[Location: Kael Vernier's Dorm — Late Night]
The room was quiet no wind, no motion, just the low hum of magical circuits embedded in the academy's dormitory infrastructure. Kael stood in the middle of his room, shirtless, slightly sweating, strands of white hair sticking to his forehead. His hand hovered in the air as he activated his newly unlocked skill.
> [Skill Activated: Mana Composition Perception]
Instantly, his vision shimmered. The walls faded into faint outlines, and what replaced the physical world was something deeper truer. Aetherial.
It was like putting on a new pair of eyes.
Everywhere he looked, the environment was alive with color-coded filaments some twisting like smoke, some glinting like threads of diamond.
Green—dancing and light—wind mana.
Blue—gentle, fluid—water mana.
Red—pulsating, angry—fire mana.
Golden, earthy browns, silvery arcane threads all of it flowed invisibly through the air. These weren't just elements they were structured, coded, layered, vibrating at specific frequencies. It was like watching the world's language being written live.
And then… he looked inward.
His breath caught.
> Where's… my core?
He could see his mana veins rooted deep in his arms, chest, back, legs. They were like river channels wide, deep, ominous. But unlike the natural blue-white mana flow he'd seen in others during his few healing sessions… his veins glowed darker than black.
A living void.
The kind of black that wasn't just absence it absorbed light.
"No way…" Kael whispered.
It was as if he was a functioning spell engine without the core that powered it.
He raised a hand and looked at the floating strands of green wind mana nearby. It twisted naturally through the room tickling curtains, brushing his desk, curling past the window like a lazy breeze.
He reached out, focused, and tried to bend it to his will nothing.
It wavered briefly… but didn't obey.
He tried again, this time pushing a small thread of his own mana from his palm toward the floating green stream.
His mana flowed out cold, heavy, and dark.
Like oil meeting mist, it didn't disperse the wind mana it entwined with it.
Suddenly the air current snapped.
The green stream moved not naturally, not on its own but because Kael had pushed it.
The wind surged, shifting across the room, flicking his curtains aside. A book on his desk fluttered open.
Kael blinked, stunned.
> Did I just… control wind mana?
He moved his hand again. The air shimmered as the threads of wind followed his movement not as fluidly as a proper wind mage's, but not completely resistant anymore either.
"I don't get it," he muttered, stepping back and watching the air twist. "I don't have an affinity with any elemental core."
But now…
> If I can manipulate this… does that mean I've unlocked wind affinity? Or… is this something else entirely?
His mind raced.
Had his fight with Jin done something or was it the skill?
Or maybe his confrontation with the Shadow Lord had altered his internal mana?
No this wasn't just mana evolution.
This was impossible.
> People don't just "gain" elemental affinity without rewiring their core. And I don't even have a core... so what does that make me?
Kael walked to the window and opened it.
A sharp breeze immediately hit his face. He reached out again not with muscle, but with intention.
The wind curved around his arm.
Not with complete obedience but like a dog wary of a new master, learning his scent.
> I can influence it… not command it. But that's still not nothing.
Kael exhaled slowly, mind awash with realization.
If he could understand how mana moved how it formed, bent, resisted he could exploit it in ways even geniuses like Jin couldn't. No core meant no natural limit. No boundary.
His eyes narrowed, blood-red pupils glowing faintly under the moonlight.
> I'm not part of the system... I'm something outside of it.
"Shadow Lord… glitch of the world… is this what you meant?"
He clenched his fist.
> This isn't just power. This is a doorway.
And for the first time, Kael wasn't just thinking about surviving.
He was thinking about breaking limits.