Harry was surprised as to why he would ask him that kind of question. ‘How the Hell do you expect me to kill a peak stage four mana beast? Can’t you sense that I don’t even have a stage one mana core?’ he felt like screaming those words to the man but he held himself back and only said it inwardly.

“No… I didn’t Kill the mana beast. All I know is that it hit me on my chest and I passed out then when I woke up I met myself here.” Harry said. He didn’t find any reason to lie to the white-haired man, after all he truly didn’t know what happened to the mana beast.

The man just looked at him strangely for some time before he nodded his head. ‘He can’t be the one that killed that mana beast maybe someone else was there… the question is now… who?’ He thought.

His squinted his eyes as he stared at Harry, he wasn’t just staring though, he was also using his mana sense to scan Harry. Even though he concentrated very hard using his mana sense, he still didn’t sense anything, apart from the shattered mana core foundation he noticed earlier. ‘It wouldn’t hurt to ask one more time… except this time it’ll be with a little… persuasion.’

“Are you sure you didn’t see anyone else during the mana beast attack?” He asked. This time he didn’t just ask, he released some of his mana pressure on Harry.

Harry felt a chill run down his spine when he saw how this strange man was looking at him, he felt like he was walking on a thin rope and any wrong move could end his life. The former calm and gentle aura around the man suddenly changed to a fiery one that seemed capable of melting his skin.

Harry gulped while trying his best to recollect if anything strange truly happened the previous day, resulting in the death of the mana beast.

‘I don’t remember anyone else being there with me, this man seem to be a really powerful mage, I can’t afford to offend him and besides who would stop to help someone like me? Everyone was concerned about running for their own dear lives,’ he thought.

“No, I didn’t s-see anybody… else during the mana beast attack. S-someone might have truly killed the… beast but I don’t know who that… p-person is… I passed out when the beast kicked me…” He said, after finally convincing himself that the mana beast’s death had nothing to do with him. Although he tried not to stutter, he ended up stuttering due to the pressure placed on him

‘The weird white li-streak I saw in the sky. It was coming towards my direction, could it be that it was real and I wasn’t hallucinating? Could it be what killed the mana beast?’ The thought suddenly popped in his mind but he brushed it off. He felt the white streak was merely an hallucination—he didn’t even know what made him think of that in the first place.

“Fine.” the white-haired man said as he finally retracted his pressure. He knew Harry was telling the truth, after all, he couldn’t lie—even if he wanted to—due to the pressure.

He then dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a small shiny brownstone, he looked at the ‘stone’ for a few seconds before finally passing it to Harry.

Harry looked at the ‘stone’ for a few seconds in shock. This was the first time he was seeing a beast core.

Although Harry wasn’t allowed to take part in the practical classes about mana, he was still allowed to attend normal classes where they were taught about mana and its history, mana beasts, rifts and also beast cores.

Beast cores were found in mana beasts, it was similar to the mana core used by humans to draw and store mana and it differs across stages.

Beast cores could be used for a lot of things, ranging from creating weapons, powering artifacts to directly absorbing the mana in it in order to increase the mana core stage. It was also very… expensive.

The other man chuckled lightly when he saw Harry’s expression. “Just take it, the AMO doesn’t have any use for it and they decided to give it to you as a form of compensation.” he said.

Although he said this, it wasn’t totally true—A beast core could never be useless, not even to the AMO. The reason he gave Harry the beast core was because he didn’t think the AMO deserved to keep it—After all, they weren’t the one who killed the mana beast. To him it just didn’t feel right, although some of the adventurers weren’t happy with his decision, they didn’t dare complain.

When Harry finally recovered from his earlier shock, he closed his mouth. A slight wave of embarrassment washed over him as the slight pain in his jaws reminded him of how long his mouth had been opened. “Are you sure you want to give this to me?” he asked as he still wasn’t sure if the man just pulling his legs or was really serious about giving him the stage four beast core.

“Yes… since you can’t draw mana, you could just sell it and use the money to do… anything you like.” the man said with a gentle smile on his face.

Harry just nodded his head slightly, his eyes sparkled as he stared at the beast core. He slowly stretched his hand forward to collect it.

The white haired man smiled wryly as he placed the beast core on Harry’s hand. He slowly stood up from the chair and then left the ward, leaving Harry to his thoughts.

‘If I sell this beast core… I could get a lot of money from it because of its stage,’ he thought, still in awe about the beast core. “I didn’t even ask for his name.” he muttered in realization.

He just simply brushed that thought off, the white haired man’s name wasn’t really important to him. He slowly got down from the bed, a strange expression flashed in his eye as he stared at the hospital bed. A sigh left his lips as he slid the beast core into the pocket of his academy uniform. It was time for him to head back home.

***

Luckily for Harry, the hospital happened to be close to his house—it was on the third street—so finding his way back home wasn’t too hard for him. They even offered to escort him home but he refused saying he could find his way home.

As he walked home, he couldn’t help but sigh once more as the thought of how he was unable to draw mana kicked in again.

‘If only I had a mana core… I could absorb the mana in this beast core and use it to boost my mana core stage… if only…’ He thought. ‘Whatever, no matter how many times I wish for that to change… it can never change… I’ll be lik—’

DING!!!!

A weird ‘ding’ sound suddenly rang out in his head, he looked around in shock and surprised. ‘What wa—’

While he was still recovering from the shock, a strange set of characters appeared in his line of sight.

[Welcome Host to the Manaless Mage System]

*****

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