HUFF, HUFF—
Mitchell panted heavily and sprawled out on the ground.
Three Red-Eyed Rabbits lay fallen around him.
‘Wow…… that was close.’
After hunting the first Red-Eyed Rabbit and fleeing, Mitchell had tried to lure them out and kill them one at a time.
Red-Eyed Rabbits were not particularly intelligent, so the plan itself wasn't bad.
He repeatedly finished each hunt as quickly as possible before escaping with Forgotten Soul Movement Art, but just now, he had accidentally drawn in several others as well.
As a result, he had been surrounded in an instant and ended up in this state after a desperate fight.
“Still, at least there were only three…….”
There were so many Red-Eyed Rabbits that he couldn't even count them all. He was fortunate that he had only fought three.
[Keul keul. The Demonic Region is crawling with creatures like the Nightmare Horse. How do you think creatures such as Red-Eyed Rabbits manage to secure territory in a place like this? Hurry and collect their souls before more of them arrive.]
“Yes…….”
He did not even have the strength to move, but as Calian said, more Red-Eyed Rabbits could appear, so he quickly collected the souls.
He could recover his exhausted stamina later.
For now, collecting the souls and reaching somewhere safe came first.
After gathering the souls, Mitchell returned to camp.
The sun was already sinking toward the horizon.
First, he needed to light a fire and take care of dinner.
Tonight's meal was the Red-Eyed Rabbit he had hunted until he was sick of seeing them.
When he roasted part of a Red-Eyed Rabbit's leg, a savory aroma spread through the surroundings.
Before long, Mitchell stared at the deliciously roasted leg meat and spoke in a voice full of unease.
“Is this really safe to eat? It's still a Magic Beast.”
[Ordinary people cannot eat it. You, however, will be fine.]
“……You're going to tell me this is an elixir too, aren't you?”
[Oh-ho, you are getting perceptive. You absorb dark Aura far more toxic than this raw, so just eat it. It tastes good, at least.]
Mitchell frowned and took a large bite.
Just as Calian had said, it tasted good. Even more surprisingly, a faint trace of dark Aura seeped from the meat after it entered his stomach and was absorbed into him.
“Oh, it really does. But it sounds like you've eaten this before too, Master?”
[The only problem is dealing with the dark Aura in the meat, so for those who learned dark swordsmanship, including myself, it was quite a decent ingredient. Of course, unlike you, we could not absorb it. We would suppress it and expel it instead.]
‘They said Magic Beasts were everywhere in the past.’
Though they were difficult to find within the Empire now, Mitchell felt he understood why dark swordsmanship had flourished in the past.
When Magic Beasts were running rampant, it allowed its practitioners to grow stronger quickly, possessed tremendous power, and even proved useful in daily life like this.
Mitchell diligently filled his empty stomach, then got to his feet.
When he looked around, it was pitch-black.
If he went hunting in this darkness, he might end up becoming the hunted instead.
Just in case, Mitchell called out to Calian.
“Master, we're not going hunting after sunset too, are we?”
[If you wish to die, go ahead. I will not stop you.]
“Hehe, I was just checking. Then what do we do now?”
[Train, of course.]
“Yes, sir!”
Mitchell was confident he would work hard no matter what Calian made him do.
As it happened, Mitchell had always enjoyed reading heroic tales.
They had been his only pleasure during his dreary life in the library.
In those heroic tales, most of the things masters made their disciples do were menial chores.
Apparently, they were meant to build stamina or something along those lines.
Since those things were written in heroic tales, Mitchell thought there had to be some reason behind them and cautiously mentioned it to Calian.
[Nonsense. You would be better off spending that time on proper training.]
“…….”
Mitchell's world came crashing down.
He had thought everything written in heroic tales was true…….
Calian clicked his tongue as he watched the dejected Mitchell.
[I do not understand what you find so disappointing. In any case, sit down first. From now on, I shall teach you new martial arts.]
“Oh!”
New martial arts!
It felt as though he had received an unexpected gift.
Mitchell sat down with his heart pounding, and Calian began to explain.
[What I shall teach you this time is the Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method and the second move of the Heaven-Breaking Sword, Heaven-Breaking Tremor. Let us begin with the Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method. Move your dark Aura by following my energy.]
Calian's energy flowed along Mitchell's Aura Road.
Not wanting to lose track of its path, Mitchell immediately moved his dark Aura and followed behind it.
[Listen while you circulate your Aura. The Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method is an internal cultivation method linked to the Heaven-Breaking Sword. It amplifies internal energy and allows dark Aura to fuse with the soul. Thus, once you learn it, you will no longer need to infuse a soul every time you use the Heaven-Breaking Sword.]
Oh-ho.
Just from the explanation, Mitchell could tell how badly he needed this internal cultivation method.
He only had to look at Heaven-Breaking Annihilation.
Infusing a soul directly into it produced tremendous power, but preparing and using it took far too long.
If what Calian said was true, then from now on, whenever he used Heaven-Breaking Annihilation, it would also carry the effect of draining vitality.
Just thinking about it made the strength he would gain so obvious that a thrill ran through him.
[Normally, this is not something you should be learning yet…… but because of that modified Soul Drain or whatever magic of yours, I am letting you begin early. Circulating it is correspondingly difficult, so follow carefully.]
After saying that, Calian began moving his energy in earnest.
His energy raced through Mitchell's Aura Road at a maddening speed.
But the faster it moved, the more painful it became.
It was different from simply suffering internal injuries.
It felt as though an involuntary scream were seeping out from somewhere deep within an abyss.
“Urgh!”
[Do not open your mouth. You will fall into cultivation deviation.]
Mitchell barely managed to suppress the scream threatening to burst out and once again followed Calian's energy.
At first, he thought it hurt because Calian's energy was moving so quickly.
But that wasn't it.
The problem was the internal cultivation method itself.
‘It's moving by wounding my soul!’
What kind of shitty internal cultivation method was this?
Mitchell wanted to curse immediately, but he had no room to do so.
Even at this very moment, he was continuing to move his dark Aura according to the Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method.
It hurt.
It hurt like hell.
If it had merely been physical pain, he could have endured it, but perhaps because he had no resistance to having his soul wounded, the pain was even worse.
‘Damn it!’
But he couldn't lose to something like this.
Mitchell gritted his teeth and struggled not to lose consciousness.
Only after a long time had passed did Calian finally withdraw his energy.
HUFF, HUFF—
Mitchell toppled backward and panted heavily.
Calian smiled as he looked at the utterly exhausted Mitchell.
[Keul keul. Painful, is it not? Great power always comes with a price.]
“Urgh…… is it always going to hurt this much?”
[Of course not. Once you completely master the Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method, you will be fine. Granted, throughout five hundred years of Runei history, only a handful have ever mastered it completely, but surely you will be different.]
Calian spoke as though teasing him, but he genuinely believed Mitchell would be different.
The ability to handle souls was the most important factor in mastering the Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method.
In fact, the greatest reason the Sword of Death had gradually declined was that one's achievement varied enormously depending on how much talent one possessed for handling souls.
Manipulating souls itself was already difficult, but because the difference caused by the depth of one's talent was so enormous, practitioners had fallen away one after another.
In that regard, Mitchell's talent was of the highest order.
Calian did not think it would take him very long to completely master the Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method.
Just as it had not taken Calian long himself.
[Of course, I completed it faster than anyone else. In the shortest time in history, no less.]
“……I didn't ask.”
Mitchell replied curtly to Calian's boastful words.
[How dare you speak to your master like that……!]
“Anyway, you're saying it'll stop hurting eventually. That's enough for me. I'll get there if I keep doing it.”
Before Calian could start yelling, Mitchell quickly sat back down and began circulating the Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method.
Calian stopped himself from getting angry and instead watched Mitchell with interest.
Mitchell was clearly still in pain, yet after only one attempt, he was already circulating dark Aura along the proper path.
At the same time, the souls of the Red-Eyed Rabbits he had captured that day were rapidly being broken down and enlarging his Aura Hole.
[Heh heh…… so this is the pleasure of raising a disciple.]
Calian had founded a family because he had been unable to find a disciple.
There had been quite a few people whom he personally taught the sword, but not a single proper disciple capable of inheriting the Sword of Death.
And yet only after dying and becoming a soul had he finally discovered this pleasure.
If there was one thing he regretted, it was that Mitchell was not one of his descendants.
[Hmm. I found a bastard overflowing with talent. That should be enough.]
The Sword of Death had never been passed down solely through blood in the first place.
So Calian decided to be satisfied that he had found someone worthy of inheriting the Sword of Death.
Calian laughed heartily and quietly watched Mitchell.
Once the boy opened his eyes, he would teach him the second move of the Heaven-Breaking Sword…….
The second move of the Heaven-Breaking Sword…….
[…….]
But no matter how long Calian waited, Mitchell did not stop circulating the Heaven-Breaking Internal Cultivation Method.
[You brat! Stop and open your eyes! Are you not going to learn Heaven-Breaking Tremor?!]
“Ah! Right!”
This damn brat had absolutely no sense of moderation when it came to training!
Mitchell sprang to his feet and grabbed his sword, and Calian taught him the circulation method and form of Heaven-Breaking Tremor, the second move of the Heaven-Breaking Sword.
[Heaven-Breaking Annihilation is a move effective against a single powerful opponent.]
“What? Wasn't Heaven-Breaking Annihilation supposed to be good against multiple opponents?”
Mitchell's eyes widened in surprise.
Calian clicked his tongue in disbelief at the sight.
[That is only because you pour an absurd amount of energy into it when you use it. Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to scatter compressed Sword Energy over such an idioticly wide area?]
“Grant used it that way the first time I saw it, so I thought that was how it was supposed to work…….”
[Hah. Do not tell me the other moves were lost as well.]
“Probably. I told you, the Family completely fell apart.”
[…….]
No wonder Grant had not used Heaven-Breaking Tremor when Calian first saw him…….
Calian stared blankly for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
[Then I suppose he had no choice but to escape danger however he could. In any case, unlike Heaven-Breaking Annihilation, the second move, Heaven-Breaking Tremor, is effective against multiple opponents. Try it.]
Mitchell began following exactly what Calian had shown him moments earlier.
HMMMM—
As he circulated his dark Aura according to the principles of Heaven-Breaking Tremor, powerful energy gathered in his sword.
Since it was his first attempt, it took a long time, but he eventually completed it properly.
‘Now I just drive this into the ground…….’
The instant he plunged the sword containing that immense energy into the ground—
BOOOOM—!
The earth exploded, and Mitchell went flying into the sky.
THUD—
Mitchell crashed back down to the ground, and Calian burst into uproarious laughter.
[Keul keul. You are supposed to send the enemy flying. What do you intend to accomplish by flying away yourself?]
“Urgh…… you knew this would happen, didn't you?”
[Of course. Did you think you would be full after the very first spoonful? Try again. This time, when the sword strikes the ground, imagine spreading the energy outward around you.]
Mitchell raised his sword again and moved his dark Aura.
He went through the same process as before until all that remained was to drive the sword into the ground again.
‘Spread the energy…… spread the energy…….’
He pictured a shockwave spreading outward in his mind and thrust the sword down.
BOOOOM—
[Heh heh, you certainly fly well. Again.]
BOOOOM—!
[Again!]
BOOOOOOM—!
[Again!]
Mitchell continued flying through the air.