Spreading Chaos - Ch 11 - Adepts and Affinity

Startled by the somewhat ominous title of Blood drinker, Leons fatigue is temporarily pushed aside as he goes over his status with a fine toothed comb.

Blood of Chaos!  He is sure, that skill wasn't there yesterday.  he would have noticed a skill with unknown effects, right?

Having not checked his list of titles before, or even knowing that it existed, he had no clue as to whether or not Blood Drinker had always been there.  If so, then it was what probably caused him to gain that unknown skill.  It most likely went active when Chaos forcefully shut down the 'Champion of Chaos' title. I

f Blood drinker wasn't always there, then that means Chaos's bloody kiss gave him the title instead.

Not that it mattered.  If he could find a way to use... no, abuse that title, he could make himself into a monster.

Staring at 'Blood of Chaos' Leon ponders the skill.  Using his Godly Analyze on it return no new information.  Out of sheer stubbornness, he triggers the skill, gaining nothing, but continues until sleep claims him.

-----------------------------

The next morning an exhausted Leon begins his magic training with the rest of the children, most of whom seem to have gotten far more sleep than him.  While the guards and soldiers pack everything away and prepare to leave the forest, the students are gathered for a meeting.

Ohm Icura, addresses the students while the other instructors wait behind him.

"Magic," He begins, "is a complicated affair.  Because it is so, we will only be teaching you in the broadest sense of the word."

"We will start with, Jharak Yoor!"  The Fire practitioner steps forward, smiling broadly at the children.

"Magic power 8, Fire affinity 74%, and control 4!"

"5!" Jharak interrupts, his smile growing broader.  The other instructors seem impressed, Moorzu and Bihai stomp their foot for him.

"Congratulations Jharak Yoor, truly you do your family name proud."  Ohm Icura congratulates him as well, before turning back to the students. "As you can see, low magic power, but a high control of the element fire.  This makes Jharak an exceptional Magic knight, or spell-sword, or blazing warrior.  But some prefer the term Marshall adept."

"Not me." Jharak says.  Ignoring the Marshall adept, Ohm Icura continues.

"Bihai Suncurio and An'ee Moorzu are from the other end of the magical spectrum.  High magic power with intermediate to low affinities and element control makes them excellent battle mages, or magical adepts, or just magicians.  The ability to project the powers within them is what generally distinguishes, Marshall from Magicians, and that is largely determined by magic power."

The last instructor steps forward.  Without the hooded robe this morning, the children can see she is clearly an Elf, or at least she has the pointed ears and comparatively tall stature the students would associate with Elves.  The green hair only adds to her mysterious aura.

"Navier Llarona.  She has qualities that qualify her to be considered both a Knight and a mage.  Scouts, rogues, assassins, rangers.  These people are usually identified by their profession.  Their high talent in certain areas like control belie their, oftentimes, low  magic power and affinities."

The children listen with rapt attention, desperate to know about the world they were now apart of.

"Now myself, I am a true specialist."  Ohm Icura holds up the staff in his hand, "With this I am an Earth mage and a powerful one, without it, even Jharak Yoor can project magic power better than me."

That sounds interesting, Leon thinks

"My story would be a tragic one, without one redeeming and rare talent.  Enchanting.  The ability to get an inanimate object to hold a magic rune and constantly renew it's power is something about 1,000 people of this continent can do, most of whom are non humans."

Leon doubt that staff is Ohm Icura's only weapon, it wouldn't make sense to expose your one weakness to strangers.

"For the most part Affinity is how well mana is drawn to you, Magic power is the amount you can wield, and Elemental control is control measured by a test at the academy."

Ohm Icura's gaze intensified towards the students.  "Don't ever think you know everything about magic, children.  There are always hidden talents and new spells to be discovered.  Trying too hard to categorize everything you learn will prevent you from having the open mind necessary to truly grow as an adept."

-----------

Hours later the children find themselves struggling to keep up with the pace of the exodus.  Sporadic attacks from Deadmen help spur their endurance.

Each child has been given a single round bead.  The beads are enchanted and the students were instructed to make them glow, as that was their only function.

Assuming one had even the smallest of magical talent, then using an enchanted item was significantly easier than most other types of magic.

With water being his highest affinity, the bead Leon was given was designed to respond to that element.  The beads were hesitantly made by Ohm Icura and so would not last very long.  Even so, some of the students had already managed to accomplish the task.  Leon was one of them, but hadn't yet informed Bahai, his water magic instructor.  He was hoping to get as much out of this pratice session as possible.

Enchanted Pebble [water]

Durability 3/5 Crude mana 6/6

small stone with no purpose

With the analyze skill, the student searched for the mana they were looking for then, willed it to enter the bead.  No other instructions had been given.  Some struggled, but most made steady, if slow progress.

---------------------

The instructors are amazed and perhaps a little frightened, although the children would never be able to tell.  The task they have been told to do, would take an average adept weeks if not months to accomplish.  It could only be expected though, by the standards of this world each of the children had great potential.

The average human of Lacaos have natural affinities of about 2% and no magic power to speak of.  About one in 100 had 'the gift', which was only the ability to be taught, not necessarily to be great.

Of ten with talent, nine have at least one affinities above the 20% and at least some magic power.  The might become able Marshall adepts.  Since few schools take those with less than 20% in an affinity, those below the mark may often become town guards, mercenaries, or criminals.

The last of the ten have magic power above 30 and normal affinities.  With luck and training, they might one day make able Magicians.  While it's possible, but difficult, to raise affinities, and many adepts will spend their entire lives trying to do so.

These children, however, defied believe.  Gifted were those with two affinities above the 20% mark, genius were those with three, and 'once in century' prodigies were those with four teachable affinities above 20%.

Every single child brought by the gods had at least one affinity above 30% and most had two.  Those who had already bonded with their item sometime had an affinities above 50%.  Few had any affinities lower than 10%.  And there were the monsters with natural affinities higher than 50, 60, even 70%.

There was no doubting these children had been truly gifted by the gods themselves.

--------------------

After practicing until the pebble shattered, Leon had a chance to check his skills once again

Leon Wolfman
Level	2	Active Title	Lifelong Student
Health		352
Mana		352
Stamina		352
Strength	32	Intelligence	32
Dexterity	32	Agility	32
Wisdom	32	Constitution	32
Unused Skill points	60	Experience	66%

Skills and Abilities
Mana Manipulation		Bending natural affinities to your will Water - 3% Fire - 0% Earth - 0% Wind - 0% Light - 0% Dark - 0%	Level 1

Not a bad start.

His experience had pushed him over to level two and so he had gained five bonus point to use.  every stat had also gone up by one.  But, still, the best had to be the surprise that greeted him when he awoke this morning.

Skills and Abilities
Blood of Chaos		You share the blood of a god.   1 % chance to tap the Aether to fuel spells.	Level 1

At some point before he fell asleep, his analyze managed to break through and identify the skill Blood of Chaos.  

Since he didn't yet know any spells, he couldn't take advantage of this skill, but he couldn't wait until he somehow got it to 100%.

Spreading Chaos - Ch 10 - magic meditation

The next morning saw the children awakened at sunrise.

Breakfast of bread and left over stew was provided then the instructors came to inform them of the days schedule.

"This morning, you will be given basic magic instruction, then after lunch back to weapons training, we leave tomorrow morning, so make the most of your time and energy."

Ohm Icura was as gruff as ever.  He wanted to remind the children of his offer for their weapons and items, but decided to let them suffer the bottom rung of this world for a while yet, just to soften them up.

Bihai Suuncurio stepped forward and after gaining the attention of the students, she began speaking.

"We flow ever onward.  that is the secret to feeling the energy in everything that allows us to understand and perform magic.  We are each our own rivers, children.  The path of least resistance for one, may not be the same path for another.  What you shall be doing this morning his locating the stream through which your live flows."

At the children's confused looks, Bahai sighed and simplified her instructions.

"You will get comfortable.  You will not speak.  You will try to sense the six different type of magic in the air, Earth, Fire, water, and wind.  If by some miracle you are attuned to light or..." She hesitated, then powered on, "dark, then you should inform me immediately."

She eyed the children and went back to her previous flowing voice, "This meditation technique is for beginners who don't know what element they are most attuned to.  Those who are aware of their highest affinities usually choose methods that correspond accordingly.  Your natural elemental affinities have nothing to do with the gods who may have brought you here.  Serving one god or another is simply one way in which to raise a certain affinity."

"This usually takes weeks of trail and error so don't become impatient.  This also doesn't reflect your magic power or your talent in using magic, in the end this is strictly how well you recharge your magic particles inside your body.  A skill even warrior need.  Very few warriors do not have at least one magic skill under their sleeve.  So get started."

One of the Students Lincoln Manis raised his hand and ask, "how will we know if we actually manage to do it?"

To which Bahai, smiled, "It will be impossible not to know."

The children got into their meditative poses, most choosing the crossed leg position.  Leon kneeled comfortably and simply let his mind wonder.

If it was possibly to feel the magic particles then I will eventually, so no need to try and rush.  If they are there, I will eventually feel them.  Once I feel them, nothing can stop me from using them.

Leon focused on the feel of the ground beneath him, the air around him and the moisture in it.  The dark of the shadows and the light of the sun.  The fire pit was near, the coals from last night still hot.

he first gave up on the sun.  The light hurt his eyes, even when he wasn't look at it.  his eyes had always been somewhat sensitive that way.  The fire pit was close enough he imagined he could feel the heat, but rather than any kind of revelation, it just made him uncomfortable.  The morning wasn't so cold  that his mind had a pleasant opinion of the fire.

He knew the dimensional ring raised his dark affinity, but Bahai said this meditation technique was prevalent on their natural affinity.

Eventually, Leon sits quietly thinking of the six affinities, over and over.  Some, more, and some, less.  It is right before mid day when a break through happens. Not for Leon but another student.

"Holy shit!!"

It's America Freeman, her eyes large and staring into nothing.  She reaches out and seems to playing with something, but the other students see nothing in her hands.

There is more commotion has Bahai and Ohm Icura rush over.  There is a hushed arguement, the America is taken away by the instructors.

Inside the medical tent America sits by, largely preoccupied with the new information she is receiving from her analyze.  The instructors testing are largely ignored, except when they draw blood and even that was barely an issue.

By the time they are finished, the rest of the children had had lunch and are getting ready for their weapon training.

"Change of plans children."  Ohm Icura announces, "We will be continuing the meditation training for now.  Normally the amount of time it takes to be effective would make it pointless to train so much, however, we believe for you it should be different."

He leads the children back to their former positions and explains further.

"Your old worlds lack of magic, means your bodies are so starved for mana, it's practically begging to be absorbed."

It takes time but before the last meal is ready to be served, all of the children have had a breakthrough, including Leon.

Mana [Fire] Magic representation of [fire] Affinity 18%

Mana [Earth] Magic representation of [Earth] Affinity 49%

Not just those but all six affinities are available to the children.  From the fire Leon first gains the knowledge of his somewhat low affinity for it.  The wind come naturally after that, then the rest. 

Leons highest affinity is water at 93%.  Air and dark are next with 86 and 78%.  

Bahai wasn't prepared for the children to actually be able to meditate so soon.  She also wasn't prepared for them to know their own affinities.  Just about the only thing that wasn't available to them seemed to be their Magic power levels.

After some discussion the instructors decide to try and teach the children first level spells before reaching the academy.  There would be no downside to delivering students and possible soldiers who needed less time to prepare in serving the alliance.

After dinner the children are given their weapons training.  This time Leon thinks to simply scan his guard instructor.  Unlike Ohm Icura and the others, there are immediate results.

Creal
Level	28	Active Title	Veteran of the Vine Hill battle, Father's Footsteps
Health		1274
Mana		434
Stamina		514

A name at least. He figured the key word was 'Veteran'.  How harsh must a battle of been to get a title from it?  Or were titles given for every battle?  Actually, wait, what did titles even do?

Viewing Creal's status Leon focuses on his titles until

Veteran of the Vine Hill battle

18% Chance avoid damage to yourself and those around you.

Father's Footsteps

+63% Learning speed in fathers occupation, +23% chance of teaching father's occupation

Well, that seems like a good title to have while training someone.

Later that night Leon tests his own titles, before falling asleep.

Titles
Champion of Chaos		Use of god's shrine or temple monthly, +15% Dark Affinity, +30% to dark skill and abilities, 15% defense on divine mission	Unavailable
Otherwordly Traveler		Increased learning speed, reduced chance of mental debuffs, +50 bonus points	Inactive
Lifelong Student		Accelerated learning speed of new subjects	Inactive
Healthy young man		+36% chance of making a good impression, reduced stamina loss, + 6% defense on village walls	Inactive
Blood Drinker		2% chance to gain stats, skills, abilities, or knowledge from blood	Inactive
Servant of Chaos		Use of god's shrine or temple monthly, +3% Dark affinity, +6% to Dark skills and abilities, 3% to dodge of divine mission	Active

Not bad, not bad, too bad I can't activa... WAIT WHAT!

Spreading Chaos - Ch 9 - Avatar of Chaos

"Who are you!?"

Leon is startled, having seen no children around the encampment.

The little girl tilts her head, "That's a question, people of this world don't ask nearly so much as you might think.  You're adapting slowly."

It takes a second for the child's words to work their way through Leon's mind put when they do, he finally

Avatar of Chaos
Level	1	Active Title	World Stepper
Health		132
Mana		132
Stamina		132
Strength	12	Intelligence	12
Dexterity	12	Agility	12
Wisdom	12	Constitution	1

With that, it all falls into place.  Leon, desperate to appease the angry god, says whatever comes to mind.

"I didn't betray you! I was betrayed!"

"Oh, by the girl?"  The avatar says, tilting its head the other way.

"Yes!" Leon clutches to whatever will shift the blame, "Her and the other one, her boyfriend! I t was a year long setup, just for a laugh!"

The girl stands in the doorway after his outburst, not saying anything or breathing as far as he can tell.  Only now that the words are out of his mouth, does Leon realize how hurt he actually is by Sam and Billy's plot to embarrass him.  The busy day coupled with the believe that his life would depend on his weapons training, put that and the grief over losing his classmates largely out of his mind.  

Now that he was forced to confront it, he found his sorrow was largely anger at the amount of work that went into their little joke.

"That's partly my fault, I suppose.  Betrayal, I rarely see it coming"  The girl took a few steps forward and lean into Leon's face, "but, surely, you don't think I'm willing to be on the losing end of a deal, right?"

With that, the girl surges forward and locks lips with Leon.  His teeth smash against his lips drawing a drop of blood.  Rather than worry about what a bystander would think, Leon worries about the strength he feels leaving him.  He would push the child away but he can't move, can't even breathe.  Just as he is wondering what the other students will think when they find his body, the girl breaks the kiss and steps back.

"I would have preferred to take it all back, damn contract."

The weakness doesn't leave Leon, though he can move again.  With a sinking feeling, he checks his stats

Leon Wolfman
Level	1	Active Title	Servant of Chaos
Health		341
Mana		341
Stamina		341
Strength	31	Intelligence	31
Dexterity	31	Agility	31
Wisdom	31	Constitution	31
Unused Skill points	55	Experience	99%

"What did you..."  

Skills and Abilities
Language		Having spoken with a god, Able to speak all languages of the world	MAX
Godly Champion		+20 points to each stat	--
Godly Mission		+10% experience gain	--
Otherworldly Traveler		+50 bonus points	--
Blood of Chaos		Unknown	---
Godly Analyze		To ask or Steal from the very world, its knowledge	Level 75
Student		Accelerated learning in areas design for teaching or in the presence of a master.	Level 75

Every stat has lost 20 points and every divine skill has been downgraded to godly.  Before he can ask or beg for Chaos to do, well anything, the little girls turn to leave.

"They're coming, so I guess I'm out of time.  Just so you know," She throws over her shoulder, "Divine Champions can contact their god at any shrine or temple, you should not try to use those, you would not like the consequences."

Then she was gone, the muffled pop of air filling the space she had occupied, the only evidence that she was there, to begin with.

"Damn it..." Leon doesn't even bother to try and analyze what just happened.  He's weaker now and getting home just went from improbable to impossible.  If he thinks about too long, surely nothing but despair will come of it.  Besides, it could be worse, much worse, she could have killed him.  

He still has advantages over the people of this world and giving up was never part of the plan anyway, no matter how difficult the journey gets.

Letting the weakness from Chaos's stat theft wash over him, Leon closes his eyes, swearing to not let this stop him from getting home, no matter what the tears running down the side of his face say.

----

Moments after the avatar has left, a squad burst into the area, led by a disheveled Moorzu.  After searching the area, taking care not to wake the children, he must conclude that the intruder is gone.

"Should we search further."  A gruff captain by his side asks.

"No, the dark gods' servant is probably long gone, just make sure all the children are still here and don't let the other guides know about this."

"Of course, deacon!"  The thought had never crossed the captain's mind.  While they were forced to accept the presence of the other gods and therefore the other gods' worshippers, they would never tolerate the presence of the dark one's servants.

The others didn't think the dark god would have any champions among the children, and since it was taboo to ask which of the six one served, Moorzu was forced to wait and try to find out surreptitiously.  If he did, then that child would not be making it to the academy to spread the evil god name. 

Not while Moorzu was on watch.

------

Anoli appeared just inside the wooded area behind her parents home.  A wave of dizziness hit her and she nearly fell.  She pulls a dull stone from a hidden pocket, the faint glow inside growing fainter as she watches.  Finally, it dies and the stone crumbles into dust.  None of the mana for that spell came from her but it still took a toll.

"Your contract is fulfilled, child."  

With that, Anoli feels the presence of Chaos leave her and with it, the final pieces of the sickness she had bargained for so long ago.  Her hand reaches for her lip and come away with blood glowing with the god's power, but it fades to nothing even as she watches.

She wraps a blindfold around her eyes, knowing it would take time for them to become normal, rather than the all black nothingness, only her parent knew about.  The bone white skin would also eventually become healthier, so Chaos promised. 

In time the village may even forget about the cursed little blind girl.  

Spreading Chaos - Ch 8 - Honor Circle

Despite not seeming to favor any one child over the other, Ohm Icura still chose to pit the weakest looking boy against one of the stronger females, Jazzie Emmete.  Jazz had chosen a long handled war hammer much like the item she received from the earth god.  Damian Danton had also chosen to stick with the weapon type received from the fire god, Curbu.  He did, however, choose to add a shield to his other arm, to compliment the short sword.

Ohm Icura and Deacon Moorzu took the time to explain that it was impossible for the children to hurt each other, at least permanently. Moorzu would heal them after each match so they were encouraged to give it their all.  They still weren't expecting much more than timid swings before the children begged to leave the circle.

They were therefore surprised when Jazz and Damian went at each other with the expected lack of skill, but the unexpected abundance of ferocity.

Neither child had learned enough to display any technique, but neither hesitated at Jharaks shouted "Attack!".

For their own reasons, both student's had always had to deal with bullies of their own growing up.  But neither had to deal with the same ones twice.  Jazzie's size meant being picked on by both boys and girls growing up, while Damian's meant being picked on by boys while being ignored by girls.

In the honor circle, Damian dodged Jazzie's hammer swings while trying to get close enough to do damage with the sword.  However, despite the weight of the long hammer, he found his opponent moving far more nimbly than she had any right to.  Even if he got past the head of the hammer, Jazz wasn't above using the shaft or lashing out with a foot.  The attacks he was forced to take on the shield numbed his arm, further slowing its use.

Finally, the match ended when  Damian sacrifices his shield arm to deliver a blow to the back of Jazz's head in a spinning move that had far more luck than skill.  The girl wasn't knocked out, but the position she was left in on the floor forced Ohm Icura to declare Damian the winner.

"As you can see children half the fight is less how sharp your claws are, and more how willing you are to use them,"  Jharak exclaimed before pointing out the next two combatants.  Damian and Jazz in the meanwhile were treated with holy light by the deacon.

None of the following fights displayed nearly as much spirit as the first, but that but that much, at least was the expected norm for the instructors.

Leons turn came and he found himself paired with Jermain Scott, the class genius.  The boy had a spear and was positioned low to the ground.  Whether or not he actually knew how to use the weapon, the stance looked intimidating.

Leon had long since determined he wasn't interested in winning or losing, he just wanted to get this over with, with as little pain as possible so he could explore whatever the info boxes were willing to tell him.

At the commencement of the fight, Jermain exploded forward, deciding his 7-foot spear gave him an edge over Leons 6-foot staff.  Leon couldn't disagree and dodged as Jermain's spear occupied the space he had just vacated.

Frantically scrambling backward while knocking the spear away with his own staff, kept him safe for a while, but it wasn't going to win the match.  Winning wasn't as important as avoiding the pain of the spear, but the first was the best way to avoid the second.

After a while, Leon was confident he had found Jermain's rhythm, and even when the other boy tried to change it up, he somehow managed to keep up, but he was still on the defensive.  Finally, after another missed thrust by Jermain, Leon did something neither was expecting.  Without thinking he ran towards the other boy, forcing him to back up to keep the spear in play.

Leon was too close and with the mid staff stance he had been taught, harried Jermain with both sides of his staff.  Taking a page out of Jazz's book, Leon lashed out with a kick that caught his opponent off guard and knocks him on his back.

Jermain manages to hold onto his spear but from his position on the ground, it's impossible to protect against Leons attacks.  Finally, he's forced to concede when his weapon is knocked out of reach and the staff is pressed against his throat.

The fight was sloppy and both boys have bruises, but the instructors are pleased and so they are allowed to be healed by the deacon.  The other fights finish just as the sun is setting.

Before being sent to bed, the children are shown separate barrels of water and given cloth to wipe themselves down.  The girls and boys treat it like a school locker, doing their best to ignore the servants and guards.  Given the deaths of their classmates and the busy day they've had, the children hardly have the strength to take any interest in each other as well.

 A wave of exhaustion hits Leon has he laid in his bedroll, but he still takes some time to go over the info boxes.  The sparring match gave him some experience.  That plus what he's earned through the day just from learning about this world brings his total up to 73%.

The analysis skill hasn't shown him anything spectacular about this world yet.  Other than some strangely named plants, there really hasn't been much to see, he supposes.  However, now that he's alone he can finally check the best for last.  Holding up is hand he uses analyze on the ring tattoo.

Dimensional Ring
Soulbound	God-tier	+25% Dark Affinity	0%unlocked
Grows with the amount of mana it is fed Current slots: 1

Somewhat underwhelmed, Leon wonders about the stats of everyone else's weapons.  Do they grow too? first thing first, he needs to figure out how to feed this thing mana.

Suddenly the noise from outside, various clinks of the guard's equipment and noise from the forest, even the very wind, disappears.  The change is so abrupt, Leon wonders if the camp is under attack for a moment.  Sitting up, he is startled by the little girl standing in the entryway of his tent.

She wears a dark purple victorian dress that seems designed to be as creepy as possible.  Or perhaps that is just her bone white face, with eyes that are not there, just black space.  Before Leon can react, the girl speaks.

"Why have you betrayed me?"  She asks, with what seems like genuine sorrow.