Ezra thought about his future plans and instantly made some decisions.
'I'll reveal the lightning and fire elements in the future while concealing the other three'
But there was a problem…
"Mr. Bard, do you have any artifacts that can hide affinities?"
If Ezra was unlucky enough to meet a Grandmaster, he would be found out, but…
'The Emperor is at least a Grandmaster Knight'
The Emperor finding out would be very bad. Ezra couldn't exactly speculate how he would react, so it would be better for him not to know at all.
"I have just the thing" Bard replied as he began searching his shelfs while muttering…
"No, no, not it, not this either"
And then, a few moments later-
"Aha, this is it!"
-he jubilated and brought forth a white ring, which he handed over to Ezra.
"What is it?"
"It's a limiter, an item that can help you camouflage a maximum of three affinities. It can also regulate the amount a mana within your body, or oven seal it, thought you shouldn't do that for too long"
"What rank is this limiter?"
"Gold. I can't remember how I got it, but who cares? At least this should solve your problems"
"Yes, thank you"
"No, my liege, thank you. Those two recipes of yours have really opened my eyes. With this, my position as Head Alchemist is completely secured"
"Hm" Ezra nodded absentmindedly as he stared at the limiter, other possibilities crawling into his mind as he wore the plain white ring on his wrist.
He found it to be much bigger than his wrist, but then again, it was a ring as big as a grown man's bracelet, and he was only five years old.
"Mr. Bard, this bracelet, I mean, ring-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence because the ring rapidly shrunk to fit his wrist.
"It even has a size regulating feature. Well, I guess that's why it's Gold-rank"
Ezra carefully looked over the ring on his wrist, looking for an activation switch, but there was none, and that could only mean one thing.
He infused mana into it and it lit up for a brief moment as the runes carved on it became visible, after which it died down soon after. But Ezra could now feel his connection to it, and instinctively knew what to do.
So he camouflaged his darkness, blood and ice affinities, masking them from prying eyes, and he inwardly felt it too.
Then he used the ring's other feature, making it take on the color of his skin, which made it almost impossible to notice unless one looked very closely.
Ezra was glad about this feature the most, because he didn't want other people to start asking questions.
With that out of the way, he turned to see Bard who was checking the alchemy recipe while muttering to himself.
*cough*
"Oh, your highness, it seems it works perfectly, yes?"
"Yes, it does, thank you"
"It's nothing compared to what you've done for me"
"Hmm, now…what about the tablet? The recording tablet"
Only now did Ezra remember the reason why he took an affinity test in the first place.
"Ah, yes, here it is"
Bard handed over the tablet, as he continued…
"It's a tablet that has a combat art recorded in it!"
Ezra stared dumbly as he failed to understand why Bard looked so proud. After all, one could buy silver and gold rank combat arts.
"It seems our prince does not know of mind imprints"
"No, I do not"
"Very well then, it's an item made by Psychic mages. What this tablet does is imprint a technique directly into the mind"
"Hmm, I'm a little confused"
"You'll understand better when you experience it yourself"
Bard brought the tablet before Ezra and said…
"Place your palm on it and infuse mana into it"
Ezra placed his palm on the tablet, took a deep breath to stabilize his body, and infused mana into it.
The next moment, he felt something foreign examine his body and then his eyes turned white as he found himself in a place of infinite whiteness.
'What is this place?' he thought, but in the next instant, something began materializing in front of him.
Ezra immediately distanced himself as he saw that the something was actually someone.
Himself!
A perfect copy of him stood with a lifeless gaze, so Ezra readied himself for battle.
But contrary to his expectations, the clone made no moves for a few seconds…before abruptly taking a stance.
Ezra began studying this clone, thinking the fight was inevitable, when in the next moment, the clone abruptly turned sideways and began striding.
It moved around and lightning began coalescing underneath his feet as he used it to boost his jumps to incredible levels. Shockwaves resounded, which was weird, but Ezra didn't really pay attention to that.
Like a baseball, the clone kept ricocheting all over the place, before abruptly stopping in front of Ezra.
Ezra was dazed by the spectacle he had just seen. He could now understand what Mr. Bard had meant.
Earlier, when the clone began to move, Ezra suddenly found it to be moving slowly as he was able to see how the cloned made lightning coalesce under his feet, while also seeing the lightning working within the meridians located within the legs as the lightning pulsed the veins from within, allowing them to discharge more power than they normally could.
Ezra remained still for a few more minutes, and then-
*Tiririrrm*
-just like the clone did a few minutes ago, he strides forward with lightning coalescing along his legs, but at a much slower pace and with thinner lightning.
A few moments after, Ezra fell to the ground with a thud, beads of sweat all over his face, but beyond that, he had a very wide smile on his face, one of ecstasy as he clenched his sweaty fist.
'So this is how they did it' Ezra thought.
In his past life, he had come across too many good for nothing nobles whose bodies didn't seem to have gone through any training.
Yet, when they fought, they would use all sorts of moves that someone with such stature shouldn't be able to do.
So Ezra wondered, because he knew just how much effort he put in when practicing his combat arts before he could master or even use them at a similar level, so he judged that there was something behind it, but he never had the chance to find out.
Now he understood, it was this. This was the item behind it.
'Truly, comparisons are odious' thought Ezra as he ruminated on what he could have achieved at the time if he had gotten a chance to use this tablet, but immediately shook such thoughts away.
'What is done is done, and what is gone is gone. Move on!' one of his mottos popped up in his mind as he smiled. His past life was but a memory. What he did now was what mattered.
So he looked at his body and thought…
'That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, considering I never used lightning in my past life. Could this be because of my high affinity grading? Well, I'll ask Bard once I'm done here'
Ezra had already made some speculations on how the tablet worked as he got up and faced the clone, who began demonstrating the technique once again.
With vigor, Ezra watched its movements with rapt attention as he focused his mind.
This was an opportunity. There was no need to wait for another time when he could do it today, and so, he set an objective for himself.
'I must be able to master this movement technique to a entry level before I get out of here'
Like so, Ezra entered his training state, all his focus dedicated to doing exactly what the clone was demonstrating better than it did.
It was a ridiculous objective that most would laugh and sneer at if they heard.
But somehow, Ezra felt he could do it. From the first time he tried out the technique, he just instinctively felt that he could do it.
And so…he would do it.
From then on, Ezra paid rapt attention to all movements of his clone.
Unsurprisingly, he failed numerous times, but…
'I'm getting better'
At first, he could only do it for a couple of seconds, then a minute, then two, then three…
He was getting better for sure, but the most peculiar thing was…
'I'm getting better faster'
It seemed like the better he got, the easier it was for him to improve once more.
As he continued, he realized that the past him could've never been this fast. A word popped up in his mind as he thought…
'Is this what people call being talented?'
He was above average in his past life, but that was it. He wasn't outstanding, and he only saw himself as a little different.
Yet, as he kept practicing, going over his mistakes, observing the clone as he tried to find out why what he was doing was so different from the clone's…
The rate at which he was getting better was astonishing enough that even he was amazed by it, and that only made him move even faster, work himself harder.
The whole time, his face showcased his wicked grin like never before, because with such talent…
'Wait for me Marcus, it won't be long now'
He could achieve his goals even faster than he first thought.
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