Zeldryn was still staring at his lower abdomen.
A new conclusion had just formed 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?’
“...”
But a few seconds later...
Zeldryn froze.
!!??
‘Wait?’
A new problem appeared.
If his conclusion was correct...
Then...
‘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 own lower abdomen.
“Doesn't that mean I'm still absorbing mana right now without realizing it?”
Kera stared at him.
Then a small smile appeared on the man's face.
“Focus on your Mana Hole.”
Zeldryn frowned.
“And tell me what's happening.”
He didn't need to be told twice.
Zeldryn immediately closed his eyes.
Once again, he focused his consciousness inward.
The rustling leaves.
The wind.
The sound of birds in the distance.
Slowly, everything seemed to drift farther away.
And once again...
Darkness appeared in his mind.
At the center of that darkness was his Mana Hole.
Something with no definite shape.
It was simply like a dark hole, far deeper than everything surrounding it.
Then...
!!??
Zeldryn saw it.
One mana particle appeared.
It slowly moved toward the Mana Hole.
Then...
Gone.
Swallowed by the darkness.
Another particle appeared.
Entered.
Then another.
Entered again.
“...”
‘It's true.’
Zeldryn's closed eyes tensed slightly.
‘Mana is still flowing in.’
Exactly as Kera had explained.
Even though Zeldryn wasn't consciously trying to absorb mana...
The flow he had started earlier still hadn't stopped.
Mana continued appearing within his consciousness.
Then it was absorbed into his Mana Hole.
One by one.
Continuously.
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And the moment he realized that...
The memory of last night immediately struck his mind.
The pain.
His body feeling as though it were being struck from the inside.
Mana that wouldn't stop entering.
Then...
His consciousness disappeared.
!!??
Zeldryn immediately opened his eyes.
“Kera!”
His voice had become slightly panicked.
Kera was still standing there casually.
“What?”
“I'm still absorbing it!”
Zeldryn pointed at his stomach.
“Mana is still coming in!”
Kera simply stared at him.
Zeldryn became even more restless.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
He immediately continued before Kera could answer,
“How do I stop it?”
“How do I close it?”
Kera let out a long sigh.
“Good grief...”
Then he turned his body slightly.
“That's one of the most basic things, you know.”
Zeldryn immediately looked irritated.
Kera glanced back over his shoulder.
“Stupid brat.”
‘Bastard.’
Zeldryn gritted his teeth.
‘If I knew the answer, I wouldn't be asking you!’
Kera then raised one finger.
“Alright.”
“I'll give you another question.”
Zeldryn was starting 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?
‘How the hell would I know?’
He had only directly learned about the existence of his Mana Hole yesterday.
And now he was being asked about its basic mechanism.
‘Damn it.’
‘Why did my first mentor have to be someone like this?’
But Zeldryn didn't complain immediately.
He actually tried to think.
‘Why?’
Kera had said this was something extremely basic.
That meant the answer shouldn't be too complicated.
Zeldryn tried to remember everything he'd done since the first time he absorbed mana.
Mana appeared in his mind because it came from the environment around him.
Then...
The particle moved toward his Mana Hole.
Then it was absorbed.
That was all.
‘Wait.’
Zeldryn frowned.
All this time, it felt like he had simply...
Allowed it.
The moment a particle approached the Mana Hole, that darkness immediately pulled it in and swallowed it.
‘Does the Mana Hole automatically absorb mana if I just let it?’
But...
If that was really the case...
Wouldn't there be a huge problem?
If everyone with a Mana Hole automatically absorbed mana all the time without being able to stop it...
Wouldn't every Manholer suffer from mana overload?
They would keep absorbing it constantly.
While sleeping.
While eating.
While walking.
Continuously, until their Mana Hole reached full capacity.
Then...
Their own bodies would suffer the consequences.
‘That doesn't make sense.’
Which meant there had to be something controlling the process.
But what?
‘Why?’
Zeldryn stared at the ground.
‘Why?’
He tried breaking down the entire process 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.
Kera, who had been waiting the entire time, finally sighed again.
“Good grief...”
He slowly shook his head.
“You really are...”
Kera finally decided to explain.
“Imagine there's a gate covering your Mana Hole.”
!!??
Zeldryn immediately paid attention.
Kera continued,
“You can move that gate however you want.”
“Consciously.”
His hand moved as if he were opening something.
“If you want to absorb mana, you open it.”
Then his hand moved again.
“If you want to stop, you just clo...”
Zeldryn froze.
‘A gate?’
‘Something I can consciously move?’
Something immediately connected inside his mind.
!!??
Zeldryn suddenly closed his eyes.
Kera, who was still speaking, immediately stopped.
“...”
Zeldryn didn't notice at all.
His consciousness returned to his Mana Hole.
Mana particles were still coming.
One.
Two.
Three.
Continuously moving toward the darkness.
‘A gate.’
Zeldryn remembered Kera's words.
‘Something I can consciously open and close.’
All this time...
Maybe he had only been opening it.
But had never tried closing it.
Zeldryn began concentrating.
He didn't know what the gate was supposed to look like.
He didn't even know whether there was actually anything shaped like a door inside his body.
Kera had only told him to imagine it as a gate.
So...
Zeldryn did the one thing he could do right now.
Imagine.
‘Close.’
He wanted his Mana Hole to stop accepting mana.
‘Don't let anything enter.’
The mana particles continued approaching.
One particle was almost touching the darkness.
Then...
!!??
The particle stopped.
Zeldryn froze.
Another particle came from behind it.
Moving toward the Mana Hole.
But...
It stopped as well.
As though something invisible was standing between the Mana Hole and those particles.
The mana continued trying to approach.
But couldn't pass through.
Like...
Hitting a wall.
‘It worked?’
Zeldryn focused even harder.
The particles that had previously been swallowed immediately by the darkness were now only gathering outside it.
Not a single one entered.
There was no longer any flow of mana being absorbed.
‘I closed it...’
Meanwhile...
Kera was still standing several steps in front of Zeldryn.
“...”
The hand he'd been using to explain was still slightly raised.
He stared at the brat who had suddenly closed his eyes while Kera was still talking.
Kera immediately understood what was happening.
Zeldryn had gained an insight from his explanation.
The brat was trying to close the flow of his Mana Hole by himself.
Good.
At least this time, he understood quickly.
However...
Kera's brow began to twitch.
“...”
There was one problem.
Zeldryn had just ignored his explanation in the middle of a sentence.
Kera slowly clenched his fist.
The strange smile that usually sat on his face began to disappear.
‘This brat...’
Zeldryn himself was still focused.
He observed the mana that could no longer enter his Mana Hole.
‘So this is how it works?’
But suddenly...
Something pulled his ear.
!!??
“OW!”
Zeldryn's concentration instantly shattered.
His eyes flew open.
“What the hell!?”
Kera was already standing right beside him.
His hand was gripping Zeldryn's ear.
And without mercy...
He twisted it.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
Zeldryn instinctively tried to move away.
But Kera didn't let go.
“YOU!”
For the first time...
Kera's voice sounded genuinely irritated.
“You dare ignore my explanation, you damn brat?!”
!!??
Zeldryn immediately stared at his face.
“...”
For a moment, he even forgot about the pain in his ear.
Kera's face, which was usually relaxed.
Cold.
Hard to read.
Always carrying that strange smile, as though nothing that happened ever truly bothered him...
Now looked annoyed.
Genuinely annoyed.
Zeldryn stared at him with slightly widened eyes.
‘...Huh?’
‘So this bastard can actually get angry too?’
To Zeldryn...
This might have been one of the rarest phenomena he had witnessed since meeting Kera.
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