Chapter 9 - Aptitude

The past week in Durren went by rather quickly—monster hunting in the morning, language lessons in the afternoon, and sword practice in the evening.

“Done,” Alina said as she leaned back, having just cast the mind link spell that allowed them to converse. They were in Renji’s room at the inn, having finished his language lesson for the day.

“Sorry that you have to do that every other day,” Renji said.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not a bother. Anyway, at the rate you’re going, we won’t need that spell for much longer.”

“The link helps. Makes things easier,” Renji added.

“You pick things up very quickly. With the sword too. Frighteningly quick, to be honest.”

“I’ve been told that before,” he muttered.

“Are you like… some kind of genius?”

Renji ignored her question and put away the books as Alina watched him curiously.

Grabbing his cloak, he said, “I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”

“Oh, sure. Let’s.” Alina nodded in agreement as she stood.

As they walked to the tavern Alina liked, Renji’s mind drifted to a distant memory.

***

Seven years ago – Just outside Tokyo, Japan,

Renji was seated in a meeting room at the National Defence Academy. Seated across from him were a colonel and a major he’d never met, both dressed in JSDF fatigues, sleeves folded above the elbows.

The major asked mostly general questions about Renji’s background and thoughts on his future in the JSDF.

After about fifteen minutes, the colonel spoke. “We’d like to get to the main point now, Cadet Takeda. We’re with a sub-unit of the SFG—Special Forces Group. We’d very much like you in our unit.”

“Sub-unit, sir?” Renji asked.

“We’ll reveal the unit designation only after you agree. All you need to know right now is that we fall under SFG’s chain of command,” the major added.

“I’m honoured. I’m frankly surprised that you consider me SF material, sir.”

“We’ve read through your file in depth. In addition, we’ve been observing you for the past six months,” the major said.

I was spied on for the last half year? What the hell? Renji stayed silent and kept his face expressionless.

The major opened a file and scanned the pages. “Extremely high mental aptitude scores. Excellent performance in fitness and marksmanship. Fluent in English and Chinese. Basic Russian proficiency. Passed the University of Tokyo entrance exam on the first attempt but chose to attend a middle-tier university instead. The chief instructor wrote here: ‘Unmotivated genius.’”

Unmotivated genius? What does that even mean? Renji kept his thoughts to himself.

The major continued, “Orphaned at age seventeen. Parents deceased. No immediate family.”

The major closed the file with a snap.

What the hell? He actually sounded impressed that I have no family? Renji kept a straight face despite his thoughts.

The colonel spoke next. “You probably learn new skills in half the time or less compared to the average person. Most high-IQ candidates we evaluate lack the physical ability we’re after.”

There was a pause in the room as the colonel drummed his fingers.

“I’m curious, Cadet. If I may—why didn’t you attend Todai after passing the entrance exam?”

“I never intended to attend Todai, sir. I just wanted to see if I could pass the hardest entrance exam.”

The colonel chuckled. “Cadet Takeda, you’re a gifted individual, and we want to harness that gift. Our unit is the tip of the JSDF spear, and we want you to be part of it.” He continued, “We believe you just need the right challenge, and we’re confident we can give it to you.”

The major added, “Should you accept, we’ve obtained exceptional approval for you to graduate the National Defence Academy a year early. You’ll then be sent to undertake the Ranger Course in the US.”

“We understand this is sudden, Cadet. Think on it. Let us know by the end of the week,” the colonel said.

***

“Finally. It looks so good!” Alina’s eyes widened as she clasped her hands together in excitement, her voice bringing Renji’s attention back to the present.

“You must be really starving, huh?” he asked.

“Yes, I am,” Alina said, grabbing a bread roll.

The duo began their evening meal.

“Everything all right? You seemed lost in thought earlier,” Alina asked.

“I’m all right, just thinking about the past a little. Nothing serious.”

Is he missing home? I probably would, if I were in his shoes.

“We should head back down to Twenty in a couple of days. Master Rovan should be back by then,” Alina said, not wanting to pry.

“Will we have problems with the duke’s men?” Renji asked.

Alina shook her head. “From what I can tell, the duke didn’t involve the city guard. I think it has something to do with wanting to keep the summoning ritual a secret.”

“Is the summoning ritual a bad thing?”

“Well… if successful, you’d have an incredibly powerful hero or champion—like a one-man army. The last hero was summoned around the time when everyone moved down to live in the labyrinth, during a great war a thousand years ago. The stories are varied about what happened then.”

Alina took a swig from her mug.

“The summoning knowledge is mostly lost. But the duke’s head mage made some discoveries and put together the spell that…” Her voice became quieter. “Pulled you here,” she said quietly, looking down and avoiding his eyes. Her fingers tightened around her mug.

She’s still feeling guilty about the whole thing, huh? I’m actually pissed at the duke and the head mage—not at her.

“I never asked, but how did you end up working for the duke anyway?” Renji asked, hoping to break the tension.

Alina looked up. “A couple of years ago, the duke’s head mage approached me. She said she needed a team of mages to research non-elemental magic. It’s outside the four basic elements all mages use, so I signed up hoping to learn more. It turned out she wanted to put together a team for a summoning.”

“Non-elemental magic?” Renji asked.

“Yeah. Almost all mages can use only a single element well—water, fire, earth, or wind. Non-elemental magic doesn’t fall under one of these elements. Like the light spell I use on the dungeon floors, or magical barriers. A lot is unknown still.”

“Each mage can use only one element?” Renji asked, steering away from the subject of summoning.

“Usually. It’s really hard to learn an element you don’t have an affinity for.” Alina rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Harder than learning to write with your feet or mouth.”

“So not impossible, then?”

Alina raised an index finger, brow furrowed in concentration.

A small flame appeared on her fingertip—reminding Renji of those cheap cigarette lighters that were common in his world.

“You know the ice lance spell I use frequently? It took me a lot longer to learn this little fire spell.”

“I see.” Renji raised an eyebrow, nodding. “How do you know if you can use magic?”

“Most mages I know—including myself—had a vision in our dreams when we were young. Maybe five or six years old.”

“Vision?”

“Yeah, like someone—or a voice—teaching us how to harness the magic within. But we still learn spells to give structure to raw magic power. Like how to turn water into ice.”

“I see… I wonder if I’ll be able to learn magic,” Renji thought aloud.

“Maybe. We’ll ask Master Rovan when we get back down to Twenty.”

Renji was lost in thought as they continued their meal.
I can’t just depend on others to find a way back. Even if I can’t use it, I should learn how magic works in this world—maybe find my own way back.

“How important are magic crystals?”

“They’re used a lot day-to-day. For example, I get jobs to cast large water spells for crops. The farmers have to cover both the cost of the crystal and my fee. Earth mages get hired to enhance soil quality using Earth crystals, and so on. I hunt for my own crystals rather than buy them from the guild.”

“So, like an economy based on magic crystals,” Renji muttered.

“Yes. That’s what it is.”

After their meal, on the way back to their inn, Renji asked, “What would happen on Twenty if we just went and lived on another floor?”

“There’ll be a revolt soon. The duke has been hoarding crystals, driving prices way up on Twenty. It’s causing problems for regular folk—often putting them in debt. When that happens, the duke forces you into slavery if you can’t pay up. What he’s doing with those crystals—no one knows.”