31 No to a core art.

Drake opened his eyes to find himself back in the mana chamber. His mind was numb and his senses were dull. He glanced around, only to find no one else present in the mana chamber.

But to his surprise, he saw Sir Minza standing a few meters to his left side.

Sir Minza asked him in a serious tone, "How are you feeling?"

He simply stared at Sir Minza, saying nothing. He was waiting to get out of this numbing feeling.

Sir Minza did not rush things and simply waited on the side.

A laughing sound came from inside his mind, [haha epic dude.]

He rubbed his forehead. <yeah, but what happened?>

[Don't worry, it was part of the process. Instead, look at the mess below you.]

<Below me?> He looked down only had his eyes wide. It was all red. He was lying in the thick, viscous red liquid.

A shiver ran throughout his body. It was enough to jolt his brain. His senses started working normally. A thick pungent rotten smell assaulted him.

Instinctively, he got up and moved away from the blood puddle. Still eye remained fixed on the blood puddle as he spotted a few pieces of meat chunks floating in there.

His hands started moving around his sticky body covered in blood, trying to find where this blood came from. The sheer amount of blood also created a doubt if that blood was really his.

Sir Minza said at this moment, "Wait, stop moving."

This made him freeze as he looked at Sir Minza. Sir Minza just snapped his fingers, and a glob of water came out of his hand. The water wrapped around him for a few seconds and then fell to the ground.

After that simple trick from Sir Minza, he found himself clean and dry. This fascinated him, but he controlled his curiosity as he stared at Sir Minza.

Sir Minza asked once again in a deep voice, "Are feeling any discomfort?"

He shook his head, "No, sir. Just a little numbness in the body, nothing else."

Sir Minza nodded and then stared deeply into his eyes. "Kid, I will be very clear to you. I know who you are, so let me tell you. You come into the academy with a severe case of element poisoning."

He titled his head, "Element poisoning?"

"Yes, it's the case where foreign mana entered a non-mana user body. It is a dangerous thing for anyone trying to form their spirit egg. Well, mostly it happens by some accident, but it differs in your case."

[Wait, is that something related to my mana?]

<could be as you are a foreign entity in my body.>

[maybe, but it will not surprise me to find your stepmother's involvement here. It is better if you ask what element of mana poison you have.]

He looked up, "Sir, what kind of element poison I have?"

Sir Minza pointed two fingers, "2 kinds. 1st red was mostly in the shape of small strips that appeared throughout your body. 2nd black that even spread throughout your body."

[Fck, that red thing reminded me of that pauper healer. I knew that guy was up to no good.]

He ignored Kane's rambling and bowed down. "Thank you for saving my life, sir."

"oh, it looked like you are expecting something like that."

He just nodded and said nothing.

Sir Minza shook his head. "Well, it's your family matter. I will not dwell on that, but I have to tell you just to save your life I have to use one of my precious potions."

[well there you go?]

He was not that simple kid who believed in kindness. He knew life was all about the benefits. So he waited for Sir Minza to make his demand.

Sir Minza just stared at him for a few seconds and sighed, "Well Kid, I will be blunt, though my potion helps you to regenerate, but at this moment your body cannot handle any more mana stress."

"Wait, don't tell me I cannot use mana?"

Sir Minza shook his head. "It's not like that, but I suggest you avoid any mana art with core art of body in it."

"Core art, Art of Body?"

"No need to worry. You will learn about them in the next few days."

Drake nodded. But paused and looked up at Sir Minza, "for how many days I need to avoid it."

Sir Minza rubbed his chin. "It is better if you completely avoid it for 1 month. After that, you can try a little, but if you feel a burning sensation in your body, you better stop it. It might take a year or two for you to heal completely."

He did not know how important this art of body was. But he was hoping it would not affect him much. He looked at Sir Minza, waiting for him to continue.

Sir Minza just waved his hand at him. "That's all. You can go out now."

He stood there in doubt, waiting for Sir Minza to ask him of something, when Kane's voice came. [Dude, no need to think all that. I am sure the academy will gonna use your name to get more out of the family.]

<But still he saved my life.>

[Click! It is not you, but the Duisberg candidate. Stopped thinking about all this nonsense. You think all of this will help you survive. Take the Duisberg out of your name and you might find yourself 6 feet under the soil.]

He said nothing and just started walking toward the teleportation circle. It was not like he was feeling grateful no, he just only wanted to see Kane's stance on this incident.

This incident cleared many of his doubts. Until this point, Kane sure supported him, but every time his life was in danger, Kane always laughed it off.

This made him believe Kane had something up his sleeve to protect himself. He could not wrap his head around someone acting crazy in the face of death.

Today, he was sure that if Sir Minza did not help them, both of them would die for sure. Even in that situation, where he gave up mentally, Kane was there going through that same thing with no problem at all.

He now truly believed Kane was the crazy dude who would laugh even at the last moment of his life. This idea of living to the fullest till the end of life intrigues him.

An annoying voice came, [Dude, move fast. I need to learn the magic, man.]

Drake smirked and stepped into the teleportation circle.