No Talent

Noele sighed as he walked away from the entrance of the Elementalist Association.

He had expected this result, yet it still felt heartbreaking to hear.

"You are incompatible with all of the elements. Next!"

Clenching his fist, he lined up once more to recheck his results.

"Why, why is it that I have no elemental compatibility? I don't believe it!"

In this day and age, everyone and their mothers had at least a 20% compatibility rating with one element. It was a talent in and of itself to be absent of any sort of compatibility with an element.

At the receptionist's table sat a bespectacled woman, her brown hair tied in a bun. She softly patted the creases from her gray blouse and skirt before observing the long line of people.

"...! Noele, again?" She frowned upon seeing his purely black hair sticking up within the crowd.

By the time Noele arrived in front, the receptionist had a look of endless exhaustion.

"How many times do I have to tell you...?"

"But, Megna!"

"I told you to call me Ms. Reece here! And, no buts, Mr. Menst. You have no compatibility!"

"You haven't even checked again!"

Megna, who saw Noele's desperate face, pursed her lips. "Fine then. But you have to pay again."

"Sure, sure!" Noele hurriedly took out his wallet. If there was one thing he didn't lack, it was money.

Megna hesitantly grabbed the bills as she took out a spherical orb full of mist.

"Place your hand on the orb, yada yada yada... let's just get this over with."

Noele excitedly placed his hand on the orb. It was as cold as usual, his palm shivered as a current went through his arm.

A few seconds later, the orb showed no signs of changing.

"Okay, that's it. Please remove your hand, Mr. Menst."

"Wha-huh? But I just started!"

"Ah, come on, Noele! You already know nothing is gonna change no matter how long you place your hand on this. Now please leave, there are other customers behind you."

"Wait! Megna, I mean, Ms. Reece! This time, it's gonna be different, I swear! I just need a few more seconds..."

Veins popped out of Noele's forehead as he exerted as much as he could to transfer any type of elemental mana to the orb.

His one eye was closed, while the other was directly observing the orb.

All of a sudden, a small spark appeared in the center of the orb.

"--! There! See? You see?"

"See what?" Megna adjusted her glasses as she looked at the orb. "I see nothing."

"What? But... but I saw it!" Noele looked once more, but the spark disappeared as soon as it came.

"Kid, you better give up." A middle-aged man patted Noele's shoulder. "I, too, was once as enthusiastic as you... now I have taxes to pay."

Noele felt depressed as he took off his palm from the orb and left the building once more.

As Megna watched his back exit the door, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and breathed carefully.

'That, that was close...'

She looked at the orb that Noele had touched and removed the film covering the glass. Inside, the mist was exploding again and again in all sorts of colors, the glass cracking a little more with each explosion.

'He... He almost broke the Compatibility Orb through the Anti-Magic Film, all the while I'm feeding him Mana Suppressing Pills... Just how overwhelming is his mana?'

Inhaling and exhaling, she composed herself.

"Next..."

"Ah, right, Megna, what do you want for dinner..."

Megna swiftly shoved the Compatibility Orb and the Anti-Magic Film to the trash bin as she glared at Noele who suddenly came back.

"Let's talk later! Get out!"

-----

Noele Menst. 18 years old.

Right now, this young man was walking solemnly back to his home.

With a hunched back, he had his hands in his pockets.

"Today again, was a failure."

For his entire life, Noele had proven to be the most talentless human in his entire city in terms of his compatibility with elements.

He glanced at a man sitting on the sidewalk with his palms reaching out. His face was disheveled, his white beard covered in dust, and the jacket and pants he wore full of holes.

Noele shook his head. "Poor guy..."

He took out a 100-dollar bill.

The homeless man saw the huge windfall that was about to come his way and got teary eyed.

"Thank you, thank you young man."

Right before he could grasp the bill, however, Noele asked him a question.

"You... what is your best element?"

"...Huh? It's Earth..."

"Compatibility rating?"

"21%..."

"Tsk, even a homeless person is more talented than me..."

He felt enraged at the injustices of the world. His fist tightly clenched the bill, which the homeless man observed carefully.

Noele snapped out of it. "Ah! I'm sorry, here you go..."

He scurried away to his house.

The homeless man looked at the bill. There were burn marks on where Noele held the bill.

"...I can't use it anymore..."

Meanwhile, Noele made it to his apartment.

Carrying on the family tradition, Noele lived apart from the rest of his family by the time he was 10 years old.

As such, he had picked up on cooking, and usually made some food for his neighbor, Megna Reece.

"Hm, Megna should be back at 9 PM later tonight. It's already 6, I should start cooking."

Outside the apartment, Megna arrived with a tired expression, her hair ruffled in front of her face.

She was dismissed early after she mentioned Noele's continued visits to the Elementalist Association to her boss.

"Ms. Reece... Good luck!"

Megna sighed at the thought of meeting Noele once more before sleeping.

"Maybe I should skip today's dinner... but I need to feed him this pill... Not to mention, his cooking is too delicious to pass up! Erm, let me take a little nap first."

She entered her apartment, the one next to Noele's, and crashed onto the bed without removing her attire.

"Well, at least he's doing better now."

After thinking of the consequences should she skimp on monitoring Noele's actions, her heart ached.

A new found determination lit up from within her.

"That's right. Everything I'm doing is for him to be happy."

A few seconds later, she fell asleep.