Chapter 8

Episode 8

Whoooooo!

As the mild vibration spread throughout my body, I began to spread and rotate the mana throughout it. The most difficult parts were the quadriplegic and cerebral fluid. The head was as dangerous as touching mana or circulating it through blood.

Anyone would go crazy in no time if it went wrong. In that sense, Hippocrates's knowledge was extremely helpful. The knowledge about blood that I learned while being scolded proved invaluable. As it began to move extremely slowly and weakly, the tightly blocked blood points slowly began to vibrate and shake.

Cold sweat began to flow out of me.

I was forced to gather as much focus as possible since it was quite delicate, just like putting a needle into hundreds of holes and then removing them. Even though I had a safety net, I would better off without failure.

'Drop it!' There came the sound of something breaking.

The blood point, which had been tightly blocked, was punctured by mana and slowly began to flow correctly.

'Slow down.'

I knew I should proceed slowly to avoid my brain bleeding.

'I just need to pierce it once. Just once.'

It was so difficult to set up the first circle that it required all of my concentration. I lost all strength in my body, but I had never lost focus. I precisely controlled the mana while watching the conditions inside myself cautiously.

Thud thud! Thud thud thud thud thud thud!

As I began to pierce through the tightly closed blood point like piercing a nerve from neck to tailbone, I felt the mana accelerating. I caught it not forcefully but naturally, anchored its direction firmly so that it wouldn't wander off, and pushed it steadily as if I were knocking on the gate with a battering ram.

'Drop it!'

"Ugh!"

Unimaginable pain came at that moment. I felt dizzy, almost as if I had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer. Unlike in the Hall, my body was in poor conditions, making the difficulty clearly greater. Of course, if I had been frightened and avoided pain, I wouldn't have revived.

'There's no failure.'

As I thought to myself, mana began to push into the cerebral blood, boasting a tremendous amount of pressure, like water that began to pour out of a dam.

And then...

Poof!

With the sound of something exploding, my mind became clear for a moment, and a mix of cold and warmth began to circulate in my head.

"Phew."

A sigh of relief left me unbidden. If one said that I had only succeeded in establishing only one perfect circle, albeit not a sloppy circle, they should try it for themselves. To be honest, it was more difficult to establish one circle than establishing eight or nine circles with the bizarre establishment method I used. I finished the crazy process by myself this time, unlike when those four women helped me to see whether the result of their experiment, me, turned out to be a masterpiece.

The balance of my body was entirely deformed because there was mana, divine power, and command mana existing simultaneously in me, which was completely back to normal. After checking the mana, which began to rotate around my body in an instant, I opened my eyes slowly. I saw the scenery outside. It had already become dark.

I began to think about it. I sat down around lunch, but it was already dark. Outside, I saw Amy standing restlessly with a worried look. It seemed that she was there the whole time. Her legs must be in pain after standing up for almost 7 or 8 hours. Still, that went to show she had a lot of patience. I felt so sorry for her.

I wiggled my fingers around carefully. Circles that moved along the blood allowed the forces of different properties to rotate without colliding. With the road paved with mana, it was time to circulate the sacred power and the command mana. This bizarre circle establishment method, which had the advantage of allowing different forces to coexist with each other, had many advantages. It was the best.

Whooooooo.

It was a silent magic chant. It sounded like something that only happened in fiction. When I chanted it, it produced better results because the effect doubled. Just by flicking my fingers to help me express my will, I could conjure a simple ability. It was as expected of a Master-Class Wizard.

Amy's eyes were filled with curiosity when she felt her body warming up as the Restore magic started to work.

'Don't be surprised yet. You'll be surprised again and again.'

I was attempting to surprise her again for the sake of my own gentle sadism.

* * *

Five months passed.

All I had done was hold my breath and roll my mana away from others' eyes. Of course, nothing was as difficult as the first time. There was undoubtedly an incredible increase in my growth as the basically hardened mana and sacred power slowly picked up momentum.

Four circles.

Considering that the average wizard didn't exceed three circles, it was really a tremendous recovery speed. It was enough to sneak out and catch wild animals whenever I needed food. Of course, I started to have financial leeway slowly thanks to the well-rolled dividends that came in during those five months, which I only spent on necessities. It was impossible to be extravagant like any other member of the royal family, anyway.

"Majesty. It's time to eat."

"Come on in."

The olden door opened, and Amy slowly came in after I permitted her.

"Someone brought a live animal again today as well as vegetables."

"That's right."

It was exactly three months ago. Someone had started to bring me meat and vegetables in the courtyard of this quiet palace. I was cautious because I thought Queen Liness had brought them to assassinate me initially. However, it turned out they were pretty good meat and vegetables. Even though I felt like someone was helping me, I didn't know who they exactly were.

'There was someone who stopped by the day before.'

It was just one. If I used my mana, which was widely spread inside the palace, I could easily find out who was there. I learned of Amy's private life unintentionally, so I retrieved the mana around her to calm my conscience.

"I don't think we need to worry about food for now."

"Good. Well done."

"Your Majesty."

"Hmm?"

"Have you considered repairing the palace? Like getting rid of weeds in the garden."

"Leave it alone."

"But the appearance of the palace..."

"It's better to let it remain this wake for the sake of my life."

She turned her head down with a tearful expression after my words. Since she had a good nature and a great sense of responsibility, she looked sad because she knew what it meant.

"Yes, your Majesty."

"You've worked hard. You can leave now."

"Yes."

Looking at her retreating with her head down, I closed my eyes again and began to move slowly. Externally, I wasn't supposed to make such violent action. Despite that, however, I accelerated my training whenever I was able to avoid surveillance.

What caught my eye was the few iron swords in the palace. They were too dull and old to use immediately, but I didn't have the luxury to be picky. No matter how good the sword was, my skills would worsen as soon as I neglected training. Practice was essential, even if it was simple.

Whoooo!

The mana around me then changed themselves to suit my movements. It wasn't Haris who taught me swordsmanship at first. To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to its word origin that was supposed to hold meaning. In fact, there was no doubt that his swordsmanship was as powerful as Haris.

It was called the Sword of The Water-Flowing Demon. It was a swordsmanship style that even Haris, a well-known swordsman, accepted, saying, "I admit that it is actually pretty good."

Its movements were persistent and gentle compared to Haris' swordsmanship style, which was oppressive and destructive.

[Dok Go-jun, the Heavenly Horse]

He was once an unknown man who broke down a corrupt political faction and became a master of martial arts. Hercules, who taught me swordsmanship for the first time, made me learn from him after Haris, as he also dug into swordsmanship to its limit in the Hall of Heroes. At first, he said, "I don't want to teach anyone. I don't know why I should teach him," but he was a quirky guy who suddenly changed his mind with a bottle of unusual rice wine.

When he laid down Cheongju, he bowed down and served almost as if he were serving a god, though I couldn't see him without laughing. He was a notorious drinker in the corridor. Even saint Daphne, who loved drinking, said he was pathetic.

Usually, if one learned a swordsmanship style, it became challenging to learn from others. Accept different techniques into the style that they learned intensely would feel alienating.

That was why I decided to use a combination of different swordsmanship styles. I combined the tenacity and elegance of the Heavenly Horse, Dok Go-jun, with the overwhelming power of Haris. The techniques that two crazy swordsmen created were honestly remarkably close to perfection.

To be more precise, I could say that I was the final weapon that the heroes had determined to create. I knew I was strong, and even they said I was amazing. I thought of an imaginary hidden enemy before me as I moved nonstop.

My body, which had almost recovered, didn't complain of pain despite the slight movements.

"Sigh...sigh. I'm still around level 30."

However, it was surprising that I recovered this much in just five months. The Knight Commander of the Royal Guard, who was called the Master, would be defeated by me if I considered our swordsmanship skills.

"Whoa... Whoa..."

As I lay down my tired physique, the ceiling of the old yet clean hall came into view. It seemed like it would collapse at any moment, but it was holding on so well thanks to the minimum management required by it.

"Hmm? Who's here?"

"The priests are."

"Oh, I'll be right there."

I used cleaning magic to wipe off my sweat, enjoying the refreshing feeling.

With a suspiciously refreshed face, the person who was training a while ago moved slowly and held a cane toward the room.

I wasn't capable of walking yet, as far as those outsiders knew.