Zeldryn immediately closed his eyes.
He directed his consciousness toward his Mana Hole.
And...
!!
‘Just as I thought.’
Empty.
His Mana Hole truly felt dry.
There was almost none of the fullness he had felt earlier after absorbing mana.
Zeldryn could only stare at its condition inside his mind.
‘Damn it.’
‘My mana ran out way too fast.’
He had filled it earlier until he could personally feel that his Mana Hole was full.
Yet after only one session of experimentation...
Almost all of it had been drained.
‘If this were a real fight...’
Zeldryn could immediately imagine the outcome.
No mana.
His body started weakening.
His opponent was still standing in front of him.
‘I’d definitely die on the spot.’
“...”
But after thinking about it again...
‘Well, I guess that makes sense.’
Kera himself had already said that Zeldryn wasn’t even worthy of being called a Level 1 Manholer yet.
Right now, he was only a Level 1 Manholer candidate.
The amount of mana he could hold was still small.
He had only learned control today.
And...
Zeldryn remembered what he had just done.
Binding particles together.
Taking apart their outer layers.
Holding the inner parts in place.
Cutting through the mana layer without touching the smaller parts inside.
Then trying to figure out how to put everything back together.
“...”
‘And I guess what I did earlier was a little extreme.’
Zeldryn stayed silent for a few moments.
Then corrected himself.
‘Not a little.’
‘That was seriously extreme.’
When he thought about it...
What he had just done sounded insane.
Like a baby who had only just learned how to stand...
Then suddenly picked up a knife and tried to dissect human organs.
Zeldryn had only learned the basics of the Mana Hole today.
He had only just learned how to open and close its gate.
He had only just learned how to properly absorb mana.
Yet only a few hours later...
He was already trying to dissect a mana particle itself.
“...”
The corner of Zeldryn’s lips lifted slightly.
‘Now that I think about it, that was pretty crazy.’
“Hahaha...”
He almost felt a little proud of himself.
But the emptiness inside his Mana Hole quickly reminded him of his situation.
‘But now’s not the time to think I’m cool, damn it.’
His priority was obvious.
Refill the Mana Hole.
Zeldryn already knew how.
He only needed to do the same thing as before.
Open the gate.
Let mana enter.
Absorb enough.
Then close it again.
‘Okay.’
Zeldryn began focusing his mind.
He imagined the Mana Hole’s gate.
Then...
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‘Open.’
At first, everything felt normal.
The gate began responding.
Zeldryn could also feel the mana outside approaching.
But...
“...”
!!??
‘Huh?’
Something felt strange.
Zeldryn tried maintaining his focus.
‘Come on.’
He wanted to absorb mana.
He knew how to do it.
He had even done it only a short while ago.
But now...
His body felt heavy.
Not his Mana Hole.
His entire body.
“Ugh...”
Zeldryn shook his head slightly.
‘What is this?’
His thoughts also began to feel slower.
Even though he still wanted to continue.
Still wanted to absorb mana.
His body and mind seemed to be saying the exact same thing.
Stop.
‘Why?’
His eyelids began feeling heavy.
Zeldryn tried opening them wider.
“...”
‘Sleepy?’
He could barely believe it.
‘Damn it, what’s happening?’
Only moments ago, he had coughed up blood.
His Mana Hole was empty.
His heart was still beating quickly from the experiment he had just performed.
His adrenaline should still have been high.
So why...
Did he suddenly want to sleep?
“Haah...”
Zeldryn tried regulating his breathing.
But his head only became heavier.
His vision slowly began losing focus.
‘Wait.’
His body started tilting.
Zeldryn instinctively tried supporting himself with one hand.
But...
His hand was too late.
THUD.
Zeldryn’s body fell onto the bed.
“...What the hell is this?”
He tried getting back up.
He couldn’t.
Not because his body was paralyzed.
He was just...
Too exhausted.
It felt as though all the strength in his body had disappeared at once.
Zeldryn stared at the ceiling with half-open eyes.
‘Mental exhaustion?’
That was the only possibility that came to mind.
But...
‘I’ve never heard Kera mention anything like this.’
Even in the novel he had read...
He couldn’t remember any explanation like this.
Running out of mana.
Then suddenly becoming so sleepy that he could barely move his body.
‘Damn it...’
His eyelids sank lower.
Zeldryn tried fighting it.
‘Not now.’
He had just discovered something.
His experiment had almost reached the most interesting part.
He had already managed to separate the outer layer of a mana particle.
He had already managed to hold its inner parts.
All that remained was figuring out how to melt and reshape the outer layer.
‘Just a little more...’
His eyes became even heavier.
‘Come on.’
Zeldryn tried gritting his teeth.
‘Please, I’m almost there, damn it...’
But his body didn’t care about what he wanted at all.
Zeldryn’s vision grew darker.
The sounds around him slowly drifted farther away.
“...”
And finally...
His eyes closed.
Darkness.
Zeldryn fell asleep on his bed.
“...”
The room became silent again.
Only the candlelight flickered gently.
Some time passed.
Then...
Near the chair where Zeldryn had been sitting earlier...
Mana suddenly fluctuated.
The air there seemed to change.
Something that had previously been hidden slowly began to appear.
A white robe.
Black hair.
Square glasses.
And a smile that grew wider and wider.
Kera.
The man was standing there.
As though from the very beginning...
He had deliberately concealed his presence.
Kera didn’t move immediately.
He simply stared at Zeldryn, who had already fallen asleep on the bed.
Then his gaze shifted toward the mana particles Zeldryn had been using earlier.
“...”
His smile grew even wider.
“Crazy...”
Kera could barely hold back his laughter.
“This really is exactly what I expected.”
Ever since the previous night...
When he had saved Zeldryn...
Kera had already felt that there was something strange about this boy.
A Mana Hole running wild.
Uncontrolled mana absorption.
And most importantly...
Zeldryn had done it himself.
Without a teacher.
Without guidance.
Without anyone standing beside him to stop him if something went wrong.
‘This brat really is insane.’
In this world...
Learning mana alone wasn’t something people did recklessly.
Even a small mistake could be dangerous.
And the incident the previous night was very clear proof.
Zeldryn had tried absorbing mana for the first time by himself.
The result?
He had nearly killed himself.
And now...
Only one day after that incident...
The same boy had started experimenting again.
Kera looked once more at the blood on Zeldryn’s hand.
“...”
And the smile on his face only became stranger.
Because this time...
Zeldryn hadn’t merely tried absorbing mana.
He had attempted something that had even left Kera speechless when he saw it.
Splitting apart the outer layer of a mana particle.
“...”
Kera stared at the mana particles around the room.
‘Genius.’
That one word immediately appeared in his mind.
But only for a moment.
Kera slowly shook his head.
‘No.’
His smile widened.
‘This brat is a monster.’
Even Kera himself had never thought of looking at mana particles in that way.
Taking them apart.
Separating their outer layers.
Then trying to combine what was inside them.
‘Where the hell did he even get an idea like that?’
Normally...
To shape a collection of mana into a more defined form...
A Manholer needed a much higher level of understanding.
At least a Level 2 Manholer.
Or a Level 1 Manholer who was already very close to their next advancement.
And even the usual method was different.
They would try to combine mana directly.
Merge it.
Shape it.
But Zeldryn...
Kera raised his hand slightly.
As though he was still recalling every step he had just witnessed.
This brat had instead thought of taking the mana particle apart first.
“...”
‘Is the theory and method new?’
Kera briefly thought so.
But a few seconds later...
He shook his head.
‘No.’
He was only a Level 3 Manholer.
This world was far too vast.
Surely someone out there had tried something similar before.
Perhaps a high-level Manholer.
Perhaps someone who had spent their entire life researching mana.
Kera wasn’t arrogant enough to assume something had never been discovered simply because he had never seen it himself.
But there was one thing he could be certain of...
Not by a low-level Manholer.
Much less...
A child who hadn’t even reached Level 1.
Kera looked at Zeldryn again.
“...”
‘He looks more like a researcher than a fighter.’
Always questioning things.
Trying.
Failing.
Changing the concept.
Trying again.
And the moment he found a result...
He immediately picked that result apart and searched for the next possibility.
Kera began imagining something.
If this child continued to be trained...
If his curiosity never disappeared...
If he truly kept developing...
Kera’s smile grew wider.
‘Lady Anna!’
He almost wanted to burst out laughing.
‘You really are incredible.’
‘Hahahahaha!’
Even her own flesh and blood...
Turned out to possess extraordinary talent.
Kera still remembered Anna’s words.
She hadn’t asked Zeldryn to become someone great.
She hadn’t asked for her son to become someone known throughout the entire kingdom.
She hadn’t asked Kera to turn Zeldryn into a great Manholer.
What that woman wanted was far simpler.
But...
Kera looked at the boy sleeping on the bed.
‘My apologies, Lady Anna.’
‘It seems your wish might be a little difficult.’
Because after everything he had seen Zeldryn do since he arrived...
Kera was becoming more and more certain.
This child might become someone truly extraordinary in the future.
“...”
But then...
Another question appeared.
Kera’s smile changed slightly.
‘But...’
Why?
If Zeldryn had always been like this...
Why had he been known as a troublesome child all this time?
Rebellious.
A troublemaker.
Even his reputation throughout the mansion was clearly terrible.
Kera remembered every interaction he had with Zeldryn since morning.
The way the boy evaluated situations.
The way he questioned explanations.
The way he understood concepts.
Even when he was wrong...
He could recognize where his mistake was after receiving only a small hint.
“...”
Kera stared at Zeldryn for quite a while.
‘Strange.’
From morning until tonight...
What he had seen wasn’t a stupid child.
Quite the opposite.
Zeldryn seemed extremely intelligent when evaluating something.
Quick to understand things.
And the way he thought...
“...”
Kera narrowed his eyes.
It was as though it didn’t belong to a twelve-year-old child.