Chapter 78 - Familiar Sights

My head turned to look at the other two, Alyx and Erin.

Erin hid behind Alyx, unwilling to say anything.

As for Alyx, she held her arm in front of Erin, as though to shield her.

She nodded towards me.

"Hello Jay. My name is Alyx and my friend here is Erin."

The distance between us was clear. Alyx and Erin did not trust me.

It left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth, but I suppose it couldn't be helped.

Mildred raised her hand to bring attention to herself.

"Now that everyone has done introductions, I have something to give you."

She pulled out four glowing purple stones. The messenger stones.

"If you ever find yourself in trouble, crush these messenger stones. Ela will do her best to arrive."

The four of us took a messenger stone from Mildred.

Once that was dealt with, Mildred let out a clap with her hands.

"Alright! Let me walk you to the magic school. Try to remember the path!"

With that, the group set off.

Ned turned to me. There was a smile on his face.

"Haha, does it still feel like a dream to you? I must say that it does for me?"

My eyes shifted to Ned. For just a moment, they glazed over, looking past him.

"...It really does feel like a dream. Like I've seen something I forgot about long ago."

Ned laughed.

"Honestly, I still feel that way too. But logic is starting to kick in. After all, dreams don't last for multiple nights."

I nodded.

"Yeah."

My arms raised high into the air to stretch.

"Anyways, magic sounds really cool. Though, it also sounds like a lot of work."

Ned smirked.

"Ah come on. We are going to be here for an entire year without school or work. It won't be that hard to learn some magic, right?"

Alyx nodded.

"We should busy ourselves with something. Not to mention the fact that an opportunity to learn magic is unbelievably fascinating. If we can bring that back to Earth, it could create momemental waves."

My eyebrow twitched.

Earth... that was the name of their world?

"Haha, you're right. Though, if I have no talent, I will take that as a blessing. That'll mean I won't have to do any work!"

Erin tilted her head to the side. Her voice was soft.

"...But low talent doesn't mean you can't cast magic, right?"

Mildred sighed.

"Those without a certain amount of talent might as well give up on casting spells."

Erin gasped.

"Ehh? Why?"

Mildred smiled bitterly.

"People have affinities to various elements, allowing them to cast spells. There are ways to circumvent your lack of talent, allowing you to cast spells outside of your affinity."

Her eyes narrowed.

"...But if you don't have any talent at all, it may take years to simply learn how to feel mana in the air."

My legs froze.

The group continued onward until they realized I was left behind.

Ned turned to look at me.

"Hey, Jay? You alright?"

My head shook.

"Ah, yeah. Sorry about that."

I hurried after them and we resumed our walk.

After a few seconds of silence, Erin spoke up.

"U-Um... So if we have no talent, we won't be able to cast magic?"

Mildred chuckled.

"Pretty much, but there has yet to be a summon without talent. You can be rest assured that you can cast at least one thing."

She smiled.

"In fact, you can bank on having something special!"

Erin perked up, hopping up and down.

"Wow, let's go faster!"

Ned laughed.

"I am not against that!"

With that, Erin and Ned went forward at a pace that was faster than a walk, but slower than a jog.

In the end, the rest of us sped up as well.

Ned smiled with excitement.

"Haha, I can't wait to use magic! What do you think it will be like?"

A smirk appeared on my face.

"There will definitely be fireballs! Magic must have fireballs!"

Ned laughed.

"I couldn't agree more! What would magic be without fireballs?"

Mildred giggled.

"Yes, there are fireball spells."

Ned clenched his fist like his favorite sports team just scored the winning shot.

"Nice! I will definitely be learning that."

Erin's soft voice was soft, but enthusiastic.

"I want to make the biggest playground ever!"

Alyx smiled.

"That sounds beautiful."

Ned smirked.

"When you make it, don't forget to invite me!"

Erin nodded with a small smile.

"Ok!"

Ned turned to me.

"What about you? By the way, I won't take none as an answer! Just imagine you didn't have to work for magic, but could cast it."

A small smile appeared on my face.

How did he know I was going to say none?

Haha... anyways.

"I want to cast a spell that can grow so much food that nobody will ever go hungry again."

Ned blinked a few times.

"Wow, that is a cool answer!"

Alyx nodded as well.

"That is... quite respectable."

Erin suddenly lost her shyness, flashing me a smile.

"You're so nice!"

My hand scratched the back of my head.

"Haha, you're giving me too much credit."

Mildred raised an eyebrow.

"That makes me wonder, is there a spell out there that can do that?"

My mind flashed to the greenhouse that Leon made.

"...There must be! Even if it doesn't do so indirectly."

I came to a realization.

If I learned how to cast a spell that created food, I could potentially stop the village from degenerating so quickly.

It clearly worked for Leon, so logically it should be the same for me, right?

...The only problem was I had no idea how to go about it.

I suppose I would just have to slowly learn magic.

My mind suddenly recalled what Mildred said earlier.

A mage without talent cannot gather mana.

Yet... here I was. Able to use every element I've tried to.

Once the fact I had no talent whatsoever gets revealed, people will realize something is wrong when I begin casting spells.

That makes me wonder, how did I get away with casting spells before?

Ned and the others didn't know before, so there was no problem with that.

There was also a time I casted the earth spell in the school's courtyard, but nobody realized because Erin's massive earth spell had completely overshadowed it.

...The only other person that knew of my talent and witnessed me cast a spell was Mildred. Why wasn't she skeptical at the time?

Hmm... She probably just assumed my talent was really low, now that I think about it.

"Alright, this is your classroom. Hurry on in, you are almost late!"

Mildred gestured for us to go inside.

Ned waved to Mildred.

"Thanks for taking us!"

Mildred smiled.

"It is only what I am obligated to do."

After the rest of us told our goodbyes, we went into the classroom.

There were already a couple people inside. It took me a while to remember their names, but it came to me eventually.

Our teacher, Harlow, the sleepy girl, Flora, the distant guy, Dan, and the commoner, Kaiden. All of them were already in their seats. Other than Kaiden who was panting, the others seemed pretty relaxed.

The familiar sight hit me like a wave. There was a strange nostalgia that came over me.

"Ah, class is starting soon. Please take your seats."

My stupor was broken by Harlow's remark.

Ned waved to the teacher.

"Hello, teacher!"

Harlow simply nodded.

"Yes, hello. Now sit down."

Ned saluted.

"Got it!"

The four of us quickly took our seats.

After a few seconds I realized something was off.

My brows furrowed.

What was it?

...Ah.

Ned didn't move all of our desks together like last time.

A tiny flame of courage seeped into my heart.

"Hey guys?"

Ned, Alyx, and Erin turned to me.

An awkward smile appeared on my face.

"The desks are so far apart, which is kinda lame. We should push them together!"

Alyx furrowed her brows and let out a whisper.

"Are you sure we are allowed to do that?"

Ned smirked.

"Haha, if it really isn't allowed, we can just put them back."

Alyx still seemed to be against it. That was when Erin spoke up with a smile.

"We should move them together!"

Alyx dropped all of her hesitation and picked up her desk.

Ned chuckled doing the same.

My arms were a little weak, so carrying the desk wasn't easy. However, it was completed successfully with a grunt.

Erin tried her best to move hers, but was only able to make a few cute heaving sounds. Alyx promptly helped her.

Harlow looked confused, but did not say anything.

As Alyx was putting Erin's desk with the rest, three students walked in.

My eyes lingered on their faces as my memory shot towards the surface like a balloon filled with helium.

Otis, Mika, and most notably, Reyna.

When Reyna saw what we were doing, she raised an eyebrow.

"...That is not how the desks are supposed to be arranged."

I don't remember her being so uptight.