Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Chapter 118: The Second Coming (4)

Chills.

For a moment, Henry felt as if his body had split in half from head to toe, even though he was certain that he had blocked Hector’s strike with his sword. However, that was just his imagination, and his life flashed before his eyes from the tremendous force of Hector’s sword.

].

Gulp.

Looking at the huge two-handed sword in front of his nose, Henry couldn’t help gulping. At the same time, he discovered that his right hand was trembling as it held the hilt of his sword.

Smirk.

Hector’s red eyes were smiling, and he withdrew his sword.

“It seems like you’ve been training.”

He gave a small compliment, but Henry couldn’t focus on anything he was saying.

‘...Is this how big our gap is?’

Henry had to admit the truth, especially since this wasn’t a duel. He couldn’t hide his shock when he saw the spot where Hector’s blade had collided with his sword. Henry hadn’t even felt the weight of Hector’s blade, but his own blade was almost split in half.

Hector stopped his Aura and said, “It seems like you're in shock. Well, I can see why since this is our first time officially sparring.”

“...Who said I’m shocked?”

“Why don’t you stop making childish excuses? Anyway, I think this iron body is much lighter and better than the piece of flesh I had before I died. If I’d known it would be like this, I would've died and resurrected a long time ago, haha.”

“Is it lighter?”

“It feels like it. I don’t have to worry about things like my muscles or nerves.”

Hector seemed genuinely satisfied because when he was a human, he had to consider the limitations of his body, but now, those things no longer mattered.

‘I guess it makes sense, since humans can’t pull off the things he just did.”

Perhaps Hector had a chance to improve even more because his body surpassed an ordinary human one.

‘This is the first time I’ve ever been jealous of a Death Knight.’

Henry listened to Hector’s thoughts. Now that Henry had mastered Aura, he had become a full-fledged swordsman who sought greater power.

“Let’s save your body appreciation for later. It seemed like you didn’t try to defend yourself at all earlier. Is my Aura really that weak?” said Henry.

Hector was sneaky enough not to defend himself even though the difference in their Auras was huge, and it hurt Henry’s pride.

“No, it's the opposite of that,” Hector replied.

“What?”

“I didn’t defend myself because your Aura is so fresh and new. If I had blocked your attack with my sword, I would not have seen the full power of your Aura.”

“Okay, so what do you think of my Aura?”

“It is incredible.”

“What do you mean incredible?”

“It’s like eating high-quality steak, except the cooking technique is a mess.”

“Cooking technique is something that a chef needs to practice, but at least the ingredients are good.”

“It's extremely good. Normal Aura is like chicken, but yours is beef, which is much larger… Ahh, after seeing your Aura, I’m starting to get jealous. Is this what you call naturally talented?”

Hector was genuinely jealous because all swordsmen desired power/strength the most, and Henry held such overwhelming power/strength compared to everyone else that he could not help but feel that way.

“And the amount of Aura you released increased tremendously midway during the fight, so it’s clear that your Aura is affected by your mana. I saw the rapid rotation of your heart's Circle when your Aura increased.”

Henry had expected this to some extent, but he felt a lot better when Hector confirmed it.

“This means I have to train both my mana and Aura.”

“You will need to experiment to see if the amount of Aura increases when you increase your mana and if training your Aura will affect your mana.”

The two discussed for a while, and towards the end, they became partial to training both mana and Aura.

“If this were an ordinary Aura, I could teach you according to tradition. However, it’s my first time to see your kind of Aura, so I’m not sure how to approach it.”

“Can’t you just teach me?”

“Nonsense! There’s nothing more harmful than bad teaching. In any case, it’ll be good to experiment and find a training method that suits you.”

“Really? Then I guess we have no choice but to find a new training method.”

“Okay, we’ll do that. Is there anything else you need?”

“No. This is everything.”

“Hmm, we’ll need to do more research for some time, so we should postpone the training for now. Henry, do you know a place where I can go wild?”

“A place where you can go wild?”

“Even though this armor is much better than my previous body, I’m still not used to it. I want to play around with my sword and loosen up since I haven’t had a chance in a while.”

“Hey, don’t you have common sense? A place where a swordsman like you can go wild? It should at least be Caliburn’s forest of monsters…”

Henry waved, but just as he was about to put his hand down, something tugged at Henry’s pants.

“Huh?”

It was Klever, who was in his cat form, tugging Henry’s pants with his tiny paw.

- Master! I know a place where Hector can run wild!

“Where would such a place exist… Ah!”

Henry thought of the same place. “I remember now.”

“Where? And who is this cat?” Hector cocked his head.

Henry smiled and cast Teleportation.

* * *

Henry and Hector appeared in the Shahatra Mountains, located adjacent to Khan. It was extremely hot, but the Shahatra Mountains were much better than the scorching sun of the desert.

As soon as he reached the large mountain, Henry summoned Klever.

“Where are we?” asked Hector.

“This place is called the Shahatra Mountains. I’m not sure if you know or not, but the desert kingdom of Shahatra is surrounded by these large mountains.

“What does that have to do with me running wild?”

“No one comes here, and because it’s adjacent to the desert, it’s infested with monsters.”

“I see why you brought me here, but what the hell is that cat?”

“He’s part of my family. He’s a Mimic named Klever.”

“A Mimic?”

“Yeah, he’s going to clean up the corpses of the monsters while you’re messing around.”

“Oh wow, he’s more useful than I thought.”

“Also, no matter what, don’t set foot in the fog near the summit because the royal priests have a barrier set up there.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll come back around sunset. I have to regain my lost mana.”

Klever couldn’t forget the taste of the corpse he’d eaten on the mountain, and he occasionally revealed his wishes to return. However, Henry hadn’t had the chance to take Klever back because of all the things he’d had to prepare. It was their chance now, thanks to Hector.

‘Let’s see how much mana I can obtain in the meantime.’

Since he was killing two birds with one stone, he decided to start collecting mana, which he’d been putting off too long. After he’d taken the luminol anklet from the palace, Henry had also found the rest of the jewelry he’d hidden. ‘I was lucky.’

Luminol anklet that absorbed mana from the ground.

Sildia bracelet that absorbed mana from the wind.

Shinal’s earring that absorbed mana from the sun.

Munia’s earring that absorbed mana from the moon.

The jewelry comprised an entire set, and Henry had always worn them in his previous life. Henry used Teleportation once again to reach La’s Tower.

Stumble.

As soon as he arrived at the top of the tower, Henry felt dizzy. ‘As expected, I’ve wasted too much mana.’

Now that he had raised Eisen to the status of a marquis and learned that his Aura was linked to his mana, Henry had to now focus on gathering more mana.

The sun was intense. Henry sat in the center of La’s Tower, crossed his legs, and…

Whoosh!

Wind from the tall tower brushed past his ears. Since he was good at focusing, Henry quickly reached a hypnotic state, which made one’s mind feel like it was floating in space.

Henry pushed himself into the little universe he had built in his mind. The three accessories on his ankles, wrists, and ears connected with the sun and wind of Shahatra, and the energy of the sacred stone pagoda Henry was sitting on created an invisible and intangible circle.

It was refreshing.

Even though Henry sat under the scorching sun, he couldn’t feel the heat at all. Nor could he feel the wind, which constantly blew into the pagoda. Henry’s hair only slightly swayed like milkwort in the breeze.

Half a day passed. The scorching sun set, and soon came the night, which was cold enough to make your teeth ache.

Henry opened his eyes. He emerged from his little universe and returned to reality.

“Haa…”

He let out a long sigh and felt satisfied. ‘As expected, I’m not disappointed.’

It had only been half a day, but he had recovered four times as much mana as he had received from the Lake of Whispers. It was definitely a huge gain. Since it was nighttime, munia’s earring was activated to absorb moonlight.

‘I wish I had more time, but I’ll have to pick them up first. He had basically taken Klever out for half the day.

Henry headed to Shahatra Mountains through Teleportation with a lot more ease. He appeared at the spot where Hector was waiting.

“H-Henry!”

“Huh?”

Hector was acting a little strangely.

“What’s wrong?”

Hector seemed as though he didn’t know what to do. He put his large hands together and held out his palms to Henry.

“Huh?”

He placed an egg the size of a human head in Hector’s palm and he spoke in a rather nervous tone. “...Henry, your cat turned into an egg.”

“An… Egg?”

Why had Klever turned into an egg?

At Henry’s puzzled expression, Hector rushed to tell him what had happened.

“I was slaughtering monsters nonstop for several hours after you left. Klever was following me and cleaning up the monsters, but when I looked back, his body glowed brightly, and he turned into an egg.”

Hector told his story in a plain manner without any exaggeration or theatrics.

Henry laughed and lifted the egg. “Oh, I thought it was something bad. Hector, don’t worry. Klever’s just evolving.”

“Evolve…?”

“I always knew a day like this would come, but I didn’t expect him to start evolving so soon. Just how many monsters did he swallow?”

“Monsters? I wasn’t counting, but probably around 500 or so?”

“I see…”

It was an unbelievable number in just half a day, allowing Klever to start evolving.

Hector examined the egg with worried eyes as Henry quietly nodded.