BOOM!
The sound of an explosion far louder than before echoed between the trees.
Smoke immediately covered the part of the trunk Zeldryn had targeted.
Several birds that had been perched on the surrounding trees immediately flew away because of the explosion.
Zeldryn stared straight at the smoke.
‘How was it?’
He tried to see the result.
But before the smoke could completely disappear...
!!??
Zeldryn's expression suddenly changed.
Something felt strange.
Not in his head.
Not in any other part of his body either.
But...
His Mana Hole.
Right below his navel.
“...?”
Zeldryn instinctively grabbed his throat.
The sensation that had just appeared was very strange.
Like...
Thirst.
But not ordinary thirst.
His throat wasn't dry.
His mouth didn't need water either.
Instead, the feeling came from his lower abdomen.
Empty.
Dry.
As if something inside there had once been filled, but was now almost completely drained.
‘What the hell is this?’
Zeldryn moved his hand from his throat to his lower abdomen.
He pressed it gently.
It didn't hurt.
Not at all.
But that empty sensation was extremely clear.
And for some reason, his body instinctively seemed to be asking for something.
Mana.
Zeldryn looked at the yellowish-golden particles scattered throughout the forest.
‘I... want to absorb it?’
The desire appeared on its own.
Not because he deliberately thought about absorbing mana.
His body itself seemed to want it.
Zeldryn became even more confused.
When he had forced himself to control sixteen particles earlier, the sensation had been different.
Back then, his Mana Hole had felt like something blunt was smashing it from the inside.
Painful.
And the pain had felt extremely familiar because it was almost the same as what he'd experienced the night before.
But now?
It didn't hurt.
It only felt...
Empty.
A completely new feeling.
Even Reka, who had lived for thirty-one years in the modern world, had never felt anything that could be compared to this sensation.
‘Did I run out of mana?’
Zeldryn didn't dare jump to conclusions yet.
He didn't even truly understand what a Mana Hole was.
While Zeldryn was busy holding his lower abdomen...
Kera watched him.
The man didn't look confused.
He didn't ask what was wrong.
He didn't show any concern either.
He simply stood there, watching every change in Zeldryn's expression.
As if...
He knew exactly what Zeldryn was feeling.
But Kera chose to remain silent.
A few moments later, the smoke around the tree began to thin.
Kera glanced at the result of the explosion.
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Then sighed.
“Good grief...”
Zeldryn turned toward him.
Kera wore a disappointed expression.
“You really are a loser, huh?”
“...”
Kera pointed toward the tree in front of them.
“I told you to blow up the tree.”
Then a mocking smile appeared on his face.
“Not change its color to black.”
Zeldryn immediately felt like a vein was about to burst on his forehead.
‘Be reasonable, bastard.’
‘I came here to ask you about mana.’
‘Why the hell am I being told to blow up a tree?’
Zeldryn was already irritated enough.
He finally snapped back,
“How the hell am I supposed to blow up a tree that big, damn it?”
Kera only smiled.
Zeldryn pointed at the tree.
“You saw it yourself.”
“That was almost the maximum amount I can move.”
He glared at Kera in irritation.
“Are you actually trying to teach me, or do you just want to watch me do something stupid, bastard?”
Kera fell silent.
“...”
Then...
That strange smile returned.
“Try again.”
!!??
Zeldryn frowned.
“Huh?”
Kera pointed toward the same tree.
“One more time.”
He paused for a moment.
Then casually said,
“And make the explosion stronger.”
“...”
Zeldryn stared at him.
‘What?’
‘Is this guy insane or something?’
Zeldryn had just felt something extremely strange from his Mana Hole.
Empty.
Dry.
His body was even instinctively craving the mana around him.
And now Kera was telling him to attack again.
Even telling him to increase the power.
‘If it has to be stronger than before...’
That meant Zeldryn would have to use more particles.
Fifteen?
Sixteen?
Or even more?
Zeldryn's expression began to change.
‘Crazy.’
‘This guy is seriously insane.’
But then...
Zeldryn stopped complaining.
He looked at Kera again.
The man was still standing casually with his usual smile.
‘Wait.’
Kera was a Level 3 Manholer.
He obviously understood mana far better than Zeldryn did.
If Kera really was teaching him...
There was no way all of these instructions were being given without a reason.
‘...Though with him, who knows.’
Zeldryn clicked his tongue.
‘I really can't read this guy, damn it.’
There was one more thing that made Zeldryn hesitate.
Last night.
The pain he had felt.
His body feeling as if it were being destroyed from the inside.
Until he eventually lost consciousness.
That incident still left a little fear behind.
Zeldryn didn't want to experience it again.
He looked at Kera's smile once more.
“...”
Several seconds passed.
Finally...
‘Ah, fuck it.’
Zeldryn sighed.
‘I'll just try it.’
‘Besides, if something happens...’
He glanced at Kera.
‘This bastard can probably save me.’
Zeldryn focused his vision again.
Yellowish-golden mana particles filled the forest.
He selected three first.
‘Move.’
All three moved.
But...
Zeldryn immediately felt the difference.
“...?”
Heavy.
Far heavier than before.
Even though there were only three particles.
Zeldryn frowned.
‘Why?’
He tried increasing the number.
Six particles.
The fluctuation in his Mana Hole became more noticeable.
‘So heavy.’
It felt as if each particle required several times more effort than it had just a few minutes ago.
But Zeldryn kept trying.
Nine particles.
!!??
His face immediately tensed.
‘What the hell is this?’
Controlling nine particles now felt almost as difficult as controlling fourteen particles earlier.
The empty feeling in his Mana Hole also became worse.
Dry.
Empty.
As if there were a hole beneath his navel constantly begging to be filled.
Zeldryn even began feeling a much stronger urge to absorb the mana around him.
Not merely a desire.
Almost like a survival instinct.
‘Absorb it.’
‘I need to absorb mana.’
But Zeldryn gritted his teeth.
“Tch...”
He kept going.
Eleven particles.
His head began to feel dizzy.
His breathing became heavier.
But he still didn't stop.
Twelve.
Then...
Thirteen.
And the moment the thirteenth particle entered his control...
!!??
THUD!
The sensation of being struck by something blunt returned from inside his Mana Hole.
Zeldryn immediately grimaced.
‘This...!’
The same pain.
Familiar.
The pain that appeared when he crossed his limit before.
Zeldryn almost tried to endure it.
But suddenly...
“Stop.”
Kera's voice sounded firm.
!!??
Zeldryn immediately turned toward him.
No mockery.
No laughter.
Just one short command.
And this time, Zeldryn obeyed without arguing.
He immediately released control over all the particles.
The mana particles returned to moving freely.
“Hah...”
Zeldryn took a breath.
“Hah... hah...”
He was panting.
His head was still slightly dizzy.
The empty sensation from his Mana Hole had become even clearer.
Zeldryn held his lower abdomen.
“What...”
He tried to steady his breathing.
“What happened?”
Kera stared at him.
Then his usual smile returned.
“You can absorb mana, right?”
Zeldryn raised his head.
!!??
‘Absorb mana?’
Kera pointed toward the particles filling the air around them.
“Absorb it.”
Zeldryn kept staring at him.
“Now.”
“...”
‘Now?’
Zeldryn looked at Kera's face.
The man didn't explain anything else.
He simply waited.
But actually...
Zeldryn himself had already wanted to do it for a while.
His body kept craving mana.
His Mana Hole felt empty.
Like someone dying of thirst after going without water for a very long time.
‘Fine.’
Zeldryn finally closed his eyes.
He did the same thing he'd done the night before.
Focused his mind.
Ignored the sounds of the forest.
Ignored Kera.
Focused only on the mana scattered around him.
Slowly...
Darkness filled his mind.
Then...
Yellowish-golden particles began to appear.
One.
Two.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Zeldryn's closed eyes moved slightly.
!!??
‘There are so many.’
There seemed to be far more of them than when he had tried doing this before.
Mana from the surrounding environment slowly gathered within his mind.
And within that darkness...
Something began to appear.
That hole.
His Mana Hole.
It had no definite shape.
It didn't appear to have walls or any clear boundaries.
Only a darkness that felt far deeper than the space around it.
Then...
One mana particle moved toward the hole.
Gone.
Swallowed by the darkness.
The next particle followed.
Then another.
One by one.
Ten.
Twenty.
More and more.
Zeldryn's Mana Hole continued swallowing them.
And at the same time...
The empty sensation that had been tormenting him slowly began to disappear.
“...”
Zeldryn felt something difficult to describe.
Like thirst slowly being satisfied by water.
But it wasn't his throat receiving the water.
It was something deep inside his body.
His Mana Hole, which had previously felt dry, slowly began to fill.
Warm.
Comfortable.
It even felt...
Pleasurable.
Zeldryn began losing track of how much mana was entering.
‘This...’
The emptiness continued disappearing.
The more mana he absorbed...
The more comfortable his body felt.
As if he were being carried away by a stream of water after spending far too long in a dry place.
Without realizing it, Zeldryn began pulling in more.
And more.
Mana particles continued entering his Mana Hole.
Dozens.
The number kept increasing.
Zeldryn even began forgetting why he was doing this.
He only wanted to fill that emptiness.
A little more.
A little more.
Just a little...
CTAK!
“Agh!”
Pain suddenly struck his forehead.
!!??
Zeldryn's concentration immediately shattered.
His eyes instinctively opened.
And right in front of his face...
Kera was already standing extremely close.
One of his hands was still raised after flicking Zeldryn's forehead.
“...”
Zeldryn blinked.
!??
Kera stared at him as if he were looking at an idiot.
“You trying to kill yourself, huh?”
Zeldryn still didn't fully understand what had happened.
Kera clicked his tongue.
“Tch.”
Then he pointed toward Zeldryn's lower abdomen.
“Only absorb as much as you need, idiot!”
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