Eluraa's mom was convinced that she was special from the minute she laid eyes on her. The memory of those gorgeous calm and deep azure blue eyes she had as a kid and time to time the profound looks on her face, a look of maturity beyond her age. Her mom kissed her cheeks and gave her the packed lunch. The three of them left together for the testing area. They had local testing centers in each village, even the smallest ones. The combat experts were the backbone of this civilization. Hence, the testing centers were as essential as hospitals.

The trio entered the huge hall of the testing room and Eluraa's mom and dad waited for her here. It was a simple and clean building without much adornment. Eluraa entered the affinity stone testing arena by herself. A guard informed her to sit by the side bench and wait for 10 mins for the tester to arrive finis.h.i.+ng his tea break.

Eluraa was very nervous about her natural affinity and her spiritual connections with the elementals. She had sufficient information about the energy grading system here and she was worried that her results would be too eye catching. Anything above average always brought about trouble and she wasn't strong enough to defend herself yet. She needed to lay low. Eluraa had thought a lot about this problem for the past couple of months and didn't seem to find a way around it. She hesitated and wondered if possibly she could use this 10 mins to her advantage. Well, at the least she decided to try something.

Eluraa first went straight ahead and stood near the affinity crystal. The crystal was a strong magical object, that top red affinity experts and scientists created together. As such, there was n.o.body guarding it. It would be impossible for anyone to even touch the crystal for more than ten mins. One minute was the required test time.

Since she was alone right now, she decided to quickly test herself before anybody walks in. She swiftly placed her hands on the crystal and waited for the one minute interval. But just after 30 seconds, Crack! A small crevice appeared on the side of the affinity crystal accompanied with a loud noise. Thankfully the testing room was sound proof and n.o.body heard anything. It was only for a few seconds but the whole crystal was s.h.i.+mmering bright white. It almost looked translucent. And then the crystal returned to its previous neutral grey color.

Eluraa was so confused and anxious. Her worst fears had come true. She didn't want to stand out just yet. Her heart was thumping loudly and her mind raced to find a solution. Anything? What should I do? She then double checked if the crack was still visible. Forget about affinity testing, who knows how much this thing costs. It must surely be insanely expensive. She did want her parents to be held responsible for her breaking this up.

The crack wasn't all that visible but Eluraa was not sure if the crystal still functioned. After all there was a loud sound. She tried the affinity crystal again and this time all it showed was a yellow color. She was pleasantly surprised and tried it a couple more times. Yellow, yellow and again yellow! Eluraa was floating on the clouds! She can potentially tame magical creatures! Finally, some of that luck, which she was due for! She was recalling her cute and loyal frost panther and was lost in her thoughts.

"Ahem ahem". She heard someone clear his throat loudly and immediately panicked and turned around. "Having fun, are we?" the somber looking middle-aged man asked her sternly. He looked like he was going to skin her alive and Eluraa just stood there rooted to the spot.

"Argh! Forget it. It is my fault for accepting a posting in this country b.u.mpkin village. Anyway, the crystal is not something you can damage. No matter how many times you try the violet color is not going to change. As if this backwards village is going to produce any experts. Why even bother with a testing center here? If only the emperor headed to my suggestions. That's enough of you wasting my time. Let us finish the testing fast. I still need to go through some reports this afternoon"

"Young lad, turn towards the east and place your hands gently on the crystal. Wait till I speak and then you can remove your hand." After barking out instructions, he turned around and gathered his things ready to retire to his room. This was the only scheduled testing today. The forest clan attack reports were increasing. Days were becoming more and more dangerous. They desperately needed to train more experts and here he was wasting his time.

When it was almost time, he took the official report ledger and started writing violet affinity and then lifted his head, "Hey lad! What is your name again?" Eluraa's eyes were still closed and she calmly replied "Eluraa, my lord". The a.s.sociation tester dropped his belongings and stared at the crystal. "Guard come here quickly. Come here this instant". The entry guard trembled and rushed inside the affinity crystal room.

"Young miss Eluraa, can you please remove your hands. Please close your eyes, turn east and place your hands again on the crystal" Then he silently whispered to the guard, "Tell me are we really seeing yellow?" Ding. The one minute was up and they were both still sh.e.l.l shocked. The crystal was again glowing bright yellow. There was pin drop silence.

After ten minutes, Eluraa slowly enquired, "My lord. I am sorry, did something happen?" Though she spoke calmly, she was frantically hoping that they wouldn't discover the crack. Clearing his throat again, the a.s.sociation tester calmly answered her, "Dear young miss, please wait outside with your parents. It has been a while and they must be anxious. I will soon report outside with your results. Thank you for your patience."

Eluraa was surprised with the sudden change in att.i.tude, but brushed it off. As long as they didn't discover the crack, she was in the clear. She walked outside and told her parents that they would get the results soon.

Inside, the tester and the guard hurriedly tested their own affinities again. There was bright cyan and then bright violet. Helplessly they looked at each other and confirmed their results. They immediately made an official report of her test and rushed outside. They dared not make a future yellow combat expert wait.