“What?”
“I am saying that I will not be one anymore. I am going to change, and to do that, I need to remain here a little longer. It is not too late yet.”
“…Hmm. You will be different a year from now?”
“Yes. One year.”
“In only a year? I doubt it. Even the greatest geniuses….”
Diol suddenly closed his eyes in the middle of speaking. After appearing to contemplate the matter for a moment, he nodded.
“Fine. It was not as though you had no talent at all. You have made a promise to me, so remember it well. When I return a year from now, I will not listen to any nonsense about how nothing has changed or how you need more time. You will return with me no matter what. Understood?”
“What if I refuse? Will you drag me back by force?”
Diol chuckled. He appeared to find the mere thought amusing.
“That does not sound too bad. Still, considering the little honor you have left, it would be better to walk back voluntarily than to be dragged there. Would you not agree? Remember this. One year.”
Apparently finished with what he had to say, Diol pushed his chair back with a SCRAPE and rose.
“Are you not going to eat more? There is still plenty left.”
“You can devour all of it. I am leaving now. Is there anything you need?”
“Clothes. I would like you to send me some training clothes.”
“That makes sense. What you wore earlier looked rather tight. Lose some weight.”
Ian’s face immediately twisted.
“I have not gained weight. My frame has simply grown.”
“I am sure it has. Anything else?”
“Nothing comes to mind at the moment….”
“Then I will speak to Sir Arot. Ask him to purchase whatever you need. Do not make any absurd demands for relics, though.”
“I will not.”
“I will say this again. Keep your promise. I will return for you within a year, so do not even think about running away. I truly am leaving now. There is no need to see me off.”
Diol departed without looking back.
Left alone, Ian remained still for a moment. Only after finishing even the food Diol had left behind did he finally conclude his meal.
“Haah.”
He was satisfied. After draining a glass of water, Ian unconsciously lowered his gaze.
Despite all the food he had eaten, his stomach had not bulged at all. It looked exactly as it usually did. This was thanks to his exceptional digestive ability.
It was one of the traits possessed by everyone of Berger blood. It did not merely improve digestion. The more they ate, the more dramatically their regenerative ability increased.
It was like feeding firewood to a dying flame and causing it to blaze once more. It was truly a trait befitting a family that wielded fire.
‘That is frightening.’
He had heard that the appetite of a Level 6 Spirit Star holder grew even stronger, so he was already beginning to worry. Eating was enjoyable, but he could not afford to devote too much time to meals.
‘It is not as though there is no solution, and it is hardly something I need to worry about now.’
Ian rose from his seat.
When the spar had ended, his body had been thoroughly exhausted. Now, however, he had already recovered enough to resume training.
He would not be returning to the training ground today.
That afternoon, he planned to use House Berger’s unique cultivation method to refine the elixir’s mana that still remained within his blood vessels.
Before that, however, there was something he needed to do.
Ian returned to his room and selected two relatively expensive bottles from the various liquors stacked inside his display cabinet.
He wandered around looking for Sir Arot, but the man was nowhere to be seen. Having no other choice, Ian called over a servant who was cleaning the floor.
“Yes, Young Master?”
“Where is Sir Arot?”
“He should be in the vegetable garden at this hour.”
“The vegetable garden?”
“Yes. It is behind the villa. Shall I summon him for you?”
“No. I will go myself. Continue with your work.”
Ian waved him away and set off.
The vegetable garden was located behind the villa.
When he arrived, he found the gamekeeper and the steward working in simple clothes, both covered in dirt.
Ian approached them. Hearing his footsteps, they turned around, hurriedly rose, brushed the soil from their hands, and came over.
“Young Master.”
“Sir Arot, are you very busy at the moment?”
“Not at all. How much work could there possibly be at a small villa such as this?”
That was true. It was precisely why he had enough leisure to cultivate a vegetable garden.
“What brings you here, however? Had you sent a servant to summon me, I would have gone to you myself.”
“Ah, that did not seem proper.”
“Proper… you say?”
Ian continued calmly as Arot regarded him with curiosity.
“I should have said this earlier, but I was so eager to wash that I neglected to thank you. My brother told me that you personally drove the carriage to fetch a priest. Thanks to you, I woke this morning feeling as refreshed as though I had enjoyed a long, peaceful sleep.”
“It was nothing. I merely did what was required of me.”
Ian was once again grateful that he had returned to this particular point in time. Had it been one or two years later, he would have needed to be cautious even about saying such things.
By then, he had been a reckless scoundrel who ran rampant without fear.
Their relationship might have deteriorated beyond repair, or at least come perilously close.
Had he suddenly spoken like this then, they would undoubtedly have suspected him of harboring some ulterior motive.
“So I thought I should offer you something in return.”
“Lord Diol has already rewarded me for that. Far more generously than necessary.”
“Even so, merely saying thank you does not feel sufficient. I would therefore like each of you to accept one of these bottles.”
“Liquor….”
Ian held out the bottles.
Sir Arot hesitated briefly, apparently having never expected Ian to offer him such a gift, but his deliberation did not last long.
Like many men of his age, he enjoyed drinking from time to time, provided that he did not overindulge.
Moreover, these bottles were fairly rare. His desire for them made it difficult to decline out of courtesy.
“Ahem. In that case, I will accept without further protest. You should come and receive yours as well.”
As though he had been waiting for those words, Seongjin quickly approached.
Ian handed him the other bottle along with his thanks.
His hands suddenly felt strangely empty without the weight of the two bottles, but he did not show it. Instead, he raised the real reason for his visit.
“I will also be visiting the Mana Vein this afternoon. Even if I return late, there is no need to come searching for me.”
“The Mana Vein, Young Master?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not exactly. However, you may still be suffering aftereffects from your injuries. I worry that you might be pushing yourself too hard.”
“I will be fine.”
“Then I shall accompany you.”
“No.”
Ian shook his head.
“I will go alone.”
Arot stared intently at Ian. After a moment, he slowly spoke.
“…I do not know whether it is my place to say this, but you seem different somehow. As though you changed overnight.”
“Do I? You are right. I finally came to my senses. There is no need to worry. I will return before nightfall.”
After telling them to continue their work, Ian headed toward the forest behind the villa.
A Mana Vein.
It was land where mana gathered or flowed.
Whenever people imagined such places, they usually envisioned barren mountain wildernesses untouched by human feet. This one, however, was different.
Despite speaking as though it were far away, it took only an hour to reach at a leisurely pace along the path. Walking briskly or running would shorten the journey considerably.
Ian raised his head.
The forest grew denser the closer he came to the Mana Vein.
It felt as though something might leap out at any moment, but Ian was not tense in the slightest. He knew that no monsters inhabited this place.
There might be wild beasts, but he could beat most of them to death with his bare hands.
Upon reaching the edge of the Mana Vein, Ian drew a deep breath.
‘Just as I expected.’
The atmosphere was saturated with mana that was both dense and pure, making even the air itself seem fundamentally different. Simply breathing filled his body with vitality.
Even an ordinary person incapable of sensing mana would instinctively realize that there was something unusual about this place.
That was why people struggled to acquire such land even at the cost of an immense fortune.
Despite effectively ruling the eastern region of the El Karda Empire, House Berger possessed exclusive control over only a handful of Mana Veins.
As far as Ian knew, the others were either shared with different powers or leased from them.
This place, however, was used exclusively by members of House Berger, just like the Mana Vein at the main estate.
No one else would come here, so he could use it without concern.
What was remarkable was that this Mana Vein was classified as low-grade when such places were divided into low, intermediate, and high grades.
Even so, an immense quantity of mana gathered and flowed through it.
Ian had heard that the mana within intermediate- or high-grade Mana Veins was so concentrated that a person could become poisoned by it or even be crushed beneath its pressure. He did not know whether that was true.
Regrettably, he had never had an opportunity to visit such a place in his previous life, nor had he formed a connection with anyone who had.
‘No. That is not true. There were some.’
The Champion and her companions.
They had once happened to discuss Mana Veins.
‘They said that rare elixirs could be found in intermediate- and high-grade Mana Veins.’
Now that he had regressed, he might be able to find those elixirs if he visited the same places.
‘I must remember that.’
Should he ever find himself near one of those Mana Veins, he would make certain to secure its elixir.
With that resolve, Ian stood at the center of the Mana Vein and closed his eyes.
“……”
His senses gradually sharpened, and he became aware of the mana filling his surroundings.
It felt as though he had submerged himself in water.
If he remained still, his body seemed likely to float. If he swept his arms through the air, he felt as though he might swim.
Ian consciously drew in a slow, deep breath.
He felt the mana dissolved within the air being pulled toward him along with his breathing.
The mana entered his lungs, seeped into his blood, and flowed through his vessels toward his lower abdomen—to his dantian.
A mana core had already formed there.
Stirred by the mana flowing in from outside for the first time in ages, the neglected core creaked back into motion.
Like an animal awakening from hibernation, it opened its eyes and stretched. A faint warmth rose from his dantian and spread throughout his body.
Ian was not alarmed.
It was an entirely natural phenomenon.
This was a characteristic that appeared when using the cultivation method of Evilbane, House Berger’s unique secret art, flow, and form. The founder of House Berger had created it after defeating an Apostle of an Outer God.
Had anyone else been watching, they would probably have seen heat haze rippling around Ian’s entire body.
However, he had only reached the First Stage, so it produced nothing more than a faint shimmer.
Had his achievement been greater, flames worthy of the name Evilbane would have wrapped around him like armor.
To reach that stage one day, Ian continued breathing, repeatedly drawing the Mana Vein’s power into his dantian and accumulating it there.
The gathered mana was warmed by Evilbane’s cultivation method until it became lukewarm, then sent flowing through his blood vessels.
In response to that faint heat, the elixir mana that had accumulated throughout his body because he had failed to absorb it fully began to stir.
‘…Something is strange.’
The mana had been neglected for so long that impurities had mixed into it and caused it to harden into clumps.
Yet it was dissolving far more quickly than Ian had expected.
It was probably thanks to the experience and techniques he had accumulated in his previous life. At this rate, absorbing the mana remaining within his blood vessels would not take long.
‘Not long? No. Even this is late.’
When others consumed an elixir, the fastest among them digested it completely within a day. Even the slowest required no more than half a year.
Ian, however, had consumed his elixir on the day of his coming-of-age ceremony.
Considering that two years had already passed since then, he was not merely late. He was outrageously late.
‘It is fine. I only need to hurry from now on.’
At his current pace, he would finish within a week at the latest.
He had initially expected the process to take at least half a year, so this had saved him a considerable amount of time.
Several hours passed before Ian finally opened his eyes.
‘This is exhausting.’
The corners of his eyes trembled, and his legs shook beneath him. He felt sweat trickling down his chin.
He had merely stood in place and cultivated mana, yet he felt more exhausted than he had after the intense exercise that morning.
Eventually, Ian staggered and collapsed to the ground. A self-mocking laugh escaped him.
‘I lack stamina.’
One of Evilbane’s weaknesses was its tremendous consumption of physical energy.
For that reason, members of House Berger placed great importance on physical conditioning.
Ian, however, had spent his time living like a ruined man after his coming-of-age ceremony, so his stamina was poor.
“…Whew.”
Ian raised his head.
The sun was still in the sky, but it was autumn, and night came quickly within the forest. Darkness would descend before long.
‘I should begin heading back.’
He wanted to continue even if it meant overexerting himself, but in his present condition, doing so would cause more harm than good.
‘There is no need to be impatient.’
As long as he did not grow lazy, reaching Level 5 would not take long.
He had already walked that path once. This time, it could only be easier, never more difficult.
With a brief grunt of effort, Ian rose briskly to his feet.