Ting.

[Skill [Thought Alignment] lost.]

Ting.

[20 Class Levels lost. 20 Attribute points deducted from the most recently manipulated Attributes.]

He felt his blood pump in his skull. His hands trembled beyond his control. His breathing hastened, like a creature untamed. The sound of his heartbeat had never been so loud.

‘Yes.’

The chambermaid thought back for the second time that night. And both the times, the revulsion in his heart threatened to take his life. His thoughts suffocated him. His skin crawled. His scalp tingled. His chest weighed him down.

The woman hit his own chest, his palms clenched into fists and his nails dug into his tender skin. Though, as the fists fell on the mounds of flesh that were his breasts, the self-loathing threatened to consume him alive.

But at that moment, the overwhelmed woman received the notification, whose arrival he had been dreading the most.

Ting.

[Skill [Spirit Ghost] lost.]

Ting.

[20 Class Levels lost. 20 Attribute points deducted from the most recently manipulated Attributes.]

Ting.

[Breakthrough Skill lost. Tier has been adjusted.]

Ting.

[Tier up Attribute Points rescinded. 5 Attribute points deducted from the most recently manipulated Attributes.]

Ting.

[Tier 2 Class [Curer] has been reduced to Tier 1 Class [Mender].]

Ting.

[Tier 2 Skill found. Access to Skill [Sustain] has been blocked.]

Ting.

[Tier 2 Spell found. Access to Spell [Sever] has been blocked.]

Ting.

[Achieve Tier 2 to gain access to blocked Skills and Spells.]

Ting.

[Skill Levels exceed the Class Level. Levels have been adjusted.]

Ting.

[Skill Levels lost. Skill [Anatomy Vision Lv.45] has been levelled down to [Anatomy Vision Lv.10].]

Ting.

[Skill Levels lost. Skill [Link Lv.40] has been levelled down to [Link Lv.10].]

Ting.

[Spell Levels lost. Skill [Stimulate Lv.43] has been levelled down to [Stimulate Lv.10].]

Ting.

[Spell Levels lost. Skill [Mana Manifestation Lv.38] has been levelled down to [Mana Manifestation Lv.10].]

The woman could not breathe. He stumbled. He fell. He hit the ground hard. Pain erupted in his sides as his bruised flesh was hurt once again.

He glanced with dead eyes at his Status. The Status that had been his pride. The Status that he had meticulously researched everything about. The Status for which he had hounded the royal scholars for years on end. The royal scholars were now dead. The royal scholars of a kingdom that existed no more.

His eyes fell on the sole Skill that he could use and he hit his chest in anger.

“It will be worth it… It will all be worth it…” The woman mumbled to himself. “I just need to wait a bit more… yes, just a bit more… Then everything will be fine… yes, fine… just a bit more… I must live… just a bit more.”

The woman clenched his fists and blood began to drip down his palms. Drop by drop it landed on the floor but the woman did not seem to notice. He remained lost in his thoughts as he waited.

The [Transgender] shall endure.

0.0

“How have you been using [Mana Manipulation]?” The woman asked with his voice calm as he waited for the monster on the other side to respond.

Mana.

Me.

One.

Become.

The [Transgender] frowned as he tried to puzzle out the meaning of the monster’s words. One become? Become one? How can someone become one with their mana? What nonsense was that?

Could someone become one with their hand? Or their heart? Or their kidney? Then how could someone become one with their mana? The woman did not understand. Instead, he chose to inform the creature about what he knew.

“This method you use, I am rather unfamiliar with.” The woman said as he said not a single word about the nonsense that was the monster’s method. “Instead, I will speak about the methods us mortals employ.”

“Us mortals do not become one with our mana because we are already mana.” The woman said and almost immediately he was assaulted by the monster’s confusion. “I am my mana, in the same sense as I am my arms, my heart, my brain, my flesh, my blood and even my ego. I am all of those but not.”

Nonsense.

What.

The [Transgender]’s eyes twitched but he continued. “Or rather, I am the sum of all those things. When I move my arm, I do not become one with my arm, I simply move it. And I can do so because I am my arm.”

Body.

Part.

The woman frowned. “Your hair is also your body part. Yet you can’t move it as you wish, can you? It is because your hair is not you anymore. It is you that has died, that has been discarded. It is a part of your identity but it is not a part of your alive self.”

Control.

Mana.

Help.

How?

“How does it help control mana?” The woman asked as he guessed the meaning of the creature’s intentions. “How do you control your arm? You simply move it.”

Annoyance.

Condescension.

Nonsense.

“It is the method that we mortals use.” The woman’s frown deepened. “Once a person has been made aware of their mana through outside stimulus, it simply becomes another part of their alive self to manipulate. As they continue to use it more, it becomes stronger with time.”

Arm.

Control.

Yes.

Mana.

Control.

Similar?

Heart.

Control.

Possible?

The [Transgender]’s brows furrowed for quite a few moments before he finally puzzled out the monster’s meaning. ‘If controlling an arm is similar to controlling mana, then is even heart control possible?’

“Of course, it is. It just requires excellent control. Just as a contortionist can move their bodies in ways that regular people can’t, with great practice and control anything that is a part of your living self can be controlled.”

What.

The woman laughed at the bafflement that the creature sent in that single intention. The sound of his laugh echoed across both their cells. But this sound was unpleasant. It spoke not of mirth and joy but sinister intentions.

‘Learn little monster, learn. Learn fast. I am waiting.’

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-