The Foundation of the Three Talents
The core of the Three Talents Mind Method is the foundation.
Strike down. Sweep away. Thrust forward. Everything begins from these three simple forms.
The teaching that no matter what mental image you hold while practicing martial arts, it can become anything.
Whether the energy is natural ki or demonic energy, accept it all without discrimination, convert it into pure and pristine ki, and accumulate it. That is the basic mental image the Three Talents Mind Method describes.
Of course, it sounds nice when put that way, but it isn’t entirely a good thing.
The fact that it can become anything also means it can become nothing in particular.
If you try to absorb energy larger than your dantian’s capacity, your meridians twist and you fall into qi deviation.
Plus, the process of converting absorbed energy into the purest form takes a considerable amount of time.
Normally it’s a mind method so slow in growth that no one would spare it a glance, but for me the story was a little different.
I only understood it properly after stepping out into the world.
This entire world is saturated with energy.
People spew out wicked energy and turbid energy.
From filth and garbage, impure energy flows like soot.
From corpses, poisonous energy and vengeful resentment stretch out in thick streams.
My avatar, woven together with authority, leaks ominous, heavy energy—demonic energy—because of its incubus nature.
Turbid murky energy.
Impure evil energy.
Poisonous toxin.
Resentful yin energy.
And corrupt demonic energy.
Feeling all of them, I immediately understood why the Taishan Giant Strength Axe, which had raised me to Expert—a level recognized as strong by Victoria’s standards—in less than a year, was worth far less than the two rewards I had been offered.
Because every type of energy repels the others.
Since I naturally possess demonic energy, recklessly absorbing other types quickly causes problems.
At first my head spins and my body shivers.
Later, blood drips from my nose and hallucinations whisper in my ears.
Soon I’m coughing up blood.
…I didn’t particularly want to find out, either.
The corpses were emitting so much energy that I never should have tried the brainless idea of “maybe I’ll just hammer the Taishan Giant Strength Axe anyway.”
“Tsk. Being an idiot is a crime in itself.”
Anyway, that was why the Three Talents Mind Method had suddenly become critically important to me.
My dantian was tiny, the size of a millet grain—filling it took only minutes—yet refinement devoured time in hour-long chunks. There was no helping it.
The original Taishan Giant Strength Axe training method that pulled energy from outside was now impossible.
Efficiency was completely fucked and the speed was slower than a snail crawling, but there wasn’t exactly a clever alternative.
The only other options were my sole spell, Lowest Grade Magic Technique, and the Crude Magic Power Circulation that naturally accompanied breathing.
I had no intention of advertising that I was an incubus, so Lowest Grade Magic Technique was obviously sealed.
As for Crude Magic Power Circulation, internal energy and magic power apparently hated each other; trying to use them together caused rejection.
So I could only mix Crude Magic Power Circulation into everyday breathing.
“…Or I could just drain vitality.”
Not exactly my preferred method.
It would be easy to grab any random woman and suck her essence the way I had with the girl sleeping obliviously upstairs.
But if I messed around with random women and got caught, it would be a hassle, so self-restraint was necessary.
I had zero desire to get dragged into romantic entanglements or have my identity exposed and ruin my mission.
It was while I was refining my internal energy with those thoughts in mind.
A knock sounded from above.
Looked like our girl had finally woken up.
“Good evening.”
“Uuuuuh… Yes…”
She was wearing the loose clothes I had newly brought her. Perhaps the events from earlier were replaying in her mind, because she couldn’t even meet my eyes as she answered.
When I remembered how adorable she had been yesterday, the urge to tease her kept rising, but it was time to move.
I had dragged this out long enough.
“Now then, young lady… Come to think of it, I still don’t know your name.”
“…Ah! Y-yes, that’s right.”
Come to think of it, I still hadn’t decided on my own name either.
I had no desire to keep using my previous life’s name.
“My name is Iria Cranes. May I ask my benefactor’s name?”
“Hmm…”
Any name would probably work, but…
According to the common sense Malphas had crammed into my head, my current self hadn’t even settled on a true name yet.
It meant I had no anchor to secure my existence as an Immortal.
The first name I chose could become my true name as-is.
That was why I had been so careful until now.
Should I stubbornly refuse to give a name here?
But I was in a position where I needed to ask for identity verification, so hiding my name would also look—
“…Is it perhaps rude of me to ask?”
Ah. My thoughts had gone on too long.
“It isn’t rude. It’s just that I don’t have a suitable name to give.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to reveal it. I simply don’t have a name I can properly call myself.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Confusion crossed Iria’s face at the sudden, contextless statement.
Of course it confused her. I had spoken hastily and even I wasn’t sure what I had said.
Now, how to clean this up?
I closed my mouth for a moment and organized the situation.
I had spouted nonsense, so I needed to steer it somewhere.
What direction would be best?
I didn’t know much about this world.
So I should ask.
My identity was unclear.
I had been planning to request identity verification anyway.
The “otherworlder who can’t reveal his name” concept was out.
That would look far too suspicious.
Was there another way?
While my mind spun, I recalled the current state of the small world Victoria that I had entered.
They said the Destruction God Cassius was opening dimensional gates and attacking, right?
Then maybe I could poke at the dimensional traveler angle.
“If I told you there are other worlds outside this one… could you believe me?”
The abrupt question that had nothing to do with the current topic made Iria tilt her head slightly before she answered.
“Yes? Of course. The incubus race and Earthlings are all people from other dimensions, aren’t they?”
“Huh?”
“Um… Did I get it wrong?”
No, why was she saying it like it was obvious?
“I also heard that the demons controlled by black mages are monsters sent by gods from other dimensions.”
Ah, right.
The kids were in the middle of a war.
The fact that it was common knowledge suggested that the Order God Victoria had probably tried summoning people from other worlds to fight the conquerors.
Either that or she had been stealing people from other dimensions for cultural development.
In that case, this approach would be much easier.
“Hmm… If you already know, this will go quickly. I am someone who crossed over from another world. There was a minor accident during the process, so my body changed slightly and I can’t remember my name. I don’t have one I can properly give.”
“Ah, then…”
At my words, something seemed to click for Iria; her gaze locked onto my gloves.
Then her face flushed slightly—
What? What kind of reaction was that?
“By any chance… do you have black nails?”
My body stiffened for a moment at the sudden question.
Was she mistaking me for a demon or a black mage right now?
“…”
Should I kill her?
The thought flashed through my mind.
It was beneficial to keep her alive, and I had been treating her kindly, but if there was any chance it would become annoying, I considered simply removing her as I stared at Iria without answering.
After a moment of silent, piercing eye contact, Iria’s face filled with realization.
She waved her hands frantically and began to explain.
“N-no! I didn’t think you were a demon! I heard demons receive the evil god Cassius’s blessing and grow horns on their shoulders and head, so I never suspected that at all!”
There was a setting like that?
I had wondered why an incubus had no horns, tail, or wings. Apparently they could be attached or removed depending on the summoner’s preference.
Then it wouldn’t become annoying.
Fortunately, it looked like I would be able to take my identity guarantor (candidate) with me alive.
That aside, the common knowledge about Immortals that Malphas had engraved in me seemed to have more holes than I expected.
I would need to pay closer attention to gathering information from now on.
“Then what was your intention?”
“The race with black nails is called the incubus race… and, um…”
Iria hesitated, clearly finding it difficult to say, then lowered her head and continued.
It seemed she was recalling the embarrassing memory from yesterday.
“I heard that the demonic energy of the incubus race easily affects… i-influences people’s emotions.”
This wasn’t good.
Demonic energy was power born from emotion, different from the natural magic that bloomed from matter.
When it bloomed from positive emotions it became holy power.
When it bloomed from negative emotions it became demonic energy.
Naturally, it affected the emotions and souls of living beings.
I knew that, and if even Iria knew it after such a short conversation, it must be fairly common knowledge.
The problem was that the way my traits Succubus and Pheromone worked could be mistaken for the effects of demonic energy.
Seeing that Iria was already doubting her own strange behavior, similar incidents would probably happen again in the future.
This would place some annoying restrictions on comfortable use.
“I see.”
“Um, b-but you said you haven’t been in our world very long, yet you’re incredibly strong?”
“Ah, gates open in our world. I trained hard with the cultivation method I obtained from one.”
It was a bald-faced lie, but as a resident of a world that had both magic power and real magic, Iria seemed to accept it readily and let out an admiring sigh.
“Ah, in our world there are stories about getting stronger by eating mysterious artifacts or elixirs from dungeons. Is it something like that?”
“Yes, similar.”
“Hmm… Then may I simply continue calling you benefactor?”
I closed my mouth for a moment and paused deliberately.
I even stroked my chin, pretending to ponder it in a dignified manner.
At the level of an Immortal, roughly choosing a true name carried no real penalty.
The only downside was the slight disgust of being called by that name forever.
That was why I had avoided choosing one until now, but I wasn’t the type to place great meaning on names anyway.
If I was going to pick one, it wouldn’t be bad to let someone else imbue it with meaning.
“No.”
“Then… how should I…”
“Isn’t this also fate? Would you give me a name yourself?”
Iria’s eyes widened in genuine surprise at my suggestion.
She looked at me, blushed, glanced away, then looked back several times.
Finally, a shy smile formed on her lips.
“…How about Cardnios?”
“It’s a good name. Does it carry any special meaning?”
“Yes. It’s the name of a hero from an eastern legend. Would you like to hear the story?”
“It’s fine. Finding out later will be more interesting.”
Sitting like a child on Cardnios’s forearm, Iria felt her heart flutter with excitement.
About two days.
In that short time, far too many things had happened.
Her escorts had been murdered, she had been kidnapped and molested, then rescued only to do embarrassing things before finally heading home.
Even now, remembering her friend-like escorts Marien and Kitty brought sadness.
Recalling the moment the kidnappers had molested her was terrifying.
But being held in her benefactor’s arms like this felt good.
So she unconsciously spoke the name she had given her benefactor.
“Cardnios-nim.”
Just saying that name seemed to push the unpleasant memories further away, if only for a moment.
Her benefactor glanced at her, then gave a small smirk as if it were nothing and continued walking through the slums.
In just a little while they would reach her house—her father.
How should she introduce Cardnios-nim to Father?
*Cardnios*
