Chapter 46 : I Don’t Want to Be a Human Anymore
“It actually seems pretty simple.”
Looking at the potato that had fully grown in his hand, El rubbed his chin. “Is this maybe a bit too easy?”
Behind him, Nia gasped sharply, so shocked she couldn’t find words.
No way—he actually succeeded on the first try?
Nia doubted her own eyes, but no matter how she looked at it, he clearly had succeeded.
Her gaze flicked back and forth across his ears.
He didn’t look like he had any elven blood, so why could he use Nature Magic?
Nia couldn’t accept this fact.
She was an elf without any talent for Nature Magic, yet El, a mere human, possessed such terrifying aptitude.
His skill in accelerated growth magic was truly masterful, and she had to admit, even Lady Meira at her peak hadn’t been able to do this.
“Miss, are you sure El doesn’t have elven blood?”
“I already checked before. Mr. El is a pure human.”
Nia felt her mind spinning.
Yudia seemed to be playing a joke on her.
Not noticing Nia’s shock, El handed the potato to Meira.
“This should count as a success, right?”
Though Meira was also somewhat surprised, she remained calm.
“Yes, Mr. El is very talented to succeed on the first try.”
“Is it really that simple? Nia just made it sound so complicated—I thought it’d be much harder.”
Nia: “…”
“It’s definitely not simple.” Meira replied. “Mr. El, do you have any special tricks you can share?”
“Not really tricks.” El scratched his head. “I just understand potatoes pretty well—like, at the cellular level.”
Meira didn’t quite understand what he meant but roughly took it to mean he was deeply familiar with how potatoes grow.
She had another idea.
“Mr. El, would you like to try another plant? I still have those Poneka seeds you brought a few days ago.”
El perked up. “Sure, I’ll give it a try.”
Taking the seeds from Meira, El once again infused them with Nature’s elemental power using the same method.
This time, it wasn’t as easy as before.
After about as long as it would take to grow thirty potatoes, the seed in his hand grew into a strange thing.
It looked like a seedling, but not quite.
El handed the strange growth back to Meira. “I guess this counts as a failure?”
“Yes.” Meira said. “Normally it should have grown into a small tree.”
“I’m not really sure how this thing grows. It doesn’t match how fruit trees grow in my memory.”
“That’s the difficulty of this magic.” Meira chuckled lightly. “Understanding a plant’s growth requires a long time.”
“Meira, do you know how this one grows?”
“Somewhat. The elves sometimes use Poneka as an ingredient in fruit juice.”
“Can you demonstrate it for me?”
“No problem.”
Meira demonstrated, and soon a small tree bearing Poneka fruit appeared in her hand.
“Oh, that’s how it works, no wonder.” El carefully studied the whole process and pinpointed the problem.
The Poneka fruit tree’s growth method differed from ordinary fruit trees: it sprouts, then withers once before growing again.
Having found the key, El immediately tried again.
Meira originally wanted to tell him these things couldn’t be rushed, but what she couldn’t understand happened—
Just by watching her demonstration once, El was able to replicate her process instantly.
Now not only Nia, but even Meira herself began to suspect whether he really had elven blood.
“Mr. El, are you really not an elf?”
“I’m a genuine human through and through. If anything, I’ve just studied biology a few more years.”
“Your talent surpasses that of many elves.” Meira couldn’t help but sigh.
“Speaking of which, there are still some things I’m not very clear about…”
The two launched into a heated discussion about Nature Magic.
Only after El clarified all his questions did he notice Nia slumped on the sofa near the fireplace.
Her expression was blank, her eyes filled with utter despair.
“What’s wrong with Nia?”
“Mr. El’s Nature Magic talent hit her hard.” Meira paused before adding, “Nia is one of the very few elves who can’t use Nature Magic. Now that even a human like you can, it must be a huge blow to her.”
“Why?”
Mentioning this, Meira sighed again. “Nia is only half elven. She’s a half-elf. Perhaps the other half of her bloodline has some issue.”
“The other half… couldn’t really be succubus blood, right?”
“No, it’s not.” Meira replied. “The other half of her blood is human.”
“Human?”
“Yes. Nia grew up in a human city. A ranger from our tribe found her wandering and brought her back to the forest.”
El glanced at Nia, who still hadn’t come to her senses, and lowered his voice. “What happened?”
Meira shook her head.
“I don’t know either. Nia is twenty years older than me, and this all happened before I was born. She’s never mentioned her time in the human city.”
“Wait.” El felt like he had just heard something huge. “What did you just say?”
“I said I don’t know.”
“Not that sentence—the one after that.”
Meira thought carefully and tried repeating, “Nia has never mentioned her time in the human city?”
“Not that one either.”
After recalling again, Meira said uncertainly, “Nia is twenty years older than me?”
That was it.
“Meira, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you this year?” El cautiously asked.
“I just turned twenty.”
“Whoa.” El gasped.
If Meira was twenty, then Nia was…
A forty-year-old woman!
“Mr. El, do you realize how rude your expression is right now?”
“Sorry.” El snapped back to himself, then quickly asked, “Meira, elves live long lives, right? Nia doesn’t look that much older than you.”
“Yes, elves live about five hundred years on average. If their magic reaches a certain level, living over a thousand years isn’t unusual.”
Meira’s words made El gasp again.
So that meant… when El was old enough that he could barely walk, Nia would still look like she did now?
He couldn’t accept such a thought.
“Meira, do humans have any way to extend their lifespan?”
“Increasing magical aptitude is how humans extend lifespan. But very few break through that limit. Living an extra century or two is possible, though.”
A century or two still isn’t enough—less than half of Nia’s lifespan.
Thinking this, El’s gaze toward Meira grew intense.
“Meira, do you have a way for me to… stop being human?”
“I don’t want to be human anymore.”