The Heavenly Slaughter Star Grows
The Heavenly Slaughter Star grows. It absorbs all kinds of martial arts, spirit arts, and even magic. Rionne was an exceptional elf who had mastered every one of them to the level of an expert. But among them all, there were two disciplines she was especially attached to: swordsmanship and magic.
“Ahem. Enoch, magic is, well…”
Since Enoch seemed to have more talent for hand-to-hand combat than swordplay, Rionne had given up on teaching him the blade. So when he showed aptitude for magic, she was overjoyed.
“Originally, magic was the exclusive domain of dragons. And that makes sense—properly wielding magic requires opening the middle dantian first. For other races, just opening the middle dantian is enough to be called a supreme expert, you know?”
Dragons are born with an organ called the Dragon Heart that lets them freely manipulate their middle dantian. But for other races, even piercing that dantian is an incredibly difficult hurdle. So naturally, magic should have remained the sole province of dragons.
It was only logical. The prerequisite for learning magic was opening the middle dantian? Who but a complete madman would even attempt it? If someone had gone through the proper process to open their middle dantian, they would already stand among the strongest on the continent.
“But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any madmen at all.”
A very, very long time ago, one elf staked his entire lifespan to walk the path of magic. He had no talent for martial arts, so opening his middle dantian was practically impossible. Everyone laughed at his attempts. But he refused to give up. After countless trials, over six hundred years, he finally found a way.
“That’s the ‘Circle’ system that’s widespread in the world today.”
By creating rings of mana around the heart, it substitutes for the middle dantian. Easier said than done—creating an entirely new system was no simple feat. That elf is still revered as the great archmage, the father of all mages: Pagan-dal Magision.
[Rionne, the kid’s asleep?]
“Ah…”
Seeing Enoch nodding off, Rionne scratched her head sheepishly. This wasn’t history class—she had gotten too excited and rambled on with a mountain of unnecessary details.
“Up we go!”
Rionne slipped her hands under Enoch’s armpits and lifted him high. The child blinked sleepily, then naturally nestled into her embrace. The elf patted his back gently and said,
“Um… anyway! Enoch, it just so happens that your middle dantian is already open, right? So instead of making Circles, I’ll teach you the way dragons use magic.”
Yes, that had been the actual point all along. Everything about Circles and Pagan-dal Magision had just been excited tangents.
“Let’s see…”
To hide her embarrassment, Rionne stared intently at the completely charred sprout. It was the result of the magic Enoch had cast. Thanks to his lightning authority, the outcome was a bit strange, but it was honestly astonishing that a child who had never learned magic could achieve this much.
“First of all, Enoch, you can feel the two dantians in your body, right?”
“Yeah.”
“The one closer to your heart is the middle dantian. Can you focus on it for a moment?”
Enoch turned his awareness inward. Thump. Thump. He could feel mana spreading gently in time with his heartbeat. The flowing mana carried a sense of limitless power, though it sometimes hit walls and took detours.
“Can you feel the mana pulsing along with your heartbeat?”
“Yeah.”
“What about the way the mana around your body trembles in response to that pulse? Can you feel that too?”
Enoch tilted his head for a moment, then nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Really?” Rionne beamed. “Then you’re almost there! Use that tremor to move the mana like this…”
Rionne’s slender finger traced a shape in the air. The magic circle she drew slowly and clearly for Enoch to follow glowed with blue light.
“Water, rise.”
With her clear voice, a sphere of water the size of a human head formed above Rionne’s palm. Enoch watched in fascination, then copied her.
— Swish.
Enoch’s finger moved. Thump. Thump. The pulse of mana spreading in time with his heartbeat. He hooked that pulse onto his fingertip, drew the shape, and chanted the incantation.
“Water, rise.”
Crackle—crack-crack-crackle—!!!
A sphere of electricity the size of a human head appeared above Enoch’s palm. A bit of water must have mixed in, because for a split second they could see superheated droplets evaporating.
Lightning Sphere
[Pfft!]
Enoch shot a fierce glare at the snickering Undine.
“Um… why did it turn out like this? Is it because you’re still clumsy at handling your authority…? Then maybe…”
As Rionne pondered, Enoch gently tugged on her sleeve.
“Hm? What is it?”
Without a word, Enoch pointed at the scarecrow Rionne had created earlier. Seeing that, Rionne remembered something she had forgotten.
“Oh, right. I was supposed to teach you the claw technique, wasn’t I?”
Martial arts, magic, and even general knowledge. There was still so much left to teach.
“Well… even so, we still have about a hundred and fifty years until you become an adult. That should be plenty of time, right?”
“?”
[Even if he’s a total idiot, he should be able to learn everything in that much time.]
“Yeah. Since Enoch is a genius, we might even have time to spare.”
Watching the elf and spirit chatter between themselves, the human boy tilted his head in confusion. What on earth did they mean by a hundred and fifty years…?
*
Enoch chose to keep his mouth shut. Whatever the reason, if he had a hundred and fifty years left, it was better for him that way.
“Alright! The Responsive Claw Technique is super simple. Let’s finish this quick and move on to magic!”
Full of enthusiasm, Rionne curled her fingers like a hawk’s talons.
“The basic form is like this—use your curled fingers to tear the opponent ap—”
Saying “tear apart” to a child felt a little too harsh.
“Um… you attack with them.”
Rionne gave a simple demonstration. She lightly kicked off the ground, then slashed at the scarecrow as if raking it with claws.
Crunch—!
A massive wound like the claw mark of a giant beast was left across the scarecrow’s torso.
“Oh, right.”
Come to think of it, she hadn’t even taught him footwork yet. The foundation of all martial arts was footwork. It had been so long since she last taught someone that she had forgotten even the basics.
“Well, we still have a hundred and fifty years!”
They could take it slow!
*
Simple footwork, the Responsive Claw Technique, magic, general studies, forest exploration, and even practice handling his authority. Enoch’s days looked insanely busy on paper, but in reality they weren’t. It was mostly a leisurely life of playing and eating!
About a month passed like that when Rionne made a big decision.
“Undine, I’ve been studying pretty hard, you know?”
Rionne pointed at the stack of books piled in one corner of the room. The Art of Child-Rearing, Is My Child a Genius?!, Parenting Made Easy for Anyone, What Do I Do With Such a Smart Child?, and so on.
[What kind of books are these…]
“Anyway. I think it’s about time we started giving him little errands and such.”
[Just tell him to do it. What’s the problem?]
Undine flopped lazily in midair and scratched her soft belly.
[Do you really think he’s an idiot? That kid is actually really cunning! He always acts all innocent and dumb in front of you, but you should see how he behaves around me!]
“Oh, come on. Do you really want to talk about a child like that?”
[Nooo…! I’m telling the truth!]
Undine flailed and bounced around, but Rionne ignored her. She must have been sulking because she hadn’t been played with as much lately. Still, badmouthing the adorable Enoch was unbecoming of her age.
“Deer antler mushrooms… and one rabbit. Hmm… I’ll need a bit of Three Yin Grass too.”
Rionne wrote the necessary items on a small piece of paper and double-checked the list.
‘This much shouldn’t be too difficult, right?’
After confirming everything, Rionne stepped out into the yard. Enoch was squatting on the ground, drawing something on the dirt. Crackle—! A current briefly traced the shape of a scarecrow before vanishing. Enoch poked at the sprout that had appeared where the electricity disappeared, his expression blank. The sprout was definitely bigger than it had been a month ago.
“Enoch!”
At Rionne’s call, Enoch’s head snapped up. When she smiled brightly and spread her arms, he toddled over on his short legs and threw himself into her embrace.
“Rionne.”
“Hehe, were you practicing?”
“Yeah. But it’s not going well.”
“You’re really good at lightning-attribute magic, though.”
Rionne stroked his hair. At her gentle touch, Enoch closed his eyes and pressed his head into her hand.
“Oh, right. Enoch, take a look at this.”
Enoch took the paper Rionne held out and examined it. The names of various items were written on it—all things that could be easily gathered in the forest. When he tilted his head, Rionne explained.
“Big sis is a little busy right now. Could you go get these for me?”
“Okay.”
“Really? Aww, our good little Enoch.”
The head-stroking grew even more affectionate. Enoch savored the petting with satisfaction.
“Now?”
“Yeah. It’s not urgent, so there’s no need to rush. But it could be dangerous, so make sure you’re back before it gets too dark.”
“Okay.”
Enoch nodded and immediately set off. Watching him from behind, Rionne gave Undine a meaningful look.
“Let’s go.”
[Huh? Where?]
“We’re following Enoch, of course.”
[Isn’t he a kid? Just let him go by himself.]
“Then is Enoch a child or an adult?”
[Uh…]
She wasn’t wrong, but was there really anything dangerous enough in the forest to threaten that little brat? No matter how she thought about it, it didn’t seem like there was. But once Rionne went into full mother mode, there was no stopping her.
[Sigh… this is my fate.]
In the end, Undine joined the operation to secretly follow Enoch as well.
*
Enoch strolled through the forest without a hint of tension, perfectly at ease. He didn’t like being apart from Rionne, but since this was something she had asked him to do, he didn’t particularly mind. After all, it was Rionne. She was probably secretly following him from behind right now, wasn’t she?
Enoch deliberately put on an even more innocent, blank expression.