His name is Zareth Tenebran, quite a famous celebrity right now.
He is 22 years old and is at Rank 3, already preparing for trials to take place.
Group trials happen every year. You can choose to enter as a group of 10 or 5; it is up to your decision.
The reason why he is famous is that he is one of the seven people right now with an affinity above 90 percent in his generation.
Four of these people belong to lineage houses, while three are from the general public.
Given how small the lineage families are compared to the overall population, it goes to show how favored they are.
His brother is the third strongest person right now in his generation, in terms of affinity, that is, he has 93 percent affinity.
The top person is from House Ignis, with 94 percent affinity, along with another person who is from House Luminara.
Although in real combat strength, his brother can definitely beat the person from House Ignis, as a difference of one percent isn't enough to offset the difference in elemental powers.
But the strongest person is the one from House Luminara.
Nonetheless, all three are equally famous in the world.
...
Vaelen came out of the bath and wore proper clothing for the lunch.
Then he made his way toward the dining hall.
There were still three minutes left, so he wasn't late, although he might be the last person to enter.
As expected, when he entered the room, everyone was already seated. Everyone looked toward him instinctively at the opening of the door.
His mother beckoned him to take his seat.
It was beside her and also the last seat, directly in front of Lysara.
She had already changed her clothes. They had some clothes for all genders and ages in their house for similar cases, so it wasn't surprising that she found good enough clothes for herself.
He just hoped that she didn't do anything stupid to give anyone a clue that they had already met.
There were four people who had come as guests, it seemed to be one complete family from the Luminara family.
His grandfather had two sons and a daughter, so they also had two families in total. One was their own, while the other was his uncle's family.
His aunt was married to House Glacien. Marriages between houses are encouraged, as it is said to increase the chance of awakening with higher affinity.
Also, the affinity the child will gain will definitely be from one of their parents.
His mother was also from House Glacien. In fact, their House of Tenebran is deeply connected with House Glacien because of two marriages.
The reason is quite simple as there is a reason why Darkness and Light are termed supreme elements.
Because Light is a form of radiation, and users of the Light element can also use heat as an attack. In fact, the heat produced from Light users may be higher than the heat produced by House Ignis flames.
Similarly, Darkness also gives birth to extreme coldness, just like House Glacien, so they match quite perfectly.
But it isn't a hard and fast rule, they can also marry into other houses if they find a good match.
He went to his seat and sat down. The moment he sat, the maids started serving the food.
He couldn't help but look toward his brother; after all, his rival was sitting in front of him.
Lucen Luminara, the strongest person in the current generation, with 94 percent affinity in the Light element.
He is one year older than his own brother, but both are counted in the same generation.
As expected, his brother was staring at Lucen with a small smile, but Lucen seemed to be ignoring him.
Vaelen nodded in his heart. Even he wanted to ignore his own brother, so it was obvious.
Just as he brought his gaze back, he saw that someone was looking at him. Yup, it was Lysara.
He didn't know who she was initially, other than the fact that she belonged to the Luminara family, but now he knew that she was the sister of Lucen.
He made sure not to look at her, or she might really do something that could incite some questions from their elders.
But oh boy, he was wrong. How could his luck not tease him?
"Vaelen, right? Thank you for entertaining my daughter. She came to the outer circle for the first time, and she is too curious for her own good."
He heard the voice of Lysara's mother, who was originally from House Viridias, which belonged to the Nature element.
What the hell? Damn, what reason did she use? He had to know, or else he might slip up somewhere.
Fuck his damned brother...he definitely didn't tell him on purpose.
"Y-yeah."
He could only admit it right now.
If he had ever felt that agitation he was feeling right now sitting in front of her, he would definitely move away in future . No wonder his own element was warning him that this girl was troublesome.
Just as he thought the situation wouldn't get any more dramatic, he heard the voice he dreaded the most in this situation. Who else? It was his own brother.
"Well, I heard from Lucen that his little sister is very shy and doesn't even interact with maids usually. It was really surprising to hear that she went by herself to this shut-in brother of mine....Maybe their personalities are the same, so they hit it off well."
Lysara's mother nodded.
"Come to think of it, that is true. Even I was surprised when I heard that she had interacted with someone here."
Vaelen heard their comments with a dumbfounded expression.
This girl, who couldn't stop asking questions, was the shy type? How the hell did he not feel like that?
"That is true. I even wanted to meet Vaelen to verify if he is different from others or not."
Lucen commented too.
"How could you meet him when he doesn't even want others to see him? He took our lineage trait too seriously."
Zareth responded and continued.
"That's why it's a blessing that he was able to talk to Lysara for so long. My heart is at ease that he would have at least someone in the academy with whom he can talk."
What the hell is going on? Why do I feel like this conversation is turning into something more problematic?
No way, are they... He dreaded the thought he just had.
They wouldn't, right?
He looked toward his mother, who listened to everything with a smile while looking at Lysara.
His heart skipped a beat. He nudged her with his elbow, making a wronged expression.
His mother immediately turned her head to him and looked at his expression with an amused expression.
"What?"
Vaelen became speechless. You don't have to be so loud, Mom. Everyone's attention was now on them.
His mother didn't care about his expression and said, "Did your brother say anything wrong? Isn't he describing exactly how you are? I don't want you to be as outgoing and stupid as him, but at least be a little active socially, would you?"
"That is a baseless accusation, Mother. I am not stupid."
"Shut up."
"Okay."
Vaelen looked at their exchange, and after listening to his mother's earlier comment, he knew that the thing he dreaded might be a possibility. And it looked like his thoughts were read by the strongest person sitting at this table right now, his grandfather.
"Why not just engage them?"
Vaelen could only curse himself for even thinking about that in his mind because, with his luck, what was he expecting?
Forget about him...even Lysara was stunned. She looked toward her mother with wide eyes.
She might not know about things that are rare to see these days, like fishing using rods when people can just catch with their abilities, but she knew what engagement meant.
When Vaelen saw her expression, he sighed with a little relief. At least she also didn't find this idea good either...after all, how could they engage someone just based on their one-time interaction?
Engagements are common in Houses, even from a young age. Some houses do it to improve their connections.
In the end, engagement didn't mean marriage... they were just agreements.
In his and Lysara's case, he could still do something to break their engagement. All he had to do was show that his awakened affinity was less.
It is easy to do, although no one does that.
After awakening, everyone can feel their element. The more affinity they have with their element, the better they can feel it.
There are two ways to measure someone's affinity. The first is the slate itself. If someone puts their hands on it, it can easily display someone's affinity, and in this case, no one can even hide it, even if they wanted to show less.
Luckily for him, the slate is not used these days, as a new device has been developed by humans based on it. This device uses the strength of the connection between elements to figure out affinity, and it is accurate so far, as results were verified using the slate itself.
But this device is something that can be tricked because you have to simulate your element. It is similar to the feeling of agitation he felt earlier, but the process was opposite because it was his element that simulated that feeling.
While testing, he has to do it actively, and based on that, his affinity will be determined.