Chapter 67: Multiple Affinities, A Penchant for Disaster!

Ezra was grinning madly as he thought of all sorts of possibilities and the prospect of building an elite army for his use only.

The original plan was to have Cabrera and Fredrick head towards the Windless Peaks to claim a prize that only a regressor could know about. It was among the reasons the Empire waged war in his past life.

This time, he would be the one to light the flames of war indirectly, and much sooner too. But he calculated that it would take even longer to end.

Multiple other things would happen afterwards, but Ezra was thinking of one thing when he saw those affinity orbs.

The Gold Slums movement!

He originally thought it up as a way to make an astronomical amount of money in a short period of time, but looking at it now...he had been thinking too small!

As he looked over his plans, he found some faults he hadn't considered before, but that was because he also considered some possibilities which he hadn't thought of before.

'I can begin buying unearthed land as soon this plan's done, and if I play my cards right, it won't be limited to only Kingsmere'

Multiple plans churned in Ezra's mind.

'The gathering of an elite army would be easier, but I'll need Sebastian here by then. The information agency will shine during the war, as will the merchant guild. I thought I would have to wait, but I might be able to bolster my ranks and grow stronger at the same time'

But...

'Calm down'

Ezra calmed down his excited heart.

'I'll have to move one step at a time'

He couldn't be hasty. He would achieve his aims in due time.

Ezra took deep breaths and channeled mana throughout his body as he regained tranquility.

He looked at the orbs once again, before looking at Bard as his original objective, the reason why actually he came here, popped up in his mind.

'Right, I still have to get the royal alchemists involved...but how?'

Originally, Ezra would only leave clues for Bard to follow as he 'coincidentally' met up with Black Jaws, and the rest would go more or less like he had planned.

But now that Bard had become a subordinate, it wouldn't do him any good to weaken his subordinate.

That is when a thought popped up.

'Didn't he have a feud with the vice? I can weaken him instead. But the problem is how I do so without attracting attention. Now that I've met Bard, the person he has a feud with, he'll have his suspicions about my intentions, which could ruin the whole plan'

Ezra thought of solutions, when it occurred to him.

'Is there a reason why I must do it myself?'

The answer was clear...

'No, there isn't'

And with that realization, came a solution so easy that Ezra facepalmed.

'I've been thinking too narrowly. I'll just have make it so he moves to stop his enemy, yes, that's what I'll do'

In a span of minutes, Ezra modified the plans accordingly, before turning to look at Bard, who was busy looking over the two recipes Ezra gave to him.

"Bard"

"Yes, my liege"

"Tell me more about the matter between you and the vice lord"

"Hmm, it's actually something simple. We never really got along in the first place, being that we were both ambitious, aiming for the top. The only difference was that I was from a common background while he was from a noble family. Because of that, he couldn't stand seeing me at a higher position"

"Anyway, I became the head and he became the vice. The expertise I showed thoroughly dwarfed his, and he silently acknowledged it by not doing anything foolish. That is, until recent years when I found my progress waning, and all of a sudden, he challenged me for my position on the account of my growth stagnating"

"We placed a bet. A competition for the fastest to create a new recipe to assist the Empire, a recipe equivalent to Dark gold-rank or higher, lasting three years...and this is the last year"

Ezra's eyes released a sharp glint at Bard's story, because he could already see the signs of war in his past life. That aside, something about the story was amiss.

But before he could voice out his thoughts, Bard pulled him over and said...

"Regardless, thanks to you, my liege. I can sleep relaxed at the end of today, but we still need to check your affinity"

Ezra face palmed, because-

'I can't believe I forgot about that again'

-he had already forgotten about it.

Bard pointed at one of the orbs on the table as he spoke...

"This is an orb that can detect thirteen affinities, water, earth, nature, fire, ice, light, darkness, lightning, wind, metal, spirit, sound, and blood. Any affinity you might have should be among these"

"That's quite a lot. How many of these orbs do you have?"

"Thirty-five...I guess. Never really counted them as I have one that is all I need"

"How come you only need one orb?" Ezra asked in surprise.

"Because that one can detect twenty affinities. It's an item made by a Grandmaster mage that I procured in an auction"

Ezra had completely forgotten about auctions until Bard mentioned them. But before getting distracted once more, he quickly placed his palm on top of the orb and infused mana into it.

*Ooom!*

Like a beast awakening, the orb came to life as the white outline glowed brighter, and then particles representing each element began swirling within.

Ezra saw it turn black, representing his affinity for darkness. He already knew this, whether he got another one was what he wanted to know.

And he didn't have to wait long because, soon after, a flame flickered, lighting up the darkness. The flame flared up higher and higher, highlighting an affinity with fire, and it wasn't small!

Just as Ezra would jubilate, he suddenly came to a stop as he stared into the orb while making sure to rub his eye very well to confirm what he was seeing.

From the sky of darkness and the ever raging fire...came violent bolts of white lightning! And then...there was something else!

From the ground, came a large water body, but red in color. It was a pool of blood!

This meant he also had an affinity for blood!

But wait! There was still more.

From the opposite side of the blood pool, the ground turned into ice at alarming speeds!

Ezra stood there, utterly dumbfounded at the results.

What was this? He had FIVE affinities?!

...!

He was inwardly hoping for a second one, true. A third was asking for trouble. A fourth was looking to be hunted...but a fifth?!

That was a penchant for disaster...it could never be known to the public! Those Empresses would chase Ezra to the edges of Orion to make sure he was dead.

Especially when considering his affinity grades!

Depending on how an orb reacts, one could classify affinity into six grades.

Like adventure ranks, it was E, D, C, B, A and S grade affinities.

Anything lower meant the affinity was not worth mentioning.

But Ezra didn't know much about it. He only knew they couldn't be less than C rank, so he turned around to meet a Bard who was still frozen.

The eyes of the duo met and Bard sensed killing intent, so he immediately bowed and said...

"I didn't see anything"

Ezra nodded. Bard was quick on the uptake, and Ezra was pleased with that.

"Can you take a closer look and judge the affinity grades?"

"Of course, my liege" Bard tried to hide his nervousness, but was inwardly rejoicing that Ezra had changed the slave contract to that of an actual subordinate. Else Ezra could've just told him to kill himself.

As he inspected the scenery in the orb, his shoulders involuntarily shivered as he reported.

"S grade affinity for Darkness"

"A grade affinity for Fire"

"A grade affinity for Lightning"

"A grade affinity for Blood"

"A grade affinity for Ice"

Bard gulped nervously as he mentally read the result over again, while Ezra was dead silent as he took in all he was hearing along with a very deep breath. He tried sorting out his chaotic thoughts.

'It'll be the end of me should anybody else find out, but if I can keep it a secret till I get strong enough...my might will be unparalleled!'

Five affinities was a penchant for disaster, true, but that was if, and only if, others found out. He already had preparation for growing stronger, and this only reinforced his decision even more.

So, for as long as no one knew, he had nothing to worry about.

But...

'He knows' Ezra turned to Bard, who felt his skin tingling, before realizing where it was coming from.

"A contract" was all Ezra said.

Without delay, Bard took a scroll on the shelf, a soul scroll of Gold-rank, along with a pen and handed them to Ezra.

Three minutes of scribbling and Ezra was done as he passed it to Bard.

It contained every way Ezra could think of that could allow his secret to be leaked, from hallucinations, to mind readers, to Bard's greed. If he ever tried to reveal it, he would die, but if it were to be mind readers and such, his memory would be wiped away immediately.

Without a word, Bard hastily signed it. He knew he didn't have a choice in the matter, and if he disagreed, Ezra might not insist, but his days would be numbered, and he really didn't want such a terrifying person to become his enemy.

Only after the contract turned into particles, and Ezra could feel a bind on his soul, did his breathing relaxed as he fell on his butt, beads of sweat on his forehead.

Only now could he really calm down as he ruminated on what had just occurred.

'I had an affinity for darkness in my last life, so that was a given, but damn, it became S rank when it was C rank before. And I heard the Emperor had an affinity for lightning, so I could say the lightning affinity came from him, but what about the fire and the blood affinity...? I did kill a considerable amount of people in my past life, maybe that's why I have the blood affinity? And you could say I destroyed them too, maybe that signifies the fire affinity? No, no, no, that's not it! Then that ice affinity, wasn't that mother's element?'

'It's already very rare for a person to have five affinities, but I have that and they're all at A-rank! If it was all C and D rank, then maybe that explanation would be plausible, but this...this is just crazy!'

In the end, just like the matter of him reincarnating, Ezra decided to throw the matter to the back of his mind.

What was the use of worrying about matters beyond him? The answers would naturally unravel once he became strong enough, so he stood and dusted his clothes.

With this information...Ezra would have to modify his plans... again.

But this time, he was looking forward to it as the name of his five affinities kept ringing in his mind.

So he rejoiced.

With this, he would definitely achieve his revenge.

A whole new realm of possibilities had opened up once again. It seemed like all the bad luck he suffered in his past life was being repaid with good luck in this life.

But was any of it actually 'luck?'