The Kenworth’s manor was a very simple manor designed by a very simple man, who built it with polished stones and light decorations of finely carved wood. Within this simple manor were fifteen master bedrooms, sleeping quarters for its staff, seven bathrooms, two kitchens, two dining rooms, a spacious and rarely used ballroom, a study for its lord, and an insignificantly tiny library.

Of the many, many hallways found in this very simple manor, there was always one that remained eerie and desolate; a dreaded hallway that had a chamber belonging to the Kenworth twins. It was veered by many and known to most as the demon’s hall, even though there had never been a demon there to begin with. It truly was a wonder what ignorance, paranoia, and fear of the unknown could do to one’s mind.

Now, while one could easily find Kevin in the once busy streets of Heizer’s southern district, wearing a puzzled look as he stood atop a whimpering man. His scarlet-eyed twin could be found in their quarters wearing the same expression, but for an entirely different reason.

Your ‘Expand Mana’ skill has ranked up. ‘Expand Mana’ is now rank A.

The boy gasped. “I… I did it?” he muttered in disbelief. The notification’s sudden appearance had caught him off-guard.

After a few intense seconds of glaring at the blue box, a time in which his mind had miraculously remained blank, the boy’s bewildered expression vanished as a radiating grin soon took its place.

“Oh my god it actually worked!” Kyle said as he pumped his fists into the air. He then returned his focus to the notification and squealed in delight, bursting into a giggling fit as he skipped, hopped, twirled, and danced to every corner of the room.

Now then, you may wonder what exactly it was that the boy had done? What worked? The answer to this question was quite simple. After two tedious years of what one could best describe as picking through a mountainous wall with a plastic fork, Kyle had succeeded in his fifth shattering. It was a spectacular feat for even one with his special gifts, but the method he used to accomplish said feat was somewhat fascinating.

When most people come across an obstacle, their first and most natural response would be to confront it. Whether they choose to rely on their wits, their brawns, their skills, or on sheer luck, the course of action would often stay the same. This concept also held true with shattering one’s core. The youth would gather up the ambient mana that flowed throughout the estate and would then bombard his core with an unrelenting barrage. He would continue to repeat this over and over, all day every day, for two whole years, to no avail.

One fateful night, an epiphany struck the boy as he sat down to relieve himself in his favorite thinking chair. What if I did an inside job? This simple and yet world-shaking thought had the potential to change the very course of history and could revolutionize the very concept of mana usage in a single day. When one shatters through their core, it would reinforce it from the point of entry. Compared to the exterior which he’d broken through and battered on multiple occasions, his interior was brittle and weak. The youth riled up the mana within his pool and unleashed a devastating blow, bursting through with effortless ease. This one simple act had quite the monumental effect. It increased the boy’s expected mana capacity by sixty-nine folds, giving him a mana pool dense enough to span entire cities.

Kyle Kenworth: Lvl 1 Mana: 69,420/1,035,000 Titles: Grand Magus Class: Skills: Focus S, Language Comprehension S, Mana S, Sorcery S, Expand Mana A, Fast Learner A, Mana Absorption A, Mana Manipulation A, Mana Sense A, Rolling C, Walking C, Running D.

How no mage before him ever thought to try something as simple as this was beyond dumbfounding.

[Kevin! Kev, where you at?!] he called out through the party chat amidst his celebration, eager to share the wonderful news.

As the seconds passed by, the boy’s dancing whittled and his sparkling giggles softened. Eventually, they came to a complete stop. [Kev, you there?] he tried once again and waited for a response. It never came.

[Kevin!] Again he called out, and again there was no reply. The boy’s once gleeful and radiating smile had long since faded and his once upbeat-cheeks had completed their descent. He was not happy.

Kyle let out a frustrated sigh before stomping to his bed. He dropped to his knees and crawled under it, coming out with a fluffy blanket that was poorly hidden below its wooden frame.

Not wanting to dirty the cloth, he scanned his surrounding in search of anything that could stain it. Once satisfied and knowing it was safe, he dusted the blanket and laid it down elsewhere so he could spend the next few moments straightening it.

His face was now beaming and his heart swelled with joy as he gently stroked the inanimate piece of cloth. “Look at you, Bartholomew. Happy to see the light of day, ain’t ya buddy?” He said with a jovial grin. And yes, the blanket had a name. The boy had no clue how or when he became so attached to this inanimate piece of cloth, a by-product brought about by the series of mini-amnesias he’d suffered a few years prior, and he showed no interest in knowing.

“Alright then.” He said aloud as he rose to his feet, carrying his blanket by the shoulder. “Let’s go find that ghoster!” And so the young boy marched with unneeded vigor, his prized and precious cloth sweeping the floor behind him. He opened the door, walked out, and slammed it shut. As he continued onwards with his march, a sudden tug interrupted it and dropped him to his rear. “What the fuck?” A quick glance back to find what fell him led to witnessing a horrific sight. The boy gasped, paled, and panicked.

“Bartholomew!” The high-pitched and inhuman screech echoed throughout the demon’s hall as he coiled his fist around the blanket. It was squashed, trapped between the door and its frame. Perhaps there would be no grand adventure for Kyle today.

_

In one of the many abandoned rooms found in this very simple manor, just some distance away from the wailing child and his inanimate piece of cloth, was a dark and indistinguishable figure of smoke taking the form of a man. Within its hand was a bright crystal ball, a rare and precious gem commonly used to interact with the truthseekers and are commonly handed out by the truthseekers.

“What are your orders, Grand General?” A clear, sharp, and masculine voice came from the crystal.

“One of the Kenworth twins is roaming the city. You are to return him, immediately.” It spoke with a cold and grating voice that would be too hard for most to understand. Luckily for the figure, the man wasn’t amongst them.

“As you wish.”

The shadow dug the crystal into its abdomen as it slowly lost its brightness. It then fell into the gaps between the polished tiles, slithered past the door, sped up to speeds undetectable to the naked eye, snuck into the study, and merged with the shadow of an elderly butler.

“Sebastian!” James called for the butler, his eyes glued to the latest patch of documents.

“Yes, young master James?”

The boy raised an empty mug and pointed it towards the butler. The butler let out an inaudible sigh, rolling his eyes before filling the mug with freshyly brewed coffee.

The boy moaned when he took his first sip, and his butler sighed as he lamented his life choices.