Thereâs only one explanation: Vinny and Vanessaâs magical aptitude and elemental affinities are separate.
Vinny is Vinny, Vanessa is Vanessa. Vinnyâs magical aptitude is only one star, and he has no affinity for light or dark elements.
Heâs a complete and utter failure, but what does that have to do with Vanessa?
Conversely, no matter how strong Vanessaâs affinity for light elements is, Vinny doesnât get even a shred of it.
âThis is too strange. How can someone have absolutely no affinity for light or dark elements? This is unprecedented. I must report this to the academy,â the instructor muttered to himself.
âFor now, Iâll mark your light and dark elemental affinities as ânoneâ in your file. If there are any changes later, weâll update it.â
âThank you for your trouble,â Vinny stood up, waiting for his report. Once he received his elemental affinity results, he left the trial hall with Fred, who had already finished his test and was waiting for him. He didnât pay attention to the murmurs about him.
âHow can someone from the Varelis family have only one star in magical aptitude? Doesnât that mean they canât even draw from the Saint Envoyâs power?â someone asked.
âHavenât you heard? Thereâs been a rumor for a while that the Varelis descendant is a fake. The true Saintnessâs family has already died out.â
âI get that, but having only one star in magical aptitude... tsk tsk, thatâs just too embarrassing. In front of so many people, it must be mortifying.â
âYour Highness, donât you agree?â A young noble from the empire tried to start a conversation with the black-haired girl beside him.
âHaving only one star in magical aptitude isnât a disgrace. The one who should be embarrassed isnât him.â Expecting only a perfunctory âhmmâ in response, the noble was surprised when Princess Isatia actually spoke up.
The black-haired girl glanced coldly at the students behind her, her imperial aura instantly silencing the room.
âThe ones who should be embarrassed are those ranked behind him, who canât even defeat a one-star Soul Armament,â she said slowly, her voice calm and steady.
âUh...â The empire nobles who had been secretly mocking Vinny froze, their smiles turning awkward.
Isatiaâs words were clear: a group of people ranked below 50th were mocking someone in the top 23. How absurd was that?
Were those people really mocking themselves?
Moreover, if Vinny could perform so well with a one-star Soul Armament, imagine what he could do with a higher-star soul?
A young master from a declining family, wielding a one-star Soul Armament, could hold his own against the pampered scions of noble families with high-star Soul Armaments. Who was really the disgrace here?
âItâs better to have a little shame,â Isatia said coldly, playing with her hair as she stepped forward and left, leaving the embarrassed nobles behind.
These nobles were eager to curry favor with the princess and wouldnât dare offend her. They all fell silent, not daring to bring up the topic again.
Vinny had no idea what had happened in the trial hall after he left, nor did he care.
Let them laugh. Their mouths were their own; he couldnât stop them from laughing.
He looked at his elemental affinity report and fell into deep thought.
His affinity for light and dark elements was nonexistent. Apart from his affinity for ice, which was âexcellent,â his affinities for other elements were either mediocre or poor.
Aside from his ice affinity, he was a pure hexagon warrior, a small hexagon, with no mastery in any area.
Such elemental affinities wouldnât even be considered good for an ordinary person.
However, having one standout element was better than being mediocre across the board.
At least his ice affinity was high, and he had already formed an ice storm, which seemed to be much stronger than the average âexcellentâ level.
âAlright, alright, stop looking at it. Thereâs nothing interesting about it,â Fred waved his own elemental affinity report in front of Vinny. âAt least you have one element thatâs âexcellent.â I donât have a single âExcellentâ element; the highest I have is âGood.â Sure, I have a few of those, and I donât have as many weaknesses as you, but your potential is much higher than mine, okay?â
âBesides, thatâs ice elemental affinity! Do you know how rare that is?â Fred, thinking Vinny was upset about it, patted his shoulder.
âIâm not bothered by it,â Vinny put the report away. âIâve just always been curious about my elemental affinities, so I took a closer look.â
âExactly. Just glance at it and move on. Donât dwell on it. You made it to the top 23 without these affinities, so they clearly donât determine everything,â Fred said carelessly.
âYou really donât care, do you?â Vinny glanced at Fredâs indifferent expression.
âHeh, as long as I donât strive for improvement, Iâm invincible. Nothing can hurt me,â Fred said proudly. âAnyway, donât forget about the card game tonight.â
âI know, I know.â Since classes hadnât started yet, Vinnyâs mindset was similar to Fredâs. Both of them had a bit of a slacker attitude after entering the academy.
Their talent ceilings were set in stone. Why should they push themselves so hard? Even if they trained like crazy, could they ever catch up to the protagonists? It was hopeless.
In that case, why not just slack off? After all, they were just minor characters who didnât affect the storyâs direction.
Vinny and Fredâs dorms were in different areas. After parting ways at the corner, they each returned to their own rooms.
Vinny opened the door to his house, stepped inside, and took off his shoes, replacing them with slippers. He felt as if all the pressure had been lifted as he flopped onto the luxurious velvet sofa, hugging a pillow and rolling around.
He glanced at the living room. It seemed someone had moved the items on the table, but he didnât see another pair of shoes at the entrance. His roommate must have come back to drop something off and then left.
Vinny yawned, feeling a bit tired.
He sat up on the sofa, took out a card box from his pocket, and began counting the cards inside one by one.
The card box was a gift from Fred, containing only basic cards that werenât worth much.
The cards in this game had different rarities. Even cards with the same design could have varying levels of rarity, and the card materials were of high quality. Perhaps that was part of the gameâs appeal.
Vinny carefully examined the finely crafted cards. Even though they were the lowest rarity, there were still many impressive aspects to them.
The materials were top-notch, as this was the most popular card game on the continent. The officially issued cards were of excellent quality and had anti-counterfeit measures.
The characters on the cards were all historical figures. It was unclear who the original creator of this game was, but they must have had significant influence to gain the tacit approval of multiple factions.
The game included historical figures from the Tyrell Empire, the Church of Radiance, the Camella Kingdom, the Grand Duchy, and other nations.
Among them were emperors, kings, and even Vinnyâs ancestors, the successive Radiance Saintness and the Goddess of Radiance Varelis.
However, the Saintness and the Goddess were ultra-rare sapphire cards with no low rarities.
This was a clever way for the game to gain approval from various factions while also making a hefty profit.
After all, the Saintness couldnât have low rarities, right? That would be disrespectful to the Saintness and the Church.
And since they were the Saintness, it was only natural for their strength to be above average. If they were any weaker, it would be disrespectful to the Goddess.
Using this reasoning, the card company could release powerful, high-rarity cards without issue.
âItâs not that weâre making them overpowered. Itâs just that these historical emperors and wise rulers were truly this strong. We dare not make them weak, or the royal families would come after us.â
With this excuse, the card players had no choice but to accept it.
Poor players could only play against other poor players. When they encountered whales, it was like a laser sword against a caveman, a total mismatch.
Vinny flipped through his basic cards. None of them featured his ancestors, as the Saintness were all high-rarity, must-have cards.
The basic packs didnât include them.
The only card from the Church was one he didnât recognize, and the rest were obscure historical figures he didnât know.
But he was just playing casually and didnât care about the strength of the cards.
Just then, he heard the sound of the door opening, followed by someone changing shoes.
Huh?
Vinny looked up.
Was his roommate back?
He hoped it was someone easy to get along with.
But...
Vinny frowned. The footsteps sounded unusually light.
Perhaps because he often transformed into Vanessa, he had an unusual sensitivity to such things. The footsteps didnât sound like a guyâs.
It seemed the person had noticed another pair of shoes at the entrance. They hesitated for a while before finally stepping into the living room.
âHey, youâre here? From now on, weâre roommates, so letâsââ Vinny had prepared his introduction, but the words caught in his throat when he saw the personâs face.
The person had long, silvery hair as cold as moonlight, tied into a high ponytail that cascaded down. Unlike Aesphyraâs bright silver hair, this personâs hair resembled the chilly moonlight under the night sky.
Their clear, night-blue eyes held a hint of shyness and hesitation, evoking an involuntary sense of pity.
Their flawless, snow-white skin was like unblemished jade, and their delicate, beautiful features were perfect, like a glowing moon blooming in the vast, dark night, captivating but not blinding.
Their slightly pointed ears with a hint of red revealed their identity â an elf.
âMiss, youâve got the wrong room. This is the male dorm,â Vinny said after a moment of thought, then wondered if he had left the door unlocked earlier.
An elf girl mistakenly entering his room â was this some kind of harem plot for the protagonist?
But he wasnât the protagonist; he was just a former villainous cannon fodder trying to transition into a background NPC.
Wait, was it his imagination, or did this elf girl look familiar?
âI, I...â The elf girl seemed flustered, stammering as if she wanted to say something but was overwhelmed.
âThis is my room. You must have been in the wrong place. Look, I have the key here, and my luggage is in the room,â Vinny said, showing his key to avoid any misunderstanding.
âN-no, thatâs not it! I, I didnât mean...â After stammering for a while, the elf girl finally managed to form a coherent sentence.
âSigh,â Vinny was a bit exasperated. What was wrong with this elf girl? Was this her first time away from home, and she was nervous around humans?
It was as if he was going to eat her or something.
âDonât be nervous. This is the Carillian Academy; there are no bad people here. I wonât do anything to you. Itâs just that you must have the wrong room.
This is the male dormitory, and my roommate should be a guy. Miss Elf, youâve got the wrong place,â Vinny spread his hands. The Carillian Academy wouldnât allow mixed-gender dorms, right?
Aside from the inconvenience, everyone was at an age where they were curious and impulsive. If something irrational happened, it would be a mess.
âN-no, I, I...â The elf girl lowered her head, seemingly struggling to say what came next.
âI, Iâm also staying here.â
âHuh? What are you talking about? Iâve told you multiple times, this is the male dorm!â Vinny frowned.
âN-no, I mean, Iâm actually... a guy,â the elf girlâs voice grew softer and softer until it was barely audible.
â...???â Vinnyâs head was filled with question marks. He looked the elf girl up and down, his expression saying, âAre you kidding me?â
No way, how could this be a guy?
Before his bloodline awakened, Vinny, or any other guy, might have believed in the existence of âcute boys.â But after his bloodline awakened, Vinny had gained some understanding of the female body.
No matter how feminine a guy looked, he couldnât confuse the two.
Seeing Vinnyâs intense gaze, the silver-haired elf grew visibly nervous.
Virtue +50.
Current Virtue: 884.
Huh??
Vinny was stunned. He looked around, scratching his head, confirming there was no third person in the room.
What was going on? Why did his virtue increase? Did Aesphyra suddenly think of him and get angry?
Probably not. Then could it be...
Vinny suddenly looked at the elf girl in front of him, who was standing there with her head down, not daring to say a word, like a scared little hamster.
Wait, miss or mr., are you one of the original storyâs heroines?
At this point, Vinny also noticed that the other personâs chest was flat, and they were wearing male clothing, a pair of shorts that revealed their pale legs and a pair of white socks inside bunny slippers.