《Titled》


 Chapter 1

    1.


    The sound of footsteps running barefoot. A small child, his body scrawny compared to others his age was running away from his pursuers. He keeps running from alley to alley, hoping to shake them off but made a wrong turn somewhere along the way as he grew more frantic. He ran to a dead end.


    In an alley where the rays of the morning sun couldn''t reach because of the roofs blocking overhead, four big kids are surrounding a smaller kid. What they are doing is pretty much an everyday occurrence in the City of Aiduno. This lawless city is where the scums of humanity usually gather. You could hear the wimpers of the smaller child, begging them to stop as the bigger kids keep beating him into being half dead.


    "Stupid little piece of fucking shit! Tell us where you hid your stash!"


    "..please. stop-"


    *smack


    The small child pleaded as he cough blood in between his sentence. A little cracking sound could be heard as the leader of the group smacked the small kid with great force in the head. The small child lay in the alley floor almost unmoving except for a few twitch and two.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "Let''s get out of here and let the sweepers clean the corpse."


    "Let''s check the body first. There might be something on him."


    "That would be miraculous. Hahahahaha!"


    "Fuck you''re right! Not a single thing!"


    The group left before kicking the small child one last time, breaking a rib. The child felt pain all over his pitiful body. Half conscious his head hurt from the being smacked. The idea of him dying was a fact that popped in his head. Like all things fragile his mind broke. He laughed like a madman, even spewing blood as his sanity broke into pieces and in the process his head hurt like someone was splitting it in two but in the pain memories came flooding in.


    He was a disgrace. The stain in the family''s record. In this world everybody was born with magic. Born to tamper with the natural laws of the world but he was different. He too had magic like everybody else but his talent was below average. Lower than even a commoner but that wasn''t what made him different. His body couldn''t emit any magic. He couldn''t even fire a basic fireball. He was no more than a worm, writhing and struggling in the dirt. He was disowned and left in the streets of this City to fend for himself where a wrong turn could lead to death.


    But parallel to these, another set of memories came. A memory of another life. Though the information are broken and incomplete, just missing personal information. In his half dead and muddle headed state, he merely viewed them like someone who was reading a book. No new personalities, well not yet he thought as he spoke to himself with a manic grin.


    He crawled slowly as he tried to breath in between pain. Trying to find a even a hole or dumpster to hide and avoid the sweepers that collects bodies in the streets and alleys at night and sell it to necromancers next door. Smh. After maybe 12 crawl distance, he found an empty trash bin just big enough for him to fit.


    Night eventually came and if one is awake at this time, they would hear the sweepers scurrying about and looking for fresh corpse. Though the kid sleeping in a trash bin wouldn''t know about this as he was sleeping like the dead which he would be if not for his body which he thought was the source of all his misfortune. His body while incapable of emiting magic has strong healing capabilities, the only saving grace. Maybe the gods haven''t abandoned him after all, if they even exist.

 Chapter 2

    2


    "Nhefil would be his name and he will be destined for great things. My son."


    He dreamt of the time when his father carried him for the first time and his mother''s sweet smile. Though it all was discarded to the back of his mind as a memory from his infancy shouldn''t even be remembered.


    Disgusted with his reminiscing of the past that would never again happen, he popped his head out of the trash bin. Seeing the cost was clear he walked slowly careful not to strain his breathing because of the broken rib. A hundred and more twist and turns while stopping and hiding from time to time at any footsteps he heard. Finally arriving at his destination he surveyed his surroundings for anyone following but try as he may to be cautious.


    Nhefil''s destination was his base, a fancy word for a bigger rectangular garbage box. He got in and moved a couple of trash and found a hole that connects to the other dumpster besides it. A cleaner one because he locked it from the inside and needed to be pried to get it open. The only source of light and ventilation are the holes present. A plank of wood was used as an unreliable door.


    While eating a mouldy bread he stowed a couple days ago, he went through his stash. His stash was nothing more than 3 books but to him it was his treasure. They were the only things he had at that time when he was abandoned here. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    At his old household, Nhefil knew he was unwanted due to his lack of talent and inability to use magic. It became worse when his father died. Amidst all the things they would do and say, he found solice in books. Though his selection was limited to a handful of books and didn''t mean he was a genius. And even in depression and the trauma he received, he still wants to learn magic but try all he may, he never accomplished anything his family approved of.


    But he did accomplish something. His inner mana manipulaton.


    He started when he was four, and found out why he always was treated with disdain. While others at manipulate their mana inside and force it to be emited, he could do nothing of that sort so all he could do was manipulate it inside him. At that age he knew nothing but keep moving it around inside him until it he could easily manipulate it without difficultty. Him having a small amount of mana compared to his peers actually helped him get good at it. Due to having small amount of mana, it was easier to move it around.


    Four years have passed and all that was left from his time in that godforsaken house was these three books. Strengthening the body with mana for idiots, The structure of the human body for morons and lastly an empty book devoid of any letters. For a long time he thought of something that he could do with the mana inside of him. The two books would be his guide and the third where he would write his findings.


    Finishing his mouldy bread, he would start his experiment. He had long ago read both of the books and now he would start his project that would either result on death by imploding or him being stronger. His problem was how he couldn''t emit magic outside of his body so he would instead use magic inside of it. The book on body strengthening was about making mana coat your skin and making it durable and stronger but he wasn''t even capable of that too because that entails he would make a layer of mana outside his skin so now in insanity he would do what he thought of a long time ago. He would infuse his skin cells with mana and strengthen it.


    Now in a oversized trash can with memories of another life, he will thrive.

 Chapter 3

    3


    The basis of someone''s magic are their volume, density, flow, control and vitality. The more volume of mana they have, the longer they would last before burning out. The density would then be how potent and effective their magic is. For flow how fast they would cast the spell. Control for how good you manipulate mana and lastly the vitality of it for how quick it would be recharged.


    For Nhefil he could do nothing for the volume but let it grow naturally. But for the others, he would have no problem. His mana was already dense because of his constant practice in mana manipulation.


    Letting a small trickle of mana in the cells of his skin he felt power in his left arm. Feeling euphoric he keeps on putting in mana until he wasted a third of it. Then pain came and in his arm were burn marks. The cells overloading from having so much mana than they could currently contain. He stopped what he was doing and fainted.


    *


    He woke up in intense hunger. He could hear his stomach roaring and demanding to be fed. He first checked his left arm and found out that the burn marks were already healing and were more than sunburns at this point. Getting out of his dumpster base, he saw that it was already afternoon and means he was unconscious for about 8 hours.


    He immediately headed to his supply line which was a dumpster near a restaurant. He always scavenge for any thrown out food there though it was not without dangers like any other thing that happens in this city. Other scavengers are always present and fights over scraps are a must.


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    Arriving at his destination, he saw others like him waiting for the restaurant to take out the trash. After several minutes the restaurant''s garbage boy came amd quickly threw out the trash as if being chased by something. Then there was the calm before the storm. Street rats waiting for the first move. The first one to go would become public enemy number one. All the other children would then fight, break bones and bleed just to get food. Everyone there knew that they should hurry as it was nearing nightfall and the sweepers would be out if they stay any longer.


    Nhefil crept closer while slowly filling his left arm with mana. He adjusted and put in just a fourth. As he arrived and touched the bag, hell broke loose. His impassive face now had a wide grin on it. It was time to test how strong his left arm was.


    Surviving in this city, his enemies now are other street rats like him with the exception of the sweepers. He could take on one of any kids a year older than him and below. But it would be taxing and time consuming. The case yesterday where he was beaten halfway to death was because he was outnumbered.


    There were six other kids today and half of them rushed to him. The other remaining half were smart and waited and would rush either when the fight would be over because regardless of who wins, stamina would be consumed.


    The defense for food started when the first kid arrived. He was about the same age as Nhefil but bigger. As the bigger kid punched, Nhefil also punched and the sound of bone breaking could be heard. He ignored his numb arm and tossed the bigger kid to another kid that stopped approaching. They both flew backwards and the third kid took out a knife but ignored Nhefil and went straight for the bag. The third kid slashed the bag open and quickly pulled out some leftover food and ran away as fast as he could.


    Nhefil was a little stunned as he didn''t even notice the dagger but as he saw the kid already running away, he turned forward again. Like a beast defending his territory he roared. The kids that waited were dumbfounded and took a step back. Afraid and in awe at his strength. Nhefil stared at them and looked at any signs of hostility. Finding none he took some food from the bag enough for him to last three days if he would ration it then left. The other remaining kids were confused as to why he didn''t take it all but watching Nhefil leave, the remaining ones then proceed to fight for what was left.


    In another base, in a corner where the roofs overlap a kid was crying in joy as he took a look at what he got from the earlier scuffle. The food he got was plenty and enough for him and could last him a maximum of two days. Then he suddenly had a thought. Why didn''t he just stab the other kid? He refused to believe that a stab at his neck would not kill him. He then like a crazy person got mad at himself and talk to himself why he didn''t do this and that while also defending himself from himself and coming up with different excuses.

 Chapter 4

    4


    Back at his dumpster base, Nhefil sat cross-legged and is practicing how to improve the speed in which he could reinforce his left arm. With his current mana pool, he could only do it with one limb but he was sure it would grow.


    As he was practicing, he notices how inefficient his mana circulation is. Thinking how to solve this, he suddenly had a thought. He would let it circulate like his blood in his veins. The mana he owns would be thinly spread but also due to this he could easily switch which limb he could reinforce.


    Nhefil kept practicing and practicing in reinforcing his arms and legs one at a time until he got a feel for it. He would occasionally eat from what he got from the scuffle. Chewing a not so rotten meat, he tried to think about more ways to protect himself. He had no way to emit spells and no weapon on him so his choice would be close quarters combat. He had no knowledge of any of that even in his past life. But he would not be weak, not anymore.


    As he momentarily close his eyes, memories of his past life played. Just before his death, he could remember just how he was unable to save his mother and siblings. Killed because of being unable to pay the debt of his father to a loan shark who probably was a mafia or something. The scene would forever be in his mind reminding him of his weakness.


    First he should practice again and again because he knew he was far from being a genius and having mana handicapped just made his predicament harder. But he would rise from it or break under it. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Half a week went by and his food supplies running low he decided to go out again. Going out he looked warily at his surroundings. Passing by other shady people talking while ignoring him, he didn''t go to the restaurant''s dumpster but to the Adventurers and Mercenaries Association.


    He had been playing with the idea of working for the adventurers who dive in dungeons for a long time as a carrier but he knew if shit goes down he would be the sacrificial lamb. The bags would be heavy with weapons replacements and other things that adventurers would be too lazy to carry. He would also be the one looting and carrying it just for a meagre amount of pay. But Nhefil had another agenda. It would be to learn how to fight.


    Arriving in his destination, he observed adventurers come and go but also mercenaries here and there. He stood at the sidewalk but after some inspection he walked to a group of adventurers. A woman and three men. The woman who is slender and tall was carrying a staff, a young man maybe in his twenties carried a greatsword, another was burly carrying a shield and a sword, and another kinda thin man carrying a bow. From his guesses it would be a party consisting of a mage, a swordsman, a knight and an archer. A balanced party and less chances of him being bait.


    "Carrier for hire mam? Sirs?"


    The group stopped in their tracks and looked at each other.


    "What you say Jean? We could go deeper if we had a carrier." The archer said but Nhefil''s inexperienced self failed to see the implications of what he said.


    "Hmm, we could really use some help with the bags." Said the female mage. "Landon wouldn''t get tired quickly that way." She continued. But the knight merely snickers. After the quick discussion between them, the mage faced Nhefil once again and said. "Okey kid you''re hired but keep up."


    The knight stepped forward and handed the bag he was carrying to me. I almost dropped to the ground. The bag was heavy but not full. Using my mana I reinforce my body with little lag. Spreading my mana thinly I could now reinforce my body but strength would suffer in oppose to just focusing on my arm or my leg at a time. The bag became a bit lighter but still heavy. Following behind the adventurers, Nhefil trudges along.