Manaless Mage-Chapter 236: A new element

He hadn’t expected to receive a hidden quest, but when he saw the rewards he got from it, he felt like leaping in happiness.

With this, his total amount of skill points had increased even more, and he was sure he could now purchase a powerful skill from the skill shop.

’This is good.’ He thought, with a slight smile on his face. ’Very good.’

***

Five days later,

Harry was seated down on the ground, panting heavily with his legs crossed in a lotus position.

He was sitting in front of a burning furnace, and sweat kept dripping down his bare chest due to the heat.

But he didn’t give up, only focusing on injecting his energy into the burning red flames.

"Hah... Hah..." His eyes suddenly opened up, his chest heaving in exhaustion.

"I still can’t do it..." He mumbled, clenching his hands into a fist. "How annoying."

A set of tabs suddenly flashed across his eyes, and his brows furrowed slightly as he read through them.

======

[New Quest Alert!]

[Unlocking Affinities ]

—Comprehend An Affinity

[Quest Progress: Fire Affinity {90%}]

—Time Limit: Six months {Time remaining: Three months}

>>Rewards For completion: 5000EXP, Class Evolution

>>Punishment For Quest Failure: 50% Reduction in all stats.

======

’Ninety percent... still no difference.’ He thought, gnashing his teeth in annoyance.

The ranking event was finally over, and after defeating Susan in the competition, he was now the academy’s rank one Elementalist, something which no one expected.

The rewards he got from winning the competition were quite valuable, even more than he had expected.

He was given a stage three beast core, and also a couple of stage two beast cores for him to absorb and boost his mana core stage.

While he appreciated the beast cores, he only absorbed a few of the beast cores—including the stage three one, using it to gain some EXP and bring him closer to the next level.

As for the remaining, he sold them, using the money to replenish his pockets.

However, he made sure the academy knew nothing about that, since that would only enrage them.

Since he was still in the second mana core stage, the academy was trying to boost his mana, in order for him to break through to the third stage.

If he was already this powerful at the second mana core stage, they could only wonder... how powerful he would get when he reached the third stage.

He was also assigned a dorm room, which was the official room of the rank one student.

Inside the room was a training room, which was tailored to help Elementalist progress even further.

The mana in the training room was about twice denser than the one around the academy, which allowed for easy absorption of mana.

However, the training room was mostly useless to him.

He couldn’t absorb mana, so despite the high density of mana in the room, it was all useless to him.

The only thing he found useful were the training equipments, which he felt could assist him in completing his daily quests.

It had been five days since the ranking event concluded, but the happenings of the event were still fresh in all the students mind.

Despite the academy’s efforts to convince him, Harry refused to stay in the academy’s dormitory, claiming he preferred his house.

Although the room was assigned to him, it wasn’t a must he lived there.

Most of the instructors felt he was stupid for making that choice, but he didn’t pay them any heed.

He could understand why they felt that way.

A room with high mana density, that allows for faster absorption of mana, it really was an Elementalist’s paradise.

However, only him understood the reason for his choice.

While the room was his, he was sure the academy would trying to watch and monitor his every move, especially to make sure he was actually training hard.

Though he was already powerful enough to take down stage three Elementalists, he still had a huge secret to keep, which was his lack of mana.

If he chose to stay in the dorm, the academy instructor start to suspect something was up with him, especially with his unusual training methods.

He didn’t want to have to keep pretending to channel mana while in his room. The thought alone of how boring and time-wasting that would be, was annoying enough.

Nonetheless, he was starting to feel there might be no difference between wasting his time to pretend he was channeling mana, and trying to comprehend the fire affinity.

During the last five days, he had been trying continuously to fully comprehend the fire element, however, he only managed to increase his progress by one percent.

It was annoying, and although he didn’t want to admit it... he had already hit another wall!

’Why... can’t I just get it?’ He thought, veins bulging all around the sides of his head.

He had tried everything he could, injecting his mana into it, trying to ’feel’ the flames, but none of them worked.

He had been doing this for about five hours now, all without making any progress.

The only thing he managed to do was increase his energy control by another level, which surprisingly didn’t help in the slightest.

’Other voice... can’t you give me some tips here?’ He thought, collapsing on his back in exhaustion.

’Anything... just anything...’ He mumbled inwardly, his chest heaving heavily.

However, all that he heard in his head were his own thoughts.

’Of course it won’t answer me...’ He thought, feeling somewhat stupid for even asking in the first place.

During the five days he immersed himself in his training, the other voice had been completely silent.

It was awkward, not having to hear its annoying voice in his head for such a long time.

What made him even more frustrated was that the other voice always finds the wrongest of times to go silent, especially now when he needed its help.

’What else should I do? Only about three months left...’ He thought, with a wry smile on his face.

’Skills and abilities.’ He mumbled inwardly, placing his palm on his chiselled torso.

===========

[Skills and Abilities]

[Skill Points: 601]

>>Accelerate (level 6)

>>Healing and low-level regeneration (level 7)

>>Probe (level 5)

>Mana steal (level 5)

>>Mana conceal (level 2)

>>Mana sense (level 4)

>>Danger Sense (level 3)

>>Energy Control (level 9)

>>Mana core illusion (level MAX)

[Elemental Skills and Abilities]

{Lightning Elemental Skills and Abilities}

>>Lightning Strike (level 1)

>>Lightning Whip (level 4)

>>Lightning Dash (level 5)

>>Lightning Ball (level 7)

>>Lightning Stun (Level 4)

{Earth Elemental Skills And Abilities}

>>Rock Fists (level 3)

>>Earth Rumble (level 3)

>>Shattering Rocks (level 4)

>>Earth Skin (level 2)

>>Earth Hold (level 3)

{Wind Elemental Skills and Abilities}

>>Wind Slash (level 4)

>>Wind Burst (level 2)

>>Wind Blade (level 6)

>>Wind Steps (level 3)

>>Wind Needles (level 3)

>>Blade barrage (level 3)

===========

Looking at the plethora of skills on the list, Harry let out a low sigh.

He really had come quite a long way from before, however, there were still some of his skills that were below level three.

It was mainly because he didn’t use them as frequently, especially [Lightning strike], which he had never even used before.

It was a very powerful skill, but, using such skill would reveal his true power, thereby causing problems for him.

’Summoning a lightning bolt from the sky... it must feel so good.’ He thought, stretching one of his hands in the air.

’But even though i have that power... I can’t use it, all because I’m weak.’ He mumbled inwardly, gnashing his teeth in frustration.

’Too weak to even reveal my true power, so stupid, and annoying.’ He thought, letting out a dry chuckle.

"Drawing lightning from the clouds... drawing..." His voice slowly slurred towards the end of his sentence, and his eyes suddenly widened in realisation.

’That’s it!’ He thought, immediately sitting back up, with his eyes burning with newfound vigour.

If ’feeling’ the flames weren’t working anymore, then all he had to do was draw it towards him!

’I’m not sure I’ll work.. but it’s worth a shot.’ He thought, stretching his hand towards the furnace once again. ’Now let’s see.’

Although his energy was completely drained just a few minutes ago, a good portion of it had already regenerated, so he currently had enough to try out what he had in mind.

Without wasting anytime, he gently channeled mana into the flame, causing it to burn even brighter.

However, he didn’t just inject his energy into the fire this time.

Using his energy, he tried moving away a small portion of the flame.

It was difficult at first, but due to his improved control over his energy, he was eventually able to get the hang of it.

A part of the fire was slowly drawn towards him with his energy coating it like a thin bubble.

The flame danced brilliantly within the bubble of energy, as it hovered above Harry’s palms.

Feeling that he already managed to draw it out, Harry gently compressed it using his energy.

He kept doing so, until it became like a small drop of fire, which hovered above his palm.

Although he could sense the flame’s presence due to the energy coating it, Harry slowly opened his eyes, eager to see how it looked with his own eyes.

As he did so, he made sure he didn’t lose his concentration, in order to keep the thin layer of energy coating it.

’Wow...’ He thought, his eyes shining in awe as he stared at the tiny flame. ’It’s really beautiful...’

It gently flickered within the energy bubble, its beauty reflecting in Harry’s eyes.

Nonetheless, that wasn’t the end, he still had a little more work to do.

Slowly stretching his other hand to the side, Harry gently channeled his energy into his hands once more.

’Now all I have to do is replicate the fire... through my energy.’ He mumbled inwardly, with a wry smile on his lips.

He slowly formed another thin bubble of energy above his second palm, while still keeping the flame within the former one active.

And then—

Fwoosh!

A small flame suddenly sprouted within the second energy bubble, burning even brighter than the former.

[Congratulations! You have successfully comprehend the fire element!]