The Legendary Programming Mage

"What do you mean by that?"

If it had been someone else I was speaking with, maybe I could have guessed what they meant from their expression.

But Beatrice?

Her face was basically a blank slate, except for the rare times she grinned or sighed.

Beatrice glanced at the reading beside the mana stone. "There is nothing. Zero."

Her gaze lingered on the numbers once more. "It shouldn't even be possible for someone to have no mana."

She quickly turned toward the door. "Wait here for me, let me get the higher-ups."

Watching Beatrice's back, I saw her leave through the door.

The moment she did, I exhaled.

"What the fuck?"

I was sure I had mana.

System-chan said so.

So was it... a bug?

No. It couldn't be.

I sat down on the floor, cross-legged.

"Okay, let's break this down."

Placing my hand on my chin, I began thinking.

For the mana test, the cadet or applicant is supposed to pour their mana into the crystal orb.

Though not perfectly accurate, it was meant to measure the potential—or rather the prospect rank—of the soon-to-be hunter.

Wait.

What if my body rejected whatever was supposed to read the applicant's potential?

Standing back on my feet, I placed my hand on the orb and closed my eyes.

I tried to channel my mana, but just like before, it barely came out.

That was when I saw it.

Faint green codes ran from the orb into my arm, and the moment they entered my body,

BAM!

They were gone.

I let out a long breath, removing my hand from the orb and pressing it against my face. "I did tell it to remove foreign objects, but what am I supposed to do now?"

There was the option of resetting my antivirus system quickly, but seeing the kind of wonders it could perform even against an S-rank, I thought otherwise.

Forcing my firewall open again was an option too.

"Haaah..."

This just had to get complicated.

From where I stood, I could already hear voices behind the door.

I shut my eyes again, trying to figure out what to do next. That was when it clicked.

A statement.

If I could use a conditional statement on the green codes, then it would be possible to get them past my body's defenses.

I placed my hand back on the orb.

Just a simple statement.

I just needed to encode one before they entered my body.

["If" the 'function' in these green codes is harmless, don't destroy it.]

That meant as long as the condition of "not harmful" remained, the antivirus wouldn't touch it.

However, the issue was in the execution.

I couldn't just forcefully implant it. If I did, the "function" of the green codes might be rewritten, altering my prospect rank.

And I couldn't be too slow either, so as not to draw attention.

"A step at a time."

Gradually, I let the green codes flow into me as the sounds of footsteps faded from my ears.

I was in my inner world again, though not completely this time.

The moment the green codes entered my arm, I directed my mana—blue codes—to move around them.

Argh...

It hurt.

Encrypting new data into preexisting data wasn't easy, especially when done inside one's body.

But still...

It was working.

The blue codes slowly sank into the green ones.

And as they passed through my arms into my core, the antiviruses did nothing.

I grinned as my consciousness resurfaced.

The moment it did, the automatic door slid open and several people entered.

Quincy was there, as were Naomi, Beatrice, Guild Master Choi, and many others.

"Miss Beatrice, you said that—"

The young woman walking beside Beatrice froze as soon as she saw my hand on the orb.

Snapping out of her initial shock, she shook her head and stepped closer. "Kid, I think you're mistaken about awakening."

She sighed, clearly irritated. "To begin with, no one can awaken outside a rift, so if this is your coping mechanism, then—"

"Haaaaaaaaaa!"

Her words caught in her throat as I exhaled loudly, my head tilting back slightly to meet her gaze.

My chest was heating up.

Was it normal?

No. I doubted it.

This was mana.

Even though I awakened yesterday, I hadn't tried using mana.

Why?

Because I was too exhausted to.

But this felt amazing.

Like drinking endlessly without ever getting drunk.

"Can you shut up."

The words slipped out of my mouth before I realized it.

The young lady clenched her jaw, her face twisting. "You... How dare you? Do you even know—"

I looked away and immediately let my mana surge into the orb.

The light sparked.

Not a faint flicker.

But a spark bright enough for everyone to see.

Spark!

It sparked again.

And before anyone could react, a brilliant radiant light burst from the orb.

It didn't affect me for some reason, but I could tell everyone behind me was blinded for a moment.

The orb's light only grew brighter by the second.

Then,

Crack. Crack.

Frzzzzz.

Shatter!

The orb shattered into millions of fragments as the mana inside gushed out in a violent gust of wind.

Only I stood unfazed before it, my trench coat fluttering in the air.

I slowly turned my head back, still intoxicated by this thing called mana.

My lips parted for a moment before I asked:

"So, what's my rank? SSS, right?"

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Three chapters for today!