## Chapter 105 – No. 25. Aptitude #2
After Adriana left the classroom, the students gathered in groups, discussing the hierarchy.
From the moment they received their rankings, the once-equal classroom now had disparities, and their attitudes toward each other changed significantly.
Students with high rankings had confidence in their voices, while those with low rankings felt as though their backs and shoulders had shrunk.
While everyone was discussing the hierarchy and their future plans, there were two people who couldn’t join the conversation.
Number 25, who couldn’t properly take the test because the crystal ball didn’t react, and Saruk, who was watching him carefully.
Sitting at his desk, Number 25 couldn’t bring himself to leave, staring blankly at the empty chalkboard.
Saruk, sitting next to him, carefully shook Number 25’s shoulder and spoke.
“Ryu, shouldn’t you go to the professor’s office? Didn’t Professor Adriana say something at the end?”
“Ah, yeah. I should go now.”
The smile had disappeared from Number 25’s face as he turned to look at Saruk.
Saruk, seeing Number 25’s dejected appearance, frowned as if it were his own problem and spoke in a worried tone.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
Number 25 declined Saruk’s offer with a shake of his head.
He appreciated the thought, but this was something he had to face on his own.
He forced a smile at Saruk and quietly left the classroom.
“It’s okay, I can go alone.”
After navigating the complex corridors like mountain paths, he arrived at Professor Adriana’s room. He knocked twice and entered before Adriana’s voice could be heard.
Normally, Adriana would have nagged him for lacking basic manners, but considering the circumstances, she let it slide.
She had been waiting for Number 25 anyway, so she naturally started the conversation.
“Enough with the formalities, you’re doing this one more time.”
Adriana pointed to the crystal ball on the round table with her index finger.
Number 25 stood in front of the crystal ball, but hesitated, remembering the previous failure, and looked at Adriana’s face.
Adriana, with a puzzled expression, gestured again at the crystal ball. A gesture that meant, “Don’t waste time, hurry up.”
Thinking that he wouldn’t have another chance if he didn’t speak now, Number 25 asked in a trembling voice.
“Is there perhaps another way to test?”
“There isn’t, but… well, if you really can’t, try to keep imagining releasing magic from your fingertips in your mind.”
Number 25 nodded and focused his magic on his fingertips, as Adriana had said.
The crystal ball still didn’t reflect Number 25’s attributes, but there was a change.
The crystal ball began to vibrate as if there was an earthquake.
It had never shown such a reaction during the numerous tests conducted so far.
Adriana, with a flustered expression, couldn’t stop him.
From the part where Number 25’s hand touched, cracks began to form on the crystal ball in the shape of lightning, and soon it shattered into pieces on the floor.
“What is this…”
Adriana, with a bewildered expression, looked at the series of events, shook her head to compose herself, and began to kneel down to pick up the broken pieces of the crystal ball.
When Number 25 tried to pick up the pieces as well, Adriana refused, holding out her hand.
“It’s okay. It would be troublesome if you got hurt.”
These weren’t just ordinary pieces of glass. They were pieces broken by magic, and each one could cause some kind of reaction. It was the professor’s role to not put students in danger, and it was Adriana’s goal to avoid such situations.
“Still, this happened because of me…”
Adriana, without even looking at Number 25, picked up all the broken pieces of the crystal ball and straightened her back as she replied.
“It’s okay, the academy doesn’t hold students responsible for damaged property…”
Adriana threw the broken pieces into the trash can, sat down in her chair, and was lost in thought for a moment.
Her sharp gaze was directed at Number 25’s fingertips.
The slender fingers trembling from the backlash of magic amplified Adriana’s doubts.
‘A crystal ball broken by simple magic? It’s a tool that I’ve never seen broken even after going through countless students? It can withstand at least the magic of the 2nd Circle… no, even the magic of the Demon Lords, assuming they weren’t using their full power…’
Number 25, feeling awkward in the silent professor’s office, carefully asked.
“What happened?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know either, as this is the first time I’ve seen something like this. One thing is certain, your magic power far exceeded my expectations.”
Number 25’s expression briefly brightened, taking the talk about having a lot of magic power positively.
But that bright expression didn’t last long. Adriana sighed briefly, stared into Number 25’s eyes, and conveyed the cruel reality.
“But you won’t be able to use proper magic. You just saw it, right? Your magic doesn’t have any attributes. No matter how much magic power you have, it’s useless without the most basic attribute.”
Number 25 stared at Adriana with a puzzled expression.
Adriana clicked her tongue and explained again, even using an analogy.
“You can’t become a great magician just because you have a lot of magic power. All attributes are paths. Paths that guide magic and suggest directions for it to change. To explain it more simply, your current state is like a gun without a barrel. If you try to use magic by force, the built-in gunpowder will mess up your insides more than necessary.”
“Should I put it more simply? It means you have no talent for magic at all. I’ll keep it a secret from the other students for now, but from my subjective point of view, I’d recommend martial arts over magic. I’ll set your ranking to 10th for now…”
Number 25, listening to Adriana’s words, hung his head and said in a trembling voice.
“I’m really sorry for interrupting, but can I leave for today?”
Adriana looked at his trembling body with her green eyes and nodded.
As soon as Adriana’s permission was granted, Number 25 bowed and rushed out as if fleeing.
In the professor’s office, where Adriana was left alone, she tapped the paper with Number 25’s information on it with her fountain pen and was lost in thought.
She fully understood the sadness he felt. Adriana had also thought that she had no talent.
Even if she offered words of comfort now, they wouldn’t reach his heart, and personally comforting a specific student would be unfair.
The best support was to subtly offer a hand or support their back so that the student could find their own answer and stand on their own.
●
Lowell greeted Number 25, who had come to the tower much earlier than expected, with a smile on her face.
“You’re here early.”
But Lowell’s words didn’t reach Number 25. Even if he had heard them, he wouldn’t have answered. Number 25 remained silent to Lowell’s words and went up to his room.
Number 25, who was now more familiar with the bed than the floor, buried his face in the soft pillow.
Adriana’s words, especially the words that he had no talent for magic, were like daggers in Number 25’s heart.
Arrogance, the arrogance that he thought he was special somewhere in his heart.
Dragons and drakes were inviolable beings when it came to magic. Naturally, Number 25, who belonged to that race, thought he had a talent for magic.
But that belief was shattered into pieces and scattered into the abyss with a single test.
As he was sinking endlessly into gloomy thoughts, Lowell opened Number 25’s door and carefully approached.
She sat on the bed without a word, only turning her head to look at Number 25’s back.
“Did something happen at the academy?”
Hearing Lowell’s kind voice filled with worry, tears welled up in his eyes without him realizing it.
Still burying his face in the pillow, Number 25 sniffled once for no reason and replied in a thin, trembling voice.
“They, they said I have no talent for magic at all…”
Number 25, having difficulty finishing his words, buried his face deeper into the pillow.
It was a kind of escape from the reality he didn’t want to believe.
The smile slowly disappeared from Lowell’s face as she heard Number 25’s tearful voice.
She wanted to find the culprit who had made Number 25’s face stained with tears and tear them limb from limb right away, but if she did that, Number 25 wouldn’t be able to attend the academy he had longed for.
“Ryu, come here.”
Number 25 slowly raised his head and looked at Lowell.
Lowell gently opened her arms, showing that she was willing to lend him her chest.
Seeing that, Number 25, as if possessed by something, hugged Lowell’s soft chest that smelled sweet and entrusted himself to her gentle warmth.
Lowell, who gently placed her hand on Number 25’s head as he was crying in her arms, didn’t even move until he calmed down.
The rough breathing mixed with resentment gradually began to calm down.
Finally, Number 25 wiped the tears from his face, fell out of Lowell’s arms, and scratched his head as if he was embarrassed.
Lowell, relieved by Number 25’s calmed appearance, smiled and stroked Number 25’s head.
Lowell, who was stroking Number 25’s head, suddenly got up from her seat and headed for the door, only slightly turning her head to say to Number 25.
“Ryu, come this way.”
He didn’t know why, but he knew that Lowell would never do anything that would harm him, so he followed without complaint.
Lowell walked more slowly than usual to match Number 25’s pace, and after a long time, they headed to the warehouse on the first floor, which was rarely used.
The first floor warehouse was filled with mountains of magical tools that were no longer used. Deep inside the warehouse, in a place that Number 25 had never been to, there was a round object covered with a large purple cloth.
Lowell grabbed the end of the cloth and gently pulled it, revealing a crystal ball that was much larger and had more elaborate carvings than the crystal ball in Adriana’s room.
Lowell blew air on the crystal ball, and the dust that had settled on it disappeared, and it began to shine as if it were new.
After a simple cleaning, Lowell said to Number 25.
“You were tested with this kind of crystal ball, and something went wrong there?”
Number 25 nodded, admiring Lowell, who had understood everything without him saying a word.
Lowell, confirming Number 25’s reaction, turned back to look at the crystal ball.
“Look.”
As Lowell placed her hand on the crystal ball, a huge amount of magic power, unlike anything the students at the academy had shown so far, surged like a wave.
The colorful magic power, as if looking at a rainbow, was mixed and swirling, and it began to run wild like a crazy colt, as if it couldn’t be contained in this crystal ball.
Sometimes it raged like a tyrant, sometimes it was dignified like a queen, and sometimes it had a seductive beauty like a dancer. Number 25 couldn’t take his eyes off that magic power for a while.
When Lowell took her hand off the crystal ball, the magic power disappeared as if it had been a lie.
“Ryu, would you like to try again?”
Even if he tried again, the result wouldn’t change.
Was Lowell even reminding him that he had no talent? As soon as he thought that, he lost all his energy.
Number 25 trudged over to the crystal ball and placed his hand on the crystal ball, which was much taller than him.
As expected, nothing changed.
The moment he thought that, a change suddenly came to the crystal ball.
Unlike the crystal ball in Adriana’s room, a murky gray magic power was falling like lightning, striking the smooth surface of the crystal ball here and there.
The gray magic power, spreading in all directions as if screaming, was increasing in number as time went by. Slowly dividing and stretching its stems to the wall of the crystal ball at the same time as if it had one purpose.
Although he couldn’t hear the sound, he even had the illusion of hearing a tearing roar. Number 25, forgetting to take his hand off the scene, asked Lowell with a flustered expression.
“What is this?”
Lowell, who had already moved close behind Number 25, said.
She had a rare surprised expression on her face.
“I’m seeing it for the first time myself, but it’s probably the attribute of Nothingness.”
“The attribute of Nothingness?”
“It certainly exists, but it doesn’t reveal itself in any form and is an unobservable attribute. It’s a primitive attribute that existed even before Primal Magic took root on the ground.”
Number 25 turned his head back to the crystal ball and looked at his magic power, which was taking the shape of lightning, and asked again.
“Then what is this lightning?”
Lowell leaned closer than before and spoke slowly in a somewhat troubled tone.
“Well, I don’t know either. Usually lightning appears in the attributes of Wood or Metal… I don’t know why the nature of your magic power is appearing like lightning… It seems to be related to your characteristics, but revealing individual characteristics with tools is an area that I haven’t reached yet…”
Number 25 didn’t ask any more questions at the sight of Lowell tilting her head to the side.
If she was talking about something she didn’t know, it was an area that not only Number 25 but also the renowned professors of the academy couldn’t reach.
Number 25, taking his hand off the crystal ball, opened his mouth in a dejected voice.
“In the end, the attribute of Nothingness is just the primal magic that has existed since the beginning, nothing more and nothing less? It seems that what the professor said about me having no talent is true…”
Lowell, at Number 25’s self-blaming words, said in a firm tone that was different from usual.
“Ryu, there are no people in the world without talent. The world can function because everyone is in their own place, with their own abilities, and doing their own role. Your talent is not limited to magic. Your existence itself is a blessing and happiness to me. What talent in this world is greater than the ability to make people happy?”
“Lowell…”
Lowell’s words that resonated in his heart, Number 25 was trapped in the race of dragons and was mistaken that his talent was all about magic, and that belief was betrayed, so he was in the current situation.
Lowell’s words, which shattered the values he had held so far, could only come to Number 25 more deeply.
Number 25, silently making eye contact with Lowell and staring at her face, could know what she wanted.
He stood on tiptoe and kissed Lowell’s white cheek, and Lowell smiled bashfully like a child.
They weren’t two people who would end with one kiss.
Lowell hugged Number 25’s waist, lowered her face, and covered his lips.
Lowell’s tongue, licking his lips, was warm and had a gentle movement.
As they slightly parted their lips, saliva stretched between the two as if they wanted to continue.
Lowell’s eyes were already moist.
She hugged Number 25’s waist again and whispered in a voice that seemed to melt away.
“Now, please make me happy again today.”
