Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Todd muttered in disbelief.
“If what you’re saying is true… then you’re a monster. Do you know who that Vince is?”
“I’m seeing him for the first time today, so I don’t.”
“He’s a warrior of Bernas. Since a young age, he’s been thoroughly trained, and after passing strict examinations, he became an official warrior. And you’ve just defeated someone like that Vince.”
“I see.”
Eom Tae-seong looked at Todd with an expression that seemed to ask, “So what?”
Todd stared at Eom Tae-seong for a moment, then let out another sigh.
“Fine. In any case, you passed a test worth 100 points with 200 points. What will you do?”
“I don’t even know what this test is supposed to mean.”
What kind of absurd thing was this, telling someone to make a choice without explaining anything?
Realizing that point, Todd proceeded to explain.
“The original purpose of this test was to determine which stage of warrior training you would be placed into.”
The Bernas Grand Ducal House had a three-stage curriculum for cultivating warriors.
It was divided into elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels, and one could advance to the next stage by meeting the requirements of each level.
Of course, promotion was by no means easy. One had to pass strict examinations.
“I see. Then place me in the elementary division.”
“What?”
Todd was taken aback. It wouldn’t have been strange if the man had declared he would take the exam to become a warrior right away, so why was he choosing to join the elementary division filled with children?
“Isn’t martial arts supposed to be learned from the basics? If I go to the intermediate or advanced division, will they still teach me from the basics?”
“They won’t.”
“And this system lets those who qualify advance at any time, correct?”
“That’s true, but……”
“I’ll go to the elementary division.”
“Hmm……”
Todd felt flustered by Eom Tae-seong’s calm and confident attitude. But since what Eom Tae-seong said made sense, there was no reason to refuse him.
“Can’t be helped. At your current stage, we can’t grant you any special treatment anyway……”
The Bernas bloodline, even if it was a minor branch, received special treatment. For example, having outstanding private tutors and training environments tailored to each individual were privileges everyone naturally enjoyed.
However, those privileges applied only to officially recognized members of the ducal bloodline. They did not apply to Mord, a bastard born of a mother of low status.
“What you will do today ends here. Tomorrow, we’ll assign someone to guide you to the elementary division.”
After overwhelmingly passing the test and gaining some breathing room, Eom Tae-seong sat alone and fell into thought.
“How was Mord originally?”
In The Mage Who Dominates the World, it is never properly explained how Mord becomes the hidden card of the Grand Duke of Bernas, nor the process behind it.
It only states that the Grand Duke uses sinister methods to draw out Mord’s potential and attempts to control his mind to use him as a living weapon.
Because of that, it is hard to guess how Mord would have taken this test.
“If he had both strength and a temper, he might have passed in a more extreme way than I did… but this guy had never struck anyone, though he had been hit by others.”
That much could be inferred from Mord’s memories.
Perhaps he was the kind who never even thought of hitting someone weaker than him, enduring beatings instead and being sent to the elementary division.
It somehow seemed likely.
“Now I think I understand why it had to be me.”
Mord had never properly utilized his potential.
He lived a life not as someone who hit others, but as someone who was beaten by others. For fifteen years, he had been a sacrificial being, an easy target for mistreatment.
In contrast, Eom Tae-seong was someone without hesitation.
If he felt something was unjust, he would not endure it but confront it head-on.
Even during his school days, there were teachers who demanded bribes, teachers who blatantly discriminated between students based on their family backgrounds and treated some unfairly, and people who caused trouble but had it covered up by the power of their families…
He had sparked numerous conflicts, nearly being expelled several times, transferring schools, and eventually being forced to leave the region and move elsewhere.
And that disposition did not change at all through university, his military service, or even when he quit graduate school midway and entered society.
“It wasn’t exactly a trait that helped much in life.”
Eom Tae-seong himself thought so.
But there was surely meaning in the fact that he had taken over Mord’s body.
Smiling wryly as he reflected on his life, Eom Tae-seong shifted his thoughts to another matter.
“Saving this world from destruction. To do that, I have to stop Aidan.”
Aidan was the protagonist of The Mage Who Dominates the World.
The ending of The Mage Who Dominates the World was the worst imaginable.
True to its title, the “mage who dominates the world,” Aidan becomes a being who monopolizes everything in the world.
And that, in turn, meant the destruction of the world.
The ending of The Mage Who Dominates the World is Aidan devouring the world, using it as nourishment, and then becoming a god to create a new world.
In other words, even those who fought on Aidan’s side until the end would all be consumed and die.
The story of The Mage Who Dominates the World was about Aidan and his enemies competing to become the one who brings about this destruction.
In the story, Aidan is portrayed as having a human side beneath his cold and cruel exterior, but in the end, his madness to create a world that perfectly reflects his ideals overwhelms everything.
“Aidan is a legendary great mage. But Mord’s body has the potential to stop him. The fact that I could achieve this much the moment I woke up in this body proves it.”
And Eom Tae-seong had information. Information obtained through The Mage Who Dominates the World, knowledge from a god’s-eye perspective.
Then what must be done to save the world from destruction?
“Prevent Aidan from obtaining the world fragments. Prevent his enemies from obtaining them as well… In the end, the conclusion is that I have to claim them myself.”
The title “The Mage Who Dominates the World” carried the meaning that Aidan monopolizes the “world fragments,” the essence that forms the foundation of this world.
These world fragments are like puzzle pieces. The one who completes all of these pieces becomes a being who can control everything in the world, a true supreme god.
“Aidan, no matter what, I won’t let you dominate the world.”
In Eom Tae-seong’s mind, a method to achieve that goal began to form.
He could get ahead of Aidan and obtain the world fragments that Aidan would acquire through various processes in the story. With the vivid knowledge of the novel still fresh in his mind, it was entirely possible.
“Then I’ll likely become enemies with Aidan. But from here on, the path I must walk is already one paved with conflict.”
Even if he were to twist Aidan’s fate, he would have to fight countless enemies and emerge victorious to save the world.
That was truly a frightening prospect.
But Eom Tae-seong was willing to walk that path.
He did not want to return to that despair where he could do nothing ever again.
“I don’t know who put me in this situation, but I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
To save this world and fulfill his wish, Eom Tae-seong made a decision.
“From now on, I will live as Mord.”
He resolved to become Mord, not Eom Tae-seong, and face this world head-on.