Chapter 93: Affinity

The centipede, feeling the lack of air, burst out from the ground in a heartbeat.

But this time everyone was ready.

“Big guy, tank the attack.”

“Me?!”

“…”

“Roger!”

“Extro and Vienna, attack it from the sides.”

“Huh? Extro?”

“Yes, you! And Diana, circle it from behind.”

“Why are we being so careful? It’s a mere Bronze centipede.”

Vienna’s impatient voice echoed through the dry sands.

“Learn to coordinate first.”

“Tsk.”

Making a displeased face, Vienna attacked the centipede from the side along with Extro.

As for Diana, she obeyed my orders and circled the monster from behind.

Being flanked from all sides, the centipede chose to attack the big guy first, but its attempts were stopped midway by the combined assault from the three sides.

Extro, being a Bronze core, didn’t leave much damage on the hard shell of the monster.

But Diana, along with the Elven princess, left deep gashes across its body, leading to the creature roaring in pain.

“Aahh!”

With a war-cry-type shout, the big guy attacked the monster from the front, his broadsword piercing deep into its neck.

Thud!

The lifeless body of the centipede hit the ground.

Our bracelets buzzed at the same time, showing an increase in the total points of our group.

“More are coming!”

Everyone had a serious look on their face as the ground beneath us shook in several places.

The vibrations made by the battle had attracted more monsters.

“You can kill them on your own, but make sure to watch your back!”

Informing them of the basics, I withdrew from the scene, standing far away from the places that the centipedes were trying to attack from.

My team was fairly strong.

Vienna had the natural affinity for life mana that could be used to control plants, though this desert limited such an approach.

I didn’t know Diana’s affinity, or affinities, as being a royal made her body capable enough to control different types of mana… the same as Vienna, who might also be able to control mana aside from life mana.

Extro was average, while the big guy had a bit of talent in controlling earth mana.

This was what I had always liked about this game.

The developers had kept the power scaling realistic and not entirely fantastical.

Normally, in many games, characters had a specific affinity to a mana type and could only use spells in regard to that particular mana.

But here there was no such thing as a fixed affinity.

The bodies of every individual could control all types of mana to a certain extent; it was just that some individuals had more control over certain types of mana.

Still, it was different from having a fixed affinity, where the general perception was that the user could only use spells of a given type.

Then there was the misconception of individuals with water affinity not being able to use spells under the fire affinity.

So in general, the concept was grounded in reality.

As for the spells… those were complex uses of a particular mana and couldn’t be used by everyone.

An individual could control mana, like the big guy softening the sand below us, but that didn’t necessarily mean that the big guy would be able to use a spell related to earth mana.

Spells were hard to understand and interpret.

Even if you knew the mechanics behind them, these spells were created by people centuries ago.

So the mechanics of a spell that was used by its creator weren’t necessarily suitable for the body of every other individual.

Each individual had a different mana signature, and that changed the way they could use a spell.

So utilizing a spell in combat meant not only understanding it, but also improvising the spell to suit your own needs.

The changes that had to be made weren’t huge, but making even a slight change required years of study and practice.

That was why only people with years of experience and a higher core rank were able to effectively use spells.

On average, among Diamond rankers, each individual had the capability to cast five or six spells depending on their affinity to utilize a particular type of mana.

That itself explained the rarity of individuals who could cast spells, and even among them, the number of spells that could be cast wasn’t high.

That was why the Immortals were so feared across the world.

They were effectively one with nature, which allowed them to easily comprehend the mechanics behind several spells, as the mana in nature co-existed with their own mana essence.

Still, such difficulties didn’t stop people from using fake spells.

These were spells that couldn’t create the real effect but could allow the cultivator to attain some level of control over the mana matter.

“Why are their shells so damn hard?!”

Extro shouted as a centipede had brushed off his attack and was nearly on the way to devour him, but Diana stepped in between.

Stepping gracefully atop the centipede, she pierced her sword through its head.

Though her action seemed simple, I could see the immense amount of mana that she had used to generate sufficient strength in order to pierce the creature’s skull.

In my opinion, it was a waste of mana…

“Try to aim for the weak points. The skull is the hardest to strike.”

I gave a word of advice across the vast distance between us.

Diana looked up to meet my gaze before diving down the monster’s body.

There were still a lot to kill.

I briefly glanced at the bracelet, only to see our group in third place with a score of thirty-two points.

And not surprisingly, the first group was that of Noah, standing at sixty points.

It hadn’t been that long since the test had begun, and their group had almost twice the number of points we had accumulated so far.

Though in their case, I could see Noah alone having forty points to his name. He must have been killing the Silver-ranked monsters…

That explains such a rapid rise.

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