Late at night outside the outskirts of a forest a young man no older than 16 years old with short black hair that seemed like it’s been poorly cut by a knife and with a gentle looking face covered in dirt and grime ran like a small rabbit that’s being chased by a wolf.

“Hah.. Hah..”  The young man was sweating and panting like crazy since his weak skinny body couldn’t handle the sudden physical workout but he did not stop.

Gritting his teeth and tightly holding a small leather bag he ran as fast as he could as his very life depended on it.

“Finally…” After running for 30mins straight the young man arrived at the edge of the forest.

Walking quietly while occasionally checking his surroundings the young man entered the forest. About 5 minutes of walking the young man stopped in front of an old oak tree the size of an adult.

The young man approached the tree and gently removed the front bark of the tree removing a hidden hole underneath. The young man slowly got in as he entered the hole, and closed up the entrance.

Entering the hole was small wooden stairs that lead to a small underground room with walls made of clay.

Lighting up a candle in his pocket the young man’s room was fully shown.

It only contained a small hay bed with animal hides as sheets, and a small wooden barrel filled with the young man’s few items and clothes he possess.

Sitting down on his bed the young man quickly took out the small leather bag.

“It really is Mana Control and Fire Ball!” The young man was shaking with excitement as he held the scrolls.

“If I sell these they would go for 10 gold or even more!”

“But... Considering my status they would probably kill me and take the scrolls knowing I have these…” The young man frowned and thought about his circumstances.

The young man belong the commoner class, and is also an orphan. Knowing the dangers of possessing something valuable without strength and from past experiences he knew it will only invite trouble.

“Maybe I could learn it…” The young man quietly thought.

“Father did say great grandfather was a magician...” The young man suddenly turned sullen as he remembered his father telling him stories when he was a child but quickly shook his head trying to forget his childhood past.

In this age Magicians were fairly common around the world but where the young man lived magicians were only a selected few, but those selected few held riches and power more than a noble.

“Even if it’s a small chance I’ll do it!” The young man with great conviction opened the first scroll “Mana Control”.

“What’s this!” As he opened the scroll the scroll glowed brightly as a star, as the words written in an unknown language flew out of the scroll and entered the young man’s head.

Closing his eyes the young man felt like he was dreaming. The instructions for Mana Control were deeply imbedded in his mind. He felt like every word, and the very essence of Mana Control was part of him.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea the young man slowly opened his eyes.

“Looks like scrolls are only for one time use” Bitterly smiling and shaking his head the young man looked at the empty scroll in his hand no more useless than a piece of paper.

Following the instructions of Mana Control within his mind the young man sat down cross legged.

“This feels uncomfortable…” The young man couldn’t help but feel weird as he positioned his body straight as an arrow while cross legged as he followed the instructions.

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*phew* Slowly breathing in the air the young man tried to feel the Mana around him.

An hour passed with no results but the young man kept slowly breathing in and out not giving up.

When the 2 hour marked passed the young man suddenly felt a weird sensation coursed throughout his body as he slightly jolted up, than he felt bits of tiny fragments of energy floating in the air around him.

“I can sense Mana!” The young man felt incredibly happy, sensing Mana means that he can qualify to be a magician.

Calming down his excitement the young man proceeded to the next step absorbing the Mana within his body.

Slowly but careful he breathes in the air as he diverts the small fragments of mana within his body coursing it to his feet. 

“Shit!” The small bit of mana he absorbed suddenly disintegrated and disappeared into nothingness.

“Well I guess it’s not that easy to be a magician” Shaking his head while laughing the young man didn’t feel down but instead excited.

A few hours passed as the young man continued to absorb Mana but occasionally furrow his eyebrows as he failed many times. If someone were to look closely they would suddenly see a faint blue light emit throughout his body then suddenly disappear.

If any magician saw this scene they would be very surprise, it’s uncommon for Mana to emit a color while being absorb.

“Only a small bit...” The young man smiled as he felt a small bit of Mana in his body like water trickling down a leaf early in the morning after a rainy night.

“Mana is the very energy that gives life but isn’t Mana more than that? Instead of being an energy source it feels like Mana is alive almost like it can speak…” Scratching head the young man pondered with this question, he felt that after absorbing Mana, the description on what Mana is in the scroll seemed wrong to him.

“Perhaps with this new power…”

Suddenly but silently small killing intent emitted in the air than like a flower blossoming the killing intent exploded, causing the very air to be hazy like in a very hot day.

The one emitting the killing intent was of course the young man, as he was sitting down his gentle demeanor was no longer there but instead replaced by a vicious aura filled with bloodlust.

“Mother, Father… Don’t worry I will never forget.” The young man whispered.

“I Sankon Hanjo will never forget.”

Closing his eyes Sankon calmed himself down, his killing intent disappeared like a wisp of smoke.

“ah what… owww!” Sankon suddenly yelled as his muscles in his body spasmed causing him to roll in the ground in pain.

“Ah my bac-“ Before finishing his sentence Sankon fainted on the floor.

Poor Sankon didn’t even realize how exhausted he truly was after running like mad today with his weak body, and to top it off sitting in the Mana Control position was also exhausting him even more, a normal person would have fainted long time ago.

Surprisingly the fainted Sankon didn’t have pained face but instead a smiling face as he slept.