Chapter 4.
*Bang.*
*Click.*
As soon as Torbin left, Luke locked the infirmary door. Because what he was about to do was something that could not suffer interruption from anyone.
*‘Whatever happens, I have to regain my strength first.’*
To take revenge on Meolbin and House Cornelio, and to turn everything back, he needed power to match. Therefore, the first preparation he had to make was to grow stronger. He needed to recover at least the level of strength he’d possessed in the past.
*‘But why the hell is this kid’s body in such a state?’*
Luke looked down at his body. What met his eyes was a gaunt, withered frame. No matter how far they had fallen, Schnelden was still undeniably a martial house. For a direct descendant of such a house, this body was far too pathetic. However, the real problem wasn’t merely this body’s outward condition.
*‘How old is he to not have a single drop of mana?’*
Luke was fifteen years old. It was an age where the children of other houses naturally accepted mana and even learned their house’s secret traditions. Faster children would already be walking the path of a true successor. Yet from this body, he couldn’t feel even a trace of mana.
*‘It’s not like he never learned the sword.’*
Upon closer inspection, it seemed he had quit learning the sword halfway. Because his memories hadn’t fully returned yet, he couldn’t tell the reason.
*‘Well, whatever. It won’t take long to reach my former level.’*
It wasn’t an empty boast. Starting over with knowledge already in hand was an immense advantage. In his final battle, Luke had realized just how inefficiently he, his father, and his ancestors had trained all this time. When he realized there were methods several times faster and better, all his past suffering had felt so futile… But now was different.
*‘Because I’m about to climb the mountain again.’*
This time, he could choose the fastest and most efficient path from the very start. If he followed this path, he would soon ascend to the heights he had once reached.
*‘Perhaps I could even become stronger than before.’*
At the time, the situation had been urgent, and he had had no choice but to be cautious in reversing his mana core, which had already gone down the wrong path. But now? This body was a clean slate that had never accepted mana even once. Furthermore, since Luke had his past memories, if he followed the new method from the very basics, the efficiency would double.
*Thump, thump.*
Just thinking about it made his chest thrum.
*‘Calm down.’*
Luke forcibly suppressed his surging anticipation. Then he immediately sat cross-legged.
“Hah, hoo.”
Closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths, he began to feel things he never had before. A sensation like wind brushing against his skin. It was mana. Had anyone witnessed this scene, they might have made a fuss about a once-in-a-century genius appearing. No matter how well-educated the scion of a prestigious house was, feeling mana usually took several days at the very least.
Luke didn’t stop there.
“Hup!”
He drew the mana in the air into his body. The mana traveled through his blood vessels, circulated once, and settled in his right chest. It was the process of creating a mana core, the organ martial artists called their second heart.
*‘Hm?’*
Just as he began forming the core, he tilted his head. It wasn’t because something had gone wrong. Rather, it was proceeding incredibly smoothly.
*‘This… it’s almost the same as my old body?’*
The reason for his surprise was that this body was almost identical to his past one. The size and elasticity of the mana circuits, and even their positions—everything was familiar.
*‘I did say my body was a once-in-a-thousand-years specimen.’*
And yet, the exact same body had appeared in a descendant merely 200 years later. He couldn’t know why this body had the same name and mana circuits as him. But regardless, this was a good thing for Luke. He would be able to adapt much more easily to handling mana with this body going forward.
*Zing.*
He had let his mind wander too much during core formation. The mana forming the core began to run wild, losing control. It was a potentially dangerous situation.
*‘For now, focus on making the core.’*
Luke straightened his posture and shook off the distracting thoughts.
*Drip, drip, drip.*
Soon sweat began to pour from his entire body like rain, but he didn’t move an inch.
How much time had passed?
A satisfied smile hung on Luke’s lips.
*‘For now, I’ve created a mana core.’*
If feeling mana took days, creating a core took months at the very least. Luke had accomplished such a feat in mere hours. Yet he didn’t break his meditative posture.
*‘Now the real thing begins.’*
Luke and the Schnelden of the past had focused solely on increasing the size of their mana cores. Possessing vast mana meant being able to use stronger techniques more frequently, so in a way, it was a natural way of thinking. But that didn’t suit Schnelden, which utilized mana of various properties.
*‘Instead of growing one core, I should have resonated multiple cores.’*
That was what Luke had realized in his final moments. An approach from a completely different perspective than everything he had learned until then. But Luke had proven his theory correct by igniting the twelfth snowflake of the Snow Wind Sword. If he had split his core from the beginning, he wouldn’t have been left unable to move a single step after catching Den Hog. Then he wouldn’t have suffered such a futile end at Meolbin’s hands.
*‘What’s the point of regretting it now?’*
Luke shook off the distracting thoughts. This could be the most important first step in this new life. It was a moment that required extreme concentration.
And so, more time of intense suffering passed. When he had first entered the room, the sun had been up; now, it was the dead of night with not a soul about.
*Flash.*
Only then did Luke’s eyelids open.
“Hoooo…”
Luke gasped for breath. He had sweated an amount incomparable to when he created the core. It was proof of how intensely he had concentrated on the core-splitting process.
*‘It’s complete.’*
Luke looked down at his right chest with satisfied eyes. Two feeble mana cores that had just been created rested there. Two mana cores that were still incredibly weak. But Luke was certain that these cores would one day restore all the wrongs. Meolbin’s lies, his own goals, and Schnelden’s honor.
*Oong—!*
As if the mana cores shared that sentiment?
They answered with a pleasant pulsation.
* * *
It was commonly said that the direct bloodline of a house lived in such luxury that they could be called princes of a nation. Because on the continent of Theron, the status a house held was immense enough to replace a nation. However, that was only true for wealthy, prestigious houses. If there was no money, no matter how direct the bloodline, it was natural that they couldn’t even properly obtain a single book they wanted.
*‘And that poor household is exactly mine.’*
Luke grumbled inwardly. He had asked Torbin to find him some books. To investigate the history of the past while he recuperated. But now, there were only two books before Luke. Torbin had said he barely managed to acquire even these. In the past, there had been no need to visit the main house’s central library; each building’s study had been packed with books. Because the main house’s grounds were as large as a small-to-medium house’s territory, they had acquired several copies of the same books and stored them in buildings here and there.
*‘That too is all past glory.’*
Luke couldn’t easily adapt to the household circumstances that had changed as if the heavens and earth had overturned.
He felt like revealing that he was Luke Schnelden from 200 years ago and exposing the distorted truth. But he couldn’t do so right now.
*‘House Cornelio wouldn’t stay still.’*
They were the ones responsible for toppling Schnelden. Others knew that Schnelden collapsed due to civil war and that Meolbin had cleaned up the mess, but did that make any sense? There was no way there wasn’t some scheme by Meolbin behind it. And that thorough, petty bastard wouldn’t have failed to keep Schnelden in check. He must have ordered them to monitor Schnelden until the very end. Even the material support they were currently providing was likely part of that surveillance. In this situation, what if he suddenly claimed to be Luke Schnelden from 200 years ago and that all truth was distorted? He would be lucky if they didn’t treat him like a madman from the start.
*‘They might even send assassins.’*
The descendants of Meolbin were fully capable of such a thing. Therefore, from now on, all his plans had to be carried out in the shadows. So that they couldn’t even suspect. So that even if they found something strange, they couldn’t pinpoint it as him.
*‘Once preparations are complete and the time is right, then I’ll tell everything.’*
To do that, he had to endure a little for now. The completely uncomfortable bed, the threadbare clothes, and the mere two books. It was almost laughable that he had to endure such things after going through the trouble of reincarnating.
*‘For the sake of Schnelden, can’t I even endure this much?’*
He couldn’t tell his family and subordinates in the afterlife about the house being in such a state, could he?
*‘First, I have to become strong. To that end, I can’t neglect my training for even a moment.’*
Luke picked up a wooden sword and immediately went outside.
*Bwoong—Bwoong—!*
Then, fairly heavy sounds of tearing through the air echoed across the courtyard. For some reason, this body had never held a sword even once until the age of fifteen. Examining the aura, it seemed to have held one a long time ago, but what was certain was that it hadn’t held a sword even once recently. Thanks to that, even swinging the sword a little made his arms grow heavy immediately, as they were now. Not only that. Pain flared in his legs, waist, and shoulders—all the parts that assisted the swinging motion. Nevertheless, Luke didn’t stop swinging the sword.
*‘A body is tamed by its master, after all.’*
Since Luke had entered it, this body was now one that would have to swing the sword countless times going forward. That was why he had to correct the misguided path starting now.
*Drip, drip, drip.*
Luke’s body poured sweat from an amount of exercise it had never experienced in its life. Before long, the courtyard was filled with the heat he emanated.
* * *
There were other gazes watching him.
“Is the young master going to keep at it?”
“It seems so. I’m worried he might hurt himself.”
“He still hasn’t regained his memories?”
At Torbin’s question, the physician nodded sheepishly.
“With the young master in such a state, you must be worried as well.”
“That is true…”
However, Torbin’s face was not very dark.
He couldn’t say this just anywhere, but honestly, it was because the amnesiac Luke was far more befitting of a Schnelden bloodline.
Very much so.
In the past, to put it nicely, Luke had been kind and docile. To put it badly, he had been naive and timid. However, the current Luke, though his words and actions were a bit rough, seemed to possess a firm goal. The current Schnelden had no choice but to need the latter kind of bloodline.
*‘The Patriarch had many worries; this is a fortunate thing indeed.’*
A pleased smile hung on Torbin’s lips.