"Do you wish for me to go get some refreshments?" Abelard asked with the note of someone who very much did not want to move from where he sat.

That alone made Malwine shake her head. "No, I'm alright."

Thekla snorted. They'd spent their time commenting on guests as they sat down, so not much input was needed from Malwine as the three of them lingered there, all the while her panels flickered with something else.

Seek VIII

Only that which is sought after may ever dream of being found.

This Affinity may be increased to Seek VIII by reaching Acclimation and Control milestones to evolve its core effect.

Shamelessly stealing Abelard's Affinity was a no-brainer—even if she'd filled all her Mana Source slots for the time being, simply having an extra Affinity on the list cost her nothing. One of these days, I need to get Veit to tell me what use there is for those that never get planted…

So many questions, and so few opportunities to ask him things, as of lately. Malwine knew his 'winter break' would come soon enough, but having spent quite the while having to try and figure out the Memorial had left her ever so slightly annoyed at the forester, even if she'd ultimately enjoyed the experience.

Yet as much as she wanted to keep thinking of reasons to complain about her teacher, she knew she was just trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

Affinities were weird, both as concepts and with how they worked as far as her abilities were concerned. Even that aspect was clearly influenced by her perception of them.

OHeidi's Affinities, for example—she'd had no issue whatsoever enabling Adelheid to grab them from her great-grandmother. The only one she hadn't been able to affect was {Tristitia}, and that was a Proclivity. That was as far as her power went there, though. Even now that Adelheid had the Affinities, Malwine couldn't pass them on any further. She certainly couldn't take them for herself, and she'd even tried transferring one from Adelheid to Paul while the boy napped in the library—nothing happened.

In her mind, those Affinity's weren't Adelheid's, and she couldn't convince herself otherwise. Maybe, in time, her opinions would shift, but for the time being, neither she nor most of her family members could benefit from that relative treasure trove of Affinities, because none of them had a right to OHeidi's things through Adelheid. That left her with no way to pass anything on without addressing the existence of OHeidi herself, and—needless to say—that would have been quite awkward.

When it came to her family, Malwine wished for nothing more than to at least raise them past mortality, for all it was sort of a long-term goal. She knew trying to ensure they went up the ranks or bankrolling resurrections wouldn't be sustainable, not now nor later, but at the very least, she wanted to give them a chance.

Hell, as far as she was concerned, they should already have had one. Katrina had not been mortal—the idea that they had simply gotten unlucky and that would be their lot in life annoyed her, and that was without getting into the theories her uncle had vaguely alluded to.

People being mortal wasn't really a fact of life in this world, with the line between the average person and a cultivator being so thin that Malwine had no idea where it was even drawn. For one, she doubted Abelard could beat Kristian in a fistfight despite the younger man being a Level 700-plus at the Tree Veins stage and her grandfather being a hollow core mortal at… whatever Kristian's level was at nowadays.

That blurred divide was making it even harder for her to grasp just what she thought would be the right thing to do here. It wasn't her responsibility, but she genuinely couldn't excuse not giving her family—at least her mother's siblings—a chance. The alternative was sitting idly while they remained mortal and died, someday.

And from that all arose the first problem Malwine really hated thinking about—just how, exactly, was she supposed to go about raising them up without exposing herself? Handing out Affinities didn't sound compatible with successfully pretending to be a normal child, and, even if people simply nodding along to Adelheid's antics had probably left everyone numb to odd behavior, she didn't want to take unnecessary risks.

She'd be open about some of her abilities later—or so she kept telling herself—but the more she waited, the more she risked something happening to any of her mortal relatives. The more she waited, the less time they'd have to work on extending their lifespans or even just accounting for such a meaningful change when working on their build and Skills.

Ugh. I hate being in this position. Malwine could very much help them, but no strategies she could come up with for it felt palatable.

The second problem was an admittedly simple matter—just which Affinities was she supposed to give them? Her own were hardly something she could share, with both {Ore} and {Foresight} being likely to get anyone she gave them to into trouble with the fell if they planted them as Roots, and ****{Implicit}** faced that very problem that kept her from sharing OHeidi's Affinities further. And {Missing} was Adelheid's Affinity—Malwine just so happened to also have it now.

That left her with {Legacy} and {Vestige}. A part of her had honestly worried that her constant identity crisis with regards to who she was in relation to the widow might affect the status of the former, but as far as she could tell, that Affinity belong to her—to Malwine. {Vestige} was a derivate, but ultimately still hers as well, which left those two to only have the tiny little problem of being so high-tiered.

Well… That and the fact that she couldn't really detach her name from passing on said high-tiered Affinities. Timeless and Nine. Whyever would she have those? Sure, she could probably blame her nonexistent father for it all, but the idea didn't sit right with her. Perhaps that was why she kept sticking to half measures—to imagining what she could someday do yet never putting it into practice.

To Malwine, attaching her identity to this ability to pass Affinities on would be a step too far, at least for the time being—yet if she was going to bring it up, she'd probably pick the aunt next to her as opposed to anyone else.

Am I really this starved for attention that I'm seriously considering talking about this with her just because she's been nice to me? Malwine almost cringed visibly. She considered Thekla a valid heir for herself—same as most of her family members. She had no issue at all with the idea of opening up to her as a concept, especially if it would be a requirement of her actually getting anywhere with her goal of keeping her family members from being doomed to remain mortal.

She was starting to hate how much she cared in that sense—there was no denying that at least some of them didn't deserve that much consideration.

Bringing up a panel, she nipped that thought in the bud and quickly listed all the Affinities she was confident she could stea— transfer from one person to another, even those she had previously discarded.

Self → {Legacy}, {Foresight}, {Vestige}, and {Ore}

OBeryl → {Foresight}

Katrina → {Ore} and {Foresight}

Beryl → Probably {Foresight}

OHeidi → {Implicit}, {Yore}, and {Restitution}

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Abelard → {Seek}

She really should have confirmed with Adelheid just who {Missing} came from, even if she was pretty sure the answer was Bernie's mother. Whatever. If I try and it lets me make them inherit from Johanna, that'd be confirmation anyway. Besides, she could always ask Adelheid for permission to share hers if the source was unavailable—nevermind that she had no intention of asking Abelard.

A swift glance off to the side told her neither Thekla nor Abelard were minding her silence, still engrossed in whatever they were seeing out the window.

"Is that… oh, no."

"What?"

"See the blacksmith over there? I think I tiled her shop back in the day."

"Oh, no."

Next up, Malwine listed everyone in need of Affinities, if only for her own sake—as well as their relation to each individual an Affinity could be taken from. Her convenient forgetting of her grandfather and missing uncle was surely nothing but a coincidence. She did intentionally exclude Benedikt—Devils knew she wouldn't be using any abilities on him until and if she found out just what was wrong with him.

All things considered, she had seven relatives to consider… eight if she placed her annoyance with Bernie on hold for a moment.

Anselm ← Uncle (Self), Grandson (OBeryl), Son (Katrina), Brother (Beryl)

Thekla ← Aunt (Self), Granddaughter (OBeryl), Daughter (Katrina), Sister (Beryl), Partner (Abelard)

Kristoffer ← Uncle (Self), Grandson (OBeryl), Son (Katrina), Brother (Beryl)

Alaric ← Uncle (Self), Grandson (OBeryl), Son (Katrina), Brother (Beryl)

Matilda ← Half-aunt (Self), Half-sister (Beryl), Greatgrandaughter (OHeidi), Granddaughter (Johanna)

Paul ← Half-uncle (Self), Half-brother (Beryl), Greatgrandson (OHeidi), Grandson (Johanna)

Gertraud ← Half-aunt (Self), Half-sister (Beryl), Greatgrandaughter (OHeidi), Granddaughter (Johanna)

Bernie ← Grandaughter (OHeidi), Daughter (Johanna)

The first pattern she noticed wasn't news to her—it'd been obvious enough, even if she didn't consciously pay much attention to it before. For one, basically half her family was ineligible for the Affinities on Adelheid's side. Bernie's kids technically lucked out in that Beryl was their half-sister, but Malwine wasn't about to give them {Foresight}.

Her most growing concern was a question, nonetheless. She was fairly certain Thekla could inherit from Abelard—even if the wedding had yet to truly take place, they were family to each other. Getting into the rest of her family members was where things got tough. She considered in-laws to be family members—but did she really?

She had no issue with thinking of Abelard as her uncle, and it had worked for her, as she'd been able to take {Seek} from him just fine. Abelard would be a new brother to all her aunts and uncles soon enough—even if just by marriage. He was family now, but whichever part of her mind governed what she'd have considered inheritable told her Thekla's siblings wouldn't count. Any niblings would, sure, but a line was drawn somewhere, and no matter how convenient it would be, she couldn't force it. Perhaps things would be different if Abelard grew close to any of Thekla's siblings, but for the time being, there'd be no handing out {Seek} like candy.

Still, Malwine had to hold herself back from trying to give it to Thekla immediately—that'd probably derail this entire event. She wasn't even sure if she meant to talk to her beforehand, either. Once she sat on it for… at least a few hours, she'd reconsider how to go about it. Strictly speaking, all her aunt would know from notifications alone would be that she was being offered Abelard's Affinity, but that wasn't exactly the type of thing likely to go over well without any context.

That left her wondering what else she could do with this information, if she wasn't about to give everyone {Vestige}. A part of her really just wanted to hand off OHeidi and Johanna's Affinities to all of Bernie's children just so that the woman would have even more teleporting children to deal with—she might never forgive her guardian for her general treatment of Adelheid, honestly.

It struck her then that she didn't actually want anyone else to have {Implicit}. There was some selfishness to the thought, yet at the core of it stood the fact that Adelheid relied on that Affinity dearly. Malwine would very much rather not weaken that by enabling others to do the same, even if it might be unfair to them.

Perhaps that was also why she was skirting around the possibility of sharing {Legacy}. It was her bullshitting Affinity, the one that had been with her from the start—and unlike {Foresight}, it hadn't been a hindrance thanks to its mere existence. Was it an infuriating, potentially-interactive Affinity? Yes. She hadn't forgotten all the times she'd found herself yelling at it.

But did any of that really matter, when it came to its value? Not in the slightest. This was an Affinity she wanted to keep for herself. Forever, if that was what it took. She wouldn't relinquish that advantage, and she wouldn't expect Adelheid to do the same. If the girl herself wanted to pass it on once she was old enough to grasp the potential consequences, Malwine would oblige, but that wouldn't be anytime soon.

While she was lost in thought, the young couple continued their exchange, oblivious to how she had just stolen an Affinity from one and was plotting to someday give it to the other, somehow.

"Who in any Devil's name is that?"

"I haven't the faintest clue."

Thekla's sigh devolved into a groan. "I hate that I cannot recognize most of the people coming to my own wedding."

Malwine couldn't help but laugh. What could Bernie have possibly based her choices on who to invite on? Maybe influential people in Beuzaheim or something? Either way, she was more than a bit curious as to who she might see once they got back down there.

She wouldn't have complained if she found out just why tiles kept being brought up, though.

Her eyes flickered to the panels she'd kept open as she resolved to rethink this all later when inspiration struck. When she'd first started thinking about just what might be standing between her and just handing out Affinities to her relatives, she'd checked the notification she'd gotten from taking {Implicit}, just to confirm it had indeed exposed the name of who she was getting the Affinity from.

But that had been the one she could see—there had been others before. Notifications didn't disappear entirely when she dismissed them from view, but she could clear them entirely. If she did not, they would still fade in time. She couldn't really recall how long it normally took—it wasn't something she put much effort into tracking. Maybe, just maybe, they disappeared faster if newer notifications displaced them, from what she remembered.

That didn't apply to permanent panels, just to those updates and notifications the systems gave her, but that wasn't the important part—the exact timeframe was irrelevant so long as it wasn't too long. If Malwine couldn't reach for notifications she'd gotten all the way when she'd first awoken in this life, chances were, neither could a child.

She could potentially get away with not only giving any of her own Affinities to a younger family member without being exposed, but without them being able to tell later on that they had been given them at all. Potentially.

A great deal of her assumptions revolved around no one being able to match {Legacy}, but Veit had already told her there were no Lorekeepers in this world. The Affinity was easily her best tool in it being something only she had, and she intended to keep it that way. If wanting to remain uncontested made her a coward, so be it.

So {Vestige} it will be. If she was going to test giving one of her own Affinities to someone, this might be the only chance she got anytime soon. And OHeidi's while I'm at it. {Implicit} aside. …Maybe {Missing} too?

The answer to that probably depended on whether she wanted to make Bernie have a breakdown, and she was gravitating far too easily towards 'yes'.

She didn't ponder it for much longer before sending [Mana Reclaimer] off to Gertraud. There was no sense of resistance—just acceptance, but simple, at that. In the sense that a literal baby wouldn't question what their relatives did beyond the basics, as if accepting a tasty snack that had seemingly come out of nowhere.

Just as the notification Malwine herself got had.

(❗) Gertraud Rīsanin is incompatible with the {Vestige} Affinity.

That's possible? She was more than a bit taken aback—then again, there had to be a reason why everyone didn't just find a way to get Affinities, even if she'd never encountered it before.

And now she was going to start to worry she might be incompatible with something down the line.

Before she could spiral down the path of what she felt was purely justified, newfound paranoia, Malwine's head snapped to the side as she heard her aunt start laughing.

"Oh, he's here. This is going to be good."

Abelard was just shaking his head, though he hadn't succeeded at fully suppressing a smile.

Raising her eyebrows, Malwine scooted closer. Thekla helped her up, giving her the chance to once more get a clear view of the people below. A couple was approaching the seating area, clearly eyeing the other guests critically, and all around looking quite out of place.

Malwine frowned. "Who are those?"

"That, Malwine," Thekla pointed at the man, ignoring the bizarrely-dressed woman next to him, "is your uncle Otto."

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