Chapter Fifteen
Aura?
The terminology is same. Swordsman did use aura in my world too. Wait... Maybe the terminology isn't the problem. The knowledge is.
I need to verify.
"I'm curious. How does it work? Explain it to me, Kaelen." I spoke as I climbed on the rubbles of Lithovar. "Huff... Puff..."
Damn it's still hard. Looks like the lipid deposits just got loosened. I need to complete Vessel Mana Circuitry to push it out of the body.
"How to explain... Ugh." Kaelen rubbed the back of his neck, his caloused hands making a dry scritch-scritch sound against his skin. "It is simple, really. Aura is just condensed and purified Vigor."
My fingers dug into the grit as I traced a faint thread of mana buried beneath the rubble. I hoisted a jagged chunk of stone and heaved it aside, letting it roll down the pile.
Damn! These things are lot heavier than they look.
"Huff... Vigor..." I paused, drawing a ragged breath before tossing another rock. "Puff... is... what, exactly?"
I was playing a double game which isn't really recommended since tired people are more prone to making mistakes. But, did I have a choice?
Haha. No.
Therefore, half my mind drifted toward his lecture on mechanics, while the other half remained locked on the search. If this Lithovar was the guardian beast of this cave, finding its core would finally solve the mystery of these "mana stones" once and for all.
"Hmmm... Vigor is the energy of the soul that resides in the heart of our body." Kaelen explained, seemingly unfazed by my struggle as he leaned against the cave wall. "To be a knight is to learn how to command that Vigor, to condense it until it flows out our hearts with the strength of a river."
The brat had no shame. Making his master do manual work.
However... Vigor, huh.
It's like their entire concept of mana was internal, trapped within the meat and bone of their own bodies. It seems they are so accustomed to the thick, honey-like mana of this world that they think of it as nothing more than "air."
What a waste!
This world was a treasury where the very atmosphere was thick with invisible gold, yet these people were breathing it in and out like common oxygen, never realizing they were walking through a literal sea of divinity.
It's like giving opportunity to frogs. God sure has favourites.
Back in my world, people struggled to tear mana from the air itself, while these idiots simply inhaled it and exhaled it, unaware of what they were wasting with every breath.
Can you explain to me why do you give opportunities to dumbasses, dearest Creator Of The Universe? Ugh!
[Ping!]
[Stop cursing him. He gave you an opportunity to become the greatest in this world. The most powerful! If anyone is the favoured one here, it's you.]
Yeah. Yeah. Taking me away from my gold is being favoured. If he really favoured me, he would have sent my gold with me.
"So, you believe this energy is purely internal?" I asked, wiping a smudge of dirt from my forehead. "How do you actually... manage this Vigor you talk of?"
The name left a weird aftertaste in my tongue.
Maybe, it's because I was an Archmage in past life. The pride made dreadfulness course through my veins at the name. It was like... Like calling a complex arcane formula 'brain-juice.'
"Vigorous physical training, Your Grace. Since we are born with the Vigor in our blood, the only way to awaken it is to push the body to its absolute limit. A knight undergoes training until he feels he is knocking at Reaper's door. Only when the lungs scream for air and the muscles tear does the Vigor begin to orbit the heart in rings."
I paused, my hand hovering over the coarse rocks. "Reaper's door, you say. And I suppose the more you suffer, the stronger you get?"
Kaelen nodded at my response. "In a sense, yes. The more you suffer the more rings you can form. When a knight forms four rings, he can finally channel that purified Vigor into his chosen blade. That is when the aura first flickers to life. As the rings increase, the aura stabilizes, turning from a faint mist into a blade that can cut through the skies."
I scoffed as I almost shook my head.
Barbaric.
Whether in my past life or this one, swordsmen were all the same! They didn't cultivate mana. They bullied it. They treated mana like a subordinate that must be beaten into submission.
Do they know nothing of the word 'elegance'?
Cavemen, the entire lot of them! Trying to start a fire by rubbing their own hands together until they bled, while standing in a room filled with dry tinder and a matchstick.
I grabbed a stone the size of a man's head and launched it into the shadows as if it weighed nothing. The anger sending a pulse of heat through my veins straight to my head.
BANG!
"Are you okay, Your Grace?" Kaelen's voice broke my train of thought. I felt my lip curl outward, my face contorting into an expression of pure irritation as I hurled another rock down as if it weighted nothing.
"I'm fine." I snapped, looking away from his handsome face. If only I had nails, I'd claw that face.
"You don't look fine, Your Grace. You look... murderous."
"Stop disturbing me." I hissed, kicking another rock down. "How useless! Your master is doing all the dirty work while you're resting!"
"How would I know what Your Grace is trying to do if you don't tell me? Communication is important." Kaelen sighed, being very reasonable.
I don't like it. I mean I like reasonable people. But, people insulting mana and money strikes my nerves.
"Communication is important." I mocked him which was very petty and unbecoming for an Archmage of my level. Truly humiliating too. But, I couldn't just help it. You can't just humiliate what a man cares about the most and expect him to be normal. "What are you... a child?"
Ugh! So irritated! I must open schools all over the duchy for the future generation.
"N-No?" Kaelen stammered, his military composure finally fracturing.
"Then why should I have to spell it out? Can't you use that knightly intuition to figure it out yourself?"
"H-How? I... Are you alright, Your Grace?"
[Ping!]
[Kaelen is flustered. He is struggling to process your 'unpredictable temperament.']
It's not unpredictable. I'm frustrated.
The anger and frustration felt like liquid fire coursing through my body, giving me a burst of strength as I hoisted a massive slab of granite while my veins suddenly surged with strength that made no sense in this lazy body.
Just a little more, Yeun... It's right beneath this layer.
"Let me help you, Your Grace," Kaelen said, stepping forward with his hand outstretched. "That stone is—"
"Stay back!" I snapped, hurling the granite slab aside with a strength that surprised even me. "Don't even move! I can do this on my own. I don't need a babysitter!"
[Ping!]
[Host is acting like he's Kaelen's girlfriend. Are you gay???]
Fuck, no! Stay away! I don't swing that way.
I sank to my knees, my breath coming in ragged hitches as I pressed my palm against the smooth round shaped rock that was previously buried.
It had a very normal appearance but it was undoubtedly the source of mana that powered the Lithovar. My senses can't be wrong.
I frowned, my fingers curling around its surface as I picked it up.
Wait... Why was it so light? Is it hollow on the inside?
My eyes widened as a realization struck me like a lightning bolt as a drop of sweat trickled down my forehead.
No way...
Without a word, I spun on my heels and hurled the round object directly at Kaelen's head.
"Catch!" I barked as my legs finally gave out.
"What happened, Your Grace?"
"Crack it."