After discovering the nature of my gift, Lucio led me outside where my fellow recruits were waiting. We had to form another line (and once again, I ended up last), this time to determine our elemental affinity and mana sense.
While waiting in line, I pondered various aspects of my gift.
"Although the name of my gift is ridiculous, there's no doubt it's quite powerful. Thanks to it, I'll undoubtedly have the best weapons and armor. But I still have some doubts—like, where on earth did all that information come from?"
I asked my fellow recruits in line with me if they had experienced the same thing, and they happily confirmed that they had.
"Wait a moment, where's Aaron?" I belatedly realized that Aaron had disappeared since we formed the first line to discover our gifts.
I began asking everyone (except Sylvia, whom I don't particularly like) if they had seen Aaron. They told me he had been taken away while I was inside the library. They didn't know the reason, but Aaron seemed happy at the time.
"If he was happy, it can't be anything bad," I reassured myself. After all, we were within the military facilities. No one would risk kidnapping a new recruit.
Having forgotten about Aaron, I delved into the details of my gift. Now, if I wanted, I could activate and control it at any time. It felt like having an extra limb—I could move and manipulate it almost instinctively.
However, unlike a physical limb, it seemed I could only use it 2 or 3 times before completely depleting its energy. There were no numbers or voices telling me this; it was just a feeling.
After what felt like a long 20 minutes or more, it was finally my turn to test my elemental affinity. This time, it was different from identifying my gift. We formed a line not toward the library, but in another direction, where a tall man in a white uniform stood next to a table.
On the table lay a strange machine. Its base was made of some kind of metal, square-shaped, with a magical screen in the center. At the very top, embedded in the center, was a grayish orb.
The tall man explained that I only needed to make a small cut on my finger and let the blood drip onto the tiny orb. Once that happened, the orb would change color based on my elemental affinity. Red for fire, blue for water, brown for earth, black for darkness, and so on. You get the idea, right?
Then the machine would analyze how strong my elemental affinity was. When it finished, it would display a percentage on the small magical screen. He explained that all of this was to determine if I had the talent to become a mage! The percentage needed to be at least 10% for me to be a competent mage. Anything lower, and I wouldn't be a mage in the short term.
Upon arriving in this world, I initially believed there wouldn't be much technology. But I was mistaken! There's a wealth of magical technology here, something I'd never considered.
With a touch of nervousness, I picked up the knife from the table next to the machine. The idea of cutting my hand scared me—I'm not fond of pain—but I suppressed that fear and made a small cut on my middle finger. A tiny droplet of blood landed on the small gray orb, and it began to change color.
At first, it showed a brown hue, signifying an elemental affinity with earth. The machine then analyzed the strength of my connection to that element. I hoped it would be high, but unfortunately, I only had a 2.34% affinity with earth.
Disappointed by the low result, I felt a glimmer of hope as the orb changed color again. This time, it shifted to a pale green, which the man explained meant an affinity with the wind element.
When he mentioned that having two or more elements was rare, excitement bubbled within me. Perhaps all was not lost—I might still become a mage in the future. If my wind affinity reached 10%, I'd have a chance to specialize as a wind mage. That would be incredible; after all, according to my knowledge from novels, wind magic might even allow me to fly.
But fate seemed to conspire against me.
"Only 4.34%? There must be some mistake; this can't be right…"
My dream of casting flight magic began to fade. With such a low wind affinity—only 4.34%—how could I ever perform magic? The minimum requirement was at least 10%. It seemed I'd have to abandon my dream.
Disheartened, I joined another line, this time to test my mana sense. I wondered why there were so many queues—wouldn't it be easier to do everything at once without so much delay? And, of course, I found myself last again.
As I listened to my fellow recruits ahead of me, it seemed none of them had achieved a 10% elemental affinity. But fate had other plans.
"Haha, look—I got an 11.25% elemental affinity with fire! Better than your 10.28% affinity with water."
"Are you an idiot? Water defeats fire! In a fight, I'd be the winner, regardless of that small difference."
"Maybe you're right, but did you hear the rumors? The silver-haired girl apparently has a whopping 21.67% elemental affinity with ice! And she's also at 13.97% with water. We're nothing compared to her."
"You're right; our talent pales in comparison to hers."
Listening to their cheerful conversation, I couldn't help but think:
"Can't I just reincarnate again?".