Asteria Academy
The Astell Plateau, home to Asteria Academy, sat at the heart of the continent. Goods and information from every nation poured through the city without end.
That central position had forged a civilization more dazzling than any other—but the same currents that brought prosperity also carried black money and dangerous forces in from the shadows, silent as smoke.
I left the restaurant behind, cut through the deserted outer alleys where no footsteps ever fell, and hauled open a massive moss-crusted iron door. Then I climbed down into the underground waterway.
Damp air stabbed at my nostrils. The reek of mold hung thick enough to taste.
“I’m gonna throw up.”
I sealed my nose and mouth with the purification mask I’d brought along and pressed deeper inside.
Even through the filter, the stench of stagnant water and some nameless slime was vicious enough to make my eyes water.
Wonder if those bastards are already here?
The original novel never spelled out exactly when they started poking around this place, so I couldn’t be sure. What I did know was that right now was the perfect window to snatch the Mana Essence out from under them.
I pushed through the dark for what felt like a long time. Then a cold killing intent prickled against my back, followed by the quiet scrape of a presence.
“What the hell is this rat?”
I stopped and half-turned to look.
A man in a black robe stood behind me like a shadow peeled off the wall.
“Sharp instincts.”
“Your skills just suck.”
I studied the emblem stitched into his robe.
Knew it. They’re here.
Black Dawn—the protagonist’s greatest enemy, the root of the calamity that would one day drown the continent in war.
And the organization that housed the bastards who murdered Ian’s parents.
“Hey, rat. I’m curious. Besides you, how many more of your kind are down here right now?”
My easy question made the man’s eyes go flat and cold.
“What does a dead man need to know? The last human you’ll ever see is me.”
Instead of answering he kicked off the floor and shot forward—silent footwork straight out of an assassin’s manual. In the same breath a mana-edged dagger streaked for my throat.
My dynamic vision had already left the human range behind. The blade’s path looked like a slow ribbon of water.
I tipped my head a fraction to the side. The dagger whispered past by the width of a sheet of paper. Shock flooded the man’s eyes.
“That’s all you’ve got? Pretty disappointing for Black Dawn.”
I snatched his wrist and slammed him into the wall.
Boom—!
A heavy impact cracked the waterway stone into a spiderweb of fractures.
“Fuck… You’re no ordinary bastard!”
His free hand dove into his coat for something, but I was faster.
I seized the arm and twisted until it tore free.
“Gyaaaaagh—!”
The scream filled the entire tunnel. His arm hit the floor with a wet thud and dark blood fountained from the stump. I grabbed the collar of the man already half-fainting from pain and drove him into the cold wall a second time.
“I’ll ask once more. How many more of you are down here?”
“Kh… You think I’d tell you… You’ll… die here today…”
“I wasn’t really expecting an answer, so don’t strain yourself. Just figured I’d hear your last words.”
He seemed to understand he was finished.
Crack—!
I snapped his neck.
“Guh…”
The man crumpled. I stripped the robe off his corpse, shrugged it on, and yanked the hood down deep over my face.
Prep’s done.
I left the body behind and kept walking deeper into the waterway.
I advanced for a good while. Shadowy lookouts lurked at irregular intervals, yet the moment they saw the robe they simply stepped aside and let me pass.
Ian actually struggled against these clowns?
A snort almost escaped me. Then I reached the end of the tunnel.
It looked completely sealed, but a closer look revealed a faint, unnatural seam glimmering in the stone.
Like this, right?
Just as in the original, I pressed my palm flat against a particular section of wall. The center slowly split open left and right.
No traps. Nice.
I killed every scrap of presence and peered through the gap. Beyond it stretched an impossibly vast artificial cavern.
Dozens of black-robed figures hurried back and forth inside.
“Move the test subjects faster!”
At the men’s barked orders, dark shapes trapped inside iron cages were dragged out, squirming. They looked like living slime.
Those must be the Abyss Slimes from the original.
They looked harmless enough now, but given time they would greedily drink the dense mana saturating this place, swell to monstrous size, and eventually swallow the entire academy.
Judging by their size, they’re not dangerous yet.
The Black Dawn members themselves clearly had no idea the Mana Essence was hidden here. They were simply happy with the rich mana and obsessed with breeding their test subjects.
Nobody who looks particularly strong…
Even the one barking orders from the highest platform would rank, at best, around D-class by hunter standards.
I swept my gaze across the chamber, searching for the real hiding place of the Mana Essence.
In the original it was behind the mural of the great mage Asterion, wasn’t it?
I tugged the stolen robe tighter around me and slipped carefully inside.
They were so absorbed in pumping mana into the slimes that they took me for one of their own and never gave me a second glance.
I drifted along the wall until I found an old mural half-buried under moss and dust.
Centuries had warped its lines, yet the mural of Asterion still radiated an indescribable pressure.
Where the tip of the staff is pointing…
I followed the carved staff. Of course the spot lay directly behind the main workbench where the robed men were injecting mana into the Abyss Slimes.
Unless they all vacated the area, there was no way to reach it without being seen.
Guess I have to clear the room.
I hated unnecessary work, but I wasn’t about to walk away from a once-in-a-lifetime prize sitting right under my nose. I started gathering mana in my hand—then the nearest man scowled at me.
“Hey. Why the hell aren’t you working?”
Suspicious eyes tried to pierce the depths of my hood. I pointed casually at the mural.
“Sorry. The mural’s so magnificent I just got lost staring. Working in front of ancient heritage like this… it really hits different, you know?”
My shameless answer made him snort in disbelief.
“Hits different? You’re a riot. Just get over here and help.”
He lost interest and turned his back. I trailed after him as if obeying, all while concentrating mana into the hand hidden by the robe.
Absorbing dragon blood alone had already optimized my body for taking in and circulating mana.
The dragon’s blood had widened my meridians and refined my mana pathways, so the same volume of mana now produced output on a completely different scale.
Add the Immortal Blood Art on top of that, and my mana became pure, roaring life force racing through my veins.
Golden flame blossomed at my fingertips.
In that same instant—
“Huh? Why are they acting like that?”
The Abyss Slimes suddenly went berserk.
As if they had sensed a superior predator, they warped and shrank in terror, scrambling for the farthest corners and curling into trembling lumps.
“Control spells aren’t working!”
The Black Dawn workers panicked and swarmed toward the cages.
“Calm them down! Hurry!”
The cavern dissolved into chaos. Slimes slammed against the iron bars, spraying black fluid everywhere; the men stumbled over one another in confusion.
Not a single eye turned my way.
Except for the one bastard whose legs were already shaking right beside me.
“You… what’s that in your hand?”
The same man who had scolded me earlier stared at my hand, eyes wide.
“What do you think?”
I twisted one corner of my mouth into a grin.
“The flame that’s about to blow your head off.”
“What…?”
Before he finished the word I drove my fist into his face.
KWAANG—!
One strike. His skull cratered into the wall and burst.
“Enemy—!”
Shouts rang out. Every gaze in the cavern snapped toward me. I slowly pushed the hood back.
“Evening, everyone.”
Golden hair and a blood-flecked smile appeared between the folds of black cloth.
Killing intent bloomed across every face at once.
“Kill him!”
A dozen men charged. Mana-edged daggers streaked in from every angle.
Fireballs and magic missiles followed close behind, carving the air.
But—
“Tickles.”
The spells touched my body and vanished into golden flame without a trace. When I closed a bare hand around a mana-charged dagger, the steel blade bent like soft candy and crumbled.
“Th-that’s impossible…!”
“This is what a cheat looks like, you bottom-tier extras.”
I grabbed one by the collar and slammed him into the floor.
KUUUNG—!
While the rest stood frozen, I kicked off the wall in a single leap and launched myself toward the mural.
Rumble, crash!
The wall fully opened. The Mana Essence revealed its luminous form at last.
“Stop him! Stop that bastard right now!”
Robe-clad men screamed and lunged, but I twisted lightly, batting them aside with my fists, seized the Essence, and swallowed it whole.
—Gulp.
“Hoo.”
The moment the Essence slid down my throat, a tidal wave of pure mana erupted from my dantian and tried to devour every inch of me.
Energy of a purity no human body should ever contain tore through my vessels, ripping my existing mana circuits apart and rebuilding them from the ground up.
“……!”
Ten seconds, maybe less.
The raging sea of mana gradually settled, leaving only a deep, quiet heat throughout my body.
I slowly raised my hand. Golden flame bloomed at my fingertips with a density that made the earlier fire look like a candle.
“R-run… Run and report this bastard right now!”
“Not on my watch.”
I murmured the words and thrust my arm forward. The golden fire writhing at my fingertips compressed, then roared into a massive fireball formed without a single chant.
The Black Dawn survivors froze in place, minds blank before the overwhelming sight.
“W-what the hell is that…”
“Impossible… How can a third-circle spell have that much power…!”
Terror-filled screams echoed through the waterway. I swept my hand down without mercy.
KRAAAAAANG!
The explosion shook the entire cavern. Stone dust rained from the ceiling; walls melted red and ran like lava.
So this is the synergy between the Mana Essence and dragon blood.
I crossed the cavern, boots sinking into the still-molten floor. Heat rose against my soles. Nothing remained alive.
Clean.
I scooped up a few mana stones and parchment sheets of experimental notes that had survived the blast and stuffed them inside the robe.
I would figure out exactly what Black Dawn had been trying to do here later, at my leisure.
I pulled the hood down deep again and turned back toward the seam I had entered through.