"That was truly impressive and I can see you growing strong in the nearest future but it isn't enough. So I'm here to tell you to grow stronger quickly because they are starting to make their moves." The mage said.
"Making their moves? Who are those?" Grey asked with a raised brow.
"The otherworlders." The mage said.
"Otherworlders? Who are those?" Grey asked feeling tense.
"I just decided to tell you who are making their moves, it's not yet time for you to know their background." The mage retorted.
Grey didn't push forward because he knew that no matter how much he asked, there was no way the mage would reveal the information unless he was ready. So he decided to ask the next important question.
"You said you need me to grow stronger, how am I going to do that when I don't even know the affinities I have, how to unlock them, and neither do I even have spell books to help my current affinities progress forward.
So unless you have spell books, and the likes, then there's nothing I can do to rush my progress." Grey said with his arms folded.
The first mage relaxed on his chair while stroking his beard and thinking about what Grey just told him.
"Actually, I think I can help with that." The mage said as he clicked his fingers together.
"How so?" Grey asked with a raised brow.
"By providing you with what you need." The mage smiled as he clicked his fingers again and books appeared in front of Grey.
Grey counted them and he could see there were up to five books in front of him and opening them up, his eyes glistened as he read all what was written in the books making him know the value of the books.
"Those things in your hands, are skill, spell and instruction manual books which will help you proceed in your training, know how to unlock your affinities, the spells to cast, how to use them in a fight, and other things." The mage said with a smile.
"You… you are letting me have all these things for free?" Grey asked as he stuttered and looked at the books in his hands again and then looked back at the mage.
Hearing Grey's words, the mage laughed out loud and then he looked at Grey.
"For free? Hahahaha! No! These are not free, as I expect results soon after giving you these. But looking at how fast you progress, I know that is not a problem."
Hearing how serious the mage was, Grey was left wondering who the otherworlders were that made the mage so serious and urgent about making him as strong as possible.
Grey knew how strong the mage in front of him was so he was wondering who the otherworlders were that managed to get him so worked up.
'Whatever, as long as I'm able to get strong with his help, I don't care who his enemies or foes are.' Grey thought as he skimmed through the books again.
"I can see you have unlocked the wind and fire attributes. You also have high affinity in the wind magic but your fire affinity is still low." The mage said looking into Grey's eyes.
"How… how are you so precise about what I got?" Grey asked with a raised brow.
"Oh! You haven't unlocked that yet?" The mage asked as he slapped his forehead loudly.
"Unlocked what?" Grey asked.
"You have a special attribute like I do, and you haven't unlocked this skill?" The mage asked again.
"Unlocked what?" Grey asked again.
"You see, you have a special attribute just like I do and one of the skills of our special attribute, is something called an appraisal.
I know your next question, so let me explain to save you the breath. You see, an appraisal is given to mages that are able to unlock the special magical affinities. And what are they?"
"Chaos, space, time. e.t.c" Grey replied.
"Correct. These special attributes are given to a select few. To my knowledge, it's only you and me that have these special attributes. If you have any of these, you are given a skill called appraisal.
What is appraisal? It is a skill that allows us to see the stats of other mages, we can see how many elements they have, how strong they are, what their elements are, and lastly the color grade of their elements." The first mage explained.
"That sounds soooo cool!" Grey exclaimed loudly in excitement.
"Yes, it is cool. And the good news about an appraisal, is that it doesn't require mana to be activated. It's just with your thoughts." The mage said.
"So how can I get it?" Grey asked impatiently.
With a sigh, the mage stood up and stood over Grey who was still seated on his bed. Then the mage closed his eyes and performed some hand signs while chanting some words.
Knowing the mage wouldn't hurt him, Grey relaxed, let him do what he wanted to do without distracting him.
When the mage was done chanting, he placed his finger into Grey's left eye which caused him to shout out in pain and he was about to push the mage's hand.
"Don't move! Stay still!" The mage said sternly.
"Have you gone senile old man? Are you trying to make me go blind at this young age?" Grey retorted angrily.
"Will you stop shouting and moving so much or else you will really go blind." The mage replied as he was concentrating hard.
Hearing the threat, Grey stopped moving and let the mage continue while he was still twitching in pain. After a few minutes, the mage was done and he went back to sit while looking at Grey who had his two eyes closed.
"You can open your eyes now." The mage said.
"Are you sure? Cause I'm scared of opening it and finding out that I have really gone blind." Grey replied skeptically then he heard a cracking sound in the room and also feeling the familiar air of mana.
Feeling scared, Grey snapped his eyes open and could see the mage sitting in front of him with a sinister smile on his face and a huge fire surrounding his hand.
"Are you crazy? Do you want to kill me now?" Grey shouted.
"Are you blind now?" The mage asked as he cancelled his fire and looked at Grey.
Touching his face, then his eyes, Grey could see that he could see perfectly and infact, it felt like his vision was sharper than before.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Grey decided to try it out.
"Now, how did you say I can activate this appraisal again?" Grey asked when suddenly, his left eye's vision went dark.
Then it turned blue and in a split second, a small floating screen appeared in front of his eye and see so many words and symbols written on it.
He could even see the flow of mana moving around him unlike how he always perceived it, Grey was able to see mana clearly and not only that, when looking at the first mage, some runic symbols appeared in front of him.
'Time to see how strong he really is.' Grey smiled when suddenly, the smile froze on his face.
Looking at the first mage in front of him, he was unable to see anything about him as all his magical skills came out as '???'
"What the hell??!!" Grey exclaimed.