Chapter 56: The Illusion
"...Leon."
The name escaped his lips almost unconsciously.
There was no mistaking it. The rough skin covering his hands, and the strange emptiness within his body where mana should have existed... they all belonged to Leon. His breathing grew heavier as memories he had long buried surged back with terrifying clarity.
"...No." His voice trembled. "This... this can’t be real."
Before panic could consume him, the apartment began to distort. The walls rippled like the surface of a lake, the furniture dissolved into fragments of light, and the entire room folded in on itself. A blinding radiance swallowed his vision, followed by deafening cheers that crashed into his ears like thunder.
When the light faded, he found himself standing atop the Awakening Platform.
The Ascension Hall was overflowing with people. Every seat was occupied by anxious families, guild representatives, government officials, and reporters who had gathered to witness another generation of Awakeners. Suspended high above the platform floated the enormous Awakening Crystal, its pure white radiance illuminating every corner of the hall.
Leon didn’t need anyone to tell him where he was. He remembered this day better than any other, because it was the day that had changed everything.
The crystal suddenly shone with blinding brilliance, and the familiar mechanical voice echoed throughout the hall.
[Class Awakening Complete.]
The light intensified.
[Hidden Class Awakened: Necromancer.]
A wave of astonished murmurs swept through the audience.
Before anyone could recover, the system spoke once again.
[Talent Awakened: SSS-Rank Infinite Evolution.]
Silence engulfed the entire hall.
For a single heartbeat...nobody moved.
Then the hall exploded.
People leapt to their feet. Reporters rushed toward the stage, shoving microphones and cameras over one another in a desperate attempt to reach him first. The flashes of countless cameras illuminated the hall as excited voices echoed from every direction.
"Infinite Evolution!"
"An SSS-Rank Talent!"
"Has humanity finally produced its next supreme hunter?"
Leon stood motionless as the celebration unfolded around him.
Over the following days, his name spread across the entire country. Every major news outlet covered his awakening, while countless articles described him as humanity’s greatest hope.
Television programs debated how powerful he would become in the future, and prestigious guilds competed fiercely to recruit him, offering contracts worth fortunes he had never dreamed of earning.
In the end, he accepted the invitation of the Ashen Vanguard, one of the strongest guilds in the city.
Three weeks later, he entered his very first Gate alongside dozens of veteran Hunters.
The battle had already reached its conclusion.
The massive beast lay collapsed on the ground, its body riddled with deep wounds inflicted by the guild’s elite members. Blood pooled beneath it as it struggled to take one final breath before finally giving in.
The Guild Master turned toward Leon with a proud smile.
"Go."
"Finish it."
Every pair of eyes turned toward him.
Leon nodded nervously before walking toward the dying monster. His grip tightened around his weapon as excitement coursed through his body. This was the beginning of his journey. The first step toward becoming the hunter everyone believed he could be.
Without hesitation, he drove his weapon into the beast’s skull.
Its final roar echoed throughout the cave before its massive body collapsed completely.
A notification appeared before his eyes.
[Level Up.]
Name: Leon Hart
Level: 1
Race: Human
Class: Necromancer
Talent: SSS-Rank — Infinite Evolution
Strength: 2.2 (1↑)
Agility: 2.1 (1↑)
Constitution: 2.4 (1↑)
Intelligence: 0
Free Attribute Points: 5
Cheers echoed through the cavern as the beast collapsed.
The guild members turned their attention to Leon, curiosity burning in their eyes.
"So..."
"What can your Hidden Class do?"
"Let’s see what your Hidden Class and SSS-Rank Talent are capable of."
Leon smiled as he opened his status window.
His gaze immediately fell upon the Intelligence attribute.
....Zero?
He frowned slightly, but didn’t think much of it. Mana couldn’t possibly remain at zero after his first level-up. It had to increase once he allocated his free attribute points.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he invested all five of his free attribute points into Intelligence.
The number remained unchanged.
Zero.
Zero.
"...What?"
A chill crept down his spine as he hastily reopened his status window.
Then, three crimson messages appeared before his eyes.
[User’s body suffers from Mana Deprivation.]
[Mana cannot be stored.]
Leon reopened the Status Window again and again, desperately searching for a different result.
The crimson messages never changed.
Every attribute point disappeared.
His Intelligence remained at zero.
The Guild Master frowned as he watched Leon standing motionless before the beast’s corpse.
"What happened?" he asked.
Leon remained silent for several seconds before forcing out a weak smile that failed to hide the panic in his eyes.
"...My mana isn’t increasing."
Confused, the Guild Master instructed him to try again. Leon obeyed, but the result remained exactly the same.
The veteran hunters gradually stopped talking among themselves, their curiosity slowly giving way to unease as they watched the young genius repeat the same action over and over, each attempt leaving his face a little paler than before.
The guild returned immediately after the raid. What was supposed to be a celebration became three days of examinations.
Every renowned healer, scholar, and mana researcher the Ashen Vanguard could contact arrived with the same hope—that they would discover a mistake everyone else had overlooked.
Instead, each of them reached the exact same conclusion. Leon suffered from Mana Deprivation. His Mana Core had been born incapable of containing mana.
The hospital corridor blurred before his eyes.
When his vision cleared again, he was standing in the middle of a crowded avenue.
People filled both sides of the street, their attention fixed on the enormous screens hanging above the buildings. Leon instinctively looked up.
It was the photograph taken on the day of his awakening. The same confident smile. The same bright eyes that still believed the future belonged to him.
Only the headline had changed.
『THE GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY』
His feet refused to move.
"..."
The evening broadcast continued without the slightest trace of sympathy.
"Medical examinations have officially confirmed that Leon Hart suffers from Mana Deprivation. Although he awakened an SSS-Rank Talent alongside a Hidden Class, his Mana Core is incapable of storing mana, rendering both effectively unusable."
Another headline immediately replaced the first.
『HUMANITY’S GREATEST HOPE... A FALSE DAWN』
Then another.
『THE MANALESS NECROMANCER』
Someone nearby let out a quiet laugh.
"I knew it."
Leon didn’t turn around.
"Nobody from the slums gets chosen by fate."
Another voice answered with a chuckle.
"What a waste of an SSS Talent."
A young hunter standing near the screen folded his arms and clicked his tongue.
"All that hype..."
"Worthless."
A middle-aged man shook his head as he walked past.
"Poor kid..."
The voices refused to leave him.
They echoed inside his head...
Until the entire world dissolved into a blur.
Years passed in the blink of an eye.
When everything became still again...ten years had passed.
...
When the world became clear again...Leon was no longer the young man who had awakened an SSS-Rank Talent.
Ten years had stolen everything.
The weight on Leon’s shoulders nearly forced him to his knees.
A massive crate filled with monster materials rested across his back, its rough wooden edges digging painfully into his skin. Sweat soaked through his faded clothes as he struggled to keep pace with the group of Hunters walking ahead of him.
One of the younger Hunters glanced back before letting out a laugh.
"...Wait."
"Isn’t that Leon Hart?"
"The Mana-less Necromancer?"
"I guess that’s the only thing a Necromancer without mana can raise."
"Luggage."
"So the greatest genius in history ended up carrying our luggage."
Laughter spread through the group.
"I heard dozens of guilds fought over him."
"They should’ve fought over who got to hire him as a porter."
Another burst into laughter.
"Be grateful we’re even paying you."
"Without us, you’d probably starve to death."
Leon lowered his head and tightened his grip on the crate.
He said nothing. Not because he couldn’t answer. But because, after hearing the same words for ten years. They no longer hurt enough to make him react.
Leon pushed open the door to his apartment and stepped inside. The room was as cold and empty as he remembered. He quietly placed the loaf of bread on the table before sinking onto the edge of the worn-out bed. Every muscle in his body ached from carrying crates all day, yet the exhaustion in his heart was far heavier.
Leon’s eyes remained fixed on the cracked ceiling.
"...Malrik..."
The name escaped his lips before he even realized it.
A strange warmth spread through his chest as memories surfaced one after another. The grand halls of House Vesperion... Eliza quietly standing behind him... Fenrir lying at his feet... Lilith wearing that infuriating smile she always tried to hide behind mockery.
Every face remained painfully vivid, as though he had left them only yesterday.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
Then...It slowly disappeared.
"...What am I thinking?"
"A Duke..."
He shook his head.
"My brothers...My sisters..."
"A family that would support me...protect me.....and call me one of their own."
Another bitter laugh escaped his lips.
"For a moment...I actually believed I had escaped."
His eyes slowly closed.
Perhaps that was all it had ever been.
The dying fantasy of a broken man who had spent too many years wishing for a different life.
"...Malrik Vesperion..."
He whispered the name one last time before quietly shaking his head.
"No...I’m Leon Hart. I’ve always been Leon Hart."
"And tomorrow..."
"I’ll wake up before sunrise."
"I’ll carry another crate."
"I’ll earn just enough to survive."
"...Just like I always have."
His voice gradually faded until only silence remained.
A single tear slipped down his cheek before falling onto the old wooden floor.
Leon didn’t bother to wipe it away.
There was no one left who would ever see him cry.
As his consciousness gradually slipped away, a faint sound reached him from somewhere impossibly far away.
A low growl reached his ears. Barely audible.
Leon frowned.
"...Fenrir?"
"Master..."
Leon suddenly opened his eyes.
"Master... Wake up..."
A sharp crack echoed through the apartment.
Leon looked up.
Thin fractures raced across the walls, spreading over the ceiling and beneath his feet like cracks in glass. Emerald light burst through every fissure, consuming the room piece by piece.
Fenrir’s desperate howl thundered through the collapsing world.
With one final deafening crack...the illusion shattered.