Unorthodox Mage

Mana is the fundamental fuel of all mages throughout the galaxies.

But in this world, mana doesn't exist everywhere throughout the cosmic expanse. It only exists due to a solitary celestial body that lies near three galaxies, the Adudal Principality called this celestial body the Null Star.

At age ten, aspiring mages would cast the Path of the Null Star spell to create a connection.

In this process, their soul will be propelled toward the Null Star like a bullet.

Depending on one's talent, their soul would attempt to break through the five rings of the Null Star which will determine their elemental affinity which would also determine their fate. Higher rings will result in possessing stronger elements.

Fundamental elements such as fire, water, terra, and wind are inside the first ring.

On the other hand, elements such as Death and Life are in the fifth ring.

Alex could feel that his new body had established a connection with the Null Star, thus allowing him to possess mana. But weirdly enough, he didn't sense any elemental affinity that his mana could harness, it was completely neutral.

However, thanks to this Nanomancy Lab, it seems that won't be a problem.

"Nexus, how do I specifically gain energy bars?"

"Master would need to absorb energy source, natural or artificial. It's the only way"

"Hmm... What about magical energy sources?"

"Magical energy is not eligible, only energy sources aside from mana can be registered"

Listening to Nexus' explanation, Alex rubs his chin in contemplation, realizing that this would limit his options. However, he remembered that he was now a vassal of the Hyperion Empire, and finding energy sources would likely prove more accessible than magical energies.

It's definitely more accessible, just like the energy capsule earlier.

The Null Star is further away from the Hyperion Empire, magical energies will be scarce here.

"Please be advised that the Nanomancy Lab would have more features the stronger master gets," Nexus explained, she then bowed her body gracefully in respect. "I'll be looking forward to showing you the other features in the future, master. To enter or exit the Nanomancy Lab, you would only need to will it"

Alex nodded firmly, his body then dissolved into a cascade of blue particles as he departed.

No use in staying there anymore.

If he wanted to harness the Nanomancy Lab's power, he would first need energy.

Regaining his consciousness again, Alex pushed himself upright. His gaze shifted toward the items and equipment he had stashed near the cave entrance. It was more than a person should have thanks to him being a carrier.

Alex is one of 100 aspirants embarking on this trial which is divided into 20 squads.

In order to pass the trial is quite simple to understand, the aspirants would only need to survive inside this forest for a month and kill a determined number of beasts before being extracted by the instructors. Killing other aspirants is prohibited, and to lessen the chances, the groups were spread far from each other.

Xander, the previous owner of the body was a bullied kid amongst the aspirants.

But it was unavoidable for him.

Despite coming from a ridiculously influential background, he had yet to receive the initial modification serum that would enhance one's physical capabilities, making him weak. Normally, individuals of his status would have received the initial, meso, and advanced serum by the age of 15.

However, Xander doesn't even have the initial one despite being 20.

Because of that he was shunned and ridiculed, forced to become a carrier of the group.

"I pity you, Xander. But now thanks to you, I was given a second chance. I would definitely repay you back" Alex promised, he was going to honor the memories of Xander while he embarked on his journey of revenge.

Checking the supplies he has, Alex finds that he has everything he needs.

Seven days' worth of food for five people, water purifiers, first aid, plasma pistols, and emergency items, were packed neatly. Anything that he needed for survival was there, and he would be fine if he was alone.

'Though I am alone now, my other squad members will come looking for me'

Alex knew that this wouldn't be enough for a month.

It was probably set this way by the instructors to avoid aspirants hiding in one place until the trial was over without actively fighting, essentially playing passively. If that happens, then it would be against the objective of holding this trial, to test the aspirants.

Scanning the snowy terrain, the food will definitely be extremely scarce in this place.

Fruits and plants wouldn't be accessible.

'So the only food source would be the animals in this place. But in this kind of terrain, I can almost guarantee that the animals here are mostly predators or omnivores, and they are certainly very hostile' Alex assessed the terrain, taking in his situation.

Hostile because of their hunger, similar to the beast earlier.

Knowing this fact, he dissuades himself from being hasty to move away from this open place.

On the east side, he could already see the sun drowning beyond the icy ring of the planet, the day was about to be over. In most planets, Alex knew that the night would almost always mean more danger.

Glancing over to the carcass of the beast, he decided to pull it to the side.

Burying it in the snow to at least mask its scent, he then sat beside the carcass before taking out all of the plasma pistols and harvesting their energy capsules. Alex didn't hesitate to absorb them all to gain energy.

As a result, another energy bar glowed brightly.

Upon harvesting the energy, he then sat in a meditative position and closed his eyes.

Having the navigation device that could detect movement installed in the environmental suit, he doesn't need to be wary to close his eyes. 'If I want to survive properly, I need to learn the neutral spell, Aura, Appeal, and Purification'

Fixing his mind on those spells, he started to consolidate his connection to the Null Star first.

It was a solid half an hour before he finally opened his eyes.

Mages in his realm would need to consolidate the connection first to make it robust by channeling the mana inside of them to the Null Star repeatedly, the speed of the consolidation depends on the individual mages themselves.

Even talented ones would need three days to finish the process without external help.

For the unfortunate ones, it would take more than weeks or even months.

During that half an hour, Alex exhausted his mana leaving only a little bit left in the tank. If he wanted to continue the consolidation process, he would need to replenish his mana first. However, he didn't do that as he had a better method.

Instead, he dug up the beast's carcass again.

Alex used a knife to cut open the belly part and take out its internal organs, his eyes then flickered in excitement when he saw the beast's heart the size of a soccer ball, it was bigger than he expected.

Purification neutral spell is very easy to use and is used mostly for purifying water.

But he would be using it differently.

Garnering his remaining mana into his hand, he cloaked the heart with his mana before he cast the purification spell, shimmering the heart for a brief second before it dimmed back down again.

Summoning the energy shield, he takes off his helmet and takes a huge bite.

Chunk!

Not even hesitating for a second, he started eating the beast's heart to the last bite, disregarding the raw taste that it provided. He does this not because he is hungry, but because he knows that this will give him mana.

'Guess being desperate to become stronger back then comes in handy...'

In his years of getting cold shoulders from his father ever since he was assessed as having worthless talent and also being scorned by his own siblings, Alex started to try unorthodox methods to become stronger in the hope of getting acknowledged by his family again.

Participating in research and even following conspiracies was his normal menu.

Some of the methods work and some don't.

One of the unorthodox methods that works was eating a beast's heart, the essence of life that lingers in its body was found untainted in the heart and could supply a considerable amount of mana.

But this could only be accessed by eating it raw.

Naturally, it's not a fond method for everybody to replenish their mana.

However, for someone like Alex who wanted to become stronger badly, this is not a problem.

Alex looks down at his body and finds that his mana was not only replenished but overflowed instead, 'I got lucky. With this amount, I think I could finish the consolidation in one go. Then I could learn the Aura spell and possibly use it before those guys came here'

Deciding his path of advancement, he quickly sat back down and meditated.

It was almost two hours.

Currently, the link between him and the Null Star has become solid instead of translucent, signing that the consolidation was nearing its end. With the external help of his extreme method, he managed to achieve this.

Upon fortifying the last strand, Alex finally opens his eyes again.

'Wow... It's so fast. Either Xander has immense talent in magic sources or the Nexus Orb of Nanomancy made my magic source extremely efficient' Alex praised inside his head while clenching his fist a couple of times.

Initially, he was about to make it halfway before finding a better spot to meditate.

But it seems there was no need, he got stronger now.

Just as he was about to use his remaining mana to train in using the Aura spell, a beeping sound could be heard. It was the navigation device that detected movement before a robotic sound came from the helmet, alerting him of approaching life forms.

Checking the navigation interface on his left arm, he finds four blue dots approaching him.

It didn't take a genius to guess that these were his squad members.

Seems like there's a real-time location-sharing feature in the navigation device since the four of them know exactly where he is, finding him in this forest would be difficult without such a feature.

However, Alex also smiled in ridicule, suspecting the reason his squad had come now.

'Did they wait for me to stop moving before coming here? I guess since I meditated for hours, they thought I was dead already because I stayed in one spot. Now they are coming here to collect back the supplies'

Gazing at the forest in front of him, a smirk appeared on his face.

'I guess no matter the place, these kinds of people exist' Alex thought with a fierce glint.

Due to that, he quickly buried the beast's carcass again.

About a minute later, four figures wearing the same dark-bluish environmental suit came out of the snowy forest with a dash. But suddenly, the four stopped abruptly when they caught sight of Alex standing in front of them.

"Hi, guys! So glad I managed to survive that attack" Alex said with a huge smile on his face.

But inside, he was smiling wickedly.

'Since this is my body now, I'll need to settle the score. If Xander were here, he'd probably want some payback too. Those bastards!' Alex thought bitterly with still a smile on his face, yet the veins on his neck were bulging due to his seething anger. 'Phew... I need to calm down'