Zeldryn immediately felt irritated when he heard Kera's question.
“...”
The problem was...
Kera was right.
Zeldryn's original reason for leaving his room really had been to find the man.
He wanted to consult him about mana.
Especially about the limits of his control and why he had ended up vomiting blood when he tried controlling sixteen particles at the same time.
But somehow...
After everything that had just happened in the kitchen, admitting it directly felt incredibly annoying.
‘Damn it.’
‘Why does he have to ask with that irritating look on his face?’
Zeldryn stared at Kera for a few moments.
Part of him wanted to respond with an insult.
But he quickly held himself back.
There was no point.
Just this once, he had to act like an adult.
Zeldryn sighed.
“Yes.”
Kera raised an eyebrow slightly.
“I was looking for you because I wanted to ask about mana,” Zeldryn answered.
The servants in the kitchen simply listened to their conversation.
Not a single one dared to speak.
Even the atmosphere, which had already been tense before, became even quieter after Kera appeared.
Kera carefully observed Zeldryn for several seconds.
Then he simply said,
“Follow me.”
“Huh?”
Kera had already turned around before Zeldryn could ask anything else.
The man immediately walked toward the kitchen exit.
Zeldryn stared at his back.
“...”
‘At least tell me where we're going first, damn it.’
But in the end, he said nothing.
Zeldryn simply followed Kera from behind.
The two of them walked through several parts of the mansion.
They passed through the main hall before eventually heading toward the mansion's exit.
Kera kept walking without saying anything.
Zeldryn also chose to remain silent.
A short while later, they arrived in front of the main door.
Kera opened it.
CREAK.
Sunlight immediately poured in from outside.
!!??
Zeldryn instinctively narrowed his eyes and raised one hand to cover part of his face.
Bright.
Far brighter than the light that usually entered through his bedroom window.
The wind immediately brushed against his face and hair.
Zeldryn slowly lowered his hand.
Then...
He stepped forward.
One foot crossed the threshold.
Then the other.
Zeldryn stopped.
‘...’
Only now did he realize it.
This was the first time he had actually stepped outside the mansion since arriving in this world.
Until now, he had already seen the outside world through the window of his room on the second floor.
The village.
The trees.
The forest.
The clear sky.
But seeing everything through a window and standing directly in the middle of it turned out to be completely different.
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Zeldryn looked around.
In front of the mansion were various plants arranged quite neatly.
Several servants could be seen taking care of them.
Some were carrying water.
Some were cleaning parts of the courtyard.
Others were tending to the plants growing along the road leading toward the main gate.
Farther away, guards stood around the gate.
Some were standing watch.
Others were talking with fellow guards while still keeping an eye on their surroundings.
The air felt incredibly clean.
No smell of vehicle exhaust.
No sound of engines.
No modern buildings.
Only the sound of wind, rustling leaves, footsteps, and the activities of the people around the mansion.
Zeldryn took a deep breath.
“...Damn.”
He stared at everything around him.
“Even though I've already seen it from the window...”
The corner of his lips lifted slightly.
“Seeing it directly like this is still damn beautiful.”
Kera, who was already several steps ahead, didn't stop at all.
Zeldryn immediately snapped back to attention when he noticed.
‘Oi.’
‘At least wait for a second, bastard.’
He quickly caught up.
Several servants and guards were actually watching the two of them.
But strangely...
No one tried to approach them.
Some people who noticed Kera even immediately looked away and returned to their work.
As though they had chosen to pretend the man wasn't there.
Zeldryn briefly noticed their reactions.
‘...?’
But Kera continued walking.
And since Zeldryn's main goal was to learn about mana, he didn't stop to think about it any further.
The two passed through the mansion's main gate.
Then they followed the road outside the residence.
The farther they traveled from the mansion, the fewer people they saw.
Buildings also began to disappear.
The land around them slowly turned into an area covered with grass and trees.
Until eventually...
They entered a forest.
Zeldryn immediately recognized it.
‘This is...’
The same forest.
The forest he had always been able to see from his bedroom window.
But once again...
Actually standing inside it felt different.
The scent of soil and trees filled his nose.
Wind passing through the leaves created rustling sounds from every direction.
Sunlight slipped between the leaves, creating irregular shadows across the ground.
Zeldryn continued following Kera.
But the man still showed no sign of stopping.
One minute.
Several minutes.
They continued deeper into the forest.
Zeldryn began to frown.
‘Where the hell are we actually going?’
He almost asked.
His mouth had even opened slightly.
But...
Zeldryn stared at Kera's back.
Then closed his mouth again.
‘Pointless.’
He could already imagine the man's answer.
Just follow me, brat.
Or perhaps something worse.
Shut up and walk, you troublesome brat.
Zeldryn sighed.
‘Whatever.’
He gave up on asking and continued following him.
A short while later...
Kera finally stopped.
Zeldryn stopped as well.
They were now quite deep inside the forest.
The trees around them were much denser.
Kera looked around briefly before his gaze stopped on one particular tree.
The tree was quite large.
Its trunk looked thick and sturdy.
Its branches spread in multiple directions, with dense leaves covering part of the sky above.
Kera raised his hand.
He pointed toward the tree.
“Try using your mana.”
Zeldryn stared at the tree.
Kera continued,
“Blow up that tree.”
!!??
Zeldryn immediately turned toward him.
‘Blow up the tree?’
He looked back at the trunk, which was much larger than his own body.
‘Is that even realistic?’
The only ability he had managed to learn so far was moving several mana particles.
Even the explosion he'd successfully created was nothing more than a small blast.
‘I can barely make something like a firecracker, damn it.’
But Zeldryn didn't voice his complaint.
He already knew Kera well enough to understand one thing.
Complaining in front of that man was basically asking for trouble.
“Fine.”
Zeldryn finally stood facing the tree.
He began focusing his vision.
Slowly...
The yellowish-golden mana particles became visible again, filling the air throughout the forest.
There were countless amounts of them.
Zeldryn selected several.
Six.
The same number he'd used when trying to attack Kera in his room.
‘Six first.’
Zeldryn focused his mind.
One by one, the particles began moving.
He directed them toward the tree trunk.
The six particles moved closer.
Then...
Zeldryn imagined all of them colliding at a single point.
BOOM!
A small explosion occurred directly against the surface of the trunk.
A little smoke appeared.
Zeldryn immediately observed the result.
!!??
“...”
The tree was still standing.
It didn't shake.
It didn't crack.
There wasn't even a hole.
The area hit by the explosion had only turned slightly black.
That was it.
‘Forget blowing up the tree.’
Zeldryn stared at the black mark.
‘It barely did anything at all.’
Then...
A memory suddenly appeared in his mind.
Six particles.
The same number.
And not long ago...
He had used six particles to create an explosion directly behind Kera's neck.
Zeldryn fell silent.
“...”
He looked at the tree.
Then at Kera.
Then back at the tree.
‘Wait.’
This tree hadn't even budged.
The explosion had only left a black mark.
But earlier...
He had genuinely expected the exact same attack to injure a Level 3 Manholer.
“...”
Zeldryn clicked his tongue.
“Tch.”
‘I'm really an idiot.’
The more he thought about it, the more embarrassing it became.
Even an ordinary tree had barely taken any damage.
Yet earlier he had expected to injure Kera.
A Level 3 Manholer who could defeat an entire army by himself.
Kera, who had been watching him this whole time, suddenly smiled.
“Looks like you just realized something, huh, little bastard?”
Zeldryn immediately glanced at him.
Kera chuckled.
“Kekeke.”
‘This guy...’
Zeldryn became even more suspicious.
‘Can he read minds or something?’
Kera pointed toward the tree again.
“Try again.”
Zeldryn looked at him.
“This time, increase the power.”
“...”
Zeldryn was slightly annoyed by the way Kera spoke as if everything were that simple.
But he turned back toward the tree.
This time...
Not six.
Zeldryn began selecting more particles.
Seven.
Eight.
Ten.
Twelve.
Until finally...
Fourteen particles.
Why not fifteen?
Hadn't Zeldryn already confirmed earlier that he could control fifteen particles at the same time?
That was exactly why.
He had already learned something from his previous mistake.
Being able to move fifteen particles didn't necessarily mean he could use all fifteen of them to do something else at the same time.
Moving and exploding them were clearly not the same thing.
Zeldryn still didn't know how much additional strain would be placed on his Mana Hole when he tried to gather and explode all of those particles at once.
After what had happened when he tried the sixteenth particle...
He had no intention of immediately testing his absolute limit again.
‘Fourteen.’
‘This is enough.’
Zeldryn began controlling all of the particles.
One by one, they moved.
The Mana Hole beneath his navel once again produced that familiar sensation.
Its fluctuations were far stronger than when he had only controlled six particles.
Zeldryn held his breath.
But it didn't hurt yet.
‘Still safe.’
He continued moving them.
Fourteen mana particles slowly gathered toward the same tree.
Zeldryn focused his entire mind.
This time, he didn't rush.
He brought all of the particles toward a single point on the trunk.
Closer.
His Mana Hole fluctuated more violently.
Zeldryn gritted his teeth.
‘Just a little more...’
The fourteen particles finally gathered together.
Zeldryn immediately imagined all of them colliding at the same time.
And...
BOOM!
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