The Forgotten Legacy

Now knowing that the chances of being watched in this stage of the tutorial he decided that he would need to play it safe and not do anything that would bring any unwanted attention to him, because of that all training with his affinity would need to be done in a dungeon, including any crafting. On top of that he immediately ruled out going back to the book shop and asking for a book on the Great War. The one thing that stood out to him now that he had left the arena was that there was never a presentative of The Alliance present. Every other faction was there but not the one that he wanted. It was the smallest faction and the one that only operated on an invite only policy, with the others you could approach the clans, and if you were lucky the major factions, but The Alliance was different, they would approach you, period.

Once he got back to his apartment he pulled out the book on elements and affinity and started reading, first though he emptied his mana into the gem which was now half way full. He decided that once his mana was back to full it would be time to do a dungeon run again, until then though he read.

The introduction was something he already knew, most people in the multiverse had 1 affinity, only the truly elite had 2 and only the very best of the best, those who were high up in the major factions had 3. What he did find out though was that it was rumoured that the Ancients had more, some guessed anywhere from 5 to 8, but it had never been confirmed. What he also found out in the first few chapters was that just because someone had the same affinity as another person it didn’t mean that they were equal in strength. Apparently one had to work to grow their affinity, really work with it and make it their own, it wasn’t enough to just have it and not truly embrace it. People worked for millennia to truly control and wield their affinity, as when someone first unlocked it, it was relatively weak, and only through use and understanding could you grow the power inside of you.

What he also found out was that not all affinity were equal, they were tiered in a way that was similar to a class or item. There was the basic affinity, or basic elements, these were the ones that he had, fire, water, earth, air and nature were all categorised as basic. Then came the advanced tier, these were things like magma, lightening and ice. Up from that was the Epic tier which included more broad things like storm, light, shadow, star and moon. The higher the tier the more complicated the affinity, for example some of the highest were time, space, life, death, creation and oblivion.

The more he read the crazier it all seemed. He had struggled with bonding with the most basic of elements, but apparently this was normal. It was advised that if you were wishing to try and form an affinity with a higher element than you should be at a level that will allow your body to be able to sustain the impact of the bonding. That also explained why it had been easier for him to bond the basic elements when he was at the E grade compared to F. His body was more equipped to handle so many basic elements. Apparently E grade was when most people could bond a basic element, and only at the very peak of E grade should one ever attempt to bond an advanced element, it was advised to wait till D grade though.

He continued reading through the book and surprisingly there was some well known places in the multiverse where one had the best chance of bonding certain elements, however these were generally controlled by a faction and you would need permission to go there. Towards the later half of the book things changed rather rapidly in what was being told, he had skimmed through a lot of the book as there was little to no chance of the higher elements having any impact on him at this point so it would be something he would go back and read when he had more time and opportunity.

No, what had piqued his interest in the book was a section on creating your own affinity. Apparently the elite, those that had 2 or more affinity were able to create their own hybrid elements, or an advanced element. Some common examples of this were when someone had managed to bond 2 basic elements that corresponded with each other and using these two elements they were able to make a third. This was apparently a common practice for people who had the capability, and were lucky enough, to have 2 affinity. Sometimes people would purposely go for two basic affinity so they could create the third advanced one that they wanted.

Examples of this were people who had the air and fire affinity, they were, with a lot of work, able to take parts of the 2 affinity and combine them, forming the lightening affinity. Another example was fire and earth into magma, air and water into ice and water and earth into mud. The examples kept going, even detailing some cases where advanced could form with other advanced and basic elements and form epic tier. The ideas that were now running through his head were insane, could he manage to form an advanced tier affinity now that he had 5 basic? The book said that it should never be attempted until the late E grade at the earliest but he was different, right? He kept reading but the book didn’t go into any details on how exactly this was done, only that it could be, stating that it was something that most factions kept to themselves as for those that attempted to create higher elements the death toll was high.

Before he could continue reading, or run off to the dungeon to do something stupid, someone knocked on his door. Checking how much time had passed it was nearly halfway through the day, his mana was back to full and he had been completely lost in reading. He got up and went to open the door finding Gabe standing there looking like crap. “Holy shit, come in, are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t come earlier, I was waiting with Eric until they kicked me out of the waiting room saying that now that I was done with my fight I had to leave.” Gabe walked over and sat down on the couch, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Do you need a potion or anything? You don’t look great.” And he really didn’t. He was covered in blood and bruises, but alive thankfully.

“It’s all good, I had a potion, I’m not going to die or anything, just sore.” Then he smiled, “I won though, it wasn’t easy nearly lost a few times, but I won in the end.”

“Gabe that is the best news! But if you look like this what happened to the other guy?”

“He’s going to live. When you are in the waiting room, everyone talks, you know? Most people agree right from then that they wont kill if the other person agrees the same. At least that’s what happened when I was in there. Thankfully I was able to eventually knock the guy unconscious, so I won.”

“What are you going to do while you wait for Eric?” He should rest, sleep, recover a bit. Take another potion even.

“I’m going to shower and then sleep for a while. Eric will wake me when he is back.” Gabe said.

“Ummm, you know he wont be able to go into you're apartment if your asleep right?” That was one of the rules, the owner of the apartment needed to let you in otherwise no one could enter.

“Don’t worry about it, I gave him permission to come in whenever he wants. He sleeps with me most nights anyway.” As soon as he said it Gabe tensed up, like he said something he shouldn’t have. Shaun didn’t get the weird reaction, so what they slept together, he couldn’t blame them not wanting to be alone after everything they went through the past few months. “Shit! We agreed we would tell you together. You know Eric and I are close right?”

He just nodded along, yes they were close, he was happy for them having someone they could rely on in such a stressful time.

“Well we aren’t just friends, you know? We are, uh, together. Like together together. Like seeing each other. Shit this is awkward! He is my boyfriend Shaun!”

Huh, never would have known. Although I’m not the best at picking up on these things. So they like each other, cool. “Do you guys…. You know?” Gabe just nodded at him. “Good for you man!” He was happy for them, really he was. If someone could find love when the world went to shit he couldn’t help but be excited for them. Love was something you should cherish. He hadn’t loved anyone since he lost his father but he still remembered what it was like, to have someone you always felt safe around, someone who you knew would love you no matter what!

“Your happy that we have had sex?” Gabe was looking at him weirdly now, like he couldn’t quite get why he was so happy for him. “that’s kind of weird….”

“What?” Why is he talking about sex? I didn’t….oh. “Man! I meant do you love each other! Get your mind out of the gutter, you are barely in one piece right now!”

Gabe started laughing at that although quickly stopped and grabbed hold of his chest when the pain set in. He then looked at Shaun in the eye “I think so, yeah. I couldn’t imagine going through all of this without him you know? And after? I want to stay with him, for whatever comes.”

“Good, I really am happy for you.” Looking Gabe over there was one thing he could do to help, and he didn’t think it would be an issue, he would use his gauntlet for it anyway. “You trust me?” he asked Gabe.

“After everything we have gone through? I trust you with my life man.” With that Shaun moved closer to him and placed his hand onto Gabe’ chest, the palm of his gauntlet now spread out on his barely there shirt. “Ummmm Shaun? Uh, Eric and I haven’t spoken about it but I don’t think he would approve of, ummm, whatever your about to do.”

“What?” He pulled back his hand then, not getting what he was talking about, why wouldn’t Eric approve of him healing Gabe? “What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t he want me to heal you?”

“Heal me? I thought you were…… You know what never mind. Go ahead.” Gabe was barely holding back laughter at that point.

Shaking his head, he put the gauntlet back on Gabe's chest and started using the healing spell using the mana in the gem. As soon as he started Gabe closed his eyes and moaned, he couldn’t blame him, being healed with the nature affinity was intoxicating at first, it was something you needed to get used to before you could block out the euphoric feeling that came with it. Once Shaun felt that he had healed as much as he could he pulled back his hand and cut off the healing. “How you feel now?”

Gabe was just laying with his head rolled back and barely conscious at that point. “Like I need to take a cold shower. A very cold shower.”

Shaun gave him a look and then spotted something he really shouldn’t be seeing before cracking up into laughter. “Yeah, why don’t you go do that. Because this……I don’t think Eric would approve of.”

Gabe lifted his head back up and looked down at himself, immediately going to cover himself. “Yep, I’m leaving. Thanks though, for healing me. However the hell you did it.”

Once Gabe was at the door Shaun called after him. “I am going for a dungeon run, once Eric is back let me know and I can fix him up too if he needs it, better than wasting potions.” Gabe just nodded and continued to leave. “Oh and Gabe?” When Gabe stopped and turned back to look at him Shaun just gave him the biggest smile he could. “Eric is one lucky guy!” He said with a wink.

With that Gabe just laughed at him and yelled back “You know it!” before closing the door and leaving. Shaun collected all of his things and headed to the dungeons. He now had a mission, and it wasn’t to try and beat any more birds or fight wolves. No he was going to go into the weakest dungeon, not for experience, or loot, but purely for his affinity. He had decided to make another stupid decision, an advanced affinity was calling and he knew just where he was going to start.