Chapter 02
A pitch-black, gigantic humanoid figure.
It lunged at me and began tearing into my entire body.
All I could do was stare at it until the very end.
“Ghk—! Hah!”
My eyes snapped open along with the water that filled my mouth.
An unfamiliar ceiling.
But the moment I realized where I was, I quickly sat up.
“Uwaaaagh!”
Black liquid poured out of my mouth in large amounts.
“What—?! Kyaaah!”
A nurse rushed in late, and the moment she saw me, she screamed.
While she ran off to call a doctor, I clutched the bed and trembled.
What… what just happened?
‘I was definitely in front of the monster’s magic stone.’
Was I rescued?
My vision spun.
Maybe because I had just vomited, my stomach churned.
As I gagged and expelled the gas rising from my stomach, the doctor entered.
He asked me various questions.
Questions about my condition, followed by several examinations.
And then came the conclusion.
But it wasn’t the doctor who told me.
“You’ve got about a year left to live at most.”
“…What?”
A mage sitting beside the doctor.
He was an eccentric mage who stayed in the hospital out of boredom and occasionally examined patients.
Those words came from him, not the doctor.
“You’ve got mana-stone sclerosis.”
What kind of insane nonsense is that?
“…Mage, mana-stone sclerosis… is that even a real illness?”
“It shows up occasionally. In freaks who aren’t of a mage’s bloodline but are born with mana. You people can’t process mana.”
He let out a dry chuckle.
“In your terms, it’s all the same. In the end, your body turns into a mana stone from the inside because you can’t overcome it.”
My vision suddenly darkened.
I couldn’t understand what I was hearing.
A terminal illness?
Me?
Why?
I’ve never had mana in my life.
At most, I just had a weak body from a childhood illness.
And now I suddenly have mana?
How does that make any sense?
Then a thought flashed through my mind.
The memory of touching the mana stone—and getting cut.
Could it be that something seeped into me back then?
“…Can you tell me how to cure it?”
“The method is simple.”
The mage grinned.
It was clearly a mocking smile.
“You just have to become like us.”
Like us.
In other words, become a mage.
Mages were fundamentally different beings.
They were born with gifts granted from the heavens and ruled above ordinary humans.
Could an ordinary person become a mage?
If that were possible, everyone would’ve done it already.
“Of course, even becoming a half-baked mage won’t be enough. Judging by your body, you’ve got quite a lot of mana.”
As he spoke, he pulled something out from his pocket.
It was a business card with his name on it.
“Come find me when you’re about to die. I’ll buy your body for a good price.”
In other words, he meant I should sell my body once it turned into a mana stone.
As I blankly accepted the card, the mage stood up.
“That was something interesting to see.”
The doctor looked at me with pity.
This was something medicine couldn’t handle.
“…Doctor, what exactly happened to me?”
I had woken up and found myself in a hospital.
That meant someone had brought me here.
When I asked, the doctor gave an unexpected answer.
“You were found collapsed in the village and brought here.”
“…Not inside a monster’s corpse?”
“…Pardon? There was no mention of that.”
I couldn’t understand the situation at all.
“You may be discharged now. There’s nothing more we can do for you.”
And just like that, I left the hospital.
Overnight, I had become terminally ill.
The reality left me in despair.
As I raised my hand to cover my face—
“Huh?”
On the skin of my arm—
Something was there.
At a glance, it looked like a closed eye.
“W-what is this…?”
When I touched it, I felt pain.
Like pressing directly on an eyeball.
This… it’s attached to my body.
I hurried back into the hospital.
“M-miss, there’s an eye on my arm!”
“…Excuse me?”
The nurse looked at my arm like I was crazy.
“There’s nothing there.”
Her gaze changed, as if she were looking at a madman.
Nothing there.
She couldn’t see it?
It wasn’t just her.
No one else could see it either.
‘…Come to think of it, I just went through all those tests.’
If it were visible, they would’ve noticed already.
More importantly, there was a mage beside the doctor.
If he sensed anything, he would’ve seen it.
Was I hallucinating from the shock of being terminally ill?
My thoughts were in chaos.
Had I really gone insane?
In the end, I quietly left, now seen as a strange person.
‘…I should go to the monster-hunting guild and ask what happened.’
They might know something.
I headed straight through the village to the guild.
As I opened the door, gasping for breath, all eyes turned to me.
Some frowned, others looked shocked.
What’s with them?
Their gaze was different from usual.
Normally, at worst, they just looked down on me.
Not like this.
But I didn’t care.
What did anything matter now that I was dying?
“Haren!”
Right then, Oble spotted me and stood up.
“What the hell did you do?”
“…What do you mean?”
I don’t remember doing anything.
Oble looked frustrated.
“They’re saying you stole the mana stone!”
“I stole it?”
What kind of nonsense is that?
“I just woke up in a hospital, and you’re telling me this?”
“Exactly.”
“Then let’s discuss it directly.”
A man’s voice interrupted.
I turned to see a neatly dressed man with parted hair.
I knew him.
Raorio—the manager of the monster-hunting guild in the northern frontier city, Raoren.
He only appeared when something serious happened.
Oble looked at me anxiously.
“Let’s go.”
I hadn’t stolen anything.
And I was already dying anyway.
What did I have to fear?
Raorio led me to his office.
It was my first time entering.
“Nice to meet you face-to-face, Haren.”
“You know my name?”
“You’ve worked here for quite some time. I remember everyone past their first year.”
As expected of a guild manager.
He wasn’t ordinary.
“The incident began like this. You stayed behind to clean up the monster and stole the mana stone after everyone left.”
“That’s already wrong.”
He frowned slightly.
“I’m reading the report. Listen first.”
“…Alright.”
“You hid the stone and collapsed on-site. Does that match reality?”
“Not at all.”
“Then tell me your side.”
I explained everything.
“If I stole it, why would I stay there unconscious? I’m not an idiot.”
“True.”
He agreed.
“And it was a monster hunted by a mage.”
No one would dare touch a mage’s property.
“They don’t care about fairness. Only results.”
Then—
“The guild has already paid the mage.”
My eyes widened.
“And the debt is now yours.”
“…Why me?!”
“You were the last one seen there.”
He handed me a bill.
10,000 gold.
An impossible amount.
“This is the price of your life. Without paying it, both you and this guild would’ve been destroyed.”
My hands trembled.
“…We’ve heard about your condition.”
So they knew.
“The debt will be settled after your death.”
In other words—
When I die and turn into a mana stone, they’ll sell me.
“Thank you for your future labor.”
Empty words.
As I stepped out—
“Hey, weak debtor.”
Trenva appeared, shoving Oble aside.
He always picked on me.
I knew why.
But I had kept quiet.
Until now.
“Jane liked you because I don’t?”
I spat it out.
“Because you’re uglier than an orc.”
Laughter erupted.
Trenva’s face twisted.
Murderous intent filled his eyes.
“You bastard.”
He dragged me outside.
And began kicking me relentlessly.
“Die! Die!”
I couldn’t resist.
Then—
Something opened on my arm.
A new vision.
Inside Trenva—
A white flame.
Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed it.
“Ghk—?!”
He froze.
Then collapsed, convulsing violently.
The flame had shrunk.
“…What?”
Voices echoed around me.
But I couldn’t hear them.
My gaze fixed on my arm.
A new eye.
Black sclera, red lines—
Like a dragon’s eye.
It had opened.
