Chapter 51 - The High Elf and the Special Eyes

Nathan Evenhart:

Sitting on the grass in the garden, basking in the sunlight, I was trying to master my wind element. The teacher had instructed me to give it a shot, but I had tried everything. It felt like my wind element didn’t even exist. To be honest, I couldn’t sense the wind mana the way I could feel the thunder mana. I only knew I had this element because of her stone.

“Almost there…” I muttered, focusing the pure mana in my hand.

Very few mages can utilize pure mana because it’s far more difficult and inferior to elemental mana, but Adrihna had told us it’s an excellent method for expanding mana channels and increasing the output roots. I should have stopped this exercise and gone back to practicing like Chloe, but the teacher insisted that I needed to force the wind mana to manifest.

“It’s useless,” I said, staring at my hand.

A little ahead of me, a beautiful High Elf was reading in the sunlight.

“Adrihna, why is my wind mana defective? I’ve tried everything, and it just doesn’t work.”

She lowered her book slightly, and I caught a glimpse of her face through her monocle.

“Keep going, my apprentice,” she said, raising the book back up.

I thought this would be the moment I’d get an explanation…

I sighed and focused on my hand again, trying to force the mana in its pure form. It was much more complicated. It was like switching from lifting 10 kilos to 100 kilos. I had to make a significant effort to extract every drop of pure mana, which meant my roots still needed to grow and develop further. It would get easier as my mana channel expanded.

“Is there any explanation for why I have this defect? Chloe can use Wind easily and without any difficulty.”

The teacher lowered her book again and looked at me.

“You were simply born with a slight deficiency in your mana channels. I had the same thing when I was young. Don’t worry; it will pass as you grow. My method will help you deal with this deficiency and try to speed up the process.”

Adrihna Akonium:

My apprentice seems to have accepted my explanation and returned to training his wind element. As a precaution, I’ll keep my suspicions about why he has a defect in his Mana Gem to myself.

I turn the page to resume reading, but the thoughts return to me.

Katherine and Kinue have awakened elven power and possess our nature element, and Nathan’s test identified his dormant Wind Element. Kinue’s family inherited only the demi-human traits, and she was the only one, from what I’ve researched, to awaken the elven power.

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Katherine’s family lived off farms; it seems that the High Elf of the royal lineage truly abdicated everything when he married the human. He only took enough money to buy a few farms, and after that, he lived for another 80 years, and his possessions were divided among his children. Over the centuries, they gradually died off during the crises, leaving only Katherine’s and Kinue’s family branches.

Nathan’s mother awakened to magic with a high concentration of elven blood. Her plant magic is more potent than that of a common elf, indicating a high percentage of High Elf biology.

The boy is an even greater anomaly than the two of them since he managed to bypass the elemental restriction, acquiring another element despite already possessing a rare one. There is a small, hidden possibility... but if that were to happen, it would be something unique.

I turn the pages and quickly glance at the small boy training his element.

There is a possibility that Nathan's Mana Gem is cultivating Special Eyes. When I was younger, I struggled to use my magic. My brother and I were labeled as ‘defective’ because our magic failed, and even common elemental stones couldn’t identify our element. My family only knew we had a nature element because we possessed a pure stone, but they couldn’t understand why this was happening to us. Our elemental problem was actually a side effect caused by our Special Eyes.

When a child has Special Eyes, they function as a secondary Mana Gem and need to be nurtured. The Mana Gem must weaken to strengthen the Special Eyes until they can awaken. This weakening of the Gem has many unknown side effects. In my brother and me, it caused poor control of our magic, and even elemental stones couldn’t detect our element. But when our Special Eyes awakened, that changed, and we could use the nature element.

I suspect that Nathan’s defective element might be due to his Gem cultivating his eyes, though that would be impossible.

Among the three elven heirs, young Nathan seems the most unique. Even though Kinue has the Light Element and his mother has the Plant Element, which is incredibly rare… there was an issue with Nathan’s evaluation. The stone identified that he had the Wind Element, but he wasn’t aware of it. With his mastery of lightning, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t recognize a second nature element within himself.

There’s a possibility that this is just a coincidence caused by him being an anomaly, or… perhaps his Mana Gem is being hindered as mine was, feeding into the development of his Special Eyes. If this is true, I can’t predict what might happen. The boy might truly possess Special Eyes, and his Gem might even be concealing additional elements due to its inability to develop properly.

If this is the case, Nathan Evenhart is an even more extraordinary anomaly. Special Eyes don’t typically develop in those with mixed genes, which is why they are more common among us High Elves, who are pure and only reproduce within our species.

This means the boy is predominantly human or predominantly High Elf. One of these two races is more dominant within him.

I can’t say for sure, but perhaps pure stones can’t react to a mana anomaly as advanced as his, one that surpasses an elemental restriction. If this is true, he might suffer the same side effect I did… the stone might not be detecting dormant elements if he has another. If his Gem is being compromised due to Special Eyes and he is predominantly High Elf… he could have a High Elf nature element when his eyes awaken. This would mean Nathan Evenhart has a third nature element…

This is madness—no one can have more than one element when they possess an uncommon element. Yet here I am, facing a boy who bypassed that elemental restriction. The question is… is Nathan Evenhart human or High Elf?

What makes Nathan special is this possibility. His mother has awakened elven blood… could he have Special Eyes? What will the Special Eyes of a High Elf who married a human, expanding magical potential, do to Nathan if they awaken?

I let out a small laugh.

This generation… those old fools are doomed.

I stop laughing when I remember my age.

I’m not old! I will always be my precious 28 years until I die…

“I think I did it! I created a breeze!” he said, celebrating.

I lower my book, revealing only my eyes to hide a smile.

“Keep it up, my apprentice. Focus the pure mana and transform it into its elemental form outside your body. Until your deficiency is resolved, you’ll have to use this slow and weak method, but it will be advantageous once your deficiency passes.”