After saying all of that, Zeldryn remained standing in front of the window for several seconds.
But slowly, embarrassment began creeping in.
...Wait.
He lowered the hand that had just been holding a middle finger toward the sky.
Why did that feel kind of chuuni, damn it?
Zeldryn immediately looked away.
“Whatever.”
Luckily, no one had seen him.
At least, he hoped so.
This time, Zeldryn had no intention of wasting any more time.
He stepped away from the window and returned to the middle of the room.
If he had already confirmed that he possessed the potential to become a Manholer, then there was no reason to stop now.
He needed to train.
Zeldryn sat down again and tried to remember the contents of Life Really Is Happy, Right?
More specifically...
What had the protagonist done after first gaining enlightenment about mana?
Zeldryn closed his eyes for a moment.
Thinking hard.
Trying to recall the thousands of chapters he had read.
But after a while...
His expression began to turn irritated.
Nothing.
Once again, that novel's author had barely explained anything in depth.
All Zeldryn could remember were vague narrations about the protagonist training hard.
Meditating.
Developing his abilities.
Then, a few chapters later, suddenly becoming much stronger.
There had never been any real explanation of how he trained mana from the beginning.
“Damn it.”
Zeldryn rubbed his face.
“Would it kill you to be useful for once, you bastard author?”
There was no point relying on his memories of the novel if the information he needed had never been explained in the first place.
In the end...
He would have to figure it out himself.
Zeldryn focused his vision again.
Slowly, thousands of mana particles became visible throughout the room.
The golden-yellow particles floated in every direction.
Some moved slowly.
Some were almost completely still.
Others passed through one another.
Zeldryn studied them carefully.
But this time...
He noticed something he hadn't seen before.
!!??
Zeldryn leaned his face slightly closer.
Wait.
Inside one mana particle...
There was something even smaller.
Zeldryn narrowed his eyes.
Not just one.
The more closely he focused, the clearer it became that the mana particles he had always seen as single tiny points actually contained even smaller parts within them.
“Damn...”
Zeldryn stared in amazement.
“Is this some kind of atom?”
He had no idea whether the comparison was actually accurate.
But for someone from the modern world, that was the closest image his mind could come up with.
A particle.
And then something even smaller inside that particle.
Zeldryn raised his hand.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
His finger slowly approached one of the mana particles floating in front of him.
He tried touching it.
Maybe things were different now?
Maybe after successfully moving mana earlier, he could finally interact with it directly?
His finger passed straight through the particle.
No sensation at all.
“...”
Zeldryn pulled his hand back.
Well.
Of course it wouldn't be that easy.
That had been far too naive.
He had already proven that physical force couldn't interact with mana.
There was no reason for that rule to suddenly change just because he had managed to move a few particles.
In that case...
Zeldryn tried using the method that had worked before.
Imagination.
He chose one mana particle floating not far from his face.
His gaze locked completely onto it.
To the right.
Zeldryn imagined it moving.
And...
!!??
The particle actually shifted to the right.
Zeldryn's eyes immediately widened.
“...It moved.”
Not a coincidence.
This time, he had seen it clearly.
The particle moved exactly as he imagined.
But at that exact moment...
A strange sensation appeared from inside his body.
Zeldryn instinctively placed a hand over his lower abdomen.
More specifically...
Below his navel.
“...?”
It didn't hurt.
But it felt like something was moving.
Trembling.
Pulsing faintly.
The sensation was so unfamiliar that Zeldryn instinctively closed his eyes.
And when his eyes shut...
!!??
There was something inside the darkness of his mind.
A hole.
It had no clearly defined shape.
No visible boundary.
It looked like a section of the darkness itself that was somehow deeper than everything around it.
Zeldryn focused on it.
At the center of that dark hole was a golden-yellow color.
Very faint.
But unmistakably there.
Zeldryn held his breath.
This is...
He had read before about something that should exist beneath a Manholer's navel.
A place used to store and absorb mana.
“Mana Hole...?”
The words escaped his mouth naturally.
Zeldryn stared at it with growing curiosity.
So this was what his Mana Hole looked like?
Or at least...
Was this how his mind interpreted its existence?
He wanted to observe it longer.
But another curiosity immediately appeared.
Zeldryn opened his eyes.
Mana particles once again filled the room.
He searched for another one.
This time, he imagined it moving to the left.
To the left.
The particle moved.
Exactly as he wanted.
And at the same time...
The same sensation appeared below his navel again.
A small fluctuation.
Zeldryn immediately looked down at his stomach.
Why am I only feeling this now?
When he first made two particles collide...
He hadn't felt anything.
Even when he controlled six particles at once to create an explosion behind Kera...
There had been no sensation like this.
Or...
Was there?
Zeldryn frowned.
Was my adrenaline just too high back then?
He had been getting punched.
Kicked.
In pain.
And constantly watching out for Kera, whom he couldn't even see.
Maybe the sensation from his Mana Hole had been buried beneath all of that pain and tension.
Zeldryn didn't know.
But now he could test it in a calmer situation.
He selected two mana particles.
One on the right.
Another on the left.
This one to the right.
That one to the left.
Both moved at the same time.
Zeldryn's eyes widened further.
And this time...
The fluctuation from his Mana Hole felt slightly stronger.
“...”
Zeldryn smiled.
There was something different about that smile.
It wasn't mocking.
It wasn't irritated either.
It was pure excitement.
Curiosity.
And a little disbelief.
Is this really magic?
Something that throughout Reka's entire life had only existed on screens.
Read about in novels.
Imagined through comics.
Or displayed as visual effects in games.
Something impossible for humans in his original world.
But now...
He was doing it himself.
For real.
Zeldryn became even more excited.
“If I can do two...”
He focused his mind again.
Three particles.
They moved.
Then five.
Success.
Seven.
Still moving.
Ten.
The fluctuation from his Mana Hole became stronger.
But Zeldryn didn't stop.
Twelve.
Thirteen.
Fourteen.
Until finally...
Fifteen mana particles moved simultaneously.
Every single one followed his will.
Zeldryn held his breath.
The Mana Hole beneath his navel was fluctuating far more strongly than before.
There was pressure.
A sense of heaviness.
As though something inside his body was being forced to work much harder.
And somehow...
Zeldryn's instincts told him one thing.
Fifteen.
His gaze remained fixed on every particle under his control.
I think this is my limit.
His body seemed to be telling him exactly that.
Stop.
That's enough.
But...
Zeldryn was still a beginner.
And like many beginners...
The easiest mistake to make was ignoring your limit simply because you felt like you had finally begun to understand something.
Zeldryn looked at another particle.
The sixteenth.
One more.
Just one.
If fifteen worked, then shouldn't sixteen only be slightly harder?
Zeldryn focused his mind.
He tried pulling the sixteenth particle under his control.
The particle began to move.
And at that exact moment...
!!!??
Zeldryn's expression changed instantly.
A painfully familiar sensation suddenly struck his lower abdomen.
Not merely pressure.
It felt as though something blunt had smashed into the inside of his body with tremendous force.
“COUGGH!”
Zeldryn's body immediately doubled over.
His control over every mana particle vanished at once.
The fifteen particles that had previously moved according to his will immediately returned to their natural movements.
Zeldryn instinctively covered his mouth with one hand.
But something warm came up from his throat.
He opened his eyes.
Blood.
His palm was covered in blood.
“...?”
Zeldryn stared at it.
His breathing suddenly became heavier.
Not only because of the pain.
But because he recognized that sensation.
This pain...
It was incredibly familiar.
Zeldryn grabbed his lower abdomen.
There was no mistaking it.
This was the same pain.
The pain he had felt that night.
When mana kept entering his body.
When it felt as though his body was being destroyed from the inside.
Right before he lost consciousness.
“...But why?”
Zeldryn wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Why isn't it like last night?”
The pain was certainly sharp.
He had even coughed up blood.
But after releasing his control over the mana particles...
The pain began to fade.
It didn't continue getting worse.
His body wasn't deteriorating further.
And he didn't feel as though he was about to lose consciousness.
Is it because I can control mana now?
Zeldryn wondered.
Or...
Is this simply what happens to a Manholer during the early stages?
Some kind of reaction from exceeding his limit?
A warning from his body?
The limit of his Mana Hole?
Zeldryn didn't know.
There were still far too many things he didn't understand.
And he still didn't know exactly what had happened to him the previous night.
Zeldryn stared at the blood covering his palm.
A few moments later...
He let out a long sigh.
“Damn it.”
Zeldryn clenched his hand.
“So I really was pushing myself too far.”
His gaze slowly shifted toward the bedroom door.
For the first time since Kera left, Zeldryn felt that perhaps the irritating man was far more useful than he wanted to admit.
“Looks like I don't have another choice.”
Zeldryn clicked his tongue.
“I'll have to ask that bastard Kera.”
He looked back at the blood on his hand.
“No matter how much of an asshole he is...”
Zeldryn sighed.
“He's still the only person who can teach me right now.”