"Bullshit!"
Elric threw the last book across the room, the heavy tome hitting the wall with a resounding thud before falling to the floor. His action was born of pure frustration, almost anger, at what he'd discovered—or rather, what he hadn't discovered.
He collapsed back onto his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling of his chamber.
He'd thought that even if finding a cure wouldn't be easy, it definitely wouldn't be this difficult either. Even if he didn't find the cure directly documented somewhere, he could at least identify the illness, understand its mechanism, and then conduct research himself. He was a prince, after all. Access to resources and scholars shouldn't be an issue.
But what the hell was this?
Let alone this kingdom, which was seven hundred years old—not even the recorded history dating back almost two thousand years had any mention of something similar to his mother's condition. Nothing. Not a single case study, not a passing reference, not even a myth or legend that vaguely resembled it.
He'd searched everywhere. Not only the medical books, but also texts related to mana theory, historical records, everything in Ulfric's collection that might contain even a fragment of relevant information.
Absolutely nothing.
The door to his room suddenly opened, but Elric didn't pay attention to it. He just kept staring blankly at the ceiling, his mind spiraling through increasingly desperate scenarios.
After entering the room, the servant—a young woman named Rill—saw the complete mess. Books were scattered everywhere, some lying open with their pages bent, others stacked haphazardly on every available surface. And in the middle of it all lay Lord Elric, motionless on his bed, staring at nothing.
Rill felt distressed seeing him like this. "Lord Elric, please, eat something. You'll feel better with food in your stomach."
Finally, Elric's attention shifted to the new arrival. "Rill, just go back. I don't feel like eating right now."
"But Lord Elric, you didn't eat yesterday either," she protested gently. "You'll get sick if this continues. Please, eat at least a little. With a full stomach, you'll have the energy to continue searching for whatever you're looking for."
But Elric's thoughts had already drifted elsewhere, too consumed by his failure to listen properly.
What should he do now? Should he just go back to Earth, stop wasting time here, and try to find something in the real world instead?
No. No, he couldn't give up this easily.
He suddenly remembered that there were other places in this world too—entire kingdoms and continents he knew nothing about. The fragmented memories only covered this small kingdom. There was a whole world out there beyond these castle walls.
He couldn't give up after searching just one library, no matter how extensive. He had to keep looking, keep researching, exhaust every possibility before accepting defeat.
Elric sat up abruptly, startling Rill, and left for the library without another word.
"Ulfric! Where are you?"
The quiet atmosphere of the library was shattered by Elric's shouting as he burst through the doors.
"Brat, what are you making all this noise for?" An even louder voice boomed back. "I'm not old enough that I can't hear properly yet!"
Ulfric emerged from one of the side rooms, his expression annoyed at having his peace disturbed.
"I need to ask you something," Elric said urgently.
Hearing the desperation in his voice, Ulfric's face became more serious. "It seems you didn't find what you were looking for in the books."
He sighed, and his voice softened slightly. "If that's the case, I might not be much help either. That collection represents all the knowledge I've gathered over my lifetime. If the answer isn't there, I probably don't know it."
He studied Elric's expression for a moment. "But go ahead. Say what you wanted to know. Maybe I've heard something that wasn't written down."
"It's about an illness," Elric began.
"An illness, you say. Continue."
"If mana has gathered in someone's heart, concentrated there instead of flowing naturally, and that leads to long periods of unconsciousness—extended comas with no obvious way to wake the person up."
"Mana gathering in the heart? Interesting." Ulfric stroked his beard thoughtfully. "But I haven't heard of any illness that causes mana to concentrate in the heart while also causing loss of consciousness. Those are two separate conditions that shouldn't occur together."
He paused, considering. "Do you have any more specific traits? Other symptoms, perhaps?"
Elric thought about it carefully. After his observations of his mother and the other patients, the mana concentration was the only abnormality he could clearly identify. Everything else appeared normal—their bodies were healthy, their vitals stable, just... trapped.
An idea struck him.
"Is there a possibility that if someone who wasn't born with mana suddenly gained mana for some unknown reason, it could cause this?"
Ulfric's somewhat thoughtful expression suddenly turned annoyed after hearing Elric's words.
"Brat, I thought you had something important to discuss. That maybe you'd gained some kind of enlightenment when you were close to death, some deeper understanding of how mana and life interact."
His voice grew harsher. "But this? This is just the delusion of someone who almost died. And you didn't even read those books properly, did you? You just skimmed through them looking for specific keywords without understanding the fundamentals."
He stepped closer, his ancient eyes boring into Elric. "If you'd bothered to think carefully about what you read, you'd already know that what you're suggesting is impossible. Let alone a person suddenly gaining mana—it's simply impossible for a person to be born without mana in the first place."
Ulfric's tone took on the quality of a teacher lecturing a particularly dense student. "Mana serves as the connection between the physical body and the spiritual body. Without it, it's simply impossible for a living being to exist. It would be like a person born without any blood in their veins. The body and soul would have no way to remain connected, no way to function as a unified entity."
Elric's face became dark as charcoal. His world—Earth—was completely different, with different rules and fundamental principles. People there lived entire lives without a single particle of mana in their bodies.
Okay, okay. Calm yourself, Elric. Calm the fuck down.
He forced his breathing to steady, his mind to work through the problem logically rather than emotionally.
It was just speculation anyway. Maybe mana had been introduced to this world just like earth. But over the years, it had integrated into living creatures' bodies without leaving any trace. Evolution adapting to a new energy source.
But if that was the case, he didn't think it would help him anyway. The mechanisms would be completely different.
"Ulfric," Elric said, gathering as much seriousness as he could muster. "If an illness like what I described existed long, long ago—say, two thousand years ago or more—would it be possible? Would there be any record of it?"
Ulfric's annoyance faded, replaced by reluctant consideration. "Maybe. Maybe not. Even if something like that existed, it would be nearly impossible to verify now. Any records would have to be at least two millennia old, and most texts from that era have been lost to time, war, and decay."
He shook his head. "So even if your half-baked theory is real, you can't verify it yourself. The information is lost to history, if it ever existed at all."
His tone became dismissive again. "So just leave that line of thinking and focus on learning something actually important. Study governance, politics, mana manipulation—things that will help you as a future ruler."
Something inside Elric snapped.
"FUCKING BULLSHIT!"