Chapter 42: Mana

The Grimclaw Bear roared and violently shook its massive body.

Kael hadn’t anticipated the sudden movement. The invisible force threw him backward, sending him several meters through the air. He twisted his body in midair and landed on his feet, but the momentum forced him to slide several meters across the dirt before finally coming to a stop.

"Ngh. What the fuck was that?"

He immediately looked up.

The Grimclaw Bear was already turning toward him, its crimson eyes burning with renewed fury.

Kael tightened his grip around his sword.

"So you’re pissed now..."

Apparently, stabbing it in the stomach had done wonders for its mood. The Grimclaw Bear lowered its body. Kael recognized the posture immediately.

It was going to charge.

He could retreat and create some distance, but that would only delay the inevitable. The monster was far faster than something of its size had any right to be, and Kael had already learned that allowing it to dictate the distance was dangerous.

Instead of backing away, he stepped forward. The Grimclaw Bear charged at the same time. Their distance disappeared almost instantly. The monster swung its right paw.

Swoosh!

Kael raised his sword, preparing to use the Returning Tide Sword to redirect the attack. However, the Grimclaw Bear moved faster than before, throwing off his timing by a fraction.

Its paw slammed against his blade.

BOOM!

The impact traveled through the sword and into his arms. Kael’s fingers nearly loosened around the handle as his feet were pushed backward by the force.

"Damn."

His arms went numb.

Still, Kael refused to resist the attack head-on. He adjusted his stance and allowed the force to travel along the blade instead, rotating his body with the impact as he guided the monster’s paw away from him.

Returning Tide Sword, Second Form.

The Grimclaw Bear’s attack was redirected, causing its enormous body to stumble forward.

Kael immediately took advantage of the opening.

He stepped into range and drove his sword into the monster’s abdomen. The blade pierced several inches into its flesh before Kael pulled it free, leaving blood pouring from the wound.

The Grimclaw Bear released another furious roar.

Kael retreated at once, knowing better it was still too dangerous to remain within its reach.

The monster swung its paw. Kael shifted sideways, and the claws passed close enough for him to feel the wind generated by their movement before they slammed into a nearby tree.

CRACK!

The trunk shook violently.

Kael glanced at the deep marks carved into the wood.

"Yeah. I’m definitely not blocking that."

He accelerated before the monster could recover.

As Kael moved, something faint followed him. A thin cyan trail lingered in the air behind his body, almost as though the space itself had been stained by light.

But Kael didn’t notice it.

He darted toward the Grimclaw Bear’s side and slashed at its rear leg.

The monster staggered.

Kael didn’t give it time to recover. He followed with another slash, then another, each strike deliberately aimed at a joint, muscle, or previously injured area rather than being thrown randomly.

His knowledge of the Grimclaw Bear’s attack patterns gave him an advantage. He knew how it moved and how it reacted when injured. More importantly, he understood that its enormous size could work against it.

But knowing what a monster would do didn’t mean he could always react quickly enough.

The Grimclaw Bear suddenly twisted. Kael’s eyes widened as he recognized the movement a fraction too late.

Its rear leg slammed toward him.

Kael shifted backward, narrowly avoiding the center of the attack, but the edge of the impact still caught him. The force threw him sideways, and he hit the ground hard before rolling several meters across the dirt.

Pain spread through his body.

He planted one hand against the ground and pushed himself upright.

The Grimclaw Bear was already turning toward him.

"Tsk. It’s not giving me time to recover."

The monster charged.

Kael forced himself to his feet, but he had barely regained his balance when the Grimclaw Bear reached him. It lowered its head and accelerated, its massive body becoming a blur of fur and muscle.

Kael’s eyes narrowed.

"This is bad."

He raised his sword with both hands.

BOOM!

The Grimclaw Bear collided with him.

Kael’s feet left the ground as he was thrown backward. He crashed into a tree hard enough to shake its branches, and a mouthful of blood escaped his mouth from the impact. His sword nearly slipped from his fingers.

Kael gritted his teeth and held on.

"Tsk..."

He slowly forced himself upright. His body felt heavier than before. His breathing had become rough, a dull ache spread through his ribs, and his arms were beginning to tremble from the repeated impacts.

Across from him, the Grimclaw Bear stood surrounded by its own blood. There were wounds across its abdomen, shoulder, rear leg, and side.

Yet it was still standing.

Kael stared at the monster. This was exactly why he disliked fighting mini bosses. They weren’t necessarily stronger than every boss in the game, but they had enough durability to turn a relatively simple battle into a long and exhausting one.

And Kael didn’t have the luxury of fighting forever. The longer this continued, the more likely he was to make a mistake.

The Grimclaw Bear charged again.

Kael waited until the last possible moment before shifting aside. Its claw swept through the space where his chest had been only a moment earlier.

He twisted around the attack and immediately countered, his sword cutting into the monster’s shoulder.

The blade tore through its fur and opened another wound.

But it was shallow.

Kael clicked his tongue.

"Still not enough."

The Grimclaw Bear roared and twisted its enormous body.

Kael recognized the movement, but the monster’s speed still caught him off guard.

Its rear leg slammed against the ground.

Kael managed to avoid the direct impact, but the force still knocked him sideways. He stumbled, and before he could fully regain his footing, the Grimclaw Bear followed with another sweeping paw.

Kael raised his sword. The impact nearly forced him to his knees. His arms screamed from the pressure as he struggled to hold the blade in place. With a grunt, he redirected the attack just enough to push the paw away, but the Grimclaw Bear was already recovering.

It swung again.

Kael ducked beneath the claws, then stepped forward and drove his sword toward the monster’s chest.

The Grimclaw Bear twisted at the last moment. The blade only grazed its side. Kael immediately pulled back.

He was losing ground.

The monster’s durability was becoming a serious problem. Every exchange demanded more from him, while the Grimclaw Bear continued fighting as though the wounds covering its body were little more than scratches.

Kael stepped backward, struggling to steady his breathing.

The pain in his ribs had intensified, and his arms felt increasingly sluggish. The wounds he had inflicted were accumulating, but not quickly enough.

He needed to deal a clean cut on it.

"If only my Hero Core were a rank higher..." Kael thought as he took another breath. "At least then I could summon enough energy to convert it into mana."

The thought frustrated him. His Hero Core was the reason he had spent so much time fighting without magic.

Rank F actually meant Failure.

That was essentially what the lowest rank represented.

He couldn’t summon mana. He couldn’t reinforce his attacks with proper magical energy, and he couldn’t even produce the kind of simple enhancement that most first-year students could perform without thinking.

The breathing technique and Moonlit Blade principle had helped him tremendously, but there was still a limit to what they could accomplish, especially because he was only relying on his physical strength.

Against an ordinary magical beast, his current ability was enough. But against the Grimclaw Bear, it wasn’t.

The monster charged again. Kael’s eyes remained fixed on it. He knew the next attack. He knew the angle. And he knew where the monster would move.

But his body was becoming slower, and his muscles were exhausted. He couldn’t maintain this pace forever.

The Grimclaw Bear closed the distance. Kael shifted his weight and waited. At the last moment, he moved aside. The monster’s claws missed him by inches.

Kael raised his sword, preparing to strike. Then something caught his attention. A strange warmth spread through his body and a thin layer of magical energy could be seen exuding from his body.

Kael froze.

’What is this?’

For a moment, he thought exhaustion was affecting his senses.

The warmth wasn’t coming from outside. It was flowing beneath his skin, moving through his body like a faint current.

His breathing stopped for half a second.

The Grimclaw Bear continued its movement, but Kael barely noticed. His attention had shifted inward.

Something was moving through his body. It wasn’t spiritual energy, but something denser.

Kael’s eyes widened.

"Wait..."

He could feel it.

A faint current had gathered somewhere deep inside him.

His Hero Core.

For years, or at least according to the memories of this body’s original owner, the core had always felt like a locked door. Kael could sense its existence and feel the energy within it, but whenever he tried to draw mana from it, nothing happened.

It was like trying to pull water from an empty well.

Yet now, something was different.

A tiny amount of energy slipped through. It was so faint that Kael almost thought he had imagined it.

But it was there.

Mana.

A thin layer of magical energy began to spread through his body.

Kael’s expression changed.

"No way..."

"Did I..."

The Grimclaw Bear was still coming. Its massive body charged toward him with enough force to crush him against another tree.

Kael didn’t move. His mind raced. He remembered earlier while he was meditating.

He tried to use the breathing technique and the Moonlit Blade principle altogether in his meditation. The result created an unusually fast absorption.

Could that have been the reason?

’Did I really have a breakthrough?’

Kael had spent the entire time thinking that he had simply absorbed spiritual energy. Not knowing how much energy his body had absorbed that time.

But the realization came with terrible timing. The Grimclaw Bear was almost on top of him. Kael tried to summon mana.

Nothing happened.

His brow tightened.

He had no idea how to do it.

"Come on..."

He tried again.

Still nothing.

The faint energy disappeared almost immediately. The Grimclaw Bear was only a few meters away now. Kael could hear its roar. His body instinctively prepared to move, but he forced himself to remain still. If he panicked now, he would lose the opportunity.

He took a slow breath. Then another. He used the rhythm of the 4-2-6 Breathing Technique. He had used the technique to circulate spiritual energy before, but now he focused on the faint sensation inside his Hero Core.

The Grimclaw Bear continued charging closer and closer.

Kael inhaled.

The world seemed to slow. He felt the energy again. This time, he didn’t try to force it out.

He guided it.

His breathing steadied as his concentration deepened. The Grimclaw Bear was almost within striking distance. Kael’s fingers tightened around his sword. Then something inside him broke open.

BOOM!

Mana erupted from Kael’s body.

The sudden burst of energy exploded outward, forcing the Grimclaw Bear backward several steps as dust rose from the ground around them.

Kael remained standing in the center of the cloud.

For several seconds, he didn’t move. But he could feel it. He could feel the mana. A thin layer of magical energy surrounded his body, faintly shimmering over his skin.

Kael stared at his hands.

Then he smiled.

"So it finally happened."

His Hero Core had broken through. And judging by the timing, he had absolutely no intention of wasting it.

The Grimclaw Bear roared through the dust. Kael slowly raised his sword. Cyan energy gathered along the blade. His exhaustion was still there. His injuries hadn’t disappeared, and the monster was still dangerous.

But something fundamental had changed.

For the first time since entering the Emerald Forest, Kael was no longer fighting with only his body and sword.

He had mana now, and that changed everything.