"Arya, stay with me. Don't close your eyes," the muffled screams of his mother permeated into his ears, however, the searing pain that radiated from his chest drowned her voice.

"Go get Casandra, now!" shouted another voice, this one sounded like Argen's, the old man sounded flustered.

Arya felt as if cold sweat were dripping down his entire body, the chill numbing him so much that all he could feel was the pain in his chest.

His vision went blurry, the only thing he could make out clearly was his mother's face. She looked as if she had just seen a ghost, her eyes open wide in terror, her hands shaking as she held on to Arya.

'My spell didn't work?' Arya thought as the world around him slowly went dark.

"What happened to my baby?" screamed Lillian. Deep down she knew that panicking wouldn't help, but she couldn't keep calm when her youngest child was on the verge of death.

Arya's skin had gone deathly pale, and his body felt cold. As if he were already dead.

"He added extra runes to the rings. He tried casting a spell using a template that was way above its power limit. He tried casting a spell that's way above his mana core's power limit," Argen replied, his fingers moving deftly over the multiple potions he had on his table.

"I-I don't understand. How?" stuttered Lillian. She didn't understand a word of what Argen had just said, and her panicked state didn't help either.

"The boy tried making his own spell. But he did such a trash job at it that it blew up in his face. Though I have to admit, for a baby to use magic, what's more, to even have known about runes, he really was a genius," Argen murmured as he began mixing a few potions.

Lillian would've retorted about the stuff Argen had just said about her baby, however, she was too distressed. She was too confused to properly process what he had just said.

"W-What are you giving him," stuttered Lillian, holding Argen's hand before he could give Arya a black-colored elixir.

"It's a potion that reduces the rate of decay. Right now his body is shutting down because the disintegration of his mana core is throwing his organs out of balance," Argen replied, pulling his hand away to pour the potion into Arya's mouth.

"Disintegrated, mana core," murmured Lillian. She hadn't thought it would be that severe.

In this world, you had a higher chance of surviving without a heart than a without mana core. Healing magic could heal a lot of things, but it could not repair the mana core.

"Argen, you better have had a valid reason for sending this runt to my house," snorted an elderly woman as she walked into the house.

"Shut up and come here. The boy's about to die," shouted Argen, not even taking a moment to look at the old woman.

The lady had grey hair with deep green tips, indicating that she was blessed at healing magic. Her face seemed to be glued into a permanent scowl, making her look older than she already was.

However somehow beneath all that, you could tell that she must've been beautiful in her youth. Her face may have looked discouraging, but her hazel eyes still held their beauty.

"What's happened here," whispered Cassandra as she noticed Arya lying on the floor.

"The kid trying casting magic using a poor template," replied Argen, keeping his palm on Arya's chest.

"A poor template? You can't do that unless you're trying to create a new spell. And anyway, this child is too young to cast spells, he can't even talk," Cassandra assumed, touching Arya with her palm as well.

"Mother Vitra. His mana core is gone," she exclaimed, before chanting a spell.

"Reveria Sretia,"

As soon as she chanted this, a series of massive green concentric rings -so massive in fact that they covered the entire house- appeared on top of her. Their rings turned at an astounding speed as a green glow engulfed the cottage, her hair flapping backward as if it were windy.

"What is she doing?" shouted Lillian, the spell gave out a humming sound, drowning every other sound in the vicinity.

"8th Tier healing, Reveria Sretia," shouted Argen over the humming sound.

After a few seconds, Arya was surrounded by a green glow as well, before the rings disappeared.

"This won't hold Argen. I've used most of my mana on that, if you don't think of a way fast, then this baby will die," warned Cassandra in a weak voice. Her already old face seemed to have grown older after using that spell.

"Please save my baby Argen," cried Lillian, caressing Arya's checks.

"T-There might be a way. But I'm not sure... It might work because he's a baby, it might," muttered Argen, before abruptly standing up to look at a shelf full of books.

This whole time Armin stood at the door in shock, his legs shivering so much that they felt like spaghetti.

'A-Arya,' he thought. He now saw magic in a new light, he could now see the dangers involved.

"Here it is,"

"Serpus Nihil, the magic killer spell," muttered Argen as he looked at a page in an old musty book.

"Argen, you can't be serious. Forbidden magic?" asked Cassandra, her voice a whisper.

"The only reason why his body is going into shock is because his mana system is in disarray. If we get rid of it completely, then his body should return to normal," he said, a sort of hesitance in his voice.

"How many mages have died after the effects of that spell," asked Cassandra as she stood up.

"He's still an infant. His body could grow accustomed to it," replied Argen.

"Please, just save my boy," cried Lillian, her voice was but a squeak as she buried her face in Arya's small chest.

"There's no other way," said Argen grimly.

"Do you have the necessary paraphernalia?" asked Cassandra, a faraway look in her eyes.

"Yes,"

"Then let's prepare,"