CRUNCH— CRUNCH.
I climbed the hill behind the grand mansion. The North was a land of brutal cold, but the Karsen grand mansion maintained the warmth of a spring day—entirely thanks to Mother. She had been an Archmage, after all.
In any case. Thanks to that, climbing the hill wasn't particularly hard.
"Here it is."
A mist-type barrier that only those of Karsen blood could enter was deployed across the back hills. The barrier was so powerful that rumors said anyone without the bloodline who entered the mist would come out as a skeleton.
Of course, I was the third son of House Karsen. The mist gladly parted to make way.
HISSSS—
Following the mist's guidance, I climbed the hill. After a long walk, I reached a midway point on the mountainside where no human foot had trod.
"Here it is."
I stopped before a stone gate carved with mystical patterns. Today's destination. I gripped the edge of the stone gate with both hands and pushed.
RUMBLE—
The stone gate opened.
A staircase descending underground appeared.
WHOOSH—
I lit the dark stairway with a torch and descended for a long time. Deep enough to make me wonder: Is there really a space this far beneath the mansion? Astonishingly deep.
'I didn't even know this place existed back then.'
The ruins of the ancient god Lumen. I'd known the place existed, but not what purpose it served. Father probably didn't know either. I'd only learned about it thanks to a certain "eccentric."
Before the regression, after joining the Resistance, I'd met countless eccentrics. The Resistance had an unusually high concentration of them. Was the Resistance just what happened when the world's surviving eccentrics gathered in one place? That's how it felt sometimes.
Perhaps. After all the heroes on the front lines had died, the twisted, strange ones hiding in the shadows were simply drawn to each other.
In any case. Among them, there was a ruin scholar with a notorious reputation as the most obsessive eccentric of all—Lorenzo, the Relic Maniac. Without him, I would never have known about this place, or about the regression through the pillar.
'I wonder what he's doing right now.'
Cutting through the darkness and silence as I kept descending, a maze-like path appeared.
I followed the maze for a long time. The underground ruins were so vast I couldn't even begin to gauge their size. At one point, I found myself thinking, 'Is this a ruin or an anthill?'
In any case, I followed the winding path until I arrived at a vast cavern. My vision was limited to what the torch's light could reach, but the echo of my footsteps told me the cavern was enormously wide.
I walked along the wall for a long time, torch in hand, and found a small fissure in the rock face. Finally.
"Where the dragon vein sleeps."
'The Flame-Frost Dragon's dungeon should be here, too.'
I calmed my racing heart. Excitement leads to mistakes. I shook off my stray thoughts, settled my mind and body, and pulled out the oil and sulfur.
"Hah."
I stuffed sulfur into the fissure, then poured oil over it in great glugs. After stepping back a good distance, I threw the torch.
BOOOOM—!
Sulfur, oil, and fire met, and a massive blaze roared to life with a thunderous boom.
WHOOOOSH—
Light and heat incomparably more intense than any torch. I felt it all with my entire body and sank to the ground. The myth of the pillar had been true, so this would be too. Don't doubt it. If I'm going to believe, I have to believe all of it.
The blaze fed on the oil and kept burning. Roaring. But then, at a certain point.
WHOOOOSH— SIZZLE— HISS.
The fire went out.
Complete darkness settled over the cavern.
I closed my eyes and spoke, word by word.
《O being who defied time.
Descend deep beneath the earth.
Raise your cup to the flame dragon vein.
Fill your belly with infinitely expanding fire.
Follow in the footsteps of the Archmage.
Peer into the memories of the world.
And become the light of this world.》
The incantation echoed through the cavern.
Sure enough.
A vermilion magic circle rose from the floor.
WHIRRR—
Vermilion light burst through the darkness.
The ground began to sizzle and boil.
I didn't think "I knew it." I'd believed it would happen. But even so.
'......Ugh.'
It was hot. Savagely so. It was only flame domain mana, not actual fire. Yet the heat felt like real flames. My skin dried and cracked.
'One wrong move and I burn to death.'
THUMP— THUMP—
My heart hammered like mad.
But.
"Come."
I didn't resist.
Rather, I embraced it with my entire body.
INHALE—
EXHALE—
I drew the flame mana deep into my lungs, then slowly released it. The way a blacksmith forges pure steel through quenching, I combined each inhale and exhale to build up pure mana.
The flame dragon vein was composed of inherently pure mana, so with each breath, it accumulated at a staggering rate.
HISSSS.
Following my breathing, the flame mana that had built up migrated from my lungs to my heart. Thump, thump. It rode the heartbeat, flowed through the blood vessels, and spread across my entire body.
From the major blood vessels to the capillaries, from fingertips to toes—flame mana began filling every single cell.
It was no longer hot. I wasn't burned. The flame domain mana approached as gently as a mother caressing her child—warm as spring sunshine—and vitality coursed through my body.
A being beloved by the mana of the flame domain.
I hadn't known before the regression. That's why I'd tried to force frigid northern mana into myself—but not anymore.
I know exactly what I have.
A great family of the North.
The blessing of flame domain mana.
The talent of a mage.
I would put all of it to use.
I would become a flame domain Archmage without peer—the first and the last.
No, I must.
'Now.'
To become a Mage, I began to control the mana that was raging like a bull. The controlled mana was refined into "magical power." Now I would stockpile it near the heart so it could be used at any time.
'Spin!'
I projected my will onto the mana, which felt like an extension of my own limbs.
WHIRL— WHIRL—
Vermilion mana began spinning as it wrapped around my heart. One mistake could incinerate my heart, so I focused with every nerve I had. Turn. Connect. Without loss of power. Become complete.
I don't have time. I can't spend long years at it like others. Take in a monstrous amount all at once and make it perfect. A suicidal method where one wrong step means death—but I can do it.
How much time passed?
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. Cold sweat ran down my back. But at last. The spinning mana linked end to end, forming a perfect ring, and upon it, a single star rose.
——PING!
A star upon the ring.
At last, a complete Star Ring.
"Hah. Hah......hah."
Finally.
I had become a 1-Star Mage.
"It's done. I did it."
I clenched my fist. A Star Ring formed incomparably faster than in my previous life. A thrilling rush of euphoria lifted the corners of my mouth.
Of course, there was no time to bask in the achievement.
Before the regression, I'd confirmed that I had more aptitude as a Mage than as a warrior. The third young lord of the North's renowned swordsmanship house, with a Mage's aptitude—the irony couldn't be thicker. But it wouldn't show on the surface.
Just because I wielded magic didn't mean I intended to abandon swordsmanship entirely.
This time, the area below the navel.
I focused on the Core.
Not the old Core where I'd forced frigid mana in.
I pushed the cold air out and filled it with blazing heat.
On this frozen land, I would become a flame Magic Swordsman.
Like a single flame in the frozen North.
Explode! My talent!
***
After several hours of absorbing the flame dragon vein in the vast underground cavern. I'd created a Star Ring in my heart and filled the Core with a decent amount of flame domain mana.
I wished I could keep this up, but......
"BLEGH!"
A stench that stabbed my nostrils made me retch. I honestly felt like vomit was about to come up. It smelled like I'd fallen into a cesspit. The mana circulating through my blood vessels had cleaned out the waste and expelled it from my body.
'Damn. This happened before the regression too.'
Even so, this was beyond anything I remembered. Back then, I'd been wandering and starving, so I hadn't eaten properly—it hadn't been this bad. But in this era, I'd been gorging on nothing but garbage day in and day out, so the stench was beyond words.
"......UGH!"
A reek that made me dizzy after just a whiff.
Any more and I'd pass out.
"Time to head back."
I needed to go back and wash up. It came from my own body, but enduring this nauseating stench was impossible. I dusted myself off and stood.
As I did, the roiling flame dragon vein gently settled back to sleep, and the underground cavern was swallowed by darkness again.
Pitch-black darkness without a ray of light. I couldn't see an inch ahead, but it didn't matter at all. I was now a flame Mage. The me from a few hours ago and the me right now were completely different creatures.
HISSSS.
I drew mana from the Star Ring wrapped around my heart. The mana that flowed out of my body coalesced in the air a short distance away. When the compressed mana reached its critical point, I murmured.
"Ignite."
WHOOOOSH—
A flame bloomed in the air.
Formal Magic: [Fire Ball].
Originally, Formal Magic was the product of a contract made between mages and the world in the distant past. A "standardized power" that produced the same output for anyone who channeled mana according to the set formula.
Formal Magic was graded by the number of stars, and [Fire Ball] was a 1-Star spell.
A normal [Fire Ball] involved condensing a flame in one's hand and launching it in a single direction, but I could modify and use it in my own way.
Like suspending it in midair, or linking it to the Star Ring and floating it around like a will-o'-the-wisp...... My old comrades couldn't contain their shock when they saw it.
I wasn't holding a torch, yet everything around me was bright. My hands were even free. I slung the now-empty bag—sulfur and oil all used up—over my shoulder.
"Before I go."
WHOOOOSH—
I burned away every trace of the waste soaking the floor. I left the ruins and returned to my room. I took off my clothes, washed them, hung them up to dry, and bathed.
Once the vile stench was finally gone, I felt human again. I dried off, changed into comfortable clothes, and sat on the bed.
I focused all my senses on the Star Ring spinning around my heart.
'Hm.'
The mana stored in the Star Ring was purer than ever. Before the regression, even after lengthy refinement during training in the South, it hadn't been this pure.
'Incredible.'
The star floating on the ring, too.
It seemed to shine brighter than before the regression.
But.
The knowledge of the future.
The billions of demonic beasts.
The overwhelming Demon King's forces.
The Annihilation Dragon's strength.
They kept planting anxiety in me.
Thinking of them made my mouth go dry.
Even having built up extremely pure mana at a far earlier point than before the regression, my heart wasn't at ease.
This anxiety wouldn't stop until I killed the Demon King with my own hands.
FLOP.
I collapsed onto the bed.
I forced myself to sleep.
***
The next day, at dawn. Before the sun had even risen. I woke earlier than anyone, changed my clothes, and climbed the hill behind the mansion. I found the ruins, opened them, and descended the stairs.
I had no torch.
I could simply conjure fire whenever I needed it.
WHOOOOSH—
I floated a flame in the air and walked. After arriving at the underground cavern, I found the fissure and poured fire into it. Once I'd expended a certain amount of mana, I sat cross-legged.
Sizzle. The magic circle rose again, and the flame dragon vein boiled to life.
INHALE—
EXHALE—
I steadied my breathing and focused on the Star Ring and Core.
The flame domain mana absorbed from the flame dragon vein was pure and vibrant. Thanks to it, the Core came alive, and the mana refined from the Core strengthened my body.
The Core that had shriveled and sputtered when fed frigid mana was now dancing with excitement.
I rose to my feet and kicked off the ground.
With a THUD, my body launched into the air.
"......Oh."
I must have jumped about three meters off the ground. I reinforced my legs with mana, landed softly, and broke into a sprint.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
I was moving so fast it felt like riding a horse at full gallop. A [Fire Ball] even followed alongside me, lighting the way, and I felt like a sun chariot tearing through the darkness.
"Whew."
Sweat poured off me like rain.
But I couldn't have been more satisfied.
A warrior's Core strengthens the body. More precisely, the mana stored in the Core enhances physical ability, and once mana refinement surpasses a certain level, it can enhance not just the body but weapons as well.
One step beyond that, and you can cloak your weapon in "Aura."
"There's a reason the minimum requirement for a Knight is being an Aura User."
Once someone could wield Aura, their physical abilities were already on an entirely different plane from an ordinary soldier.
Two months until the Golden Star Tournament.
My opponents would be Knights.
At this point in time, every last one of them was a monster.
That aside.
"Was this the Golden Star Tournament where those bastards pulled their tricks?"
The traitors who betrayed humanity and sided with the demons. They were spread through human society like a plague.
And.
Because of them, the woman who should have won was eliminated, and their puppet made it into the Platinum Knight Order.
"This time, that won't happen."