Lucian crashed onto the black floor of the void.
If it could even be called a floor.
The endless darkness beneath him rippled like water, reflecting the stars above in broken silver fragments. His chest rose and fell violently, each breath burning through his lungs.
His right shoulder still throbbed from Lyra's spear strike.
His left arm tingled from Kael's lightning.
And his pride—
That had suffered the most.
Lyra stood a few steps away, violet robes flowing around her like living shadows.
Her expression remained cold.
Unmoved.
"Too slow."
Lucian glared at her from where he lay.
"You almost killed me."
Lyra tilted her head.
"Almost."
Kael sighed from behind him.
The male archmage stepped forward, hands folded behind his back, blue lightning crackling softly around his fingers.
"She means that your reaction speed is poor."
Lucian pushed himself up.
"That is not what she means."
Kael's lips twitched faintly.
"No. It is exactly what she means."
Lyra crossed her arms.
"If you cannot dodge attacks at this speed, you will die the first time a real mage decides to kill you."
Her words struck harder than the spear.
Lucian clenched his jaw.
For a moment, the humiliation from the academy returned.
Rudra's laughter.
The whispers.
Water affinity.
Common.
Worthless.
His fists tightened.
Kael noticed.
The archmage's expression changed.
For the first time, his voice lost its calm amusement.
"You are thinking about the academy."
Lucian looked away.
"They laughed."
Lyra gave a dry, almost disdainful scoff.
"Then they are fools."
Lucian frowned.
Kael slowly walked toward him.
"Tell me, Lucian. Why do you believe aqua affinity is weak?"
Lucian blinked.
"Because… everyone knows it."
Lyra's eyes narrowed.
"No. Everyone believes it."
Kael nodded.
"And belief is often the greatest weapon of those in power."
Lucian stared.
Kael raised one hand.
A sphere of water appeared above his palm.
Simple.
Small.
Harmless.
Then, with a flick of his finger—
The sphere compressed.
The entire void trembled.
The small orb turned darker.
Denser.
Lucian's eyes widened.
The pressure radiating from it was terrifying.
Then Kael released it.
The sphere shot forward.
A distant floating stone pillar in the void—
One Lucian had not even noticed before—
was instantly pierced clean through.
No explosion.
No sound.
Just destruction.
The pillar slowly split apart.
Lucian froze.
"That… was Aqua?"
Kael nodded.
"Pure pressure compression."
Lyra stepped beside him.
"Water is not weak."
Her voice dropped.
"It is underestimated."
7
Kael looked at Lucian.
"Do you know why the world calls Aqua common?"
Lucian shook his head.
The archmage's eyes darkened.
"Because the Mage Council made sure of it."
Silence.
Lucian's heartbeat quickened.
"What?"
Lyra answered this time.
"Seven hundred years ago, there existed a mage known as Auron, the Tide Sovereign."
The void around them shifted.
A vision appeared.
A man cloaked in deep blue robes stood above a drowning city.
Towering tidal waves rose behind him.
Entire mountains trembled beneath the force of the ocean.
7
Lucian stared in shock.
Kael's voice echoed through the vision.
"He was an Aqua affinity user."
Lucian's eyes widened.
Lyra continued.
"He was one of the most powerful mages in recorded history."
The waves in the vision rose higher.
Entire fortresses vanished beneath water.
Ships were torn apart like paper.
Kael's tone turned colder.
"When the Council betrayed him, he nearly destroyed the world."
Lucian's breath caught.
"The world?"
Kael nodded.
"He drowned three kingdoms in a single night."
Lyra's violet eyes fixed on Lucian.
"After barely stopping him, the Council feared the future."
Her voice sharpened.
"So they began a lie."
Lucian slowly understood.
"They spread the rumour…"
Kael finished.
"That Aqua is weak."
Lyra added,
"That is common. Fit only for support and healing."
Lucian stared at them.
"So no one would truly study it."
Kael smiled faintly.
"Exactly."
The realisation hit Lucian like lightning.
All these years—
All the mockery—
All the dismissal—
A deliberate lie.
His aqua affinity was not a burden.
It was hidden power.
Kael stepped closer.
"You will train Aqua seriously."
Lyra's lips curved slightly.
"And unlike the fools outside, you will learn what it truly means."
Lucian's eyes slowly hardened.
For the first time since the awakening, a spark of confidence rose inside him.
Then Lyra's expression changed.
Colder.
More dangerous.
"As for your other affinities…"
The seventeen sealed gates appeared again.
Floating around the three cores.
Blue.
Gold.
Black-violet.
Lucian looked toward the Origin Core.
Its glow was steady.
Ancient.
Almost divine.
Kael's voice lowered.
"No one must know."
Lucian nodded slowly.
"Not the academy?"
"No."
"The Council?"
"Especially not them."
Then Lyra looked directly into his eyes.
"Not even your parents."
Lucian froze.
"What?"
Kael's tone became serious.
"Your parents know only what the world saw."
"Aqua."
Lyra continued.
"If the Origin and Necro affinities are revealed…"
Her voice sharpened.
"You will become a target."
Lucian thought of the clans.
His missing sisters.
The whispers.
His parents' fear.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"The Council, the noble houses, the dark organisations—everyone would come for you."
Lyra's voice turned icy.
"The Origin Core can rewrite the laws of affinity."
Lucian's heartbeat quickened.
"And Necro?"
Lyra's expression darkened.
"That path is forbidden."
She raised her hand.
A black-violet mist gathered above her palm.
Shadows twisted into skeletal hands.
The sight sent a chill through Lucian.
"Necro affinity governs death, souls, and forbidden contracts."
Kael added quietly,
"It is feared for good reason."
Lucian swallowed.
"So only Aqua outside…"
Kael nodded.
"Aqua in the world."
Lyra's violet eyes glowed.
"Origin and Necro in the shadows."
That line settled deep into Lucian's heart.
Outside—
The weak, common Aqua user.
Inside—
something far more dangerous.
Kael suddenly clapped his hands.
"Enough theory."
Lucian groaned.
Lyra smirked.
"Now begins the ruthless part."
Before Lucian could react, the void changed.
Dozens of floating water blades formed around him.
At the same time, shadows rose from below his feet.
Kael's calm voice echoed.
"Control Aqua."
Lyra followed immediately.
"And survive Necro pressure",
Lucian stared in disbelief.
"Both at once?!"
Kael smiled.
"You wanted power."
Lyra's voice cut through the darkness.
"Then earn it."
The blades attacked.
The shadows lunged.
Lucian's eyes sharpened.
His Aqua Core pulsed.
Water spiralled around his hands.
Behind it, the black-violet Necro Core stirred for the first time.
The training had truly begun.
And in the shadows of the void, something behind one of the seventeen gates moved.
A faint golden crack appeared across the first seal.