Null
"Wow~ I've never seen such a huge machine before."
Tsuno Ume muttered in a bright voice as we entered the aptitude testing room. I silently agreed with him. The entire room was designed like an engineering facility, more than enough to draw the eyes of me and the other students. It was fascinating even when I saw it in the game, but seeing it in person made it even more amazing.
"Everyone, pay attention."
Eirin gathered the attention of the scattered students with a single word. The students' murmurs stopped instantly, as if the air around us had turned into a vacuum.
"The erosion phenomenon has caused countless casualties, but paradoxically, its proliferation has advanced the world's technology. Does anyone know what I mean by 'this'?"
I knew what it was. Anyone who diligently read through the Insik endgame story could figure it out. The answer was magic stones.
But I didn't bother raising my hand to draw attention. I had to leave the opportunity for these growing sprouts, right?
"Me! It's magic stones! Their appearance opened up the field of magic stone engineering!"
Shaolin shot her hand up and answered energetically.
"Yes. Correct. Magic stones are rare materials born in places where mana is densely concentrated, like ancient dungeons or dragon lairs. The mana arrangement in a magic stone must be perfectly uniform without a single deviation to solidify stably, so they were extremely scarce. Commercialization was naturally out of the question. But."
Eirin lightly brushed her hair back and continued.
"Once the erosion phenomenon began, everything changed. Massive quantities of magic stones started being mined from the Backworld and erosion zones. Naturally, they began to be used in various fields. For example, in firearms development—and in building this aptitude tester."
Eirin walked up to the machine, which resembled a giant crystal orb.
"Every time we test one person's aptitude, ten mid-grade magic stones turn into worthless rocks. In return, this device's accuracy is exceptional. It has never produced a single error. So, you can trust it."
A mid-grade magic stone was usually worth hundreds of thousands of miruan. That meant just one test shattered millions of miruan. Considering there were hundreds of new students... Yeah, better not think about it.
"Approach the crystal orb in the order I call and infuse it with your mana. Non-subjects must refrain from any mana activity to avoid interference. Serena Eldrain, step forward."
"Ahaha... I hate drawing attention."
Serena let out a small sigh and shuffled toward the crystal orb.
"Hold on."
As Serena sluggishly reached out to touch it, Eirin stopped her.
"Let me say this upfront: it's not a good idea to deliberately leak mana because you don't like someone. I've mapped every mana flow in this space."
Don't try any funny business. A few students trembled slightly at Eirin's warning. Glancing sideways, I saw it was some of the ones who had been glaring at me.
"Eldrain. Infuse your mana."
Serena nodded faintly and placed her hand on the crystal orb. The translucent orb gradually took on the color of her mana.
"Sigh, my arm's starting to go numb... How long do I have to do this?"
"A bit more. That's enough. You can stop now."
"Phew, I nearly died."
Serena pretended to rub her right forearm as she returned to the students.
Hummm...
With that, a low mechanical hum filled the aptitude testing room, and soon an image appeared on the screen in front.
A complex pattern of countless broken red lines.
I couldn't easily interpret it, not having grasped Serena's true abilities. For a split second—though she always kept her laid-back expression—Serena's face twisted. Did she have some inkling herself?
"...This is unusual. Normal aptitude testers usually display results in text form, but in exceptional cases, they express them metaphorically through images. This happens mainly when aptitude isn't confined to a single field."
In other words, something like origami aptitude would show as text. But manual dexterity, a more general aptitude not limited to one field, would appear as an image. For reference, Karen's screen had shown roaring flames.
"Students whose aptitudes appeared as images like Eldrain's just now have generally shown impressive growth. Of course, with effort to back it up."
"I'll put in just the right amount of sincere effort."
Serena nodded vaguely, brushing off Eirin's words.
"Next, Cecil Adelia."
The aptitude tests proceeded more swiftly than expected. One might think they'd murmur over others' results, but whether because they weren't used to Eirin yet, everyone kept their mouths shut, waiting silently for their turn. Even the chatty Shaolin stayed quiet.
Shaolin and Ume's tests went off without a hitch. Her claim of majoring in magic wasn't a lie—she had aptitude for spell calculations. Not some wildly unique or groundbreaking talent, but definitely not bad. Faster spell calculations meant shorter casting times for spells. For a mage, reducing cast time was a matter of life and death.
Ume's was... a bit odd. The screen simply read "Patience."
What an ambiguous result. Since it's text, it means it's confined to one field. Probably talent for enduring pain or something. It made sense, given how he recounted today's commute mishaps like last night's dinner menu.
As I pondered that, only about four students remained, including me.
"Next. Park Jeonghyeon."
Finally, my name was called. I took a small breath and walked steadily to the crystal orb.
Eirin glanced at me briefly, then.
"You may begin."
She nodded slightly, giving permission. I slowly placed my hand on the orb and carefully infused my mana.
What result awaits me? I figured something like "infinite aptitude" or endless potential, given my consciousness synchronization. Or maybe some completely unexpected talent. Whatever it was, I'd just hone it endlessly.
"That's enough."
At Eirin's curt stop, I removed my hand and returned to my spot.
I swallowed hard and stared at the screen. Twenty seconds had passed since I returned, but the screen remained unchanged.
I watched a bit longer. Thirty seconds more, a minute, nearly two.
"...?"
Only then did I realize something was wrong. Why hasn't it come out yet? The others took at most ten seconds.
This doubt wasn't mine alone. Eirin, who had been silently waiting, checked the monitor beside her. Her eyes flickered green for an instant.
"...Looks like there's an error. Let's try once more."
Is it okay to just redo it? It costs millions of miruan each time?
"Professor. Didn't you say one test uses ten mid-grade magic stones?"
I asked indirectly if it was fine, and Eirin nodded.
"I'll cover any extra magic stones from my own pocket. No need to worry."
A faint hint of fluster colored her response. This must be how unusual my case was.
It couldn't be the cliché where my aptitudes are too many to display, right? Calming myself with that silly thought, I approached the orb again and infused mana.
"Stop there."
I followed her instruction and returned, just like before. The heavy silence and my anxious heart. But the screen still showed no change.
"....."
Eirin glanced at the screen, then silently fiddled with the monitor.
"Oh, something appeared."
Ume's voice rang out. Following it, I looked at the screen. The text displayed there.
What the hell? Tilting my head, I rummaged in my pocket and pulled out my smartphone. I searched "Null," and the results popped up.
Null: An English word meaning 'no value,' commonly used in programming languages.
No value. That was what Null meant.
In short...
"...No talent at all?"
I had no talent whatsoever.