César narrowed his eyes as he thought:
If I want to change my destiny, I must begin cultivating mana properly.
Across the entire continent, only werewolves and dark elves were capable of doing so. The reason? They were not natives of this land.
Originally, lycanthropes and dark elves came from the same place: the Sacred Continent. They arrived in Halvmen after being defeated and exiled by the vampiric race and the High Elves. Those two races had considered them too great a threat to ignore, too dangerous to be allowed to continue existing.
So they attacked.
And to avoid extinction, the lycanthropes and dark elves had no choice but to flee.
For reasons that even the novel had only vaguely hinted at, they managed to bypass the divine blockade that isolated the continents and reached Halvmen.
César shook his head, dismissing those thoughts. This was not the time to unravel ancient mysteries.
He refocused on what truly mattered: his mother.
Judging by her human appearance, César had concluded that she was a lycanthrope.
"My mother… being a lycanthrope and knowledgeable about mana, could guide me," he murmured with a faint smile. "Open my veins… and later help me form my core."
The idea was tempting.
But as he contemplated that promising future, an inevitable question surfaced.
What kind of core should I form?
César frowned slightly, deep in thought.
At present, there were two cultivation methods in the world: the Mana Core and the Aura Core.
The latter was used almost exclusively by commoners and people of low status. Although it provided an early advantage against mages—its physical enhancement was more immediate—its final potential was far inferior to mana cultivation. Worse still, it offered no real benefit in terms of longevity.
But César knew something more.
A few years before the beginning of the main story, a new system had emerged: the perfect fusion of mana and aura.
The so-called Ether Core.
Now reborn with a new life and a rare opportunity, César had no intention of settling for mediocrity. If he was going to establish himself in this dangerous world, he would aim directly for the Ether Core.
Even so… he knew it would not be enough.
If he truly wanted to change his fate—to go from being a mere pawn to someone who controlled his own future—he would have to go further.
Because the cultivation ranks were not natural.
They had been deliberately manipulated by the gods.
Although these gods favored humans, they were not willing to let them grow too powerful or escape their control.
For that reason, even the mana system granted to humanity had been restricted.
After countless years of development, the human system consisted of only three official ranks: Novice Mage, Apprentice Mage, and Advanced Mage.
Later, a certain god would appear and "help" humanity break its limits, introducing new ranks: Expert Mage, then Demigod, and finally the so-called God Rank.
But that gift was, in truth, a trap.
Upon reaching the Demigod rank, humans were required to abandon ordinary mana and replace it with something known as Divine Mana. To obtain it, the gods would offer a portion of their own divine power for humans to absorb.
And at that precise moment… they fell into the snare.
From then on, they were placed directly under the control of the god who had granted them that power.
And if they wished to continue advancing along the path of mana, they would inevitably require that god's assistance.
Only in the unlikely event that the god was benevolent would they grant what was known as an Artificial Divine Core, allowing a human to ascend to the rank of god.
However, reality was cruel.
That so-called rank was nothing more than that of a False God, whose power was insignificant compared to that of a true deity.
Among all of humanity—no, among all mortals—only three individuals ever reached the genuine ranks of Demigod and God.
The three protagonists of this world.
César understood that if he wanted true strength—if he wanted his destiny in his own hands—he could not rely solely on that system.
I should create my own cultivation method, he thought, his gaze sharp.
The idea was insane.
But not impossible.
In the novel, the protagonists never created a new system for themselves. However, in the future, they would develop alternative systems for their women—who lacked the same level of talent and whom they also wished to keep beyond the gods' control.
Those systems were described with absolute precision.
In theory, copying them would not be difficult.
And once the idea had taken shape in his mind…
It became almost impossible for César to ignore it.