Adrin sighed as he looked at the huge moon. It was much bigger than what in his old world memory, and there was a large chance it was a planet instead of a moon.

He would say this world on his back should be the satellite of the bigger celestial body. He wondered if there were any human or intelligent creatures living there.

They had to stop for the night even with a good pace they were going. The road was bumpy as hell and he got very little sleep on it. He also didn’t mind being placed with the girls on the wagon because even he didn’t want to separate the poor brothers.

However, he did mind when he was told the only spot to sleep left was the girl’s tent. He rather took a space at the campfire than risking being burnt alive by the mage lady. She had been drilling her eyes on him ever since he nodded at her.

He could be toasted alive if one of the skinny girls screamed in the middle of the night. It might have not been his fault but she wouldn’t care at the moment.

No one would care to know if he would rather not touch them. The girls were so skinny until he felt sorry for the lasses to even look at them in any way other than poor little kids.

“Let’s just hope it won’t rain tonight,” he mumbled.

The guards were taking their jobs seriously and it gave him some peace of mind camping in the middle of nowhere. Their rides, the tusked steeds, were just as scary as their fearless leader. Both hide their ferocity well under a cool guise.

The animals were as huge as in his old world memory but with much thicker legs and two sharp tusks protruding from their lower mouth. The natural scales on their backs and around the hooves were probably there for a good reason.

These were probably not herbivores as they didn’t look timid at all. Omnivore perhaps?

“Can’t sleep?” a voice asked.

Adrin turned to see the handsome man smiling at him. His hand was gripping the pommel of his sword. Adrin was ready for anything..

“No,” he answered warily.

“Good, you’re good with the bow?”

“Yes, why are you-”

“They are coming, kid, you can grab extra arrows in the girls tent and do what you can to help.”

“Who-”

The man pulled his long blade out, “the goblins, who else, now go!”

Adrin's heart jumped a few beats before he stood up and spun on his feet.

“Goblin attack!” yelled someone.

Not a second later the silent camp was filled with shouts and screeches. How the captain knew even before the sentries was a mystery on itself.

He knocked an arrow and scanned the surroundings. A green head popped out from the darkness and scurried under the fire pole. He aimed and released the arrow without even thinking about it.

The goblin was thrown off its feet as the arrow plunged into its eye.

“Great shot kid!” yelled the captain.

Adrin knocked the second arrow as he arrived at the tent opening. Another arrow flew and found its target right beside the tent.

The girls screamed as the goblin fell onto the tent’s fabric slanted wall before it bounced off.

He reached for his third when the mage lady showed up in her expensive-looking and revealing nightgown. Adrin pulled his eyes away when he heard something from his back.

A pair of goblins were charging towards him.

Adrin lowered his stance and took a shot. His arrow met its mark before he pulled out the dagger and used [Throw] on the second goblin running towards him.

The dagger stuck on its chest. The huge wooden club fell onto the ground first before its fumbling lifeless wielder.

Heat erupted on his back. He turned around to see a fireball floating on the mage lady’s hand and he almost fell on his butt.

“Don’t worry, this won’t harm you,” she said reassuringly.

‘Easy for you to say,’ he complained inside.

Adrin just nodded to keep it simple. He didn’t know how and he had no time to think about it. He noticed there was a set of interesting glyphs in between her hand and the fireball as he was turning away from her.

The sound of fights echoed everywhere but he had no luxury to check on others. His eyes were constantly scanning the area around him while his heart was drumming in his ears.

It felt like he was having a heart attack when three goblins showed up next.

Adrin took another shot before he fumbled to take another arrow. He was really uncomfortable fighting without any means of avoiding damage.

Bright fireball flew over his head before it landed in between the three goblins. It blasted them away and apart, leaving pieces of corpses on fire.

This time he did fall onto his butt.

It took him a while to shake it off, get up, and be on his guard again.

Their arrangement was simple. Adrin took the single green critters while the lady blasted them apart when they came in a bunch. No complaints came from her at least.

The fights continued on until it suddenly ended as quickly it started. Adrin only had a few arrows left in his quiver by the end.

Only a collection of heavy breaths filled the quiet night as the guards regrouped. A headcount was quickly launched, and luckily, no one was missing.

Tales of kidnapped people had been haunting the nights ever since he and everyone else as a child. The horror of being used as a plaything horrified both men and women. Women, especially, were known to take their own lives right after the rescue.

“Good job, kid,” the man slapped his shoulder. “She would have wasted precious mana on these ugly pests if not for you.”

A few other guards also congratulated or thanked him after their boss. Adrin sighed.

After the pathetic fall-on-the-butt show, he didn’t feel like he was doing a good job at all. He imagined the mage lady was probably laughing at him right now.

A sudden cold threatened his back, so he turned to see the lady with a different kind of magic this time. The ice shard dispersed into nothing to his relief, was she trying to give a heart attack?

The ice disappeared as she closed her fist. The girl, a few years older than him, walked toward the gathered men with a huge smile on her face. Was she a sadist or something?

Adrin tried to walk away in shame because no one else even flinched at the ice shard except him. She had to do that, didn’t she?

“Adrin, wait!” the mage lady called.

He turned to see the older girl with bright blond hair running towards him, holding her skirt with both hands, for who knew what reason. Was she going to laugh at his face?

Regardless, he had to stop. Even the captain respected the lady. It showed that mages had a special place in the ranks of the kingdom’s workforce.

He had to wait patiently when even the captain was now interested in what she had to say. They had a little chat before they approached him.

“You have talent in magic, don’t you?” asked the lady when she got close.

Adrin chuckled, “of course not, what made you think I have any talent?”

“Well, you responded to my spells,” she reasoned.

“Doesn't everyone notice the heat or the cold?” Adrin turned towards the Captain and the man chuckled at him.

“Is this some kind of prank? I know, I almost lose it-”

“No, no, it isn’t a prank, young man,” the Captain replied. “It’s funny because I know something is very odd about you, but to think you can sense mana,” he sighed. “There goes my best recruit to the mages,” the man complained.

“He can sense what type of mana, not just mana in general,” the lady added. “Believe me when I say this, you are a mage, Adrin.”

Adrin laughed, “very funny,“ he turned around to see if anyone else was around to laugh at him and there was none. “Wait, you aren’t joking, are you?”

“Why should I be joking about this!” the lady slammed her foot in frustration. “Now come with me!” she yelled.

“Better do what the lady says, boy,” the Captain chuckled before shaking his head.

Adrin stood there like an idiot. He had convinced himself that he had no talent in magic. Was he really wrong about it?

The mage lady grabbed and yanked his arm, dragging him towards and into the girl’s tent for some reason. The girls of course yelped when they saw a man was dragged into their sleeping sanctuary.

“This young man is a talented mage and he didn’t even know it, you girls should feel lucky to be around him,” the mage lady said. “Now sit here, I want to test something, it is not like anyone will be able to sleep after this.”

‘I guess she really is serious about this,’ he concluded.

Adrin sat on the chair in the tent while trying not to look at the girls in their sleep wear. A few of them were wearing rags, but there was no way he was going to look around.

“You can call me Hana,” the woman said while rummaging through her bag. “I’m not your teacher or anything, but just a guide, just a little older, not that really mattered right? Yes, found it,” she muttered.

Hana took out a ring and took his hand before placing the ring on his palm. If he was indeed a mage then it was probably best he took it slow.

Being called talented made him uneasy.

“This is a magic item, put it on, please,” she said.

“Oh, okay,” Adrin said while slipping it on his pinky because it was too small for other fingers.

“You’ll get a better fit ring later if you want, now you should be able to activate it just like a skill.”

The mage lady, Hana, was right. He could feel it, an extra among other skills. And just like the skills, he only needed to flip it and the ring activated.

A set of glyphs then appeared hovering over his palm.

“Now fill it with the surrounding mana,” the lady said.

Adrin nodded and willed the surrounding mana to fill the glyphs. He took it slow and little by little, the glyph turned from clear blue into darker blue until it was completely filled.

“Fifty-four second fill time for two-control glyphs, that is a good rate, now disperse it and hold this mana marble on your other hand, and fill the glyphs with it,” she handed over a single perfectly round, glassy, blue marble. It was too similar to his training blue stone.

Adrin looked at the lady, “and how do I do that?”

“Oh, it is easy, absorb the mana in the stone using your hand and transfer them through your body to the other hand,” the lady explained.

“I mean, how to disperse the mana?”

“What? Just let it go?” Hana said as if it was obvious.

Adrin let his control over the mana go and the spell glyphs emptied in an instant. He wondered if the mana vortex would fill it faster? Something he should test later.

He then gripped the marble and transferred the mana into the ring at the lowest rate he could muster. Despite his effort, the glyphs still filled up faster than before.

“Twelve seconds?” Hana gasped.

“Is that bad?” Adrin probed.

“No, it’s good, pretty good if you can improve it with training. It tells how good your control and how fast you can cast a spell,” the mage lady explained.

“So mages cast spells using these mana stones?”

“Yes, until they could contain mana on their own which will take probably decades of practice using the stones,” Hana said as she sat back. “Mages only used the ambient mana to cast their spells until roughly two hundred years ago. This old method is still used until this day for non-combat spellcasting. This ring holds the Cleanse glyphs, a good practice spell for all apprentices.”

Adrin handed back the stone before he refilled the glyphs.

“Just touch the thing you want to cleanse and trigger the spell with its keyword, Cleanse. This is what we call priming and releasing spells.”

He touched his chest and said, “cleanse.”

Waves of refreshing water fog and wind spun around him, cleaning his sweats, grime, and everything else before dispersing in the matter of a few seconds. A chuckle escaped his lips after casting the very first spell in his life.

“Very good, only a talented mage could do that, others even struggle to fill the glyphs with mana in correct order,” Hana revealed another fact which had doomed him.

First the different types of mana he could sense and now how could figure out and fill the glyphs correctly. It wasn’t a good start. Not good at all.

‘Goddammit,’ he cursed inside.