"So ... you said this wasn't a great combination. Why is that?" Asked Mazran.

"For that you have to know a few things first. As you know, we are an institute based around mutations and the creation of mutant magi. What you might not know is that this is just a branch campus of the actual Saint Illyrius Academy in Mahi Magifica."

"Where is that? On Milgred continent?"

"No. It's another plane of existence. Outside the world. Do you know about the Multiversal Nexus?" Asked Mr.Ghazbi.

"No. What is that?"

"Nevermind then. You don't need to know about it yet. Just know that on another world there is a Saint Illyrius Academy that specializes in Light and Water magic.

Now, as a branch of that academy, we have a lot of light and water based meditation techniques."

"Hold on. What are meditation techniques?" Asked Mazran.

"They're the method by which we use magic. You'll learn about them later. Back to your problem here; the point I'm making is that we don't have a lot of wind and darkness techniques. There are some, yes, but they aren't up to par. They're either mediocre or incomplete. Either way you shouldn't use them. You won't make it to the rank of magus if you use them. That leaves you with the path of mutations. But even among mutations, we have the most knowledge on earth, nature and water based mutations."

"Can't I just learn a water or nature based technique? I have those affinities too." Asked Mazran.

"No. You should always go with your primary or highest affinities, otherwise you'll end up stuck at a bottleneck forever." Warned Harken.

"Harken is right. Even if you dont have an attributed affinity, you should still go with your highest ones." Added Mr.Ghazbi.

"Then doesn't that mean that I'll never advance to an official magus!" Mazran asked, his voice trembling with desperation. If he didn't become a magus, his father wouldn't be safe. Not truly. After seeing that wandering magus, Mazran no longer felt secure in his father's plan. If there were other wandering magi that were so vain as the one he had seen today, what's to say some guild upset with his father wouldn't just hire one to deal with him. Maybe not now. Maybe not today. But years from now? If he couldn't advance to the rank of magus? If they knew? Then...Slavery. Torture. Death. No. NO. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let that happen to his father.

Seeing Mazran start to tear up, Mr.Ghazbi, interjected.

"But... there is another option. The path of the chimera. We have developed a meditation technique in house. The chimeric mutation art. It will allow you to incorporate multiple mutations with varying affinities and it is easy to optimize to each user's unique specifications. I'd suggest you use that. But, ultimately the choice is yours."

"That..." Mazran muttered. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Being the son of a merchant, he knew exactly what kind of manipulation they were using. His father had used just these sorts of conversational skills to bag many a sale. It was the bull's horns. Choose any option, you get gored.

But there lay the problem. Did he really have another choice? Mazran ran through their conversation in his mind, looking for clues, tricks anything that indicated that they were lying. He could find nothing.

Noticing his suspicion, Mr.Ghazbi added.

"If you think I'm trying to trick you, or if this is a trap, then let me tell you, we have had this technique for nearly 400 years now. It has been tested and verified many times over. One of our students even made it to rank 4 with this very technique. A rank 4 magus! And his affinities were similar to yours. 31 percent water and 20 percent darkness. And look, if you feel that you're not up for it, you can just choose another technique. You still have till tomorrow to choose."

"And," Harken interjected, "even after that, if you want to change your meditation technique, you can start over from the beginning. It'll lower your talent by a grade but it's possible. Don't worry too much about it. Take your time. Remember, you don't have to choose right now. This is just an affinity test. Just take a deep breath," Harken said, taking one himself as Mazran followed, " and deep breath out. Let's do it again, deep breath in," he repeated, " deep breath out. That feels much better. Doesn't it?"

Mazran nodded, regaining his composure.

"Can I get a copy of the technique, the chimeric art ... thing?" Asked Mazran.

"No. I can't give it to you. Not because I don't want to but because I'm not authorized to. I was just giving you some advice because you asked for it." Mr.Ghazbi explained.

"That's fine. Thank you for the ... advice." Mazran said, standing up.

"Well that's that. Let's get out of here." Harken said, pulling him put of the lab and back down the elevator.

As they descended, Mazran steeped further into gloom.

By the time they had exited the labs, Mazran was back to choking on tears, anxiety wrecking his mind.

Seeing this, Harken sighed, as his hand split into a mass of tentacles, wrapping around Mazran, tickling him all over.

"Hehehhahhahhhehh... nohohohooh stoohohop .....stop stop!" Cried Mazran.

Harken stopped tickling and pulled back his tentacles and undid his transformation. The tentacles retreated back, coalescing into the shape of an arm, their purplish pink hue slowly changed back into the wheat of his skin.

"For fucks sake. You're eleven, kid. You've got your whole life ahead of you. No need to be so down about this. Whats the worst that can happen?"

"A lot!" Said Mazran and explained his situation.

Hearing his plight, Harken began to laugh.

"What do you think magi are? They don't grow on trees! Except the Erbao. They do actually grow on trees. But that's not the point. Most magi who discover secret inheritances still stick around with their magisteriums. After all, magisteriums have vast production lines, herb gardens, advanced laboratories with the best equipment. All sorts of resources that you can't obtain as a lone wanderer. Not to mention, most people who do chance upon such things are official magi and above. You might not know this, but people don't leave around their inheritances just anywhere. These inheritances are generally hidden in secret compounds, labyrinthe spell formations or even dangerous regions of the world. Even official magi find it difficult to find these. And even if they do find something like that, they'd just exchange it for contribution points or resources or even fame. There's almost no chance of something like that mushroomhead today happening! So cheer up, kiddo. You and your father are going to be safe. You are now part of one of the most powerful magisteriums in the world. No one will dare harm you."

Harken placed his hand around Mazran's shoulder, pulling him into a hug.

Relief flooded Mazran and his tears began to fade, the tightening in his chest released.

"Thank you!" Said Mazran softly.

"What? I didn't hear you?" Asked Harken.

"Thank you! Thank you so much." Said Mazran, louder this time and with a smile.

"Damn right, dumbass." Harken pulled his ear.

"Hey!" Mazran protested.

"If you're done moping, let's get back on track here. The dorms aren't far. Come on, pick up that pace. Unless you want to put on a show for our friends here." Said Harken, gesturing at the crowd gathered around.

Mazran looked around to see people staring at them and broke into a jog after Harken, embarrassed.

Soon they came upon a path across a small valley, fenced and covered in a translucent film, forming a large dome shaped barrier enclosing the whole valley.

"The Greenhouse. It's where herbs and important ingredients are grown." Said Harken, pointing to the dome, even as he trekked over the hill and came to a halt.

"Behind that", he said, as they reached the top of the incline, " there, are the creature pens, where we raise mice and rabbits among some others for experimentation."

He turned around to see Mazran panting like a dog, on all fours.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Asked Harken.

"Just...ha...one ..minute." Mazran replied,  collapsing onto the cool grass on the hill.

He looked up at the summer sun bearing down on him and turned to see Harken staring at him with concern.

"How are you not sweating in this weather?" Mazran asked.

"I can turn my arm into a squid and you're wondering how I'm not sweating?" Harken retorted, before throwing Mazran a bottle of water.

"Thanks. Can we just stay here for a bit?" Asked Mazran.

"We're this close to the dorms." Said Harken, pinching his fingers, " Just soldier on for a minute."

"Fine." Said Mazran, pushing himself off the ground, as blood rushed away from his head. He wobbled as he tried to get back onto his feet and began the trek downhill, leaning on Harken.

As the descended, Harken continued.

"And there." Said Harken, pointing to a line of buildings rising past another sloping hill, "Those." He said, "are the dorms."

He swept his arms across the horizon as they reached the foot of the hill.

"These are the men's dormitories," he said, pointing with one hand to the cream orange ones where they were headed, "and those," he said pointing at the teal blue ones further down the road with the other, "are the women's dormitories. You can't go over there. Remember that. There are protective measures against men over there. If you intrude, well, lets just say, you'll soon belong in those dorms." Harken added with a chuckle.

Mazran shuddered at the the thought and placed his hand on his parts in fear.

"What about the men's dormitories? Do they also have the same protective measures?" Asked Mazran.

"What? No. Of course not. There are just general spell formations. The ones that require an ID to enter."

"Then what if a girl enters the men's dormitory?"

"They won't. You don't need to worry about it. Now take out your ID imprint and swipe it on the spell formation input." He said and pointed at a statuette  of a dog by the dormitory entrance, about the size of a human head.

"The dog's mouth?" Mazran asked.

"Yes. The dog's mouth."

Mazran shuffled through his rucksack looking for the ID imprint only to realise, he didn't know what it looked like.

He turned to Harken and asked.

"What does it look like? I can't find it."

"You know what? Just give me the bag." Said Harken and swiped the bag from Mazran's hands.

He reached into the front pocket and pulled out a white, palm sized slip with a crudely drawn circle in the middle, slipping it into the dog's mouth with practised ease.

A ray of light ran down the dog's tongue as the doors to the dormitory slid open, a cool breeze escaping the interior, carrying with it the scent of sandalwood.

"Mhhnmmm..." Mazran intoned. On a hot summer day like this, the cool breeze  was a blessing.

"Like it? It's internal temperature control. All the dormitories have it. Keeps them cool in the summer and warm in the winter." Harken said, himself enjoying it.

"How does it work? Can you tell me?" Asked Mazran.

"I don't know the details and it'll take too long to explain. Besides you'll learn about it soon enough. Be patient." Said Harken, pushing him in, "Let's get in first, before the formation detects us as an anomaly and rings the alarms."

"It does that?" Asked Mazran.

"If you stand by the entrance for too long. Yes." Answered Harken.

"How long?" Asked Mazran.

"About now." Said Harken as lights started flashing, and the alarm sounded out. The dog statuette turned around, it's face twisted in anger, ready to attack.

"Uh...what do we do now?" Asked Mazran.

"We don't do anything. I'll do something about it and you can just wait and watch." Said Harken, grinning ear to ear.