Talent

I headed to the training ground where Aira was teaching.

Just like with Element Fruit, if it got too noisy and complaints started coming in, proper training wouldn’t be possible, so it had been set up in a remote spot near Sandstorm’s dormitory.

Incidentally, unlike Sandstorm, these people weren’t former bandits or anything like that, so they lived normally within the village.

I was curious about how things were going, so I decided to approach without being noticed.

Unlike Nadja, Aira wasn’t particularly sensitive to presence, so I managed to sneak in without being detected.

“I am not like that muscle-brained woman. For mages, grinding away endlessly at practice is meaningless. Everything must be done logically, or it has no value.”

There were currently five people with magic-related aptitudes.

Including the five aptitude holders who had come from Guinea this time, that made ten in total.

The newcomers had aptitudes such as Earth Mage and Wind Magic.

Of course, none of them had ever trained in magic before learning of their aptitudes, so this would be their first time actually learning magic.

“So, first we’ll confirm your mana… You may feel confused by something you’ve never sensed before, but don’t worry. Every mage has walked this path.”

Feeling a faint sense of nostalgia, I joined everyone in attempting mana perception—the absolute basics of magic.

—In truth, magic as a technique isn’t particularly difficult to learn.

If you hire a dedicated instructor and train diligently, anyone with mana can use magic, even without an aptitude.

In fact, before my aptitude was revealed, I myself had learned magic from teachers who possessed aptitudes.

Thanks to that, I can use fire and water magic—though fire magic only lets me produce a spark, and water magic can only create a trickle of water.

On top of that, after using them even once, I become completely exhausted and can barely move, so they’re not usable in any practical sense.

The difference between those with aptitudes and those without is literally orders of magnitude in both mana capacity and learning speed.

Those with aptitudes gain a massive increase in mana the moment they receive it, and they learn magic at an astonishing pace, as if recalling something they had once forgotten.

For example, Acid had known nothing about magic at all before, but the moment he received the Great Archmage aptitude, he gained enormous mana and became capable of casting advanced spells of all four elements.

(Hmm… so this is what a difference in ability really looks like…)

While I was struggling just to sense the mana inside my body, the backline group—including the newcomers—had already finished the mana perception step in no time at all.

At this pace, they’d likely be able to use magic properly by the end of the day.

(Well, I guess I really don’t have any talent for magic… but strangely enough, it doesn’t feel as sad as it used to.)

The aptitude one receives during the Blessing Ceremony can drastically change the course of their life.

I hadn’t inherited a magic-related aptitude, but instead, I gained the Tree Planting aptitude.

There were things I lost and things I gained—but right now, I didn’t feel any regret at all about not being able to use magic.

I think that’s because what I gained outweighed what I lost.

(And with my aptitude, I can make everyone smile. That has to be far more wonderful than simply having talent for fighting.)

I fundamentally dislike fighting and clashing with others.

So an easygoing aptitude like Tree Planting suits me just fine.

Without my aptitude, these people wouldn’t be taking their first steps as mages like this.

When I think about it that way, it feels deeply moving.

“Woody-sama, were you here?”

“Wah!?”

Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed that Aira had somehow come up behind me.

It seemed I had no talent for stealth either.

“I may be lacking in many things, but… please continue to look after me, Aira.”

“Of course. I will serve you with complete sincerity.”

And with that, the process of checking on the villagers with aptitudes came to a successful conclusion.

But as I watched them, a small question surfaced in my mind.

(Come to think of it… do dark elves have aptitudes?)

Once something caught my attention, I couldn’t focus on anything else, so I immediately used Tree-to-Tree Teleportation and headed beneath the World Tree.