The Taewang's Secret Legacy and the Awakening of A-Rank Mana
The deep night at Arhen Magic Academy was quiet, but it never truly slept.
In a place where living mana drifted thick through the air, as always, invisible threads of magic shimmered and undulated faintly in the void.
Yushin stood alone before a massive arched iron gate in the depths of the Great Library, in the restricted archive section that Erika, the class representative, had guided him to — a space completely sealed off from the general reading areas.
Unlike the bright halls where ordinary students of magic wandered freely and turned their pages, this was an absolute sanctuary of forbidden knowledge that could not even be approached without the Headmaster's special permission or the seal of a high-ranking noble.
A secret record vault granted only to those who held the ambiguous and unprecedented qualification of special transfer student.
From the moment he had first set foot through the academy's main gate, an intuition had struck him with force: that this colossal library was no mere repository of grimoires, but something like a great magical living being harboring the founding of the Arhen Empire and the secrets of the dimensions themselves.
And beyond this firmly sealed iron gate lay, of all places, the deepest and most hidden of those secrets — the place where they slept.
Here, Yushin was searching for the footsteps of distant ancestors who had once carried the same blood as he did.
The moment he took a step toward the gate, the powerful barriers of silence and guardianship that enveloped the entire library trembled in response to his presence.
A chilling sensation, as if thousands of invisible ancient detection threads were sweeping down his entire body.
Unauthorized reading will result in immediate termination.
Excessive unlicensed mana discharge prohibited.
Damaging the records will result in expulsion of the soul.
Warnings far too brutal and solemn to be mere student rules brushed through his mind.
But then, this was never a space built with ordinary students in mind to begin with.
Yushin suppressed his C-rank mana in his dantian as much as he could, and slowly extended his right hand — the one gripping the sheath of Heukwol — to rest it against the cold iron surface of the great shelf.
Uuuung—!
A low, heavy vibration shot up his palm and coursed through his whole body like a current.
It was no simple mechanical friction. It was a strange, colossal sensation — as if the entire vast archive were confirming the existence of the man called Yushin and drawing in a deep breath.
Ancient mana, slumbering deep within the shelves, stirred savagely. The layered dimensional warding seals, bound tight so that nothing could leak outward, bored sharply into the mana circuits of Yushin's dantian.
This was the moment the library itself tested the intruder's qualifications and rendered its verdict.
Identity of the Wanderer confirmed. Conditional access granted.
The barrier's silent verdict flowed into Yushin's mind as a pulse of blue text.
At the same instant, the pressure of the atmosphere that had been bearing down on him shifted and grew heavier still.
A cold sensation — his suppressed mana being forcibly probed from the deepest layers of his soul. The library was relentlessly testing just how enormous a power he was hiding, and where the root of his bloodline reached.
Uuung— KWAAANG!
The entire colossal shelf groaned with a thunderous roar.
This time it was no mere reaction, but an absolute warning that could not be defied.
Condition: The use of any false mana waveform during record access is forbidden.
Condition: Access to information beneath the stage of bloodline awakening is restricted.
Violation of these conditions will result in the permanent dimensional annihilation of the soul.
The chilling warning text scattered into the air. Even without a full explanation, he could feel the destructive power behind it with his whole body.
Yushin drew a deep breath and minutely opened the qi of Goguryeo and the bloodline of the Heavenly Demon that lay coiled in the depths of his dantian.
A perfect state of equilibrium — neither fully suppressed, nor violently detonated.
A breath-stilling silence held for a moment.
And then—
Clack, eeeee—!
An ancient secret door hidden among the colossal shelves swung open, revealing a magnificent inner passage descending deep underground.
This was no simple unlocking. It was the sacred invitation of an ancient palace that had waited ages for its master.
From within the passage, a soft and noble golden mage-light poured forth. It was an eternal ancient illumination on an entirely different plane from the students' fluorescent spell-lamps — light kindled solely for the records of sovereigns.
The moment Yushin stepped forward without hesitation, a magnificent, deep voice echoed from the air behind him, resonating through the space.
"I leave this record to my descendant. My name is Go Damdeok, the 19th Taewang of Goguryeo."
In that instant, the air of the entire library froze as if by magic.
Go Damdeok. Gwanggaeto the Great.
The true name of that very conquering monarch who existed on the border of myth and legend even in the history books of modern Earth now rang out in majestic splendor in the heart of Arhen, a world of fantasy beyond dimensions.
Yushin's heart lurched violently.
There was no shock, no fear. Rather, a thrilling exhilaration and awe wrapped around him as the family's secret history, passed down from his father Go Hyeonseok, finally clicked into place like a completed puzzle.
"...So it was you, after all."
As Yushin murmured the words, the golden light within the archive blazed one degree brighter.
Upon the great central marble altar, the ancient grimoire turned its own pages with a rustle, though no wind stirred.
In place of the sound of paper, sacred Goguryeo script in glowing blue reassembled itself in the air into massive sentences.
"I was the ruler of a nation,"
"a great archmage who commanded the dimensions,"
"and, in the end, one deeply involved in the founding of this magic academy, Arhen."
KWAGUGUNG!
The sigils carved into the stone walls around the altar flared gold in unison, resonating together.
They bore no resemblance to the refined emblems of the modern academy — these were primordial royal motifs, the three-legged crow and crimson sun that had once devoured a continent entwined as one.
"My ancestor, King Chumo, established the foundational laws of magic and absolute discipline in this dimension. Inheriting his sublime will, I founded this school as an eternal cradle of succession."
King Chumo — the ancient title of Dongmyeongseong, the founding sovereign of Goguryeo.
Yushin gazed at the wall sigils, his chest swelling with emotion.
Dongmyeongseong had created the rules of magic in the dimension of Arhen, and Gwanggaeto the Great, Go Damdeok, had built this school to preserve those rules for eternity and pass them down to his descendants.
Why the unprecedented institution of the "special transfer student" existed, bound by neither status nor school year. Why Headmaster Ervain Phileosia had congratulated him on his enrollment without a moment's hesitation the instant she laid eyes on him.
This was the moment the entire colossal chain of causality unraveled into perfect clarity.
The ancient script-array on the wall rearranged itself in blue light once more and poured down before Yushin's eyes.
"King Chumo left behind absolute law."
"I left behind the strict standards by which that law is upheld."
"And now... it is your turn to declare your own path."
The entire library held its breath, waiting for Yushin's answer.
This was no mere trial. It was an absolute question — whether he would inherit the magnificent legacy of his ancestors and become Emperor of the Empire, or a Demon King who ruled the world.
Yushin caressed the hilt of Heukwol and let out a soft laugh.
"I couldn't care less about some grand imperial throne."
The library's mana faltered for an instant, wavering. The barrier pulsed as if taken aback by the unexpected, irreverent answer.
Yushin straightened his back with dignity and declared, facing the altar head-on.
"A throne, the title of ruler, the name of legend... I already have more than enough of those. What I want from this dimension, and from my wandering across the entire universe, is only one thing."
Yushin's eyes gleamed sharper and clearer than ever before.
"Freedom."
The moment that single word fell, the air of the library shuddered on a massive scale.
It was not explosive rejection or defiance. It was a magnificent, stable resonance — the ancient architecture of law, sealed shut for thousands of years, at last meeting its true master and finding release.
Uuuuung—!
The symbols of power, dominion, and coercion carved into the walls slowly lost their light and faded away.
And in their place, the pure wellspring of the magical arts — granted only to those who carved out their destiny by their own will alone — blazed brilliantly.
"Freedom is not the destruction of rules."
"Freedom is the ultimate authority granted only to those who have perfectly understood and transcended the laws of the world. Forced inheritance breeds only decline — but chosen freedom begets eternal immortality."
"Successor. You were not bound by the shackles of your ancestors. You pierced through to the true essence of the magical arts."
"I bestow upon you the Taewang's true legacy."
KWAA AANG!
A storm of dazzling golden mana erupted from the altar and swallowed Yushin's entire body whole.
His dantian blazed alight; all three hundred and sixty meridians of his body burst open at once as a mana circuit of an entirely new dimension came crashing down like lightning.
Congratulations. You have resonated perfectly with the ancient legacy of your ancestors.
Mana rank is rising! Mana Rank C → Rank B.
Reorganization of your body's mana circuits is accelerating.
Mana rank rises consecutively! Mana Rank B → Rank A.
"...Ggh!"
A tidal wave of overwhelming mana, expanding as though to tear his dantian apart. Yushin gritted his teeth and lifted his chin, binding the surging energy together and mastering it.
He crushed the rampaging mana beneath a man's fierce fighting spirit and concentrated channeling techniques, driving it down into the deepest reaches of his dantian.
Ssssssuk.
When the storm of mana finally subsided, the energy radiating from Yushin's entire body had reached an absolute realm utterly different from his former C-rank self.
"Mana... A-rank, huh."
Yushin clenched and unclenched his fist, exhaling in awe.
The pinnacle of magic that ordinary students could never reach in a lifetime of training — A-rank mana, revered even by professors and high court mages — now rested entirely in the palm of his hand.
"Back when I first arrived at this school, that overwhelming density of mana I felt from Headmaster Ervain Phileosia... it was exactly this level."
Yushin exhaled lightly and released the faintest wisp of his A-rank mana into the air.
Ssseuuusuk.
There was no physical explosion, no destruction.
And yet the atmosphere within a radius of dozens of meters around him froze into perfect stillness in an instant.
The crushing presence of an absolute powerhouse — mana that did not beat its opponent down, but dominated and ordered the very laws of space through existence alone.
"Good... at this level, no matter which noble bastard of Arhen comes at me, I can sneer and stomp them flat."
Yushin wore a satisfied smile as he calmly sheathed Heukwol.
Having perfectly unlocked his ancestors' secret history and been reborn as an absolute superhuman of A-rank mana — beyond the library door, a brilliant and dangerous magic academy life now awaited him, with the busty class representative Erika, the Empire's imperial princess, and the alluring Headmistress Phileosia, poised to unfold in full.