Kera continued his explanation.
“But if we're talking about absorbing mana and closing the Mana Hole's gate...”
He looked carefully at Zeldryn.
“I've actually already explained this.”
“...”
Zeldryn kept watching him.
Kera raised one hand.
“Imagine there's a gate that you can control however you want.”
“If you're truly a Manholer, then you have a Mana Hole.”
“And that Mana Hole has a gate.”
Kera moved his hand as if opening something.
“If you want to absorb mana...”
“Open it.”
Then his hand moved again as if closing it.
“If you don't want mana entering your Mana Hole anymore...”
“Close it.”
Kera shrugged and glanced slightly behind him.
“Easy, right?”
“...”
Zeldryn narrowed his eyes.
‘Bastard...’
‘I already know that, damn it.’
That was exactly the problem.
He already understood the explanation about opening and closing the gate.
What confused him was what happened before he understood any of those concepts.
Zeldryn finally opened his mouth.
“Look, Kera.”
Kera turned toward him.
“Last night, when I first tried absorbing mana, I didn't know anything about the concept of a gate.”
Zeldryn pointed toward his lower abdomen.
“I didn't even understand how a Mana Hole absorbed mana.”
Kera stayed silent and let him continue.
“All I did back then was close my eyes and focus on mana.”
“After that, I saw mana particles inside my mind.”
Zeldryn frowned as he tried to remember what had happened.
“I didn't move them.”
“I just let them be.”
“And then suddenly...”
His hand moved slightly.
“The mana was absorbed by something dark.”
“At the time, I didn't even know that darkness was my Mana Hole.”
Zeldryn looked at Kera.
“So if I use your explanation now...”
“It seems like I opened the Mana Hole's gate without realizing it.”
Kera heard that and immediately replied,
“If you really did nothing to the mana, it wouldn't suddenly get absorbed for no reason.”
“...?”
Zeldryn immediately paid closer attention.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Kera narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Let me ask you something.”
“At that time...”
“You really wanted to absorb mana, didn't you?”
Zeldryn fell silent.
“...”
He tried to remember what had been going through his mind that night.
And the answer was actually obvious.
“Yes.”
Zeldryn nodded.
“Now that I think about it, yeah.”
“I really wanted to absorb mana back then.”
“Even though I just let the particles stay still, deep down I really did want that mana to be absorbed.”
Zeldryn let out a short breath.
“The problem is...”
“I didn't know anything about the theory behind mana or Mana Holes.”
Kera smiled slightly.
“Yup.”
He pointed at Zeldryn.
“That's your answer.”
“Your desire to absorb mana probably caused you to open the Mana Hole's gate without realizing it.”
“...”
Zeldryn's eyes narrowed slightly.
‘There.’
‘Finally, we're getting to the real problem.’
He had already considered that possibility earlier.
Now Kera was saying the same thing.
Which meant his reasoning wasn't completely wrong.
But precisely after that point...
The real problem appeared.
Zeldryn spoke again.
“Yeah, but Kera...”
Kera waited.
“You know I lost consciousness last night.”
Kera's smile didn't change.
Zeldryn continued,
“And based on what you explained earlier...”
“It seems like I experienced some kind of mana overload.”
Zeldryn held his lower abdomen.
“It kept feeling like something blunt was hitting me from inside here.”
“Over and over again.”
“And the pain kept getting worse.”
Zeldryn's expression hardened slightly just from remembering it.
“I couldn't even maintain my focus anymore.”
“I wasn't thinking about how to absorb mana.”
“I wasn't concentrating like I was when I first started either.”
Kera continued listening.
“There was only one thing I wanted at that time.”
Zeldryn looked at him seriously.
“To stop absorbing mana.”
“I didn't want the pain to continue.”
“But the mana kept entering.”
“And eventually, I lost consciousness.”
“...”
Zeldryn finally asked the question that had been circling in his mind this entire time.
“If you said earlier that the gate could open unconsciously because of how strongly I wanted to absorb mana...”
“Then when I desperately wanted to stop absorbing mana...”
He frowned.
“Shouldn't the gate have closed too?”
“Isn't wanting to stop absorbing mana the same as wanting to close the Mana Hole's gate?”
Kera fell silent for a moment.
Then...
A small smile appeared on his face.
“That sounds reasonable.”
!!??
Zeldryn waited for his answer.
“But you know...”
Kera raised one finger.
“The answer is actually already inside your own question.”
Zeldryn frowned.
“Huh?”
Kera smiled.
“You just said...”
“Without realizing it.”
“...”
Zeldryn fell silent.
Kera continued,
“You opened the Mana Hole's gate without realizing it when you first tried absorbing mana.”
“Right?”
Zeldryn slowly nodded.
“Yes.”
“There.”
Kera shrugged slightly.
“Just because you managed to open it once without realizing it...”
He looked at Zeldryn.
“Does that mean you must also be able to close it without realizing it?”
“...”
Zeldryn froze.
Kera wasn't finished.
“You said it yourself. Back then, you didn't even understand the Mana Hole.”
“You didn't know how it worked.”
“You didn't know there was a gate.”
“You didn't know how to open it.”
“And of course...”
“You didn't know how to close it either.”
Kera raised both hands slightly.
“So just because you managed to do something once without realizing it...”
“Why did you immediately assume you must also be able to do the opposite in the exact same way?”
!!??
Zeldryn stared at Kera.
Kera's smile then widened.
“There's a saying...”
“Once is luck.”
He paused for a moment.
“The second time is skill.”
“...”
Zeldryn didn't answer immediately.
The sentence was simple.
But slowly...
All the thoughts that had been colliding inside his head began falling into place.
‘That makes sense.’
It made perfect sense.
That night...
Zeldryn didn't understand mana or the Mana Hole at all.
But because his desire to absorb mana was so strong, somehow he managed to open the gate without realizing it.
After learning about the concept of the gate from Kera...
Zeldryn had started treating what happened that night as if it had been one of his abilities.
As though because he could open the gate unconsciously, he should also be able to close it unconsciously.
But...
‘That was just my own assumption.’
There was no basis for saying the two had to work the same way.
Zeldryn rubbed his chin.
‘Looks like I really should go back to the simpler possibility.’
‘I got lucky.’
That night, he managed to open the gate without knowing how.
That was all.
And just because he managed to open it unconsciously...
Didn't mean he automatically had the ability to close it unconsciously as well.
‘Yeah...’
‘Thinking about it that way makes a lot more sense.’
Zeldryn remained silent for quite a while.
All the theories that had been spinning around inside his head finally felt a little simpler.
And at the same time...
He realized something.
‘Damn.’
‘So having a teacher really is this important.’
If he kept thinking about everything by himself...
He might just keep creating theories.
Arguing against his own theories.
Creating another theory.
Then getting lost inside his own thoughts again.
Without someone who actually understood mana pointing out which parts were wrong...
He could keep drifting around endlessly.
Maybe even reach a completely incorrect conclusion.
‘I'm literally the example.’
Zeldryn clicked his tongue softly.
‘Damn it.’
Meanwhile...
Kera simply watched Zeldryn, who had been silent for quite a while.
He could see the small changes in the boy's expression.
From confusion.
To thinking.
Then slowly becoming like someone who had finally understood something.
“...”
Kera's smile began to widen.
His face looked like someone who had just gained a strange sense of satisfaction from something.