Kera watched Zeldryn and began to realize something.
Perhaps this was one of the more critical points in the boy's life.
His gaze remained on Zeldryn for several moments before a faint smile appeared on his face.
As though Kera had finally figured out what he needed to do.
“You think that just because you saw someone use magic, you can immediately use it too?” Kera asked while looking at Zeldryn.
In Kera's opinion, dealing with a troublesome child wasn't actually that complicated.
As an adult, there were times when advice alone wouldn't be enough.
A child like that needed to be taught a lesson.
Then, after that, force him out of the comfort zone that had allowed him to believe he could do whatever he wanted.
At least, that was how Kera saw it.
His thoughts then returned to what had happened the previous night.
When Zeldryn screamed in pain.
Zeldryn's scream had been so loud that nearly everyone on the second floor of the mansion could hear it.
Coincidentally, at almost the exact same time, Kera had just arrived from the Giorry family's main residence.
In fact, Kera was still standing in front of the mansion gate when it happened.
Because of the distance, he hadn't heard Zeldryn's scream at all.
But something else caught his attention.
Kera had only just reached the gate when his steps suddenly stopped.
His eyes slowly shifted toward the mansion.
More specifically, toward one section of the second floor.
Something was strange.
Not a sound.
Nor something that could be seen with ordinary eyes.
Mana.
As a Level 3 Manholer, Kera's perception of mana was already far sharper than that of ordinary people or lower-level Manholers.
And from one of the rooms at the far end of the second floor, he sensed an abnormal fluctuation of mana.
Kera narrowed his eyes slightly.
The mana around that section of the mansion seemed to be getting pulled toward a single point.
The amount kept increasing.
But the flow was chaotic.
Unstable.
Someone was trying to absorb mana.
The problem was that whoever was doing it seemed to be pulling in more and more without understanding how much their own body could handle.
“What is that?” Kera muttered quietly.
At first, Kera assumed that one of the guards or soldiers staying at the mansion was attempting to break through to Level 1.
That was the first possibility that came to mind.
Perhaps someone had only recently succeeded in sensing mana and was trying to take the next step.
But Kera had no intention of helping that person.
As far as he was concerned, if someone tried breaking through to Level 1 alone without understanding what they were doing, that wasn't his problem.
Kera wasn't the type of person who enjoyed getting involved in other people's affairs.
The only reason he stopped was curiosity.
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The mana fluctuation he sensed was too strange.
The flow was chaotic, and the amount of mana gathering in one place kept increasing.
It was completely different from the normal patterns Kera was familiar with.
That was what interested him.
Not the person doing it.
Still, Kera didn't immediately jump to conclusions.
He could only sense the mana fluctuation from a distance.
He hadn't seen who was doing it.
He didn't know what method that person was using to absorb mana.
He also didn't know the condition of their body.
Everything in his mind at that point was merely speculation.
Several guards stationed at the gate then greeted Kera upon his arrival.
Kera responded only as much as necessary before walking into the mansion grounds.
He hadn't gone far when the sound of rapid footsteps came from the main building.
A female servant ran outside with panic written across her face.
She was breathing heavily.
“Guards! Guards! Call a healer! Something very strange has happened to Lord Zeldryn!” the servant shouted.
Several guards nearby immediately approached her.
One of them looked at the servant seriously.
“What happened?” the guard asked. “Explain clearly.”
The female servant tried to steady her breathing.
Meanwhile, Kera immediately stopped when he heard their conversation.
Lord Zeldryn?
Kera frowned slightly.
Does she mean the Ninth Young Lord?
Of course Kera knew the name.
He glanced back toward the second floor of the mansion.
Directly toward the source of the abnormal mana fluctuation he had just sensed.
Kera fell silent for a moment.
Then he walked toward the group.
“Do you mean Lord Zeldryn, the Ninth Young Lord?” Kera asked the female servant.
The servant immediately turned toward him.
She had no idea who Kera was.
And with panic still filling her mind, she didn't even have time to think about how she should speak to a stranger who had only just arrived.
“Y-yes! Who else would I mean?” the female servant answered between breaths.
Kera remained silent for a moment.
The pieces of information that had previously been separate began connecting inside his head.
Someone on the second floor was attempting to absorb an abnormal amount of mana.
The fluctuation was chaotic.
The amount being pulled in continued increasing.
Then, not long afterward, a servant ran out of the mansion looking for a healer because something had happened to Zeldryn.
Kera didn't need much time to reach a conclusion.
The person trying to absorb mana, and possibly attempting to break through to Level 1, was Zeldryn.
The Giorry family's Ninth Young Lord.
Kera's expression immediately became more serious.
“Take me to where it happened,” Kera told the servant.
The female servant looked slightly confused.
She stared at Kera for a moment, probably wondering why a man she didn't know had suddenly started giving her orders.
But before she could say anything, Kera spoke again.
“Quickly,” Kera said firmly.
The servant flinched.
“Y-yes!” she answered.
Kera knew this wasn't something that could be taken lightly.
A mistake while absorbing mana could be fatal.
Especially if someone forced themselves to absorb more mana than their body was capable of handling.
Under certain circumstances, a person could genuinely die on the spot from a mistake like that.
Kera himself wasn't the type to care much about other people's problems.
If the person inside that room had merely been a guard or soldier with no connection to him, Kera might have simply observed out of curiosity.
Whatever happened afterward wouldn't have been his concern.
But this time was different.
The person in danger was Zeldryn Giorry.
And Zeldryn wasn't just some stranger.
The boy was directly connected to the task and responsibility Kera had been entrusted with.
Without saying anything else, Kera raised one hand.
His fingers snapped.
Snap!
Mana immediately surged out from his body.
In an instant, it gathered in the air and formed a large oval-shaped platform.
It floated several centimeters above the ground.
Kera immediately stepped onto it.
Before the female servant in front of him could understand what was happening, Kera grabbed her and pulled her onto the mana platform with him.
The servant jolted.
“A-ah!”
Her legs instinctively tensed when she realized she was no longer standing on the ground.
Kera completely ignored her reaction.
“Guide me,” Kera said. “Which room is his?”
In truth, Kera already knew the general direction.
The chaotic mana fluctuation had become even clearer now.
But knowing the direction didn't mean he knew the exact location of Zeldryn's room.
This was Kera's first time visiting the mansion.
Rather than wasting time searching on his own, it was much faster to bring someone who knew the layout.
The female servant still looked shocked.
But because of the urgency of the situation, her surprise only lasted for a moment.
She quickly raised one hand and pointed toward the second floor.
“There!” the servant answered. “The room at the end!”
Kera followed the direction of her finger.
Without wasting another second, the oval mana platform beneath them immediately moved.
Both of them shot away from the courtyard.
The female servant nearly lost her balance when their speed suddenly increased.
Her hands instinctively gripped tightly onto the platform to keep herself from falling.
Wind struck their faces as the mana platform carried them upward toward the second floor of the mansion.
The closer they got to the room the servant had indicated, the more Kera's expression changed.
The fluctuation was becoming even more chaotic.
Mana from the surrounding environment was still being pulled toward the room.
Even from outside, Kera could already sense just how unstable the situation inside had become.
The mana platform finally reached the area directly in front of Zeldryn's bedroom window.
The window was already wide open.
The air inside the room moved chaotically under the uncontrolled flow of mana, causing the curtains and lighter objects near the window to constantly shift.
Kera didn't stop.
He immediately directed the mana platform through the open window.
Kera and the female servant entered the room.
And the moment they saw what was inside, both of them fell silent.
Zeldryn's body was floating in the air.
He was unconscious.
The veins and nerves throughout his body were visibly strained beneath his skin.
But that wasn't the only thing that made Zeldryn's condition look horrifying.
Darkness had spread across almost his entire body.
The pitch-black color covered most of Zeldryn's skin, as though it were slowly swallowing his body whole.