Chapter 32: The Night Kera Arrived

Kera watched Zeldryn carefully and began to realize something. Perhaps this was one of the more critical moments in the boy's life. His gaze remained fixed on him for several seconds before a faint smile appeared, as though Kera had finally decided what he needed to do.

“You think that just because you saw someone use magic, you can immediately use it too?” Kera asked.

In Kera's opinion, dealing with a troublesome child wasn't actually that complicated. There were times when advice alone wouldn't be enough, especially for someone who had spent too long believing he could behave however he wanted without consequence. A child like that sometimes needed to be taught a lesson first, then pushed out of the comfort zone that had allowed such behavior to continue.

At least, that was how Kera saw it.

His thoughts returned to what had happened the previous night, when Zeldryn had screamed loudly enough for nearly everyone on the second floor of the mansion to hear. Coincidentally, Kera had arrived from the Giorry family's main residence at almost exactly the same time.

In fact, he had still been standing near the mansion gate when it happened.

Because of the distance, Kera hadn't heard Zeldryn's scream. Something else, however, had immediately caught his attention. His steps had barely carried him through the gate when he stopped and slowly looked toward the mansion, specifically toward one section of the second floor.

There was something strange there.

It wasn't a sound, nor was it anything an ordinary person could have seen.

It was mana.

As a Level 3 Manholer, Kera's perception of mana was already far sharper than that of ordinary people or lower-level Manholers. From one of the rooms near the far end of the second floor, he could sense an abnormal fluctuation.

Kera narrowed his eyes as he studied the disturbance. Mana from the surrounding area seemed to be getting drawn toward a single point, and the amount continued increasing. The flow itself was chaotic and unstable, yet whoever was inside appeared to be continuing the absorption process anyway.

Someone was trying to absorb mana.

The problem was that whoever was doing it seemed to be pulling in more and more without understanding how much their own body could handle.

“What is that?” Kera muttered quietly.

His first assumption was that one of the guards or soldiers stationed at the mansion was attempting to break through to Level 1. Perhaps someone had only recently succeeded in sensing mana and decided to take the next step without proper guidance.

Kera had no intention of helping such a person.

As far as he was concerned, if someone tried breaking through to Level 1 alone without understanding what they were doing, that wasn't his problem. Kera wasn't the type of person who enjoyed inserting himself into other people's affairs.

The only reason he stopped was curiosity.

The fluctuation was strange enough to interest him. The flow was chaotic, and the amount of mana gathering around a single point continued increasing in a way that differed sharply from the patterns Kera was familiar with.

That was what caught his attention.

Not the person responsible.

Even then, Kera didn't immediately jump to conclusions. From this distance, he could only sense the fluctuation itself. He hadn't seen who was attempting to absorb the mana, didn't know what method they were using, and had no information about the condition of their body.

Everything in his mind remained speculation.

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Several guards stationed near the gate greeted Kera upon his arrival. He responded only as much as necessary before continuing into the mansion grounds.

He hadn't gone far when rapid footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the main building.

A female servant rushed outside with panic written across her face. She was breathing heavily and barely slowed before shouting toward the nearby guards.

“Guards! Guards! Call a healer! Something very strange has happened to Lord Zeldryn!”

Several guards immediately moved toward her.

“What happened?” one of them asked seriously. “Explain clearly.”

The servant tried to steady her breathing, but Kera had already stopped after hearing the name.

'Lord Zeldryn?'

His brow furrowed slightly.

'Does she mean the Ninth Young Lord?'

Of course Kera knew the name. He glanced back toward the second floor, directly toward the source of the abnormal mana fluctuation he had sensed only moments earlier.

For a brief moment, he said nothing.

Then he walked toward the group.

“Do you mean Lord Zeldryn, the Ninth Young Lord?” Kera asked.

The female servant immediately turned toward him. She clearly had no idea who he was, and with panic still dominating her thoughts, she didn't even seem to consider how she should address an unfamiliar man who had only just arrived.

“Y-yes! Who else would I mean?” she answered between breaths.

Kera remained silent for a moment as several pieces of information began connecting inside his head.

Someone on the second floor was attempting to absorb an abnormal amount of mana. The fluctuation was chaotic, the amount being drawn in continued increasing, and almost immediately afterward, a servant had come running outside to find a healer because something had happened to Zeldryn.

Kera didn't need much time to reach a conclusion.

The person attempting to absorb mana, and possibly trying to break through to Level 1, was Zeldryn Giorry.

The Ninth Young Lord.

Kera's expression immediately became more serious.

“Take me to where it happened,” he told the servant.

The woman stared at him in confusion for a moment, probably wondering why a stranger was suddenly giving her orders. Before she could object, Kera spoke again.

“Quickly.”

The firmness in his voice made her flinch.

“Y-yes!”

Kera knew this wasn't something that could be taken lightly. A mistake during mana absorption could be fatal, especially if someone forced themselves to take in more than their body was capable of handling. Under the wrong circumstances, a person could genuinely die on the spot from a mistake like that.

Normally, Kera wouldn't have cared enough to intervene.

If the person inside that room had been an unrelated guard or soldier, he might have simply observed the situation out of curiosity. Whatever happened afterward would have been their own problem.

This time was different.

The person in danger was Zeldryn Giorry, and Zeldryn wasn't merely some stranger. He was directly connected to the task and responsibility Kera had been entrusted with.

Without saying anything else, Kera raised one hand and snapped his fingers.

Snap!

Mana immediately surged from his body and gathered in the air, forming a large oval-shaped platform that floated several centimeters above the ground.

Kera stepped onto it at once.

Before the female servant could understand what was happening, he grabbed her and pulled her onto the mana platform with him.

“A-ah!”

The servant jolted, her legs instinctively tensing when she realized she was no longer standing on solid ground.

Kera ignored her reaction completely.

“Guide me. Which room is his?”

In truth, Kera already knew the general direction. The chaotic mana fluctuation had become even clearer from inside the grounds, but knowing the direction didn't mean he knew the exact location of Zeldryn's room.

This was Kera's first time visiting the mansion.

Rather than wasting time searching on his own, bringing someone who knew the layout was far more efficient.

The female servant still looked shocked, but the urgency of the situation allowed her surprise to last only a moment. She quickly raised one hand and pointed toward the second floor.

“There! The room at the end!”

Kera followed the direction of her finger.

Without wasting another second, the oval mana platform beneath them accelerated.

Both of them shot away from the courtyard, and the servant nearly lost her balance when their speed suddenly increased. She instinctively gripped the platform tightly while wind struck both of their faces as the mana carried them upward toward the second floor.

The closer they came to the room she had indicated, the more Kera's expression changed.

The fluctuation was becoming even more chaotic.

Mana from the surrounding environment was still being pulled toward that room, and even from outside, Kera could already sense just how unstable the situation had become.

The platform finally reached the area directly in front of Zeldryn's bedroom window.

The window was already wide open.

Air inside the room moved chaotically under the uncontrolled flow of mana, causing the curtains and lighter objects near the window to shift constantly.

Kera didn't stop.

He immediately directed the mana platform through the opening and entered the room with the female servant.

The moment they saw what was inside, both of them fell silent.

Zeldryn's unconscious body was floating in the air.

The veins and nerves throughout his body were visibly strained beneath his skin, but that wasn't the only thing that made his condition horrifying.

Darkness had spread across almost his entire body.

A pitch-black color covered most of Zeldryn's skin, as though something were slowly swallowing him whole.