If one wanted to live leisurely in this world, one must have power. If one didn’t, only misery would come find them. I had always wanted power. At least be given the chance to be able to become stronger. However, I was not blessed.

In this world where being able to wield magic was of the norm, being born with a shattered magic core was probably the worst thing that could happen to a person. I was exactly that person.

I was not poor nor was I a commoner. I was born into an ancient clan that had existed since centuries ago; worshiped and admired by many. This ancient clan that I was born into had enormous power and a unique trait that only the clan members possess which was a pair of bright red eyes. The power of the eyes for each person is different. The power from the eyes can only be awoken if one has a mana core. When does it awaken, that, nobody knows. It may never awaken depending on the situation.

Being born with a shattered mana core inside of my body, that would mean that I would not be able to come in contact with magic at all. I was obviously disdained as I brought the greatest shame for the clan. Nobody liked me and they treated me like I’m some kind of trash; my family included.

Being bullied and beaten without the power to fight back was painful. I started to think that at one point, it is better to die than live like a useless dog for a lifetime.

Today was another day of being treated like garbage.

“Hey, useless dog! Come here for a bit. My hands are feeling a bit itchy you know so I need something to punch at to relief the itchiness.” One of the usual boys who bullied me urged me to come over like an obedient servant.

Even though I knew that I would become his punching bag, if I refused, I would get beaten ten times worse by either the bullying kids who were nine years old, the same age as me, or by my parents. Being a weak bug, I was not given the right to retaliate in the slightest bit. Even kids younger than myself mocked me as if I was a pebble on the road.

Why? A person of low status shouldn’t go around rebelling and putting down the high status of his family.

I just slowly headed towards the boy with my head hung down. It seems that perhaps another scar would appear on my body. After all, they did not just use bare fists to beat me up, but also magic. I could only ponder what I did so wrong in my previous life that I was treated this way.

“Now that is much more fitting for a dog. You obviously need to listen to the great me, Garve!” As the boy himself exclaimed, his name was Garve.

You are not that great. Obnoxious brats like you are what I call sons of bitches. If I was not a cripple, I would have---

“Oof!” My thoughts were interrupted by a strong punch that was sent straight to my abdomen. Losing my power to continue to stand up, I knelt on the ground. Shit, that really hurts even though I have received the same punch countless times before.

“What are you spacing out for, you shit?! In the presence of the great me, don’t you dare daydream! As punishment, take this! Oh, spirit of the fire, come forth and lay waste to the ignorant!” Garve chanted the aria for the basic fire spell, [Fireball].

With the close proximity and my obvious lack of abilities, I was not able to dodge the spell that was heading towards me. Accompanied with a “whoosh!” sound, the ball of fire hit me and scorched my body.

“AHHHH!” I could only scream in pain as I rolled on the ground in an attempt to extinguish the flames that was set ablaze on my body. Such low-leveled spell should have not hurt as much if only I could train my mana core.

“Ahahahahahah! Serves you right, you dog!” Garve who was one of  the source of my hatred and pain, was laughing loudly as if he had heard the funniest thing in the whole world.

“….sob… ugh…” I could feel my skin peeling off even though the fire was already extinguished a few moments ago. My skin was red with some traces of blood coming out of them. I could not hold back my tears of anger, pain and sorrow thus, I sobbed a little.

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“Hahahahah! If only my friends were here to see your miserable state! You even sobbed for fuck’s sake. Such a weak shit, no wonder you brought the greatest disgrace to our honorable clan. In the future, you should just go die in a pile of trash instead. A grave is too good for you.” Garve insulted me more and more. I wished I could rip apart his shitty mouth.

I was only able to weakly look him in the eyes while still lying on the ground. Even turning my head up was a strenuous task. Hearing his laugh, I was sure that there was more to come than a ‘light’ beating.

As if noticing my questioning gaze, Garve laughed once again and said, “In the evening of today, wait for me and my friends at the entrance of the forest. You know what would happen if you chicken out.” He narrowed his eyes sharply and began to walk away from me.

It was already afternoon when I managed to get up and half-crawled to my very ‘warm’ house. Once I have arrived and entered the house, there was nobody to welcome me. This was natural as this house was begrudgingly given to me by my family to isolate me.

They only gave me enough for my living needs. No more, no less. If not for the fact that they couldn’t leave me to die since the rumor might spread to the public and the clan’s reputation would go even more down the drain, they would have not bothered to do so.

I may only be a nine year old but I believed that my train of thoughts were much more mature even compared to someone that was several years older than me. This was caused by the excessive lonesome thinking I did every single day.

I went to the kitchen of my house and opened one of the drawers located in my vicinity. It contained a simple medical kit. I grabbed it and I sat on the stone-cold floor to attend to my own wounds. As I did not possess any advanced medical knowledge, I could only disinfect the wounds with medical herbs and wrapped them with bandages.

“Ouch….This seriously hurts.” I groaned a little in pain when I was sterilizing my wounds. I could only sigh in relief that it was quite light this time compared to the other times they have beaten me up. Thankfully the low-leveled spell, [Fireball] did not burn my skin to the point that it would leave a horrendous scar.

“You people call me trash but I have never wanted to be born like this….Sob…try to put yourselves in my shoes instead….”

I hated my life and everything about it. Who the hell said to explore the wonders of life? That person should drop dead.

After I finished wrapping my wounds, I put back the trusty medical kit back into the drawer. I needed to go to the forest early. If I was late for even a second, then the outcome wouldn’t even be funny anymore. I slowly walked out of the house, my destination was the forest.

After waiting for nearly five hours at the forest’s entrance, Garve and his companion’s silhouettes was finally seen.

“Hmph, it seems like this trash does know its place. Thought it would dare to chicken out. Seems like he still got some common sense.” A boy that was standing beside Garve bombarded me with insults. He was called Darrian.

I was always called a ‘trash’, ‘dog’, ‘piece of shit’ and various other kinds of names. One of the main reason was that I had a shattered mana core. The other reason was that I was not bestowed a name or should I say, my name was taken back by my own parents once they found out my flaw. I had already forgotten my name and even if I remembered, I was forbidden to use it.

“Don’t waste your time on him. We need to go on with our much more interesting ‘business’ in the forest. We also need to go back home soon or else our parents are going to nag us till tomorrow morning!” Garve said so to Darrian.

Hearing the word ‘business’ come out of Garve’s mouth, I began to despair.

Perhaps it was time for me to leave this accursed world.