Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Um Tae-seong knew the reason why the Grand Duke of Bernas had specifically attached the condition “if he grows up safely until the age of fifteen” to Mord coming to the Grand Duke’s estate.
The Bernas Grand Ducal House was the lineage of the hero known in ancient times as the God of War Bernas.
The God of War Bernas was a demigod born between a god and a human, and thus the bloodline descendants of the Bernas family had every right to call themselves the offspring of a divine being.
Because of that lineage, all members of Bernas possessed large, robust physiques and immense strength.
However, they had a single critical trial they had to face, and that was when they turned fifteen.
At the age of fifteen, they underwent an awakening of the divine blood within them, but the backlash could either kill them or leave them crippled.
The Bernas Grand Ducal House had methods to minimize this risk, but those were privileges reserved only for the legitimate bloodline of the Grand Duke’s family.
For someone like Mord, born outside the Grand Ducal House, the probability of surviving the divine blood awakening was less than one in five.
“And just surviving the awakening already grants tremendous power. A guy who used to beat up the people who bullied him like swatting insects… and after awakening… hmm? What? He could even do this?”
While digging through the parts of Mord’s memories related to the divine blood awakening, Um Tae-seong was dumbfounded.
According to those memories, Mord had never received any proper education since birth.
That meant no one had ever taught him swordsmanship or magic, not even basic combat techniques.
And yet, Mord was able to draw out and control a certain degree of his power.
What he did to test how much stronger he had become after the awakening was…
“A river over twenty meters wide?”
He jumped into a river more than twenty meters across and struck it with full force from within.
A human entering a river over twenty meters wide, more than three meters deep, and with a strong current, and throwing punches inside it would normally achieve nothing. That would be the expected outcome.
But in this world governed by swords and magic, things were different.
When Mord unleashed the power of his divine blood from within, striking with his fists, the river itself was overturned.
“This is already on the level of a tactical weapon. Even if SeDokMa is full of overpowered characters, this is not something that can be ignored anywhere.”
Um Tae-seong swallowed hard as he looked at his own fist.
Mord’s current age was fifteen.
But his fists were large. Larger than those of Um Tae-seong’s original body as a twenty-seven-year-old man.
Not just his fists, but his entire build seemed large as well. He now possessed a heavily muscled, imposing physique.
“So I really have this kind of strength?”
His heart began to pound.
It was absurd to feel excited in a situation like this. But the thought that he had gained superhuman abilities filled him with uncontrollable exhilaration and anticipation.
Well, how many men would not feel excited at the thought of gaining an ability that could emit something like a beam from their hands?
“Let’s run a test. As long as I don’t break anything here…”
From this point on, he would need to rely on this power quite often.
With that thought, Um Tae-seong began exercising in his room.
The body’s performance was truly astonishing.
A single punch thrown into the air produced a terrifying sonic boom.
Doing dozens of push-ups with just one hand, even using a single finger, posed no burden at all. Even when performing them in a handstand.
It was absurd strength and balance.
“Is this mana?”
There was more.
As he pushed his body, Um Tae-seong began to sense the source of this irrational strength.
The biologically impossible power was the result of an energy he could perceive, and Um Tae-seong knew from SeDokMa’s setting that this force was called mana.
“So this is how it moves?”
Um Tae-seong was amazed. The moment he recognized mana, he was able to control it according to his own mental image.
It was a highly unusual experience he had never felt in his entire life.
“This is like…”
Light began to emanate from his fist.
And it was not merely emitting light—it also generated a slight heat.
“It feels as if a part of the world is moving according to my will.”
It was a sense beyond human experience, specifically beyond what humans on Earth could ever experience.
A power that defied the biological limits defined by Earth’s science was surging within his body, and the ability to control that power was functioning in accordance with Um Tae-seong’s will.
“Incredible. I really am something beyond human.”
Um Tae-seong became absorbed in mana, losing track of time.
Simply drawing out the mana within his body enhanced his physical abilities, and by controlling it, he could produce force, heat, and light.
“But it feels rather inefficient. I guess I need to learn how to properly use it?”
After experimenting with mana for a while, Um Tae-seong frowned as he found himself stuck in place.
“…Huh.”
As his focus dropped, one issue he had forgotten suddenly crept up on him.
“I’m sleepy.”
Fatigue.
According to Mord’s memories, he had come here after staying awake the entire previous night, and then spent time under tension without eating anything until he was accepted into the Grand Ducal House.
So it was only natural that he felt exhausted to the point of wanting to fall asleep immediately.
Um Tae-seong felt fear at that obvious fact.
“Is it okay for me to fall asleep?”
He had accepted that this situation was reality.
But that acceptance was closer to a desperate wish for it to be real.
If he surrendered to fatigue and fell asleep, would the situation still remain unchanged upon waking?
“Well… I’ll have to find out anyway.”
Despite that fear, Um Tae-seong chose to sleep.
He was grateful that the overwhelming drowsiness was strong enough to drown out even that fear.
Chapter 2 Even Though He’s an Extra
Um Tae-seong opened his eyes due to a sound that suddenly pierced his ears.
“Hey, kid. Still lying around like that?”
Without even knocking, the door swung open and someone entered.
Startled, Um Tae-seong shot up and faced the person who had barged into his room.
It was a middle-aged man with a stern impression. Mord was surprised upon seeing him.
“I’m taller.”
The man had a large frame and a well-trained body at a glance. Yet Mord’s eye level was higher.
“I’m only fifteen… well, members of the direct Bernas bloodline all exceed two meters when fully grown. The Grand Duke himself was a giant over two and a half meters tall.”
At the same time, a crucial realization struck him.
“This is reality.”
Even after waking up once from sleep, everything was still reality.
Mord suppressed the rising excitement and asked,
“You’re Sir Tod, correct? What brings you here?”
“Hm?”
The middle-aged man, Tod, frowned.
Mord’s tone was completely different from when they had first met yesterday.
Not just his tone—his gaze had changed as well, as if he were a different person.
“What happened to you overnight?”
“Nothing happened. What is the matter?”
“Did you already forget what I told you yesterday? I said we would test you in the morning.”
Um Tae-seong searched through Mord’s memories at those words. And indeed, he found that such a conversation had taken place.
“Ah, that’s right. But don’t we get breakfast? I’m hungry.”
“You’ll eat after the test. If you eat before it, you might end up vomiting during the process.”
“What kind of test is it?”
“A test to see what kind of potential you have. You’ve never learned anything, but your body is well-built. You should at least be able to fight, right?”
At Tod’s mischievous smile, Um Tae-seong roughly guessed what was about to happen.
“So I’m expected to fight right from the start. At least it doesn’t seem like a fight to the death, so that’s a relief.”
He was glad he had checked his body’s performance beforehand.
With that thought, Um Tae-seong followed Tod.
Chapter 2 Even Though He’s an Extra
The Bernas Grand Ducal House was known as one of the two great warrior factions of the continent.
The reason it was not the absolute strongest was because there existed a rival great house, the Ordas family. Nevertheless, no one doubted the weight of the bloodshed they had accumulated across the continent.
The Bernas Grand Ducal House ruled the Principality of Bernas and was blood-related to all the Five Kingdoms that dominated the western continent.
They stood with all of them, and yet belonged to none of them.
And none of the Five Kingdoms objected to that fact, because the Bernas Grand Ducal House was such a unique and peculiar group.
A group that perfectly inherited and controlled the divine blood of the God of War Bernas.
Thus, they served as problem-solvers for special disasters that could only be handled by those who had awakened divine blood.
“You’ve heard at least something, right? That the Bernas bloodline fights very differently from ordinary warriors.”
“When inexperienced, they use weapons, but once they become capable, they fight using only the power of their bodies. The descendants of the God of War.”
“Good. You understand well.”
Tod grinned.
That was right.
Members of the Bernas Grand Ducal House were madmen who fought barehanded in real combat without using weapons.
“Because there exists no weapon superior to the body itself.”
It sounded absurd, but in this world, it was reality.
“Of course, those who do not carry Bernas blood use weapons. But everyone still trains in hand-to-hand combat.”
Since the ruling class of the faction emphasized unarmed combat, everyone naturally followed that direction.
Not only the Bernas bloodline but also all subordinates trained and researched unarmed combat, which led to its development as a discipline.
“This test will determine which unit you will belong to and how you will be trained. And you remember what I told you yesterday, correct?”
“Yes.”
Um Tae-seong recalled Mord’s memory.
Yesterday, Tod had instructed Mord not to reveal that he was the child of the Grand Duke.
It was an unspoken rule for illegitimate children not to disclose their parentage.
This was because illegitimate offspring who received the Grand Duke’s favor early or had instructors bending over backward for them were not uncommon.
Of course, some who entered the Grand Ducal House learned of the truth, so rumors spread even without the individual speaking.
And this unspoken rule also applied to trainees. From the moment one became an official warrior, one’s lineage would generally become known, and fathers might even meet their illegitimate children in private.
“Vince, are you ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
Following Tod, they arrived at a place where several young men were waiting.
All of them had trained physiques. One of them, a blond young man, stepped forward and began loosening up.
“Fight Vince. How you fight will determine your future, so do it properly. Prove that you are of the Bernas bloodline.”