Max finished the slim little book in just a few minutes.

Thirty pages.

That was it.

Thirty.

He had read ingredient lists longer than this.

Yet by the time he reached the last page, he was staring at it in genuine shock.

"...Why the hell wasn’t any of this on the internet?" he muttered.

Because the knowledge inside was completely different from what he had expected.

This thing didn’t just talk about mages.

It actually explained how to become one.

Properly.

What a One-Star Mage actually was.

What the progression meant.

What the requirements were.

Basic stuff.

Fundamental stuff.

Stuff that, in Max’s opinion, absolutely should’ve been publicly available instead of hidden inside a thin book with the world’s most insulting title.

Up until now, Max had assumed mages mainly used runes to strengthen themselves.

That was what most of the books in the hospital had focused on anyway—body strengthening, mana reinforcement, enhancement methods.

And honestly?

With the system covering half of that already, he had figured the rest was simple.

Learn runes.

Practice engraving.

Use them better.

Repeat until stronger.

Logical.

Efficient.

Completely wrong, apparently.

The book had just politely informed him that his understanding of mage progression was missing several critical Chapters.

Which was impressive.

Because he hadn’t even known there were missing Chapters.

But this book explained something completely different.

To truly become a mage, you needed a core formed inside the Mana Heart—

a metaphysical organ located around the lower stomach area, used to refine and process mana.

Max already knew about mana pores and mana channels, he read about them in books zerena’ own in hospital ones nothing about them was mentiond realy. he also learned about other stuff like how it entered the body and traveles throught channels.

And more importantly, he had also learned how to refine mana—a dangerous process in itself. Still, it helped immensely. You didn’t need mana sensing to work with runes, but having refined mana made a massive difference. Rune effects could double... even triple or quadruple in strength if the user was truly proficient with it.

He understood all of that.

That part wasn’t new.

The problem was—

Nobody or no book had properly explained what came after.

Max had always assumed the refined mana naturally dispersed into the body for strengthening.

Which... wasn’t wrong.

It did reinforce the body.

That was exactly what he had been doing all this time.

But according to the book?

That was only one use.

A basic use.

A beginner use.

The refined mana could also be directed into the Mana Heart itself.

Fed into it.

Stored.

Compressed.

Filled over and over again until the metaphysical organ has hit’s breaking point

For beginner mages, the book explained, the process usually wasn’t complicated. After refining mana and directing it into the Mana Heart, most people only needed a few minutes before they began feeling it fill. A few minutes more, and the sensation would grow heavier—strained, dense, almost uncomfortable. The instructions were simple: keep feeding mana into it until it felt close to bursting... then stop.

By now, Max had already reread those pages several times.

Seeing neither Zerena nor Analisa returning, he climbed onto the bed, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes. Fortunately, this part wasn’t entirely new to him. He already understood mana intake, refinement, and circulation through the body. He had practiced that much before.

So he began.

Mana flowed inward through his pores, traveled through his channels, refined itself near the lower stomach, and from there, instead of letting it spread into his body like usual, he carefully directed it toward the Mana Heart.

Almost immediately, he felt warmth build inside his chest and lower torso.

...Okay. Good sign.

Minutes passed.

Then a few more.

According to the book, he should’ve started feeling pressure by now. A sense of fullness. Something similar to an overfilled stomach—dense, swollen, unmistakable.

But...

Nothing.

The warmth remained, but the "full" sensation never came.

Max frowned slightly but continued. More refined mana flowed into the Mana Heart. Then more. Then even more.

Still nothing.

No heaviness.

No strain.

No feeling of nearing overflow.

Finally, the feeling came.

Bloating.

Pressure.

That dense, swollen sensation the book had described.

Only...

it came much later than it was supposed to.

Max almost smiled.

’...Maybe it’s because I’m a genius.’

His mood improved immediately at that thought.

Or maybe his Mana Heart was simply much larger than normal.

Honestly, both explanations sounded reasonable to him.

Encouraged, he kept feeding more refined mana into it.

More.

And more.

The bloated feeling gradually changed.

Pressure turned into strain.

The strain grew heavier.

His breathing slowed.

Then his real heart began beating faster inside his chest.

Hotter.

His chest grew hotter and hotter with every passing moment.

Until the warmth stopped feeling warm at all.

It became pain.

Sharp.

Piercing.

The kind of pain that made his body tense up involuntarily.

Sweat began covering him despite sitting perfectly still on the bed.

’Damn... this hurts way more than I thought...’ Max cursed inwardly.

But he didn’t stop.

He didn’t even open his eyes.

The book had warned about this part.

Pain was expected.

Normal.

Something to endure.

So Max clenched his jaw and kept going, continuing to pour mana into the strained Mana Heart while his body protested more fiercely with each passing second.

So naturally, as a genius and future ruler of the world suffering from a severe case of Main Character Syndrome, Max decided the sensible stopping point clearly didn’t apply to him.

He pushed further.

And further.

Two full hours passed. By then, he had become completely consumed by the process. Thoughts of Analisa, Zerena, food, sleep—everything vanished. The only things left in his mind were the unbearable pain, his violently pounding heartbeat, and the feeling that his chest was moments away from bursting apart. Only when it genuinely felt like his heart was about to explode did he finally stop.

But that wasn’t the end. All he had done so far was supply refined mana into the Mana Heart. The next step was forming an actual core. His role sounded simple—hold the gathered mana together—but mana had one irritating trait: even refined mana hated being confined. It always wanted to break apart, escape, and return to roaming freely through the world. That was the whole reason mana cores existed in the first place—to force mana to stay gathered instead of constantly trying to break free. Now Max had to do exactly that while sitting on what felt like an overfilled magical bomb inside his chest.

Now came the worst part.

As the mana tried to break free from his Mana Heart, the compressed energy began colliding violently against itself, turning an already painful process into something far worse. It felt like fire had been lit inside his chest. Every clash sent waves of agony through him—but with each collision, small portions of refined mana began sticking together. Then came chain reactions. More collisions. More compression. The refined mana slowly started condensing deeper and deeper inside the Mana Heart.

Max could feel the change happening.

Gradually, painfully gradually, the agony began easing. The burning sensation dulled into intense heat, then into warmth. And for the first time, he could almost perceive the inside of his Mana Heart itself. What had once felt hollow, dark, and empty now held something new—a bright sphere suspended within it, slowly rotating on itself.

The remaining mana circled around that sphere like a storm orbiting a star, slowly, steadily being drawn inward and absorbed.

"I done it..." he said out loud his eyes still close as he was happy with outcome as the core looked beuitfull and bit bigger then mention in book as he could grasp it’s lenght for some reason dispite it being in metaphsyical space of his body.

"You... did it?" Zerena’s surprised voice made Max realize he wasn’t alone.

He opened his eyes.

Annoyed-looking Analisa.

Visibly shocked Zerena.

Both staring directly at him.

Apparently, somewhere during his self-inflicted magical torture session, people had returned.

Analisa crossed her arms and said flatly, "If you’re done, then get off the bed. I need to sleep."

That immediately irritated Max.

No ’congratulations’? No ’well done surviving spiritual combustion’? Just eviction?

Still, he got up without arguing.

Before he could properly complain, Zerena stepped closer and asked,

"...Did you make a core?"

Max nodded.

At the same time, confusion crossed his face.

He almost wanted to ask why she looked that shocked.

Wasn’t she the one who had casually told him make by by morning like it was some simple homework assignment?

The reason for Zerena’s shock wasn’t that he had succeeded.

Anyone awakened—anyone capable of sensing mana—could eventually form a core.

That part wasn’t extraordinary.

The problem was how Max had done it.

She could literally feel mana overflowing from his chest even with her relatively weak mana senses.

That meant one thing.

He hadn’t just formed a core.

He had formed a strong one.

Strong enough that it was already pulling mana directly from the surrounding environment without him consciously absorbing it.

That wasn’t supposed to happen this early.

Her expression tightened slightly.

Then she asked, almost too quickly—

"...What about rings?"

Inside, she was desperately hoping for one answer.

No.

Please let it be no.

Max shook his head, feeling slightly pleased with himself as he answered,

"No... I was too tired to even try."

Which, for once, was actually true.

At that point he mostly just wanted to collapse somewhere horizontal and cease functioning for several hours.

If Analisa—who was currently fixing the bed while muttering complaints about him under her breath—wasn’t already occupying it, he probably would’ve fallen face-first onto the mattress without ceremony.

"Then sleep," Zerena said after a brief pause, trying very hard to keep the shock off her face. "We’ll talk in the morning."

Max nodded immediately.

Sleep sounded excellent.

Though he did find her behavior slightly odd.

Not suspicious.

Just...

A little lacking.

He had literally followed a beginner book, tortured himself for hours, formed a mana core, and apparently done something impressive enough to make her stare at him like he’d broken a law of magic.

A simple congratulations wouldn’t have killed her.