Cheer Up
Emery wasn't feeling down or anything of the sort hearing such words from Master Atika. He had heard such words before and, probably, would hear them again in the future. So he quickly learned to not be negatively affected by it.
Every time people discovered his spirit core was one that was considered a failure by the general masses, they would immediately feel pity for him because they thought of how unfortunate he was.
However, instead of being pressured and regretting his decision at that time, those people's reactions only left Emery with more questions; about being a magus and about his condition.
None actually ever explain what had happened to him and why exactly the existence of his spirit core would bar him from becoming a magus.
All this time, Emery kept this question at the back of his mind because Killgragah the Dragon once told him that he knew a method that would allow him to do exactly that - a breakthrough to the magus realm.