“I seriously do not understand what you are trying to say.”

“Have you never heard the story of the Great Knight of the Highlands?”

“Of course I know about them. They’re in the history books.”

Before the Kingdom of Espeer rose into power, the land that now became its territory lived under the rule of a different kingdom, The Great Nation of Tramatula. Tramatula once was a great country that enjoyed peace and prosperity until King Oshlanot III took power. A massive hurricane went through the capital, killing thousands of people and damaging infrastructure, including the royal palace.

The hurricane also destroyed a lot of farming fields in the central regions, causing a rising rate of hunger. As a way to save himself, he let out a royal decree that people who came from the outer regions, from places that once belonged to other nations that were conquered by his predecessors, be considered second-rate citizens. They were forced to work countless hours, enduring heavy labor, just to help the ones that lived in the central regions, those who conquered their nations.

Small resistance groups were formed, yet they couldn’t fight off the might of Tramatula’s army. Thus, one by one, the pocket resistance was extinguished. One of the leaders of said groups managed to escape to the Moratinian Highlands, where he met a wise man with unique abilities. He didn’t have the physical strength of a seasoned warrior, nor did he wield magic like a veteran magician, yet he was said to be able to see things that others did not see. He helped the leader and formed a large-scale resistance that managed to rival the Tramatula army. Fighting broke off everywhere. It lasted an entire decade. Tramatula had lost most of the outer regions, King Oshlanot III was dead and replaced by his son, King Oshlanot IV.

By the time that happened, both sides had lost so much, so the king signed a peace treaty that would bring an end to the decade-long war. Bilyaum Lyoliosona, who led the resistance, became the first king of the newly founded kingdom. His family would continue leading the nation through various turmoil until it turned into the peaceful nation of today.

While many from the resistance were given rewards and remembered, the man opted to return to the highlands and live his life with his family. Following his wishes, he would not be named. Instead, he would be known as the Great Knight of the Highlands.

“And you’re saying?”

“We should continue this somewhere else.”

Antonio tidied his stuff up. It wasn’t long after I arrived and we needed to move again. I decided against complaining and followed him down to the second floor, out to the fields. We head to the Keeper’s Training Grounds.

We stood in the now empty field, which had been cleaned after today’s session. A soft summer breeze blew through the open area, causing Antonio’s coat to flutter. He only buttoned up his coat when he wore his gym clothes, I assumed because wearing a coat above his gym clothes looked weird. He didn’t wear the coat on any other physical-demanding lessons, though, only in Keeper’s training for some reason.

“Stay here.”

He walked away from me. He opened his notebook with his right hand. He opened up his left palm and pointed it toward the ground. He did something with it, I think. He waved his left palm around, seemingly with no attention. He walked in zig-zags, going from the west end of the field all the way to the east, all while I watched him. The sun shined brightly in the sky, making it feel hot. Yet, Antonio didn’t seem fazed. I looked at him, wondering if he was sweating. I didn’t see any sweat, white I saw was a faint, white glow surrounding his body, or his coat to be more exact.

After doing the random back and forth for around ten minutes, he came back to me.

He stood beside me, closing his notebook and stuffing both his hands inside his lab coat pocket. Now that I think about it, how did he manage to not sweat, despite wearing that lab coat? I focused my sights on him. He glanced at me but didn’t comment, as if telling me to continue. He then opened his book and looked through the pages. I then realized that the once faint white glow now looked stronger.

He then pointed toward the field where he had been walking around before.

“Do you see anything? Answer me in two seconds.”

I focused my gaze on the field, but nothing looked out of place. It was just grass, plain green grass.

“One, two.”

“Nothing.”

“Do the same, but this time I will give you ten seconds.”

Stolen novel; please report.

I focused my sights on them, they still appeared the same.

“Eight, nine, ten. Still nothing?”

I shook my head.

“Then continue looking at them, however long it will take.”

I stared squarely at the field. I did not know what I was looking for, but eventually, the thing showcased itself. A weird, long line extended from one end of the field to the other. The line followed the outline of the short grass. It was faint but visible, kinda similar to the glow that Antonio gave off. It consisted of multiple colors. One side was red, the other blue, and the other white.

He then pulled out his wand, the one given at this morning’s class.

“Can you tell me the glow that engulfed this branch?”

Antonio said, holding the wand in front of my face. It took me a while, but eventually, a faint glow appeared.

“A purple-like glow…? The color is kinda pale, though.”

“That meant they applied a non-element shield.”

“Huh?”

“Remember what I said this morning, about shields on magic wands?”

“What about it?”

“You see, magic shields are only visible to the ones that applied it.”

He stuffed his wand into his pocket, making me wonder just how large his coat’s pockets were.

“Every human has the properties of a dirt, or the cooler name, nature-based shield. They are not strong, but they are there, preventing a person from getting injured in case someone decides to fire magic at them. As a result, the shield had the color brown.”

He then held up his notebook.

“What color does this one have?”

It took me around fifteen seconds, but I eventually saw it.

“Blue.”

“That is because I gave it a shield that had high resistance to water, thus the color. Here is the thing, you are not supposed to see it. You are only supposed to see the book, not the glow that engulfed it.”

“So you’re saying…”

“You are an infused.”

“Re- … Really?”

I held myself from shouting. There were two categories of infused. The first would be the blood-infused. Instead of connecting their soul to the elements, their blood was the one that connected to the elements, a trait that goes down between generations. This allowed them to wield multiple elements with ease.

“Wait, does that mean you’re a blood-infused.”

“Yes.”

The second category would be element-infused. Unlike the blood-infused, the element-infused would be achieved when someone had fully connected their soul to a single element, allowing full control of said element. Unlike blood-infused, which was already rare, element-infused was very rare. When one had that high of a connection with the elements, they risked losing their real-world bodies, engulfed and taken over wholly by the elements, resulting in a short period where they basically became gods, but would soon lose their life after. Some managed to stop right before that phase, though, becoming masters of an element without going past the point of no return. Those kinds of people were very rare, though.

“But shouldn’t an infused be able to wield magic?”

“You see, there is a lesser known, very rare, third type of infused, the sight-infused. They are the rarest of them all. Only a few people had this ability. Both you and your soul had been ‘tainted’, might I say, by the elements. The result is you count as an element. To put it simply, you cannot wield your own kind, but what you can do is see them.”

“Huh?”

I looked at my own hands, which showed nothing.

“The keys to your power lie not in your hands, but in your eyes. Look at the buildings surrounding you, what color do they show?”

I focused on the clock tower that stood tall behind us. It took me a lot longer for it, but Antonio waited patiently for me. Eventually, a barely visible gray glow engulfed the building.

“The color of the clock tower is gray.”

“That meant it had been protected with the element of rock. This meant it had high resistance against most natural elements, but when faced with magic or an element that contained metal, it is easier to be destroyed.”

“So all the colors correspond to the element… But previously, you all know when the shield shattered. How do you know?”

“What was the color of the shield?”

“Purple.”

“Purple meant a non-element shield was used. They are not great against any element, but not weak either. For us normal people, the shield acted like this very, very thin shaded glass. When you hit it, you could see a small ripple or a slice depending on how you hit it. When you popped it, you could see a very slight, but noticeable enough color difference, and it happened instantly, so you will know where the shield is down.”

“So doesn’t that make my ability useless?”

“Of course not. We can only see whether something is shielded or not after we hit it, and even then we do not know what type of shield it wore. Purple works neutrally against all elements, the same could not be said for other colors. That was why I tried using multiple elements, as I did not know what elements they used as a shield. Other than that, the difference in color was only noticeable after the shield popped, and that’s because you see an instant change to the entire object… did they not teach you about this in the fundamentals of magic class? … Wait, now that I remember, I did hear someone snoring… I see, you must be the type that sleeps during the afternoon session.”

Oh dear, here he goes again.

“Sorry, I was distracted. I think I slept late the night before, and couldn’t keep my concentration… Still, this is great, isn’t it? How do you even decipher all this in the first place?”

I asked, excited. This was the first time I had such a unique ability.

“This time it came mainly from guesswork. I already knew of this ability for a long time. When you said something about ants, I realized that there were ants crawling on the floor, something I did not realize before. Thus, adding that to the fact that you suck at every other thing, I got the sudden realization that your ability might lie in things that others do not see, in things that you yourself fail to realize. Other than that, I would say it was fate that guided us.”

“... You’re still going to insult me?”

“At least this time you could retort to me.”

I couldn’t help but grin widely.

“Thank you. I definitely owe you.”

“Like how you owe Aliya?”

…

That very second, my smile froze, and my body twitched.

“How do you… know that?”

“I simply asked her. Was wondering why she was close with someone like you.”

He shrugged his shoulders and walked off, again.

“Hey, wait for me!”