The Life I Refuse To Waste [Slow Burn | Isekai | Remastered ]

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Zeldryn was still staring at his lower abdomen as a new conclusion began to form in his mind.

'So the reason mana kept flowing in that night, and the reason I almost went too far again earlier... is because I still don't know how to cut off the flow of mana entering my Mana Hole?'

He remained silent for several seconds before another thought abruptly struck him.

'Wait.'

If that conclusion was correct, then there was a much more immediate problem.

'Doesn't that mean I'm still absorbing mana right now without realizing it?'

Zeldryn immediately raised his head. “Kera.”

“Hmm?”

“Then...” He pointed toward his lower abdomen. “Doesn't that mean I'm still absorbing mana right now without realizing it?”

Kera stared at him for a moment before a small smile appeared on his face.

“Focus on your Mana Hole and tell me what's happening.”

Zeldryn frowned, but he did not need to be told twice. He immediately closed his eyes and directed his consciousness inward.

The rustling of leaves, the wind moving between the trees, and the distant calls of birds gradually seemed to drift farther away as he shut everything else out. Before long, darkness once again filled his awareness.

At the center of that darkness was his Mana Hole. It still had no definite shape or visible boundary, appearing only as an impossibly deep section of darkness within the darkness surrounding it.

Then Zeldryn noticed something.

One mana particle appeared within his awareness and slowly moved toward the Mana Hole. The instant it reached the darkness, it vanished, swallowed without resistance. Another particle followed, then another, each disappearing in exactly the same way.

Zeldryn's expression tightened.

'It's true. Mana is still flowing in.'

Kera had been right. Even though Zeldryn was no longer consciously trying to absorb anything, the process he had started earlier had not stopped. Mana continued appearing within his awareness and entering his Mana Hole one particle after another.

The moment he understood that, the events of the previous night came rushing back.

He remembered the pain spreading through his body, the feeling of being struck from the inside, and the mana that had refused to stop entering no matter how badly he wanted it to end. Eventually, his consciousness had simply disappeared.

Zeldryn's eyes snapped open.

“Kera!”

His voice carried more panic than he intended, but Kera remained standing there as casually as before.

“What?”

“I'm still absorbing it!” Zeldryn pointed at his stomach. “Mana is still coming in!”

Kera merely stared at him, which only made Zeldryn more restless.

“What am I supposed to do now? How do I stop it? How do I close it?”

Kera let out a long sigh. “Good grief...”

He turned slightly away from Zeldryn.

“That's one of the most basic things, you know.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Zeldryn's irritation immediately returned.

Kera glanced back over his shoulder. “Stupid brat.”

'Bastard. If I knew the answer, I wouldn't be asking you!'

Kera raised one finger. “Alright. I'll give you another question.”

Zeldryn was beginning to hate this man's teaching method.

“In your opinion...” Kera pointed toward Zeldryn's lower abdomen. “Why can a Mana Hole absorb mana?”

Zeldryn fell silent.

'Huh?'

What kind of question was that supposed to be?

'How the hell would I know?'

He had only learned about the existence of his Mana Hole the previous day, and now Kera was asking him to explain its basic mechanism.

'Damn it. Why did my first mentor have to be someone like this?'

Still, Zeldryn did not complain aloud. Kera had said the answer was something basic, which meant it probably was not supposed to be too complicated.

He tried to recall everything that had happened since the first time he absorbed mana.

Mana appeared within his awareness because it existed in the environment around him. A particle would approach his Mana Hole, reach the darkness, and then disappear inside.

That was all.

Zeldryn frowned as another thought occurred to him.

'Wait. All this time, it feels like I've simply... allowed it.'

The moment a particle approached the Mana Hole, the darkness immediately swallowed it.

'Does the Mana Hole automatically absorb mana if I just let it?'

That idea created another problem.

If everyone with a Mana Hole automatically absorbed mana without any way to stop the process, then every Manholer should eventually suffer from mana overload. They would constantly take in mana while sleeping, eating, walking, or doing anything else until their Mana Hole reached its limit and their own body began suffering the consequences.

'That doesn't make sense.'

There had to be something controlling the process.

But what?

Zeldryn stared at the ground as he tried to break everything down from the beginning.

'Why does a Mana Hole absorb mana? Why was I able to start it earlier, and why don't I know how to stop it now?'

Several moments passed before Kera finally sighed again.

“Good grief... You really are...”

He slowly shook his head before apparently deciding that Zeldryn had struggled long enough.

“Imagine there's a gate covering your Mana Hole.”

Zeldryn immediately focused on him.

“You can move that gate however you want,” Kera continued. “Consciously.”

He moved one hand as though opening something.

“If you want to absorb mana, you open it.”

Then he reversed the motion.

“If you want to stop, you just clo...”

Zeldryn froze.

'A gate? Something I can consciously move?'

The idea connected with something inside his mind almost immediately.

Without warning, Zeldryn closed his eyes.

Kera, who was still in the middle of explaining, stopped speaking.

Zeldryn did not notice. His consciousness had already returned to his Mana Hole, where mana particles were still approaching one after another.

'A gate. Something I can consciously open and close.'

Until now, perhaps all he had ever done was open it. He had never once tried to close it.

Zeldryn concentrated.

He had no idea what this supposed gate actually looked like or whether anything resembling a physical door existed inside his body at all. Kera had only told him to imagine it as a gate.

So Zeldryn did the only thing he could.

He imagined.

'Close.'

His intention was simple.

'Don't let anything enter.'

Mana particles continued approaching. One was already close enough to disappear into the darkness when it suddenly stopped.

Zeldryn's attention sharpened.

Another particle approached from behind it, moving toward the Mana Hole, but that one stopped as well. More mana continued drifting closer, yet none of it could pass beyond the same invisible point.

It was as though something unseen had appeared between the particles and the Mana Hole, preventing them from moving any farther.

Like they had struck a wall.

'It worked?'

Zeldryn concentrated harder.

The mana particles that had previously disappeared into the darkness without resistance now gathered outside the Mana Hole instead. Not a single one entered.

The flow had stopped.

'I closed it...'

Several steps away, Kera stood with one hand still slightly raised from his unfinished explanation.

He stared at the brat who had suddenly closed his eyes while Kera was still talking and immediately understood what had happened. Zeldryn had gained some insight from the explanation and was attempting to close the flow into his Mana Hole by himself.

Good.

At least he had understood quickly this time.

However, Kera's brow slowly began to twitch.

There was one problem.

Zeldryn had just ignored him in the middle of a sentence.

Kera slowly clenched his fist as the strange smile he usually wore began to disappear.

'This brat...'

Zeldryn remained completely unaware of Kera's growing irritation. His attention was still fixed on the mana that could no longer enter his Mana Hole.

'So this is how it works?'

Before he could examine it any further, something suddenly grabbed his ear.

“OW!”

Zeldryn's concentration shattered instantly, and his eyes flew open.

“What the hell!?”

Kera was already standing right beside him with one hand firmly gripping Zeldryn's ear. Before Zeldryn could pull away, Kera twisted it without mercy.

“Ow, ow, ow!”

Zeldryn instinctively tried to retreat, but Kera refused to let go.

“YOU!”

For the first time since Zeldryn had met him, Kera's voice sounded genuinely irritated.

“You dare ignore my explanation, you damn brat?!”

Zeldryn immediately looked at his face and, for a moment, almost forgot about the pain in his ear.

Kera was normally relaxed, cold, and difficult to read. That strange smile seemed almost permanently attached to his face, as though nothing around him ever truly bothered him.

Now, however, he looked genuinely annoyed.

Zeldryn stared at him with slightly widened eyes.

'...Huh? So this bastard can actually get angry too?'

As far as Zeldryn was concerned, this might have been one of the rarest phenomena he had witnessed since meeting Kera.

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