There was an old training ground within the lord’s castle that had not been used in years.
The stone paving was cracked in countless places, as though an earthquake had struck, and several sections had been dented or gouged out.
Weeds had even sprouted here and there. It appeared that no one maintained the place and that it had simply been abandoned.
BZZZZT―
In the silent training ground, illuminated only by faint moonlight, wisps of black Aura rose from my body as I sat cross-legged.
It was Heavenly Demon Qi.
It was regarded as the origin of all Demonic Qi, as well as the pinnacle of demonic energy that allowed its wielder to use every Demonic Art.
‘Beginning cultivation at ten years old in a body that has never practiced martial arts before….’
To be honest, it was very late.
When a human was born, all of the body’s energy channels were open, allowing the energy of all creation to flow from the Baihui Acupoint at the crown of the head to the Yongquan Acupoint on the soles of the feet.
As time passed, however, impurities accumulated in the body and obstructed those channels.
At ten years old, I was unsure whether I could even form a proper dantian, let alone reach Great Completion.
But just now.
FWOOOOOSH!
Though it was faint, I could clearly feel something small and precious settling firmly within my lower dantian.
‘Phew… At least I have completed the First Stage.’
I had reached the stage of planting the seed of the Internal Energy I would accumulate within my lower dantian.
Now, I merely had to use that seed as a core and steadily increase my Demonic Qi.
Considering the level of martial prowess I had possessed in my previous life, I still had an incredibly long road ahead of me. Even so, completing the First Stage brought me some relief.
‘Hmm… Three months.’
At first, I had expected it to take at least six months.
However, Heavenly Demon Qi was accumulating far more quickly than I had anticipated.
Was it because I had crossed dimensions?
Evan Verdin’s body was somewhat unusual.
Ordinarily, only an extremely small portion of the Internal Energy generated through cultivation would settle within the dantian. This was true even for Demonic Arts, which accumulated energy more rapidly than Orthodox Cultivation Arts.
This body, however, stored more than eighty percent of the Demonic Qi produced through cultivation in the dantian with astonishing efficiency.
‘At least that is fortunate.’
There was another peculiar trait this body possessed.
Even before I began gathering Heavenly Demon Qi in my dantian, an unknown form of mana had already been condensed within my heart.
It was only an infinitesimal amount, but the mana was astonishingly pure.
I first sensed this power on the first day I began cultivating.
BZZZ… BZZZT…….
― Huh? What is this?
While circulating my energy and regulating my breathing, I suddenly felt a strange sense of discomfort near my heart. I carefully focused my consciousness on that area…?
HUM… HUM… HUM….
The mana within my heart slowly began to rotate.
Before long, it resonated with the mana of nature and even gathered together to manifest directly in front of me.
HMMMMM―!
― Whoa?! Wh-What is this?
I recoiled in surprise at the black sphere that had suddenly appeared.
For someone who had lived his entire life with a sword in hand, it was a completely unfamiliar sensation.
To learn more about it, I spent quite some time visiting the lord’s library and searching through every relevant book I could find.
Eventually, I discovered that the phenomenon was remarkably similar to the way a Mage manipulated mana through a Circle.
― A Circle, all of a sudden???
To explain briefly….
Unlike Knights, who used physical training to accumulate highly refined mana directly within their hearts, Mages created a ‘Mana Circle(Circle)’ around the heart.
Through that Circle, they manipulated the mana of nature, constructed spell formulas, and manifested the phenomena commonly known as ‘magic.’
― But… There is something strange about this.
The books clearly stated that a Circle was formed outside the heart, yet I could feel the mana rotating inside mine.
― What in the world happened to this body…?
One thing was certain.
This boy’s body could learn both ‘martial arts,’ which manipulated mana in the form of ‘Aura,’ and ‘magic.’
‘This is insane… I cannot believe it is possible.’
According to conventional wisdom, if two different forms of energy existed within the same body, their flows would become entangled and eventually explode.
In Murim, this was known as ‘Qi Deviation.’ Here, it was called ‘Mana Runaway.’
For some inexplicable reason, however, the mana within my heart and the Heavenly Demon Qi within my dantian did not clash. Instead, they coexisted in perfect harmony, strengthening one another.
Though I could not be certain, it was probably because of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
After all, it was a ‘Primordial Divine Art’ whose many functions had yet to be fully uncovered.
‘Hehehe! This is interesting.’
From that day onward, I trained myself to use the mana within my heart while cultivating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Unfortunately, magic proved far more difficult than I had expected.
HUM― HUM― HUM―
“Damn it… How am I supposed to move the mana through this section?”
Today, I was once again studying the First-Circle spell ‘Magic Missile’ while leafing through a magic book I had borrowed from the library.
“Phew, this is not easy….”
Had anyone seen me, they would have wondered what kind of lunatic tried to learn magic from books alone, but I had no other choice.
In my current circumstances, whom could I trust enough to ask for magical instruction?
‘Hmm… Then should I modify this section of the formula like this?’
BZZZT!
After struggling with it for quite some time.
The black mana that had been clustered together like wisps of fluff suddenly condensed into a small, solid mass.
“Oh! Did it work?!”
My joy at succeeding lasted only a moment.
I had managed to create a Magic Missile, but there was one problem.
I could not control it.
FWEEE~~~
“Huh…? H-Hey! W-Wait!”
The Magic Missile suddenly flew off in an arbitrary direction.
Before I could do anything about it, it exploded.
BOOM―!!!
Naturally, chaos erupted.
“Gah! Wh-What was that?!”
“We are under attack! Someone has infiltrated the castle!”
The Verdin Marquisate was already heavily guarded because of the monsters’ frequent attacks.
“Sound the alarm horn first!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
BWOOOOO―
The blaring sound of a horn announcing an enemy attack rang loudly through the dead of night.
“What is happening?!”
“We detected a mana reaction just now!”
“What?!”
The Marquis, who had been awakened from a deep sleep, immediately mobilized the Knights and soldiers and ordered an extensive search.
‘Ha… I am finished.’
That night.
I broke out in a cold sweat while evading the Marquis and his Knights and fleeing back to my room.
Had I not secretly constructed a passage connecting my training ground to my room, I would undoubtedly have been caught.
― He does not appear to be here. Search somewhere else!
It was also fortunate that the Marquis gave the wrong order.
At that very moment, I was hiding in the bushes right beside him.
In the end, the incident passed as a mere commotion, but afterward, I became considerably more cautious.
‘Phew, that was close.’
If an illegitimate child who had been raised as a commoner suddenly used unusual martial arts and magic that no one had taught him, anyone would find it suspicious.
They might even begin to question whether I was truly the Marquis’s ‘real son.’
‘…I am sorry, but that would not be entirely wrong.’
Thinking about it that way left a bitter taste in my mouth.
However, there was a problem even more serious than that.
Both my Heavenly Demon Qi and my mana appeared pitch-black.
It would be all too easy for someone to mistake me for a Dark Mage.
‘No matter what happens, I cannot allow that.’
I suddenly found myself wishing I had a Concealing Demon Ring.
It was a ring worn by members of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult when traveling through the Central Plains, allowing them to conceal their Demonic Qi.
Of course, Arvania also had Artifacts capable of concealing specific forms of energy, much like a Concealing Demon Ring.
However, an ordinary item would never be enough to hide Heavenly Demon Qi.
‘Where am I supposed to find something like that?’
The most obvious place was a Magic Tower, but just as with the imperial palace, I had no plausible reason to visit one.
“Haa…….”
A sigh escaped me.
Truly, nothing was ever easy.
* * *
“Hmm.”
My concerns continued for several more days.
What other problems did I need to resolve?
‘I need a force that will stand on my side.’
I had felt this keenly both as the Third Prince and as the Heavenly Demon, but there was a limit to what one person could accomplish alone.
‘Rather than starting from absolutely nothing, it would be better to make use of what I already have.’
That was why I wanted to strengthen the Verdin Marquisate.
‘Hmm… What happened to House Verdin in the future?’
At first, nothing particularly noteworthy came to mind.
The territory had always remained quietly tucked away in a remote corner of the frontier.
‘Even so, there must have been something.’
Hmmmm.
I thought about it over and over.
Then an incident that would occur five years from now suddenly came to mind.
‘You have got to be kidding me! How could I forget that…?’
It had been such a massive catastrophe that the entire empire was thrown into turmoil.
Because of that incident, House Verdin would be annihilated.
‘Ha, this will not do.’
I needed to begin preparing to prevent it immediately.
Fortunately, I still had some time before ‘that incident’ occurred.
How could I make the Verdin Marquisate wealthy and powerful?
‘First of all, the population here is far too small for a territory of this size.’
It was because monster attacks occurred far too frequently.
Did that mean I had to completely subjugate every monster in the Behamag Mountains?
…Perhaps it might become possible in the future, but it was impossible now.
And let us consider the matter carefully.
Would people truly flock here merely because the territory became safer?
‘No.’
What attracted people?
Human beings were creatures who fundamentally pursued profit.
‘Desire!’
Was that not the greatest force driving people to act?
The most reliable incentive was, of course, ‘money.’
‘If people hear that they can make a fortune here, they will probably come running on their own, no matter how dangerous it is.’
I suddenly recalled how the Divine Cult had made money in the past.
No matter how afraid people were of Demonic Practitioners, once they learned that the Demonic Spirit Herb and Black Ginseng, which grew only in the Heavenly Mountains, were profitable, merchants crawled there from every corner of the realm.
‘Then what could possibly be profitable in a place crawling with nothing but monsters… Huh?’
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
The answer had been hidden within the question itself.
* * *
SCRITCH, SCRITCH.
A quill moved ceaselessly across the approval documents spread over the desk.
As usual, Marquis Pervan Verdin was working in his office that day.
“Phew, honestly…….”
He released a long sigh as he recalled the commotion that had taken place several nights earlier.
‘It is good that he wants to grow stronger quickly, but… he nearly exposed himself.’
Indeed, what would have happened if he had not discovered Evan hiding in the bushes first and ordered the search party away?
‘He would probably have been caught.’
Even if that had happened, the Marquis could have offered a vague explanation and somehow smoothed things over.
Even so, it would be troublesome if something similar occurred again.
‘No one other than me must ever notice the Dark Mana Evan possesses….’
Surprisingly, the Marquis already knew that ‘the illegitimate child Evan’ secretly trained every night in meditation, swordsmanship, magic, and various other disciplines.
From time to time, he had watched Evan train from beyond the reach of the boy’s senses.
‘His growth rate and capacity for learning far exceed my expectations.’
It was undoubtedly a good thing, but too much could be as harmful as too little.
At this rate, there was no telling when or how Evan’s Dark Mana might be exposed.
‘I will have to find a solution….’
At that moment.
The Marquis’s expression was so different that one might have questioned whether he was truly the same man who stood before Evan.
His cold, piercing gaze seemed sharp enough to cut like a blade.
He was lost in thought when—
KNOCK, KNOCK.
“Father. It is your son, Evan.”
“Hmm? …Come in.”
The youngest son at the center of his concerns had come to see him of his own accord.
What could he want this time?
Before the Marquis even realized it, his stern expression had gradually softened.
“What brings you here?”
“Father. You will soon depart for a monster subjugation campaign, will you not?”
Evan answered the Marquis’s question with one of his own.
“A subjugation campaign? It is scheduled for a week from now, but…….”
…Surely not?
A faint sense of unease crept into the Marquis’s heart, and his voice became cautious.
GRIN.
Sure enough.
A meaningful smile appeared on Evan’s lips.
“I would like to accompany you on this monster subjugation campaign.”