Manaless Mage
Chapter 327: Not the only group

Chapter 327: Not the only group

His arms refused to lift. His fingers stayed limp. His mind screamed at his body to fight, to resist, to stand up and cut this kid down where he stood.

But he couldn’t.

His breathing slowed.

His heart still beat—but faintly now.

His eyes... grew still.

Like a puppet whose strings had been cleanly severed.

And then—

His mouth moved.

It twitched open, lips dry and stiff, and a hollow whisper escaped:

"I... met them... some years back... before I entered the AMO..."

Harry didn’t speak, but his eyes narrowed slightly, a bit surprised by what he heard.

The glow in his eyes softened slightly, but the weight in the air didn’t lift. Dani remained knelt on the ground, completely still, his chest barely rising and falling as if he were caught in a trance.

"How? How exactly were you recruited?"

"I was just an average man... then I met this woman... her name... was Veiss..." Dani muttered, narrating all his life experiences without a single thought.

He was born with a medium grade fire affinity, and with such average talent, it was clear he barely had any future in the world of adventurers.

But everything changed when he met Veiss, who told him she had a way of giving him the power and wealth he so much desired.

Dani’s lips trembled slightly as the next words left him, slow and unfiltered.

"I didn’t even hesitate... didn’t waste a second before I accepted her offer."

Harry’s eyes narrowed.

"She said... she had a way to help me grow stronger," Dani continued, voice flat, eyes still glazed over like a man sleepwalking. "She said... I’d never be overlooked again."

He swallowed, slowly, painfully.

"Then... she gave me something."

His fingers twitched at the memory.

"A strange... injection. It burned at first... felt like fire coursing through every vein... but after that—"

A faint smile ghosted his lips, eerie in its lifelessness.

"Everything changed. My fire affinity sharpened. My body adapted. Controlling my power... it became so easy. Like breathing."

Harry’s pulse quickened, but he kept his expression cold and unreadable. His mind, however, was reeling.

’An injection that could enhance someone’s affinity?’ He thought, his eyes narrowing slightly. ’That was unheard of. Not in this timeline or even the former!’

Dani kept speaking, unaware of Harry’s reaction.

"I... enrolled in the AMO soon after. My scores skyrocketed. My mana control... refined. I was finally able to break through the fourth stage. I’d been stuck at the third for years. Years."

His voice darkened, trembling with something between awe and resentment.

"They finally started to respect me."

He paused. A weak exhale left his chest.

"But then she contacted me again."

Harry’s hands curled slightly.

"She told me... I owed them. That from now on... I had to do everything they asked of me."

"And you just agreed?" Harry asked sharply, his glowing eyes narrowing. "Just like that?"

Dani didn’t flinch. He couldn’t.

"I didn’t care," he muttered. "They gave me what I wanted. Power. Recognition. That’s all that mattered to me."

"So you threw away your loyalty to the AMO? To innocent people?"

"I was never loyal to them. I was loyal to my own survival."

The forest was deathly quiet, broken only by the low hum of mana still burning faintly in the air. Dani’s voice echoed in the silence like a confession to a priest.

"I’ve been doing their bidding ever since. Missions, assassinations, intelligence gathering. All from Veiss. Always from her."

Harry’s brows knit together.

Veiss. That name again.

It seemed like she was the recruiter in cases like this and also the one who passed missions down.

However, he couldn’t help but wonder just how many adventurers were like Dani, mere pawns of the dark guild.

His mind raced.

There was also the issue of the talent boosting injection.

If the dark guild had more of these substances, if they could create artificial breakthroughs...

His heart beat faster.

They could build armies; of enhanced Elementalists and mages.

It was no wonder they had the guts to infiltrate the tournament.

He looked down at Dani again, whose eyes remained blank, body slouched like a discarded puppet.

Harry didn’t speak for a while. The truth lingered in the air like smoke after a fire.

Then, his voice came, low and steeled.

"What kind of missions were they giving you?"

Dani’s head lolled to one side. "Observation... disruption. We were to plant some weird crystals... in different part of the city... and also to eliminate any threats... any one who stood in the way..."

His mouth twitched again.

Harry clenched his fists.

"What of Miranda... why are you after her?"

"I... don’t... know..." Dani weakly responded. "They don’t always share... the details to me... I just do whatever they asked..."

Harry gnashed his teeth, his brows furrowing in annoyance.

’I’ll get to the bottom of this, I’ll make sure I do.’ he thought.

He had seen the chaos that followed when the demon king descended in Leon’s memories.

Leon struggled a lot before he was finally able to defeat him, and a thousands if not millions of people lost their lives.

If something like that was about to happen again in this timeline, he would have to do his best to prevent it.

"Is that the only mission the dark guild are here for?" he asked, turning his gaze back to Dani.

The latter shuddered, and he went silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"No... I think there’s one more..."

Harry’s brow raised in surprise. "What other mission is that?"

"I once heard from Adolf... about capturing anorher student..."

Harry’s eyes narrowed in confusion, wondering who that other student was.

He didn’t know why, but he felt a strange ominous feeling build up within him.

"That other student, who is he?" he asked, the foreboding sensation growing stronger.

"I’m not sure... but I think his name... Trent Morton."

The moment Harry heard those words, his eyes widened in shock.

’Trent... that means this isn’t the only group!’

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