Just before he was executed by the knights, Wirn used his last resort and blew himself up.
'This is the end.'
At that moment, Wirn thought his life was over.
“Family Head. The delivery has just ended.”
But it wasn't.
As the final spell he had brought forth bloomed and his vision went black, Kemen's voice reached Wirn's ears.
“The child's name will be Wirn.”
Then the words of Ganderf, a mage so powerful that Wirn had been forced to sacrifice an arm, echoed through his mind.
'What the… Don't tell me?'
It was unbelievable.
But it didn't take long for Wirn to understand what had happened.
'I've returned to the past?'
He had experienced reincarnation and regression at the same time.
'How?'
It was impossible.
Even dragons, beings said to have reached the 8th Circle or higher, were considered incapable of turning back time.
“Take the children to the altar.”
However, his questions didn't last long.
'The altar?'
He had heard the words Initiation Ceremony and altar.
From that moment onward, desire took the place of confusion in Wirn's mind.
'This is an opportunity.'
The Daylin Family was famous as a prestigious family of mages, and Wirn had personally taken a leading role in the operation to exterminate them in his previous life.
Naturally, he knew quite well about the rituals performed by the Daylin Family.
He also knew just how important this particular ritual was—important enough to determine his entire future.
―WHUMMM…!
The sensation of being placed upon the altar felt rather strange to Wirn.
It wasn't every day that a maid with slender arms could lift him as though he weighed nothing.
'I need to feel the flow of mana.'
But he couldn't afford to become distracted by such things.
The altar wasn't kind enough to wait for Wirn.
The moment its magic circle activated, Wirn focused every bit of his attention on synchronizing himself with the Mana Forest.
'Is this all I can do right now?'
At this point, Wirn couldn't take any extraordinary action himself.
All he could do was make as much use as possible of the advantage provided by the magic circle.
WHUMMM….
Then an abnormality occurred where he least expected it.
'I can devour even more mana than this?'
Wirn's new body possessed an astonishing capacity for absorbing mana.
Not only that, it showed enough potential to handle all of it with room to spare.
The proof was Wirn's tiny body sucking the mana straight out of the altar.
GULP.
This was a fortuitous encounter.
No.
It was something beyond even that.
No matter how gifted someone was, changing the vessel that was their body wasn't easy.
That had been true for Wirn as well.
This was a talent that even Wirn, who had lived his previous life as a hound, had never possessed.
His vessel clamored for more mana like a whining child.
'I'll give you exactly what you want.'
Wirn smiled brightly.
At the same time, intending to scrape together every last bit of power within the Mana Forest—
'Devour as much as you want!'
—he opened every sense he could control.
RUMBLE… RUMBLERUMBLERUMBLE!
At that moment, a massive storm swept through the Mana Forest.
Dark clouds appeared above the altar before transforming into a storm and revolving around Wirn.
“Ugh… Urgh!”
Wirn watched it all while focusing on absorbing mana until the very end.
But eventually, even he was forced to close his eyes.
He had no idea how Family Head Ganderf and the rest of the Daylin Family were looking at him.
―WHUMMM.
Then, when the dense pitch-black darkness, like a bottomless abyss, that had left everyone in shock was absorbed back into Wirn's body—
FLASH….
A mark that had never revealed its existence before appeared on Wirn's body.
***
FLASH!
Mana gathered around Wirn's right hand.
Blue energy radiated its presence above his palm.
Wirn silently looked down at his hand.
HUM….
Then he converted the mana into Darkness, the attribute he had obtained in this life.
Even under the broad daylight, the mana writhed in the shape of darkness so deep that calling it an abyss wouldn't have been an exaggeration.
That was how powerful the darkness surrounding Wirn's hand was.
“….”
He stared quietly at the gathered sphere.
Its darkness was on an entirely different level even compared to the Demonic Energy of the demons he had fought in his previous life.
He could understand why others called him the Child of the Abyss.
SWISH.
After silently staring at the darkness for a while, he extended his right hand forward.
The darkness floating above his hand shot forward violently as though it had been waiting for that very moment.
As it crawled across the ground toward its target, it gouged into the floor of the training ground, demonstrating its brutal power.
CRUNCH!
And when it reached the training dummy—
The dummy was torn apart beyond recognition.
“That's vicious.”
Wirn clicked his tongue at the sight.
Normally, an attack with that much power should have produced some kind of recoil, such as causing his hand to shake.
But Wirn's Darkness was as light as a feather, and it consumed an extremely small amount of mana.
Its overwhelming power couldn't even be compared to other attributes.
But there was no reason for him to fear it.
Darkness was ultimately nothing more than his hands and feet.
Wirn wasn't stupid enough to fear his own power.
'This much power in only twelve years….'
Twelve years had passed since the incident in the Mana Forest.
Many things had happened within the Daylin Family during that time.
There had been power struggles between the Imperial Knights and the mages of the Daylin Family.
There had also been the subjugation of gigantic monsters.
All sorts of incidents had reached Wirn's ears.
'When is the Family Head coming back?'
The greatest event among them had been Ganderf's departure.
Ganderf had left the family the day after Wirn displayed his power in the Mana Forest.
He had only said that he would return when the time came.
But the Family Head wasn't important to Wirn.
If anything, because the Family Head had left the family and the other heirs had followed him, Wirn had been able to build his strength with much greater freedom.
―HUM….
The result was a Circle quietly rotating inside his small body.
A single Circle radiating a black light as deep as pitch darkness.
Through it, Wirn had learned to wield various forms of Darkness magic.
'They said Darkness was an attribute wielded by only a handful of people.'
Darkness magic had vanished from the continent long ago.
Even in his previous life, Wirn had only ever heard about people who wielded Darkness.
He had never seen one with his own eyes.
However, the surviving written records described Darkness with one word.
'Predator.'
An attribute standing at the very top of the food chain.
'I understand what they meant now.'
To be frank, Wirn had scoffed when he first read that passage.
No matter how rare Darkness was, he hadn't believed it could simply suppress other attributes.
But after becoming someone who could wield Darkness himself, he understood.
'This is a fortuitous encounter.'
The records in those books hadn't been exaggerated in the slightest.
'But I need to become stronger.'
His growth was remarkably fast even compared to his previous life.
His attribute was even Darkness, which possessed enough superiority to devour other attributes.
Water.
Wind.
Fire.
No matter the attribute, Darkness could freely seep into it.
However, his body had limits.
It wasn't sturdy enough to manifest an even stronger Darkness.
“Time to start running, I suppose.”
And so, with no one else in the training ground, Wirn removed his shirt and began running—the most basic form of physical training.
“Huff… Hah!”
Sweat poured from Wirn's face and body, soaking the marble floor of the training ground like rain.
“Hah!”
Despite breathing heavily again and again, he didn't stop.
He continued running around the training ground at a steady pace.
Like a prisoner sentenced to endless labor without rest.
THUMP! THUMP!
It had been two hours since he started running.
Wirn's body had already reached its limit.
After being pushed to the absolute extreme, it wouldn't have been strange for him to collapse onto the ground at any moment.
'I'm dizzy.'
Was it because he had overdone the running?
Wirn's previously clear vision began to waver.
But he gritted his teeth and took another step.
For the sole purpose of reaching the goal he had set for himself, he continued circling the training ground without stopping.
“Ugh!”
And just as he reached his absolute limit and all the strength was about to leave his body—
TAP!
Wirn managed to return to the starting line.
“Haa… Hah!”
Realizing that, Wirn collapsed weakly where he stood.
If he had run even a little farther, his lungs might genuinely have burst.
That was how far he was pushing himself.
'At this level, I'm probably about equal to the knight apprentices.'
That wasn't even an exaggeration.
His training wouldn't lose out when compared to the hellish routines endured by knight apprentices.
'If I could get my hands on an elixir or something… I could become stronger even faster.'
An elixir capable of accelerating the growth of the body.
The desire to possess one slowly began creeping into Wirn's mind.
With one, he could not only recover faster but also train at an even greater intensity.
'They wouldn't give me one right now.'
He might have been able to obtain an ordinary elixir.
But what Wirn wanted was a high-grade elixir.
Getting his hands on one, however, wouldn't be easy.
A high-quality elixir wasn't something that could simply be purchased just because one had money.
“Young Master.”
At that moment, Kemen approached Wirn, who had just finished training.
“Are you feeling all right?”
“Yeah. I'm fine.”
“…I see. I brought the history book about the Mana Forest that you requested.”
He held out a thick book to Wirn.
It was a book containing information about the history and power of the Mana Forest belonging to the Daylin Family.
“Good work.”
Wirn accepted the book and raised the corners of his mouth.
Then he sat down in the training ground where he had just been running and began reading.
Kemen silently stared at him.
'Is this really how a twelve-year-old child behaves?'
To Kemen, Wirn was practically the concept of 'absurdity' given human form.
'He completely mastered speech at two. At three, he began exercising on his own. And now that he's twelve, he's reached the point where he can read through magic books entirely by himself.'
The Daylin Family might have been renowned as a prestigious family of mages, but even they had something called common sense.
No matter how Kemen thought about it, Wirn's genius simply made no sense.
Enough to make him wonder whether being a genius really allowed someone to be this absurd.
'If Young Master hadn't shown such results in the Mana Forest… it would've been difficult to accept.'
But Kemen didn't question it any further.
After all, he had witnessed the 'talent' Wirn displayed in the Mana Forest.
'He may be the family's only illegitimate child, but he shines brighter than anyone.'
The woman who had given birth to Wirn died the moment he was born.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been destined to have no one other than the Family Head pay him any attention.
But the moment Wirn caused a Mana Storm within the Mana Forest, the label of illegitimate child could no longer stand in his way.
“…Do you really find this sort of thing enjoyable?”
Wirn's talent was simply that overwhelming.
It was enough for others to regard him not as an illegitimate child, but as an heir equal to all the others.
Still, that didn't mean Kemen could understand his current behavior.
The books Kemen had been bringing him weren't things ordinary children would ever read.
“No.”
Wirn shook his head at Kemen's question.
Of course it wasn't enjoyable.
That was even more true for Wirn, who was living his second life.
Even so, despite no one telling him to do so, Wirn devoured theoretical texts on magic and records concerning the Mana Forest.
“I'm not reading them because they're fun. I'm reading them because I need to.”
He wanted to discover the true nature of the mark on his right hand.
'And I need to get my revenge.'
There was another reason Wirn needed to become stronger.
The Emperor who had placed seals and restraints upon him, then broken his promise and discarded him like a hunting dog once the quarry had been caught.
Taking revenge on that bastard was Wirn's ultimate goal.
'I barely even saw sunlight when I was growing up there.'
In his previous life, Wirn had spent his childhood in a basement.
The training had been so brutal that several of his peers died every day.
Food that abandoned taste in pursuit of nothing but nutrition.
The cold instructors' cutting verbal abuse and endless beatings.
And he had been forced to endure all of that from an age even younger than he was now.
GRIND.
It was only natural that his hatred deepened with each passing day.
Living with the Daylin Family had made him realize just how shitty his previous life had been.
'Besides… I'm destined to fight them anyway.'
It was a fate he couldn't avoid.
Even if Wirn gave up on revenge, the conflict between the Empire and the Daylin Family wouldn't disappear.
'So I'll become stronger and take my revenge.'
And so he endured his brutal training while sharpening his blade of vengeance.
DRIP!
Just as he reminded himself of his revenge once again—
“Young Master!”
Blood began flowing from his right index finger.
The sharp edge of the paper had cut him.
“Haven't I told you to be careful when turning the pages?”
“I'm fine. It only grazed me a little.”
'As if I need to be careful just to read a book.'
He clicked his tongue inwardly and answered with complete indifference.
'He doesn't even panic after seeing blood.'
Kemen was deeply surprised by his response.
Young masters from noble families who had been raised in comfort at that age tended to be sensitive to even the slightest pain.
Instead, Kemen was the one who now looked as though he were making a fuss over nothing.
'What on earth is he thinking?'
Wirn's behavior sparked Kemen's curiosity.
Among all the heirs Kemen had ever seen, Wirn was an unusually peculiar individual.
Even his behavior now differed completely from the others.
“A potion….”
But Kemen wasn't the kind of person who would leave a wound untreated simply because Wirn claimed he was fine.
He couldn't tolerate even the smallest scar being left on the body of an heir to a prestigious family.
“I didn't bring one.”
As the saying went, even monster dung was nowhere to be found when you needed it.
Realizing he didn't have a potion, Kemen frowned.
“I will bring one immediately.”
“Sure. Be careful.”
Kemen said he would retrieve a potion from his storage room and—
TATAT!
—rushed out of the old training ground with movements far faster than those of an ordinary person.
'He's really dedicated.'
Wirn chuckled as he watched Kemen leave.
His gaze soon returned to the book recording the history of the Mana Forest, but—
'Nothing here either.'
Realizing that the information he wanted wasn't there, he sighed.
'What the hell is this mark supposed to be?'
There was a simple reason Wirn kept clinging to books.
He wanted to learn about the mark that had appeared on his right hand.
'A mark no one else can see or even knows exists….'
Only Wirn was aware of it.
Neither the head of the Daylin Family, Kemen who served him, nor any of his other nannies could even see it.
'No matter how I look at it, there's nothing ordinary about this thing.'
Was it a curse?
A blessing?
Because he didn't know, he wanted to understand it all the more.
“Hey!”
At that moment, a sharp boy's voice came from behind him.
“Hmmm… this mark….”
But Wirn didn't react to the voice.
It hadn't even occurred to him that the boy might be calling him.
“Hey! Can't you hear me?”
'Just what is this thing….'
“HEEEY!”
“?”
Wirn had continued ignoring him, but the endless shouting finally made him turn his head.
“What?”
Then he looked over the boy who had interrupted his thoughts.
'He's obviously just a kid.'
He looked to be around thirteen or fourteen.
Right around that age.
But unlike an ordinary child, he had built up a considerable amount of muscle.
'Oh? Look at this brat. Those Circles….'
On top of that, two rings were spinning fiercely inside the boy's body.
“You're that bastard Wirn, right? Don't even think about saying you're not. I saw you practicing in the training ground from a distance earlier.”
Wirn's name came from the boy's mouth.
“So what if I am?”
Wirn chuckled at his words.
“Spar with me!”
“…Spar?”
Wirn frowned at the answer.
The boy had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and challenged him to a fight.
No matter how Wirn looked at it, the behavior made no sense.
“I heard you caught the Family Head's attention in the Mana Forest. And they say you can wield Darkness.”
“I don't see what that has to do with me sparring you.”
“I want to prove something.”
“Hm?”
“I want to show the Family Head that I'm better than you.”
“…Hmm.”
But after hearing the boy's answer, Wirn understood.
He now knew why the boy wanted to challenge him.
And what he hoped to gain from it.
'He's got guts for a brat.'
TAP!
Wirn placed the book resting on his knees onto the chair.
“Fine. I'll give you what you want.”
Then he told the boy exactly what he wanted to hear.
“But it wouldn't be any fun if we just did it, would it?”
“What…?”
“Let's make a bet.”
Of course, it wouldn't be free.
“If you lose, bring me a high-grade elixir.”
And the price of defeat was going to be expensive.