The group of adventurers decided to introduce themselves. I have no choice but to do the same since they are talking about it.
"So, what's your name, kid?" someone asks seeing that I'm the youngest one here.
"Miroslav," I say.
"And he is…" that person points his finger at Hal.
"Hal," Hal replies.
That was enough to show them that the two of us have no interest in interacting with them. I don't know them and I'm pretty sure that they're not in the game so I prefer to just enjoy the journey in silence.
Because of that they isolated us. But we don't mind it.
And when it's dark, they decided the shift for night watch themselves. Hal and I ended up being the middle one between three shifts. It's the hardest one because you will be woken up in the middle of your sleep and then wake the people for last shift up so you can have another short nap before breakfast.
I don't mind it at all. And Hal seems to be fine with it. So it's all good.
When it's our turn to stand guard, someone woke us up and it's just the two of us.
We don't want to bother anyone when the sun was still up but now that only the two of us here, without even making any agreement we walk to the patch of red grass on the side of the camp.
"You like it?" I ask Hal while weeding some grass.
"I feel the effect. Just a bit but it's good. I don't smoke as much as you," Hal says without even looking at me.
He's been a mage for longer than I have so he should know more about magic. I tried asking him to teach me some magic but he refuses.
"I don't teach anyone. And you can use magic, right? Just use yours instead of asking me anything," says the guy weeding some grass.
"It will be useful if I have more weapons in my arsenal. Even if it's just one simple magic," I say.
"That is true. But there's really no need to learn anything other than what you're good at. Have you checked your talent? Once you do just put more effort in the thing you're talented in instead of learning other things. Though if you have fire magic talent like me, maybe I can teach you a thing or two," Hal explains.
That's the common sense of this world. Just focus on what you're talented in. In some case that is a good idea. But it's not a good idea at all to me. Not because I am talented in slip magic but because if I have to move alone, I need to have more things that will be convenient to have. One of such things would be magic.
"That's a useless wisdom. If you're moving alone for a mission in a desert, how will you get water? Water magic is useful for that. Just because you're not talented in water magic doesn't mean that you don't have to learn it. Skills are more important than talents. Talents only show you what you can be best at. Even if you won't be the best at other things, as long as you're good enough for them, it will help you a lot in many ways," I say. I'm trying to fix what is wrong with this world.
Even in the game, there were way too many characters that are good only in one or two things only. And they all related to their talents. That's not a smart move if you're working alone.
"Hmm… give me another example," Hal says as he's not convinced yet with my explanation but he's interested in where this conversation is going.
"My talent is in slip magic," I say. I noticed a slight smirk on his lips even though it's dark. But I continued. "I can build a house as long as there's enough logs because I learned it from my father. Even if I'm not an adventurer, I can do something else. What about you? You said that you have talent in fire magic. Can you do something else?"
No answer coming from him. Even his hands weeding the grass stop moving.
He might have more experience as an adventurer. But even as an adventurer, he can only fight using fire magic. That is the case even in the game.
"Did you give up on something you trained so hard in the past because you learned what your talent really was?" I ask Hal. And I can see him shaken with that question.
I'm sure he's not the only one. Someone who trained in sword gave up after learning that his talent is in magic. Someone who trained in spear gave up after learning that his talent is in archery. Maybe even people who have learned magic stopped putting in anymore effort in magic to focus on other thing they're talented at.
Putting effort in what you're talented at is not wrong at all. But giving up other things because you're not talented in them is wrong. This is also an advice I gave to my students in my previous life. Though the me at that time didn't have any talent at all. At least I believed that I was not talented.
But there's something I keep practicing. I loved music. I practiced using all kind of musical instrument back then. I wasn't good enough to be a member of any band looking to be signed to a label. But I was good enough to play songs that I liked.
Maybe once I have enough wealth I should get some instrument in this world and play them. I have been focusing on ways to survive I stopped thinking of what I like. I guess this advice goes for me as well.
"So, are you trained in other thing than slip magic?" Hal asks me.
"I have been practicing with a sword since I was a kid. Even now I never stop practicing as long as I have the time. I never have any teacher but my swordsmanship is good enough to defeat some monsters at least even without using magic. And if I use slip magic, it's much easier to kill monsters with my sword. Though that doesn't need any skill. Just stab or slash," I say.
"…I guess slip magic is better than I expected. It's famous because of how easy it is for the people targeted with the magic to gain resistance. But I guess it doesn't matter if the target never experienced it and has no resistance to the magic as long as you kill the target before they can stand up."
He knows right away what I'm talking. Now that's one more person who learned how good slip magic is.
And so we ended up talking the whole shift. He also taught me how to use fire magic. It's easy to understand because he didn't learn to use fire magic like me. He learned magic officially from a teacher. But it's only in fire magic and not in any other magic.
Meanwhile, I try to guide him to have an open mind and not narrow his thinking to just focus on his talent. He starts listening carefully.
"You learned magic because you keep trying what the appraiser said to you about how he feels when he's using magic? You're a genius," Hal says.
"Not a genius. But talented. And it's only in slip magic. I don't know about other magic yet."
It's time for the next shift. I wake up the last group and go to sleep. I felt like I haven't slept enough because I was woken up soon after. Being in the middle shift of the night watch is horrible.
After a while, we encounter some monsters on the way. I pull out my sword but the two parties step forward instead.
"Newbie, you just need to stay with the caravan. We'll take care of this."
And so, my position in this mission is to guard the caravan. There's also another reason why they fight the monsters. For extra money.
They will gather proofs of subjugation from the monsters they defeated and then give them to the guild. That will help with an extra income. And I won't get any because I'm only guarding the caravan without doing anything.
They also don't want me to get more money. Especially since I will be paid the same for this same mission. They don't like that at all.
At night Hal and I have the same shift again. And we talk about magic and other things. If what I tell him about to not give up on things he can do because he has no talent is considered seriously by Hal, then I hope he will get stronger. So when the time for the demon invasion arrives, he will be a great ally.
There are some more monsters on the third day but on the fourth day, it's not just monsters. We also encounter some bandits. And the bandits are not stupid. They are well-organized. This won't be an easy battle.
"Newbie, just guard the caravan. We'll take care of them."
The five adventurers step forward again. They believe that the bandits are just normal bandits. Maybe they can handle it just fine without my help.
So I stand on guard next to the merchant with my sword pulled already. But it seems like today I will have my turn to fight.