A third-rate mana cultivation method could be obtained somehow, but the chances of reaching the realm of a Paladin with something like that were exceedingly slim. On top of that, there was the restriction that one had to build up a mana cultivation method from childhood in order to become a Paladin. Beginning anew at an age well past thirty was by no means easy. With a third-rate cultivation method, the possibility itself was not even worth considering.
Of course, he had no idea how effective the mana cultivation method supposedly created by a black mage would be, nor was there any certainty that it would succeed. To anyone’s eyes, it was a claim lacking credibility, but he had no choice but to place his last hope in the black mage.
Simply put, Kasim had stepped forward with the feeling that he was gambling. And besides, Kasim had a story unknown to others, one he had told no one…
Looking into Kasim’s face, which seemed to have hardened with resolve, Damon nodded.
“Good. If the mercenary captain learns it, I couldn’t ask for more. Is there anyone else who wishes to try learning it?”
With even the captain stepping forward, there was no need to say anything about the other mercenaries. They had been wandering about as third-rate mercenaries anyway, and since they believed there was absolutely no chance of becoming Paladins, they came forward one after another to volunteer. They thought they had nothing to lose.
“I’ll do it too.”
“Me too.”
In the end, all seven members of the mercenary band stepped forward, saying they would learn the Asura Death Spirit Heart Method. At the sight, Damon felt his shoulders rise with pride.
‘These fellows know a good thing when they see it… Keep this in mind. Right now, you’ve obtained the greatest fortuitous encounter of your lives. You may not know it, but the power of the Asura Death Spirit Heart Method is in no way inferior even when compared to Emperor Crosen’s exclusive heart method.’
Hiding his thoughts, Damon explained the points they had to be careful of when learning the Asura Death Spirit Heart Method.
“There is one restriction to the mana cultivation method I created. It must be started from a state in which one has learned no other mana cultivation method whatsoever. It seems there is no need to worry about that point. None of you appear to have any experience cultivating mana. However, keep this in mind. Once you learn this cultivation method, you will never again be able to learn another. Because the very method of cultivating mana is completely different, if you learn another cultivation method, the mana within your body will immediately scatter. If that happens, the consequences will be unimaginable. Do you understand?”
If the targets had been masters from the Central Plains, Damon’s warning might have made them stop and think at least once, but the mercenaries’ answers held no hesitation whatsoever. To be honest, if not for this opportunity, it was safe to say they would almost never have a chance to encounter a mana cultivation method.
“Understood.”
“Good.”
Hearing the mercenaries’ answer, Damon nodded in satisfaction. At last, successors to demonic arts had appeared in Arcadia. Just as Emperor Crosen had once done, this time demonic arts would spread widely across all of Arcadia by his hand.
Damon first looked at Kasim. If he was going to transmit internal energy arts to them, this place was hardly suitable. They could not begin training somewhere with nothing to eat. Therefore, Damon needed to go somewhere quiet and establish the framework of internal energy for them. Also, while the mercenaries were absorbed in training, he had something else to do separately. He had to punish those brats who had dared, without fear, to tug at the tiger’s whiskers.
‘Insolent bastards… They dared to run away? I’ll make sure to punish them thoroughly.’
Damon’s wicked hobby was just about to come into play once more. Having finished his thoughts, Damon quietly rose to his feet.
“Let us move for now. We cannot stay here long without any food.”
“Understood. Everyone, hurry and prepare to move.”
At Kasim’s order, the mercenaries hurriedly began packing their belongings. If they wanted to reach the village two days away, they had to hurry even a little. After loading all the baggage onto the horses, Kasim spoke hesitantly, looking terribly apologetic.
“Even if you are hungry, please endure it for a little while. If we march for about two days, we should be able to reach a village where we can purchase food.”
Hearing Kasim’s words, Damon narrowed his eyes.
“Are you planning to go by horse right now?”
“Y-yes, but is something wrong with that?”
Looking at Kasim, who asked back in bewilderment, Damon pointed at his own chest.
“Who am I?”
“A m-mage, are you not?”
“Then is there any need to exhaust ourselves by riding horses?”
Kasim’s face brightened at once as he understood Damon’s meaning.
“T-then…”
“Spatial movement exists to be used at times like this. So stop prattling and tell me the coordinates of our destination. I mean the place you had planned as our next destination.”
“W-would you do that for us?”
With an expression overflowing with joy, Kasim took out a map and unfolded it. As it was a map used by a mercenary band, it differed from ordinary ones in terms of accuracy. Of course, the coordinates for spatial movement were also written there without omission. Looking at Kasim, Damon gave another warning.
“Tell me the coordinates precisely marked for spatial movement. When I think of the time I trusted a cheap map and used spatial movement, only to warp right into the middle of a marketplace, I still shudder.”
“Of course. This is by no means a cheap map, so please don’t worry.”
Kasim answered confidently. At this moment, Kasim truly felt fortunate that a mage was a member of the mercenary band.
After searching for a while, Kasim read one place name to Damon. The place he named as their next destination was a city called Dontrel. It was an important strategic city of Tervia, one of the fairly powerful kingdoms, and a military and commercial city located on the route to the Crosen Empire. To go from where the party was to the Crosen Empire, they absolutely had to pass through Dontrel.
Ordinarily, they would have had to travel for a little over ten days to reach Dontrel, but because Damon had declared that he would move them through space, Kasim had deliberately named this place.
“It would be best to go to Dontrel, but if it is too much, another nearby village is fine. Dontrel is quite far from here, after all.”
“It doesn’t matter. That much is nothing…”
“If we go there and wait, we will certainly be able to meet our employer. Among the routes to the Crosen Empire, the roads that do not pass through there are extremely rugged.”
“Is that so? Understood.”
After hearing the coordinates, Damon drew a magic circle without another word.
Papapapat.
As befitted a high-ranking mage, the magic circle was completed with a single simple gesture. Around the party gathered in one place, a magic circle formed on its own. The mercenaries seemed extremely fascinated by the magic circle that had suddenly appeared.
“A magic circle appeared on its own without being drawn…”
“Amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this…”
Most of the magic the mercenaries could encounter was only low-level. Among the mages attached to mercenary bands, only a very small few could even perform spatial movement… The only mercenary among them who had experienced spatial movement was Kasim, and firmly engraved in his mind was the image of a mage from the past sweating profusely for nearly thirty minutes as he drew a magic circle. Even then, it had merely been a magic circle for short-distance movement, and only after putting in a great deal of effort had the mage been able to accomplish spatial movement.
Yet this black mage who had joined the mercenary band this time had resolved the magic circle to go to a place called Dontrel, which was by no means close, with a single effortless wave of his hand…
‘I must never let this mage go.’
In Kasim’s mind, the determination to make Damon one of his own, no matter what it took, was being engraved. Though he doubted whether he could actually accomplish it.
“Then I shall execute the warp.”
As soon as Damon finished speaking, the party vanished from that place. The magic circle drawn on the ground disappeared with them as well.
Flash.
The moment a light flashed in midair, a group of men and horses appeared as though they had suddenly come into being. Unfortunately, however, the place was about ten meters above the ground…
“Ugh!”
The moment the spatial movement ended, Kasim sensed that they were plummeting under the law of gravity and was scared out of his wits. Of all places, they had warped into midair…
Since the ground looked rather far away below, Kasim felt his mind go dizzy. Of course, for trained mercenaries, it would end with nothing worse than a broken arm or leg, but the problem was the horses. If, through bad luck, a horse broke even a leg, the loss would be no small matter.
Fortunately, however, Damon was among the party.
“Reverse Gravity.”
At his single phrase, the bodies of the party members, which had been falling as though they would crash into the ground, came to a stop as if caught in the invisible hand of a giant. Coincidentally, they were now only a short distance from the ground. Because gravity had been reversed, the party’s bodies were about to soar back into the air, but Damon dispelled the magic at just the right moment, allowing them to set foot on the earth without any particular impact.
Neigh!
The mercenaries were busy calming the startled horses. The humans could understand, however vaguely, what had happened, but the horses, being beasts, could only be terrified out of their wits… Kasim, who had finally regained his composure, expressed his gratitude to Damon.
“T-thank you.”
“Your map is not particularly useful either. To think it set the coordinates in midair.”
At Damon’s sharp look, Kasim scratched the back of his head. In truth, even though warp coordinates were marked, mercenaries rarely had opportunities for spatial movement. Because of that, the person who made the map likely had not paid much attention to the coordinates. In the end, he had no choice but to blame the unfortunate mapmaker.
“That rotten bastard. I paid a full forty-five silver for that map…”
“That’s enough. More importantly, where are we?”
Looking around, Kasim was able to realize that this was the outskirts of Dontrel. When he confirmed that they had arrived at the intended location without the slightest error, Kasim could only stick out his tongue in amazement.
‘He truly is a mage of outstanding skill. I heard that spatial movement becomes more difficult the farther the distance and the greater the number of people, yet we arrived precisely on the outskirts of Dontrel…’
“What are you doing? Are we not going in?”
“Understood.”
At Damon’s words, Kasim set aside his thoughts and quickly took the lead. The mercenaries also hurriedly urged their horses on and followed behind. Having arrived in Dontrel far ahead of their employer through spatial movement, the mercenary band was filled with anticipation at the thought of renting rooms at an inn in the city and resting well.
Upon entering the city of Dontrel, the party looked for an inn first. Since they had been eating only portable rations for a long time, they desperately wanted to taste proper food. Entering a restaurant and inn that looked fairly decent, the party ordered various dishes.
The food tasted excellent. Since Dontrel was a city of the Kingdom of Tervia, a powerful nation in the east, the lives of its citizens were fairly prosperous. Only Damon frowned as he ate the food. Though the dishes had enchanted the mercenaries’ tongues, they did not satisfy Damon at all.
‘As expected, when it comes to cooking, nothing can compare to that of the Central Plains.’
A short while later, the party gathered in a room, patting their bulging stomachs after having eaten their fill. From now on, they planned to receive instruction for several days in the mana cultivation method created by the black mage.
“Now then, shall we begin?”
Damon stepped forward and looked over the mercenaries. The method by which he would transmit the Asura Death Spirit Heart Method had already been perfectly established. Every mnemonic verse of the internal energy heart method was clearly remembered in Damon’s mind, and though it had been five hundred years ago, he also had ample experience teaching the warriors of the Guardian Demon King Army. Recalling that process, Damon smiled faintly.
‘You brats. Right now, you are obtaining a fortuitous encounter for the ages. Do you think there is even a single martial artist in the Central Plains martial world who would transmit martial arts without a master-disciple relationship?’
Of course, most of the mercenaries were older and had little to no experience circulating internal force, but Damon was fully confident in transmitting the internal energy heart method.
Internal energy arts were advanced martial arts that governed the qi of the great natural world, accumulated it within the body, and used it for attack and defense. Therefore, there was no way they could be easy to learn. However, in the martial world of the Central Plains, martial arts using these internal energy arts had developed to an extreme degree.
While martial arts focused only on external training, which merely governed the body, or on forms clearly had limitations, internal energy arts possessed limitless potential for development. Because of that, the Central Plains contained countless internal energy arts and internal energy heart methods beyond numbering, and they had undergone innumerable changes and continued to develop. The long history possessed by the Central Plains martial world had gradually supplemented the shortcomings of those internal energy arts, and in turn gave birth to many more perfected internal energy heart methods.