“Who are you? You… aren’t him. Yes, you have simply stolen his runes.”

His head moved slowly. Revealing tired, but glowing with purpose eyes, he looked at her. The skin around his body began glimmering slightly blue from the overexposure to mana.

Opening his mouth, he began to utter words. It was tough because of the pain and stimulation from mana, but he gave a proper answer nonetheless.

“My name… is Conall. I’m not from this world.”

Having to separate the answers, he continued regardless of the pain clouding his reasoning.

“But I came here to help you."

“I know what he did, so please save yourself from explaining.”

She listened to him closely. The air around, specifically the mana, agreed to his truth. No lies were intertwined in his words.

“Because I hate him. He came to my world.”

“Did he also destroy it?”

Great curiosity was spiked in her heart and his next answer left her plenty satisfied.

“No… he came to a world with a purpose already established.”

“Then?”

“He stole something precious to me.”

“I need one of his runes to get it back.”

That was a lie, but he masked it as the truth.

“I see. I will stop the attacks. I’m sorry for not recognizing earlier.”

“No. I need it. Besides, don’t you want to free them?”

With a modest smirk on his face, he asked the mana source.

Immediately understanding him, her face turned solemn. At the same time, an aura of worry filled the air.

“You will implode from the amount of energy in your body. I have to end this right now. Even at the cost of my people.”

“Then, become my mana core. It shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

The smirk turned into a full smile. His suggestion was outrageous. For a mana source like her to become someone’s possession, it was a degradation of the lowest sorts, something she would easily kill for. At least, if she wasn’t stuck in a dead world. Her desperation to revive this bleak reality was at an all-time high with the boy coming here.

“Will you withstand my pressure? Are you sure your body won’t break down?”

His golden yellow eyes gleamed. He didn’t even move his head to confirm his stance on the matter. With a single sentence, he eased her worries. Stuck in the hellish town of black rocks for countless millennia, her only wish was to be able to leave and save the world.

However, the changed world bound her to the rune.

“I’m sure. The burden will lessen even further when I acquire the rune you're bound to.”

“If that’s the case, good luck.”

Without saying anything more, the face turned into a wisp of condensed, pure energy, quickly traveling towards the boy shackled by black chains.

The moment the wisp entered his body, he felt as though a hot coal gnawed at his heart. In the middle, where his mana core should have been, the source settled herself, quickly connecting his mana veins with her as though it was nothing.

As if a wall inside him broke, Conall felt something wash over him. Constantly circulating, the mana was allowed to move, unlike the last eighteen years.

He felt powerful. The ability to create out of thin air using special intentions, movements, and constructs of the mana.

Suddenly, the sand beneath him hardened, freezing from the outburst of his mana. Having gathered so much from the previous attacks, it all escaped like air from a pierced balloon.

“Do you want to start the rest now? I can tell the souls are desperate to leave this place.”

Suddenly, he heard a female voice in his head, to which he promptly replied.

“Sure, I will easily deal with the leftover mana now.”

“Do you want me to speed up the process even further, then?”

With a simple nod, he watched as three buildings turned into particles before flying toward three different towers. It didn’t take long for the number to increase to four and finally five towers.

In the final moments of intaking the attacks, almost nothing attacked him anymore. It was as if he simply received mana to train his mana control, which was surprisingly good, shocking even the mana source.

Although he told her that he didn’t have a core since birth, she didn’t believe that whatsoever, not when his control was already better than that of a mage encounterer.

“Are you sure you haven’t used magic before?”

“Mages are everywhere, so I got accustomed, I guess.”

“I know you’re lying, but the mana tells a different story. Who are you, really?”

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get going.”

“Fine. The faster the magic is back, the happier I will be and the stronger you can get.”

While exchanging a few lines, the rune trial finally ended. She wanted to ask him a little more about his magic, however, she was even more excited to feel natural magic formations coming back.

In the very middle of this place, the blue barrier broke down while the columns holding him crumbled along with the chains.

He quickly made his way toward the floating rune above the bowl filled with extra liquid. The marking of the rune shined brightly with a clear, ocean blue.

As soon as he grasped the rune, another item appeared, which seemed to be a sphere made out of plain glass. There was nothing inside, however, he quickly used mana on it, turning it frozen in the interior. Yet, when he thought of a certain basic element, the blue frost quickly developed into a green breeze that flowed around the sphere.

No matter how much mana he put inside, there seemed to be virtually no limit. He could constantly take in the mana released by the sand into his makeshift mana core before turning it into wind mana thanks to the Elementalis Orb.

Finally, he then engraved the Rune of Magic he obtained through the trial.

He felt the changes immediately. Once again, the whole world shook as proper mana started to replace the thin air everywhere he could see and feel. The sky's blue hue somewhat reappeared, battling the orange sky created by the blazing sun hung high above.

Even just breathing, he could fill his lungs with mana, something unbelievable back home. The place was so dense with energy that it quickly started forming crystals that erected themselves from the ground.

A new marking began to emerge right above the Challenger Rune, in the middle of his forearm. Immediately feeling its effects, Conall moved his mana.

The new rune didn’t give him any ideas on how to create certain spells or magic circles. Instead, he could simply think of the magic he wanted to use and it happened, albeit the complexity of the spells dictated if the current phase of the rune would allow it.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Holding the orb in his left hand, Conall thought of a wind slash and in less than a blink of an eye, a simple wind slash appeared in front of him, suspended in the air, yet ready to move. But, he quickly dismissed it.

He threw the orb in the air, only for it to start following him from behind. For ten minutes straight, he sucked in mana through his body only to exchange it for wind mana.

Relatively speaking, his ice element was superior to the wind element, however, in this environment and for his future fights, the wind was a go-to element.

His Rune of Clairvoyance allowed him to see what was beyond the normal, however, the dust was still there, obstructing all of his vision. Having wind both as a way to clear it and as a way to attack countless enemies at a range was too handy to omit its existence.

“Shall we test your new skills now?”

The source suggested, to which he nodded in agreement. Her voice was much livelier compared to before. A weird depth was added to it as well, creating an aspect of antiquity to it. She wanted to witness how the mana would react after the countless years she spent in the prison of hers.

However, before he actually revealed his hood to the monsters, he wanted to know something.

“Do you have a name?”

He suddenly asked, startling the mana source.

“Name? That is truly something unexpected. I didn’t think you cared about that stuff.”

He scoffed at her statement slightly, demanding the answer regardless. They were going to move through here for more than a few weeks, so it was a given they should know each other.

“The humans of this world called me Farra, stemming from their word for heart. Do you have a meaning as well, Conall?”

“It’s quite simple, really. I was very weak from birth, so my mother wanted me to be as strong as a wolf.”

“I see. A strong wolf.”

With their slight and short, heartfelt moment fading, Conall revealed his robe after exiting the safe space of the rune shrine.

Swiftly, the mana cluster beneath the ground moved. It was much quicker than before, clearly from the abundance of mana in the world now.

Touching the soles of his uniform shoes, the next wave began immediately. More than fifty shadows appeared on the ground as small domes of sand appeared.

As if to announce their appearance, tens of acid spits along with lava venoms flew through the air towards him. But, it wasn’t like usual at all. The spells of bodily liquids moved around the sky, being controlled by the monsters themselves.

It wasn’t only him that gained the ability to cast magic and mana, but so did the monster. Just like the past runes did, when the Rune of Clairvoyance allowed them to easily sense him, the Rune of Magic allowed them to use mana and magic more effectively than the simple spells of the past battles.

He could as acids in the shapes of worms flew at him, wiggling through the sky. Nonetheless, he simply waved his hand, a curtain of wind appearing around, easily stopping the ongoing spells.

Wind appeared behind his legs and feet, propelling him forward. Despite already knowing how to use mana properly, he was still nothing but an amateur, just like with the sword when he first came here.

The wind was too harsh and fast, and he fell on the ground, hitting the back of his head consequently.

“Ugh.”

He groaned as the world around him spun without a sign of stopping.

“Pfft, maybe I should claim my words back.”

The source retorted, to which he quickly stood back up. The monsters were already breaking through the wind barrier, so he had no time to play games with her.

Although his head was still hazy from the sudden drop, he thought of a simple, but condensed wind slash. The air around him whistled as the slash formed, ready to pierce through anything. Without a second thought, it cut through the air, going under all of the larger than usual rocks.

The barrier wasn’t an issue, since he already recalled it the moment his ranged attack began moving. Finally touching the group of worms with its large and wide composition, the wind easily cut through five of the monsters.

The rocks above him suddenly exploded, turning into smaller pieces that covered more area. Landing on the sand, they quickly raised a high cloud of dust, covering everything that could be seen.

Yet, Conall was nowhere to be seen and attacked. The place where he was standing had been abandoned, gusts of wind behind his feet clearing the dust and sand beneath him.

His speed increased to such a degree he closed the hundreds of meters separating them in less than five seconds.

Pulling out his sword, he didn’t stop, but merely barged into the monsters. The single slash, coupled with the explosive momentum he gathered, killed off any worm or scorpion that stood in his way.

like a scythe of death, another wind slash followed while he went in the opposite direction, boosting himself with the elemental magic.

Conall felt the green blood of the monsters go along with his sword as he slashed it one last time, finishing the wave in less than half a minute.

‘Such a result without a speck of aura. Magic truly is a blessing.’

While he thought to himself, Farra was once again stunlocked.

He really didn’t seem like the greenhorn he was meant to be. No, rather, his adaptability and growth was ridiculously high. Making a simple mistake, he could already get it right the next try.

Standing on top of a sand dune, Conall watched the rune fragments drop from the bodies of the monster calmly. As though falling from a cliff, he leaned forward before using a wind burst to boost himself once again. Jumping into the clusters of mana coming at him, he activated two more waves at once.

…

The moon shone brightly through the window of her room. Sitting on the floor, she concentrated on herself, not concerned about the world a tiny bit.

And, as she did, a grimace appeared on her face. A pained expression blemished the beautiful face, but she retained the posture along with the routine.

Trying to move the mana that was stuck in her veins. Even though she could tell that her mana was normal, it was still as if in a solid state. She couldn’t move it no matter what.

Well, the only times she could was during desperate measures, in life-threatening encounters. Whenever she tried to move the mana on her own, her body screamed and shrieked in pain.

“Ugh.”

Groaning and feeling the excruciating pain, she immediately stopped her decision before going back to meditating. This was the only way she found to help ease her yearning. Only with this had she somewhat connected with the world of mana.

Sitting still in the same position, she tried to replace all of her senses with but one. It was definitely hard, but she somewhat managed, negating all of the other senses to a bare minimum, while the sense for mana was heightened.

Despite that, it was nothing significant. Juliette could only feel the mana surrounding her on the wooden planks of the floor. Not a speck of mana more. Sitting in her little world, she observed as the mana flowed and moved.

However, she couldn’t keep up for long. Not because she was failing to maintain the state. No, rather, it was the loud banging on her ears.

The dark colors of the night reemerged in her vision as she opened her eyes. Harsh wind and rain fought against the tough windows of her room.

Fed up, she quickly got closer to the window, seeing what the commotion was. Two figures in dark, long robes, roughly the same height and stature stood near the mansion gates. The knights guarding the place easily let them through, to which she clicked her tongue in frustration.

“Tch.”

She naturally knew who the duo were and judging by the tumultuous rain, they wouldn’t let her train the mind in peace anymore.

As though she manifested it, less than a minute later, without knocking on the doors, one of the tall figures entered.

With a pale face and short, but styled black hair, the man walked in with his haughty demeanor. His eyes looked like they wanted nothing to do with the girl before him. Juliette could see the disgust kept hidden in the back of them.

Having sensed loose particles of mana floating around, the man raised an eyebrow.

“You’re still on that? Engrave it in your head already. You won’t learn magic. We are swordsmen, through and through.”

She could nothing but sneer at his statement before asking in contempt

“We? When was I ever treated as a part of ‘you’?”

Nonetheless, the man with his blue eyes stared at her coldly, not taking whatever she spoke seriously.

“We are a family of knights, whether you like it or not. The monster that you are isn’t what matters. You still carry the blood of our great predecessors. We won’t let you become the household’s ignominy with that magic fever of yours.”

“Hmm, what a great household you are, binding a little girl into submission with your mediocre skills.”

The man clenched his jaw as he heard her. The bane of their family dared to belittle them. He tightened his fists before calming down. He didn’t come here to fight.

“Say whatever you want, it is still you that can’t escape this mansion. I’ve had enough of you. Go to father’s room right now.”

She bit her lip, showing a deadpan face while watching him leave the room. The doors closed with a bang. If not for their sturdiness, they would have easily fallen apart.

Looking down at the floor, Juliette remained there for a couple of seconds, in complete standstill.

After drowning in her self pity, she finally moved on towards her father’s room. She had no idea whatever he wanted, but she felt it deep down her soul, and it must have not been good.

At this hour, in the middle of the night, there was seemingly no one spectating around the mansion. Walking through the empty hallways filled with paintings and luxurious furniture rimmed with expensive metals, she soon arrived before the doors to the room.

All throughout her way, she could hear the rain bouncing off the mansion’s roof, however, once she arrived at his office, all of the rain had magically stopped.

He stood in his already changed clothes. A luxurious suit, befitting that of a Kingdom’s duke, donning in gold from the countless feats accorded by their current king.

With his back turned to her, he looked outside of the window, standing beside his tidy desk. His long, black hair poured down to his shoulders and beyond. There wasn’t a single hair that protruded from each other, all perfectly straight, even more so than on his daughter’s head.

Standing upright, unable to observe any reactions from his face, Juliette awaited his voice.

“You’ve come.”