The Regia Method
The soft, luxurious bed in the VIP hospital room. The nutrient-rich meals provided without any shortage. The neat, beautiful nurses. Every little comfort this pristine private suite offered—I liked it all.
“Aegis.”
The offer to become a designated candidate for Aegis. A recommendation for immediate admission. It was definitely a tempting proposal.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk the elite path with full support from the Hunter Association. But precisely because of that, I had to be cautious. Nothing in this world comes for free.
The Association currently believed I was a natural awakener of at least A-class rank. To be precise, I’d simply let them keep believing that.
If they ran a precise mana measurement during the Aegis designation process, the fact that I only had F-class mana would be exposed immediately. In the end, I’d just be an F-class natural awakener. At that point, the Association would conclude I wasn’t worth any further investment.
For now, thanks to my testimony at Seoul Station, I was receiving this kind of treatment. But it wouldn’t last forever.
So then. What now?
“There’s only one way.”
Whether it was an internal energy cultivation method or a mana training technique, I had to learn one. Since I wasn’t born with talent, the only way for an F-class like me to increase my mana was to train it.
The problem was where to get it.
Internal energy methods and mana cultivation techniques weren’t things you could just pick up anywhere.
“They’re secret arts from the start.”
Famous guilds, prestigious families, the renowned sects of China. Or the Magic Tower. Most of them monopolized these techniques. They treated them as classified and never leaked them.
For an ordinary citizen like me—with no background or affiliation—the only options were the cheap, third-rate breathing methods sold for money.
But I had this.
Ding—
When I thought of the gallery, the notification sound came naturally. A translucent blue window floated in the air.
I only just realized it, but the name of this gallery was the Heroine Gallery.
In other words, it was a gallery where the heroines from the first playthrough gathered.
This gallery contained all sorts of people, including the strongest beings in the world from that timeline.
I stared at the search bar on the bulletin board and entered the keywords.
[Mana Cultivation Method][Basic Internal Technique]
Countless posts popped up, but most of them were just the heroines lamenting the destruction of the first world, bragging about their past exploits, or chatting nonsense among themselves. Finding actually useful information was difficult.
Whenever a post that looked promising appeared and I clicked it, every single one required some kind of spiritual medicine to work. Spiritual medicine? What the hell kind of spiritual medicine?
Irritation rising, I was about to close the window when a thought suddenly occurred to me.
Maybe I should just post and ask them to tell me.
The moment I posted it, comments started flooding in.
Well, that was to be expected.
As expected, there was no answer that could solve my problem right away. I was about to hit the back button and close the gallery when a new post caught my eye. Almost as if possessed, I clicked on it.
Regia. A natural element cultivation method, huh.
It sounded perfect. I immediately started reading the post.
But the more I read, the more my head throbbed.
Ordinary hunters had mana naturally residing in their bodies in proportion to their innate rank. That was why those born with talent could wield tremendous power without needing any special cultivation methods or internal techniques.
I’d heard that people who learned martial arts gathered mana in their dantian and used something called qi meridians.
Dantian, heart core, mana circle, mana cultivation method.
But the core of the Regia cultivation method that the Archmage had posted began with destroying all of those things.
First, destroy and empty your dantian or mana circle.
Second, shift the center of your mana to your heart.
Third, abandon your qi meridians or mana circuits. Turn your heart into a mana core and circulate the mana originating from that heart through your real blood vessels, flowing together with your bloodstream throughout your entire body.
“...Is this guy even sane?”
A hollow laugh slipped out before I could stop it.
Destroy the dantian, destroy the mana circle, and turn the heart into a mana core? And on top of that, circulate mana through actual blood vessels instead of qi meridians or mana circuits?
This cultivation method was literally telling me to forcibly circulate mana by using the physical pathways of blood vessels.
Blood vessels were incredibly fragile. If I forced mana into them, it was obvious the veins would burst and tear, causing internal bleeding. I’d die from excessive blood loss.
As if voicing my exact concerns, the comments were exploding.
I was convinced. This was absolutely not a usable cultivation method.
But the fact that it had been used by a natural awakener made me lick my lips in regret.
I lowered my gaze and looked at my own two hands.
Blue sparks danced from my fingertips before scattering into the air.
‘...Should I try it?’
Come to think of it, why did I keep thinking of myself as an ordinary human?
An ordinary human. Yeah, if it were the body of an ordinary human, mixing mana into the bloodstream would be a perfect way to die.
But now I had gained the power of a natural element.
Me? Ordinary?
“Well, I don’t think so.”
I quietly sat cross-legged on the bed.
If my blood vessels looked like they were going to burst, I could just transform into my lightning state.
Anyway, I could think about it if it didn’t work.
I closed my eyes and focused on the flow of mana.
Since I originally had nothing, I didn’t have a dantian or a mana circle to begin with.
‘Then I’ll skip the first step.’
I immediately drew the center of my consciousness toward the middle of my chest—my heart.
Shift the center of your mana to your heart.
Thump. Thump.
The sound of my heartbeat rang in my ears.
I forcibly dragged the scattered mana flowing through my body toward my heart.
Intense pain began to surge through me. It felt like it was getting harder to breathe and strength was draining from my entire body.
But I didn’t stop. I pulled even harder, as if grabbing it by the collar, and shoved it into my heart.
Abandon your qi meridians or mana circuits. Turn your heart into a mana core and circulate the mana originating from that heart through your real blood vessels, flowing together with your bloodstream throughout your entire body.
Wait a second. It said to send the mana originating from the heart into the bloodstream.
How the hell do I do that?
Right now I was gathering all my mana and forcing it into my heart.
So how do I make my heart the starting point and get the mana to flow through my blood vessels?
Thump. Thump.
The sound of my heartbeat came again. Almost as if it were telling me the answer.
For the heart to function… it had to pump. That’s right.
Since I’d already pushed mana into my heart, the condition of making it the starting point was already met.
Then, if I released the mana I was forcing in for just a moment—
The instant I had the thought, I stopped drawing my consciousness toward my heart.
Then, naturally, the mana began to spread through my blood vessels.
“Kuhak…!”
It felt like my blood vessels were about to explode.
Even as I felt the pain, I didn’t stop. I forced the mana back into my heart once more.
Then I stopped again.
My heart continued to pump in time with my will.
Through that pulse, the condensed mana rushed out through my arteries.
And through my veins, the mana flowed back toward my heart.
“Uuuugh… gak…!”
It felt like every blood vessel in my body was being torn apart.
The pain was so intense I foamed at the mouth and groaned.
Just a little more. Just a little more…!
After repeating the process again and again, I finally began to feel the mana circulating throughout my entire body.
The moment I thought I couldn’t take any more and activated my lightning transformation—
Lightning Transformation
Ziiiing— Crackle!
Along with the sound of crackling electricity, the rough beating of my heart pounded in my ears.
The pain subsided, and lightning and mana spread throughout my body along my blood vessels.
An unfamiliar ecstasy filled me as mana saturated every inch from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.
Saaaaaaaah—
Feeling a refreshing sensation, I opened my eyes.
“...Holy shit.”
I unconsciously sucked in a breath.
When I looked down at my body, blue mana was flowing across the surface of my skin, creating gentle sparks.
Ziiiing— Ziiiing—
The incandescent lights illuminating the hospital room flickered in time with my heartbeat.
Now, even without conscious effort, mana was naturally flowing through my blood vessels.
“Ha, haha.”
A bewildered laugh burst out of me.
The entire gallery had unanimously declared it absolutely impossible, yet here I was having actually done it. It felt surreal.
“Was it really that hard?”
Even though no one was listening, I put on a show of arrogance.
Even if their ancestors came down from heaven they couldn’t do it? Absolutely impossible?
After confirming that the flow of mana had completely stabilized, I opened the gallery window in the air.
And then I started writing a new post.
I was curious what kind of reaction they would have.
The moment I posted it, comments poured in at a terrifying speed.
Doubt, then shock and astonishment.
They quickly realized I had actually succeeded and couldn’t hide their amazement.
Watching their reactions, staring at all those question marks, I clenched both fists tightly.
I could feel the explosive lightning mana filling my grip.
“...Ah, it’s easy.”
Gazing at the winter rain pouring down outside the window, I stretched out long on the bed.
And I smiled with deep satisfaction.