The Witch stood up slowly and began circling Lucian like a predator examining prey. Her sharp eyes scanned him from head to toe. She suddenly stepped very close, grabbed his face with both hands, and used her fingers to pry one of his eyes wide open, peering deep into it with great interest.

Lucian stayed perfectly still.

She then plucked a single silver hair from his head, popped it into her mouth, chewed thoughtfully for a moment, and swallowed.

"I can’t do it," she declared.

Lucian’s heart dropped. "What!? W-What do you mean?"

The Witch walked toward her crowded shelves, hands clasped behind her back. "I think you already know the answer, boy. Once a mana core is completely destroyed... it cannot be restored by any known means."

Lucian clenched his jaw, the hope he had carried with him crumbling in an instant. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The Witch pulled an old, thick leather-bound book from a high shelf and tossed it to him. Lucian caught it easily.

"In that book is a theory written by a Magician King long ago," she said. "A theory about using your own heart as the center where mana will flow, not a separate core. It is... different and riskier but perhaps possible for someone like you."

She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Sadly, it was never finished. The king succumbed to the dark forces of the world before he could perfect it."

"Now go," she said, waving her hand to shoo him away. Then she added with a faint smirk, "And you were asking for a ’catch’ earlier, weren’t you? Very well, in exchange for this knowledge, you must help me restore someone’s sanity that has long been lost."

"Wait, what do you mea—"

Lucian didn’t get to finish his sentence. The world around him blurred. One moment he was inside the strange cottage, the next he was standing in the middle of the ancient stone circle once again. Nyx tilted his head curiously at his sudden reappearance.

Lucian looked down at the heavy book in his hands, then up at the night sky.

He sighed. "Let’s head back, Nyx."

When they returned to the castle, the chaos from earlier had mostly settled into a tense, uneasy quiet. He gently patted Nyx’s neck.

"Go rest for now," he said softly. Nyx nuzzled him once before taking off into the night to find a good sleeping spot.

Lucian slipped back into his assigned room unnoticed. He lit a candle and sat at the wooden desk. He opened the old book carefully. The pages were yellowed with age, the handwriting elegant but occasionally frantic, as if the author had been racing against time.

Title: The Heart as Nexus – A New Theory of Mana Circulation

The first few pages detailed the author’s frustration with traditional mana cores. He wrote that while mana cores were powerful and stable, they were also fragile points of failure. If destroyed, the mage was finished.

Then came the main theory:

"What if the heart itself became the conduit? The heart already pumps blood, life itself throughout the body. Why not let it pump mana as well? Instead of a single fragile orb, mana would flow through every vein and artery, becoming one with the bloodstream."

Lucian’s eyes widened as he read deeper. The theory was incredibly detailed.

The Magician King proposed that the heart would be slowly transformed into a living mana pump. Through careful rituals and constant exposure to high-purity mana, the heart muscle would adapt, developing channels capable of circulating mana naturally. Unlike a core, this method would distribute mana more evenly throughout the body, potentially increasing recovery speed and allowing finer control over elemental magic. However, it would require the practitioner to endure immense pain during the conversion process, as the heart would be forcibly remade while still beating.

The king had recorded several experiments. Early animal tests were promising, rats and wolves showed increased strength and regenerative abilities. Later human trials on willing subjects showed partial success. One subject was able to cast low-level spells without a core for nearly three months.

However, most subjects eventually suffered from "Mana Rejection" their bodies treating the new mana flow as a foreign invader, causing heart palpitations, internal bleeding, or death.

The last coherent entry was written with shaky handwriting:

"I have done it. My heart beats with pure mana. The power is... beyond anything I imagined. But something is wrong. The darkness calls louder now. I can feel it clawing at the edges of my soul. If I do not stabilize this soon, I fear—"

The writing stopped mid-sentence. The remaining pages were blank except for a few bloodstains and frantic scribbles that eventually devolved into nonsense.

It was clearly an unfinished work. The Magician King had died or gone mad before he could complete or perfect the method.

Lucian closed the book slowly, his mind racing.

It was risky. Extremely risky. Turning his own heart into a mana engine could kill him if done wrong. But it was also the only real path he had seen so far to regain his magic.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the flickering candle.