The Undefeated Prodigy Is Talentless?

As I opened my eyes, lying on soft grass, the first thing that came into my view was a beautiful blue sky. Is this afterlife? I shook my head and looked around. Apparently, I was in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by an endless sea of trees.

Is it just me, or is everything much bigger than normal? Trees, flowers, mushrooms. Everything.

'Wait, wasn't I on my way to my title defense in the helicopter with Sebastian? Ah, right, something happened with the engine and we started to fall, didn't we?' I thought hard. trying to remember what exactly happened before I lost consciousness. 'And then we crashed. But I'm not dead, right? Wait…'

"Sebastian!?"

I called out a familiar name. Hm? Was it my voice? Why does it sound so childish?

"Hello!? Anybody here!?" I spoke again, and it seems like my voice has indeed changed. What is going on? I raised my two hands and looked at my palms. They were small. "What the…"

I tried to touch my face, and it was small as well. Same with my two feet, they are also tiny.

"What happened? D-did I transmigrate or reincarnate? Where am I?"

I looked around once again. Nothing changed, still the same small clearing in the sea of trees and no trace of humans around. Wait, now that I calmed down a little, I actually was able to hear a faint sound of flowing water. Better to check it out, having a water source won't hurt me anyway

After a few minutes of walking toward the sound, I've finally found the source. It was a small stream that fell into a small clean lake. I ran towards the water and looked at my reflection in the water.

For some reason, I was looking at my younger self. Except for a little detail. My hair in my previous life was black since I was Asian, but now my hair and eyes are red. Why did this happen?

"Well, no reason to worry about something that already happened." Maybe it's a shock speaking for myself, but I truly wasn't that worried at the moment.

"Water seems clean enough for drinking directly." I crouched down and scooped the clean water and drank it, relieving my thirst that was ignored before. Then I sat down on the grass and took a deep breath to smell the fresh air. Wow, this place is so beautiful. The air is fresh and the lake is so clean. No trace of usual pollution.

'How good it would've been to have a resting villa built here' idle thought came to my mind. 'Is this place like the novels I always read? A new world? Maybe even a fantasy world, hahaha'

But I shook my head and shrugged it off since there wasn't enough info right now for me to get a satisfying conclusion. Maybe this place is just somewhere deep in the mountains. Or in another country. Or, maybe, on a different continent.

I heard the sound of someone's footsteps and turned around. There stood a big burly old man. As a martial artist, I could feel that this old man is not simple. All my trained instincts were screaming inside me. He was strong. No, scratch that. He was a monster.

"Whoupp gid, Haxat axalo ug peick axareno din zis praxaco? Holo dis yeep kuaxaldiaxan? Hupp dis who quich reekick axat vo? Dis who poaxab?"

Hm? What was that? It didn't sound like English, Chinese, or Russian. But it didn't sound like random gibberish.

"Alo ug poaxab, Pum saxaid Haxat axalo ug peick axareno din zis praxaco? Holo dis yeep kuaxaldiaxan?

I tried to use hand gestures, trying to express that I can't understand him. The old man tried to speak in, what seemed like, different kinds of languages, yet none of them even sounded familiar.

"How about this? Do you understand me now?"

"Ohh! I finally understand you old man"

"What? Do you understand me now? Forget it. Who are you?"

He looked really surprised, but his tone sounded very stern. Should I tell him the full truth? But do I even know what the truth is? Should I tell him 'Ah, I was reincarnated/transmigrated/transported to another world, please take care of me?' That's bullshit, who will believe me? So, instead of telling him the truth, I decided to play the amnesia card.

"I can't remember."

The old man's eyes squinted into slits and looked at me for a moment. A very long moment. Then he just shrugged and his facial expression seemingly relaxed.

"Well, let it be your secret then."

The old man then passed me and went to the lake. He flicked his finger and the water started to flow towards the small gourd on his waist filling it up. My eyes opened wide like saucers at this show.

"Woah! Old man, what's that? How did you do that?"

"Magic."

"W-what? Really!?"

"Hm? Why are you so surprised?" The old man looked at me in confusion.

"Well, it was my first time seeing it! Can I use magic?"

The old man looked at me again like he was seizing up my very soul. Then, for some reason, he let out a sigh and blurted.

"You only have one attribute - Fire".

"Woah! Cool! Does it mean that I can use fire magic?"

"You should give up kid, you won't ever be able to become a powerful mage"

Is fire not a magic element? What kind of nonsense is that?

"W-why? You said it yourself! I have a fire attribute!"

The old man sighed again. Then shook his head, as if he gave up.

"Listen, kid, there are 7 attributes. The more you have the better your talents are. You only have one. Fire. Having just one attribute means that you have almost no mana capacity. "

Hearing it. I felt like the very sky had crushed upon me. This was a world with magic, but I was talentless? What kind of crap is this? Me? The "Undefeatable Prodigy" is talentless? How is it possible?! The pride and self-confidence that I built during my past life made it hard for me to accept this outcome. Suddenly it felt as if something lit up inside me. I gritted my teeth and shouted at the old man

"I won't give up old man! I will show you! I will be the strongest, even if I have only one attribute!"

"Really? Having just one is a grave for a mage. Tough luck, kid. But let me wish you all the best." He sounded almost amused.

"How about you teach me magic then?"

"Why should I do that? Just give it up before you hurt yourself, brat."

After telling me this, the old man just turned around and went back to the forest. Is he playing hard to get? Well, I have no choice but to follow him for now, as the other alternative was staying in the forest alone.

"Why are you following me?"

I ignored his question and just kept following him. Seeing that I didn't respond, The old man shrugged it off and resumed traveling. After a while he repeated himself:

"Brat, I won't teach you magic, go away."

"Damn! Old man, you think I will just give up because you said so?"

Let's see who is more stubborn.