Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 105
>Chapter Title: You've Raised a Monster
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Three days after the fierce battle with Destrow.
“......Hoo.”
I finished my breathing technique and opened my eyes. Outside the window, darkness was settling in dimly, while the 4th Base Camp was quite rowdy.
“Eat! Eat up! Booze! More booze?!”
“Uahaha! Back then, so that bastard...!”
“You shut your trap?! You, the guy who lost his sword and panicked like an idiot?”
The drinking party that had started around lunchtime continued. The mercenaries, sprawled out, were washing away the tension and fatigue of battle with booze.
Meanwhile, I sat alone in my room, checking my physical condition.
‘This body of mine...’
It was a total wreck.
‘They really beat the hell out of it.’
My core was paper-thin. The circuits weren’t much better.
It wasn’t critically serious...
“But it’s annoying.”
Recovery itself wasn’t that hard.
Just rest for a few days, diligently circulate the breathing technique, and add some herbs good for internal injuries for perfection.
The problem was my mind.
Transcendence.
The realm I had strived for from my past life to this one.
I had ascended to it just a few days ago.
Naturally, one would want to embody the enlightenment right away.
But this battered body was holding me back.
“Tch, if there were aftereffects like this, you could’ve at least mentioned it, huh?”
I saved it from the water, and now it’s demanding its bundle back—that’s exactly me right now.
The Fire Mark had done its best, and thanks to that, I survived.
And not just that? Transcendence. I broke through to that realm and soared.
Of course, from the Fire Mark’s perspective... well, if this grimoire had a personality, it might explode in rage, but what can you do.
‘It’s its karma.’
Meeting a good master is its fate too.
If it chose me as its master, it has to handle this thief-like temperament.
Anyway, while chiding the Fire Mark like that, I suddenly remembered something I’d forgotten.
“You rotten thing, why’d you tell me to catch Destrow?”
- Eat it.
It kindly instructed me to catch and devour it.
- I shall suppress it.
It personally suppressed the rampaging Destrow and presented it to me.
As a result, I beat Destrow... but what’s this?
“Nothing’s changed?”
No, not nothing at all.
I stood up and positioned myself in front of the mirror.
My front robe undone. Left chest. Right above the heart, demonic characters were engraved.
Up to here, it was the same as before, but the problem was the number.
“Two. It became two.”
The original large character sat prominently, with another one engraved a bit away.
It wasn’t there before catching Destrow, so clearly Destrow had some influence...
“But I have no clue.”
I pondered it these past few days, but couldn’t figure it out.
I even deployed the breathing technique just in case, but no changes came.
Like during the fierce battle with Destrow, could it transform my body into my past life’s... prime condition? I tried, but...
- Transform? Moron? What the hell? Change?
It just left behind an embarrassing moment. Not even that.
“So, the only gain is... one?”
- ......Yes, that will alone I acknowledge. The mental fortitude worthy of Reverse Heaven choosing as its master of this era...
Reverse Heaven.
Destrow clearly called the Fire Mark “Reverse Heaven.”
Of course, being an ancient geezer from time immemorial, what meaning could its terminology have... but still, you never know.
“Tch, in the end, it circles back to Rapiter.”
Well, it wasn’t like I gained nothing.
No, objectively speaking, it overflowed.
Whether “Reverse Heaven” was a gain or not, I’d have to check...
Transcendence.
Ascending to that realm. That fact alone made the Hamern Great Forest expedition hugely meaningful.
Of course...
“......But my body’s in this state.”
And even after recovery...
“With this body, transcendence? Ridiculous.”
Transcendence encompasses mind and body entirely.
Even if the mind reaches transcendence, without the body supporting it, it’s utterly useless.
If I forced it out...
‘I’d die.’
So, what does that mean?
“Now I really... have to build my body properly.”
This isn’t about proficiency in the Mana Physique.
Of course, I need to keep refining the Mana Physique too, but more importantly, the core.
I need to temper the core.
There were various methods.
Expansion.
Some noble houses expand the core to increase capacity.
Compression.
Others compress it to raise mana density. Of course, that method fell out of use.
There were quite a few ways to elevate the core another step.
‘All sorts of crazy bullshit.’
Splitting the core in two... most died, of course.
Or changing the core’s form. Or even stacking cores.
But in the end, the most stable was expansion...
“Doesn’t sit right with me.”
The Decullan Family tempers their cores by doing compression and expansion simultaneously. Raising density while expanding total volume.
But since I don’t know the method, I can’t easily imitate it...
‘In my past life... I barely managed to imitate it.’
Nearly died from side effects.
It was pure luck I survived, so trying it again now is out of the question.
“In the end, only one method?”
The fierce battle with Destrow.
Right at the end.
I remember it clearly.
A ring forming the heart. Its rotation. And the mana control filling up abundantly with it.
Circle.
Formed with transcendence’s help, but once formed, the method is etched in my mind.
“Heh.”
A laugh escaped me unwittingly.
“If I combine this... with Decullan’s New Heavenly Origin Art...”
The current Pahren? That guy’s no problem... no problem... well, he is a problem.
I ascended to transcendence, but who knows how many years until I can wield it fully.
Even if I can wield it, that’s not the end.
Pahren had already ascended to transcendence long before this time.
“......Ugh, damn bastard.”
Catchable, yet still a yawning gap.
“Won’t a lightning bolt just strike him? ...Hah, not like he’d die from lightning anyway.”
Tch.
As I clicked my tongue in pointless regret.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door. I sensed their presence with narrowed eyes.
Actually, no need to sense. I knew who it was from the voice alone.
“Are you in your room?”
The Grand Princess.
The legitimate successor of the Ramburk Grand Ducal Family. The owner of that voice was the solidly insane woman who would later be called the “Blue-Eyed Slaughterer.”
* * *
‘At first, I thought... what an insane bitch.’
On the way back to the 4th Base Camp after burying Shine. She suddenly asked me.
- Junior, is Master doing well?
Junior? Master? I have no master. Whose master? I stared blankly, and she said.
- Rest assured. It’s infuriating that you overtook me for the Shakwol Token, but I acknowledge your ability fully. Of course, we’ll settle that with Master separately.
That’s when I realized.
The misunderstanding the Grand Princess had.
Who the one she called my “master” was, and why a thread of wariness flickered in those arrogant eyes.
Back then, really...
‘Not... surprised.’
I just thought she was an insane bitch.
Beans sprout beans, red beans sprout red beans.
Just as Riheim senior’s disciple was Obern, the principal senior’s disciple being insane was natural.
But when I saw the young face of the future... the “Blue-Eyed Slaughterer” in that face, really...
‘Still not surprised.’
For the same reasons as above.
Anyway, the one I first took for just an insane bitch turned out to be solidly insane...
‘Wyvern. I need to raise the wyvern fast.’
This must be the curse of the wyvern I devoured in my past life.
Anyway, I calmly and logically explained the situation to the Grand Princess.
That I’m not Schwertz senior’s disciple, and the Shakwol Token was just borrowed temporarily for this mission.
But what do you know.
She didn’t believe me.
- Hmm, telling lies. Not incomprehensible... but not amusing. I’ll give you time.
What time is she giving?
Utterly baffling.
Anyway, after that, she was quiet for a while. Whatever time she meant, she seemed to be waiting in her own way...
“Hoo. What now?”
I sighed deeply and opened the door.
For most people, I’d say I’m not here and send them off, but insane ones don’t communicate. So, deal with them as they like until they leave.
But why.
Creak.
“Hmm.”
Even after the door opened, the Grand Princess didn’t enter. Arms crossed, nodding her head as if pondering something.
After a moment.
The Grand Princess opened her mouth, as if she’d steeled herself.
“First, I must apologize.”
“......?”
“I heard from Duke Musphelrun. I thought you were lying, but you weren’t.”
With that apology, without being invited, she strode into the room and pulled out a chair to sit.
“I couldn’t understand. The Shakwol Token—what a treasure, to lend to just anyone. So I thought you were lying.”
She added that if the other senior disciples knew... they’d kill to take it from me.
At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder.
‘......Principal senior. How the hell did you educate your disciples?’
Shakwol Token? No idea what significance it holds. But they’d kill each other over it?
But... wait.
Everything else is fine. Misunderstandings or whatever, with senior disciples like that, it’s possible.
But there was one part I couldn’t overlook.
“By the way, why am I still your junior?”
“Trivial matters aside. The main point is more important, no?”
“......”
Right, the main point is important. The main point is...
But the Grand Princess seemed oblivious to the world’s most important thing.
‘......Should I teach her?’
I gently stroked my clenched fist.
But I didn’t swing. Why?
The Ramburk Grand Ducal Family’s authority? No. I submit to authority mostly, but not this time.
My condition’s bad? No. My creed is strong against strong, strong against weak.
Strong to the strong, strong to the weak—that’s me.
Just...
The reason I didn’t swing my fist in the end was something else.
‘I... underestimated her.’
I admit it.
I underestimated the Grand Princess’s madness.
“My main point is simple.”
Before my fist could fly, she voiced the main point first. And that main point was.
“Shall we not bring down one magic noble house together?”
So, bring down one magic noble house. As casually as robbing a corner store.
‘......Senior, you’ve raised a monster.’
They say a clear blue sky reveals talents?
A monster surpassing the principal senior was right here.