Shota's Isekai NTR Adventure Chapter 2129: No mana

A few days earlier...

"Why is there no mana in this place?"

That question didn't come from me. One of the younger magicians blurted it out in the end, unable to hold back any longer.

Everyone had wondered about this the whole time, but none knew quite how to phrase it. They simply weren't on friendly enough terms to pose it directly to the wood elementals.

Truth be told, the wood elementals mostly disregarded them unless they were speaking to me.

That's what made the impulsive young magician step up to voice it.

Yet even after he asked, the wood elementals offered no response.

They behaved as if the question had never been uttered and carried on with their tasks.

In the end, an embarrassed expression lingered on the young magician's face.

That's when I intervened to smooth things over between the groups.

"I’m curious about this as well."

While the wood elementals could brush off the young magician, they couldn't ignore me so easily.

Eventually, the wood elementals revealed the reason behind the complete absence of mana in this area.

Surprisingly, the explanation was straightforward.

"We had to use it for ourselves to survive."

To stay alive, the wood elementals had consumed all the mana that once filled this realm. They claimed every bit, leaving none for the dinosaurs inhabiting the land.

It might appear selfish at first glance, yet this domain was crafted specifically for them.

Thus, it boiled down to whether it rightfully belonged to them from the start.

Taking it merely reclaimed what was theirs by design.

"But even if you take all of the mana, what about the creatures that lived here in the beginning. It isn’t as if you would have taken all of their mana when they would be able to generate mana on their own."

No reply came from the wood elementals as one magician voiced this worry.

Their demeanor suggested they were concealing something.

Whatever the secret, it tied directly to the magician's point.

Witnessing their reaction, we couldn't avoid suspecting the worst.

After all, their behavior seemed far too shady...

The wood elementals noticed our suspicious gazes and discerned our thoughts. This finally prompted them to respond.

"It isn’t what you think it is. We would never do something like that."

Though I hid my reaction, the others eyed the wood elementals skeptically.

Doubt was plain on their faces; they weren't buying the wood elementals' words.

The mounting pressure left the wood elementals with little choice but to confess the truth.

Fortunately, the reality proved less grim than we'd imagined.

"When they died of natural causes, we took the mana from them."

Confusion gripped the magicians most of all, as a lingering question persisted.

"Even if you only took the mana from them after their deaths, wouldn’t they still have passed on their ability to control mana to their offspring? It doesn’t make sense that none of the current inhabitants of this place can’t control mana at all."

I spoke up for the wood elementals in response.

"That all depends on if there is an environment to nurture it."

"Huh?" The magicians turned to me with puzzled expressions.

Calmly meeting their eyes, I explained, "It’s very simple. Talent doesn’t decide everything."

For magicians steeped in a culture where mana aptitude defined one's worth, this flew in the face of everything they knew. Talent reigned supreme, after all.

So they struggled to grasp anyone challenging that truth.

Still, I stood firm, adding, "Even if they have talent, it doesn’t matter if it can’t manifest in an environment suited for that talent. If they can’t make it bloom, then eventually that talent will disappear."

"So you’re saying that because they couldn’t use that ability, they slowly lost that ability..." Both magicians and scholars perked up at this revelation.

The wood elementals, however, wore shocked expressions as they asked, "How did you know that this is what happened?"

Having watched over these woods for countless years, they knew precisely how the dinosaurs' powers faded across generations until vanishing entirely.

Their reaction drew a hidden wry chuckle from me.

How could I reveal that this was basic knowledge from my previous life?

It amounted to classic natural selection, where unused mana control regressed over time. In my old world, everyone understood how human traits turned vestigial through evolution.

Yet evolution remained an alien idea to this continent's scholars.

Stuck in a medieval era as per the game's world, they wouldn't grasp it if I delved into such concepts.

So I let the matter drop without further elaboration.

At last, this cleared up the total lack of mana in the area.