Black Clover: Untitled (SI fic)

[Desire]

"Ahh," a soft groan could be heard in a room.

A boy opened his eyes.

'Too dark. Where am I?' He looked at the surroundings and could see a jail. No, a cage more specifically on a careful look.

'Did somebody capture me? I can't remember anything... maybe my memories are somehow deleted,' the boy thought calmly.

He had a moment of panic, but he crushed it instantly.

During times like this, panicking is just a fool's errand, and he had learned this from experience firsthand previously.

'Let's see, what is the last thing I remember?... Hmm, I went to sleep. Before that...'

'Okay, so my memory is blank after this. Either they were somehow removed, or I was caught in the night, and now I am here,' he thought while looking inside other people's cages.

He could see people with pale faces, faces that he could judge easily.

'They... They have lost hope,' he looked at other people's faces and clenched his hands.

He took deep breaths. 'It's fine. I- I won't lose hope, even if I am a few seconds before my death. Losing hope is the same as death,' his resolve grew strong.

He was going to escape this unknown place at any cost.

He looked around and closed his eyes, waiting to gain more information.

He would also act like he had lost hope so that whoever was keeping him here would not think he was the odd one out, as that would make taking action later more difficult if he caught their attention.

'So, time to blend in,' he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep for now, planning his next actions, which would depend on who the jailer was.

'Also, what's with this different feeling I am getting? This is not uncertainty but something else,' he tried to focus outward, on his body, probably thinking that it was something with the air.

His eyes opened and widened. 'What the fuck?' A wave of panic spread through his heart, this time much greater than when he realized that he was in an unknown place.

He tried to forcefully calm himself.

It took him half a minute to calm down enough to rationally think.

'This is not my body; it's somebody else's body. How the heck am I in this body?' Thoughts ran at very high speeds inside his brain, faster than ever before.

His body's fight-or-flight mechanism had been activated, and adrenaline was coursing through his blood.

All of that blood was going toward his head due to how much thinking he was doing.

He was replaying his entire life and finding possibilities for such things happening or just connections that could lead to this.

He had some assumptions previously, but having a big-picture understanding of the situation is always advantageous.

His musings were interrupted by a loud bang.

He saw a tall man with a broad chest and a well-built body coming inside.

He passed everyone their plates through the gate by shifting them on the floor.

Despite being thrown fast, not a single drop of porridge from any of the plates spilt on the ground.

It just showed his skill.

'Pretend like you have lost hope like others,' the main character chanted inside his head while mimicking their facial expressions.

"I will fucking kill you when I escape," a slave angrily said to the slaver.

The guy just looked at the angry, shouting slave with contempt in his eyes and then shook his head.

"It seems you are dumb. I have given you multiple opportunities to not kill you, but it seems you have chosen this route. Don't blame me for what happens next," the guy said while unplugging a button on a bag tied to his waist.

'Japanese? Am I in Japan? Also, will that guy take out a gun?' He instantly recognized both of them speaking in Japanese and the severity of what was going to happen.

However, his surprise turned to shock when he saw a book floating in front of the man and to horror when the guy released a fire spell that started burning the man alive.

"My last mercy to you would be killing you swiftly. I could have tried to slowly burn you, but that would have been too cruel," the guy said after not even ashes were left of the slave.

He looked at every other slave and, as expected, saw a look of horror on their faces.

'This guy... He is dangerous.' He would have been on alert if it was just a gun, but seeing that he could even torture others if he so wished increased the severity of the situation again.

He hadn't hidden his look of horror even after the guy left the room.

Just in case somebody else was watching or if the guy had other ways to monitor him—because why not? If one could spew fireballs, then it was logical to take precautions against such magic.

Inside, however, he was planning his escape. 'This is probably a moving vehicle or probably a carriage, as I could feel this moving with subtle shifts of my body, which is hard to notice normally. Also, that guy, he had a clover symbol in his book...'

Everything clicked for the boy.

He had transmigrated into Black Clover and was now being transported somewhere as a slave.

It took him a while—around 10 minutes—to accept that he had a new body and identity and that the world had changed.

Due to not having much attachment to his old world, he only had to come to terms with living in a medieval fantasy and forgoing smartphones and anime.

'Finding information would be very difficult now. Just having a search engine makes things so much easier. I guess the fact that people realize the importance of something only when it's lost is true,' he internally shook his head.

'Maybe this could be an AU or set in modern times... but let's expect the worst,' he was a devout follower of Murphy's Law.

'Anyway, it doesn't really matter. My goal is to just survive and try out different things. For that, I need strength and power because, without those, the hierarchical world will just make me a casualty of a young master or something,' he internally giggled at that while closing his eyes outwardly.

He rambled about some things internally, just entertaining himself while brainstorming how he would escape.

'Okay, now this is going to be risky, but I would rather not find out what will happen to me when this carriage reaches its destination, as that is unknown,' he hardened his resolve.

'I will start trying to feel my mana. Everyone in this verse has that, except for some abnormalities. But let's assume I have some mana. Doing so could risk the slaver knowing about this, but I am ready to take the risk. I am not going to regret this decision,' with that, he didn't waste time and started to find something different in his body that was not present in his previous body.

He had always done some form of meditation in his previous life, so his self-awareness of his body was not bad.

In just around fifteen minutes, he found the weird energy in his body.

'Okay, now I don't know how to manipulate this exactly, but I have read and watched a lot of weird stuff and have some theoretical knowledge about how to approach any unknown energy.

But that all is theory. It's time to test if those theories work or not,' with that, he tried to move the energy inside his body only.

He had found the source of his mana in the solar plexus.

However, that was only where it was mainly concentrated; he had noticed that it was present throughout his whole body.

He went with the solar plexus for now as he thought it would be easier to work with trying to move mana in an area where there was more, as sensing mana inside his body was easier.

'Magic could be used even without having a grimoire. Just having a grimoire makes it easier, but we have seen characters using magic when they were kids, so it should be possible.'

'Time to start moulding it inside my body for now,' with that, he started going on a grind to hone his control.

Time was ticking, and for now, just being able to use mana would be a boon to him.

***

A/n- Guys 50 Powerstones before tomorrow's reset for a bonus chapter, it's quite an ambitious goal, but let's try it.

***

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[Hyperionthetitan]

Oh hey black clover fic

 

[Desire]

Oh hey black clover fic

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I always wanted to write a proper one, so this is my next work; I would post here every week, as this site seems to have a scheduled posting option

 

[Hyperionthetitan]

Yeah, I always wanted to write a proper one, so this is my next work; I would post here every week, as this site seems to have a scheduled posting option

Click to shrink...

Yeah more is always welcome . There is so little of this .

 

[Desire]

Oh hey black clover fic

Click to shrink...

Also, how do I add the next chapter

 

[Hyperionthetitan]

Also, how do I add the next chapter

Click to shrink...

Post it then threadmark?

 

[Desire]

A few days passed until the first time our protagonist gained consciousness and came to the realization that he had transmigrated.


How does he track how many days have passed since that day?


Simple, by counting the number of times he gets food.


He had gotten comfortable with sensing the mana inside his body and could mould the mana into basic geometrical shapes quite quickly.


He had also started moving the mana inside his body and gained decent competency in that.


Due to the mana not leaving his body and technically not being used, he could do this exercise most of the time. One thing he had noticed was that when he moved mana, some of it got converted into a lower form of energy, which he simply called "waste energy" as it was a chaotic form of mana.


Its analogy could be similar to how "heat" was perceived in his previous world: a lower form of energy converted from a higher form. The lower form of energy has no way to get converted back into a higher form; thus, total usable energy is always decreasing, despite the total amount of energy being the same.


However, he didn't know whether "waste energy" could be converted back into "mana."


What he knew was that it left his body and dispersed into the environment.


He was worried that the guy could notice his actions through this, but after sensing a bit in the environment, he realized that there was mana everywhere, and so was "waste energy," though sensing the latter was harder.


He looked at the new plate of food he had gotten and quickly consumed it fully.


He looked around at the other slaves who were eating their food.


He decided to delay what he was going to do for later and focused on refining his internal control by working on compressing an amount of mana.


Time passed, and luckily for him, his cage was at the corner, and the guy was in the cage on the exact other side most of the time. So, he lay down on his back such that it was diagonally facing away from the others so that nobody could see his front side.


He first concentrated on the mana in his solar plexus, then moved it to his palm and released it.


He could see blue mana dispersing in the air.


"Okay, let's see whether that guy comes here or not," he decided to test the waters by checking the amount of mana that was going to be output and dispersed into the air.


It was risky, but he felt that it would not be easy for the guy to always monitor the inside. Plus, even if he had a way, it would be very hard to determine the source unless the guy had an exact pinpointer device or magic.


So, he was gambling on the latter's non-existence.


To gain something, you need to risk something too.


After going back and forth between internally focusing on compressing the mana and externally releasing it, he realized that the guy either couldn't notice him releasing mana or was pretending not to notice.


Either way, the next day, he didn't use mana in the range of one hour before and after the guy came to give them food, and gauged his reaction, which didn't really give him any useful info as the guy was the same as ever.


With that, days passed, and he practiced compressing mana inside his body in various shapes, even experimenting with mana output—being very careful with the latter, as he didn't want to risk much.


One day, during the night when everyone was sleeping, he placed his finger near the lock and released mana from his finger, which took the shape of a key.


After one minute, he was able to form the right key.


Just in case, he tried that again the next minute and instantly opened the lock.


However, he was unsure whether to escape now or later, as in the last few days he had seen that when the slaver opened the door, it was raining heavily. He didn't want to escape in such conditions without a grasp of the exact location.


Also, he didn't have enough combat power to kill the slaver in a sneak attack, so those two factors made him close the lock and return to his training despite knowing that there was a possibility the carriage could reach its destination the next day.


With that, some more days passed, and he noticed that it wasn't raining heavily anymore outside.


"So, it's finally time to escape... I can't wait to meet all the characters from the canon," a weird expression appeared on his face, which disappeared after a few seconds like it had never existed.


"Calm down, those characters are real, so they would have more depth to themselves. They could even be different from the original. Plus, what's the guarantee that I am close to the canon timeline? Maybe I am in a time hundreds of years after the canon events, or perhaps during the reign of one of the first 26 Wizard Kings," he decided to rely on his rational side, as that was one of the things he was good at.


It was the dead of night, and he quickly opened the lock of the cage and went out.


"Let's see, should I open all these people's cages too? They could serve as a distraction," he mused while looking at around 30+ slaves.


"No, that would take too much time, which I don't have currently. Plus, I want my escape to be sneaky," he thought as he went to the door of the carriage.


He created a blade of mana with his fingers and cut through the gap in the door, splitting the lock into two.


Just as the door opened, he, crouching, quickly caught both pieces of the lock before they hit the ground and made a sound.


"Hehe, I wouldn't have been able to make my mana that sharp just a few days ago. Taking my time and training was the right thing to do after all," he internally chuckled while getting out of the carriage, which was static, indicating the guy was probably sleeping.


He quickly closed the broken door as much as he could.


"Okay, now that is out of the way, let's esc—" His thoughts stopped as he noticed the slaver watching him with wide eyes.


Both of them looked at each other.


Our main protagonist, despite not being a Joestar, subconsciously used their technique.


He threw the lock pieces at the guy's face while running in the opposite direction.


"That won't hit. I misjudged my strength," he thought while running in a zigzag pattern.


Suddenly, he dived sideways and saw a kick hit the air where he had been standing moments ago.


"This guy is fast. Is it mana enhancement, his natural physique, or both?" he thought, knowing that mana enhancement was likely a technique too, though he hadn't thought of a way to implement it practically.


"My only way to damage him is to release a mana blade at my maximum output, aiming for his neck or heart while compressing it."


"How did you escape?" the slaver asked.


Instead of running away, the boy lunged toward him.


"I am not the only one who escaped," the boy said suddenly, startling the slaver, who looked toward the carriage door, searching for signs of other prisoners escaping.


Generally, being an experienced mage, he wouldn't have looked away during a battle. However, due to the harmless appearance of the boy—who didn't even have a grimoire—and the unexpectedness of the situation, he made this rookie mistake.


His eyes widened as he sensed a decent amount of mana released from the boy's finger, compressed in the form of a blade, going straight for his neck.


Even caught off guard, his instincts as an experienced fighter kicked in. He rotated his body unnaturally, making the mana blade miss his neck by a hair's breadth.


He countered with an axe kick straight to the boy's gut, sending him flying like a cannonball into nearby trees, breaking them.


"Fuck, that hurt. Luckily, I had anticipated this and moved my mana to my abdomen just before the kick connected, releasing it to soften the impact—or I would have definitely died," the boy thought.


He had also used mana on his back to prevent injuries from the crash into the trees.


The slaver was surprised the boy survived. He had thought the kick would have left a hole in the boy's gut, given how instinctive and powerful the attack had been.


"I would have normally let you live despite trying to escape me, but it seems you are too dangerous for me to let live," the slaver said, summoning his grimoire and looking at the boy, who stared back at him with fear.


***


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[Desire]

'He must have very good instincts to not only create a mana blade with that much compression but also to move mana inside his body to lessen the impact,' the man thought while readying a fire spell designed for high speed to reach the boy, who was far away from him.


Little did he know that the boy had achieved all that through sheer skill. The compression was something he had trained on his own, and the movement of mana inside his body was not instinctual but meticulously predicted and executed consciously.


It seemed to be the end for the boy, but an unexpected roar caught the man's attention. He turned around to see a boar charging at him.


'Fuck, when did that get here? No way... that boy distracted me, stopping my sensory field from activating properly, and his mana usage must have attracted the boar. I'm screwed if other animals come,' the man panicked momentarily as the boar charged toward him at lightning speed despite its large stature.


After all, it was a mana beast—deadly and fierce.


The man realized he didn't have a spell capable of killing the boar with 100% certainty at such close range. Forced into a quick decision, he fired a fireball, not at the boar, but at the carriage.


Before the boar could reach him, screams of pain and agony erupted from the carriage.


Being burned alive is an excruciating way to die, especially when the caster designs the spell to prolong the agony rather than deliver a swift death.


The screams drew the boar's attention, and it changed direction, charging toward the carriage. There seemed to be more people there, creating more noise.


It definitely wasn't fully sentient; otherwise, it wouldn't have made that choice.


The man's gamble had paid off. With the boar now targeting the carriage, he quickly prepared a spell at maximum output. Just as the boar reached the carriage, the man launched the spell, ensuring the boar couldn't dodge.


The boar was instantly incinerated, its remains obliterated by the spell's intensity.


'And there go my goods. Well, I can always earn more as long as I live,' the man consoled himself about his losses. But suddenly, his eyes widened as he felt the world spinning.


He saw the moon shining brightly above, followed by the boy standing beside his fallen body with fingers pointed downward.


Despite being the killer, the boy didn't have a single drop of blood on him.


The boy suddenly ran away from the man's fallen body.


'He must have used those screams to mask his footsteps and formed a mana blade exactly when I cast the spell, catching me off guard. Was that a coincidence, or was it all planned?' the man wondered. This was his last thought before he died.


Far away, the boy noticed the man's head now separated from his body and his grimoire, which had started disappearing, finally vanished.


'Okay, so he didn't have any spells that activate upon death. Should I loot him?' The boy contemplated, staring at the headless corpse.


Something told him it was a bad idea.


After thinking for five seconds, realization struck him. He quickly started running away from the scene at full speed.


Within minutes, mana beasts swarmed the area, fighting each other in a frenzy.


Meanwhile, the boy continued sprinting. 'Is there a way for me to increase my running speed?' he wondered, attempting to release mana from one of his feet as it left the ground. He felt a burst of forward momentum, almost stumbling, but quickly balanced himself by releasing mana from his other foot.


'Damn, this is awesome, but the mana cost is high,' he thought, frowning as he stopped using mana and changed direction to avoid being tracked by other animals or any potential accomplices of the slaver.


After several minutes of intense running, he crouched inside a bush after thoroughly checking it and the surrounding area.


His breathing was heavy, but he ensured it was quiet as he inhaled deeply.


'So, they're all dead, huh,' he thought of the other slaves in the carriage. Not only had they lost their lives as bait, but they had suffered painful deaths.


'Then again, like every world, this one also follows "the strong kill the weak." In my previous world, money was the main indicator of strength, along with some other factors. Here, it's your lineage and strength. Despite anime glossing over it, the Clover Kingdom was divided into the Forsaken Realm, Noble Realm, and Royal Realm, or something like that.'


He didn't feel much remorse over their deaths, as he wasn't directly responsible. He had to survive, and he did what he had to. If given the chance, he might have used them himself to ensure his survival.


After all, he was a selfish person and acknowledged it.


'Anyway, I don't know how to survive here. This is an unknown forest, and I don't know how to hunt or skin animals. I'll stick to a vegetarian meal and search for non-poisonous plants,' he sighed, closing his eyes and observing his mana slowly regenerating.


He noticed that focusing on it actively increased its recovery rate.


As his mana regenerated, he started shaping and compressing it into different forms. This task was less mentally exhausting now, allowing him to practice without tiring.


An hour later, he had fully recovered his mana.


Nearby, a rabbit was grazing.


'Why isn't it sleeping? Well, not that it matters. Do rabbits sleep during the day or night? I need to test something,' he thought, focusing on the mana inside his body.


He began shifting all his mana toward his solar plexus, compressing it further whenever it filled up.


He expected this process to take a few minutes, but he severely underestimated the difficulty. It took him hours to concentrate all his mana into his solar plexus.


Night fell and day came.


He had to take multiple breaks throughout the night to maintain focus. Sleep deprivation also made the task more challenging.


Despite setbacks, he finally succeeded in fully compressing his mana. The rabbit was long gone by then.


He realized the need for sleep. Without proper rest, he couldn't make optimal decisions.


'This body is young, so I'll need more sleep. I don't have an alarm, so I'll let myself wake up naturally,' he decided, moving to find a safe place to sleep.


However, as he moved, he noticed mana leaking from his solar plexus.


Redirecting his focus, he managed to prevent further leakage after a few more hours.


'Fuck, I need to sleep quickly. Things are getting tougher, and hunger is catching up to me,' he thought, searching for shelter.


He decided that finding proper shelter was critical, given his exhaustion. After failing to locate a cave or a safe spot in the forest for half an hour, he realized he would have to improvise.


Spotting a large stone nearby, an idea struck him. He decided to use it as part of his makeshift shelter. He quickly selected a spot near the stone, reasoning that it would serve as one side of a protective barrier, making it less likely for predators or other threats to detect him while he rested.


He focused on the mana within his body, guiding it to his palms despite some of it leaking into other parts. 'I'll deal with that later. Right now, I need to secure this spot and sleep.'


Using small, controlled bursts of mana, he softened the ground next to the stone. Once the soil loosened, he began digging manually with his hands, pulling the dirt away and forming a small, shallow pit. The process took longer than expected due to his dwindling stamina, but his determination pushed him forward.


After an hour, he had dug out a hole deep enough to fit his body. He carefully positioned the large stone to cover most of the opening, leaving a small gap for air circulation. To further conceal the space and provide additional protection, he layered leaves and smaller branches over the stone and around the opening.


Finally satisfied, he crawled into the pit. The stone provided some insulation and blended into the forest surroundings, while the loose soil around him made it somewhat comfortable.


As he lay down, his body screamed for rest, but he couldn't help but redirect his focus briefly to his solar plexus, ensuring his compressed mana remained stable. It was difficult to maintain control, but he succeeded in preventing any leaks.


'This will have to do,' he thought as his eyelids grew heavy. Despite the harsh conditions, he felt a sliver of pride at his ability to adapt to this unknown world. His hunger and exhaustion would have to wait—survival came first.


Within moments, sleep overtook him, his body surrendering to much-needed rest.


***


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[Desire]

(50 Powerstones for Bonus Chapter, you guys can do it!)


His eyes opened, and he looked around to see the darkness, except for some light peeking through the leaves.


'Okay, I am still alive. Cool. I thought I would die somehow while being trapped here,' he thought. Cautiously, he peeked out of the small hole and only emerged once he noticed no animals were nearby.


He also noticed that, while he had slept, much of the chakra concentrated in his solar plexus had spread throughout his body.


'Well, it would take a long time for me to make it automatic, but let's see if any animals notice me,' he decided. He began to traverse the forest to find some food. Looking at the sky, he could deduce it was still around three to four hours before sunset—enough time to find some food.


However, just after a few steps, he noticed a rabbit heading toward him.


'Okay, that thing looks ferocious. Plus, the fact that it's hopping makes it even more bizarre.' He had noticed that some of the mana was being released from his body despite his efforts to suppress it. That was why he had initially compressed all the mana in his solar plexus—it wouldn't escape that way.


The rabbit suddenly skyrocketed toward him with its paws outstretched, seemingly intending to tear his flesh. But he had anticipated this, so he dove down before it could reach him. The rabbit hit a tree, but after bouncing off, it rushed toward him again.


'This guy is too fast. I can't even see him move—only his charges,' he thought, diving in another direction and barely dodging the rabbit's "pawbutt."


'Let's see. He's using his leg strength to do this, which means it's mana-enhanced. How annoying.' This time, he released bursts of mana from his palms, propelling himself into a quick stand and dive, causing the rabbit to crash into the wall.


The area where its paws landed left small craters in the ground.


'I'm hungry. I don't think I'll be able to escape this guy. I have to kill him now,' he thought, racking his brain to find solutions to this predicament.


Due to his hunger, his mind wasn't functioning properly. So he acknowledged that one strike from the rabbit's paw would likely kill him. The speed of the rabbit made it harder for him to pinpoint where its paw would hit—unlike a slower strike like from a slaver, which had a wider surface area.


Adrenaline began pumping throughout his body, and he finally felt a sense of danger.


His brain started working, and he quickly came up with solutions to escape this predicament.


'One way is to somehow escape his senses and hide my mana, but not only would that be hard, but completely suppressing my mana takes a few hours, so that option is out.'


Suddenly, his eyes widened in realization, and he dove again with deadpan focus. He rushed toward a high wall.


He stumbled backward, and the rabbit took the chance to attack him. Mana burst from his body, making his upper body rotate and dodge. He used it to propel himself backward, where the rabbit hit the wall.


Just as he emerged, a blade of mana rushed toward its head, killing it.


'Finally, it's over. The answer was so simple—I just had to use the gap between its successive charges, which it used to prepare them in the first place.' He shook his head and then began to escape from the area—or at least he tried to.


'Fuck,' he thought when he noticed a dozen more rabbits in the area, all staring at him.


He released mana from his feet while jumping sideways, just as one of the rabbits passed through that area.


He quickly reached a tree and began climbing it.


However, while doing that, a rabbit's paw hit the tree, causing it to shake violently. He had to release bursts of mana from his lower region to speed himself up and dodge.


Once he reached a branch, he jumped from it. Just as he did, the entire tree fell, courtesy of the rabbits causing so much destruction.


The gap between the branch he jumped from and the one he landed on couldn't be shortened by his jump, so he quickly released some mana from his feet, propelling himself forward.


A rabbit, smart enough, had aimed to charge initially at the spot, but due to the change, it missed him by mere inches.


'Fuck, these guys are not only too many but smart too. I can't use that tactic, as others will charge while one is preparing to attack. I have to somehow lose these guys—or start dwindling their numbers,' he frowned, landing on the branch and crouching while one hand rested where his head had been moments ago, holding a mana blade.


A rabbit decided to kill itself by putting its head on the mana blade and his hand. This forced him to stumble forward toward the ground from the branch.


He dissipated the mana blade and let himself fall to the ground. However, just as his foot left the branch, he released a burst of mana, making his fall very quick.


Instead of using mana to soften his landing, he performed a roll on the ground.


The dead rabbit's body hit the ground shortly after.


'Tch, their blood is different from human blood,' he noticed, looking at his hands and then at the dozen rabbits now looking angry.


"You guys started this. Better get ready to die," he said with a calm face, motioning with his palm for them to attack him.


'I need a sharp object or something. My mana won't last long. Plus, I'm hungry, and fatigue is catching up. Adrenaline is keeping me conscious for now, but I would've passed out from the energy I'm expending.' He internally frowned but didn't show his trouble externally.


Three rabbits charged toward him. He formed a rod with mana between both of his hands, complete with thorns extending from it.


All three hit the mana rod with such force that he was sent rocketing backwards like a cannonball.


He released mana bursts from his back to slow himself down until he hit the back of a tree.


'OUCH,' he thought, feeling intense pain. Luckily, none of his bones broke, and he didn't show his pain outwardly.


The three rabbits had died from the thorns piercing their heads.


'That was a gamble, but it seems they're aiming for my heart instead of my head, which makes it easier,' he thought as he picked up one of the rabbit corpses and threw it toward the other rabbits, who were temporarily stunned.


"COME AT ME AND DIE!" he yelled like a madman. Luckily for him, his bluff worked as the rabbits started backing away, and then eventually ran off.


'I'm almost out of mana. One more mana burst, and I'll go into mana exhaustion, which has a high chance of making me unconscious—especially since I'm hungry,' he thought, grimacing.


He got up and began moving, but he felt the world spinning.


He spotted a tree with some purple apples. He looked around and found that this tree was his only option.


'Well, it's do or die. Time to take a gamble,' he thought as he climbed the tree the normal way and stood on a branch.


He took a bite of the purple, apple-like fruit.


"Damn, at least if I die now, it would be in peace. The taste is so good." He began gobbling the fruit, and soon the entire tree's apples disappeared.


"Now, that's what I call a good meal," he said, patting his stomach while looking at some beasts that had come to observe the aftermath of the commotion. Due to him already removing the blood from his body before climbing the tree and hiding within its leaves, they didn't notice him.


He then lay down on a thick branch and focused on recovering his mana. He noticed that the rate of regeneration was higher than usual. 'Oh, is it due to that purple apple?'


He decided not to focus on that for now and quickly moved all his mana toward the solar plexus. With not much mana left inside his body, he was done in around 15 minutes. Any new mana that formed inside his body, he quickly moved to his solar plexus.


'Now, that's a shortcut I found for this technique.'***


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[Desire]

(Guys, Here is Bonus Chapter for the new year, let's try to reach 50 Powerstones before Sunday for bonus chapter, we are 20 percent there!)


Days passed, and our protagonist continued honing his control over concentrating all his mana in his body in one spot.


Soon, it turned into weeks, and he could now converge all his mana within an hour to his solar plexus.


His training had comprised concentrating the mana, dispersing it, concentrating it again, and so on. The former took hours to accomplish, while the latter was done within seconds.


It was like building a sandcastle.


He had also gone to gather fruits and change locations only when he had completely concentrated all his mana inside his body, as he didn't want another encounter like the one with the rabbits again. That one could have cost his life if he had made one mistake.


He even had good control over his mana when he was sleeping or unconscious, such that not much of it went away from his solar plexus.


As for choosing the solar plexus as the main point to gather mana? Well, it didn't really have any special feature other than the fact that it was close to the middle of his body and could supply mana to all parts of his body.


The other factor was his meta-knowledge from Chinese fics and novels he had read, which might have led to this bias.


Anyway, the solar plexus wasn't a unique place in his body for mana concentration, as he could concentrate all of his mana at any point.


Our protagonist was currently sitting on a branch of a tree while biting into a red apple.


'These things are definitely tastier than in my previous life; I could bet my pinky finger on it,' he thought while taking another bite out of the apple.


He suddenly sensed a large explosion hundreds of meters away from his location. This wasn't new, as conflicts between stronger animals happened daily, but what caught his attention was that the explosions were getting louder.


'Jeez, who is the being who can't let me eat in peace?' he quickly swallowed the entire apple and focused on reducing his presence to utter nothingness.


It had worked always until now for battles between stronger animals, as they generally weren't focused on their surroundings much compared to their enemies.


He still was prepared to run if his cover was broken in the unlikely situation.


However, soon the explosions suddenly stopped and calmed down completely.


'Did the battle get over? Or did a third party come, making the other two stop fighting and choose peace as an option, or something?' he internally joked while trying to find something by looking in the direction from which the sounds were coming.


A few minutes passed like this with no sounds coming. Our protagonist hadn't moved an inch from his crouching position on the branch, hidden in the leaves due to his cautious nature.


'Should I move or wait a bit more?' he wondered about his next move.


"Oh, didn't expect a kid to be present here," a whisper-shout could be heard by the boy.


'What the fuck?' Even without fully forming this thought, he had moved his palm with a mana blade toward the source of the voice.


To his surprise, he felt the blade connect.


He turned around to see what exactly was happening.


"Oh, you also have toys to play with? That really is an ingenious use of mana now," the voice said.


He looked at the spot where his mana blade had pierced and saw it hitting the palm of the speaker, yet no scratch could be seen there.


'What the fuck? That thing could kill a normal human or mage more than ten times. I didn't even feel any obstruction from the mana. Does this mean that this is pure physical strength—like the durability of that body?' he was so baffled that he didn't even move.


He hadn't even looked at the face of the person who had sneaked up on him due to the absurdity of the situation.


"Well, you attacked me, so it's natural for me to attack you too, right?" the voice continued.


He then saw the fist slowly coming at him. No, slow would be the wrong statement—it was more like his brain was replaying the events slowly due to how fast everything happened, making it difficult for him to react.


Just as the fist was a few inches away from his position, he released the maximum output of mana from his forehead forward, propelling him backward and lowering his head.


He barely managed to dodge the punch.


Due to the sheer force of the punch, the air was thrust backward, causing a loud boom. He was hurled backward by the air along with his initial momentum from the mana burst.


He quickly back-flipped in the air, landed in a crouch, and looked at the attacker with a grim expression.


'I almost died,' his eyes widened as he finally noticed the attacker.


"It's Mereoleona fucking Vermillion," he blurted out as he recognized her face.


He didn't mind saying that out loud, as keeping his facial expression was very difficult at this moment, and she would have deduced that he knew her already.


"Oh, you know me? I didn't know that my fame was that big now," she said in a chilling voice.


"I didn't know that either until now," he replied while going over what exactly happened in the previous exchange.


"Still, didn't expect you to dodge that. Can you dodge this?" she disappeared from her spot and reappeared above him, aiming an axe kick.


However, he had already mana-burst away before her kick landed on the ground, forming a crater.


'How annoying. Not only can't I track her movements or mana, but her attacks could one-shot me,' he ducked under another punch using mana bursts.


Despite only using a few bursts, he was almost running out of mana, as each one took too much energy. Mereoleona was too fast.


Soon, he was dangerously low on mana and stopped using mana bursts, making him unable to dodge the next attack.


However, before it could land, she stopped the punch a few inches away from his face.


'Okay, as expected, she won't kill me. I'm safe—' He felt a sudden hit on his head from above.


"Ouch, what was that for?" he rubbed the part of his head, now resembling a bump.


"For attacking me earlier, what else?" she smirked.


"You were the one who startled me like that. Who sneaks up on a kid?" he accused her while pointing his finger at the big woman.


"I was expecting a spy or something, not a kid suppressing his mana fully, which most mages can't do properly," she shrugged.


"Tch, your flattery won't work on me, but I'll forgive you just because I'm in a good mood," he rubbed his nose.


"Cool, kid. So, what are you doing here?" she asked.


"I'm training, duh," he answered after a moment.


"In the middle of a grand magic zone?" she asked, baffled.


She was brave—or idiotic—enough to go to jungles to train when she was young, but they never were grand magic zones.


"Oh, we are in a grand magic zone?" he asked, confused.


'No wonder I feel my mana rising when I ate those fruits. Must be an effect of being raised in this region.'


"As far as I know," she folded her arms. "How old are you?"


"I don't know," he shrugged. He didn't know the age of this body. Plus, he didn't want to lie to Mereoleona—he had a feeling she could tell if someone was lying.


Plus, she was a captain-level magic knight; she should be able to detect lies through some random way or just from her experience.


"Oh, let's see. You seem like a 9-year-old to me. Unfortunately, I don't have a spell to check that," she gave him her estimate.


"Oh, that seems young."


"Indeed. So? Would you now say why you're here?" she asked.


"Do I really have to?" he made a face that spoke of trouble.


"I might not look like it, but I am a magic knight, so helping people unfortunately comes under my duty, and I'm curious enough," she said.


'Oh, so she's self-aware that she looks more like a thug than a magic knight,' he thought and immediately got a bonk.


"Ouch, I didn't even say anything."


"Your expression says it all," she gave him an unimpressed stare.


"Well, I woke up in a cage, with some other people in similar cages. A jailer was transporting us in a carriage—all of us were below the age of 15, as they didn't have a Grimoire, and the jailer did," he explained.


***


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"Oh, interesting, how did you escape?"


"Well, I trained my mana control for days, and once I reached a good level, I tried to break the lock and escape. Unfortunately, the guy noticed me, leading to a confrontation between us, which I lost. But a mana beast appeared and charged at him, giving me the chance to kill him and escape." He omitted key details like being the only one to escape and not even attempting to free others.


"Oh, do you remember his face or anything? Any dressing similarities? Anything would help," she said, writing everything he said in a notebook.


'Wow, she has the patience to do this too. I thought she only knew how to fight.' This time, he didn't change his facial expressions.


"Cool, I'll drop you out of the forest then."


"Wait, I don't want to leave. I think this is a good place to train," he protested immediately.


'This place is perfect to train, with the high mana concentration and a chance to hone my instincts—something I'd struggle to do otherwise. I'd rather stay away from the place with the young masters as long as I can.'


"Oh, why do you want to train?" she asked, amused.


"To get stronger."


"Oh, why do you want to get stronger?"


"So that nobody messes with me. Plus, fighting and investigating mana is fun too, I guess," he answered honestly.


"Oh, meet me in around 10 years. You might become a worthy opponent for me," she said with a smirk that had a primal edge.


He subconsciously shivered.


"Hell, I'll defeat you within 7 years," he tried to put up a strong front to hide his fear.


"Do you even know how to skin animals and cook them?" Her question caught him off guard.


"I don't know," he said shamelessly.


She looked unimpressed.


She pulled out a cubical object from nowhere, and a book appeared from it.


'A spatial device? How interesting. Does it work with runes or something?'


"Here, this should give you a variety of techniques on how to skin animals according to their body structure. You know how to read, right?" she handed him the book.


"Let me check." He quickly opened it and sighed in relief—it was in Japanese. If it had been in another language, he'd have been in trouble.


"Yeah, I can read it. Finally, I could eat some real food instead of plants." He cheered, tired of eating fruits and checking for poison, looking at how many animals had consumed the same food. It was a tedious and time-consuming process.


"Oh, if you're so kind, do you have books on mana control or something? I feel like seeing existing techniques and principles will save me a lot of time," he shamelessly asked.


"Sure, but these are the ones you can find in the general library. If you want something more advanced, those are generally reserved for magic knights or monopolized by nobles or royals." She summoned a few more books and handed them to him in a carry bag.


'Wow, the day feels so bizarre. I was just joking about that, and she actually gave me the books. Also, why is she carrying all these?' He was puzzled but didn't bother to ask.


Who would argue against a gift horse in the mouth?


"Kid, do you know a good bathing spot in this forest?"


"Hmm, there's a hot spring nearby. Let me lead you to it. Wait a minute, I'll come back after hiding these." With that, he went to his temporary hideout, stashed the goods he received, and then led one of the strongest people in the Clover Kingdom to the hot springs.


None of the animals approached them due to Mereoleona not hiding her mana. It seemed there were no suicidal fellows today.


"We're here." He motioned toward the large hot spring.


"Nice. I needed a place to relax after some training I did."


'For some reason, I feel like some beings were abused while she was "training."' He sweatdropped at the thought.


"About those books, why are you car—" His words stuck in his mouth as he saw Mereoleona getting naked.


"What about those?" She removed the last bit of clothing and dived into the hot spring.


"Why are you naked? No, more properly, aren't we supposed to not show our naked bodies in front of other people?" He instantly changed his question.


"Who decided that? Those decisions are individual to take." Her words silenced him.


"Well, it doesn't really matter." He sighed.


"Why don't you join me?"


"Hmm, sure, I guess. It's been a while since I took a bath." He didn't have even an ounce of shame when he said he hadn't bathed for so long.


"So, what were you asking about earlier?"


"Hmm, I forgot." He actually momentarily forgot what he was going to ask.


As he tried to recall, she asked a question of hers.


"How did you train so far? I can see your chakra control is unrefined, but it's amazing you reached this point without any books or an instructor."


"Well, I just thought of exercises as I went along. Their effectiveness is measured by how well mana is controlled within me, I guess," he shrugged, summarizing what he was technically doing.


"Interesting. I'm really looking forward to your growth. Don't disappoint me." He shivered again due to the intensity of her gaze. He felt like he was being looked at by an apex predator and was helpless to do anything. It was absurd that she was naked.


"Ahem, anyway, the water's the right temperature here." He tried to change the topic.


"I forgot to ask, but what's your name?"


"I don't have any," he replied subconsciously.


'Name, huh? Not like it matters.'


"Oh, how about I name you Akeru?" Her sudden statement caught him off guard.


"Um, why Akeru?" he asked curiously.


"I just thought of it randomly, and it reminded me of the last thug I beat."


He looked at her incredulously and then started laughing. "Hahaahaha!"


She also started laughing.


"Why not? I'll refer to myself as Akeru from now on," he—now Akeru—decided. At least it would remind him of something funny from now on.


"You're a very funny kid. Anyway, time for me to leave, kid." With that, she got up from the hot spring and put on her clothes in a flash.


"Well then, until we meet again, I guess. I'd at least be a magic knight level next time we meet, and that's within 5 years—if we meet, that is."


"Don't die, kid." With that, she turned around and paused.


"Hmm, actually take this. My brother gave me a few of these, and I forgot about them until now. I guess there was no situation for them to be used." She handed him an orange emblem with an animal engraved on it.


"I forgot what it does, but it should give you access to the library when you go out. Just show it at the main gate of Vermillion House. Cya!" With that, she disappeared, creating shockwaves due to her speed. Air was blown away, and Akeru found himself falling into the water.


He came out, put on his clothes, and placed the emblem in his pocket. He then headed toward his hideout—a makeshift platform of branches he had molded for sitting or lying down.


'Let's see. First, I need to check the book on cooking animals after skinning them.' He sighed and started flipping through the book.


He first focused on familiar animal types and even identified the exact species of some, narrowing his focus to them.


'I know I don't mind killing animals or cutting their heads off, but this must be another level.' He made a disgusted face and began looking for prey to kill.


Days passed, and he could now get food easily, and his training time increased.


Time passed quickly.


***


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Nearly 1.5 years passed since Mereoleona visited him and gave him 'Gifts.'


Two beasts could be seen fighting each other.


On a closer look, you would notice that a beast and a human were fighting each other.


The human was none other than our protagonist, Akeru.


He was fighting a lion-like beast.


The lion lunged at him, and Akeru used his daggers to block with his palms while deflecting, such that he wasn't holding his full body weight on himself.


Now, somebody will ask how he got the daggers?


Simple, these were not daggers but bone pieces that Akeru was using as daggers.


'Fucking work,' he infused the mana into the bone daggers. They glowed bluer, but apart from the lion's claws being ground against his daggers, nothing changed.


The lion landed on the ground and tried to bite his legs, but Akeru had already kicked toward its neck, deflecting it from biting him.


'Safe, but I really need to figure out this technique I'm trying to create before I lose a body part or something.'


The lion skidded a few meters away but roared toward Akeru.


The lion then roared toward Akeru, a vibration of air hurling toward him, but the latter had already rolled away.


All the trees were obstructed within 100 meters of the lion's position in the path of the roar.


'What a ridiculous attack. I would die if it hit me,' Akeru thought while circling around the lion, which the latter seemed to be doing too.


'Well, it would be dangerous if he could hit me; otherwise, it's just useless,' Akeru smirked.


Now, one may ask, why is the lion trying to kill him other than obvious reasons?


Well, there is a special story behind this encounter.


Akeru was in the mood to try to meet and ambushed one lion and kill it.


He then decided to cook its meat and took two bones out of it, as his previous bone daggers were close to breaking.


So, he sharpened those and then ate the meat.


However, the lion that Akeru ate was this lion's pack member, and it decided to take revenge by coming after him.


Akeru hadn't hidden his tracks, which he usually does, as taking a big beast like a lion is hard, and he had targeted it due to it being alone. However, it seems that only backfired on him.


Suddenly, Akeru burst mana from his foot and rushed toward the lion. The latter also came toward Akeru.


At this time, Akeru had learned how to enhance himself with mana, at least passively.


So, his physical stats have increased severalfold from his base form, which was just that of a 10-year-old child.


The lion released another roar, but this time Akeru slid down on the ground, barely dodging it, such that he was under the lion's body.


He saw the lion raising its paw and intending to stomp on his head.


'Well, time to do or die,' Akeru's face turned into a maniacal smirk.


He was very literal in those words. If he fails to do the technique, then he will die.


The bone glowed blue, and this time, they turned more blue than before.


'Finally,' he thought while passing the dagger through the stomach of the lion as he was still skidding.


Before the paw could squash his face, the dagger cut the lion in two, blood pouring out of it.


The lion was cut into two.


'What the fuck, all the blood and organs came onto my face,' Akeru made a disgusted face but, despite that, didn't say anything out loud.


He had a habit of saying things in his mind, and it was just reinforcing in this case.


It's been 3 years since Akeru submitted himself to the uncivilized life.


He could be seen moving through the forest with a lazy expression, and his posture indicated that he was relaxed.


Somebody might mistake him for walking in a garden, looking at the greenery, but he was still in the same grand magic zone.


Animals seem to run away as soon as they see him.


He had earned a reputation throughout the entire region for his notoriety of eating each species in the whole zone.


Mana beasts call him "Stalkerish Glutton."


You won't even know when he attacked and killed you and ate you. Everything is done in mystery.


'Hehe, moving through the forests has become so much easier than before. Still, I won't dare to claim that I am the strongest in the forest.' He knew there were beasts that would give even senior magic knights a run for their money, and he was nowhere near that level.


Heck, just beating a magic knight head-on would be a very difficult feat if not outright impossible without a grimoire.


'Time to leave.' He moved his leg forward and dashed straight in front at a very fast speed.


He had enhanced his leg muscles with mana, and they gave him similar boosts as using mana bursts. But not only were they massively chakra efficient, he didn't have to worry about the recoil of the high momentum.


Soon, he came out of the forest and found himself in front of a dirt road.


He currently only had a bag strapped over his body.


He traveled for nearly an hour or so before he had to stop.


"Hand over all your money and goods right now," five people in black clothes suddenly came in front of him, daggers pointing toward him.


'What the hell?'


"Boss, it seems we have caught a hobo. I don't think looting him is worth it; he doesn't even have proper clothes," one man suddenly said.


"Fair enough, let's not waste time." With that, the man in the middle turned back and started walking away.


Akeru had a tick mark on his face. So what was wrong with him using leaves as makeshift clothes? What would you expect from training straight for 3 years? His clothes weren't wearable anymore within the first few months.


The bandit leader heard a thud behind him. "What is it you fo-" He turned around to only see a punch heading for his face and the world blacking out.


'Hehe, at least I would get some clothes now.' He made an evil smirk and started stripping off their belongings from the guys and looking at the loot they had in their bags.


Luckily, he found a half-pant, considering that he was looking at adult people's clothes, which was fortunate on his side.


The upper t-shirt he got was too loose for him, but it was better than nothing.


He then started moving away, but suddenly he had an idea.


He started stripping the clothes of all men and took them along with him.


After a few minutes of walking, he threw them into a bush.


'I am not petty; I am just thanking them for the clothes and some money that I got from them by letting them train their tracking ability and resilience.' He self-righteously nodded and started making his way toward the nearest habitable area.


After a few hours of walking, he realized something crucial.


'I am lost.' He internally cursed and decided to camp here in a plain area. Luckily, there were some trees, and after checking them, he slept in those.


A few days passed, traveling like that, and he finally saw the first instance of civilization.


'What the fuck... How the hell am I in front of the Royal Capital? Isn't it supposed to be in the middle of the kingdom or something?' He was dumbfounded.


"Move, hobo," somebody from behind said, and he instinctively sidestepped.


He didn't even bother looking at the person and then looked at the map nearby.


"You—Where are you going?" The guy seemed irritated that the person who he deemed insignificant didn't even look at him. His ego was hurt.


Akeru closed his eyes and sensed the mana of the guards and other people nearby.


He mentally nodded while looking at the map and engraving the important places in his mind.


Before the guy could touch him, he did a horse kick backward at the pelvic area of the arrogant voice.


"It hurtsss~" The guy dropped to the ground while clutching that area with both of his hands.


Akeru quickly used mana enhancement and started running away from the location.


He went in a random direction and started using mana bursts to increase his speed without looking back.


In a few hours, he looked around and sighed.


'So, this is the commoner realm. Hopefully, no young masters.' He crossed his fingers while looking around.


***


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[Desire]

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Akeru strolled through the streets, looking at the various shops.


'Proper civilization finally, I missed it…' Akeru thought, observing everything carefully and noticing the differences between his world and this one.


Other than the fact that this world was in a medieval setting compared to his modern world, this world had mana.


That alone changed a lot of things.


'There were some gaps in the canon, or more like possibilities for such things to happen, but I guess that side wasn't explored,' he thought, watching a noble being teleported with a person beside him, who had a grimoire open.


'Anyway, I don't think it would be wise to go to Vermillion House directly. I don't know the value of that emblem, despite getting it from arguably the strongest person in Vermillion House. That fact alone worries me.' He frowned, looking at beggars begging on the street.


"Please give m-... Uh, go somewhere else, this is my spot for begging," the teenage girl changed her tone from polite to outright angry.


"Yes, yes," Akeru lifted his hands in surrender, quickening his walking pace.


'Despite wearing the sto- gifted clothes from Bandits, I still am mistaken as a beggar. I wonder if that is a good thing or not.' He thought, amused by his situation.


Due to how he had lived in his previous life and in this life, living in an isolated area for years, he was very open-minded about the social status of a person.


'Still, that girl was unusually beautiful. It won't be unusual for something to happen to her like in a cliché plot—unless…' Akeru looked around and examined the faces of people—from commoners to beggars, and to some nobles.


'These guys are definitely pretty, or beautiful, whatever word fits in this case. Any of these people could model in my previous world. How interesting. Is it due to mana, or some other factor—maybe evolution or something?' Akeru thought.


Due to watching so much fiction, he figured that, other than mana being a reason, it could be due to humans evolving for a long while, and this civilization being much older than his previous world.


In the canon, it wasn't revealed how old this world is or how old humans are, so from a non-technical standpoint, a person who doesn't know the intricacies of evolution might find this theory plausible.


Akeru's eyes suddenly widened. He quickly looked around and finally found a mirror.


'It's unbelievable that in more than three years in this world, I haven't looked at my face properly, due to one reason or another. It's the moment of truth.'


"Young man, do you mind helping these old bones to carry these things?" As if fate itself didn't want him to look at his divine face, it stopped him with an obstacle.


'Uh, should I just ignore her?' He thought, seriously considering ignoring the granny.


It was a granny in a red cloak.


However, his eyes widened as he looked at the granny—no, more specifically, at the amount of luggage near her. He looked behind her and noticed the shop.


"Did you earn all this from gambling?" His shock could be heard in his tone.


'People win things from gambling?' It was as if someone had poured water on his perception of reality.


"Indeed, it seems I was lucky." Her smugness wasn't audible, but her voice was clear despite her old age.


"But how do you think I could carry all these things with small bones of mine?" Akeru decided to use the same tactic as the old granny by using the same tone she used when making a request.


"I think you have a hidden power inside you that could help me."


"Huh?" 'What the hell? Is she bullshitting, or can she really sense that I can use mana? Is she a retired knight or something?' Akeru maintained his calm face, but internally, he was anything but calm.


He had thoroughly checked out her body subtly while talking to her previously, but due to her robe, it was hard for him to get a proper look to see if she had weapons inside or a grimoire.


"Fine," he sighed and decided to carry the bags.


He didn't want to provoke someone who could be a hidden expert.


'This world is really dangerous,' he internally cursed while helping the lady.


This lady was so despicable that she let him carry all the stuff.


'Hmph, I won't use mana enhancement despite this much weight. I'll just pretend that I'm a normal kid.' Akeru wouldn't let this old lady have the last laugh.


What if she wanted to take him as a disciple or something if he showed that he could already use mana? What if she was in contact with some hidden cult or something, like he had seen in anime? His caution was at its maximum.


He continued walking at the old lady's pace, time passed.


5 minutes


10 minutes


20 minutes


'Does she live far or something? This town is really big, huh?' He thought while looking around.


40 minutes


1 hour


"When are we gonna reach?"


"We are close," she said and continued walking.


2 hours


'Whoa, are they selling ice creams? Do refrigerators still exist in this world?' Akeru made a mental note of shops in the town.


3 hours


"When are we gonna reach?" 'This old lady could walk for 3 hours continuously despite taking breaks in between. She definitely is not ordinary.' His mental image of the lady had solidified in his mind.


"We are here." Akeru looked at a mansion that could be described in one word: "Haunted house."


The granny turned around. "Why don't you—where are you going?" She saw her items placed on the ground, and the boy was running away.


"I forgot that I have some stuff to be done," he said while running.


"Wait, I have a reward for you!" The granny shouted.


"I'm good. I didn't do this for any reward," he didn't stop; instead, he increased his speed even more.


He was really terrified when that lady mentioned a reward.


'That lady is up to no good. Let me take a few more turns, and I'll use mana enhancement to run away.' He thought while retracing the path he had come from.


"Who was that kid?" a voice said beside the granny.


"Just a commoner boy. I thought he had some talent in controlling mana due to a hunch, so I decided to let him follow me here." The granny said in a voice that didn't sound old.


"Oh, so is he talented? Did you find out?"


"Nah, he doesn't even have a proper affinity with mana. His body wasn't releasing any mana—more like it didn't have much." The old lady shook her head.


"That's a shame. We could have at least used him as a sacrifice in the ritual. Why did you let him go?"


"I was going to invite him, but it seems his luck is good or something, as he ran away with some excuse."


"Should I chase him?"


"Leave it. We don't have time to waste on talentless wastes. Have we been found out by the magic knights?" The granny asked into the air.


That voice was seemingly coming out of no particular direction.
That person definitely was using some form of magic to hide himself.


"Not yet, but they have increased patrols for some reason in this city. Do you think they've found us, or are we suspected?"


The red-haired granny started moving inside the mansion; the door already opened.


"It could either be a coincidence, or they might have found out about us one way or another." She frowned.


"But we didn't even leave any trace of our existence. How could they find us? Everyone is under curse magic, which prevents them from betraying our organization. I personally made sure of that." The unknown figure felt that she was indirectly hinting that he might have divulged information and betrayed them.


"They might have other means to find us, like some form of prophetic magic."


"Prophetic magic exists?" The person's shock was clearly visible in his voice.


"The world is big. Don't underestimate the Empire's forces." She said and disappeared into the mansion.


Akeru had unknowingly escaped a calamity.


***


Lol, this work would be a bit of AU to expand more on the world, as I think a lot of possibilities exist with help of mana, so some things would change, but overall the cannon world would remain unchanged.


***


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Akeru finally stopped running after he was sure he was at least dozens of kilometers away from the place.


'That granny was so suspicious; I'm glad I escaped.' He didn't realize how right his decision was.


He might have died already if he hadn't run at that time.


'Let's see, what was I thinking? Yeah, not going to Vermillion House straight away. First, I need to gather knowledge about this world. I don't want to appear like a transmigrator. I also need to understand the political situation here, as this is real life, not anime.' Akeru mentally made up his mind.


'But first, there is the most important thing to do.' In the next instant, he made a very serious face.


People nearby, upon seeing his face, took a few steps back in terror.


He quickly made his way to a nearby shop, which had glass walls.


'Won't those be the first to break if someone starts a fight here? Then again, these guys probably trust the magic knights a lot,' he thought, shaking off random thoughts and focusing on his reflection in the glass.


He saw a face in the mirror, which then twisted into shock and terror.


"Aahhhh!"


"kyaaaa!"


Akeru finally calmed his heart when he realized the person in the reflection wasn't him.


"Ahem, sir, what do you want?" The other person, the salesperson, also calmed down and asked.


"Nothing, my bad," Akeru muttered, quickly leaving the shop.


'What a useless shop; it doesn't even have proper reflective glass on the outside. I'd never buy anything from there.' He cursed, ignoring how absurd his words were.


If a clothing shop like that doesn't put transparent glass, how are they supposed to attract customers and show off their products?


He finally found a shop that sold mirrors and had one outside for display.


'What kind of days are these? To look at my own reflection, I need to go to a mirror shop.' He internally joked about his circumstances and finally looked at himself.


"No way!... I look average," Akeru was so shocked that he said this out loud.


'Where's my unparalleled charm that even people of the same gender favor?' He realized he didn't receive the package a transmigrated person was supposed to get.


People around him glanced at him weirdly.


"Mommy, what's that guy doing?"


"Don't look," the kid's mother said in a hushed tone, pulling the child away.


Akeru heard both conversations due to enhancing his ears with mana since he had ditched the granny.


"Ahem," he quickly left the scene, keeping his expression unchanged.


His poker face didn't crack even then.


'My appearance doesn't matter, after all. Under the flesh, everyone is bones only. It's pointless to care about looks,' he recalled the statement he used to tell himself before and repeated it.


He bumped into someone.


"Kid, look where you're going!"


"My bad, handsome nii-chan, please forgive me," he said cheekily.


"Ahem, I will forgive you," the guy said. From his appearance, he seemed to come from a wealthy household, though his looks were even more average than Akeru's.


'Hehe, typical rich people who are said to have good appearances.' Akeru moved away from the place steadily.


After 20 minutes, he entered an alleyway.


'Good thing I'm wearing gloves. Let's ditch them completely.' He said, throwing away the purse he had stolen and then the gloves.


He stuffed the money into a plastic bag and moved away, fearing someone might track him through the purse.


He had chosen his target by observing a guy who wasn't too rich but well-off enough that stealing from him wouldn't harm his finances too much, and he didn't seem to have any background research on him.


'Just in case, let's move to another corner of the city. I'll need to change my clothes later too.' Akeru finally blessed himself for having an average face.


It was easier to blend into the crowd.


He took out new gloves so he could hold the money while paying for something and then started heading toward a restaurant.


'It's almost evening. I'll need to find an inn later too, or maybe I should find an inn that offers food three times a day.' He made up his mind and started searching for an inn.


Soon, he found one and entered.


A burly man was behind the reception desk.


"I would like a room for the night and dinner too."


"Dinner depends on what you eat, so the payment will be done during your meal. For the room, it'll be 4000 Yuls for the night," the man said.


'He definitely is scamming me, but whatever. It's not like it's my money,' Akeru thought and proceeded to pay the amount before going to have dinner.


He then exited the inn and disposed of the gloves far away from the place, as he hadn't used them for any transactions.


'It would all be for nothing if someone has an advanced tracking spell, but I can only do this much at a reasonable level of caution. Anything more would take too much time, and that would harm me.' He thought, covering himself with a blanket.


'Woah, this is soft.' He thought while melting into the bed.


Thirty minutes later.


'I can't sleep on this soft thing,' he grimaced and proceeded to sleep on the ground.


The next morning, he woke up with a few goals in mind. 'I need to gather some information about this world. Better to find a library or something. Let's first have breakfast.'


He looked at the receptionist, who had changed from a burly man to a stunning lady.


'Is it his wife or daughter, or someone completely unrelated?' He couldn't really deduce the relationship between the woman and the man.


She looked at him and smiled.


Akeru felt something in his body when he saw her smile.


He had to do his best not to show any reaction outwardly.


"Do you want to extend your stay, sir?"


"No, I want to check out," Akeru said, maintaining his stoic face.


He did so and, without wasting any time, headed out of the inn.


'Fuck, that lady's smile was so scary. I bet she has some malicious intentions. The way she looks at me is creepy.' Akeru shivered while running away from the place discreetly.


Since he hadn't made any transactions, he didn't need to dispose of the gloves.


He then proceeded to get some breakfast and, after asking the shopkeeper, received the location of the library.


'Both magic and common knowledge require you to pay money. These guys really like to monopolize information.' He internally cursed, missing his previous life's internet, where information was mostly free.


He arrived at the reception of the library.


Nearby, a board detailed the price for reading.


Akeru's eyes widened internally. 'Woah, 3000 Yuls for an hour? And magic stuff requires 9000 Yuls per hour? What kind of inflation is this?' He proceeded to pay for one hour and decided to extend it if the library had useful material.


First, he examined all the magic-related stuff, but only a few topics caught his attention.


'If I were to steal this book, how many guards are there nearby?' He discreetly decided to scout out the people guarding it.


'Not worth the risk.' After some time, he concluded and moved to general-looking information.


Hours passed, and he finally exited the library.


'This world is really big. Plus, the laws are ridiculous. There's nothing called the value of human—specifically, commoner life. No wonder they are so unrestrained.'


'Anyway, time to get some money.'


***


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(Guys, We reached our goal of 50 power stones, you will be getting the bonus chapter in a few hours, our goal for this week is 100 Powerstones, whether this fic continues or not would depend on the support I am getting which is determined either by number of patreon members or number of powerstones this fic is getting)





After getting some money from pickpocketing, he decided to buy some clothes from a nearby shop.


He entered the shop, and his eyes widened.


"It's you!"


Two people could be seen pointing fingers at each other while shouting.


This naturally attracted the attention of many people in the shop, who turned to watch the newly formed commotion.


The person Akeru was pointing at was none other than the reflection he had seen moments earlier.


"My bad. What do you want, sir?" the salesperson asked.


"I would like to see some clothes that fit me, ones that are more durable and resistant than normal," Akeru regained his composure as naturally as an apple falling to the ground.


"Let me show you our collection," the salesperson said, escorting Akeru and displaying some of the most durable and resistant clothing available.


Previously, Akeru had shouted when looking at his reflection—not because the salesperson was unattractive, but quite the opposite. The guy was stunning, if Akeru dared say so.


It was this realization that had shocked him in the moment, thinking he resembled the salesperson.


It was unclear why the salesperson had reacted the way he did.


"Do you have any clothes equipped with runes to enhance them?" Akeru suddenly asked.


"We do have some in our collection, but the prices are naturally very high," the salesperson replied.


Akeru browsed through the collection.


'Seventy thousand for a basic-grade protection-enchanted T-shirt? Leave it. Even if I decide to spend money, I won't trust the unknown runes on clothing. What if the person responsible for creating it becomes an enemy and uses this against me?' Akeru decided to forgo that option and returned to browsing the normal collection.


He glanced beside him and saw mages using fire magic to iron the clothes.


'Damn, what kind of control is required for that? Oh wait, that's a spell. Still, can such a spell naturally appear in someone's grimoire? I bet they trained it,' Akeru thought, impressed by the display.


After finishing his shopping, Akeru decided to pay and left.


'Even though this money was stolen, why do I feel this ache in my chest when I spend so much?' he thought, clutching his chest.


For the next week, Akeru went to the library and stayed in random inns.


'The magic knights here have increased recently. I wonder why,' he thought while watching a group of purple-clothed figures.


People especially made way for them when they saw them.


'At least we don't need to bow or anything. It would've wasted too much time,' Akeru thought, approaching an idiot-looking guy near a wasabi stall.


"Nii-chan, why are magic knights patrolling in this area?" Akeru asked, making an innocent expression.


"Oh, someone has been pickpocketing in this town, and magic knights are trying to find him," the guy said, shaking his head.


"What an idiot. Are they not scared of magic knights?" Akeru asked, maintaining the same innocent expression.


'I need to get out of this city. These guys seem too free to come after a pickpocket.' He internally cursed the knights while walking away from the guy.


He glanced at one knight who had his grimoire opened.


'That seems like tracking magic. No wonder I keep running into them—they have a rough idea of my location,' Akeru thought as he discreetly moved away into the crowd.


"Everyone, stop and don't move! Our target is in the area," the other knight, who hadn't opened his grimoire, shouted.


Akeru was at the back of the crowd, near an alley opening. He decided to bolt.


"Stop!" the knight who had shouted initially said, beginning to chase after him.


'Just my luck. I should've seen it coming,' Akeru thought calmly, taking many turns through different alleys.


"I said stop!" the knight shouted again as he rounded a corner.


But the knight's eyes widened when, from his peripheral vision, he saw a kick aimed at his head.


'I didn't sense him despite my mana field,' the knight thought before blacking out.


After delivering the kick, Akeru landed on the ground while crouching. He quickly followed up with another mana-enhanced strike to make sure the knight was unconscious.


He lifted the knight and dumped him into a garbage dump before taking his grimoire.


He then proceeded to take the grimoire and, after a few more turns, dumped it in another green garbage can.


After that, moving far away, he discarded his gloves, which he had used to touch the knight, and changed locations again.


'Let's see. Those guys probably have the official gates blocked, so my best bet is to go through this forest. It connects to another city but will take a few days,' he had already studied the map, confirming the route.


He quickly tied his bag to his back tightly and snuck into the forest without getting detected.


He had a few close calls with city guards but managed to escape overall.


As he reached the edge of the forest, he picked up speed, enhancing his legs with mana bursts.


After running for nearly an hour, he stopped.


He hadn't run in a straight line, instead using branches and other obstacles to avoid leaving an obvious trail.


He looked up at the sky. 'It's around afternoon. I should have a few hours before I need to hunt for food. Time to try this out.'


His poker face broke into a strange smile—one that felt unnerving coming from a child.


He approached a nearby tree and, with a few steps, reached a branch.


'This should do,' he thought, examining the long branch. He swiped his palm at the part where the branch connected to the tree.


The branch snapped off, and he fell toward the ground along with it.


He landed silently on the ground, the branch in his hands.


He placed the branch between his legs and bent down.


'It's said that mana flows easily into cylindrical-shaped objects. Even though this branch isn't made of special material, it should work, I think,' he closed his eyes and focused on guiding his mana into the branch.


The branch started shaking, and after a few minutes of struggle, Akeru found himself lifted off the ground and floating in the sky.


'Woah, this is g—' he thought before realizing he was falling. He quickly used mana to adjust his orientation, ensuring he didn't fall headfirst.


'Fuck, this is a bit tough, but it shouldn't take too long,' he thought, continuing to practice.


A few hours passed, and the sun was halfway toward the horizon, signalling that it was nearly time for it to set.


Akeru floated in the sky, looking at the sun slowly sinking below the trees.


'Hmm, I feel like I'm forgetting something.' He stroked his chin, trying to remember.


"...growl..."


His stomach rumbled loudly.


He facepalmed. 'Fuck, I was supposed to go hunt. It's almost nighttime, and I'm nearly out of mana.'


However, he was conflicted. 'I want to try flying, but getting food now is of utmost priority. Plus, if I run completely out of mana, that's just a death sentence in this forest... but I still want to fly.'


Suppressing his urge, he landed on the ground. He ditched the branch and quickly set out, running in search of animals while enhancing his legs with mana.


'Let's hurry. Even without mana, I can deal with most animals,' he thought arrogantly as he scanned the area.


He spotted a boar and stopped.


'Wait, this isn't even a mana beast...' Akeru realized he was no longer in a grand magic zone, but rather a normal forest.


"Nooooo, my delicious meat," he yelled dramatically, dropping to the ground in despair. His expression was melancholic.


***


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It was dark before he opened his eyes.


"Where am I? Also, what's with the smell?" he said out loud.


"You were found dumped in a dumpster. We're in the middle of the city, on top of the Mayor's house," a very familiar voice responded.


"Oh, no wonder," he grimaced, disgusted both by the smell and how he had been found.


"Let me clean myself," he said, reaching for his grimoire.


"Forgot to mention, but your grimoire wasn't with you. Someone must have taken it," the voice added.


"Yeah, seems so," he muttered blankly, closing his eyes.


"Do you think they destroyed it?" the other person asked with the same indifferent tone.


"No. I can feel it—it's nearby, in that direction," he pointed.


He got up and began moving in that direction, with the other person following closely behind.


"Did you see their face?" the tracker asked.


"No, they wore a mask. The only thing I know is that they have short stature and excellent mana-hiding abilities. I couldn't sense any mana leaking from them during the fight," he replied.


"Oh, tell me more about their fighting style," the tracker in purple asked next.


"I got knocked out in one hit, so I didn't see anything," he admitted honestly, feeling a pang of embarrassment.


"I see." They arrived at the location where they had felt the grimoire's presence.


The man made a grimace.


"So, is it in this dumpster?" the tracker asked, clearly amused.


"It seems so." He opened the dumpster lid, and to his relief, his book was on top. He quickly grabbed it.


"So, what do we do now? According to my tracking spell, they escaped to the forest."


"I'll track that person. It's my responsibility they got away," he said as his grimoire began to float.


He cast a water spell, drenching himself, and then the grimoire cleaned itself completely.


"Very well. Anyway, I need to get back to headquarters—the team leader called me. Don't bring shame to the Purple Orcas." With that, the tracker left, leaving the man alone in the alley.


He cast a spell, and a water bike began forming.


"Let's see if they can escape again," he said, jumping on the bike and heading toward the forest.


Akeru could be seen sitting near a bonfire, chewing on cooked boar meat.


'It really tastes horrible. I already miss the city food. Heck, I'd be fine with mana beasts from that zone,' he thought, feeling homesick despite not having a home in this world.


'Anyway, I should hurry up before some animals come to ambush me or something,' he thought, devouring the food at a rapid rate.


Soon, he got up, extinguished the fire, relocated it, and settled down on top of a tree for the night.


'I don't think anyone would chase me. It would be ridiculous for someone to go to such lengths to catch a pickpocket. At most, they'd post a wanted poster. Luckily, I had a mask. Still, I was overreacting. I had just stolen some purses, and sealing both gates to prevent my escape? Absurd,' Akeru thought, drifting off to sleep.


The next day, he could be seen practising with "the broom," steadily increasing the distance between himself and his previous location.


Now that he could fly, the chances of being tracked would be very low without a spell. Plus, he had ditched everything he stole when entering the forest, so even that trail was faint.


A few hours passed, and he could now stand on the broom while flying.


'This really is easy. With my mana control, doing things like this should be simple,' he thought, rolling forward with his head sometimes facing the sky, sometimes the ground.


He refined his control over flying, finding some nuances in how to navigate.


A few hours later, he found himself near a stream.


'Let's see. This place is kind of peaceful. I already tried checking if I have any elemental magic affinity, but it seems I don't have one.' Akeru was excited about the prospect of mastering magic when he got his grimoire, but it would still be years before he could obtain one.


'Anyway, time to start converting my mana into water.' He began infusing his mana into the water of the stream.


The difficulty of learning magic with a different attribute increases significantly.


This is one of the reasons people with dual attributes are very rare.


However, even if someone has double attributes, it doesn't necessarily mean they're stronger.


It's more about quality than quantity, especially with magic, which takes too long to master to a decent level.


In just an hour, water began floating in the air around Akeru, but he wasn't satisfied. A frown creased his face.


'I wasn't able to infuse my mana into the water. More like I stuck it to the surface. It's not much different than using mana to control objects, like a branch,' Akeru realized, frustrated that his technique had limited, situational use.


A few more hours passed, but he saw no progress.


He decided to get some lunch while pondering how to overcome this obstacle.


Days passed in the blink of an eye.


'Finally!' Akeru smirked as water floated near him, but this time, his mana was infused into the water rather than just sticking to it.


The difference between infusing and just sticking lies in the depth of mana attachment—deeper for infusion, surface-level for sticking.


The next three days passed, and Akeru gained more control over his mana-infused water.


'Now, I need to find an exact way to convert my mana into water.' He thought as he prepared to sleep.


He woke up the next morning and ate some fruit.


He couldn't just live off meat all the time—it would get boring.


'It didn't say any specific method to convert mana into water for those without an affinity. No wonder so few people learn this. But I guess I have no choice but to grow stronger this way until I get my grimoire.'


Suddenly, Akeru's instincts blared like a loud bell.


Living in the Grand Magic Zone for three years had sharpened his senses—especially his instincts.


He naturally trusted his instincts, so he jumped forward and used mana bursts to walk on water for a few steps before reaching the other side.


He turned around to find pythons made of water rushing at him at blinding speeds.


'That's a spell. A magic knight?' he thought as he jumped onto a branch.


"Finally found you," he heard a familiar voice. But he didn't turn around, as dual pythons began climbing up the tree.


He jumped off the branch, but at that moment, both pythons homed in on him in mid-air.


'These bastards could've come straight at me earlier, but no—they had to pretend to climb the tree. Why did I even think they were real animals and not a damn spell?' Akeru realized one of his cognitive biases had led him into this situation.


He didn't panic, instead using a mana burst to reach another branch quickly.


He then swept towards both snakes with his legs.


His shoe had a blue hue, and surprisingly, the snakes exploded, water spraying everywhere.


This was the special technique Akeru had developed over three years of training—mana vibrated in whatever part he chose, giving high penetrating power. Any part of his body could become a sharp blade when he focused his energy.


"Not bad. Last time, I was caught off guard, but this time, I won't let you escape," the man finally came into view.


Akeru quickly realized that this was the person who had left him in the dumpster.


'Damn, I'm screwed. Fighting a magic knight is suicidal—even a beginner. Deflecting that spell took so much effort, and I definitely couldn't hold it if the fight dragged on. I need to escape,' Akeru decided, focusing on his first priority.


"Don't think of escaping. I can catch you easily," the man declared, revealing his water bike.


'What the hell? How is that solid? I don't think humans can reach that level of control without a grimoire. No wonder grimoires are necessary,' Akeru despaired at the massive gap between a grimoire's power and what he could do on his own.


***


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'Why hasn't he brought out his grimoire yet?' the guy thought, sending a fast-moving water ball toward him.


The masked dwarf let his body fall backwards, while one foot still clung to the branch, narrowly dodging the projectile by now standing upside down on the branch.


He smoothly shifted his foot from the upper side of the branch to the lower side.


The transition was fluid and seamless.


'Don't tell me... he's from another country, that's why he's afraid to use his grimoire. But does he really have the confidence to take me down without it?' the knight in purple thought.


It wasn't unusual for some individuals to suppress others without the use of grimoires. It was entirely possible if they were high-ranking mages.


The reason the knight didn't consider Akeru to be a child was that it was very rare for children under 15 to have the capability to cast spells with real combat effectiveness. Such prodigies were usually found in noble families, and if that were the case, this encounter wouldn't have occurred.


'Also, he hasn't used any elemental spells yet. Is he planning to surprise me with that later? I need to be careful.' The knight's thoughts revealed he wasn't completely inexperienced.


What he didn't know was that Akeru couldn't use any spells at all. His control over water could barely be considered a borderline spell, but it lacked offensive power.


It might have been useful against a fire mage, given the nearby stream, but that wasn't the case.


'I can't escape. His spells are dangerous. I'm sure one of them would knock me unconscious if not outright kill me,' Akeru thought grimly behind the mask.


"I'd advise you to give up now," the knight said, "A lot of mages are coming after you. The current Wizard King is gracious enough to spare your life. This is your last chance—a golden leaf could be given to you."


"..." Akeru was completely speechless, his mind momentarily blank.


'Is it true that the magic knights and even the Wizard King oversee something as trivial as a pickpocketing trial?' From that point onward, Akeru dismissed everything the guy said as complete nonsense.


The knight was indeed lying about reinforcements coming behind him. However, everything else—the warnings, the threats—was genuine.


The Purple Orca knight had a hunch that Akeru wasn't from this country but rather from a neighbouring one, possibly Diamond, which had a history of sending spies who would later be captured. So, from his perspective, he believed he was telling the truth.


'Even if his spells could one-shot me, it wouldn't matter unless he hits me,' Akeru decided.


He knew he couldn't outrun the knight. Despite having a top speed faster than any automobile from his past life, it paled in comparison to the velocity of a mana bike.


He leapt away from the tree, and that's when the knight hurled dozens of water needles at him.


'I knew it. He has no intention of capturing me,' Akeru thought, planting his foot on the bark of the tree.


The bark momentarily stuck, giving Akeru a secure footing.


BOOM


A loud crash echoed through the forest.


The spot where Akeru had placed his left foot was now a gaping hole—a large enough one that one might mistake it for a woodpecker's nest.


The water needles tore through the surrounding trees, making countless holes as they pierced successive wood.


But that didn't faze the knight in purple.


'He definitely specializes in pure mana attacks. That mana burst was controlled—what a monstrous opponent. That technique he used to cut my pythons? That too was mana-driven. He must've been trained to be a spy. With his grimoire, he has to be at least an Intermediate Level knight, if not more...' The knight's expression darkened, unable to look ahead, as that possibility was too frightening.


He was just a regular Junior Knight, having recently joined due to his noble heritage, which wasn't particularly prestigious. Caution was his nature.


'I need to escape,' he thought, quickly casting a defensive spell.


A water barrier surrounded him just as another loud crash resounded.


CLANG


The sound of metal striking metal rang through the air. However, if someone carefully observed, they would see only water colliding with a human hand.


At first glance, it would seem illogical, but it was the reality of this world.


The water barrier withstood Akeru's hand.


'I need stronger offensive power,' he thought.


In the next instant, as the tips of his palms clashed with the water barrier, mana began to vibrate furiously, turning blue.


'Oscillatory Dysfunction: Maximum Output'


The water pythons rushing toward Akeru instinctively shifted their direction and collided with his palm after he shattered the barrier.


They were sliced through like butter. Akeru felt as though his hands were piercing through a pipe of water aimed at him.


'What the fu—' Akeru's hand struck his body, hitting him squarely in the chest.


The magic robe of the Purple Orca wasn't like the cheaper ones from Black Bull. It was a full-body garment, imbued with proper runes for decent defensive properties.


'Ouch. I need to at least take him down with me,' the guy accepted his fate, deciding to bring Akeru down with him as his robe began to weaken.


Unfortunately for him, Akeru was prepared. Before the guy could initiate a counterspell, Akeru destroyed his grimoire.


'Noooooo!' the knight thought as his robe was eventually shredded by Akeru's vibrating blade.


But unlike what the knight had expected, Akeru didn't slice through his chest. There was no blood.


At the last moment, Akeru deactivated his technique, letting his fingers gently graze his chest.


Due to his momentum and mana-enhanced fingers, the internal damage was significant. The knight fainted on the spot.


'Finally, he's down,' Akeru sighed in relief.


Had he known this guy would've retreated had Akeru escaped after the first mana burst, he would've done exactly that.


If the knight's caution level was 10 points, Akeru's was at 100. It could even be called cowardice, but Akeru valued his life the most. He didn't want to die.


'Just in case,' Akeru stomped on the guy's groin area.


Fortunately, the stomp wasn't mana-enhanced. Otherwise...


A few more stomps later, he sighed in relief as the guy remained unconscious.


Akeru dropped his guard slightly but kept his mana-sensing senses alert, fearing the knight would wake up at any moment.


It was too cliché, and Akeru didn't want to face such a scene.


'I've already consumed half of my mana. I bet this guy hasn't even reached half of his reserves. Such is the difference between nobles and commoners,' Akeru thought enviously, looking at the knight lying bare-chested on the ground.


'Mana control is just one aspect. I need to delve deeper into traps and runes. They're underrated. Magna and what was the red-haired guy's name? They both took down that gravity devil holder—quite baffling if you think about it. Two mere commoners brought one of the upper-tier existences of the Spade Kingdom down. He wasn't just a glass cannon; he was overpowered.'


Akeru tried to cheer himself up, recalling some relevant knowledge from his past.


Given enough time, even before his own death, and watching Black Clover, he couldn't remember all the minor details—just the important ones, and he hadn't even finished the manga.


'I think there was something in the Heart Kingdom too—a way to use nature mana or something...'


***


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[Desire]

(Guys, this week's goal is 100 Powerstones Whether this fic will continue or not would depend on the support I am getting which is decided by the number of Powerstones this fic receives or the number of Patreon members)


(Also one more thing, Some people might have already noticed it before, but in the synopsis, I had put 5 ch/week as scheduled, but due to this fic being new, I was uploading one chapter each day, Due to the growth I saw, I won't drop it to 5 directly, so 6 chapter for now, with Friday as off. The reason for this is because I had to write my other fic too(Naruto: The Crimson Error) as I am not not going to drop that.
Note- This DOESN'T contains Bonus chapter)


'But how will I even get to the Heart Kingdom? And even if I manage to go, how will I gain their permission to learn their techniques? Stealing them is out of the question with the queen being practically omnipotent in the kingdom.'


Akeru quickly grabbed his bag, which he had previously hidden in a secret spot, and fled the area. He was confident he wouldn't be tracked since the person pursuing him had no effective way to trace him other than knowing he had headed toward the forest—information they only had because he had disposed of his gloves and money in that area.


It was just Akeru's bad luck that this person had stumbled upon him.


Determined to escape, Akeru focused entirely on his getaway. He grabbed a branch and began flying swiftly through the forest.


Starting his journey in the morning, he finally emerged from the dense woods by evening.


He covertly entered the city without going through official channels. This time, instead of stealing money directly from people, he targeted a bank.


'They won't be able to track me if they don't realize I've taken anything.'


He had chosen this specific bank because it was not only small but also poorly maintained—a perfect target from an outsider's perspective. Despite its shabby appearance, the bank held more than enough money for Akeru to live comfortably for hundreds of years.


That night, he managed to cross three cities undetected. Thanks to the stamina of a mana-enhanced body, he alternated between flying and running while allowing his mana to recuperate throughout the night.


By sunrise, Akeru entered a new city.


He began searching for supplies, and after a few hours, he found a shop selling exactly what he needed.


The shop, tucked away at the end of a dim alley, radiated an aura of danger.


'This is the place,' he thought as he entered, his mask firmly in place.


He looked at the shopkeeper and said, "I need the items."


"Which ones?" the man asked.


"All of them," Akeru replied without hesitation.


The shopkeeper was momentarily stunned but nodded in agreement. It made sense to him.


Later, Akeru reached a nearby forest. He knelt by a stream and pulled out a spray bottle. Spritzing his hair, he watched as his black strands transformed into a bright blonde.


The spray was nothing more than hair dye.


Next, he inserted coloured lenses into his eyes, transforming their black hue to a vivid red.


'In my previous life, this look would have made me stand out as a troublemaker, but in this world, such colors are common. It's fine.'


Satisfied with his new appearance, Akeru decided to rest.


'This spot is perfect for training,' he concluded.


Meanwhile, the Purple Orca magic knight who had confronted Akeru woke up with a jolt.


"Ahhh!" he groaned, clutching his chest. He was astonished to find no wound, no blood.


'I'm alive?' The realization stunned him into a brief daze.


"I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive!" he shouted, tears streaming down his face.


He had genuinely thought he was going to die. Grateful for his survival, he resolved to address his regrets.


'I'll propose to Miko-chan as soon as I get back to base,' he decided, wiping away his tears.


He inspected his body and realized his communication device was broken—unsurprising, given the circumstances.


Looking up, he noticed only a few hours had passed since he had fainted.


'I need to report this to headquarters immediately,' he thought, crafting a water bike spell.


But then he noticed his grimoire had been destroyed.


Closing his eyes, he channeled a large amount of mana into the air.


To his amazement, the mana coalesced into a new book—a replica of his old grimoire.


Without wasting time, he cast the water bike spell and sped toward the Purple Orca headquarters to report his findings.


In this world, mages could recreate their grimoires if they were destroyed, but it required a significant amount of mana. This made grimoires a prime target in battles; even a moment without one could prove fatal.


Akeru was well aware of this and had deliberately destroyed the knight's grimoire.


He had read in the library about the deep connection between mages and their grimoires. While it seemed logical, reality didn't always align with expectations.


The knight reached headquarters by the next morning and delivered his report. Due to the gravity of the situation, the intelligence was relayed to the Wizard King's Tower.


Meanwhile, the knight kept his promise to himself and went to propose to Miko-chan. Whether he succeeded or not remained a mystery, but in that moment, he felt deeply fulfilled.


The Wizard King, Julius, received the report of an individual capable of defeating a junior-level magic knight in a single blow.


"Now, that's interesting. I wonder why he spared the Purple Orca boy?" Julius mused, stroking his chin.


"I don't know the reason, but he's definitely dangerous. I suspect he was afraid we might track him if he killed the boy," Marx said, frowning.


"Were we able to track him?"


Marx shook his head.


"How intriguing. I wonder what kind of magic he uses," Julius pondered, briefly entertaining the idea of seeking the individual out himself. But Marx's stern gaze promptly dismissed the notion.


"Ahem. I'll leave the task of finding him to you. Assign some knights to investigate the area," Julius instructed before returning to his work.


In the Clover Kingdom, there were five ranks of magic knights:


Wizard King Grand Magic Knight Senior Magic Knight Intermediate Magic Knight Junior Magic Knight


While the contribution points needed for each rank varied, the power gap between them was immense.


By Heart Kingdom standards, the rankings roughly corresponded as follows:


Grand Magic Knight: Stage 0–1 Senior Magic Knight: Stage 1–3 Intermediate Magic Knight: Stage 4–6 Junior Magic Knight: Stage 7–9


These were approximations since both systems had exceptions. The Heart Kingdom created an additional category, the Arcane Stage, for outliers who didn't fit the standard model.


Nobles often dominated the higher ranks in the Clover Kingdom, perpetuating a superiority complex and suppressing commoners at every opportunity. This suppression stunted the growth of commoners, making it nearly impossible for them to rise through the ranks until recently.


Akeru woke up in the forest, hunted some animals for breakfast—or dinner, from his perspective—and began strategizing.


'I need to form water from mana. Watching that guy use water spells gave me some insights, but they're not significant enough. This will be my hardest challenge yet,' he thought, frowning as he relocated to a stream.


He believed that observing the water's flow might inspire a breakthrough—a notion born from his habit of consuming too much fiction in his past life.


***


A/n- I took the liberty to properly define the power system and created the above conversion between magic knight ranks and their stages.


I know that it's not completely accurate, I might make some changes if a major plot hole happens due to this.


In the Cannon, Stage 1 corresponds to the Vice-Captain Level, which is true here also.


***


Thank you to Brady Hayes for joining my Patreon.


***


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[Desire]

(Guys, this week's goal is 100 Powerstones, we are almost halfway there, Thanks for the support you guys are giving! Whether this fic will continue or not will depend on the support I am getting which is decided by the number of Powerstones this fic receives or the number of Patreon members)


Days passed with Akeru giving his utmost attention to converting mana into water.


One day, something interesting happened.


"You kid, what are you doing here all alone in the woods?" a magic knight in blue asked.


He was accompanied by another man in similar attire.


"I am training," Akeru said while striking the axe on the tree bark.


It was all an act; he had sensed these people from miles away and created this scene.


"Why are you training?" the other man asked.


Anybody could tell at a glance that these guys were nobles.


Their clothes, posture, and body language when they spoke


All exuded flawless elegance.


"I want to become the bandit king," the blondie with blue eyes said with great enthusiasm.


"..."


"..."


The magic knights looked at each other and communicated with their eyes.


'This kid is mental.'


'Let's leave.'


They decided to leave the weird kid in the forest and proceeded with their mission.


'Ehh, I was expecting this scenario to delve into a fight or something along those lines. Why did they leave?' Akeru's gaze reflected pure disappointment.


It was like seeing the kid you raised make ridiculous life decisions.


At least, Akeru didn't suffer any emotional damage from this.


After that, no magic knights or any human beings made contact with Akeru in the forest.


Days passed with Akeru focusing completely on converting his mana into water.


Soon, one month passed since Akeru defeated the Purple Orca magic knight.


"YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" Akeru shouted as droplets of water floated near his palm.


He was so happy that he shouted subconsciously. Realizing this, he probed for anybody in the area with his mana sense. To be cautious, he changed his location and moved closer to another stream.


He practiced for the next few hours, and soon, water in the shape of a ball could be seen floating on his palm.


Now that he had learned to convert his mana into water, doing this wasn't very hard.


If news spread that a 12-year-old had learned to convert his mana into an element, a commotion would erupt.


It's worth noting that the commotion would be very significant if people realized it had only been a little over three years since he started learning magic.


'Just you wait; I will defeat you even without a grimoire,' Akeru thought with determination.


He normally wasn't that petty, but it really irritated him when he realized the difference between having a grimoire and not having one.


So, he arrogantly decided to copy the water pythons he'd seen the guy using.


After a few hours, he stood humbled.


'Ahem, this is a bit tough. I need to start with something simple. Why did I even start with a complex spell in the first place?' he scolded himself while focusing on creating a proper water ball that could be thrown as a projectile.


Over the next few days, he tried throwing a water ball but realized that they either lost their shape or exploded before reaching their target.


It took him nearly a week to create a proper technique for throwing a water ball.


'Uhh... Would this even be considered a spell?' Akeru deadpanned as a massive water ball hurtled toward a tree.


The radius of the water ball was around two meters, making it taller than any human and quite intimidating up close.


However, Akeru's deadpan expression was due to the ball's speed—it was agonizingly slow.


In fact, very slow.


It was literally slower than a toddler's aggressive crawling.


'Well, this is some progress. Let's now try reducing its size slowly. I believe the speed will naturally increase from there,' Akeru thought as he analyzed the mechanism behind the spell.


His guess proved correct when the speed of the water ball increased as he compressed it to a smaller size.


Days passed, and three weeks went by in the blink of an eye.


Akeru could be seen extending his palm, and in the next instant, a water ball the size of a fist was fired. It soon collided with a tree, leaving a hole in it.


The water ball only stopped after crashing into a few trees behind it.


'Finally, I am done with this; it's combat-ready,' Akeru thought with a proud smile.


He took a break and lay down in the shade of a tree.


'When I get a grimoire, this spell will evolve into something more destructive. I'm really looking forward to that,' Akeru thought with a giddy smile.


The reason for this training was exactly that.


Spells created solely by a person get upgraded when registered in a grimoire.


That is one of the reasons nobles train their kids from an early age.


However, the difficulty of creating even a simple spell like a water ball was evident—it took Akeru nearly a month to get it right.


The time required would be much greater for complex spells like a water bike or water python, as described by the knight.


However, this didn't discourage Akeru in the slightest.


He looked at his palm, and a blue glow could be seen at the tips of his fingers.


Upon closer inspection, one would notice mana vibrating furiously at his fingertips.


'I wonder if this would be considered a spell or not? It's purely an application of mana, but its lethality is really high,' Akeru thought while recalling how he had named the technique.


He wanted to give it a cool name, but the word "vibration" didn't convey the sense of danger or coolness he desired.


Spontaneously, he thought of "Oscillatory Dysfunction," and the name stuck, even though it didn't perfectly fit the technique.


"Dysfunction" refers to a lack of function, and Akeru had heard the word somewhere but couldn't recall the context.


Anyway, he was satisfied with the name, oblivious to the implications people might infer when they heard the technique's name in the future.


"Did you catch his trace?" Julius asked.


It had been two months, and he was baffled that the person had disappeared as if they didn't exist in the first place.


"No, Sir. I think either he is still hiding in our kingdom in disguise or has already left the kingdom," Marx replied.


"We strengthened our borders immediately when we heard the news two months ago. From his location, it's highly unlikely he reached the border that quickly unless..."


"Unless they have spatial magic or magic specializing in long-distance travel," Marx completed his thought.


This kind of scenario was highly unusual. Normally, there would have been news or clues about him being captured or leaving the country.


"But they still would have been detected by our sensors if they crossed the border during that period," Julius frowned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.


"Give him the task of finding that spy. I think he's suited for this type of mission," Julius said, pointing to someone's information on the table.


"Are you sure? I think it would be a waste of manpower to mobilize him," Marx hesitated.


"What waste of manpower? It would only be a waste if he actually did something," Julius chuckled, leaving Marx with a helpless expression.


Marx was completely speechless at the truth of Julius' words.


"Very well, I will notify him," Marx said, leaving the room.


Julius gazed out of the window.


"I wonder what type of magic he has. Such a shame I can't search for him personally," Julius muttered, looking at the stack of papers on his desk and imagining the pile that would replace them once he was done.


It's quite baffling when one considers that this person is a mage specializing in temporal abilities.


The sheer amount of work he had to do was worth pondering for a third party.


***


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"I wonder why I transmigrated? Is it for somebody else's entertainment? Or is it for some other purpose? Or is it natural?" Akeru thought while looking at the clouds and the rain falling on him.


He was floating in the river with his backpack resting on his stomach, ensuring it didn't touch the water.


He was relaxing while drifting in the river.


He wasn't worried about getting ambushed by some animal under the river or about getting sick due to the weather.


He had his mana sense active, so if he felt somebody approaching, he could take care of them or run.


"Did I actually die in my previous life? Or was it a random transmigration? Did this body's soul swap with mine in that world?... Then again, thinking about it is meaningless at this point," he shook his head, dismissing unnecessary thoughts.


"Asta... the main character of this series. To be honest, I really liked Asta's character. Apart from his hero complex, everything else is really likable. One may argue that he has broken powers, but then again, people sometimes forget that he had to be mana-less for nearly 15 years of his life.


Commoners are treated as insects; I wonder how he was treated. Even if we ignore that, his dream of becoming Wizard King without mana is just unrealistic. I guess I really liked how he believed he would get an opportunity someday, so he prepared for that opportunity by training his body." Akeru took a deep breath.


"Possibilities exist. Opportunities are taken by those who are prepared," Akeru hummed while stretching his hand behind his head, his palm pointing toward the water below.


Without even looking, he formed a water ball and fired it.


BOOM


It collided with a large shark's eye. The creature groaned in pain and swam away.


"Why are there sharks here? Does this river connect to the ocean or something?" Akeru wondered, continuing to ponder as he drifted down the river.


Hours passed, and he decided to sleep in this position when night came.


Some animals approached him during his slumber while he drifted into the water, but he scared them away, just like the shark earlier.


The next morning, he woke up and jumped out of the stream.


"I hope I'm not far from my destination. It would be quite annoying to have to run toward the city," he sighed, adjusting his sack onto his back before starting to run.


Luckily for him, he was in the right place and entered the city discreetly.


He changed his hair color to blue and removed the lenses.


He was worried that during a battle if somebody attacked his eyes, the lenses might break and damage them.


He put on his mask so that nobody would remember his real face.


After all, he intended to become a Magic Knight in the future, not some thug who steals money from people.


"Time to beat some thugs—magic knights," Akeru grinned, hiding his bag at a safe location and searching for some magic knights to bully.


He spotted a few knights in red-orange uniforms.


"Hmm, I would love to, but I have some form of shame." Akeru decided not to target the Crimson Lions since he would soon be seeking refuge under their captain's house.


It would be problematic if his identity somehow got leaked, even though he was sure it would be these guys who lost their dignity.


"I'm such a good guy. You guys better thank me later," he thought, deciding to wait for other knights to take over patrolling duties in the city.


Days passed. During this time, Akeru occupied himself with experimenting with water, converting it into various shapes while avoiding the radar of those magic knights.


Soon, his wish was granted, and two knights in blue uniforms were assigned to patrol the city.


"Hehe, time to test something." Behind the mask, a devious grin formed, unnervingly sinister on a 12-year-old's face.


***


Today, two members of the Silver Eagles could be seen patrolling the area.


They were walking through a network of alleys, which was eerily silent.


Let's call them NPC A and NPC B.


"Senior, why do we have to do this menial task? I bet we could be doing better things," B complained while looking at his senior, A, ahead of him.


"It's part of our job. Even though we don't need the money, we need prestige to maintain our houses and gain fame. Plus, who knows? Maybe we'll find something exciting here," A replied monotonously.


Even he didn't believe his own words about something unusual happening.


With his experience, he knew this was going to be boring, but at least his words would shut up NPC B.


Suddenly, NPC B felt someone touch his shoulder. He quickly turned around to see who it was but found nobody.


"Senior, I felt someone touch me from behind, but I can't find anyone," he said, turning back to his senior—only to find him lying motionless on the ground.


'What the fuc—' He thought, almost shouting.


The keyword is 'almost,' as before he could, he blacked out.


"These guys were very easy pickings. Well, the thing is, they didn't sense me coming. I do have an advantage in that regard since I'm not releasing any mana from my body at all. To a sensor, I'd be no different from Asta," Akeru thought, escaping the scene silently.


This time, he coated his gloves with mana, so he wasn't worried about being tracked.


"Still, if there were an advanced sensor, they might have sensed me coming. Those guys can even detect objects in their field. I was actually worried that one of these guys—if not both—was an advanced sensor baiting me to get closer. That's why I had Oscillatory Dysfunction active in my other hand. But it was all for naught," Akeru sighed.


He didn't get a proper fight and decided to change cities.


As he exited the city and entered a clearing, his instincts blazed.


He quickly enhanced his legs to the fullest and side-jumped.


At that spot, a fireball landed.


'What the fuck?' Akeru thought as he felt the heat, even from a distance.


A crater formed where the fireball hit, with much of the mud liquefied and some of it vaporized entirely.


"You must be the famous spy the Magic Knights of various squads have been searching for over the past two months. I guess my luck is really good," a voice said, prompting Akeru to turn toward the source.


It was a Magic Knight dressed in green.


'Green Mantis? Or something along those lines. That should be the name of his squad. Their captain gets quite handsy with Yami; that's the only thing I remember. Oh, and one of the commoners in this squad became the king's guard. Useless information,' Akeru thought, scanning his brain for anything useful about the guy.


'Also, why am I a spy?' Akeru really wanted to ask out loud but didn't know how to alter his voice with mana, so he risked exposure.


He started retreating toward the forest, but before he could, a phoenix made of fire rushed at him at blinding speed.


'What the fuck?' He quickly formed a water ball and launched it, but it was useless. The water evaporated effortlessly against the phoenix.


The fiery creature struck Akeru, hurling him into a tree.


BOOM.


The man in green, named Kaiser, thought, 'When is he going to bring out his grimoire? It's pointless for him to hide it now that his identity is exposed. Unless... that grimoire is on a level similar to a four-leaf grimoire. Maybe Four-Diamond or something?'


At this moment, Kaiser had a very absurd thought, but in this scenario, it made a bit of sense.


"Oh, Mana Skin? And a flawless one at that, such that you didn't even get burned. Now, that's something," Kaiser said, observing the masked dwarf who stood up with none of his clothes burned.


A sheen of blue covered them.


Kaiser raised his guard by several notches.


"It seems the intelligence was correct. He's at least an intermediate-level knight, but he could be even higher. I must be careful," Kaiser thought as he prepared another spell.


***


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