Peek: Affinities 101 (Patreon)

Rhonda tries to keep her breathing steady as she stands outside Thedeim's lecture hall. The her of only a year ago would probably have never agreed to this... but she's grown a lot since then. She takes one more deep breath, then opens the door and steps inside.

There, the entire group of Combat Scholars from the Great Mother are seated already, all looking eager to hear what she has to say. If Tula hadn't asked her personally, she would have thought it a joke or something, but they all look eager to learn.

It helps calm her nerves as she walks toward the front of the hall, the conversations dying down as she does. It takes her a few moments longer to pull out the step-stool for her to stand at the podium properly, but at least she has her kinetic affinity to help her write on the chalkboards. She looks over the faces, seeing a few people from the Shield and Order, and even someone with a Raven mask.

No pressure.

She nods at everyone and raises her staff, the diamond gleaming as she channels her kinetic affinity to levitate the chalk. "Hello everyone. I'm Rhonda, apprentice to Old Staiven and an Ice Sage by class. Tula said you all wanted to hear what I've been learning about affinities, so... here we are. Rocky would be better to learn from, but he's away, and doesn't really like classrooms much anyway. I'll be focusing on two affinities: my innate, and the one I was able to expand into."

She starts drawing with the chalk as Lucas hops off her hat and onto the board, grabbing some chalk to help her draw out the two affinities of ice and fire.

"Now, traditionally, they're seen as opposing affinities, often cancelling the other out, neutralizing both. But after learning from Rocky... they are, at their core, the same affinity." She motions at Lucas, who starts writing some of the common formulae for ice runes. "It takes mana to create magical ice, and it takes mana to create magical fire as well. So to produce both, it would take twice the mana," she explains, drawing out a few simple fire runes, too.

"But that doesn't have to be the case. Rocky's style of using his affinities involves using as much of what's already there as possible, rather than spending all of his mana to exert a specific affinity. He also thinks about affinities differently, so it's no wonder he's an Affinity Savant. Ice and fire are the simplest ones to examine together."

"Now, ice and fire are both well understood affinities with centuries of research. But that legacy seems to have separated the two affinities from the reality around us. In magic, they are considered to be two distinct affinities. In normal life, they are opposite ends of the scale of temperature."

She pauses, looking over the thoughtful faces of everyone. "I don't know why there's the disconnect, but it was definitely there. My master has been teaching me about the classic thinking on them, wanting me to understand just how differently Rocky and I see these two elements."

She lets the people take notes as she and Lucas sketch out part of the equation for the freezebang potion, the relevant part where it draws in energy to create the freeze. Where the scholars were curious before, now they are taking detailed notes, their eyes glued to the board. "And as a practical demonstration of the theory..."

She raises her staff again, this time the sapphire and ruby glowing as she works to create a small icicle bolt as well as a fireball. "By pulling the heat out of an area, I can create both ice and fire, while only spending the mana needed to move the energy and give it shape. It's not free, but it's much more efficient than the classical casting methods."

The scholars stare at her with wide eyes, and instead of finding them intimidating, she finds them encouraging. They are eager to learn, and she is happy to teach. Lucas starts expanding the formulae as she explains.

"I still haven't figured out the equations for expanding an affinity, but I can walk you through the relationship between fire and ice. We'll start with this section of the equation, detailing the threshold for forming ice."

She gets deep into the technical details, feeling Thedeim curiously looking in before continuing on with whatever the odd dungeon does. She doesn't mind him taking a look, and since Teemo doesn't show up to correct her, she has to assume she's doing well. That Queen and Thing quietly claim a desk only encourages her more.

She's worked hard to learn from them, and now they can see her teaching others, too. She's nowhere near being a master of any of this, but if her unique perspective will help those who are, she couldn't be happier. She is a Sage, a student and teacher. Gaining knowledge and passing it on is what she's made for.