“How dare you!” the enchanter with the tablet throws the aforementioned item at me, missing by a wide margin. “Is this how you repay our family’s kindness?”

“Do you have any idea how expensive those crystals were?” the other enchanter’s spittle lands on the ground as he pulls out a thin wand from under his robes. “How impudent!”

“Stop!” Nathaniel shouts as a crackle of lightning lands in front of the two old men. “What the hell? Why are you attacking him?” he growls as he cracks his knuckles. The anger of the enchanters disappears as their shoulders start to tremble. “I’m not well-versed in rituals, but it seems like it failed, no? I still can’t feel any Mana coming from him.”

“It’s because of this thief!” one of the enchanter spits. “The Crystals are gone, so the ritual couldn’t complete!”

“Is that true? Did you steal the Crystals?” Johnathan hurries to my side. His eyes keep alternating between me and the enchanters with a complex expression.

“And how the fuck would I do that, smart guy?” I gesture at my empty pockets. “I have no idea what happened, but I do have Mana now. I can feel it.”

“Stop lying.” Nathaniel steps forward. “I can’t feel any fluctuations from you. So give back the crystals or face the consequences.” He mutters as arcs of electricity gather at his fingertips. I gulp, that giant of a man looks a lot scarier now that he’s about to turn me into a pile of cinders. I focus, how can I show them my Mana? I have no idea! And the blue windows stay mute when I need them, how typical!

***Show Twilight Mana reserves? (Y/N)***

My lips perk up as I accept. With any luck, it will give me information about—

***Twilight Mana: 30/30***

—and nothing comes up. No tutorial, no Skills, nothing. How am I supposed to do anything?

“Well? I’m waiting.” Nathaniel grunts.

Johnathan looks at his brother and me. His disappointment is obvious. “Listen, Zach. I’m sorry but—”

“Fuck off, the both of you!” I yell, red in the face as my weak knees wobble. “I have no idea how any of this works! Give me a fucking break!” I raise my hand towards the ceiling and will for something to come, anything. The Twilight Portal activates with a simple thought but the Twilight Mana is less responsive. Also, the concrete substance of my other Skills isn’t present. In that case, it’s elusive. But still, I have to try something or I’m toast! I focus and—

—A sudden burst of black energy with a white outline explodes outward. Something drains from my very core as the beam erupts. I can hardly control the flow and struggle to stop the energy from flowing out in its entirety. The shockwave makes Nathaniel take a step back with a satisfied smirk as he cancels his spell. The enchanters ran away as soon as the Mana erupted. Now, Johnathan is staring at me with his mouth hanging open.

***Twilight Mana: 10/30***

“Are you satisfied?” I shout at the taller Lockheart heir without paying attention to the brand new hole in the ceiling. “Or do you want me to show you again?” I raise my palm towards him. If that bastard thinks that he can threaten me then —

“Calm down,” he says as he pulls out a cigarette. “Some people only get a good grip on a new spell when put in a life-and-death situation, so I helped you out.”

I glare at him before focusing on Johnathan, who’s still frozen in surprise. “Why is your brother acting like I should thank him for threatening me?”

“What the fuck was that?” he yells, completely ignoring my question. “That felt a little like Mana, but — not really?” he scratches the back of his head.

“As I said before, this is new to me!” these fucking people, I swear! How obtuse can they be? “But here you go. I showed you my Mana, now please respond.”

“Fucking hell.” My friend turns towards his brother. “What was that bullshit? You were about to blast him.”

Nathaniel lets out a sigh. “I wasn’t going to do anything. Indeed, I didn’t sense any proper Mana coming from him, but I still felt something. I have keen senses, better than most. So I was certain that the ritual did something. But I still wanted to confirm it myself. And do you think I’ll blast someone for some shitty rocks? We have a ton of these in storage.” He looks at the shivering enchanters with a hardened glare. “If you want to be angry with someone, then focus on the old geezers. They were ready to beat him into a pulp for making their precious crystals vanish.”

A single look from Johnathan is enough to make the two enchanters even more worried. “Is that true?” my friend asks with a rare hint of anger in his voice. “Attacking a recruit for no reason is a serious offense.”

“This-this is outrageous!” one of the enchanters steps up. “This should have never happened! The crystals weren’t supposed to disappear! He’s hiding something!”

“That’s right!” the other enchanter adds. “This is abnormal!”

These people will make my life harder than it should be if I don’t nip this in the bud.

***Welcome, Heir of the Twilight World.***

***Countdown: 01:59:59***

The world shifts as I position myself behind the two old men before going back to reality. “Oh, but I’m quite abnormal already,” I whisper in their ears, making them jump higher than I thought possible. “There’s a reason I’m here. So don’t forget that standards might not apply to me before jumping to conclusions.”

“Y-yes.” They grumble before heading out of the room. Of course, they don’t forget to glare at me one last time before leaving in a huff.

“Now, what’s next?” I turn towards the two brothers. “Do I have to pass another Test?” I glance at the rifle hanging on my side. It seems a lot less useful now. Even if I can’t control it properly, that blast of Twilight Mana should take care of most threats I can think of.

Or not. I’m not an expert when it comes to magic, so better keep the guns for the time being, even if I never end up needing them.

“We report back to mom,” Nathaniel says as he takes a light puff. When is this guy not smoking? His lungs must look like two pieces of coal by now. “Then we—”

“Who the fuck did—” a loud female voice makes the entire room shake. “—Oh. It’s you again, boy.” Morgana’s figure appears in the middle of the room. “You aren’t getting into trouble again, are you?” she stares at the hole in the ceiling before focusing on me. “Hum?” she raises an eyebrow, “Something about you changed.”

The Spiritual Being walks towards me, her scowl turning into a faint smile. “You finally got your hands on some power, did you?” she sniffs the air. “That energy feels like— You destroyed the ceiling, didn’t you?”

I glance at Johnathan, who only answers with a wry smile. Nathaniel doesn’t give a shit about the sudden apparition of his immortal grandma. Instead, he walks out without a care in the world.

“So?” she narrows her eyes. “Answer me, boy.”

I let out a sigh. “I did, but it wasn’t on purpose.” At this point, I’m ready to run away. That woman is terrifying, and I bet that she can turn me into a fine paste with a single look.

Morgana laughs, “Wasn’t it on purpose? Boy, that ceiling is something that even the young lad next to you can’t damage. But you did despite unlocking your power a minute ago.” She gestures at Johnathan with her head. The Lockheart ancestor slams her fists together, “That gets my blood pumping! Spar with me now, boy!”

My jaw drops. What’s the problem with these people? Were they all dropped when they were babies?

“I doubt I can win,” I reply as I step back. She looks a lot scarier now, especially with that predatory smile.

She clicks her tongue, “Of course I’m going to limit myself. Who do you think I am, some kind of battle-junkie?”

Yes! “Do I have a choice?” I say with narrowed eyes.

“What do you think?” she tilts her head to the side.

I aim my rifle at Morgana—

***Welcome, Heir of the Twilight World.***

***Countdown: 01:59:55***

—and flee the battle before it even begins. As if I’ll stick around! That insane woman would beat me into a pulp without a second thought! I run away from the ritual room and into the corridors for a couple of minutes before reappearing. My sudden appearance causes a lot of surprised gasps. I look around, but there’s no trace of Morgana, so she must have given up.

“Boy!” a puff of smoke appears in front of me. “Who do you—”

***Welcome, Heir of the Twilight World.***

***Countdown: 01:55:15***

Not my problem. This crazy bitch will beat me into a pulp, I need to find somewhere safe to hide until she gives up. The empty corridors give an eerie feeling. The once-bustling mansion is now dead silent. I am half-tempted to grab some expensive equipment lying on the floor and turn it into Twilight Points. But I don’t want to destroy the faint trust I earned from the Lockheart family. I already destroyed a room, so I better not push my luck too much if I don’t want to get a fireball to the face. My random running leads me to a familiar place, or more precisely to a familiar door.

Would Maria mind if I barged into her office uninvited? Probably, but I can’t think of anywhere else that’s safe from Morgana. I open the door and prepare myself for the scolding of a lifetime as I leave the Twilight World.

“Hello there,” I say with a wry smile. Maria tenses up before letting out a sigh once she recognizes me.

“Weren’t you supposed to be in a ritual room?” she asks with narrowed eyes. “What are you doing here?”

I open my mouth to explain myself, but Morgana slams the door open in the next moment.

“Boy! Finally, I found you!” she exclaims as red energy crackles around her hands. “Now fight me!”

“I see.” Maria glares at her rowdy ancestor and slumps into her chair. Before looking at her brand new desk with an air of resignation. “Morgana, why are you like this?”

“Look, child! Look at him! The ritual succeeded!” the Spiritual Being gestures towards me with an excited look. The Lockheart matriarch narrows her eyes as she examines me from head to toes.

“It isn’t what I expected,” she tilts her head to the side. “You carry the scent of Mana, yet it feels different. Almost distorted.”

“It did work! That boy destroyed a ritual room with a single blast!” Morgana boasts. She's somehow proud that I put a giant hole into a ceiling. I hope they won’t make me pay for the damage, or I’m going to flee as far as I can.

“You did?” Maria glares at me. The temperature of the room drops by a few degrees, and I swear that a faint smell of ozone permeates the air. I gulp, she looks downright pissed. One wrong word and I’m going to become a crispy sausage.

“It wasn’t on purpose!” I defend myself. “Nathaniel provoked me after the ritual ended. And your enchanters were about to beat me up. So I unleashed a bit of Mana into the air to scare them off. Then Morgana decided that she wanted to spar with me. I’m not into beating elderly women, especially when they can punch a hole through concrete.”

“Who are you calling elderly!” the Lockheart ancestor growls

“The ritual ended before it finished?” Maria asks while ignoring her seething grandma. “Then how do you have Mana?”

I shrug, I don’t understand it myself. If the earlier messages are anything to go by, then the Twilight World intercepted the ritual and modified it to give me a better version of Mana? “My ability somehow intervened and fused with the ritual. I have no idea how it happened, but it consumed the Mana crystals.”

Telling her the truth might save me from an immense debt I can’t hope to ever repay. I gulp as Maria looks lost in her thoughts. Behind me, Morgana is holding herself back. She didn’t give up on the idea of fighting with me.

“Show me,” the Lockheart leader finally declares. “It isn’t what I expected, but it might exceed my expectations. Of course, you better not lie to me. The repairs aren’t going to be cheap, you know?”

She doesn’t bother to hide her threats, that’s for sure. “That might be a little destructive. I can’t control my power too much yet, so—”

“Don’t worry.” Maria interrupts. “The ritual room might as well be cardboard compared to this office.”

I gulp, “if you say so.” I point my hand towards the ceiling and hold my breath. I recall the feeling of bursting out with power, of pouring out everything. A huge blast of Twilight Mana erupts, causing a loud shockwave. Stacks of paper fly and even the desk rattles ominously as the Mana impacts the ceiling. To my surprise, it only leaves behind a large scorch mark.

***Twilight Mana: 0/30***

And here goes my last reserves of Twilight Mana.

“See? I told you!” Morgana says with a smug grin. “Now boy, fight me!”

“I can’t, I’m out of Mana.” I decline. I would never fight Morgana, not in a million years. Her version of ‘holding back’ likely means that she will only throw a couple of detonating stars towards me.

She clicks her tongue, “You’re not lying, I can sense that your fluctuations dimmed.”

“Morgana, you can leave. We have things to discuss between Zach and me. You can bother him later,” she orders.

“This is not over, boy! I expect a spar sooner than later!” Morgana nods before vanishing.

“Now, have a seat.” Maria rests her crossed palms on her desk. Her cold gaze makes me shiver as I sit down. “My sons should be here in a minute at most, so I’ll be brief. The power you displayed for someone who awakened their Mana is abnormal, to say the least. Still, it’s a pleasant surprise. And don’t worry about your current lack of control, we were all there at one point or another. If you train, then you should master Mana control in a couple of weeks at most.” She sighs. “But your power, while similar to Mana, isn’t Mana. We’ll have to see how similar it is when we teach you spells later. But the possibility of incompatibility exists.”

My jaw drops. So I gained Mana, but I can’t use spells? I know for a fact that I’m not using Mana at all, but Twilight Mana. My dreams of throwing giant fireballs around while flying at supersonic speeds end before they even begin.

Somehow, I’m starting to feel like this power of mine is a huge scam.