NOVEL WEB Chapter 21: Affinity
I woke up early the next day and stepped into my bathroom. I was about to take a quick shower when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. My face had changed. It was hard to place my finger on what had changed it was like my features were clearer. Improving my species had made me more attractive but this was like getting work done. Except my features weren't any different. It was hard to explain but I wasn't complaining. I could have become a model before things changed. Or even an actor. I gave myself a few more minutes to admire my new beauty before I returned to my morning ritual. Once I was ready I headed out. I stepped into the hallway just as the hum began.
I headed down to the plaza and found something strange. Aina and the other two instructors stood in the middle of an arena. It was an old-style Roman amphitheater with white stone seating. In the middle of the arena was a grey orb the size of a car. It somehow floated a few feet of the ground and I couldn't tell if it was a solid or liquid. It looked a bit like it was somehow both and neither at the same time. I slowly made my way to the front row as other people started to file in. Most of the seats were full this time which was a surprise. I wasn't sure if everyone was told to show up or if everyone just decided to. Either way, it was a bit startling to see all of us seated together. It was kind of like going to a football game only the mood was much more somber. Expressions ranged from vacant stares to irritation. The instructors either didn't care or hadn't noticed.
"Greetings everyone." Aina's voice somehow filled the entire amphitheater as if they were speaking through a megaphone. "Today will be our last session today as a result we will be discussing a topic that will be key to your future development. Your affinity with the Great Tao." Aina raised a hand to quiet everyone before they continued. "Affinity is the thing that separates you from the lesser beings of your home planet. In some circles, it can be referred to as spirituality heaven's blessing, or any number of alternatives. It refers to the power of your connection with the truths of the universe or the Tao of the universe. It is a range where on one end people can lack all spirituality and are not cultivators. These people are sometimes called mortals or the unfortunates or any number of terms. They all refer to the same thing. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have people with extraordinary affinities. The heaven's chosen of the multiverse. It is believed that the Great Tao is myriad and therefore there are as many different Tao as there are grains of sand or stars."
Aina stepped toward the sphere and placed their palm on it. The sphere rippled as if they had skipped a rock across a pond. "Your spirituality represents your connection to the heavens as a result nothing can take it from you and improving it is incredibly difficult. You should be able to comprehend the difference between even the weakest of cultivators and those who were left behind." I scanned the crowd as a bad feeling built in my chest. I had been assuming that the clear propaganda wasn't going to work on anyone. Now though I wasn't sure. How many of the people here had lost someone during the tutorial? How easy would it be to convince themselves that they were special? That they were chosen to lead? People had convinced themselves of that easily before we had magic and literal elementals telling us it was true. I grimaced as more and more people hung on to Aina's words.
"This is a relatively common item throughout the multiverse and has many names. Heaven's Providence Array, Fate Array, Celestial Harmony Array, Affinity Array etc. At its core, it will show us your affinities." Aina released a small bit of energy into the sphere. At first, nothing happened and murmurs began to eat up the silence. Before anyone could work up the nerve to interrupt the middle of the sphere turned a beautiful azure blue. It then shifted to roiling waves that looked like they could drown entire cities. The image slowly faded after a few seconds but the effect it had on the crowd on all of us was immense. "Each of you will come and place your hand on the array. The array will pull some of your spiritual energy into the center. It will then display your highest affinities. This will give you some idea of what tao to focus on. For those of you who aim for higher rarity, your classes will provide a glimpse of the Tao for the rest of you. Proper meditation is the only way to move forward."
I gave the crowd another glance but it seemed like no one knew anything about what they were talking about which meant my lead was still comfortable. The more I thought about it the more that thought started to make me uncomfortable. Surely someone else had to be close enough to know class rarities right? Other tutorial groups might have had more people better suited for this. After all, there had to be some soldiers that could do something. If not then there wasn't going to be a battle royale for the planet. Everyone would just lose to me. I was pulled out of that train of thought as people started to stand up. I decided to hang back and watch the other tests. I already had two tao strands so it didn't seem as important.
The tests continued uneventfully. The first hundred or so had small elemental showings. Small flames, small waves, and stone on occasion. Only one person had a display that was close to Aina's. A young woman with brown skin and waist-length hair. She was one of the few people still wearing old-world clothes. Though they weren't damaged so I wasn't sure how she managed it. When she touched the orb a cloud of dark purple gas roiled inside. It took me a second to realize that it was poison. The cloud stayed there for a few seconds longer before she moved back to her seat. I made a mental note to speak with her if we ran into each other again.
After her, it got boring again. A few people had weird affinities like gravity and stars but even they didn't have very large ones. It wasn't hard to figure that without some serious work, most people on Earth were going to be unremarkable. It took nearly two hours before the line decreased enough for me to join. I decided to take the last spot so I could try and steal some time with any of the instructors. Before I could get my turn someone caused a twin image to appear. Wind and Fire coiled around each other into a massive tornado. The image was every bit equal to Aina's waves if not better. When I saw who summoned it I couldn't help but laugh. Ajani was at the front holding his hands in the air like he had just won the NBA Finals. Tyrone was right after him and his image was only slightly smaller but it was much more interesting. A bow made out of sticks with arrows made of bone. It took me a second to understand what it was supposed to be. His affinities were for archery and plants. Or maybe nature?
I wasn't sure if there was a difference between the two or not but it didn't matter. They both had pretty badass affinities. Not to mention that they had to be pretty high up in whatever ranking they were using. When it was finally my turn I stepped up to the sphere and pushed the strand of lucidity into my eyes. When I did I caught the sigils inside the sphere. It was a bit like they had formed a string of connected sigils. It was beautiful and complicated. I ended the effect before placing my palm against it. The sphere drained energy rapidly. After the first three seconds, I lost almost ten percent of the energy in my dantian. I tried to pull my hand away but it was like I had become magnetized to it. I tried to summon Psychic Aegis only for my danger sense to warn me against it. I turned to Aina who did nothing. Once the sphere had drained nearly twenty percent of my spiritual energy it stopped and I collapsed to one knee. Before I could catch my breath the sphere began to change. The image turned into a roaring inferno that looked like it could incinerate the world.
From there it shifted into the deepest depths of the ocean and then into a mountain that dwarfed even the largest of earth. From there it turned into a blur as it moved from one impossible image to the next. Black flames, golden light, a tree that towered to the heavens, Prismatic colors that defied words. The sphere had come alive with images so real that I thought they would rip themselves free and destroy us all. I wasn't sure how long the display continued before it died down. It felt like my heart had stopped as my eyes scanned the orb and then the sky. I wasn't sure if I had done something wrong or if the System would descend. Thankfully the instructors saw fit to dispel the silence.
"How interesting. You are from this planet aren't you?" I tore my attention from the sphere and toward Aina. "Uh yeah? I am pretty sure. Why?"
"Your affinities are excellent people like you are usually born to important clans or sects. It's a shame you would have likely become a real son of heaven had you been born in proper soil. Still, the merger is a unique enough situation. People who rise from newly merged planets tend to have great potential if they make it. You should work hard."
I stared at each of them for a long moment but it was clear that whatever had just happened was no longer interesting to them. I stepped away from the sphere still expecting lightning or something to slam into me. "What do you mean by excellent?"
"I mean that your affinities are high enough that you can grow in any direction you see fit. The tapestry of the Grand Tao is yours to take in."
"Could I take all of them?"
A snicker brought my attention to the woman. "Audacious youngster, what would your path even be if you tried? The tribulations alone would be enough to wipe your planet from the river of time."
"Tribulation? What do you mean? Why would I be punished for doing everything?" I looked toward Aina who let out a sigh.
"To cultivate is to steal from Heaven. Some consequences and prices must be paid to progress on your path regardless of your affinity. If you were to try and take all the tao under the Heavens as your own the tribulations you would face would be tragic. Furthermore, you have to consider time. You would have to spend centuries at every step expanding your understanding of every part of the tapestry. Even with your affinities. It would be wiser to focus on some that mean something to you and progress there. If you were to reach the peak you may spend your later years experimenting with whatever you like." Aina said before turning away from me. "As for the rest of you, I would strongly recommend you begin your meditation. Now that you know where your affinities lie it would be best for you to try and form a connection to it. Over time that connection will blossom into understanding. An understanding that will greatly improve your class selection."
I wanted to ask some more questions but quickly realized they weren't going to help me. Once people started to file out the trio disappeared. I stared at the spot where they had been standing but as far as I could tell they had just disappeared. I even tried my tao and nothing worked. I considered touching the sphere again but if it broke I didn't want to risk getting smitten by an angry god. I decided to follow the others out.
When I reached my apartment I took a moment to review the visions and truth be told they were all pretty impressive. There were even a few beats inside but what they said about stretching myself too thin did make sense. It was possible to spend your entire life in university to study every subject but what would be the point? By the time you finish, you won't have the time. The problem would get worse if it was connected to my lifespan. If it took me four hundred years to gather one Strand of everything then I would have to rush forward to advance. Of course, I would then be weaker than my peers. Assuming that strands eventually evolved into something else. How many would I have to master to be able to equal just one of those things?
Of course, the counterpoint was just as important. It would be a waste of my affinities to just master two of them. Wouldn't it? Once again my problem was I had too little information. If the standard was one or two then my class had set me up pretty well already but if the standard was three or four then I needed to get to work. I took a deep breath and moved into my cultivation chamber. This whole thing was supposed to be my journey so the question becomes what do I want? I took a deep breath and started to circulate my cultivation method. I welcomed the energy into my dantian while I wandered to everything I saw today. The base elements were the most common not counting wind. Metal was up there as well. I wondered if we would have to deal with some Magneto copycats. Of course that would also be pretty cool.
Once I had fully calmed down I pulled out two spirit stones and let the fresh energy flood into my channels. It was a bit easier to deal with the full torrent now. If anything it was starting to feel good, like the burn of drinking a soda. I decided to cultivate until I got back what I lost. I then placed the stones away and meditated on the tao. I focused on the sensation when the system pulled us away. I wasn't sure if the Tao of Space meant outer space or like 3-D space but whichever one would let me teleport was the one I wanted. According to Aina, it was one of the "More profound Tao" but having it would make me even more valuable. I also wanted to teleport. I could feel that I was making progress but it felt a bit like building a snowball where each step built on the one before it.
Altogether I couldn't complain about the progress I couldn't help but feel antsy about it. The kitty gloves were going to come off when we went back and I still had no way of knowing what my numbers meant. Could I survive a gunshot now? What about a tank? Or a missile? Was I fast enough to dodge a bullet? I chuckled dryly to myself as I imagined standing on a rooftop while bullets pinged off my chest. "Sounds like I am going to have it get a cape and an S on my chest." I snorted at the mental image. "Tights and spandex are not for me." I decided that I had enough training today and made my way back to my bed. Tomorrow I was going to take the hardest difficulty quest.
I sat in the plaza waiting for the timer to hit zero. Today was an odd mix of somber acceptance and jittery energy. Everyone was here at the same time today. As if they felt it would be wrong not to do the last quest together. There were a few groups that were high-fiving as they made their plans. In truth I couldn't blame them they were all probably taking the easiest quest available to make sure they got home safely. Which was certainly a logical choice. Which only made what I was about to do wilder. I pulled up the quest menu and scrolled over to the hardest choice. 99% chance of death. The rewards for this one would have to be epic.
I took a calming breath as the timer hit zero and the System pulled me away. When I arrived at my quest location I was struck dumb. I was inside of a Roman-style coliseum that was as big as a football stadium. The sky above me was filled with the biggest and most beautiful stars I had ever seen. Despite that the across from me made my blood run arctic cold. A five-headed hydra. Its heads were five different colors, one for each of the eastern elements. The overgrown lizard was at least thirty feet tall and emitted a killing intent that felt like someone had reached into my chest and was crushing my heart. I unleashed my aura hoping that it would give me the space to breathe, to think but it was like trying to hold back the ocean with my bare hands. For the first time since the tutorial began, I was truly terrified.