Ch. 8 - Talent is a Blessing
Is It Weird for a Guy to Apply to a Witch School?This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
Notes
Luffy's ramblings: no fair, I want to know what talent he got!!! author-samaaa….
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
Luffy's ramblings: no fair, I want to know what talent he got!!! author-samaaa….
I wasn’t the only one signing up here. Sure, it wasn’t peak registration time, but the place was still buzzing.
We had girls scoping the place out early, sizing up their new turf, and then the poor saps—guys and girls—dragged in by overzealous seniors from other schools.
Turns out Witch School wasn’t just snagging boys; plenty of girls got roped in too.
Some of them—grown adults—were bawling like toddlers.
I got it, though. They’d had big plans, bright futures, and now? Boom, stuck at Witch School. It wasn’t even on their radar, no backup plan, nothing.
One minute you’re cruising toward greatness, the next your whole life’s flipped upside down. I’d be a mess too.
Still, one thing jumped out at me as I watched the chaos unfold: after registration, they split everyone up.
Girls got herded off in groups with a single senior leading, while us guys? One-on-one treatment.
That was probably because the kidnapped dudes needed extra hand-holding—or a stern talking-to. Bai Yu was likely stuck playing therapist for the ones still freaking out.
Speaking of Bai Yu, she was sweet enough to set up my new phone for me, walking me through the basics.
Since I hadn’t tapped in transcendence yet, the cool holographic stuff was off-limits. No surprise there. She’d said the tech wasn’t some genius breakthrough—it was just a platform. If you wanted the flashy tricks, you had to power it yourself with magic.
Kinda disappointing. I’d built it up in my head, but the phone was pretty bare-bones—basic apps, nothing fancy.
As for battery… scratch that, magic reserves—it ran on magic, not electricity. No big apps to drain it, and since I couldn’t wield magic yet, Bai Yu charged it up for me. She said it’d last a while. I’d take her word for it.
“Sis, where are we headed next?” I blurted out without thinking. Old habits die hard—‘Senior Bai’ still felt clunky on my tongue.
“To awaken your talent,” she said, like it was no big deal.
“Awaken… my talent?” I frowned, thrown off. “What’s that? I’ve got something to awaken?”
“Yeah, talent’s like a gift from the world—a little starter pack. Pretty precious blessing, if you want to get poetic about it. But, uh, don’t get your hopes up.”
“Huh? What do you mean? Are good talents rare or something?”
She sighed, picking her words. “Look, talent’s got nothing to do with effort, smarts, or anything you can control. It’s pure luck. Like, ninety-nine percent of the time, you get something useless. Total junk.”
“Junk? Okay, back up—what’s this awakening even like?”
She was clearly trying to temper my expectations, and fair enough—I’d keep them low. But come on, I’m a transmigrator—shouldn’t that score me something decent? Then again, what if this world hated outsiders and just flunked me outright? That’d suck.
“You’ll see when we get there,” she said. “It’s just a setup—a ritual circle kind of thing. You step in, call out for the world’s blessing, think nice thoughts, say pretty words. Whatever you do, don’t curse it out. Mess it up, and you might fail. Talent’s usually no big deal either way, but flunking it? That’s a one-way ticket to getting laughed at.”
I listened close as Bai Yu broke it all down for me. No way was I dumb enough to start cussing out the universe—not when I was begging it for something useful. Gotta stay humble, right?
“By the way, what kinds of talents are we talking about here? Got any examples?” I asked, too curious to let it slide.
“Sure,” she said with a shrug. “Talents cover a crazy range. Most common are the blessing types—like super strength, sharp mind, immunity to poison, that sort of thing. Then you’ve got item talents…”
“Wait, hold up—items? You can awaken actual stuff?” I cut in, eyebrows shooting up.
“Yup, items are fair game. Could be anything—a worthless pebble, or, say, a weapon that could obliterate a star. Though, that star-killer one? Only one case on record. That’s what jacked up the ceiling for item talents to ‘cosmic destruction’ levels.”
I swallowed hard, my whole take on this talent thing shifting gears. This was wilder than I’d thought.
“Then there’s memory talents,” she went on. “Could be useful, could be trash. Might even get a full spell or skill set—though sometimes it’s just a busted, incomplete one. It’s all a dice roll.”
“And don’t forget ability talents. You awaken, get nothing obvious—no item, no spell—but suddenly you’re a pro at painting or killer at house chores. Weird stuff like art talent or housework talent. Quirky, huh?”
“Yeah, quirky’s one word for it…” I muttered, nodding along. Most of this sounded pretty lame.
“If you ask me, the best outcome’s landing a spell—something big, preferably. But that’s a pipe dream for both of us. Just keep your expectations chill.” She led me into what I guessed was the talent awakening hall.
The place was packed. Faces all around looked sour—no lucky winners here yet, it seemed.
I spotted a girl passing by, clutching some funky-looking short staff. The frustration in her eyes said it all—whatever it was, it wasn’t a game-changer.
I lined up like a good little newbie. The crowd was thick, and the magic circle thing on the floor was a single-use only. Each awakening burned it out, forcing them to redraw it every time.
It felt like forever before my turn. The girl ahead of me walked away clutching her item—a weapon… sort of. Palm-sized, with a little keychain hook. Useless.
Items seemed weirdly common. If I got one, I just hoped it’d be worth something—maybe I could sell it and fix my broke-ass situation.
“You set?” The senior running the show asked me when my turn finally rolled around. “I’m starting the ritual. Pray in your head, like I told you—take it slow.” She was all business but still chipper, even after running this grind nonstop.
I shut my eyes tight, not even daring to flip on Psi-vision. Screwing this up wasn’t an option.
Sure, Bai Yu had talked my hopes down to nothing, but failing outright? That’d sting way worse than scoring a dud rock.
My brain scrambled through every prayer and blessing I could remember from my old life, throwing them all at the wall—whatever stuck, I’d take.
A sudden heat rushed through me, and then—smack—a hand clapped my shoulder.
“Hey, you’re done! Talent’s awakened. Next!” The senior beamed at me, all enthusiasm.
I blinked, dazed. The magic circle under my feet was crumbling away like glowing ash. That was it?
No item in my hands. No new memories or spells popping into my head. Nada.
“Well, at least you didn’t flop, right?” Bai Yu said, strolling over to pull me out of the spotlight. “What your talent is doesn’t matter much. Might figure it out later—maybe even today. Don’t sweat it.”
“Yeah… I guess it’s fine,” I said, shrugging it off. Not like I had a choice.