Manaless Mage

'Even the peak stage four beast core didn't take this long!' Harry scoffed inwardly.

While Harry was whining inwardly in frustration, the instructor was surprised as he watched Harry 'slowly' absorb the beast core.

He had never seen someone absorb a beast core so fast.

He had been an instructor in vane academy for about three years and the most talented student or rather Elementalist, he had ever tutored was Trent Morton.

What made Trent his favorite student wasn't his affinity or affinity grade, it was his astonishing mana absorption speed and mana affinity body.

However, even Trent's mana affinity body and mana absorption speed paled in comparison to Harry's. The difference was as wide as heaven and earth. 'He's a monster…' He said inwardly.

While the instructor was shocked by Harry's talent, harry was barely holding himself back from facepalming as he stared at the system tab in front of him.

[0.1019%]

'This is going to take long… lot longer than I earlier expected.' Harry mumbled inwardly.

As he tried to distract himself, his thoughts couldn't help but drift to the system and its origin.

He had a hypothesis that the other voice was the system creator or even at least took a part in the system creation.

However, it was just that—an hypothesis—as the system and the 'other voice ' always went silent whenever he brought up questions about the system.

What he knew was that whoever created this system already knew about the problems he would face trying to 'blend' in with the normal Elementalist.

Although, 'mana core conceal' wasn't foolproof, Harry still couldn't help but be amazed at the illusion strength.

The fact that the academy instructors who were powerful Elementalists and mages couldn't see through the skill's illusion said a lot about it.

Harry wasn't sure if the skill illusion would be strong enough to deceive a grand mage or supreme grand mage, however, according to the other voice, no one on the planet should be able to see through it.

•

Two hours had passed and the beast core absorption was almost complete.

'Finally.' Harry mumbled inwardly as he stared at the system tab in front of him.

[99.9814%]

Though the absorption speed and percentage was extremely slow at first, it slowly improved when it got to eighty-five precent.

[+2000EXP]

A system notification flashed across Harry's eyes.

Harry's brows creased slightly when he saw the low amount of EXP he got from a stage one beast core.

If it was the past him, that amount of EXP would have excited him as it seemed like a lot.

However, the present Harry wasn't that excited about it. He even felt a little disappointed as he had to sit in one position for two hours just to get such meager EXP.

For the last few weeks, Harry had been completing his daily quests and he had accumulated enough EXP to level up—he had leveled up. With his current level, 2000EXP only gave him a little progress.

He wasn't surprised by the fact that he didn't receive any affinity from the beast core, he already knew that affinities could only he absorbed or rather gained from stage five beast cores and above.

A low exhale left his lips as he slowly opened his eyes, he purposely waited for a few seconds before doing so to give the impression that he was truly absorbing the beast core.

It would have been quite weird if he had just opened his eyes abruptly, he at least had to act the part.

Harry's brows furrowed slightly as his eyes wandered around the class.

The other students in the class weren't even done with absorbing the beast core, they were all still sitting with their legs crossed, obviously immersed in the beast core absorption.

Even though he absorbed the beast core with "mana core illusion" active, he still turned out to be the first one in the class to complete the process.

Harry slowly lifted his head and then stared at the approaching figure of the instructor.

The wind instructor had a slim frame and a oval head. His short black hair curled slightly at the edges and his nose was very narrow.

The man had a complicated expression on his face as he stared at Harry's palm, or rather, the colourless crystal in Harry's palm.

The name of the instructor was Wrint, although, it was a weird and funny name, no one in the academy dared to mock his name. His position in the academy was quite high after all.

'I doubt I would ever get used to his talent.' Wrint mumbled inwardly to himself.

Even though this wasn't the first time he had witnessed Harry's astonishing progress, he still couldn't help but be amazed by it.

Harry had only spent a few days in the wind hall and yet he was already far ahead of those he met in the class. If that wasn't shocking, Wrint didn't know what was.

The other Elementalists in the class and even Harry didn't know it but the beast core given to Harry was on a slightly higher level—it contained more amounts of mana—when compared to the ones given to the other students.

It was a method the academy used when dealing with talented Elementalists.

Becoming a powerful Elementalist wasn't only about talent, but also about passion and hard work—and even luck.

A person with peak grade affinity would never reach the full potential of his/her talent without putting in the necessary efforts.

The academy watched the promising students till their second year while slyly and gradually assisting them by providing them with better resources for training.

If the student was a lazy one who didn't impress them enough, even after one year, they would give up on the student and stop providing them with better resources.

However, if the student still showed promising results, they would fully back such student.

Harry stood up and then made some stretches before passing the now drained beast core to the instructor.

"That was impressive." Wrint commended Harry. He was a type of person who didn't let his pride get in the way of giving praises when needed.

"Thanks Mr Wrint." Harry replied politely. Although he didn't show it on his face, he did find he name "wrint" funny.

The instructor nodded his head and then slowly turned around with a slight smile on his face.

Before, Wrint viewed harry as a lazy Elementalist. When he first heard about an Elementalist with three peak grade affinities, he was excited and quite eager to guide such prodigy.

However, when Harry didn't bother to visit the wind hall even after a few weeks of registration, his impression of Harry took an all time low.

He saw Harry as a lazy person who didn't have any passion to explore his talent—a wasted talent.

However, all that changed when he witnessed Harry's rapid progression and the passion that Harry put into his training.

A wry smile appeared on Harry's face as he exhaled. 'Finally…' He said inwardly.

*****

I know the progression has been quite slow since he registered in the academy. Believe me, it's for a reason. There are some major 'scenes' in the academy that are important to the story and the arc so I can't just skip it.