Chapter 206 Sierra’s Trial (5/6), Crisis

Four days ago…

Sierra and Elora were staying at in portable magic camp of Elora at a riverbank in a small forest. Elora went out to scout the deeper area and told Sierra to stay inside.

After ten minutes, Sierra heard some sounds and weird screeches as she came out and saw smoke arising far away, along with screams.

"What happened?" Sierra muttered with a frown. Soon, she saw two young kids coming out of bushes as if they were running.

*Scriiiii…*

Sierra was startled as she also saw a 1-meter-tall black monster following them.

"S-Sister! Save us please!"

Sierra quickly waved her hand as a burst of icy blue sparks appeared around her before a cage of ice materialized around the monster and trapped it before several icy spikes protrude from inside the cage and killed it.

'An evil spawn… I must inform teacher Elora,' Sierra thought as she quickly took out a communication talisman.

"Sister Wizard, please help our village! Ev-Everyone is in danger. A hoard of evil monsters is heading there. W-We were playing outside, and one of them followed us as we ran and arrived here," said a girl who looked thirteen years old.

"Please help our village, lord Wizard," said the boy who was also thirteen years old as he begged on the ground.

Both kids were crying and begging for Sierra's help seeing that she was a wizard.

Sierra quickly informed Elora about this.

Elora—, "Wait! Don't go without me. I will come there soon."

Sierra—, "B-But they are in danger. I can at least stall for some time and save them while you quickly come. Please come fast, teacher. I am going."

Sierra cut off the call after saying that as she became determined and told the kids to stay inside the camp while she created an ice board and flew towards the village.

…

Four days later...

"This lass… She awakened another affinity, and it is Shadow affinity, one of the legendary affinities," Elora muttered as she looked at Sierra sleeping on the bed. Her left arm and shoulder were wounded, indicated by the healing solution pasted on those spots.

'A dual affinity wizard… Someone like her hasn't been seen for thousands of years in this Taluin kingdom,' Elora thought as a glint passed through her eyes. 'This lass can become a much greater existence.'

*clak…*

Suddenly, an old lady entered with a plate of food and asked worriedly, "Is she okay now?"

"She is out of danger. I've removed the poison," Elora said as she gestured at the old woman. "Put the dish down and leave."

The old lady put the plate down and left. As she left this small house, she saw many people from the village standing there.

The entire village was in shambles due to evil monsters erupting nearby and attacking here. Sierra couldn't ignore them and went to help them. She also experienced such a cruel sight for the first time as she witnessed the death of little kids being torn to pieces along with their families.

During the fight, she was also injured while saving many people and killing evil monsters. Fortunately, Elora arrived in time to save Sierra and wiped out all evil monsters.

It's been four days since the raid from evil monsters, and the villagers were also settled again. Elora created a magic barrier for them that they could activate whenever danger approached.

One day later, Sierra finally woke up and also experienced newfound power since she awakened shadow affinity.

Since Sierra was fully healed, both of them returned to the town. Elora directly took the carriage to Arkhen's house since Sierra wanted to go there.

"Sierra!" Arkhen couldn't help but become tearful as he hugged Sierra after she returned. "Y-You, are you fine now?"

"I am good," Sierra said with a smile. "No problem now."

"I'll come to pick you up tomorrow morning," Elora said with a smile and left.

After leaving the house and entering the carriage, Elora wrote a letter and also contacted someone. After talking with that person, Elora muttered, "Sierra, I am afraid you won't be able to enjoy a peaceful future so soon. Sigh…"

…

The next morning, Sierra returned to the inner circle of the town with Elora, only to get the shock of her life.

She had a meeting with the Queen and King of this kingdom at Elora's house!

"Sierra, I know you are shocked, but you have to listen and make the decision with the greater good in your mind," Elora said with a serious expression.

"W-What? You are scaring me," Sierra said with a hesitant expression.

The Queen looked at Sierra and said, "Lass, you are one of the several hope of our world now. You have seen how cruel those evil monsters are, right? Their spawn rate is increasing, and the dark lands are expanding. To save everyone, including your family, you must also help other Radiant Order Wizards."

"H-Help? Me? But I am not even an Adept Order Wizard," Sierra was overwhelmed.

"Sierra," the King said as he looked at Sierra with a somber expression. "You do not know the power of a wizard with dual affinities. Let me tell you in simple terms: A wizard with two affinities is more than thrice as strong as a normal wizard, and they can also bring out much more destruction on point."

"What?!" Sierra was shocked hearing that and involuntarily turned to Elora.

Elora nodded with a serious expression as he said, "Since you have two affinities, your mana output and various other Wizard parameters are already doubled. On top of that, you can combine your affinity to create hybrid magic unique to you. Especially when Ice and Shadow combine, they can be so much more powerful."

"The other empires each have one or two dual affinity Wizards and all of them are treasured more than anything because they are the only ones who can stop the progression of dark lands," the Queen said with a severe expression as she continued, "The dark lands are the place from where these Evil monsters originated. Our kingdom and the Empire ahead of us are not too far there, that's why we are gaining reinforcement from other kingdoms and empires each year."

"T-That… But I?" Sierra muttered as she couldn't take so much at once.

"The entire kingdom will do its best to support you and make you powerful as soon as possible. All resources will be at your disposal, all wealth, and everything. In exchange, we only ask one thing…" The King said as he showed his index finger, "Just one thing, you must train wholeheartedly with absolute focus and become a Radiant Order Wizard as soon as possible."

"With an addition of a single Radiant Order Wizard with dual affinity, the chance of eradicating the core of central Dark Land will increase manyfold, especially if it is someone as talented as you," Elora said with a somber expression. "If we don't do anything, then as predicted and calculated by empires, we will be swallowed by Dark Lands after ten years."

"Ten years? So fast?" Sierra was shocked.

"Didn't you see those Evil monsters attacking that village? It was supposed to be a safe area, that's why a village was built there. But now… sigh," Elora sighed as she shook her head. "Those were not even strong Evil Monsters. They were of lowest grade."

Sierra shuddered as she remembered the deaths of those kids and people being torn to pieces and clenched her fist. When she imaged her own village and Arkhen going through that… she quickly shook her head and became determined, "I will do my best!"

"That's the spirit!" The King slapped his thigh with a smile. "Come on! All resources of the kingdom and everything is at your disposal! You can even invite your family members and anyone to live in the lavish mansions but… You won't have that luxury! You must entirely focus on getting stronger."

"Understood!" Sierra nodded with fires of resolve burning in her eyes. "To save everyone, and for the happy future I envisioned with Arkhen, I swear I will do my utmost!"

…

"Oof, I was thinking of something else, but this story is moving in a direction I can't predict," Arkhen said as he scratched his head. "How will their love be tested by this? I don't understand."

[I also can't predict, my lord. But I am getting curious].

"Don't tell me I will become a prick after enjoying luxury in the palace and forget Sierra as she struggles and works hard? Nah, I won't do that while Sierra is going through such hardship," Arkhen said with a frown.

[We can only wait and see].

…

Sierra talked with Arkhen about her new role and its importance. Both of them were silent for a while after Sierra finished speaking.

"Such burden…" Arkhen muttered as he held Sierra's hands and looked at her pure eyes filled with resolve and love for him. "I want to help you. Isn't there any way to awaken affinity manually?"

"Unfortunately, there's no such thing," Sierra shook her head. "Arkhen, if I was a normal Wizard, it would've been fine, but… I am not a normal Wizard any more. I-I can't see those evil monsters slaughtering people again and definitely don't want you, mom, dad, and others in our village going through that."

? Arkhen became silent.

Sierra told him that he and their parents could go live in a luxurious mansion, and wouldn't need to worry about money or anything.

However, Arkhen hated that idea. He didn't want to live a luxurious life while Sierra struggled and worked hard!

After thinking for a bit, Arkhen had an idea!

'Yes!.... A servant!' Arkhen eyes shined and he quickly said, "Sierra! How about I become your servant? I am sure you will need to take care of basic necessities, and a servant can save a lot of your time. Of course, I will only be a servant in name for you, hahaha. Anyway, I can help you and others with this and not remain useless."

"But-" Sierra was dumbfounded.

"No, but!" Arkhen said as he tightened her grip on her hands and said with a stubborn expression. "I can't stomach the idea that I enjoy luxury while you work hard! We only have ten years! Please, you must tell Lady Elora of this. I am sure she will accept this request if you say it."

…

"So that is my request…" Sierra concluded as she stood in front of Elora with slight nervousness.

"You! Are you serious? You expect me to believe that you won't be distracted by Arkhen when he is so close to you and focus on training?" Elora asked with a speechless expression.

"Yes," Sierra quickly nodded with determination, "Arkhen will not disturb me, and I also won't get distracted. Please, he wants to help me, and no other person than Arkhen is better than it."

"You will indeed need a servant and an assistant. The Queen was going to assign such people to you. However, both your servant and assistant are supposed to be Wizards as well, while Arkhen... He is just a normal human."

"What?! Why would I get a Wizard servant? T-That," Sierra was startled.

"Well, only dual affinity wizards are privileged for that," Elora said with a wry smile. "You don't know the true potential power of Dual Affinity wizards yet."

"But I still want Arkhen to accompany me," Sierra said with a stubborn expression.

"Fine, I can assign him as your servant," Elora said with a sigh. "But I will observe for one month, and if your training didn't go as we have planned with the resources we have, your servant will be replaced."

"Ok, deal!" Sierra nodded with a smile.

As such, Arkhen became Sierra's servant to accompany and help her while their parents moved to a luxurious mansion in the inner circle of the capital town.

Sierra's schedule became extremely tight since the kingdom's best Wizards gathered and made a training course for her with the best resources.

…

A gigantic mountain range known as Flux Magic Mountain range was the best training place for Wizards. It was located in Rukhal Empire's territory.

On a big mountain in this mountain range, there were ten houses and other buildings with all the necessary structures and everything a Wizard needed.

Sierra was staying in one such house with Arkhen and Elora. It turned out that Elora became Sierra's assistant along with her mentor. Well, Sierra's mentors were more in number now.

The other six houses on the mountain belonged to six Radiant Order Wizards from the Taluin Kingdom, from which Sierra, Arkhen, and Elora hailed.

The other four houses were empty, but they were going to be filled soon by Radiant Order Wizards from a small kingdom.

That small kingdom produced two wizards with Dual Affinity, and both of those Wizards were siblings. They were late bloomers but not as late bloomers as Sierra. So despite being the same age as Sierra, they were already Arcane Order Wizards.

Apprentice Order Wizards.

Adept Order Wizards.

Arcane Order Wizards.

Supreme Order Wizards.

Radiant Order Wizards.

Radiant was the highest order stage and most powerful Wizards.

Amidst the approaching crisis, everyone started working hard for a bright future.

…

"Fuck, now I am even more clueless!" Arkhen muttered with a speechless expression as he witnessed the story. "Arkhen will now stay with Sierra all the time, how will the test happen?"

[Hmmm… I think it will start when they go out and meet other Dual affinity wizards. Also, those siblings might bring some spice and trouble in their life].

[Moreover, Arkhen is like a sore thumb in the group with the only regular human present. He is bound to get into trouble and become a burden, which will also get Sierra into trouble. This is just my speculation, so I don't know what will truly happen].

"Or if Arkhen dies, how will Sierra live?" Arkhen questioned as he rubbed his chin. "Welp, let's see what happens."