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During that time, I planned on taking a closer look at the inside of my body.

“Hmm…….”

Not long into my plan, my face lit up.

I hadn’t been mistaken.

Sure enough, this body had formed a ‘mana hole,’ a so-called bowl for mana.

This was amazing news.

It was practically nonexistent, but I can’t believe he managed to complete a bowl using this garbage mana cultivation method.

Every now and then, you come across freaks like this.

Freaks with natural talent, but lacked a background to support it.

“Though from my point of view, that’s good news…….”

This physical body is great.

Next up is Mana.

You can’t just pour water into the hole; you have to clean the bowl first.

Just as the foundation must be strong to build a straight building on top of it.

“Um…….”

I was deep in meditation when Harun walked toward me.

“What have you been doing since earlier?”

His face was already showing his resignation to life.

“Bored?”

“Just wondering what the hell is in that fist-sized head of yours. You’ve been sitting there like that for three hours now. Are you thinking of what to leave in your will?”

“Nope. I’m trying to figure out a way for us to live.”

The look of disbelief on Harun’s face flashed across his face again.

I took a closer look at him, who was now standing in front of me.

‘Now that I’m looking at him, his bone structure isn’t half bad.’

Because I’d taught countless people, I’d developed a knack for spotting talent in my previous life.

I could size him up at just a glance.

‘Hmmm……let’s increase the chances of our escape, shall we?”

For a moment, I considered taking the time to teach him separately.

Because right now, I’d take every ally I could get.

Besides, going head to head with two dozen minions while protecting him is too much as I am right now.

It’d be another story if I hadn’t saved him in the first place.

But at the very least, shouldn’t I take responsibility and teach him how to protect himself?

‘Of course, I’d have to check his mental state first.’

You can’t just start showing someone the way if they don’t have the attitude or mindset to learn.

After organizing my thoughts, I opened my mouth.

“Have you ever heard of mana cultivation?”

“Mana cultivation?”

Harun’s eyes widened.

“You mean, the mana cultivation that knights learn?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know that?”

“Well… Because I’m kind of a big deal?”

“……!”

Naturally, Harun’s eyes widened.

In that moment, I didn’t miss it.

A fleeting, momentary glimpse of desire in his eyes.

As soon as I saw it, a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.

“What the. No good deed goes unpunished, huh?”

“H-Huh?”

“You just got greedy for my cultivation method. Didn’t you?”

“N-Nuh-uh. I was just a little jealous, that’s all.”

“Really? You didn’t want to learn it at all, not even a little bit?”

“…….”

At that, Harun went silent.

I made an obvious, dramatic sigh.

Because his silence was as good as a confession.

“Unbelievable.”

“Well, I mean, I’m not usually that shameless, you know? But we’re going to die in a week.”

“That’s what you think.”

“And us living is what you think! Anyway, it’s been my dream all my life to be a knight, to defeat bad guys, make a lot of money, and make it up the ladder.”

“Well, if you aren’t a knight in-name only and have the skills to match it, you might be able to fulfill that dream.”

“Th-That’s why! Since I’m going to die anyway, can’t I…… can’t I just know what it’s like, even for a little bit? O-Or maybe that was too much to ask for…?”

“A little bit? If you said ‘teach me your mana cultivation method’ to someone other than me, they would’ve cut you down on the spot.”

“S-Sorry. B-But is there really no way? Think of it as my dying wish!”

The smile on my face widened once more.

At least he seemed willing.

“And…… maybe, just maybe, I could be of use to you when the battle comes in a week’s time?”

“If a few days of training made you a knight, who in the world wouldn’t be one?”

“But you’ll only know if I have the talent or not if you try!”

Thud!

Right then, Harun knelt down in front of me.

“Please! I don’t want to die a wretch, unable to do anything! I’ve lived my whole life like that. I want to at least face the end like me.”

“And what are you like?”

“Even if I die, I’ll at least chew out an eye of the bastard that kills me!”

This guy, despite his good looks, has guts.

Yeah. A man’s gotta have some balls.

“Teach me, and I promise I’ll repay you. If we can survive as you think, I’ll live for you for the rest of my life! Because you’d have saved my life.”

“Alright. Don’t forget what you just said.”

“Y-You will? For real?”

In an instant, Harun’s face lit up.

Lucky for him, a couple of mana cultivation methods had come to mind.

Not my own, of course.

I’ve led countless wars to victory.

Naturally, I’ve gained an incredible amount of loot along the way.

And among them are quite a few other cultivation methods that are rather useful.

“Let’s check your body first.”

Without asking for permission, I walked up to him and stroked his body.

“Nngh!”

“……?”

In an instant, my face crumpled in a frown.

“Make a noise like that one more time, and forget about the cultivation method, you’re not even getting soup.”

“S-Sorry. It just came out.”

“You’re not allowed to open your mouth, especially when you’re using the cultivation method, so just hold it in.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I started touching Harun’s bone structure in earnest.

His body was very thin from not eating properly, but the bone structure itself wasn’t bad.

No, this much is excellent.

Not as good as my current body, but good enough to get him a letter of recommendation to the Knight Academy with a little bit of care.

“…… Alright. I think I know the perfect cultivation method for you.”

“Wow! How many more cultivation methods do you know?”

“Shh. I’ll teach you, so just do as I say. Also, we’ll take turns meditating, since we also have to feed that pig.”

My gaze flicked to the corner.

There, tethered to a rope, the pig stared back at me with disgruntled eyes.

There was nothing I couldn’t find in this place.

Ropes used to tie people up.

Shackles for prisoners.

Whips for the slaves, as well as candles and other unidentifiable tools.

“If I could, I would’ve liked to use everything here on that pig. Sort of as a tribute to the souls of the poor children who came here before me.”

Flinch.

Immediately, the pig’s head snapped up.

At that, I burst out laughing.

“I should be the bigger guy and hold back, shouldn’t I?”

After giving the pig a scare, I slowly began to teach Harun his cultivation method.

We have a long way to go from here.

***

It was well past midnight.

Flinch.

My eyes snapped open from their meditative stupor.

‘Look at these assholes?’

It was three in the morning.

I could sense a lot of people outside my tent.

And it’s at a time when humans are at their weakest.

Not even a day had passed, let alone the promised week.

‘Dead men tell no tales, is that it? This is why you guys are stuck being slavers.’

Immediately afterward, I sprawled down on my back and closed my eyes.

Chapter 2 of Ancelot’s Code, give clear examples.

The right number of people.

There were only about five of them, as if they were worried that too many would wake us up.

However, that mistake would cost them their lives.

Step, step.

Killing their footsteps, they soon came inside.

“……You cocky little slave, you sure are sleeping well, all sprawled out.”

“Shh, be quiet. Let’s make quick work of them. Humphrey and Max, take care of the young master. There’s two of them, so complete your respective jobs.”

“Can’t I just walk right up to him and slit his fucking throat? Why bother with roles?”

With that, one of the assholes stormed over to me.

“And after I kill him, I think I’ll even cut open his stomach to see how big his guts are.”

Woosh!

Soon after, the sound of wind passed by the rim of my ears.

The dagger had been aimed squarely at my throat.

…!!!

My eyes snapped open and my head snapped to the side.

Poompf!

The tip of the blade dug straight into the dirt.

“Wh-What?”

The dagger-wielder’s eyes widened, as if he hadn’t expected me to dodge.

Bam!

“Argh!”

I use the sole of my foot to kick the minion in the face, causing him to stumble backwards.

Naturally, the ownerless dagger lay on the ground.

I pull it out.

Shkk! Shkk! Shkk!

“A-Argh!”

As he tried to get up, I stabbed him in the neck three times in quick succession.

About five seconds had passed by this point.

“Humphrey! Max! Leave the young master for now and focus on the kid!”

At least the minion had the brains to give instructions.

He must have realized that I wasn’t the average kid, because he and the rest of the minions started charging at me.

“Phew.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding.

The contents of the mana hole were still the size of rat droppings.

But mana isn’t always all about volume.

It’s about how pure it is.

And how well you utilize it.

In the end, the power of mana depends on the user.

For reference, I’d just spent the last half day transforming an old bowl into a brand new one.

‘Now that I’ve cleaned the bowl of all the waste, the same rat droppings will sting a little more this time.

I muttered to myself and reversed my grip on the dagger.

Lesser knights are usually obsessed with the ‘aura’ that they add to their swords.

To forge stronger aura blades, to vanquish enemies in honorable combat.

That’s what they call chivalry.

However.

‘Honorable combat, my ass.’

I was nothing more than a sprout in a greenhouse, in a battle of egos among idiots who didn’t know the battlefield. So I was certain.

The line between life and death.

A person who has trodden on the border of death, watching their comrades die before their eyes, doesn’t use mana that way.

They focus on the flesh that holds the sword, not the tool.

This is difficult, of course.

Mana is like blood.

In order for mana to flow through your bloodstream, your body must be clean and your blood vessels must be open.

Only then can mana be efficiently circulated throughout the body.

This is an acquired mana skill that can be cultivated over time, but innate qualities are more important than anything else.

Impurities in the blood tend to be inherent to some degree.

That’s why I called this new body an outlier.

He may still be young, but compared to his peers, the internal pathways of his body were quite clean.

In fact, it could be said to be the cleanest on the continent.

The bigger and thicker the obstacle in your way, the more effort it takes to break through it.

In other words, this body’s mana efficiency will be inevitably high.

I inhaled.

I held my breath again.

In an instant, I directed the mana flowing from the mana hole to my legs and the muscles of my right arm.

Shkk! Shkk! Shkk! Shkk!

Then, closing the distance between myself and the minions, I fired the muscles stretched behind my back forward with an explosive force.

I drove four swift strikes, shot in succession like arrows, into each of their necks.

Thud!

“H-How is he so fast…… Cough!”

The last minion, throat pierced, collapsed while coughing up blood.

The continent is a world dominated by the sword today.

It isn’t for nothing that the sword is the supreme weapon.

In fact, almost every knight wielded one.

However, that does not apply to me.

At the end of the day, a tool is merely a tool.

My entire body is a weapon.

Even in my previous life, every piece of metal on the battlefield was my weapon; every punch, every kick, and every blow was the reaper of the enemy’s life.

I was not a commander who shouted ‘Onwards!’ from the rear.

I was a commander who stood in the vanguard with the rest of his men and shouted, ‘After me!’

“Hey, pig.”

Tremble.

Was it because he had witnessed my sword dance?

The pig, now awake, looked at me with fear in his eyes.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

I wonder if he thought I was going to kill him.

While gagged, he furiously shook its head.

So, I removed his gag for him.

“D-Don’t kill me! I-I had nothing to do with this! As you can see, I’ve been tied up all this time!”

“Shut up and answer only what I ask you.”

“O-Okay!”

“Earlier, you seemed to possess quite a valuable treasure.”

I was referring to the artifact embedded with the magic, ‘spark.’

“I’m confiscating it for now.”

This type of artifact naturally recharges its mana over time.

Since it was about time it got recharged, I quickly removed the ring from the pig’s finger.

“By the way, you have a lot of money, don’t you?”

“Wh-Why……?”

“Because I’ve been thinking about it for a while. A, I could kill you all and run. B, I could take you hostage, kill you in a suitable place, and then run away.”

Flinch.

At that, the pig’s entire body began to shake.

No matter what I chose, he would end up dying.

“And then, I thought of a Plan C.”

Suddenly, a new emotion appeared in the pig’s eyes. Hope.

“Wh-What’s Plan C……?”

At this sight, I smiled.

It only takes a second for hope to turn to despair.

“Yes, a Plan C. So that this doesn’t happen again in the future, I’ll kill those I have to kill and devour everything you guys have accumulated.”