Chapter 23: Talented

“I’m amazed,” Basra said, standing over the collapsed Alec.

’At what?’

Basra didn’t hear the thought he was too tired to voice, but she still answered him.

“Most people would have puked at least once by now. Ordinarily, I would have said that you aren’t pushing yourself hard enough, but I don’t think that’s it.”

’I’ve never pushed myself this hard before, so I wouldn’t know. And I certainly don’t think I can push myself any harder.’ Alec heaved a deep sigh.

After Wilcox’s lesson, he had spent some time resting with Taryeon before it was time for dinner. Taryeon left for the cafeteria, and Alec made his way to Moira’s greenhouse, his headache sending flashes of light across his vision along the way.

It was troublesome, but to his surprise, it got rapidly better as soon as he stepped into Moira’s greenhouse. And by the time he finished dinner, his headache was almost entirely gone.

Unfortunately, that meant he didn’t have an excuse to skip out on Basra’s training. But then again, it wasn’t like she would have let something as meagre as a headache fly.

She ended up running him ragged today again.

But at least she carried him to his dorm again. This time, however, Alec was awake enough to tell how easily she did it.

’I might be in a kid’s body, but still…’

It felt strange being carried like he weighed as much as a doll.

He wondered how much of it was Basra and how much of it was the power of a Warrior.

If it were just Basra and her muscles, it meant her training would eventually bring him to a similar level of strength. If it were a Warrior’s aura, he would have to give up on the childish dream of picking up a boulder thrice the size of a man with one hand.

Alec closed his eyes as soon as his head hit the pillow and fell asleep. He could have forced himself to stay awake and read the condensation methods, but he wanted to wake up in time for breakfast with Basra and Moira.

He had enough time during lunch and before dinner to study. Well, for now, at least. He didn’t know when he would end up with more homework. He also had a nagging feeling that he wasn’t doing enough to save the world.

But the System hadn’t said anything, and there wasn’t much he could do in his current state anyway. The first priority was learning magic and establishing himself as an influential powerhouse.

He had read enough to know that in any world like this, where superpowers were a part of everyday life, personal strength was the bare minimum to make his voice heard and make things happen.

He might not know what he needed to do just yet, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t prepare to the best of his abilities.

However, the next morning, he started reconsidering his options.

Maybe he shouldn’t be fostering his own strength. Maybe he should be making connections.

After all, his first friend in this world, Taryeon, had already awakened to Aether and had started condensing it, while he was still nowhere close.

“You’ve found somewhere to eat, right, Alec?” Taryeon asked, having caught Alec first thing in the morning. Since they walked in the same direction after leaving the dormitory, they talked while walking after celebrating Taryeon’s breakthrough with muted cheers so as not to disturb their peers and seniors.

Alec nodded.

“Let’s meet in the library after lunch. Since Mister Undder told us to talk with each other about Aether, I figured I should share my experience with you and the others.”

“I’ll probably be there first, so I’ll book a booth.”

“See you then!” Taryeon waved, still giddy about awakening to Aether. Alec stopped and looked at his back for a moment as he jogged to the cafeteria. He could see Taryeon’s head turn as he looked at seemingly nothing all around him.

’I guess that’s why his importance level was so high. I’m still surprised that I haven’t seen anyone else with even a 1 on the scale. Does the main story not take place in Vongrad, perhaps? I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.’

Taryeon had a 7, and Isidore had an 8. In the entire Academy, Alec had yet to see another with a number on the scale.

But if Taryeon was talented enough to awaken Aether that quickly, it wasn’t completely unreasonable.

Still, Alec had to wait and see. Maybe he and the other students would also awaken soon. It was too early to establish the degree of Taryeon’s talent until he had a standard to compare to.

He could at least confirm that Taryeon was outstanding by lunch. He was the first in both their and the noble division to awaken to Aether. He was also earlier than the warrior divisions, but it wasn’t a fair comparison since warriors didn’t pay the same attention to Aether.

They trained hard and shed sweat, blood, and tears until they felt the Aether in their bodies.

According to Isidore, they were allowed to study it in their free time, but their first real lessons on it would be once the first student in their division awakened to it.

They had had time until now, but since the paperwork was finished for nobles and commoners to split up, it was time to begin with real lessons and classes, not just the fun stuff.

For those who needed it, there were lessons in reading and writing.

Erio, Isidore’s friend in the Commoner Warrior Division, and Maura, a friend Taryone had made sometime during class, who had joined them for the lunch discussion, needed it.

The other three didn’t. But they all agreed to help the two as much as they needed until they could read and write fluently enough to pass the class.

Other than that, there were math and social studies classes.

Alec wasn’t sure what to expect of another world’s math, but then he remembered.

’Math never was one of Alex’s strengths.’

There was advanced math in the world, and it was important for architecture and engineering. In other words, it was not important for the main plot. Math probably wouldn’t take center stage.

What Alec already knew was more than enough to test out of the math class with top marks.

Doing a refresher at the library with [Reader] might have helped him cinch the perfect score, but he could have done it anyway. Probably.

Social studies was a much broader subject since it covered a lot of society.

However, it was the kind of subject that didn’t need understanding the same way math did. It was mostly memorizing locations, people, social etiquette, and relations between nobles, merchants, common people, royalty, and different nations.

It was a lot. For anyone without the help of [Reader], that is.

Alec spent every available moment in the library for more than a week, but he tested out of that one as well.

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