The Asura Death Spirit Heart Method that Damon intended to pass on could likewise be called nearly perfect in terms of completeness. He did feel it was a bit of a waste to transmit an internal energy cultivation method with such a history without any conditions attached, but Damon forced himself to change his mind.
Right now, the spread of demonic arts was his most urgent priority. Only then could he check the monopoly of the orthodox internal energy cultivation methods that were rampant throughout Arcadia.
Calmly composing himself, Damon began his lecture.
“Listen carefully. The mana cultivation method I created is aimed at speed, and its defining characteristic is that it circulates the mana within the body in reverse. To do that, the first and foremost task is to create a mass of mana inside the body that you can control. Most likely, none of you can do that yet. So I will first establish that framework for you.”
After he finished speaking, Damon gestured for Gerald to come over.
“You, come here.”
For mercenaries who knew nothing at all about the acupoints of the human body, nor the channels through which qi flowed, the only way to make them understand internal cultivation was through practice and direct demonstration. For that purpose, Damon decided to personally perform the Crown-Opening Great Method on Gerald.
The Crown-Opening Great Method. It was a method used by sects with long histories to effectively nurture their promising juniors. At the very least, an elder of the sect who had reached the peak realm would use his own internal energy to open the blood vessels and meridians of the junior. A junior who received this Crown-Opening Great Method would grow into an internal energy expert within a short time. To do so, powerful internal energy was essential, and Damon had a suitable solution for that.
‘Of course, there’s no way I have internal energy. But if I gather and condense mana, it should certainly produce a similar effect.’
Having finished his thoughts, Damon drew in mana for the Crown-Opening Great Method.
Sssssss.
As expected of a master of the Ninth Circle, the surrounding mana was rapidly sucked in. After seating Gerald in front of him, Damon condensed the mana he had gathered as much as possible.
“From now on, an enormous flow of mana will form inside your body according to a certain pattern. So you must remember that route without missing a single part of it. There will probably be some pain. But you must not overlook even the smallest detail. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
Gerald nodded as if he understood. He was already prepared to do anything for the sake of avenging his family. Once he was ready, Damon infused the gathered and condensed mana into Gerald’s body. Precisely according to the method of the Asura Death Spirit Heart Method.
“Hup.”
As something tremendous raced unhindered through his body, Gerald flinched and trembled. This was an unfamiliar experience, one he had never undergone before. Ordinarily, the presence of mana was so faint that an ordinary person could never perceive it, but the mana that had entered Gerald’s body was condensed to the limit. With such a thing coursing freely through his blood vessels and meridians, there was no way pain would not follow. Gerald’s face was twisted from the unfamiliar pain, which was by no means light.
As if he understood it all, Damon soothed him.
“It hurts, but you must endure it. In a short while, the flow of mana will circle your body exactly nine and a half times. During that time, you must engrave the route along which the mana flows deep into your mind. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Magician.”
Damon’s Crown-Opening Great Method continued for quite some time. Ordinarily, the internal energy infused would remain for a long time inside the body of the one receiving the Crown-Opening Great Method, serving as the foundation upon which the recipient’s internal energy could grow. But what Damon had infused was merely condensed mana, so it was certain to disperse as soon as the Crown-Opening Great Method ended.
But that did not matter. As long as Gerald accurately remembered the route along which the mana flowed and cultivated without cease, a new mass of mana would form within his body….
By the time the flow of mana had circled Gerald’s body nine and a half times, a full half day had passed. Gerald had already fallen into a state of selflessness. Though it had been with external assistance, Gerald had finally taken his first step onto the path of internal cultivation.
“Do you remember the route?”
“Yes, Magician. I remember it all.”
“The mana I infused into you has probably all vanished. But do not be disappointed. If you train repeatedly, come to perceive the mana within your body, and continuously circulate it along the route you remembered, you will someday achieve your goal….”
“Y-yes, I understand.”
Gerald rose with an expression that showed he still did not quite know what was what. After taking a moment to calm the disturbed mana, Damon called Kasim next.
“This time it is your turn. You must have heard everything I told Gerald, so I will not say much. Come here and sit.”
“Yes.”
Kasim obediently approached and sat with his back to Damon.
A short while later, the same process was repeated. The Crown-Opening Great Method. The supreme great method that martial arts trainees of the Central Plains would long to receive even in their dreams was being performed on Kasim, the mercenary captain. As he infused condensed mana into Kasim’s body, Damon shook his head desolately.
‘This fellow is older, so learning the Asura Death Spirit Heart Method won’t be so simple for him. Internal energy is something that must be cultivated from childhood if one is to achieve great success.’
After Kasim finished receiving the great method, it was Heinrich’s turn. Like Gerald, he seemed to have some story behind him, but he never let it pass his lips. He was a novice mercenary with an extremely youthful appearance. His temperament was very soft, and he was the sort to shed tears over even trifling matters, almost like a woman.
‘This fellow resembles someone I knew very much. That guy from five hundred years ago. His appearance, his personality…. Was his name Dietrich?’
Thinking this and that, Damon immersed himself in performing the Crown-Opening Great Method on Kasim. This, too, was arduous work that took a full half day. Since he could not do more than two people a day no matter how much he hurried, Damon decided to take his time and proceed at leisure.
“There is no need to rush.”
Even that was possible only because Damon was borrowing the power of magic. If a martial arts master were to perform the Crown-Opening Great Method, it would be difficult to properly administer it to even one person in a month. The amount of internal energy consumed was by no means small.
For that reason, even in the Central Plains, the Crown-Opening Great Method was rarely performed unless the recipient was a sect’s direct-line disciple. It did pain him somewhat to perform such a great method for free, but Damon forced himself to steady his mind.
‘In any case, these fellows are my companions, and they may be of at least some help in hunting dragons, so it isn’t all that bad to pass an internal energy cultivation method on to them. If I suffer for about three days, I should be able to finish the Crown-Opening Great Method for all of them. Then I can have them train here for a while before going to hunt those things.’
Thinking this and that, Damon continued carrying out the work. The mercenaries were engrossed in conversation, without the faintest idea that they were now receiving an opportunity that came once in a thousand years.
“Do you think this mana cultivation method will really be effective?”
“Who knows? And what if it isn’t? Weren’t we third-rate mercenaries destined to drift here and there like duckweed anyway?”
“That’s true.”
Listening to the mercenaries talk as if they were leaving everything to fate, Damon was finishing the Crown-Opening Great Method on Kasim.
“I was one step too late.”
Looking around the empty cave, Russellant bit his lower lip hard. After untold hardships, he had finally found the trail, so he had been certain that this time he would kill the man and recover Increcia. But as though he had anticipated it in advance, the detestable bastard had slipped away without a trace.
At first, he assumed the man had merely gone out somewhere nearby for a short while. Because of that, Russellant carefully erased the alarm magic around the cave without leaving any sign, then waited for him.
But it was in vain. He waited for an entire week, yet the man never showed himself again. In the end, only after summoning a gnome, a spirit of the earth, and questioning it did Russellant learn that the man had completely left this place….
“This is troublesome.”
Russellant’s expression turned troubled. He truly had no idea how he was supposed to find the man’s trail in Arcadia, which was crawling with humans. The one fortunate point was that he had spared the life of one human connected to the man. If he had killed that human, finding the man would have become even more difficult. As he searched every corner of the cave’s interior, Russellant’s eyes gleamed.
“What in the world was he doing here?”
A fellow with that level of magical ability should surely have been obsessed with making a name for himself in the human world. In Russellant’s estimation, there was likely no human master of the Ninth Circle in Arcadia besides him.
But the man showed an entirely unexpected pattern of behavior. To think he had remained holed up for so long in Sebain, which could be called an extremely remote region…. What in the world had he been doing here? But no answer came. Looking around the cave’s interior, Russellant frowned.
“He truly is a meticulous fellow.”
Unfortunately, the memories of rocks and stones did not last beyond a week. Thus, all he could learn from the gnome was that the man had joined a party that included a single girl and left this place.
Moreover, the man had thoroughly spread a barrier while working, preventing the gnome’s eyes from reaching him. Because of that, whatever he had done here remained buried in complete secrecy.
“But it does not matter. In any case, he will be caught in my hands….”
Russellant decided he would return to Lorvain. According to the interrogation, the human under the curse had maintained a very close relationship with the man, and it was certain that he would come back to visit him.
Therefore, if he waited there, it seemed likely he could either catch the man or at least determine where he was hiding.
Recalling that fact, Russellant slowly set off. Since he was a dragon promised a vast lifespan, Russellant was accustomed to waiting patiently.
“You have come?”
Looking at the familiar face, Damon nodded. He was currently in Lorvain after using spatial movement. To be precise, he had come to meet Zengart, who was posing as Baron Romain.
Since he had begun a new journey, he needed a suitable amount of travel funds, but all the money he possessed was being held by Zengart. Therefore, Damon had no choice but to take a brief moment to visit Lorvain.
If he used spatial movement, he could arrive in the blink of an eye….
Passing the Asura Death Spirit Heart Method on to Kasim and the other mercenaries had been completed for the time being. For three full days, Damon performed the Crown-Opening Great Method on the mercenaries, laying the framework for them to circulate their internal force.
The result was astonishing. More than half of the mercenaries had perceived, however faintly, the presence of qi flowing through their blood vessels and meridians. Since that was something without precedent even in the Central Plains, Damon could not help being startled when he realized it.
“This makes no sense. Even if they received the Crown-Opening Great Method, to be able to sense qi in less than a single day….”
“But I can feel it. Something is circling various parts of my body like a faint stream of water.”
Unexpectedly, the one who sensed the flow of mana first was Kasim. With a bewildered expression, Kasim pointed out one by one the areas where he could feel qi.
“Good heavens.”
Hearing that, Damon had no choice but to believe Kasim’s words in the end. The parts Kasim indicated were, without exception, vital acupoints of the human body, and the movement he described was thoroughly based on the Asura Death Spirit Heart Method. At their excessively rapid progress, Damon could only gape.
“Are these fellows perhaps geniuses that appear once in a thousand years? Even among the Guardian Demon King’s troops, the most talented ones only barely managed to sense the flow of qi after more than a month….”
The ones who had accomplished this unbelievable feat were Kasim, the youngest Gerald and Heinrich, and a mercenary named Helton. The remaining three, including Patterson, still could not sense the flow of qi.
Sensing the flow of qi meant that the foundation for beginning energy circulation had been established. If they could move the qi they sensed with their will, then energy circulation and breath regulation would begin from that point on. Their progress could be considered abnormally fast. Damon conjectured several reasons for it.
The first reason was probably that Arcadia was a place unusually abundant in qi. The same was true of Truvenia. These two continents were so full of qi distributed through the atmosphere that they could not even be compared to the Central Plains.
Because of that, the magicians here could deploy magic without any difficulty. That was something Damon had only been able to discern after becoming a magician above a certain level.
“This place is rich in qi to a degree that cannot even be compared to the Central Plains. The fact that these fellows’ progress is so fast is probably due to that.”
The essence of energy circulation and breath regulation was to draw the qi of the great natural world into the body and make it one’s own. If so, energy circulation and breath regulation could be even more effective in Arcadia, where far more qi was distributed.