‘Why can't I do it?’
Zeldryn was still trying to make several mana particles merge together.
But every time two particles met...
They simply passed through each other.
Nothing formed.
Nothing changed.
And yet...
‘I can make them explode if I want to.’
Zeldryn stopped the particles for a moment.
If he imagined them colliding and then exploding, he could make it happen.
But when he simply thought about turning them into a shape...
Nothing happened.
‘Wait...’
Zeldryn narrowed his eyes.
‘Is this all about the concept?’
That thought immediately reminded him of Kera's lesson about the Mana Hole.
At first, he hadn't understood how to open or close it either.
But once he understood the concept of a gate...
He could do it.
Maybe the problem was the same now.
Zeldryn wanted the mana particles to form a rectangle.
But...
‘What does "forming" actually mean?’
If he only told them to gather, then they would simply gather.
If he told them to move closer, then they would simply move closer.
Zeldryn himself hadn't given them any idea of how they were supposed to become one.
‘If I want them to stick together...’
He thought for a while.
Then something simple appeared in his mind.
!!??
‘Glue?’
Zeldryn almost felt stupid for thinking of something so simple.
But why not try it?
If you wanted two things to stick together...
Use something that binds them.
“Let's just try it.”
This time, Zeldryn didn't want to use all twenty-one particles at once.
Too many.
He released part of his control and kept only ten mana particles.
‘Ten should be enough.’
Zeldryn once again tried arranging them into a small rectangle.
Once their positions were more or less correct...
He focused on two particles next to each other.
The two slowly moved closer.
‘Don't pass through each other.’
Zeldryn imagined something between them.
Not a wall.
Not a force pushing them apart.
The exact opposite.
Something like glue that pulled the two particles together and kept them stuck to each other.
The two particles moved closer.
Then...
!!??
“...Huh?”
They stopped.
They didn't pass through each other.
Zeldryn immediately leaned his face a little closer.
‘They're stuck?’
He moved one of them sideways.
The other particle was dragged along with it.
“Damn...”
The corner of Zeldryn's lips immediately lifted.
‘It actually works!’
Without wasting any time, he tried the same thing with the other particles.
Three.
Four.
Five.
One by one, he bound them together using the same concept.
Until eventually, all ten mana particles were stuck together.
Zeldryn stared at the result with excitement.
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But his smile slowly disappeared.
“...”
‘What the hell is this?’
They were stuck together.
But the shape was a mess.
He wanted to make a rectangle.
What floated in front of him instead was just a cluster of mana particles stuck together in an abstract shape.
Uneven.
Not solid.
And definitely not a rectangle.
Zeldryn tilted his head.
‘Not like this.’
Even so...
He didn't feel like the experiment had failed.
Instead, his eyes became even more alive.
‘But this is progress.’
Earlier, those particles had simply passed through each other.
Now he'd managed to make them stick together.
Which meant his earlier guess might really be correct.
This really was related to the concept he used.
‘If the concept of glue only makes them stick together...’
‘Then what concept could make them truly become one?’
Zeldryn began searching through his memories from the modern world.
Two separate objects...
Then truly joined together into a single form.
“Hmm...”
A few seconds later...
!!??
‘Iron.’
Melted iron.
When several pieces of metal were melted down, they could be combined and reshaped.
‘If I melt this mana and then fuse it together...’
After that, he would only need to shape it into a rectangle.
It sounded reasonable.
The problem was...
Zeldryn stared at the mana particles in front of him.
‘Can mana even be melted?’
This thing couldn't even truly be touched.
Even when two particles collided, they could simply pass through each other if he wasn't using a specific concept.
Zeldryn played with two particles in front of him.
Closer.
Passing through each other.
Then separating again.
‘If I force them together, they just pass through.’
‘But what if, at the exact moment they're passing through each other...’
‘I melt them?’
Zeldryn almost tried it.
But before he did...
He remembered something.
!!
‘Wait.’
That morning, when he had observed mana from extremely close up...
He had seen something inside a mana particle.
There were much smaller parts within it.
As though what looked like one complete particle actually contained other parts inside.
Zeldryn's eyes immediately narrowed.
‘Then why should I melt the entire thing right away?’
What if he...
Took it apart?
Separate the outer part.
Keep the smaller parts inside intact.
Then combine the inner parts from two different particles.
After that...
Wrap them again.
“...”
Zeldryn began smiling again.
‘This makes more sense.’
He immediately released the ten mana particles he had previously been controlling.
They all returned to floating freely.
Now he selected only two.
‘Focus.’
The two particles moved closer.
Slowly.
Closer.
Zeldryn didn't rush.
He observed the inside of both particles with complete concentration.
Just a little more.
A little more...
The moment they were almost touching...
‘NOW!’
Zeldryn immediately imagined the outer parts of both particles opening.
Not destroying the entire particle.
Only the outermost layer.
He wanted to separate that layer while keeping the smaller parts inside intact.
Zeldryn focused his mind.
But...
“...”
Nothing happened.
The two mana particles remained exactly the same.
Their outer layers didn't move at all.
‘Huh?’
Zeldryn tried again.
Focusing harder.
‘Open.’
Still...
Nothing changed.
Zeldryn immediately frowned.
‘Why can't I do it?’
He already knew what he wanted to do.
He wanted to open the outer parts of both particles without touching the smaller parts inside them.
But...
“...”
!!??
‘Wait.’
Zeldryn suddenly realized something.
‘The concept again.’
He was only imagining the outer layer opening.
But...
How was it supposed to open?
Was the layer supposed to open by itself?
Split apart?
Tear?
Or simply separate out of nowhere?
‘I'm not even imagining the process.’
Zeldryn began thinking.
If he wanted to carefully open something without damaging what was inside...
What would make the most sense?
A few moments later...
!!??
‘A knife.’
A small knife.
Not a large blade that would split the entire particle in half.
But something extremely thin.
Extremely small.
Just enough to cut through the outer layer.
Zeldryn focused on the two particles again.
This time...
He imagined a tiny knife resting right against the surface of one particle.
‘Slowly.’
The knife began moving inside his mind.
Cutting through the outer layer little by little.
Zeldryn was extremely careful.
‘Not too deep.’
There were still smaller parts of mana beneath that layer.
If the cut went too deep...
Those parts might get hit as well.
Zeldryn didn't even know what would happen if that occurred.
‘Only the outer layer.’
The tiny knife continued moving.
Slowly.
Following the outside of the particle.
Then Zeldryn did the same thing to the second particle.
‘Just a little more...’
And...
!!??
The outer layer of the first particle began to split.
Zeldryn's eyes immediately widened.
“Damn...!”
He quickly maintained his concentration.
The cut continued until the outer layer slowly separated and shifted to the side.
The smaller parts inside it...
Remained intact.
Then the second particle.
Its outer layer was cut as well.
Separated.
And...
‘IT WORKED!’
He almost lost focus from sheer excitement.
‘Wait, wait, don't celebrate yet!’
The experiment wasn't finished.
Now the two smaller parts that had previously been inside the particles were exposed.
Zeldryn immediately moved them.
They approached each other.
Closer.
And this time...
It worked.
He could place the two inner parts next to each other.
Zeldryn held them there.
‘There!’
‘Now I just need to wrap them again.’
He moved the outer layer he'd separated earlier.
But just as he was about to wrap the two inner parts...
His movement stopped.
“...Huh?”
Zeldryn looked closer.
Then at the two inner parts that were now together.
Then at the outer layer that had previously only wrapped one of them.
“...”
‘Of course they won't fucking fit, idiot.’
There were now two contents gathered into one.
But the outer layer was still the same size.
If he forced it...
How could it possibly fit?
Zeldryn rubbed his chin with one hand without breaking his concentration.
‘Then the outer layer needs to be bigger.’
But how?
If he simply stuck two outer layers together using the concept of glue...
They would only stick.
They would still remain two separate pieces.
Not one new, larger layer.
“Hmm...”
Then his thoughts returned to his earlier theory.
!!
‘Melting.’
Zeldryn immediately felt like he'd found the path forward again.
‘So my theory about melting wasn't completely wrong.’
Not the inside.
The outer layer needed to be melted.
If he could melt the two outer layers into one...
He could reshape them.
Make them larger.
Then use that new layer to wrap around the two inner parts he'd already combined.
‘Damn...’
Zeldryn sank even deeper into the experiment.
‘Melt the outer layer.’
‘Combine them.’
‘Reshape it into something larger.’
‘Then all I have to do is wra...’
!!??
“COUGGH!”
Zeldryn's body suddenly jerked forward.
Every thought he'd carefully arranged immediately scattered.
The mana particles he had been holding instantly slipped free and returned to floating irregularly.
“Ugh...!”
Zeldryn hurriedly covered his mouth.
Something warm touched his palm.
When he looked at his hand...
Blood.
“...Huh?”
Zeldryn immediately began breathing heavily.
“Hah... hah...”
Only after his concentration broke did he realize just how chaotic the condition of his Mana Hole had become.
The area beneath his abdomen was fluctuating violently.
And that thirst and emptiness...
Had returned.
Not just returned.
It was much worse.
Empty.
Dry.
As though almost all the mana inside his Mana Hole had been drained without him realizing it.
Zeldryn immediately grabbed his lower abdomen.
“Hah... hah...”
He was still trying to understand what had just happened.
He had only been controlling two particles.
Just two.
But ever since he started dismantling the outer layers, maintaining the inner parts, separating everything, and continuously holding their forms...
He hadn't paid attention to the condition of his Mana Hole at all.
Zeldryn stared at the blood on his palm.
Then at the mana particles around him.
His expression immediately changed.
!!??
“Don't tell me...”
He grabbed his lower abdomen again.
“Did I run out of mana?!”
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