Chapter 04: Uniquely Talentless

Zephyr' PoV

"I'm talentless, I just thought I would be having one although I'm still shocked that you guys have powers..." I nodded in disappointment as Bubbles and I were heading towards our class this morning with Mrs. Phoen De Veera- why does she have a weird name like that? I mean Bubbles' name is not weird but-

"Don't be so down on yourself, Zephie." Bubbles said as she tried to cheer me up. "You still remember what the Dean said, right? We don't know what happened but it seems you have some hidden ability- or maybe that crystal's faulty?"

"That's impossible though." I laughed. "But anyway, I'm glad that we're classmates now. I never thought Dean would be so kind of letting you transfer sections. But why are you in the last section, by the way? Is water your affinity right?" I tried to change the subject- I just don't want Bubbles to dig down further about my affinity or my ability.

"Err... Water is indeed my affinity but, all I can do is this~"

I noticed that Bubbles' bracelet shone faintly and a single bubble came out from her hand and floated towards me. Wait, is that a bubble gun or something? What's more, the bubble remained motionless as it float mid-air. I was hoping for it to pop very soon but it didn't.

"Wait, why is this bubble doesn't pop out?! This seems like an ordinary soap bubble for me though." I curiously asked, as Bubbles suddenly snap her fingers and the bubble popped in front of me.

"I have this ability to control bubbles of my own will. I make them float mid-air, move them around, or pop them whenever I snapped my fingers. And the worse part is that's the only thing I can do, nothing special. That's the reason why I was supposed to enter the last section because my ability is useless." She smiled faintly as she tried to hide her tears.

Well, her ability is indeed useless but it would be rude for me to say that. Besides, I'm much worse than her since I'm a talentless person.

"That makes us two special." I quickly replied. "We indeed have useless abilities but this won't hinder us to continue moving forward. Who knows, we might find something to put that bubble of yours to good use." I gave her a smile as both of us enter our classroom.

"Good morning Mr. Gonzales, Mrs. Fellomina. Take your seat now and we will begin our classes for this morning. We were surprised that Mrs. Phoen was here already as we quickly apologized and sat on those two pairs of seats at the uppermost part of the classroom- Oh yes- our classroom is much more like a basketball court wherein the seats are elevated as the rows go upwards.

" I'm Mrs. Phoen De Veera, and I will be your adviser for this year. You already know the rules of this academy so I won't explain it once again. For now, I will be grouping you based on your affinities. This will test and show others your abilities. This will be a recreational activity so I expect that you will be meeting new friends inside this classroom. Also, mock battles are accepted as long as you'll keep your powers within limits."

Suddenly, a golden staff with a scarlet diamond appeared beside Mrs. Phoenix, and when she firmly slammed the bottom of the staff to the floor, all seats suddenly ignited in a harmless, scarlet flame and moved and arranged based on affinities a student has- except...

"Wait, why isn't your chair moving, Mr. Gonzales?" Mrs. Phoenix noticed that the scarlet flame of my seat extinguished. The other students were now arranged in five rows- I also can see Bubbles on other water-affinity users but mine isn't moving at all.

"I have no idea about this Mrs. De Veera. But I would like to inform you that I belong to a null affinity class. Which means I am talentless." I shamefully responded as I can hear some students giggling and laughing secretly- this hurts more than a gunshot though.

"But still, your chair should've moved beside me if you belong to the null affinity class. I know my flames are inextinguishable but this is impossible." She became curious, yet I remained motionless on my chair as she just let out a deep sigh.

"Anyways, since you have been grouped, I want you to fall in line and march towards the open stadium. I'll be meeting you there in five minutes, pronto." Mrs. De Veera said, as she suddenly disappeared, leaving a puddle of scarlet feathers that extinguished immediately- seems like she teleported.

All of us went outside the room and walked quietly, and since Bubbles isn't with me, I just walked the hallway alone as some of my classmates avoided me- seems like talentless folks aren't even popular here and regarded as low-class students. Man, I just want to go home and sleep.

We finally arrived at the open stadium which is 25 times larger than my height and as wide as four basketball courts. I was silently walking when I saw Dean Chronos talking with Mrs. De Veera. They are talking about something but it would be rude to butt in.

"You seem early everyone." Mrs. De Veera smiled as I noticed Dean Chronos suddenly disappear out of thin air- he can teleport too? That's a bit shocking.

"Now that we're here, I'll be calling two students, Mr. Leo Syndrad from the Fire Affinity and Mr. Zephyr Lincoln Gonzales, a Null Affinity user, to step out from the line for a mock battle." I suddenly felt curious- why would I be battling against a Fire-type? Are they even know that I am talentless?

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I don't battle weaklings like him-"

"Before you even finished your sentence mister, why not give it I try?" Mrs. De Veera's tone became serious as I felt Leo tremble a bit. To be honest, it's my first time meeting him but seeing those fiery claws drawn out from his hands, I can tell he's powerful.

"Why am I doing this? Sheesh, it's obviously my win since he doesn't have any talent or magic." Leo mumbled as the two of us stood in the middle of the stadium. Before the battle started, Mrs. De Veera quickly spoke.

"This will be the rules. Leo, if you can take down Zephyr off his feet, then you will be the winner. Zephyr, since you don't have any ability- if you tap Leo's shoulder, then you will be declared the winner. Now, let the battle commence!"

"Please let us have a good battle, Leo." I smiled but Leo snorted and unleashed a searing ball of flame from his claws. He's somehow pissed off knowing that he doesn't like me as his opponent.

"This is boring! I mean, look at you! You have no talent at all! Just one shot of this flame..." He suddenly shot that flame into my face- "And you will be dead!"

The flame flew towards me as I suddenly remembered Dean Chronos' incident this morning. I wanted to block it using my arms, but I weirdly scratched my head and spoke.

"Umm... Disappear?"

Leo's chuckles became an eerie silence as a faint wind swirled around me, as the flame quickly extinguish when it almost hit me. The whole students inside the stadium were surprised, as I weirdly smiled- I was also surprised about it, but one thing's for sure, I was unaffected.

"Impossible! How are you doing that?!" Leo shouted as I started to walk towards him while lifting my left hand.

"Just a tap on your shoulder won't hurt, right?" He suddenly trembled as he started to unleash more fireballs, but none of them even touched me. Leo kept on struggling as he tried to scratch me with his fiery claws, but the fire quickly extinguished yet I managed to dodge his attack as he lost his balance and fell to the ground. I wanted to tap him on his shoulder, but I just gave him a helping hand instead.

"That's it. The match is over." Mrs. De Veera called the match as Dean Chronos suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "For now, let's hear what our Dean Chronos has to say."

"Thank you, Mrs. Phoen. Now, you might be surprised about this, but..." Suddenly, Dean Chronos quickly shouted those chants again, and the whole crowd froze on the spot- even those birds float in mid-air, and wait, is that Bubbles at the back playing with her magic bubbles-

"Zephyr, I know this is weird for you, but this is the truth. Yes, you belong to the Null Affinity Class, but this doesn't mean you're talentless." Dean Chronos quickly spoke as I slowly walked towards him.

"This is just tentative research, Mr. Gonzales. But your ability is similar to a very rare Nature Affinity ability called Dream Ode, though yours has something to do with wind." Dean Chronos fixed his eyeglasses while I suddenly raised an eyebrow at him.

"Dream Ode? What's that?"

"Like I said, it is a Nature affinity and a passive ability similar to Arisu, a senior student, and a musician girl here in Alfeim Academy. She can nullify any damage and creates a shield of musical notes around her, raising her attack power. Your ability is to nullify any status damage or debuffs near your range as you were protected by swirling winds, that's why you were unaffected by my time freeze or flames that may potentially burn you. There's still more debuffs that you can nullify and it's up to you to discover it." Well, that sounds similar I think, but I feel nothing when I nullify any damage though.

"So I'm a uniquely talentless person?" I quickly asked as Dean Chronos snorted.

"For now, it's just like that. Most Null Affinity Class students would be expelled but you are different, so will stay here. Your ability has a lot of potential, however, you will still be affected by direct physical attacks like punches, kicks, and slashes so you need to train your body for it." He smiled at me as he suddenly punched me on my arm, and he was right since I do feel pain. Now I realized if I shouldn't dodge that slash attack that Leo did, then I might be dead already. Not to mention that I'm not that active in sports so my reflexes aren't that flexible- I only just participated in singing contests.

Suddenly, everything went back to normal as Dean Chronos spoke. yet everyone was surprised that I was beside the Dean already. I quickly apologized out of shock and quickly went back to my original spot.

"I will be watching your activity for today as a guide. I'll be monitoring all of your battles, and any inappropriate behavior will be penalized accordingly. This is to ensure fair battles and everyone's safety. Now, have fun, and let this recreational activity begin!"

And after that, we started looking for a partner for a battle. The event was fun and I challenged some of my classmates, but most of them still avoided me for no reason. Bubbles challenged me too, but we just ended up playing with her bubbles and not having a mock battle.

"Hey! That's not fair Bubbles! How am I supposed to catch those bubbles if you keep on moving them?" I laughed as I tried to catch her bubbles- I realized that you can even squeeze it like a puffball without popping it. This somehow relieved my stress today.

"By the way Zeph, if you can extinguish flames, why can't you pop my bubble anyway?" She asked, as I also felt curious about it.

"I don't know. But I think your bubbles aren't harmful so I can't pop them. And why should I pop these if it makes my problem gone whenever I squeeze them, right?" We both giggled as we realized it was almost noon already.

Mrs. De Veera quickly stopped the activity and told us to take a one-hour break and that we'll be back this afternoon. She said there will be an event for all students in the academy, and it will be fun if we will be participating in the said event.

I wonder what that is though...

°•°•°•°