I watched my house collapse right before my eyes.
My entire world came crashing down.
Why is the dream of owning a home so difficult to achieve?
[Stop thinking such strange things. Does the entire world come crashing down just because one little cabin was destroyed?]
Phew. Way to ruin my moment of reflection.
It seemed Donar had finally come to his senses.
“But without that cabin, the Mosquitoroaches will keep bothering me.”
[Those bastards are certainly annoying.]
Exactly. Even for Donar, who was called a god, mosquitoes and cockroaches were dangerous creatures.
[More importantly, that creature will be difficult to deal with.]
“I know. Just having her glare at me is making my whole body tingle.”
[That is because she has mastered natural energy.]
“This is going to be difficult.”
Demonic beasts could also accumulate mana or aura within their bodies. Those that managed to do so were generally powerful enough to earn names of their own.
The Gibbon Queen before me was one of them.
But she'd mastered natural energy?
Not mana?
Mastering natural energy was a talent bestowed by the heavens.
You could count the number of humans who had mastered natural energy on one hand.
Every single one of them was a powerhouse renowned throughout the entire continent.
Even elves and dwarves, races naturally attuned to nature, couldn't all wield natural energy.
Although more of them could use it than humans, they still accounted for less than ten percent of their populations.
And a demonic beast could wield that same natural energy?
“Lord Donar, you said that creature has mastered natural energy. Can demonic beasts really wield natural energy instead of mana?”
[Indeed. Think carefully. Demonic beasts live within nature. They do not destroy nature to build their homes, nor do they artificially alter its natural flow. Instead, they adapt to nature and live alongside it. You could say they are more attuned to nature than humans or any other race.]
“I see.”
Now that he mentioned it, he had a point.
But wouldn't that mean demonic beasts should be stronger than humans?
They could learn natural energy more easily, after all.
[However, demonic beasts cannot develop methods for absorbing natural energy. Instead, they gradually accumulate it within their bodies through natural processes.]
“Ah….”
Even the most intelligent demonic beasts wouldn't be able to develop techniques like mana cultivation methods or aura training methods.
“But why isn't that creature attacking?”
[A demonic beast that has accumulated natural energy possesses intelligence comparable to a human's. You have killed hundreds of her kind, so she is probably assessing your abilities.]
Can't she tell just by looking?
Anyone can see that I'm weaker.
[That creature should be a suitable opponent for learning the Heart of the Beast.]
“I think so, too. I don't think I can defeat her, but I should be able to endure her attacks somehow.”
Winning a battle and enduring one were two entirely different things.
Victory and defeat weren't the only possible outcomes of a battle.
There was also a draw.
That was precisely why the Gibbon Queen was the most suitable opponent for me.
SCREECH!
Apparently realizing that she was stronger, the creature began approaching me.
As the enormous beast drew closer, an overwhelming pressure bore down on my body.
Is this the power of maternal love?
The tingling sensation must be the murderous intent she was releasing toward the man who'd killed her children.
“Lord Donar, is there any way to defend against someone who uses natural energy?”
[You said you cannot use natural energy, correct?]
“Yes.”
[Then there is none.]
“…What?”
None?
How does that make sense?
[It is impossible to withstand natural energy without mana or aura. If you block an attack, your weapon will quickly deteriorate. And if your opponent protects their body with natural energy, it will be difficult to inflict a fatal wound, no matter how precisely you strike the grain.]
So that really makes her a boss monster meant to help me learn the Heart of the Beast, doesn't it?
But standing around and taking a beating isn't exactly my style.
[Dodge.]
At Donar's warning, I rolled across the ground.
CRASH—!
I'd thought the creature was quite far away, but her long arm had almost reached me.
[Hooh. To think a lower-tier demonic beast can release natural energy outside its body and use it in attacks. That creature is quite powerful.]
“Seems that way.”
The Gibbon Queen was much stronger than I'd heard.
A single thrust had gouged a deep depression into the ground.
[From now on, do your best to survive. And overcome your fear of death while you are at it.]
***
Donar watched Uldar from within his hammer form.
He didn't know how a living person had managed to enter Valhalla, but the boy was a young Barbarian whose soul was still warm with life.
Of course, unlike most Barbarians, he also had a great many thoughts running through his head.
‘He has talent.’
By Donar's standards, Uldar's talent was far beyond anything an ordinary person could possess.
Even the Barbarians who ranked among the strongest in Valhalla, those capable of using challenge tickets to challenge Donar or the other gods, weren't people he would describe as talented.
Whenever he watched them, his only impression was something along the lines of, ‘They certainly work hard.’
When Donar called someone talented, he meant that they possessed the potential to rival the other four gods besides himself.
That was why Donar was delighted.
If he trained Uldar properly, he might finally be able to bring a new sparring partner to Valhalla.
Whenever Donar taught Uldar something, the boy immediately grasped it.
No, he went even further, finding ways to apply what he'd learned.
[Ordinarily, it is only natural that a mana user cannot defeat a natural energy user. But does that mean someone who has wielded mana for decades cannot defeat someone who has only just taken their first steps in using natural energy? No. Even when an opponent possesses an inherent advantage, that advantage can be overcome. Depending on how you use your abilities, you can create situations where even such advantages become meaningless.]
That was all Donar had explained.
He'd originally intended to teach Uldar how to create the circumstances necessary for victory.
Uldar was a mana user.
If he couldn't even use mana, he would have been helpless, eventually dying when the monkey pierced some part of his body.
‘Well, learning the Heart of the Beast through repeated deaths might be faster.’
However, an ordinary person's mind would collapse after experiencing death.
Uldar might have possessed exceptional talent for combat and other things, but overcoming the fear and pain of death shouldn't have been easy.
That was how it should have been.
Yet Uldar had managed it.
CRUNCH—!
The monkey wrapped natural energy around its long arm and thrust forward.
This time, its hand plunged so deeply into the hard wood that it disappeared from sight.
That was how fast and powerful its thrust had become.
But Uldar dodged it.
It wasn't luck.
He saw the attack with his own eyes and reacted to it.
‘It almost seems as though he already possesses the Heart of the Beast….’
That was what Donar thought.
An opponent far beyond Uldar's abilities had launched an attack with all its might, intending to kill him.
Yet Uldar watched it until the very last moment and dodged without displaying the slightest emotion or even blinking.
Such a feat should have been impossible without the Heart of the Beast.
If that was the case, it meant this young Barbarian already possessed the Heart of the Beast….
‘Isn't that remarkable?’
Donar's mouth watered.
Of course, it wasn't because Uldar looked delicious.
He had finally found someone who might fulfill his long-cherished wish.
If the others saw Uldar, they would undoubtedly think the same thing.
‘I'll have to improve his abilities a little more before showing him to the others.’
He was still a seed that hadn't even begun to sprout.
Once that seed germinated, however, it would undoubtedly grow at an astonishing rate.
Donar couldn't allow the others to steal the opportunity to nurture that seed.
[Natural energy has a grain as well. Target that grain. Make it impossible for her to use natural energy.]
He would have to teach Uldar so that the boy could grow as quickly as possible.
***
He needs to explain things so I can actually understand them!
Just as you'd expect from a Barbarian, he's absolutely terrible at explaining things.
Natural energy has a grain, too?
Fine, I understand that much.
But shouldn't he explain how I'm supposed to find that grain?
Fortunately, from what I'd observed while dodging her attacks, Monkey Mom seemed capable of using natural energy only in her hands.
Of course, given her intelligence, she might have been deliberately making it look that way to deceive me.
But if she wasn't, then my observation was correct.
‘How am I supposed to find the grain of natural energy?’
[You will have to look carefully, of course.]
“…….”
Ah, should I just tell him I don't want to be his disciple anymore?
At this rate, learning from Donar wouldn't kill me through repeated deaths while training in the Heart of the Beast.
I'd die of sheer frustration first.
Perhaps realizing something was wrong, Donar hurriedly added an explanation.
[W-Well, it is rather difficult to explain, but there are bound to be places where natural energy appears unnatural. Of course, if someone has mastered its control perfectly, even those irregularities will be invisible. But at that creature's level, there should be something unusual somewhere.]
At least this time, he'd said something useful.
Find the unnatural parts.
WHAM!
The creature swung her right arm diagonally.
I shifted lightly to the left and avoided the attack.
Then I looked at her hand, which was enveloped in natural energy.
‘Find the unnatural parts.’
The moment Monkey Mom swung her arm lasted only an instant, but I managed to see it.
The places where the natural energy looked unnatural.
‘It's all unnatural!’
Monkey Mom's natural energy rippled irregularly.
There was no discernible pattern. Some places contained so much natural energy that it shimmered like blazing flames, while others had so little that there were scattered gaps.
“If all of it looks unnatural, where am I supposed to aim?”
[Hm? In that case… Ah, yes! Try aiming for the point where the natural energy ends.]
“Understood!”
Finally, some proper instruction!
I narrowly avoided Monkey Mom's attacks while trying to identify where her natural energy ended.
She could freely use both arms to attack, which made even dodging difficult.
But why am I not afraid when I'm clearly in danger of dying?
Is it because I believe I'll come back to life even if I die, since this is a space created by Donar?
I don't know.
For now, I need to hurry up and learn how to see the grain.
SCREECH! SHRIEEEEK!
Monkey Mom seemed even angrier about my dodging her attacks than she'd been when she first appeared after her children were killed.
Apparently, her maternal instincts weren't quite as strong as I'd thought.
‘This is harder to see than I expected.’
It might have been different if Monkey Mom's attacks were slow, but I was barely managing to dodge them.
Trying to pinpoint the exact spot I needed to examine while doing so was far from easy.
If I didn't find another method, I'd end up getting skewered and turned into a human kebab.
Should I concentrate mana into my legs to increase my speed?
No. I can't defeat Monkey Mom with my current speed anyway.
I continued thinking.
Meanwhile, my body naturally kept dodging her attacks.
[Tell me honestly. You are not really a Barbarian, are you? I have never seen a Barbarian think and use his body simultaneously.]
“Lord Donar, I'm trying to think right now. Please don't talk to me.”
[V-Very well.]
Donar had definitely told me something.
The grain was something you could see.
So why couldn't I see it?
What did I need to do to see the grain?
At last, I reached a conclusion.
‘Let's try concentrating mana into my eyes!’
I immediately put the idea into practice.
My stamina was starting to run low, too.
The sharp natural energy had left numerous small cuts across my body.
At this rate, I'll die from excessive blood loss before anything else.
“Hup!”
I opened my eyes wide and concentrated my mana into them.
[What are you doing?]
“I'm concentrating mana into my eyes. And you're distracting me, so could you please wait a little before speaking to me again?”
[…….]
I'm usually quite polite, but this wasn't the time for manners.
How could I worry about etiquette when I was on the verge of dying?
As mana began gathering in my eyes, Monkey Mom's attacks started slowing down.
Has my thinking become faster?
Whatever the reason, now that her attacks appeared slower, I could finally see the points where her natural energy ended.
And that wasn't all.
The grain Donar had been talking about really did exist.
I could see gaps in the areas where the natural energy was sparse and unevenly distributed.
“Lord Donar, when I concentrate mana into my eyes, I can see gaps. Are those the grain?”
[Yes! That is the grain. But have you been seeing the grain without concentrating mana into your eyes all this time?]
“What? You said I could see it just by looking, so I didn't bother concentrating any mana.”
[Of course you could not see the grain, then! You can only see the grain when you channel energy into your eyes!]
“……?”
But you never told me how to do that?