Not that talentless after all.

After standing like that for god knows how much time Norn finally snapped out of it.

He didn't bother explaining anything to Erika as he simply sat down next to her and asked:

"Do you believe in fate?"

It was a stupid question only some religious people or drunkards would ask.

Most of the time it was both, however.

But why would Norn ask that?

Was he religious? Was he a drunkard?

No, but if it wasn't fate - what was?

He finally remembered where he saw that "picture" infront of of the cave.

It was one of his many dreams that he had.

Many of those were just nonsense like the one right before his death in previous life.

It felt like a random moment from someone's life, but Norn didn't think that it was his life...

Since most of those dreams ended in his death.

Even if that was not the case, the ending was any good.

It made him feel bad because even in his dreams he couldn't achieve anything.

He failed every time. He even felt all of the emotions of the person in his dream.

Like in his last one. He felt that sense of dread, that anguish from betrayal he experienced...

Why did it happen to him? Why did he have to feel someone else's bad emotions, he had plenty of his own!

But... Now that he remembered this place, what if all those people were... him?

That, of course, sounded like complete and utter bullshit.

Who in their right mind would believe that? He didn't either.

Until now.

He remembered this place. However, whatever was going on in his dream that time... It wasn't like that.

The outside of the cave seemed somewhat different from what it was now, but he couldn't understand what exactly.

Dont get me wrong, it looked exactly the same.

The difference was... in the emotion he felt.

In that dream that he remembered he felt... inexplainable sadness, he was on the verge on crying even.

Now, however? He felt pretty good. A nice girl acted like she was so close to him, he even had underlings!

Yeah, he was a goblin, so what of it?

He still held a better position than in his previous life. He had no reason to be sad.

Yet, he still felt that something was wrong.

As if it's all about to crash down in the very next moment...

...

"Fate? Well, if it exists... i want to ask whoever arranged it a few questions..."

Erika's answer was not a blank "yes" or "no".

She didn't deny anything yet didn't acknowledge it.

"Is that so? My answer is the same."

His gaze was as blank as Erika's answer. He seemed to be deeply concerned with something he couldn't even comprehend properly.

"We need to move out of here as fast as we can."

He didn't hide his next move from Erika, he didn't want to abandon her, thus decided to build some trust that way.

"Hm? You dont like this cave? I think it's pretty cozy..."

At first it seemed like she was against it...

"But if you want to - sure, do you know where we should go?"

She supported him nonetheless. Was it that simple?

Norn still couldn't understand why she supported whatever he wanted to do.

Did she believe in him that much? Was it love or something?..

Or... Did she know something he didn't?..

"No, but we will move as soon as you heal your legs."

He wasn't himself now. He wasn't a whimp like his usual self...

He sounded determined to do something.

He didn't know what exactly it was, but his inner self urged him to move!

To do something!

But... do what?

"Can you start teaching me magic now? I think i will need it some time soon."

He couldn't just say that he has a really bad feeling about what's about to come, it would sound like he's insane.

"Sure, but it could be somewhat hard to you."

Erika didn't even waver to teach a goblin some magic. What's the worst thing that can happen?

"First of all you need to learn how to feel mana, it's not hard at all."

Her tone of voice was now that of an experienced teacher to patiently told something to a stupid student.

"Try to locate something inside of you, you will know that's it's the right thing if it listens to your order..."

Norn immediately started doing just that.

However, on the contrary to her words it wasn't easy at all.

No matter how much he tried to locate that something, he could even imagine what exactly it was.

Was he supposed to move particles of something inside of him, like in those cultivation manhuas?

Or was it like mana in some mangas about knights and their auras?

What was it?..

...

After an hour or so Norn still couldn't do it.

Erika didn't give up on him no matter what.

She gave him many advices some of which were given from books she read, another part was from her personal experience.

In reality Norn was already doing the right thing, it's just that because he was a goblin it was so hard for him.

He was a monster, he wasn't supposed to use magic as it was a privilege given by gods to the higher races!

How could he, a lower goblin, dare to use something like such a precious gift from the gods themselves!?

However, as he was about to get disappointed in himself completelely...

He finally felt something in him!

It turned out that he didn't need to try to command it like he would do with parts of his body, it was different!

He needed to think about it, yet it shouldn't be an order like he gave to his own body!

It's as if he was supposed to connect to some other organ that he couldn't feel normally, and only then he would be able to do something!

It was easier said that done, however.

Even after he got a reaction, it took him several more hours to finally be able to replicate it at will.

When he finally succeeded he made a little fire in the middle of his hand.

"Wow! You've done it, Norn! You really are talented!"

Erika was extatic! Norn couldn't understand her happiness, but:

"It usually takes a few weeks even for elves to do what you just did!"

She tried to compliment him as much as she could through his countless tries.

It's not like she had a reason to, but she felt that it was right for her to care for him if.

She couldn't see the exact reason behind her actions, but she felt that it was right.

He protected her, after all. Even though he was a goblin he denied his instincts and acted noble.

That wasn't the only reason, however...

"Well, i have to admit that there are some geniuses that do it faster, but they're not goblins like you! You're definitely way more talented that they are!"

She didn't hide it, it wasn't unprecedented for people to do what he did in the same amount of time.

Some could do that from birth, even.

But so what? Did that invalidate his achievement? Not in the slightest.

He was a damn goblin!

Yeah, there were goblins that used shamanic magic, but it was a completely different thing.

It relied on a different principle that was much suitable for goblins.

As such, Norn became the first goblin that ever used magic!

As for Norn himself... He didn't feel as good as Erika did.

It sounded strange, but i hope you get that in a way i intend to say it.

It was due to her constant complimenting, she always said something good after another failed try of his when he exhaled pathetically...

She was an angel!..

But why was she an angel? It's not like Norn was a paranoid guy who saw some hidden meaning in everything, but...

She was just too strange. That didn't mean that he wasn't grateful to her.

It did boost his morale after all. How could it not?

Such a beautiful girl constantly told him to continue doing it, that he's about to suceed...

Norn felt that he succeeded that fast only thanks to her.

"What i'm doing now... Could it be considered a spell of some sorts?"

However, instead of thanking her for compliments Norn asked a question...

"Yeah, that's a "Lighter", the one i used to light the campfire. Of course, you would need to put things directly onto this fire for now..."

She explained some basic to him. It's not like he didn't understand that her spell was much more complicated.

Even if he blew on it nothing really happened, as such it was obvious that it wasn't just lighter that she used back then.

"Well, now it's time to teach you basics of the basics. Since you can already make some simple spells it wont be too hard for you..."

Once again she changed her "mode" from [Supporting Beauty] to [That one teacher that u've dreamt about in school].

"To make a spell, like you did now, you've imagined that it will happen - and it did. That's a principle used to cast spells. However, complicated spells require you to think guide them through every thing you want them to do..."

It's not like she expected Norn to understand it all in one go...

"As such, when you imagined that fire in your hand you gave it some properties it should have, thus casting a spell..."

However, Norn was already familiar with that, he read about such a thing in some novels in his previous life...

"So, if you want to make a different spell - you just need to do the same exact thing, it would obviously be more complicated to make something more than a fire, but that's how all of us do it."

It was all one sentence she said wihtout stopping and:

"*Exhale* Any questions?"

She smiled kindly in the end. She expetected Norn to ask many, since she just gave him a whole magic theory simplified, it was hard to understand even for her, but:

"No, it's easy, let me try"

Saying so he changed the color of his fire.

He saw many different fires in his previous life, he could just copy their looks and properties from his memory...

Well, the actual temperature was bound to one's magic power, so it was impossible for him to replicate some insane plasma-like fires...

But... He could make a visual part...

After a few second he changed his fire into one he saw the most.

It was a fire from a gas-burner. It was blue and shot above with an incredible bluish hue around it.

After some time he changed it's color to red, then yellow and then orange.

It was way easier than he thought initially.

Of course, it was only the visual part that changed, it reality that fire wasn't any better than the one a match would produce...

To Erika, however, it was a shocking experience!

How could he... make those fires!? That's not possible for any to imagine something they haven't seen...

So... When did he see those?!

"So magic is basically whatever you can imagine amplified by your magic power, interesting..."

Norn suddenly understood that the art of magic wasn't anything difficult.

On the basic level, that is. He still could imagine how he could cast mass spells like meteor or some acid rain...

But he had to start from something! It's already great that the whole principle of it is so simple!

However, as he was about to try to make his fire hotter...

It disappeared.

Norn immediately understood that he must've did something wrong, thus failing to maintain the balance...

"Looks like you've run out of mana. Dont worry, it will regenerate with time. Your mana pool is great, thought!"

Before Norn could think of even more theories Erika immediately praised him...

"How did you make those fires before? They are so beautiful! Are they any special?"

She couldn't help but ask, she was now sure that this goblins wasn't just special. he was THE Special Goblin.

"No, they're not. It seems that i can only change visual part of a speel freely, when i tried to change it's temperature it just broke..."

He tried to think of a way he could use it.

He even regretted not studying in school properly... What could he do now if he knew the whole school program!?

He would've been able to make amazing things with knowledge from his previous world!

Alas, it was superficial. Even if he knew some complicated concepts he saw on video hosting platforms...

It was all just on the basic level. It's not like he would be able to make black holes...

But at least he knew that they existed and how they worked! On the level humanity knew... So he could at least make it look like a black hole!

"Still, that's awesome! You are the most talented person i've ever seen!"

She pondered for a while...

"Right, if we manage to find some rare herbs i'll be able to make some potions for you that will boost your magic potential! It's already insane, but with them..."

Her eyes seemingly lit up...

"You will become the strongest mage in no time!"

She seemed happier about Norn potential than he himself, it was somewhat strange, but Norn understood why it was.

Why wouldn't she want to see him be really strong? He favoured her, so it was obvious she wont lose anything...

Now that he thought about it, it was strange, wouldn't she be jealous if he found someone else but her?..

However, he wasn't in rush to ask about it, it wasn't too early to think about such things..

As Norn was about to reply to her...

He heard a noise coming from her stomach! She was hungry!

It's not like he was full, that remnant pig leg was far from enough...

"I think i'll go find some food for us..."

Norn said with a wry smile...

"While u're at it, try to use magic to detect thing around you. It might sound complicated, but once you understand the basics it will be as simple as breathing!"

Erika decided to give him another bit of motivation, hunting was complicated, after all.

With detection spells, however? He wouldn't need to bother too much as he could simply "see" everything around him, his prey included!

"To do that, you need to do the same thing you did before when you felt magic, but this time focus on detecting it outside on your body, it will also be useful later on, so practice while you are at it!"

She briefly explained the basics of detection magic to him. It wasn't that hard to understand to Norn.

It would be the same as how, as he heard, some bats used sound-waves to see.

He imagined that he could try to replicate it the same way...

As such, he departed from the cave after listening to Erika's compliments and encouragements for some more...

It really was pleasant to him!