Talent…

Fort was a so-called talented man. His affinity was at 68%, the peak of C Tier talent. Which meant he had been talented enough to not worry about his future.

At last, that's how it was supposed to be.

When one thought of Blasters, the first image that came to mind was the Exorcists shooting beams and obliterating enemies. It was the best affinity for developing abilities to fight against a big group of enemies.

But Fort wasn't like that. He had a low Ord amount. As a Blaster that was a death sentence. Even if he could learn to shoot a beam faster than his classmates. What did it matter when he wouldn't be able to ever create a beam that would kill even a squirrel?

That was something he had spent a lot of time in his younger years trying to overcome. After almost dying on his ten missions to be able to enter the Expert Exam, and then almost died again in the exam. Finally becoming an Expert Exorcist.

“I’m sorry professor, but as Anika said. I can’t even control my Ord. I’m useless in every way possible,” Miku, a young slightly chubby girl, looked down in shame. “I want to be better, but I can’t.”

Fort clenched his fist. He knew what it was to be untalented, people are born with a limit they can’t surpass. He might never have the chance to see the peak of what a Blaster affinity could reach, but he would give it his all for his students.

So he couldn’t just see the talent that was in front of him wither away!

“You have the talent. The only thing you miss is the mindset.”

Ever since Miku had joined his class, except for awakening her Ord, she didn’t make many advancements after that. She had plentiful Ord, and talent to spare. She had things he never had.

But his words didn’t seem to offer her any relief.

“I read in some books that those who can’t control Ord, and are mentally unstable will have their Ord sealed. Since they might create an ability that could hurt themselves or those around them.” Miku started tearing up.

“Mr Fort, I don’t want my Ord sealed. In my village only I had the talent as an exorcist. My mother is sick, my father is dead. I only have two younger siblings. I want to earn money for them to live a good life! Mr Fort, is it too late for me to learn Ord?”

“Nonsense, every youngster has difficulties in the beginning. Wait a bit, and you will be my direct superior one day,” Fort said with a confident smile.

In truth, by now she would have already had her Ord sealed. After all, there’s only an early time frame of time where someone’s Ord can be safely sealed by talismans. If someone develops a Special Ability, sealing their Ord would require another Special Ability.

By every regulation, she would have had her ability sealed by now. ‘But can I as a teacher give up on my own students?! I will not give up on them!’

He remembered the gazes his teachers had sent him in his younger days. Once that of expectation, and after seeing he had low Ord, there was only disappointment in their gazes.

His students will never suffer like that!

‘Even if she had her Ord sealed, demons would find her more delicious than a normal human. So it increases the danger.’ As someone who has been an Exorcist for quite a while, Fort knew the higher-ups didn’t care how those who got their Ord sealed behaved after the procedure. To them, these poor students were no longer dangerous and offered no benefits. So they were just thrown to the streets with nothing.

"Take a deep breath, and keep calm. Don't worry about what others say. You're talented and with so much Ord, your potential is endless," Fort’s smile widened.

If it was discovered what he was doing, there was no doubt he would face serious repercussions. But that was the least of his worries. He wasn’t even thinking about that.

‘So she has family problems? Maybe that’s what’s holding her back. I should send some money to her family. A year of my wage should be enough. Better do it under an anonymous name, so she doesn’t feel like she owes me anything. The poor girl already has enough on her shoulders.’

As he was thinking that, Fort felt someone looking at him. He turned toward the onlooker and saw that it was the Dark Sword Clan kid.

Most exorcist clans in the world used their abilities to hunt down and kill demons. But the Dark Sword Clan was an exception, they used their special abilities to hunt down and kill humans. There were stories of them kidnapping and using their target's family and children as bait.

Despite that, Fort wasn’t going to judge the kid based on his background. The kid looked around, his eyes were moving crazily, like a cornered beast.

As Fort approached, the young boy was searching for the danger that wasn’t there. He was too on the edge to even notice Fort approaching him calmly. "Did you want to talk about something? You seem nervous. Something bothering you?”

He knew a bit about him. Kon was Rana’s best student.

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“Sorry, sir. I was just a bit nervous. I’m trying to come up with a Special Ability, and I don’t know what it should entail.” The boy answered, a bit too quickly. As if the answer had been pre-prepared.

He was a smart kid. But lacked the experience or was too on the edge to be a good liar. “I’m not a Beast Master, so in the end you should still consult professor Rana. But that doesn't mean my ability won’t give you some inspiration. I took what some would call an annoyingly original spin on conditions when creating my abilities.”

Fort knew the kid was probably lying but decided not to call him out on it. That would just make him more paranoid. Instead, he decided to draw the youngster’s attention to other things. "Let’s start with the most dangerous of my conditions. Which is the distance, after about twenty meters my ability is useless."

That was a half-lie. The same thing he had also told the headmaster and everyone else. Who would want to reveal their weaknesses?

While the distance was a weakness, it was at around forty meters when his ability became completely ineffective.

The true weakness of his ability was the same weakness that has plagued him his whole life. A low amount of Ord, caused a Forced Condition. He could only use his ability twenty times a day. Even that was achieved after he had trained his Ord control to its peak, and trained to raise his Ord amount.

His real weakness was a crowd of enemies.

"Also I must always have a swirly mustache and wear a suit when fighting. Despite it being custom-built, it’s hard to move in such formal wear. The danger is temporary, but fashion is eternal. Also, I must speak in this strange accent for the rest of my life." Mr Fort added a smile after saying that. Intentionally making it unclear if he was joking or not. With this, his curious student should have enough inspiration to create his own ability. “Also no matter how strong the enemy, or how high their defense. My ability works on them.”

He tried to ease the youngster’s anxiousness. By showing him that his ability was quite dangerous, even if there was a strong enemy.

Most would consider Fort's limitations tame in comparison to some. Like his colleague, professor Chain. He had the vow to never harm humans.

But what Chain had done wasn’t something anyone else could copy. Because he hit students on a regular basis with his chains. Though in his own words; he was helping the students, so that didn’t count as harming them.

Chain was the definition of special abilities being tailored to their maker’s perspective.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it. What was the drawback if he ever broke that vow? Nobody knew. Even Chain himself didn’t know. Because when creating the ability, he apparently didn’t think about that.

Most who knew of his ability assumed that the chains would attack and kill him.

‘No matter how it might strengthen me. Putting reckless conditions like that was like a death sentence.’ Fort used to hate his restrictions at the time of creating them.

But he had to admit, he grew fond of his own gentlemanly manners. Roleplaying was quite fun, especially when it annoyed other people, mostly Chain. But Rana liked it, and that’s all that mattered.

"Thanks," Kon’s tense shoulders eased a bit. “You’ve given me some new ideas for my Special Ability.”

This time he didn’t seem to be lying. Or maybe before he was too panicked and couldn’t lie well enough. Either way, the youngster seemed to be feeling better.

“Wait, professor. Why’s this forest called the Haunted Forest?” The youngster’s voice shook as if he had noticed something.

“Of course, it’s due to the ghostly demons it possesses-” Fort caught on to what the kid was implying. ‘How didn’t I notice that before?! But a kid did!’

Taking a deep breath, Fort whispered. “Keep calm.”

The Haunted Forest was named so because of its high-class spectral ghost demons. It was weird they were attacked by a cow demon and an ogre demon. Also outside the barrier, there were other demons too, which shouldn’t be residential to this area.

Actually, now that he looked closely. Gorilla demons, bear demons, two-headed hawk demons, and a lot more that shouldn’t be native around here. Something was wrong, horribly wrong!

They were being surrounded and he only noticed it now!

As he turned to Kon, who now was up to and had a sword in his hand.

‘Good, he’s already on guard. I should go and notify Rana too. Then we can prepare a countermeasure.’

Fort felt the ground under his feet shaking. He punched Kon away while jumping back.

“{Melodic Screaming}”

He shot his Special Ability at the thing that burst from the ground where he had previously stood.

The thing had a metallic dark exoskeleton and a long body that towered over a seven-story building. The creature had many legs. It was a centipede demon. The monster froze in place for a split second when it was hit by Fort’s ability.

A high-class demon!

Despite the danger, he was in. Fort couldn’t help but glance at his students. They were all clambering about and running away as cracks started appearing on the barrier. The demons outside had started bashing against the protective array.

‘Damn it! This will be a group fight! I only have sixteen uses for my ability! Also, this centipede demon has a large body. I don’t have anything on me that can choke something that size.’

The centipede had come back to its senses while Fort had looked away and charged at him again. Fort had no choice but to take aim again.

“{Melodic Screaming}”

He hit the demon, this time it was only an arm’s length away. Since the demon was closer, Fort’s ability would be stronger.

But the demon charging at him didn’t stop for even a split second. The next thing Fort saw was the centipede demon’s pincers coming for him.

There was nothing he could do, as all feeling below his midsection and arms was lost. There was only a sensation of phantom pain left.

Fort stared down at his own lower body as he fell, and time seemed to slow down as he looked at everyone's faces.

Miku, who he had been helping till now to try and fix her anxiety. She was wide-eyed while staring at him. Tears were welling in her eyes, but everything was happening so fast that even tears didn't have time to fall.

The centipede swung its body around. Shattering the barrier.

The whole camp was destroyed by the time Fort's body was about to hit the ground.

Kon caught Fort’s body just as it was about to hit the ground head-first. The youngster had wide eyes and was breathing heavily. It seemed like his body had moved on instinct to catch him.

Fort felt warmness seep out of whatever was left of him, and he grew cold.

The last thing Fort saw was Kon. The young man had a wince on his face. Though fear was written all over his body, unlike the other who was letting fear overwhelm them and were panicking. Despite the terror Kon must be feeling, he didn’t seem surprised. The logical glint in his eyes was something Fort had never seen before.

'Save them!'

That was the last thing Fort tried to say. In the end, he could only mouth the message toward Kon, and didn't know if the kid had seen it.

Even close to death, his mind was analyzing the situation. Fort knew the weaknesses of his special ability the best. Raw power wasn’t a factor in his ability’s effectiveness. {Melodic Screaming} could work on anyone. ‘Unless the creature it’s used on is being remotely controlled… the creature doesn’t care about pain or what it is seeing. Because someone else is using it as a puppet. Probably someone close by!’

He wanted to say that out loud. But he had no power to. The world around Fort grew dark, and he drew his last breath.

An image of Rana appeared as she was welcoming him with open arms. Saying something he couldn’t hear. He knew it was a hallucination made by his dying mind.

‘I never had the chance to ask her out…’