

“Just let me see the message. I’ll read it myself.”

Ros focused on his plate uncomfortably. He knew as soon as he mentioned the message that Jonas would want to read it. It would probably be fine… but…

Jonas sighed loudly. “Seriously. If you hadn’t just had a shit day, I’d probably challenge you to a spar for messing with me.” He leaned back in his chair. “Somehow, I doubt that’s your intention. What’s in the message? It can’t be worse than what happened earlier.”

Seeing the other boy had finished his meal, Ros nervously pulled up the message and handed his tablet to Jonas. He watched as his closest friend read that he was fated to die soon, waiting for a response.

Surprisingly, Jonas’s next comment had nothing to do with his potential death. “This is pretty crazy. If this disciple is right, we should head there now. We have four days until our cohort starts. That should be plenty of time!”

Ros’s heart warmed at his cousin’s reaction. As always, he was his most stalwart friend. Ros’s abrupt renunciation had come as a complete surprise to both of them, ruining every plan they’d had for their future on what should have been a day of celebration. Both of their hopes and plans had been crushed the instant his lack of affinity had been revealed.

Now, he had a chance to set things right. Surely, his father would welcome him back once he returned with such a valuable affinity.

Part of him understood why his father would take such drastic action at his awakening. It was important for a noble, especially a lowly Baron, to be seen as strong. Keeping him as part of the family would likely have caused several power-hungry individuals to challenge his position, weakening the family overall.

Within their kingdom, and most of the others he’d learned about, nobility was not hereditary. That didn’t mean that some families didn’t maintain territories and titles for several generations, but that was a matter of training and effort.

Had he remained part of the ZedKinevis family after such an embarrassing reveal, it would have brought shame and instability to the barony. He understood it, but that didn’t make him feel any better about being tossed out like garbage being sent to the Transmuters for recycling.

But with an affinity…

“Do you think father would reinstate me?” Ros asked his cousin hopefully.

“They’d have to since you’d be able to prove it. There are testing stones at every Adventurers’ Guild,” Jonas said excitedly. “Heck, I bet your father has a testing stone somewhere. It would be a bit odd not to have one as a Baron.”

Ros stared off as he pictured the various ways he could reveal his good fortune to his family. They could claim the awakening stone failed to recognize his Arcane affinity, or that his affinity had been delayed. It was not unheard of for an affinity to manifest after the initial awakening, especially for those who awakened early, as nobles were known to do.

Giddy with the excitement of knowing they could regain all that was lost, the newly awakened duo eagerly dove into research on the network about the location mentioned in the message. Having grown up on a higher-tier world, neither had any knowledge about the local area. It didn’t help that the message hadn’t mentioned when the incident occurred.

Ros assumed it would have happened at some point after they completed Tower Training, but that didn’t mean the mana well had not already manifested. In fact, the message clearly implied that it already existed since the disciple mentioned taking a few days to ‘collect materials’ to awaken his affinity.

The affinity-less youth was happy to discover that Aether Pass was within a few hours journey via chariot. While he had enough funds to cover several local portals, he welcomed an excuse to use his new gift.

“We should use our banked experience enroute,” Jonas recommended.

Ros nodded eagerly as they made their way to the enchanted highway. With his noble upbringing, he’d gained A LOT of skills over the years. Today had been the first time he’d seen just how many points he’d accumulated, and the number was in the upper range of what was to be expected from his peers.

As the son of a noble retainer who’d graduated from a Mages’ Academy, Jonas had a similar upbringing, if not quite as full of opportunity. Experience earned from skills was the only exception to the limit for banked points, not that it was ever an issue since newly awakened individuals always spent their points fairly quickly.

It was how the majority of the people under the system gained their first spells and levels.

Nobles, however, had a few advantages due to the special training they received in preparation for their awakening. Unlike those completely reliant on the system for every spell, part of their training was in early Mana Manipulation and involved learning some of the easier general spellforms prior to even unlocking their system.

After setting their destination in his brand-new chariot, Ros examined his status in detail for the first time. His eyes were immediately drawn to his name, which was now different than it had been when he’d briefly looked at his status before having his name stripped from him. Not only had his father taken his family name, but he’d also taken Ros’s formal name as well.

***

Name: Ros
Level: 0 (1/100) [Banked 720]
Profession: N/A
Affinities: None

***
Health: 120 (2.4/min)
Stamina: 240 (9.6/min)
Mana: 130 (5.5/min)

***
Attributes
Strength – 12
Agility – 13
Vitality – 12
Intelligence – 13
Wisdom – 11
Perception – 11

***
Spells
Barrier
Enhance
Flare
Illuminate
Mana Bolt
Preserve
Repel
Haste
Skills
[General]
Academics*
Artistry*
…
Etiquette
…
Mana Manipulation
Mana Sight
Meditation
…
[Combat]
Bladed Weapons*
Blunt Weapons*
Flex Weapons*
Manatech Weapons*
Polearms*
Unarmed/Martial*
[Specialized]
Alchemy
Enchanting
…
Smithing(General)

***

Seeing how much experience he already had banked, Ros could barely keep himself from grinning. If he didn’t need to buy spells, he’d already have enough for level three! Compound skills were worth more than the sum of their parts as well, which gave an additional bonus to those who learned enough to gain them.

Being a noble, such skills were practically a requirement.

He’d been trained on the critical spells each person needed, and his decision was easy enough. Ros chose Identify as his first spell because anyone without it was an idiot who wouldn’t be able to recognize what they were seeing.

Detect Lie was critical because every noble knew the importance of recognizing when they were being lied to (which was often). Though he wasn’t a noble anymore, the need for such a spell was still apparent.

Self-Heal was an equally obvious choice because… duh. Even if they found a Healer to join their party, having some form of accelerated healing was just common sense.

Finally, Ros chose Alchemical Flame since he had an interest in Alchemy. The spell was practically a requirement for anyone who had more than a passing interest in the field. It helped that it could also be used for purification in the right situation – not that the system made that clear at all.

Ros saved his last spell purchase in hopes that his efforts would bear fruit and he’d be able to pick a spell from the Arcane tree soon. Had he not received the message, he’d probably have gone with something like Telekinesisor perhaps Telepathy. Both were incredibly useful, though they tended to be a bit mana-intensive.

Two-hundred points gone, he was still halfway to level three.

***

Name: Ros
Level: 2 (220/400)
Profession: N/A
Affinities: None

***
Health: 150 (3/min)
Stamina: 300 (12/min)
Mana: 130 (5.5/min)

***
Attributes
Strength – 15
Agility – 13
Vitality – 15
Intelligence – 13
Wisdom – 11
Perception – 11

***
Spells*
Skills*
 ***

He split the six points he got for the two levels between Strength and Vitality since he’d likely be a frontline fighter. Even if he’d had a decently strong affinity, that wouldn’t have changed. He’d been trained to fight with weapons, and that was where his strength lay.

“Did your mother give you armor?” Jonas asked as they drew close to their destination. His cousin was already removing the well-made set of armor he’d received as an awakening gift from his parents.

Their support of their son had not waned because he’d chosen to follow Ros. It was what he’d been raised to do practically since birth. If anything, it was expected of him, even now.

“She did. It was in the ring,” Ros said with a sad smile. He’d noticed it during his second sweep. The generic items hadn’t drawn his attention initially. “It doesn’t look custom-made. Father probably carried whatever he had prepared and refused to grant it to me.”

Following his cousin’s example, Ros removed the new leather armor from his gifted ring. The chariot was spacious enough to allow plenty of room for both of them to equip their armor. By the time they arrived at Aether Pass, both youths were geared and ready to explore.

“Let’s head north on foot from here,” Ros suggested. “Mana Sight hardly takes any mana to use, so I’ll keep it going the whole time. You keep an eye out for anything that might attack while I focus on finding signs of Arcane mana.”

Jonas nodded and drew his sword. It was another gift from his parents and obviously of much better quality than the generic sword Ros now held. The difference between a custom sword and something likely purchased in a hurry by one of his mother’s servants was obvious, even if the quality was decent enough.

But that didn’t matter. Soon enough, he’d reclaim his name and his position. His first day as an official adult had been stressful, but things were looking up. Now, he just needed to do the impossible and awaken an Arcane affinity. With Fate and magic on his side, he couldn’t help but feel confident.