Jane woke up groggily, every orifice of his head protesting with throbbing pain. Even before his consciousness returned completely, he already had a good idea of what exactly had happened to him.
'I've been kidnapped, huh?'
He had a vague feeling that he should've been freaking out at that moment. The sheer helplessness of his situation, however, calmed him down significantly. He was gagged, and all of his appendages were shackled to a chair with metal bonds. It was to the point where he didn't even see a way to struggle, let alone escape. It would be meaningless to do so, anyways, when he didn't even know who had kidnapped him or why.
Jane would have entertained himself by looking around the room he was in, but his kidnapper did not have the courtesy of leaving any lights in the room, and so he was stuck in utter darkness, hardly able to see his body bound to the chair. Left with nothing but his thoughts, he came to a conclusion about his situation.
'It must've been those goddamned rabbits... They really had enough of a grudge against me to kidnap me.'
Jane swore that if he ever escaped from his current situation, he would never again eat an animal which had oddly intelligent anthropomorphic counterparts. He would have found and murdered the rabbit who did this to him too, but he had absolutely no confidence whatsoever about taking on the entire population of vengeful giant rabbits. As he reconsidered his diet, the sound of a door creaking open could be heard.
"Hey. You're awake, right?"
Jane didn't respond, since neither of them could see in this darkness, anyways. The slightly boyish voice sounded out.
"Hello? Helloooo? ...Fine."
His kidnapper could be heard walking to one corner of the room, and picking up something that... sloshed? Jane spoke through the cloth covering his mouth.
"I'm awake, I'm awake!"
"Well, you must still be feeling a little groggy. Here."
Jane winced as a bucketful of water was splashed onto his face and body. Every inch of him from head to toe was now weighted down by a fresh coat of water. He shivered slightly.
While he didn't especially mind being wet, the real problem was that the gag covering his mouth and nose had also gotten wet, and he could no longer breathe.
"Now, then. You can drop the act now. I'll have you know that the current bindings you're under are not even a tenth of what is surrounding this building, so don't try thinking of a way to escape. I'll stop you, even if it costs both our lives... Hey, why do you look like that? Surely, someone like you wouldn't die just from being unable to breathe, right? Wait—!"
That was how Jane lost consciousness for a second time.
---
When he woke up again, his surroundings were significantly brighter, exposing the cliched cobblestone dungeon he was in. Luckily, there were no torture tools around, although the remnants of a table meant to restrain a captive were still there. On top of it, various instruments and compounds sat in disarray. On a much comfier looking chair near the desk, a young man sat with a worried expression. His gaudy outfit similar to what the rabbits wore did not match the surroundings at all, making him look like some depraved noble. His body was covered by a mahogany robe, with stylishly embroidered edges that looked gilded. His hat was the same, although there was actual gold encrusting it's brim. Upon noticing Jane's eyes open, the man's face showed signs of great relief.
'Oh, the gag's gone.'
While Jane still had no faith in the man who had kidnapped him— especially one who almost let their captive die— he had a feeling his kidnapper wasn't intending to harm him. That gave him leverage, at least.
"Look who's finally... uh... It's good that you're awake?"
"God, why did I have to get such an incompetent kidnapper?"
"Well, I didn't know you were... sorry."
Teasing his kidnapper was oddly fun.
"That I'm what? Handsome?"
The man looked at him pityingly.
"Hey, wait, I'm not actually that ugly, right?"
"No, your looks are fine."
"Thank god... So, what did you mean?"
His kidnapper looked at Jane curiously.
"Just confirming, but you don't know how to use magic, right?"
"If I knew how, would I be at a magic show?"
"Do clowns not go to the circus?"
"Hey, are you calling me a-"
"No. Anyways, that was a dumb question. You clearly don't know any magic. That's good, then."
"Why exactly is that good?"
Jane glared at him. The man stared back.
"You. Are you interested in becoming my disciple?"
"Will I learn how to kidnap poor villagers?"
---
As Jane soon found out, being the disciple of a magician meant he could no longer make jabs at him for kidnapping a village boy. However, it also meant he was at no real risk of being murdered for his snark, either. It was simply a matter of how many painful spells he was willing to endure with his body. The answer, as it turned out, was too low to be worth it.
In conclusion, despite the gentlemanly looks he was blessed with, Jane's master was a complete and utter brute. The only good thing about him was his knowledge of magic, and even that was proving to be lacking.
"What do you mean you don't have one?"
"I never said that, I said that I can't find it with the method you gave me."
"This method has worked for every single mage since the beginning of time, and you're telling me that you, and only you, are the one exception?"
"Does it really matter? Look."
With that, Jane manifested an illusory symbol in the air. Within its center, a dire heat was rippling outwards. He promptly released his hold over the symbol in the air, and watched the energy dissipate into the surroundings.
"I can do it just like you taught me, so what's the problem?"
"Well, it's like this."
Within magic, the most important part was the Manaheart, also referred to as the soul core by some. Located in the lower abdomen, it was composed of an inner core, and an outer shell. The inner core was entirely invisible, but the outer shell could be sensed as a small repulsive force acting on one's mana. One's mana had to pass through that membrane to be used.
With time, an individual could learn to sense ambient mana, and eventually even tame it for their own use. The tamed mana would be stored inside the Manaheart, and would exit when it needed to be used. After using that mana to cast magic, control of would be temporarily reduced as it returned to the Manaheart, so it was important to know just how much mana remained inside one's soul core at all times. That was where the problem emerged.
'I can't find it.'
No matter how hard he searched, Jane couldn't find his Manaheart. He had already sensed the mana within the air, and managed to draw mana out of his soul core in order to use it, but he still could not find his Manaheart despite that. At the very least, he knew it existed.
"No matter how hard I think about it, there's only one case where someone wouldn't be able to find their Manaheart."
"When they don't have a soul?"
"Well, you can use magic, so it can't be that. Have you heard of engravings?"
Jane looked at his teacher incredulously, as if asking why in the world he would ever have heard about engravings when he only began learning magic minutes ago.
"Well, uh... the concept is a bit hard to explain, but essentially, engravings are a type of controlled damage to the outer shell of one's Manaheart. By removing part of the outer shell, it makes it more difficult to keep mana in and thus their efficiency is reduced, but the pattern which the mana takes as it exits exhibits a constant effect. It's essentially sacrificing a portion of your mana for the sake of always having some magic active."
"So, can I get an engraving that prevents creepy men from sneaking up on me from behind? Hey, wait! Stop, stop-"
His master's expression was completely unchanged as the dozens of tiny symbols around Jane's body dissipated.
"As I was saying, although engravings are permanent, it's not like your shell has limited space. As one's reserve of tamed mana increases, the amount of space on their shell will also increase. The only possible explanation I can think of for your situation is that someone has scraped almost your entire shell away, leaving the rest of it barely visible. So, you'll probably be able to find it after taming a significant amount of mana."
"And I get some kind of super-powerful effect?"
"No, your natural talent is just crippled. Even if there was an effect, you wouldn't know what it is without having the senses to decrypt the engraving."
'Right, my "natural talent". The whole reason I'm in this situation to begin with.'
Jane felt a little down, since he had lost whatever benefits his "talent" was supposed to give him.
"Hold on. Won't I totally just get hunted down by random magicians without being able to defend myself, then? If I'm emitting as much mana as you said, but unable to use it, isn't that going to cause misunderstandings?"
"How's about this. If you listen very nicely and be a good disciple, I'll sort out the problems that come your way. If you continue to talk back, though, I may just have to turn a blind eye..."
"I'd be a little better of a student if you let me out of this creepy-ass dungeon, first."
They had not, in fact, moved at all since meeting— although Jane was at least no longer bound to a chair.
"Sure. There's still a little I need to take care of, though."
As he said this, a harrowing wail could be heard from all around them. Jane stared wide-eyed at his teacher.
"Hold on, That's not— It's just for ambiance, okay? It makes captives more cooperative... Hey, seriously, don't look at me like that!"