Manaless Mage

Meanwhile, Harry—the main cause of all the distraction—was distracted by another thing.

[Energy Control Level up!]

[Skill 'Energy Control' now Level 3!]

[New Skill Unlocked!]

[Probe Level 1!]

The first one wasn't surprising as he knew had truly improved leaps and bounds in his energy control. He was sure to level up sooner or later.

Even without the use of the skill, he could now control the skill quite well on his own.

What he didn't expect was to actually unlock a new skill, however, that didn't mean he was unhappy about it.

His brows furrowed slightly when he felt the gazes of most of the students on him. His attention was taken by notifications that appeared in front of him so he hadn't noticed it before.

'It's probably related to this crystal…' Harry mumbled inwardly. It didn't take a genius to realise what happened. Although the last thing Harry wanted was to draw too much attention to himself, he knew that was impossible.

He had never seen someone else use the crystal so he thought the way the crystal reacted to his energy was normal, however it seemed that wasn't the case. It wasn't surprising though as his energy was a lot more powerful than mana.

He simply ignored all the gazes he was receiving from the students, the wise ones had already turned around and gotten back to their meditation.

However, there were still a few who kept their gazes on Harry. Some stared at him in anger—they were mad that he 'distracted' them, they would now have to restart the process from the beginning, while the rest were simply jealous of his progress.

The energy he released earlier had already dissipated and the crystal light had returned to its former white and transparent state.

However, it didn't stop there.

A low cracking sound suddenly rang out, other students couldn't hear it as they were immersed in their meditation.

Harry's brows furrowed as he stared down at the crystal. A low crack had appeared in the middle of it. Harry couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise, this turn of events was something he didn't expect at all.

Slowly, more cracks started to appear all around the crystal before it finally shattered into small pieces. The different pieces slid through the small gaps between Harry's fingers and fell to the ground.

[Just as I expected, it couldn't hold it.]

A familiar voice rang out in his head. The other voice's words had a slight tinge of pride and arrogance.

*****

"I fucking hate this…" Han cursed as he walked down the dormitory hall.

Though his mana core has regressed and his power had dropped greatly, it didn't change the fact that he was still one of the elite students—at least by name—no one had challenged him so he still retained his rank.

Although the students in the academy were formally ranked based on their performance in the ranking competition, it didn't mean they couldn't directly challenge other students for their rank.

However, everyone was currently focused on themselves due to the upcoming ranking competition.

No wise student would willingly waste their mana and efforts on challenging other students when the ranking competition was only a few weeks away.

They might win, but the rank might only be short-lived if they came short in the competition.

Basically, Han had only survived so far due to his luck. The only elite student who knew about his current weakness was Trent. Luckily for him, Trent didn't broadcast the news and the academy didn't announce it either.

Even he wasn't stupid enough to believe that 'this' would last forever as his weakness would surely be revealed in the upcoming competition.

He had finally stabilized his mana core, however, that didn't change the fact that he was still a stage one elementalist.

Just the thought of how all the 'enemies' he had made in the academy would come swarming at him after finding out his weakness made him crawl.

His progress was faster since he was still in the elite dormitory. Each room in the elite dormitory was enforced and enhanced with a lot of artifacts and runes, these things made the mana in the dormitory a lot denser then that in the normal or regular dormitory.

A person could advance twice faster in the dorm.

Han couldn't imagine how long he would have had to wait for his mana core to stabilize if he was in the regular dormitory. What took weeks would have taken months.

'I should have handled things better…' Han thought. These regretful thoughts and imaginations on how he could have acted and reacted better was what had been replaying in his mind since 'that day'.

Though, he had always blamed for his current predicament, he knew deep down that all this was his fault—it was all because of his recklessness.

He ruffled his hair as he bit his lips in frustration, if only he could just wish back his stage two mana core. 'Fuck… h—'

"Hey Han!" A loud voice broke him off his thoughts.

Han's face immediately squeezed into a frown when he heard this voice.

'Act normal…' He mumbled inwardly as he slowly turned around. "What do you want Dan?!" He replied.

A grey haired boy slowly approached him. His uniform was similar to Han's with golden and black colours.

He had a smug smile on his face as he stared at Han. Although Han tried his best to look as if he wasn't intimidated, he could see right through him. "What's up Han… you've been really quiet these days?" He said with arrogance.

Han's shoulders trembled slightly when he heard the grey haired boy's words, however, it didn't take long before he composed himself.

Although, he didn't like to admit it but whenever he came across another elite student, his heart always trembled in fear.

Most of the elite students were arrogant assholes—especially the ones below rank fifteen.

If the other elite students found out that he was now weaker than before, his life would become a living hell!

To make matters worse, he wasn't on good terms with most of them. It was why he had always tried his best to avoid them, only coming out whenever he had classes.

"I'm just focusing on my training… you know preparing for the ranking competition." Han replied. Although he appeared to be unfazed and calm, his mind and thoughts were anything but calm. 'Just go… walk away…' he kept repeating in his mind.

*****

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