Chapter 53: A New Limit

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Kera allowed Zeldryn to remain silent for a while and digest everything he had just explained. The satisfied smile was still visible on his face when he finally spoke again.

“Do you understand now, stupid brat?”

Zeldryn, who had been looking down while sorting through his thoughts, finally raised his head and met Kera's gaze.

“Almost...”

“Hmm?”

There was still one thing bothering him, one question that had not truly been answered yet.

“Actually...” Zeldryn frowned slightly. “What happens if someone has too much mana? Would they just pass out?”

Kera watched him quietly while Zeldryn continued.

“Because that night, after the pain kept getting worse, I eventually lost consciousness. But when I woke up...” Zeldryn glanced down at his own body. “I was actually healthy.”

Kera remained silent, so Zeldryn raised one hand and continued explaining.

“You know, before that night, my body still had a lot of injuries. There were bruises, marks from being beaten, and pain almost everywhere. But when I woke up in the morning, all of it was gone.”

He looked back at Kera with genuine curiosity.

“Can feeling or absorbing mana for the first time heal injuries or something?”

Kera smiled.

There was something about his expression that made Zeldryn feel as though the man knew far more than he was willing to say, but there was no way to tell what was actually going through his head.

“Well...” Kera finally replied. “Having too much mana is extremely dangerous, you know.”

He raised his hands again.

“Imagine a balloon. You keep filling it with air, so it gets bigger and bigger. Even when it's almost reached its limit, you keep filling it.”

Kera slowly spread his hands farther apart, mimicking something expanding.

“Once it goes past its limit, what happens?”

“It explodes?” Zeldryn answered immediately.

Kera pointed at him. “Gotcha!”

Zeldryn fell silent for a moment before the implication of that answer finally registered.

'Wait. If that's the case, then why didn't I explode that night?'

His expression changed immediately.

“Huh? Then why didn't I explode?”

Kera raised an eyebrow.

“I kept absorbing mana, right? If having too much mana is really like filling a balloon until it bursts, why did I only pass out? Even after I woke up, my body was completely fine.”

Kera stared at him for a moment before smiling again.

“Good grief...” He shook his head. “You really ask a lot of questions.”

Zeldryn's expression flattened.

'Is that a problem?'

Kera casually shrugged.

“How the hell should I know?”

Zeldryn frowned at once, but Kera continued before he could complain.

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“Was I standing beside you when it happened that night?”

That immediately silenced him.

'Fair enough...'

As far as Zeldryn knew, Kera had only appeared in his room that morning. He had no idea what the man had been doing the previous night, which meant Kera genuinely had not witnessed whatever had happened to him.

Kera then pointed toward the tree that had already endured several of Zeldryn's small explosions.

“Enough, enough. You can already use mana to make explosions now, right? Do what I told you and blow up that tree.”

Zeldryn let out a long sigh. At least several of his questions had already been answered, even if plenty of things still made no sense.

“Fine.”

He turned toward the tree again. The black marks left behind by his previous two explosions were still clearly visible across its trunk, but this time Zeldryn did not want to overthink everything before he even began.

He focused his vision until the yellowish-golden mana particles once again filled his sight.

'Start.'

Zeldryn selected a single particle first, then gradually increased the number to six and eight. Every particle moved according to his will without any obvious difficulty.

He paid close attention to the sensations coming from his body.

Earlier, when his Mana Hole had felt empty and dry, controlling even this many particles had been strangely difficult. Now, however, the difference was obvious. The particles responded much more easily, and his Mana Hole no longer felt as though every movement were draining the last bit of strength from it.

Zeldryn increased the number again.

Ten became twelve, then thirteen.

Only then did the Mana Hole beneath his navel begin to fluctuate slightly.

'Hmm?'

He continued carefully.

Fourteen particles remained under his control without much trouble, and after a brief hesitation, Zeldryn added one more.

Fifteen.

His concentration immediately sharpened.

This was where he had stopped before.

The last time Zeldryn had reached fifteen particles, he had believed himself to be at his absolute limit. When he tried to add a sixteenth, his Mana Hole had reacted as though something blunt had smashed into it from the inside, and the impact had been severe enough to make him cough up blood.

The memory was still far too recent to dismiss.

'If I keep going, am I just going to make the same mistake again?'

Zeldryn gritted his teeth and briefly glanced toward Kera.

The man stood only a short distance away, quietly watching him without saying anything.

Zeldryn did not trust Kera enough to blindly follow every instruction he gave. Still, one thing was undeniable: Kera was deliberately training him right now. If the man continued insisting that Zeldryn create a stronger explosion, then there had to be some reason behind it.

At least Zeldryn hoped there was.

'Damn it.'

He returned his full attention to the mana.

Fifteen particles remained under his control.

Then Zeldryn added the sixteenth.

His entire body tensed immediately, already preparing itself for the pain he remembered. The Mana Hole beneath his navel grew much heavier than before, and its fluctuations became stronger, but the sharp impact never came.

Zeldryn waited.

There was no sensation of something striking him from within, no sudden pain, and no blood rising into his throat.

The pressure was undeniably heavier than fifteen, but he could still maintain control.

'I can still do it?'

His eyes widened slightly.

Zeldryn briefly glanced at Kera, expecting some kind of reaction, but the man neither looked surprised nor told him to stop. Kera simply continued watching as though nothing unusual had happened.

'What's going on? Why can I control sixteen now?'

The more Zeldryn thought about it, the more suspicious he became.

'Shit. That four-eyed bastard definitely knows something.'

Kera, unsurprisingly, offered no explanation.

Zeldryn clicked his tongue internally and returned his attention to the mana. There was no point waiting for an answer that clearly was not coming yet.

If sixteen was possible, then he might as well find out how far he could actually go.

He added another particle.

Seventeen.

The pressure inside his Mana Hole increased immediately, but the particle still obeyed him. The sensation was heavier, yet there was still no sign of the sharp pain that had appeared when he truly crossed his limit before.

Zeldryn carefully pushed further.

Eighteen.

Then nineteen.

His breathing gradually became heavier as the effort required to maintain control continued increasing.

“Hah...”

Even so, all nineteen particles still moved according to his will.

'There's progress.'

Zeldryn had no idea what had caused the change, but the limit he had discovered earlier had clearly shifted.

He increased the number again.

Twenty.

Then twenty-one.

“Ugh...!”

His body tensed as the Mana Hole beneath his navel began fluctuating far more violently. His head grew heavy, and maintaining control over all twenty-one particles demanded significantly more concentration than before.

This time, however, Zeldryn recognized the warning.

His body was not in pain yet, but the strain had become intense enough that pushing any farther felt reckless.

'Enough. There's no reason to wait until the pain starts.'

He no longer needed to add a twenty-second particle simply to confirm where the limit was. The sensation itself was already telling him enough.

Twenty-one was his current limit.

At least, that was what his body seemed to be saying.

Zeldryn had already learned what happened when he ignored that warning. He was not going to repeat the same mistake simply because he wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

'That's enough.'

Gritting his teeth, Zeldryn maintained control over all twenty-one particles and began directing them toward the tree.

They moved together through the air, gradually converging on the same section of trunk that had already been blackened by his previous attacks. Zeldryn carefully drew them closer until every particle was gathered around a single point.

The pressure inside his Mana Hole remained heavy, but his control held.

All twenty-one particles were ready.

Zeldryn focused his entire mind on them.

'Now...'

He imagined every particle colliding at the exact same instant.

BOOM!