“Crack… crack, crack…”
Under the horrified gazes of everyone present, the top-tier testing crystal—worth a fortune and capable of withstanding a full-strength blow from a legendary mage—let out a soft “bang.”
It crumbled into a pile of white powder, finer than grains of sand, and slid off the desk.
The air in the office fell into a dead silence.
The smile on Layana’s face froze completely.
Dean Aurelia remained motionless as she leaned forward, and Laxana covered her small mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Wendy looked at his palm, then at the pile of powder on the table.
He ducked his neck and broke the silence in a suspicious, dog-like manner, though a trace of faint expectation lingered in his voice.
“Uh… Dean, does this mean my talent is… especially amazing? Did I overload the crystal?”
His words were met with an even longer silence.
Layana and Aurelia exchanged a glance, both seeing deep solemnity and confusion on the other’s face.
“Child,” Layana finally spoke, her smile having vanished entirely as she became professional and inquisitive,
“it is quite the opposite. This situation is only recorded in one place within the Academy’s oldest archives.”
She spat out the words one by one.
“The. Magic. Severing. Body.”
“Huh?!”
Wendy had a bad feeling as soon as he heard the term.
The expectation on his face collapsed instantly.
“What… what does that mean?”
“It means that your body is naturally insulated from all magical elements,”
Layana explained.
“You cannot perceive elements, and you certainly cannot manipulate mana. Your body is like an absolutely closed forbidden zone. Any mana that attempts to probe your talent is forcibly blocked, eventually causing the energy structure of the testing crystal to collapse into powder.”
She gave her final conclusion with a hint of regret.
“To put it simply, you are destined to never become a mage in your life.”
‘Is… isn’t this just being a magic waste?!’
Wendy felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his head buzzing.
He had considered that his talent might be mediocre, but he never expected it to be “zero”!
How was he supposed to change his destiny with this?
How could he escape his status as a “pet”?
‘Am I really going to be a captive fluffball for the rest of my life, only able to show my value in bed?’
Intense unwillingness surged in his heart.
“I don’t believe it! There must be a mistake somewhere! Test me again!”
Seeing Wendy’s stubborn refusal to accept reality, Laxana felt a bit of pity, but she still couldn’t help teasing him.
“Alright, alright. Only around one in ten thousand people on the continent of Erathia have magic potential. Don’t be too sad.”
Astreia stepped forward, gently taking Wendy’s hand and comforting him in a soft voice.
“It is alright, Wendy. It doesn’t matter if you have magical talent or not. I will protect you.”
This comfort only made Wendy’s heart sink deeper.
Protect?
That sounded nice.
‘Isn’t that just another way of saying “be my property and I’ll keep you for life”?’
Layana saw the look her daughter was giving her and sighed in her heart.
Fine, she would let him give up completely.
She snapped her fingers, and another identical testing crystal appeared on the desk out of thin air.
“Then try again.”
Wendy pressed his palm onto it once more.
The result was without suspense.
“Crack… bang!”
Under everyone’s complicated expressions, the second priceless crystal ball followed in its predecessor’s footsteps, turning into a pile of harmless white powder.
Wendy’s head slumped powerlessly as he fell into deep despair.
It was over.
He was destined to be a fluffball.
“Oh, my crystals…”
Layana looked at the two piles of powder on the desk with heartache, muttering to herself.
“These were custom-ordered from the Dwarven Kingdom at a high price. Combined, the two were worth enough to buy a small castle.”
“Did you hear that?”
Laxana leaned into Wendy’s ear and blew a soft breath.
“You’re quite the spendthrift. It looks like you’ll have to sell your body to pay back the debt in the future~”
Wendy didn’t even have the strength to bicker with her.
Just as the atmosphere in the office fell into an eerie gloom, the Dean of the Holy Studies Branch, Aurelia Cathy, suddenly let out a light chuckle.
The sound was particularly abrupt in the quiet room.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to her.
“Layana, you reached your conclusion too early.”
Aurelia stood up slowly and walked to the table.
She pinched a bit of the white powder with her fingers, rubbing it gently between them.
Layana frowned.
“Aurelia, what do you mean? The records in the archives are clear. An innate magic-severing body is a one-in-a-million useless constitution. Is there something wrong with that?”
“The archives aren’t wrong; what is wrong is your understanding.”
Aurelia had a kind smile on her face as she looked at the despondent Wendy.
“Child, it is not that you cannot perceive mana.”
Wendy snapped his head up.
“On the contrary,”
Aurelia said slowly,
“your perception of mana is more acute than any mage in this world.”
Layana was stunned.
“How is that possible?!”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Aurelia asked in return.
“Is a sponge unable to hold water because there is no space inside? No, it is because it is already soaked through. Is a patch of darkness unable to be lit because there is no light? No, it is because it devours the light.”
She blew away the powder on her fingertips and spoke one word at a time.
“Prince Wendy’s constitution might not be insulated from mana, but rather… it devours it.”
Devouring… mana?
These words were like a thunderclap exploding in Laxana and Layana’s minds.
Wendy, however, thought back to the electric shock collar Laxana had placed on him outside the Royal Capital.
That had been made of mana, so why did it still work?
‘Is it a new ability produced because I am constantly “purifying” Astreia?’
Come to think of it, “purifying” the demonic power on a witch was essentially like absorbing it…
“The term ‘Magic-Severing Body’ was merely the most superficial definition created by people in the past because they couldn’t understand the phenomenon,”
Aurelia continued to explain.
“Your body is like an abyss. Any magical elements that come near you are unconsciously absorbed, decomposed, and returned to nothingness. The reason the testing crystal shattered wasn’t because it couldn’t withstand an impact, but because its internal energy structure was sucked dry the moment it touched you.”
The office became pin-drop silent.
Laxana’s mouth hung open as she looked at Wendy in disbelief.
Layana’s breathing became rapid.
Her expression when looking at Wendy was no longer one of pity, but rather filled with a fanatical desire for research, like Columbus discovering a new continent.
A human who could devour mana!
What a precious research subject!
If she could understand the principle behind it…
“So,” the Dean’s voice trembled slightly, “he is actually…”
The Dean of the Holy Studies Branch provided the final definition for her.
“Prince Wendy is the Bane of Mages!”