Those people born with a mana circuit can be said to be blessed by the world, but it is not as if the world has forsaken those who are not born with one.
Those without a mana circuit train their bodies relentlessly, pushing themselves through harsh physical exercises again and again.
They give their utmost, and as they do so, mana seeps directly into their blood instead of flowing into a mana core.
As the mana seeps in, their blood begins to change—slowly, painfully.
It mutates.
Their physical strength starts to rise, their muscles tightening with each passing limit they break.
And at every threshold they reach, their blood mutates further, becoming denser, heavier, carrying more mana within it.
The more their blood mutates, the denser it becomes; the denser it becomes, the more mana it can hold.
Yet despite all this, they are generally considered inferior.
First of all, it is extremely difficult to achieve something truly great as one of them—a Blood forging knight.
That is the name given to them, because they temper their own blood, increasing its density through sheer effort and suffering, and so they came to be called by that title.
And above all, the method itself is cruel.
To grow stronger, they must continuously pass through hellish training, again and again, pushing their bodies to the brink every single time—just to take one more step forward.
So, their strength is quite similar to that of knights.
Not to mention, the amount of mana they possess is generally very low—about one-tenth of a knight of the same level.
Although this does not play a very big role in their raw strength, it still matters in the long run.
Because of the lower limit of what they can reach in their lifetime, they are generally considered inferior.
And even till this day, only one person has ever been recorded to become a transcendent-level blood forging knight.
That person, however, did not reach such a height through effort alone.
He became as such because he drank the blood of a dead dragon.
It was said that he was extremely lucky to discover the heart blood of a dragon, preserved within the treasure house of a great family from the past.
A relic untouched for ages.
And when he drank that heart blood, his own blood underwent a terrifying transformation—mutating beyond its natural limits, surging with power that did not belong to mortals.
That mutation pushed him into the realm of transcendence, making him a transcendent-level blood forging knight.
And after him… there was none.
So this path is definitely very difficult, but it is the only path left for Issho to become stronger.
Because when he was removed from the lineage of the Pendragon family, it was not as simple as just cutting his name out of some family register or something so trivial.
No—what he lost ran far deeper than that.
Every member of the Pendragon family, when they are born, is born with the blessing of a dragon.
It is because the Pendragon family is a descendant line of the hero Arthur, who, thousands of years ago, rose from a commoner background and killed a Demon King who, at that time, had almost reduced the human population to less than one million.
The world itself had stood on the brink of collapse, cities fallen, lands swallowed by darkness—and yet he rose.
A single man against the end of everything.
So, he came to be considered one of the greatest heroes in history.
There have been other heroes as well, but even among them, Arthur stands as one of the most revered.
And Arthur, the hero, did not achieve all of this alone.
He had a companion—a golden dragon.
A being radiant and ancient, whose very presence was said to shine like the sun itself, whose scales carried the authority of light.
And after Arthur defeated the Demon King, from that day forward till now, dragons have continued to bless the Pendragon family.
Even the name “Pendragon” came into existence when Arthur established his family, taking the last name in honor of that golden dragon.
That dragon, who is also considered the king among light-attribute dragons, promised a lifetime blessing and protection to the Pendragon bloodline.
And not only that—if they find someone worthy within the family, they may even choose to form a bond with them, if the dragon is willing.
A rare and sacred contract, one that elevates the chosen far beyond others.
Just like how Issho’s—or to be precise, Elric’s—father, Duke Austin, has now also formed a contract with a dragon.
And that too, with a golden dragon.
That alone… is a very big achievement.
That is why Duke Austin is considered to be someone who can even rival some of the strongest transcendent-level powerhouses in the world—figures who stand at the very peak, just like the Pope of the Holy Empire.
All members of the Pendragon family are born with the blessing of a dragon, a gift that enhances both their physical and mental strength.
It allows them to stand above others, even among the great families.
Their bodies are stronger, their minds sharper, their very presence heavier—as if something ancient flows within their veins.
So, when Issho was removed from the family tree of the Pendragon family, it was not merely his name that was taken away.
That blessing… the very thing that defined them… was stripped from him.
And because he had been born with the dragon’s blessing, his mana circuit had always been connected to it.
It was never truly his alone.
So when that blessing was taken away, everything tied to it collapsed as well.
All of it—gone.
And with the loss of that blessing, his mana circuit ruptured completely.
It did not crack or weaken—it shattered, beyond repair, beyond recovery.
Issho did not think further about it.
He could feel it—the moment he let his thoughts wander, the memories would come flooding back.
The echoes of the hellish torture he had endured, the pain that had carved itself deep into him, waiting just beneath the surface.
So he stopped himself.
For now, he reached a simple conclusion.
He had to follow the path of a blood forging knight.
His gaze lowered slightly, steady yet heavy, as he focused again.
Looking at the values displayed before him—the blood value and the mana value—Issho asked the system to explain them.
The system began to speak.
“The blood value is the density of your blood.
The greater its density, the greater your physical strength.
And as you can see, currently your blood value is 1 and your mana is 0.1, which is a very basic state.
All normal humans who have not explicitly trained possess roughly this level of blood value and mana within them.”
Issho nodded slightly after hearing this, his expression calm as he absorbed the explanation.
Then his focus shifted to his other reward—Observation Haki.
The description was written just as he remembered it.
He could feel the aura of everything and anything in his surroundings, within the radius limit of his Observation Haki.
And there, in brackets, it was written—10 meters.
That was his current range.
Ten meters… not much, but enough to begin.
Then Issho moved his attention toward the quest section.
It was completely blank.
For a brief moment, there was nothing—only silence.
And just then, the system’s voice echoed directly within his mind.
“The choice of quests is entirely up to you, depending on how you wish to proceed.
Basically, to become a blood forging warrior, the method is simple—the more you practice, the harder you push your physical limits, the more your strength will increase.
You may follow this basic approach, and I can generate quests accordingly.”
There was a brief pause, as if the system was processing something further.
“And there is another option.
A quest to meditate for a total of one hour, which will increase your Observation Haki range by 10 meters.”
The voice continued, steady and precise.
“However, based on your memories, and the fact that you were a Chinese martial arts enthusiast, I have a suggestion.
How about you perform horse stance meditation?
By doing so, you will not only strengthen your entire body but also complete your meditation simultaneously, in an efficient manner.”
Issho’s face remained steady, listening.
“You would not need to undergo separate sessions of two to three hours of intense physical training followed by an additional hour of meditation.
Instead, you can complete the required one hour in segments—or however you prefer—by maintaining the horse stance for a total of one hour.”
A faint pause followed.
“And your current condition allows you to perform this under normal gravity… for now.
That level will begin to increase later.”
The words lingered in his mind, calm yet heavy with implication.