Shang looked at all the different Mana Sources with shining eyes.
Elemental Mana began to fill the room, but the Magic Circle kept the Mana isolated, making the different kinds interact with each other. There wasn't much Mana in the surroundings, but the different forms of Mana still created some minor phenomena.
The temperature in the room fluctuated wildly. Some bolts of lightning appeared and disappeared in the surroundings.
Lots of tiny things appeared.
Shang also noticed something very interesting very quickly.
The dean hadn't summoned a Mana Source for Ice Mana, but there were still eight different Mana Sources.
Yet, according to what Shang knew, there were only seven affinities.
So, why were there suddenly nine, including Ice?
Shang quickly checked each Mana Source.
Orange ethereal spire that released a ton of heat? Got to be fire.
Brown ethereal spire that summoned rock around it? Shang knew that one already. That was earth.
Green ethereal spire that created tons of wind? Probably wind.
Deep blue ethereal spire that summoned water in the air, which rained down around it? Water.
Silver ethereal spire that summoned bolts of lightning? Lightning.
Grey ethereal spire that seemed to vibrate in the air? Shang wasn't that certain about what it was, but based on what he had already seen and what was missing, Shang was rather certain that this was metal.
That left the last two.
One ethereal spire looked like a black tear in space. It completely absorbed all forms of light and let no light escape.
Shang remembered that he had once believed the Pest Cats to have a Darkness Affinity, but he hadn't heard of any form of Darkness Affinity from other humans.
Was this darkness?
That would also explain the last Mana Source.
The last ethereal spire lit up the entire room, and if the darkness Mana Source weren't here, Shang would have needed to protect his eyes.
This was probably a Mana Source for light.
"I didn't know darkness and light also existed as Affinities," Shang commented.
"They're very rare," the dean said. "There are some beasts that have these affinities, but they are truly rare amongst humans. Most of the world thinks that darkness and light affinities can't exist inside humanity, but they do."
"Some true Mages know of the existence of a couple of humans with these affinities, but only High Mages get to meet them occasionally. Their existence is mostly being kept a secret to surprise a potential enemy."
"In comparison to the other Affinities, studies on the Darkness and Light Affinities are not made public and not conducted in the public. That means that a human unfortunate enough to receive such an affinity won't be able to become a powerful Mage without selling themselves to a big power."
Shang scratched his chin. "Why is it like this?" he asked.
"Variation," the dean answered. "Every power knows what sort of abilities all the Mages with all the Affinities have. However, they also know that the enemy might have some Mages with the Light or Darkness Affinity."
"Now, do you protect your attacking force with a Magic Circle that costs only ten gold that can deal with the known Affinities, or will you spend 10,000 gold for one that can also deal with light and darkness? Of course, the prices I just mentioned are only an example and don't reflect the real prices."
"Additionally, the enemy might have spells that could turn the entire situation around as long as you decide to do a certain thing. However, you don't know what that certain thing is since you don't know the ability."
"It could be something like gathering several Mages to Synchrocast a huge fireball. The enemy wouldn't know that they shouldn't do that, which is why they are doing it. So then, you use your Light Mage to suppress the light of the fireball and the Mana it gives off, confusing the surrounding Mages about its power and making it explode in the middle of them."
Shang listened with rapt attention and absorbed all the knowledge.
"What kind of Affinity do I have?" Shang asked as he scratched his chin.
"None of the ones before you," the dean answered. "Those only represent the pure Affinities. There are also Mixed Affinities, but they are very rare. A good example would be the Empress Cobra. It lives in a swamp filled with nothing but poison, and it rules over all the poisons in the world."
"According to some advanced studies, the Poison Affinity is comprised of the Water Affinity and the Darkness Affinity. However, as far as I know, the existence of a human with a Poison Affinity is only theoretical."
"If the God said that your Affinity is very special, it could theoretically be everything. It might even be something never seen before. It might even be something so confusing that we don't even know what it is."
"Try it," the dean said. "I would be lying if I said that this didn't interest me."
Shang nodded and walked over to the closest one, earth.
Of course, Shang already knew that he didn't have an Earth Affinity, but he wanted to feel how it interacted with him again.
Shang touched the brown spire, and it quickly entered his body. After a couple of seconds of circling around in his body, it left through Shang's mouth again, just like that last time.
SHING!
The Earth Mana Source vanished as the dean pulled it back into his Space Ring.
Then, Shang went to the next Mana Source, wind.
Shang absorbed this Mana Source as well, and just like earth, it left Shang's body after some seconds.
Shang's Affinity wasn't related to wind.
The next one was water, and just like the previous two, it simply left Shang's body.
Then, Shang looked at the next one, fire.
Shang already suspected that his Affinity might involve fire. After all, his left arm was also heating up while using his ability.
Shang touched the Fire Mana Source, and it entered his body.
It tried to get to Shang's head, but after realizing that it couldn't get there, it went to Shang's left arm. When that happened, Shang became quite nervous. He hoped that his left arm wouldn't explode due to the opposing forces.
However, nothing like that happened. When the Fire Mana Source entered Shang's left arm, it simply began to eat the Ice Mana Source.
Of course, the Ice Mana Source fought back, and the two of them began to enter a fight for supremacy. After several seconds, they entered a stabilized state.
Shang felt like the two Mana Sources were rotating counter-clockwise. The image reminded Shang of that ouroboros picture on earth, the one with the two snakes eating each other forever.
"Fire and Ice," the dean said from the side. "Opposing forces, but their fusion makes sense."
Shang looked at the dean.
"What you described sounded like an Affinity for Temperature. However, I didn't suspect it to be an Affinity for Temperature since that felt far too boring for something that the God would call very special," the dean said.
"Try it out. You can't damage this room."
Shang looked with interest at his left arm.
Then, he pointed it towards the wall.
SSHH!
A hot wind left Shang's left arm, and Shang felt like he had just opened a pre-heated oven.
At the same time, Shang's left arm became very cold, and he nearly lost all feeling in it.
When Shang felt the power of his attack, he could only frown.
"How underwhelming."
