Sight-Infused

“So, have you been thinking about it?”

“It frustrates me to say yes.”

“But you are still here, are you not? Maybe that part of you is commendable.”

It was Friday morning. Class C and D stood together in the Keeper’s training field.

“Or maybe, you are waiting for this very day. You hide an ace up your sleeve, ready to prove me and my hypothesis wrong, and if possible, humiliate me while you are doing it.”

“I- I didn’t think about it that far!”

“Why not?”

“Why…”

“The fact that you do not seem keen to prove me wrong means either you are not confident in your own ability, or you lack said ability.”

“Ergh…”

Stop being so right, damn you!

Antonio looked at the teacher, explaining the basics of magic usage. Despite all his words, he didn’t seem the slightest interested in me. Well, he was right, I never used magic. I tried using it back when I and Aliya were still in middle school. I remember asking her to show me that sword technique of her. She asked one of her maids, who could use shield magic, to put up a protective barrier on a training dummy. She got into her attack stance, the sword pointed straight at the dummy. Its reflective metal surface shined brightly, and she dashed forward at a blinding speed. She closed the distance in less than a second and sliced right through the purple barrier, shattering it. The barrier was strong enough to hold her sword from slicing the dummy, though.

I still have a lot to learn.

I remember her saying those words back then. She considered the fact that she was unable to damage the dummy a failure, and she vowed to train more and more. In comparison, the maid had the skills of a B-class shielder, only second class to the best. Aliya herself didn’t have an official rank yet, as she was still too young to enter at the time. I then borrowed her sword and tried it myself. I tried my best, but I was unable to make the sword shine as bright as she did.

No, the sword didn’t shine at all.

I thought it was because I didn’t come from the Moonuvert family, and only the descendants of that blood could wield it, but the maid proved me wrong immediately afterward. She managed to wield the sword, and utilizing the sword’s power, broke her own shield, inflicting a scratch on the training dummy. To this day I failed to understand what my mistakes were, what I did wrong that day.

The teacher, along with his assistant, started handing out magic wands to the students. I couldn’t help but feel like he was handing me a second chance, although whether I would be able to utilize magic would be a wholly different question. Everyone was required to master the basic principles of pure magic, the magic that didn’t involve magic-infused weapons. The wands were made out of simple wooden sticks.

“These felt like things you pick up in the garden…”

I slowly whispered while examining the simple wand given to me.

“These weapons had been given magic-enhancing properties. This would help one in connecting with the elements and cast magic. However, as a method to reduce the cost required to produce these weapons, they lack the magic shield properties that better wands had. After they exhausted their shield, which was used to prevent the stick from being affected by the elements that came from them, all that left from the wand would be a wooden stick with magic-enhancing properties, which meant in their next use, whatever element the user wields would greatly affect the wand. Fire would consume it entirely, water would cause it to rot and eventually break apart. Nature users, however, would be able to wield it long after its shield goes off, as it is the only element that positively affects the stick.”

… All that just to say that these things are cheap?

“But… as they said, what matters most is not the weapon, but the one who wields it.”

For some reason, that sentence felt discouraging. Looking back at Antonio, who started writing in his notebook again, I realized something weird.

He was using his gym clothes under his lab coat. He had buttoned up his coat before, so I couldn’t see the clothes under his coat. I didn’t pay attention to his legs either. After we finished handing around the wands, the teacher split us into our classes. Class C would start the training first. He unbuttoned his coat and left it on the side. Everyone wore the same gym clothes. A simple, thin white shirt and knee-level shorts with a light blue accent, the school crest attached on the left hand.

We stood in a horizontal line, facing a series of shielded practice dummies, similar to the one back in Aliya’s home. Despite my chat with Antonio, I had paid attention to the words of the teacher.

“Everyone, start!”

The first task was to fire a spell, any spell, toward the dummies. For those who practiced magic before, this would be easy. I took a large breath, calming myself down.

You can do it Ranold!

Magic involved connecting a person’s soul with nature, allowing a person to use bend the elements to their will. It was a fairly abstract concept, one that required a ton of practice. I closed my eyes and put my focus on the wand, trying my hardest to feel the power that was locked within it. I didn’t just need to feel that power, however, but I need to be able to connect myself to it, became its master, and bend its will under mine. It required a lot of concentration, yet I found concentrating incredibly hard, especially with a weird whooshing sound that kept going to the right of me.

Curious, I opened my eyes…

And found Antonio casually firing magic spells like he was a machine gun. Bolts of fire continued spitting out from his wand, which he held on the end like a chopstick, hitting an invincible shield that protected the dummy on the end of the field. The ripple effect could be seen as the bolts hit it. He then threw the wand upward, it spun in the air before falling back down. He reached for the wand and grabbed it. Pointing it forward once more, he fired off high-speed yellow electric bolts. It flew faster compared to the fire, but from the visual effects that the shield gave off, the electric strikes seemed to have a weaker effect.

I look to my left. Not far from me, only two people away, I could see Aliya holding her wand and swinging it violently. Aliya didn’t fire any magic, though. Instead, thin silver lines appeared and disappeared near the dummy, cutting through its shield like an invisible sword.

I don’t know if you can do that!

And beside her, Mina took on an archery stance, and instead of pointing his wand forward, she pointed it upward, to the sky. She held it with her left hand, her right hand pulling a nonexistent string behind. She concentrated on the target and opened her right hand. It unleashed a long, thin silver line, like a pointed metal arrow, that flew rapidly across the air and stabbed the target.

I don’t know if you can do that either!

Even the person standing on my left, who I did not know, fired a bolt every few seconds. He struggled, but he still fired a bolt of fire. I gripped the wand and pointed it forward, trying my hardest to bring out something, something.

I closed my eyes, trying my best to return my concentration, but my concentration was swiftly destroyed by a weird zang noise from my right.

What is he doing? Making a railgun?

I was curious and peeked, and a long blue wet line extended from his wand to the target with great power.

It’s a water railgun!

The shield popped, Antonio immediately stopped before he could inflict any more damage on the dummy. He raised his hand and his wand up, before declaring the words,

“Shield destroyed!”

He lowered his hand and returned to the side. As he returned, I couldn’t help but notice him glancing at someone. I thought he was looking at me, maybe mocking me because I failed to unleash anything, but his glance felt off for some reason. With Antonio gone, I could see the person who stood on his right. He threw his wand, without actually letting go of the thing. It caused a triangular gray shape to hit the shield. Its relentless strikes caused severe damage to the shield, eventually taking it out.

“Shield out.”

He said before going off the line.

Why are people so good?

Mina let out one final shot, and Aliya unleashed her final swing, both destroying the shield at almost the same time.

“Shield gone! Yoohoo!”

“Umm… I think I destroyed the, the shield.”

One by one, the other students got off the line. Eventually, even the one who struggled beside me finished his mission, taking out his shield.

Leaving me, the only one with a shield intact, without firing a single bolt.

“... That’s enough, Ranold.”

I let out a sigh and returned to my place, feeling a fair mix of embarrassment and misery. Antonio sat on the side, already wearing his coat, writing some things in his notebook. Seeing me approach, he closed his notebook and set it aside. I sat down beside him, not saying anything. He glanced at me, but didn’t say anything either. We stayed silent as the others from class D prepared. Antonio remained silent. I knew my performance was disappointing, but was he that disappointed? To the point he no longer wants to talk to me?

“... You’re not going to say anything?”

“Even I, loud as I may be, know when not to speak.”

He said, looking at the other class starting their turn.

“... Yeah.”

It was a painful four-hour session, with special training in the end for those who lack the skills in magic. Out of the sixty students, only three couldn’t get a single bolt of magic out by the time the lesson ended, me included. Neither of us were nobles, so we didn’t have to go through the noble training that occurred after lunch.

After a rather grueling twenty-minute training, the other two managed to pull out magic, kinda. One succeeded in creating a small water ball the size of a fist. He couldn’t shoot it yet, and in less than two seconds the water ball popped, making him wet, but the teacher still saw it as progress.

The other managed to form a block of ice. It could hardly be used for anything, melting right the next second, but it was still progress.

Me meanwhile…

“...”

The teacher fell silent looking at me as I tried my best to do something. I concentrated my mind on the wand, looking for that feeling of energy, but it felt empty. The wand felt like a dead branch.

“You know, maybe your wand is faulty. Here, try mine.”

The middle-aged teacher handed me over his wand. The second I touched his wand I felt a strange gush of energy within it, it felt like I’m gripping the elements in my hand. I had regained a bit of motivation when I pointed the wand forward, at the targets that stood beyond me. I gripped the wand, and tried to control it as if it was an extension of my body.

I concentrated, giving my soul to connect to this world…

But alas, nothing happened.

“Maybe you’re focusing on too many things. Try focusing on a single element. Try fire maybe. Imagine that hot, burning sensation in the palm of your hand.”

I nodded and changed my mental image. Instead of thinking about just something, I tuned my mind to think about a fireball. A blazingly hot fireball, one large enough to level cities and burn forests. One that brought destruction, but also heat and protection. One that our ancestors used to protect themselves, to cook meals, to light up the dark skies.

The same fire that Antonio blasted casually. I focused on the wand in my hand, focusing on the sensation that came from within it. I felt it, I could feel the energy overflow from it. It felt as if the wand, the plastic wand, wanted to grow in my palm. Get larger, pushing itself into my skin. I put the idea of fire sprouting out from its end, a fire that can pierce the shields that protect the training dummy.

A fire bright enough to light up my future.

“... Still nothing…”

I opened my eyes, the purple glow that covered the dummy felt more visible than it previously was, as if it mocked me for my failure, laughing at the fact that I couldn’t do anything to it.

“Umm… maybe this is just not your thing? There’s more than magic to being a Keeper.”

My teacher tried to cheer me up as I returned the wand to him. He stretched out his hand to receive the wand from me. Only then that I realized a long scar running through his palm, along with some others on his face. The most noticeable of which ran through his ears all the way down through his right cheek, before ending up in his chin. It was partly covered by his beard, making it not look as visible.

He realized that I was distracted because of it and smiled.

“These scars are a result of a long, arduous training. You can do anything if you put in the effort.”

“... Thank you, I’ll think about it.”

“Don’t go too hard on yourself, though, and don’t forget to eat. You can’t wield magic on an empty stomach.”

“Thank you.”

I bowed to my teacher and left the Keeper’s Training Grounds, only to find Antonio leaning on the fence separating the grounds from the outside world.

“... What are you doing there?”

I asked. He didn’t have his notebook in his hands. Instead, he just stood there, hands in his coat’s pocket. He had changed into his school uniform, so I assumed either he wanted to join the nobles’ training, or he wanted to do something within the school grounds.

“Observing you.”

He replied. He didn’t look at me, instead, he simply stared at the ground, observing the tiny ants going about their business.

“I must be an ant in your eyes…”

I spoke. The second he heard me, Antonio tore his eyes off the ground and looked at me, a slight smirk on his face.

“Oh ho.”

He grinned, the midday shine reflected in his glasses.

“Ah…”

“Getting bold, are you not? You certainly are not quite as I expected.”

“How does saying that get anything with being bold? Besides, I don’t really mean it. It’s just, I’m frustrated with how things stand.”

He took two steps closer to me. Now that he stood this close, I realized that he was slightly shorter than me. Only slightly, though.

“I thought you to be a shy loner who would not speak your mind when you are insulted. Tell me now, how much effort do you require to utter those self-deprecating words? Do you require a lot of courage? Or did you just say it because I am looking at an ant?”

He seemed to ignore me when I stated that I simply mentioned the ants because I was frustrated.

“The latter.”

“Interesting indeed.”

“... The longer I talk to you, the more confused I become.”

“Let us keep it at that for now, because if my intuition is correct, then I have seen something about you that even you yourself do not know.”

He turned around and walked away from the Keeper’s Training Grounds, waving as he disappeared into the crowd.

I really don’t get it.

I walked toward the dormitory, still agonizing about my ability, or more precisely, my lack of ability. Aliya and Mina probably went to the music room. Not only had I failed to show any particularly outstanding ability in any of the school’s subjects, although I am not terrible at any of them other than this Keeper’s training, I also failed to find any new friends, other than the four than the four people that I had talked to throughout the first week. Even calling them friends was a stretch. The reasons for Antonio were obvious, I could hardly strike up a conversation with Mina, and Aliya had been really busy recently. I found myself alone and empty, with nowhere to run, no one to talk to, and no skill to fall back upon. I returned to my solemn, silent room. I took a shower, hoping to drown my feelings in the drops of water, yet upon exiting the toilet, the feeling of dread returned. I could not escape that feeling of uselessness, I had no place in this world.

Peck peck.

I looked out of my window, to find a pigeon hanging on my window. I approached it and opened the window. The window opened outward, pushing the pigeon off and it flew away.

“Lucky you…”

I mumbled. It flew up to the C building’s roof, met up with its friends, and flew away. Maybe I should get a pet? But I wouldn’t be able to take care of it anyway, and what if it didn’t like me and abandoned me? Wouldn’t that hurt me more? I buried the thought of having a pet and went for my bed, resting on top of its soft surface, only to be greeted by the sound of my stomach. I had completely forgotten about lunch, but the thought of changing and walking out of the dorm filled me with even more dread.

I want to stay in bed, I don’t want to get out of bed, but I’m hungry. I looked at my contacts, hoping that I accidentally forgot about someone and could ask them to bring me food. Yet, the number of contacts I have could be counted by hand. Most of them consisted of my middle school class or activities groups, which I haven’t left despite long graduating.

The quick scrolling that I did reminded me of my painful past, my middle school self that I still carry into high school. The uninteresting and lonely me. At the time, I spent most of my time with Aliya, despite us going to different schools. I never really considered the possibility of parting ways with her, and now I really couldn’t. If the time comes when I could no longer see her, I couldn’t even imagine the devastation I would suffer-

Growl

Ah, that was my stomach again. Realizing that I didn’t have any friends, as I didn’t even add Mina or Antonio’s contact, I got off the bed and changed into my casual clothes. I put my room clothes on the bed and left the room, heading for the cafeteria.