Chapter 33
“I have a magic aptitude?”
That was completely unexpected.
I had naturally assumed that I wouldn’t have any aptitude for magic.
And for good reason—my defensive swordsman character had no magical aptitude whatsoever.
I had deliberately developed him so he could only use non-magic skills.
‘Come to think of it… this body isn’t the same as that character. Only the skills are identical.’
Right. The body I had transmigrated into wasn’t the same as the one I had raised in the game.
It merely possessed the same defensive swordsmanship skills, but the person himself was completely different.
So, it wasn’t strange for this body to have a magical aptitude.
“Then does that mean I can learn magic too?”
“Anyone can learn magic. It’s just that the difficulty varies depending on the person.”
Kara replied, but she still didn’t remove her hand from my chest.
“Still, those who naturally possess mana within their bodies can learn magic dozens of times more easily than those who don’t.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that too.”
In this world—or rather, in this game—there were two kinds of magicians.
Those who used mana drawn from the air.
And those who used mana generated and stored within their own bodies—the so-called magic aptitudes.
‘Normally, only those with magic aptitude pursue magic as a profession.’
Even without aptitude, one could still learn magic, but the difficulty was far higher and it took too long—it was inefficient.
That was why only those born with magic aptitude usually became magicians, while the rest chose different paths.
However, Kara Barha was someone who could teach magic even to those without aptitude.
If you wanted to force a character without magic aptitude to learn magic in the game,
then the official strategy was to seek out Kara Barha.
That was why I had come to her—to learn a bit of magic myself. But instead, I’d just learned something completely unexpected: that I actually had magical aptitude.
“So that means I can throw around fireballs and lightning bolts like other magicians…?”
“That depends on which type of magic you’re talented in. Each magician has different affinities. In my case, I was born with an affinity for summoning magic. But you… huh? Wait, what is this?”
Kara looked at me with a puzzled expression.
Then she closed her eyes again, concentrating on the hand pressed against my chest.
“What is this mana formation? It’s so balanced… No, seriously, what is this?”
“Is there something wrong?”
“No, not wrong exactly… or maybe that’s the problem? What is this?”
“What’s going on?”
“The mana formation inside you… I’ve never seen one like it before.”
At her words, I tilted my head, prompting Kara to explain further.
“Normally, every magician has one or two affinities they’re born with—that’s their natural mana formation. But you’re different. Yours is… balanced.”
“Balanced… meaning?”
“Fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness. You have affinity for all six elements—a perfectly balanced mana formation.”
“All six?”
“Yeah, but wait a moment…”
Kara cast another spell, then once more placed her hand on my chest.
Her expression turned serious with concentration.
“It seems you have a slightly stronger affinity for water. But even considering that, how can your mana formation be balanced across all six attributes? I’ve never even heard of such a case.”
“Is my mana formation that unusual?”
“‘Unusual’ doesn’t even begin to describe it—it’s completely unprecedented.”
Kara looked at me, her eyes shining with genuine curiosity.
“Magicians usually excel only in their innate affinities. That’s common sense. But you… you defy that logic.”
Someone who defied common sense.
That sounded both promising and unsettling.
“You may have six innate affinities, but your overall potential is quite low. In simpler terms, you’re versatile—but your upper limit is low.”
I had heard of the concept of mana formation before.
In the game, when developing a magician character, you could choose up to two main attributes.
Magicians could learn all kinds of spells, but to grow stronger, they had to specialize deeply in their chosen attributes.
Magic from unchosen attributes had growth limits.
“If the average magician’s potential cap is 10, then yours would be around 5—but you can master all six elements. And… huh? What’s this now?”
“There’s something else?”
Kara made a startled face before continuing.
“Your mana formation can’t use any magic outside those six elements.”
“…So that means I can’t use basic spells—like telekinesis or healing magic?”
“Right, not at all. You can only use magic from your six innate attributes.”
That was new to me.
Usually, magicians could use at least a little of every type of magic outside their main attributes.
Being restricted only to one’s innate attributes wasn’t something I had ever encountered in the game.
“And your mana formation… it doesn’t feel natural. It has a very artificial quality to it.”
“Are you saying someone tampered with my mana formation?”
“Well… uh… how should I put this? I think your formation is innate, yes—but it’s not natural. Meaning, you were born with a mana formation that was artificially modified from the start.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know! Even I don’t understand what I’m saying! What in the world is this?!”
Kara looked genuinely baffled.
She went to sit beneath the shade of a nearby tree, muttering to herself.
“Has there ever been a paper on something like this? No… none that I can recall. This must be the first case. If it’s the first discovery, I have to claim it. If I publish a paper under my name… but I still need to teach him at least the basics. Preparing that will take at least a month…”
She murmured to herself for several minutes.
While she was lost in thought, I gathered my own.
‘A strange mana formation. And it feels artificially constructed.’
It was familiar somehow.
And I quickly realized why.
‘Come to think of it… someone said my Aura was deliberately blocked too.’
I didn’t know how or why, but it seemed some being had interfered with this body.
To have both my Aura and mana artificially altered from birth…
‘Seriously, what is this? Did anything like this exist in the game? Having magic limited to six elements and Aura intentionally sealed off… I’ve never heard of such a case.’
It seemed this body I’d transmigrated into was full of secrets.
And maybe, as I unraveled the secrets of this family, I’d end up uncovering my own as well.
While I was deep in thought, Kara finally stood up and approached me.
“Starting in May, you’ll learn magic from me.”
“Starting in May? Not during the vacation?”
“Yeah. From May onward, every Wednesday and Saturday. Come to this pond during lunch. I’ll teach you magic for about thirty minutes each time.”
“Ah… yes, understood.”
“For the record, this has nothing to do with entering the Protected Zone for Other Races.”
Kara said that to me with a rather serious expression.
“I’m just… interested in your mana formation, that’s all. Anyway, I’ll teach you starting in May. But there’s a condition.”
“What kind of condition?”
“Don’t ask any other magician to teach you magic, and don’t ever mention your unique mana formation to anyone. Absolutely no one.”
“Are you trying to monopolize me?”
I added jokingly, but Kara took it quite seriously.
“Yeah. I’m the only one who’ll study that peculiar mana formation of yours. I’ll research it alone and publish a paper with only my name on it.”
“Well, as long as you teach me magic properly, I don’t mind. But, teacher… just in case, you’re not going to do any weird human experiments on me or anything, right?”
“I won’t do anything like that. I don’t need anything else from you—just study magic diligently under me. You’ll need to use magic first before I can begin studying your mana formation.”
“Understood.”
“Good. Then go now. You haven’t eaten lunch yet, have you? Go eat quickly. You’re in swordsmanship, so you should at least eat something before your afternoon class.”
With that, Kara walked over to a nearby tree’s shade, activated a spell, and summoned a notebook in midair.
“I need to write this down quickly. The mana formation I observed was shaped like a perfect hexagon, and its mana circulation structure was clearly…”
I was about to say goodbye to her, but she was already lost in muttering to herself, writing intensely without pause.
So, after glancing around awkwardly, I quietly left.
‘This turned out to be more fruitful than expected.’
As I exited the forest, I thought to myself.
I hadn’t expected to gain this much from the meeting.
All I wanted was to negotiate something simple—she’d give me an occasional magic lesson in exchange for a tour of the Protected Zone for Other Races.
But instead, I’d learned that I had a magic aptitude, and even secured personal lessons twice a week starting in May.
‘That’s a huge gain. Private lessons from Kara Barha, of all people.’
Her claim of being a genius magician wasn’t an exaggeration at all.
She was truly one of the most gifted magicians in the entire Empire.
Before even reaching thirty, she had completely rewritten the formulas of traditional summoning magic. Moreover, she was the youngest magician ever to serve the Imperial Court—
and also one of the youngest magic instructors at the Academy.
‘She knows her own worth too, so her private tutoring fees are ridiculously expensive. Yet somehow, I ended up getting it for free.’
Things hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but as long as the result was good, that was all that mattered.
That aside…
‘I never imagined I’d have a magic aptitude.’
Originally, I had planned to learn spells that used external mana, but it turned out I already had mana within my body.
That meant learning magic might be far easier than I had expected.
‘Things are going well.’
A swordsman with magic aptitude—
that could definitely be a strong advantage for the Knight Qualification Exam.
So, all I had to do was maintain this momentum and keep growing.
‘Better hurry and grab lunch.’
Lunch break was almost over.
I had been planning to just skip it, but since I had swordsmanship class this afternoon, it seemed better to eat while I could.
So I quickly headed to the cafeteria to eat—
“You’re late, Gideon. Did something happen?”
“…Lady Lisa?”
While I was carrying a tray with some food, looking for a seat—
I spotted Lisa sitting alone.
Her tray held food that had already gone cold.
“Lady Lisa? Why are you sitting here alone…?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“For… me?”
“Yes. I was planning to eat with you, but no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find you anywhere. So I decided to wait until you came.”
Lisa said it casually, in her usual expressionless tone.
“Anyway, why were you so late? What were you doing?”
“Uh… I was talking privately with a teacher. That’s why I was late.”
“Hmm, I see. Makes sense. Then let’s eat quickly. Lunch break’s almost over.”
“Ah… yes, understood.”
I awkwardly sat beside Lisa and picked up my utensils.
Lisa also began eating, and after a short while, she spoke again.
“From now on, if something like this happens during lunch, let me know. If there’s nothing special, eat with me.”
“Pardon? But Lady Lisa, you always have lunch with me anyway—”
“I enjoy eating with you. More precisely, I enjoy eating alone with you.”
“…Understood.”
It was an unexpected response in several ways, but I decided to just go along with it.
If the Lady said so, then that was that.
Though I was honestly curious why she enjoyed eating with me alone… lunch break was nearly over, so I’d have to ask her another time.
“From now on, I’ll eat with Lady Lisa.”
“Good. Then that means we’re having dinner together too, right?”
“Yes, understood.”
“Hehe, great. Oh, right—and about tonight’s night patrol, I think…”
And just like that, I ended up having an enjoyable(?) meal with Lisa.