《The Shattered Magician》 Prologue: I was the boy If one wanted to live leisurely in this world, one must have power. If one didn¡¯t, only misery would come find them. I had always wanted power. At least be given the chance to be able to become stronger. However, I was not blessed. In this world where being able to wield magic was of the norm, being born with a shattered magic core was probably the worst thing that could happen to a person. I was exactly that person. I was not poor nor was I a commoner. I was born into an ancient clan that had existed since centuries ago; worshiped and admired by many. This ancient clan that I was born into had enormous power and a unique trait that only the clan members possess which was a pair of bright red eyes. The power of the eyes for each person is different. The power from the eyes can only be awoken if one has a mana core. When does it awaken, that, nobody knows. It may never awaken depending on the situation. Being born with a shattered mana core inside of my body, that would mean that I would not be able to come in contact with magic at all. I was obviously disdained as I brought the greatest shame for the clan. Nobody liked me and they treated me like I¡¯m some kind of trash; my family included. Being bullied and beaten without the power to fight back was painful. I started to think that at one point, it is better to die than live like a useless dog for a lifetime. Today was another day of being treated like garbage. ¡°Hey, useless dog! Come here for a bit. My hands are feeling a bit itchy you know so I need something to punch at to relief the itchiness.¡± One of the usual boys who bullied me urged me to come over like an obedient servant. Even though I knew that I would become his punching bag, if I refused, I would get beaten ten times worse by either the bullying kids who were nine years old, the same age as me, or by my parents. Being a weak bug, I was not given the right to retaliate in the slightest bit. Even kids younger than myself mocked me as if I was a pebble on the road. Why? A person of low status shouldn¡¯t go around rebelling and putting down the high status of his family. I just slowly headed towards the boy with my head hung down. It seems that perhaps another scar would appear on my body. After all, they did not just use bare fists to beat me up, but also magic. I could only ponder what I did so wrong in my previous life that I was treated this way. ¡°Now that is much more fitting for a dog. You obviously need to listen to the great me, Garve!¡± As the boy himself exclaimed, his name was Garve. You are not that great. Obnoxious brats like you are what I call sons of bitches. If I was not a cripple, I would have--- ¡°Oof!¡± My thoughts were interrupted by a strong punch that was sent straight to my abdomen. Losing my power to continue to stand up, I knelt on the ground. Shit, that really hurts even though I have received the same punch countless times before. ¡°What are you spacing out for, you shit?! In the presence of the great me, don¡¯t you dare daydream! As punishment, take this! Oh, spirit of the fire, come forth and lay waste to the ignorant!¡± Garve chanted the aria for the basic fire spell, [Fireball]. With the close proximity and my obvious lack of abilities, I was not able to dodge the spell that was heading towards me. Accompanied with a ¡°whoosh!¡± sound, the ball of fire hit me and scorched my body. ¡°AHHHH!¡± I could only scream in pain as I rolled on the ground in an attempt to extinguish the flames that was set ablaze on my body. Such low-leveled spell should have not hurt as much if only I could train my mana core. ¡°Ahahahahahah! Serves you right, you dog!¡± Garve who was one of the source of my hatred and pain, was laughing loudly as if he had heard the funniest thing in the whole world. ¡°¡­.sob¡­ ugh¡­¡± I could feel my skin peeling off even though the fire was already extinguished a few moments ago. My skin was red with some traces of blood coming out of them. I could not hold back my tears of anger, pain and sorrow thus, I sobbed a little. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hahahahah! If only my friends were here to see your miserable state! You even sobbed for fuck¡¯s sake. Such a weak shit, no wonder you brought the greatest disgrace to our honorable clan. In the future, you should just go die in a pile of trash instead. A grave is too good for you.¡± Garve insulted me more and more. I wished I could rip apart his shitty mouth. I was only able to weakly look him in the eyes while still lying on the ground. Even turning my head up was a strenuous task. Hearing his laugh, I was sure that there was more to come than a ¡®light¡¯ beating. As if noticing my questioning gaze, Garve laughed once again and said, ¡°In the evening of today, wait for me and my friends at the entrance of the forest. You know what would happen if you chicken out.¡± He narrowed his eyes sharply and began to walk away from me. It was already afternoon when I managed to get up and half-crawled to my very ¡®warm¡¯ house. Once I have arrived and entered the house, there was nobody to welcome me. This was natural as this house was begrudgingly given to me by my family to isolate me. They only gave me enough for my living needs. No more, no less. If not for the fact that they couldn¡¯t leave me to die since the rumor might spread to the public and the clan¡¯s reputation would go even more down the drain, they would have not bothered to do so. I may only be a nine year old but I believed that my train of thoughts were much more mature even compared to someone that was several years older than me. This was caused by the excessive lonesome thinking I did every single day. I went to the kitchen of my house and opened one of the drawers located in my vicinity. It contained a simple medical kit. I grabbed it and I sat on the stone-cold floor to attend to my own wounds. As I did not possess any advanced medical knowledge, I could only disinfect the wounds with medical herbs and wrapped them with bandages. ¡°Ouch¡­.This seriously hurts.¡± I groaned a little in pain when I was sterilizing my wounds. I could only sigh in relief that it was quite light this time compared to the other times they have beaten me up. Thankfully the low-leveled spell, [Fireball] did not burn my skin to the point that it would leave a horrendous scar. ¡°You people call me trash but I have never wanted to be born like this¡­.Sob¡­try to put yourselves in my shoes instead¡­.¡± I hated my life and everything about it. Who the hell said to explore the wonders of life? That person should drop dead. After I finished wrapping my wounds, I put back the trusty medical kit back into the drawer. I needed to go to the forest early. If I was late for even a second, then the outcome wouldn¡¯t even be funny anymore. I slowly walked out of the house, my destination was the forest. After waiting for nearly five hours at the forest¡¯s entrance, Garve and his companion¡¯s silhouettes was finally seen. ¡°Hmph, it seems like this trash does know its place. Thought it would dare to chicken out. Seems like he still got some common sense.¡± A boy that was standing beside Garve bombarded me with insults. He was called Darrian. I was always called a ¡®trash¡¯, ¡®dog¡¯, ¡®piece of shit¡¯ and various other kinds of names. One of the main reason was that I had a shattered mana core. The other reason was that I was not bestowed a name or should I say, my name was taken back by my own parents once they found out my flaw. I had already forgotten my name and even if I remembered, I was forbidden to use it. ¡°Don¡¯t waste your time on him. We need to go on with our much more interesting ¡®business¡¯ in the forest. We also need to go back home soon or else our parents are going to nag us till tomorrow morning!¡± Garve said so to Darrian. Hearing the word ¡®business¡¯ come out of Garve¡¯s mouth, I began to despair. Perhaps it was time for me to leave this accursed world. Chapter 1: Haven We walked about fifteen minutes and have entered the forest¡¯s middle layer. The forest did not have a specific name or anything but it was used as a training ground for the beginner clansmen. Although the forest contained only low-tier to middle-tier beasts and monsters, I never dared to enter it with my prowess. It was practically suicide. Even if I was born as a person with little to no power, deep in my heart, I always had a sliver of hope that someday I might be able to cast the spell [Fireball]. Of course, I also knew that it was only useless daydreaming. I was leading the group in front even though I did not know anything about this forest except some very basic information. Garve, Darrian and their party were behind me, telling me where to go. We were walking really slow as I was still suffering from the injuries I received early this morning. I was surprised that they only yelled and insulted me instead of beating me up for my slow walking speed. Perhaps they had some common sense after all; beating me up would only slow down the walking pace even more. Shortly after, I was forced to stop at a rather large tree by Garve¡¯s command. I have an extremely bad feeling about this situation. They couldn¡¯t possibly try to do that, right? ¡°Heh, we have finally arrived after walking at a snail¡¯s pace. Surely this would be worth the time, no?¡± One of the boys that was following behind Garve and Darrian, which I do not know what his name is, turned his head to pose a question to Garve. ¡°Why are you asking such a rhetorical question? Of course it is! Say, dog, why do you think we put up with your overly slow walking pace and did not beat you up on the spot?¡± Garve replied to the aforementioned boy and sneered at me while asking a question that I deemed dangerous. ¡°Garve, surely you wouldn¡¯t be as brutal as to tie me up on that large tree and leave me as food for the beasts and monsters?¡± I asked as cold sweat rolled down on the side of my face and I took half a step back in caution. ¡°Exactly. Beat him up, boys.¡± With those two sentences alone, the previously ¡®docile¡¯ group of boys came charging at me and used their punches and kicks to pummel me to the ground. ¡°Using our fists and feet alone is enough to deal with you!¡± ¡°I ain¡¯t gonna waste my time to use mana on a measly flea like you.¡± ¡°Be grateful that we are nice enough to touch you!¡± ¡°¡±¡±¡±AHAHAHAHAHA!¡±¡±¡±¡± ¡°AHHHH! Uwagh! Oof! Ugh¡­.¡± The once clean bandages wrapped around my body was now soaked in blood as I screamed continuously in pain and tears escaped from my now swollen eyes. ¡°Stop. That should be enough. Anymore and he will be dead. I want to make him feel the fear of facing the beasts and monsters with no way out so someone go and tie him up to the tree.¡± Darrian, who was quiet the whole journey, spoke and brought out a long rope from his bag. ¡°Aww, we haven¡¯t had enough fun yet. Tch, no matter. Once he becomes a skeleton, that would surely be a good memory to remember. Maybe our parents might even praise us for getting rid of a pest that ruins the clan¡¯s honor!¡± A boy stepped out and grabbed the rope from Darrian¡¯s hands. ¡°Hmph, what skeleton? There would simply be nothing left of him when the fearsome beasts and monsters are done with him. Not even a single speck of dust.¡± Darrian snorted as he looked at me with undisguised disdain in his eyes. ¡°No¡­please, spare me.¡± I, who had become a bloody mess, earnestly begged mercy from these disgusting, repulsive 9 year olds. I could not even properly beg as I only had enough energy to speak. ¡°You are not qualified for our mercy. Know your place! You two, come help me tie up his body on the tree.¡± The boy who had the rope asked two of his friends to help him. I suppose this would seal my fate. After a few minutes, I was already bound to the tree; with no power to escape from the thick rope that¡¯s binding me. Garve, Darrian and the rest of the group only grinned with satisfaction before leaving me to my death. I did not even have the energy to stop and ask them to release me. Soon enough, the day started to darken and strange cries erupted in the silence of the woods. I had already given up all hope of living and my eyes have turned into the dead eyes of a fish as I stared at the empty space. ¡°How laughable am I right now? If another life without flaws is given to me, the first thing I would do is to utterly and thoroughly crush this despicable clan,¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care anymore¡­.. I wanted to die anyways...¡± I muttered under my breath as deep hatred was the only thing that I could feel aside from the pain of my body. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Ssssk¡­.ssk¡­¡± My attention soon turned towards a direction where the rustling sound of bushes and grass seemed to come from. ¡°Indeed, you are laughable and pathetic looking.¡± A man wearing a rather conspicuous black robe who came out of the woods, confirmed what I had previously said. He also wore a pair of black glasses, covering his eyes. As he caught my attention, I studied his expression. It did not contain any of the usual contempt and disgust that I received from my peers. I was not able to know what he was thinking and feel about me. Did he felt pity for me? I do not know. His reply was of course not ignored by me as I was muttering those words of hatred quietly yet, he was seemingly able to hear them clearly. I may have not able to use magic but I have studied a little about them. He must have used mana to enhance his hearing. Moreover, this forest was within the clan¡¯s territory. No normal people can set a foot in here if they were not from the clan. Well, at this point, what use is there to ponder about these useless things? --- With that thought, I casted my gaze downwards, devoid of everything except despair. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to find a young boy like you here in this forest. I might as well end your suffering.¡± The man stopped his sentence there. Currently, I do not know what kind of face he¡¯s making and honestly speaking, I do not care anymore. ¡°That is if you were just some kid who got bullied. It seems like I need to move my plans to a much later date. It irks me that you seem to have some similarities with me. I¡¯m in a good mood today. I¡¯ll offer you a chance to change your life. Whether you accept or not is your choice.¡± He did not approach me nor did he kill me. Instead, he offered me a chance. Those words he spoke struck a nerve inside of me. It instantly made me look up to see the man. ¡°If you reject then, you could only die pathetically here; becoming food for the beasts and monsters. This is as far as I can offer. Consider yourself lucky, boy.¡± His words didn¡¯t contain disgust or contempt but it contained pride and dignity. He must be someone of important stature. As the man said, if I want to die, I can reject him. If I want to live, I need to accept. I was feeling skeptical about this man, however, it¡¯s not like anything worse would happen than the situation I¡¯m currently in. There was no loss. ¡°¡­. It¡¯s not like I have any other choice.¡± I replied back to the man in black. Before I noticed, the thick ropes binding my body was cut off and I was set free. I looked at the man with my red eyes widened. When did he do that? ¡°You are not allowed to regret your decision.¡± As soon as he finished his sentence, a black light flashed right before my eyes, blinding my sight. When I have come to, I was in a large extravagant room. ¡°Where is this?¡± I involuntarily let out a question, all the while forgetting the pain that my body was feeling. ¡°You shall be staying here for a week. Don¡¯t make yourself at home and don¡¯t go out of the room. I will order someone to bring food to you. Till then, sit tight and stay in the room or else.¡± Without answering my question, the man then informed me of some rules and immediately disappeared with a flash of black light. What just happened? These things that were happening were too abrupt. I was still processing the rest of the information in my head. And the ¡°don¡¯t make yourself¡± at home is ¡­¡­ really worrying. It¡¯s usually ¡°make yourself at home¡± not the other way around. Basically, I pretty much cannot do anything and my activity is limited to this room. ¡°Ouch¡­.¡± My voice was hoarse, caused by some of the blood that I accidentally swallowed when I got beat up. I want to look around this room but it seems that my current condition does not allow it. I searched around the room with my black and blue swollen eyes for a bed. When a bed of quite a large size entered my vision, I slowly crawled towards it. After arriving at the foot of the bed, I climbed onto it carefully. Despite that, because of my injuries that I considered as severe, a part of my body would sting when I brushed against the bed. After much difficulty, I was finally on top of the bed. With exhaustion accumulated from what happened for the entire day, I slept soundly with tears in my eyes. Chapter 2 I woke up from my sleep when a nice aroma belonging to food assaulted my nose. I opened my eyes and tried to get out from the bed. ¡°OUCH!¡± I shouted against my will as the extreme pain was finally showing up after a day of rest. With much effort, I finally managed to sit properly on the bed. I looked around, trying to spot where the previous aroma came from. After a couple of seconds, I was somewhat delighted to see a plate of food and a glass of water on the side-table beside the bed as I was actually starving. I slowly moved towards the small table and grabbed the dish. I quickly wolfed down the food and drank the glass of water. The taste was something that I did not mind much as long as I could quench my thirst and hunger. Finishing the meal, I burped a little which was quite unsightly and was left with nothing to do. I wondered for a bit who was the person that sent the food to me but then I was reminded by what the man in black said last night. I¡¯m grateful for his hospitality at the very least. I seriously want to get out of bed but all of my limbs were aching and hurting so I didn¡¯t. I only used my eyes to look around the room. First, there was no window so I was unable to tell the time. Besides the bed and the small side-table, there was a big bookshelf in one of the room¡¯s corners and a full-body mirror beside it. There was also a closet near the bed. That was nothing more aside from those things. Well, there was a door leading outside of the room however, I did not have enough guts to go against the man¡¯s order. I guess my cowardice was still intact. How useless. Not being able to do anything, I could only lay down on the bed. As I stared up on the empty ceiling, I began to think. I¡¯m no longer in the clan. There wouldn¡¯t be any of those bullies here to beat me up. That¡¯s a merit at least. With that, I once again close my eyes to recover my injuries. A week have passed. I was still unable to walk properly but I was able to slowly crawl. It reminds me of the times when I was still a baby. Rather, with this, aren¡¯t I an overgrown baby? During this period, all I could think was my hatred against the clan where I was born from. I did not want any relation with that despicable inhumane clan. I even wanted rip my eyeballs out of my eye socket. In the end, being the coward I am, I was unable to actually do it. Also, in my abundant free time, I often took out a book from the bookshelf to read. I gained some knowledge about magic and its¡¯ history but it was out of fun. I can¡¯t really relate to it with my current condition. Aside from all that, the meals will always come without fail. I would also sleep for a long time. I somehow felt that I am a prisoner since I was confined to this quite empty but large room. As I have mentioned before, I didn¡¯t have the courage to open the door. Today is the mark of a full week. I think. I count the days with how many meals I receive. I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s been that long or not. The man have not come yet. If my calculations are right, he should come today. Even though each day was mundane like when I was in the clan, I was not beaten up or insulted in any way. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. I crawled out of bed and then proceeded to crawl to the bookshelf. I could not reach high with my current state so I just grabbed one of the books on the lower level. I went back to the bed to read. I have some thoughts that I was disabled but I erased the thought to make it easy for my heart. I already have so many things swirling in my head so adding another one might make me go insane. As I was going to read, a flash of black light appeared in front of me. Oh, he¡¯s here at last. ¨C I exclaimed in my heart. If I am left alone here, only able to crawl here and there, I swear I would really go nuts. ¡°It seems that you didn¡¯t break any rules.¡± The man broke the silence and started the conversation first. ¡°How would you know if I did everything you said?¡± I asked him, unsure of what to say really. ¡°I have had someone observe your activities.¡± The man paused his sentence and scrutinized me before continuing what he wanted to say, ¡°It seems that your injuries are far more severe than what I had originally thought.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± I paused, waiting for his answer. ¡°I¡¯m no doctor but I¡¯m confident that you will not be able to walk for your entire life if your legs aren¡¯t fix. To top it all off, you have a shattered mana core. Wouldn¡¯t you be much more useless than you already are?¡± He replied nonchalantly as he put his hand on his chin. His words hurt and stabbed me like a thousand knives. He knew¡­¡­ - I thought. ¡°However, I didn¡¯t provide you with hospitality if you were going to be useless. Wait here.¡± As soon as he finished his sentence, he once again disappeared followed by a flash of black light. I collapsed on the bed as I deeply think about what would happen afterwards. The more I think, the more I feel that I¡¯m falling to the bottom of an abyss. While I was thinking, in the corner of my eyes, I saw the man in black appeared with an old man. I wanted to get up but was interrupted by a word that came up from the old man¡¯s mouth. ¡°Stay.¡± He said. He glanced at me for a moment and turned his gaze towards the man in black beside him. ¡°You. Isn¡¯t this kid from that ancient clan?¡± The man in question only silently nodded his head. Something feels wrong. Is it bad that I come from that disgusting clan? ¡°Kid, prepare yourself. This will hurt.¡± The old man who turned his eyes back on me said that and placed his left hand to hover on top of my body. Without warning, my body was assaulted with indescribable pain. ¡°AHHHHHHHHH!¡± I could only scream loudly as I felt my bones being broken and reformed. The same goes with my muscles and tissues. In that moment, I wished that someone would kill me already. The process itself was excruciatingly long. My consciousness was fading as my vision was blurring. As time went by, I was unable to keep my consciousness and the darkness claimed me.