Everyone was silent as they all processed what I had just told them, but thankfully, none of them were willing to comment on it, and all silently agreed to try and forget it ever happened.
He got back to filling out the forms. Ark asked, "It's asking for my affinity. Do I just put down 'wind'?"
As Zek was about to talk, Araki jumped in instead. "As you can use wind magic, then yes."
Zek was a little annoyed about this but didn't comment.
Ark nodded and went to write it down when he paused.
"What does it mean, my main and sub-affinities?" he asked, confused.
Zek managed to explain this one.
"It isn't uncommon for mages to have multiple affinities. Your main affinity is the element you are the strongest with or use the most, while your sub-affinities are the rest of them, even if you don't use them," Zek finished while giving a slightly petty look to the oblivious Araki.
"The guild has a way to check affinities. If you want, I can grab it," Ella, the receptionist from earlier, said as she walked over to check on us.
Ark nodded hesitantly and shyly said, "Yes... please. T-thank you."
Ella nodded and went to the back. She came out a minute later with a large crystal ball, about eight inches in diameter. She wasn't touching the crystal and was holding it with a velvet cloth.
"This is an Affinity Detection Crystal. When you place your hand on it and infuse it with some mana, the inside will change color, and depending on the color, it will show your affinities," she explained.
Everyone, other than me and Zek, who had seen these before, was staring at it in wonder.
I smirked, seeing their child-like wonder.
"If you place your hand on the crystal, we can determine your affinity," she said, gesturing to Ark.
Ark was hesitant to try but slowly reached his hand out and touched the crystal with his palm.
Nothing happened, which confused Ella.
Before she could say anything, I spoke.
"You need to infuse mana into it. Do you know how?" I asked.
He shook his head.
Calmly, I gave him instructions. "Take a deep breath and imagine an energy flowing through your body. From your breath to your lungs, to your heart, through your blood, through your arms and legs, and back to the heart."
I watched his breath, and I could feel his mana circulating.
"Good, now imagine it coming from your heart through your arm and into the crystal," I said and watched.
It took a bit, but Ark managed to control his mana and infuse it into the crystal.
The crystal filled with a light green smoke, and I could see some teal and slight silver smoke as well.
Ella was amazed and said, "Good job! Turns out you have three affinities: a high wind affinity, usually found in sorcerers, ice magic, and moon magic."
Ark flinched hearing "moon magic," but we were all confused, even me.
"What is moon magic?" I asked, shocking the others at the table.
Ella sighed and said, "I am sorry, I don't know. I know what each color is, but not what it does. You are all students at the academy, correct?" she asked.
We all nodded.
"I recommend researching it there. As far as I know, moon magic is extremely rare. Hopefully, you can find something," she said.
I wanted to know what that was, and I was thinking of asking Brakos about it, but I left it for later.
'Could 'she' be related to Ark in some way?' I thought to myself as I remembered someone Brakos told me about years ago.
"Does anyone else want to check their affinities?" Ella asked.
Orin and Araki both smiled and went for the crystal at the same time, but Orin got to it first.
The crystal didn't do anything at first, and I wasn't surprised.
From what I saw, Orin was a pure fighter. He only had access to Ki and no mana, so he was having a harder time compared to Ark.
I continued to watch, knowing he could do it. Even if he wasn't a mage, everyone could control minor amounts of mana to use in everyday life, but most people didn't know that outside of Adventurers and mages.
After a minute, the crystal showed a brownish-gray smoke.
"Congrats, Orin. You have an earth affinity," I said, patting him on the back.
He smiled and gestured for Araki to go next.
When Araki did so, it only took a second.
Like me, he had very low mana but high control, hence why he used magic circles rather than casting spells.
The crystal turned a deep blue and slightly white, which interested me.
"Water and Light affinities... that is surprising," I said.
He gave a smug smile.
"Would any of you like to try?" Ella asked the rest of us.
I shook my head, but Zek and Aaron nodded, Zek saying it could be fun.
Zek got an even split of orange and light blue smoke and nothing else.
Ella was surprised and said, "You have an ice and fire affinity?! That is extremely rare!"
Zek, being smug, said, "I know," and puffed out his tiny chest, which was weirdly adorable, like watching a child do it.
I was curious about Aaron, though. When he went to touch it, I noticed a slight hesitation, and his eyes squirmed slightly.
I stayed silent and just watched the crystal.
It turned completely black as the smoke filled it up, but I found it suspicious.
'He didn't even touch the crystal when the smoke appeared. That spirit must be stronger than I thought,' I thought to myself.
When Aaron took his hand away, everyone, even Ella, was staring at me.
I sighed, knowing what they wanted, and said, "This doesn't work for me as you think."
Everyone was confused, and I reached my hand out.
The crystal started to shake, and different colors of smoke appeared and disappeared.
I pulled my hand away and said, "I use spirit magic, which messes with Affinity crystals. I am working on an alternative, but if I touch that one, it will shatter."
Everyone was curious but also knew I had more experience, so they didn't comment.
Clapping her hands together, Ella said, "Well, you all know your affinities. Please come to me when you are done." She then picked up the crystal and went to put it away.
After another 10 minutes of helping everyone finish their forms, we walked up to Ella at the counter and handed them to her.
She nodded and put the forms into a machine that looked kind of like a printer from my old world.
She pushed a button and placed each form separately.
After a few minutes, she opened a drawer, pulled out five copper cards, and came back over.
She handed them out to everyone and said, "Here are your guild IDs. Please keep them on you at all times so we can ID you if anything happens. They also act as a way to prove who you are."
"We have precautions against ID theft and have been using a blood-bound method so that they will not work for other people. All you have to do is put a few drops of blood on the card when you are ready, but I would recommend doing it now. We have a finger pricker if you need it."
Almost everyone quickly proceeded to do so instantly, as they knew what blood-bound items were, but Ark was hesitating.
I walked over and calmly helped him.
He was nervous, but I never forced him to. When he was calm, I cut his finger slightly with my dagger and let the blood drop on the card.
I then pulled out a band-aid from my ring and put it on his finger. He was very flustered, but I remained calm.
Turning around, Ella gave me a knowing look, but I decided not to say anything.
I smiled, knowing what she was thinking, but kept it to myself.
When everyone was done, Orin said, "Hold on. I remember your card wasn't made of copper. Why are ours?"
I nodded and pulled out my ID.
"Mine is made of iron, as I am a D-rank adventurer with a higher ranking than you. As your guild ranking increases, so will the quality of your cards."
I pointed to a board nearby showing what metals are used for each card.
F Rank - Copper
E Rank - Bronze
D Rank - Iron
C Rank - Steel
B Rank - Silver
A Rank - Gold
S Rank - Platinum
Everyone was shocked, but Ella also added, "Make sure not to lose your IDs. If you do, you have to buy new ones. The replacements are at a higher cost than selling the raw materials."
Everyone turned to her in shock at the ridiculous price for higher-rank ID replacements, and I just laughed, seeing her innocent smile.
"We had a problem a few years ago with people at B-rank melting and selling their silver cards and getting new ones at a profit," she explained with a smile.