I’m running toward the training room. It seems my body was still a bit tired from yesterday, and that made me wake up a few minutes late.

  As I enter, I’m greeted by the same voice I hear every morning. “It looks like you don’t care much about learning supreme affinities or training with your grandmother.”

  That same humor as always lifted my spirits by two levels. “Sorry, Grandma. My body was still tired from yesterday.” I didn’t want to play that game right now—I don’t want to waste any more time with tangled words.

  My grandmother looked at me for a few seconds, then chuckled to herself. I sat in the usual spot, and we began.

  Our training has changed in recent days. We’re improving my reaction to sudden attacks around me. I generate four orbs at once, and my grandmother creates the same number in different positions. Every time I touch one, it disappears and reappears elsewhere.

  This exercise also helps with my mana control and maintaining my skill for longer. After a few minutes, we switch roles. When I create orbs that are later caught, it accelerates my orb creation skills, reducing delays during fights.

  “You’ve improved a lot in just a few days. You might even be able to hold a calm conversation during training.” Just hearing those words nearly made me lose focus, so to give myself a little help, I activated my Cold Mind ability.

  My mind starts to feel calmer, and I can maintain better focus. With that, I can keep up with the orbs and talk with Grandma.

  “I’m giving it my all; it’s just that my curiosity is stronger than my headache.”

  “Maki, the information about the four supreme affinities isn’t a taboo, but it’s also not usually shared with Amethyst ranks. The only reason I’m telling you is because you might rank up soon.” Rank up? It hasn’t been that long since my awakening...

  “Yes, maybe it’ll take four to six months. It’s a monstrous advancement.” She looked at me like I was a weirdo—that made me feel a little bad.

  “Maki, the supreme affinities, as I mentioned, are four. They’re called supreme because everyone has access to them, yet they’re still so far away. We all have life in our bodies, we all occupy space, we all live in time, and we all die eventually. It’s a law you can’t escape.”

  My grandmother began walking around the room without stopping her mana constructs. She even increased the number of orbs I had to touch.

  “Everyone has a small chance of touching one of those four affinities. However, only the truly gifted or generational talents ever succeed. There’s no exact method to obtain one—it depends on your comprehension and your personal demon related to that affinity.” She stopped right in front of me and looked seriously.

  “Some people gain a law related to one of the supreme affinities or a rare skill. In such cases, you’re guaranteed a spot at Ruby rank.”

  “Grandma, I still don’t really understand the concept… and now you’re talking about laws—I don’t get those either.” There’s always something mysterious in every conversation with Grandma.

  “You don’t need to understand just yet. That’s usually for Sapphire ranks. You’re far from that, little one.”

  Sapphire rank… I’ll reach it someday, I know it.

  “I already mentioned a few ways to obtain them. I assume you understood two of the three, right?” Am I that predictable? I should start reading more...

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  My expression must have given me away because Grandma covered her mouth as she laughed. “I’ll explain all three anyway, don’t worry. The first way is to study one of those affinities for hours, days, and months, until you gain enough understanding to apply it as a skill or use it as a law.”

  “The second is to comprehend an affinity through sheer luck. Some people manage to understand and use one of the four supreme affinities purely through intuition and a whim of fate. That happens to only one in hundreds of thousands. Lastly, there’s taming a core.”

  The world of scholars and hard workers is always intertwined with the world of the blessed and the lucky—it’s a universal law in both worlds.

  “Grandma, what does it mean to tame a core? It’s the second time I’ve heard that phrase, and both were in the last 26 hours.” That smile returned to her face, the one that says, ‘Really? You don’t know?’ No, I don’t.

  “Starting at grade 4, monsters have fully formed cores. Part of their consciousness, magic, and laws reside in this core. After killing them, you can obtain something very valuable. If you manage to tame that core with your willpower, you can improve all those things I mentioned: your affinity level, gain another affinity, understand a law better, and in the best case, summon the tamed beast.”

  How amazing! Summoning a beast and fighting alongside it.

  “Seeing your excited face is rare. I haven’t seen it since the first time you used magic.” Her words embarrassed me. I’m not one to show emotion—only when something is truly impressive. I lowered my head with a shy smile.

  “Now you really look like a child your age, Maki.” Her laughter made me smile.

  “Don’t get your hopes up, little boy. Getting the best benefits depends a lot on the taming level. There are many factors to consider when taming something high-level.”

  Her words brought me back to reality—but the flame is still burning. In the future, I will tame a monster!

  “In short, the third path is a real torment. You need: first, to tame a high-level monster, grade four or higher; second, a high taming percentage to get good results; and finally, that monster must have a supreme affinity. Calling that process difficult is being generous.”

  I wanted to act cool just to make my grandma laugh. “Your grandson is a prodigy. I’ll be able to do that in the future.” That earned me a strange look from Grandma—the same one you give when you see a weird bug nearby. Then she started laughing.

  “I believe in you, prodigy. Make your grandma proud. That’s why I’ll help by training you a little more harshly.”

  The mana spheres began appearing rapidly and moved faster than I could follow with my eyes. Without my pseudo-domain, I’d be completely lost.

  I focused everything on my Cold Mind ability and began manipulating the spheres to catch hers. I needed to create one more—forcing my mind to produce a new sphere as quickly as possible. This cat-and-mouse game continues.

  I finished training with Grandma and followed my daily routine. Like every afternoon, I’ll go hunting again. My sword training, Imra, and Flash Step are on hold. The only thing I can do is try to use them more in combat.

  On my way to Mancor, I stop to admire the beautiful scenery around me, breathe the fresh air, and appreciate the nature surrounding me.

  “I’ll go visit Edd and the other guys—they were really friendly with me yesterday.” That man of about fifty, bald, with a short but messy beard, is very kind. He made me laugh and feel welcome in just a moment.

  When I arrived at the construction site, I noticed some surprised looks when they saw me. Edd was busy hammering on one side, so I decided to sneak up on him to give him a big surprise.

  “How’s my favorite coworker doing?”

  Edd turned around with a confused face at my words, and when he saw me, his expression completely changed—from surprise to seriousness. “Young Lord Maki, how are you? What are you doing at the worksite? A noble shouldn’t be doing this kind of labor.”

  His words surprised me. I never expected such a polite and well-structured sentence from this man.

  “Aren’t you happy to see me?” I pretended to be sad and looked down. “I came for my second day of work, but if I’m not welcome, I guess I’ll just leave.”

  I turned around, and thanks to my skill, I could feel his face falling into panic. He was struggling with himself, trying to find the perfect words. After a moment, he managed to organize his thoughts and reacted.

  “You’ve misunderstood, Young Lord. You’re welcome here anytime. The issue is the type of work. You’re a noble—you shouldn’t do hard labor like this.”

  He surprised me again. That deserves one more joke—and then I’ll stop.

  “So you’re saying… this job isn’t worthy? That’s kind of rude to your coworkers.”

  His face looked more and more like a tomato—its shade of red kept changing.

  “I’m just joking, Mr. Edd. I know how worthy every job is, and I’m really grateful to all of you. That’s why I came to help today, and I’ll keep doing it every time I come to Mancor.” I gave a polite smile to calm the situation. Edd was slowly turning less red, but he was still fumbling with his words and actions. I hope he returns to his usual self soon.