episode_0013

“Who is it that’s deciphering this magic circle and coming in?”

Right after the activation of the magic circle, my master, who appeared in front of me, looked puzzled as he gazed at me.

I slightly bowed my head towards the master who was looking at me with interest and replied,

“Hello. I am…”

At that moment,

-Crash!

The air momentarily stopped, and the world shook for a brief moment. Then, a shattering sound rang out like glass breaking, and the master raised his hand to his head.

“Ha. You really did it. I never thought a human could manipulate time.”

“Never.”

“Disciple, you are truly insane. It’s unbelievable that you even thought of doing it, let alone succeeded.”

“How do you remember?”

I was flustered. I was contemplating what to say to awaken mana, but the master had all the memories of our past interactions.

“Do dragons seem inferior to you? There’s nothing a dragon doesn’t know in this world. No matter what you do, they will inevitably know all information and knowledge. Naturally, even if the past or future changes.”

Truly a deceitful race. I chuckled softly at the master’s words and walked over to the table where the master was sitting, taking a seat across from him.

“So, why have you come to find me? Honestly, don’t you think I’m no longer needed? It seems like there’s nothing left for me to teach.”

“It’s not that.”

As if genuinely curious about why I had come, the master asked, and I recounted everything that had happened up to this point.

My feelings of love for Amelia and how Helena, who caused Amelia’s death, became interested in her.

After hearing everything, the master nodded.

“So you want to awaken your mana?”

“Yes.”

“You only choose truly crazy things to do!”

Scratching his red hair vigorously, the master sighed.

“You know it too, right? This is extremely dangerous.”

“But I believe that with you and me, there will be no failure.”

“Wow. It’s not that there won’t be any, but you never know what kind of feedback you might receive!”

[Mana Awakening]

A select few individuals awaken their mana one day, gaining the ability to wield mana.

In this world, mana awakening is considered a blessing, and mana is treated as an invaluable resource.

Usually, when using magic, one expends life force to activate it. However, mana is an energy equivalent to life force.

Therefore, magic can be cast using mana.

So, what is life force? It is the vitality one is born with. And life force diminishes over time. No, it is consumed.

Because it is necessary for sustaining life.

In other words, those who have not awakened their mana use their own lives as the price for casting magic. Knights are no exception. Even if it’s not magic, they use life force as payment.

Thus, those who reach a certain level cannot live long. But if one awakens their mana, the story changes.

They can manipulate magic or life force without expending life force, allowing them to live longer.

That’s why mana awakening is considered a blessing.

I awakened my mana at the age of 10. I was the youngest to awaken.

But I must awaken it further. I must do it now.

“I can solve it.”

“Huh… has your body weakened, causing your knowledge to falter?”

“With my current self, it is possible.”

“A body devoid of mana?”

“Yes.”

“You madman.”

I boast. At this moment, I am in the best condition of my life.

Not even the most potent drugs or narcotics have made me feel this good.

I can feel my heart beating and hear the sounds. I sense the blood flowing through my veins.

Every cell in my body feels distinct. It’s like the feeling of realizing a new verb for the first time.

“Uh? Uh? Uh? Uhh?”

Control over all life functions such as breathing, circulation, heartbeat, and digestion is increasing to the point where I can regulate them.

Once more.

“Inhale… exhale…”

I lifted the necklace and took a whiff.

Sensations from the mana entering are keenly detected, awakening the senses.

“Just a moment, just a moment, why are you doing this alone!?”

Like turning on switches one by one, something was being released step by step.

-Tock. Tock. Tock.

“Huh? Hey! You crazy! Stop!”

One, two, steadily lighting up until the twelfth switch goes up.

-Bang!!!

“Whoa! Insane!”

I awakened my mana.

==

Once again today, I was leisurely enjoying myself when suddenly someone came into my hideout through a magic circle.

Among the living humans, it was a little kid who came through a magic circle that no one could decipher.

Momentarily flustered, the world suddenly distorted. This was something that happened every time a new event occurred. When things returned to normal, I recognized the kid in front of me.

It was my disciple who reversed time.

Even for humanity, reversing time is a tremendous feat, but now they say they can forcibly awaken mana too.

Just change the world as you please.

But funny thing is, suddenly my disciple’s condition became strange, and pre-symptoms of mana awakening started to show.

“Huh?”

The disciple slowly awakening.

Suddenly, as if sniffing powdered drugs like before, they brought their nose close to their own wrist, crazily inhaling air and then mana burst out from the disciple’s body.

They had awakened their mana.

Unbelievable. They came asking for help, but suddenly they awakened their mana all by themselves.

I know. The method to forcibly awaken mana. Basically, the body receiving mana must be ignited. It requires mental strength and physical endurance to withstand it.

The most difficult part is unlocking the twelve nerves in the brain. But that’s an extremely wicked difficulty even for dragons to touch, yet! Sniffing some necklace like it’s drugs, my disciple awakened their mana alone.

Even for a dragon like me, meddling with the twelve nerves in a human’s brain is something I wouldn’t want to start, but my disciple did it without any mana.

Truly, my disciple is insane.

I realized my disciple possessed tremendous talent. How surprised I was when Amelia introduced the disciple to me. That talent was one that even dumbfounded a dragon.

After Amelia’s death, my disciple, who became obsessed with magic, mastered the language of dragons at the age of 25 and interpreted world-class magic at 30. Eventually, as a result, they went back in time.

But now, the state of my disciple who awakened their mana was much more intimidating than when I first saw them.

For now, they seem weaker than the 30-year-old disciple, but stronger than the 25-year-old one.

At just 8 years old.

Perhaps due to the aftermath of mana awakening, my disciple fainted. As I approached to move the disciple to the bed,

-Flinch.

A very familiar and missed scent filled the air.

“No way.”

As I lifted the disciple, that scent wafted strongly. Only then did my eyes go to the necklace the disciple was wearing.

“Scent storage magic.”

I brought my nose close to the disciple’s necklace and smelled it again.

“The child’s sweat scent… and that place’s scent?”

“Huh, was our disciple this sensual?”

To think that at 8 years old, they were storing the scent of a person they called mother. How provocative and sensual.

No, come to think of it, is this because of their obsession to return to the past?

When nobody cared about them and ignored them, only that child gave love and affection to the disciple.

Of course, the disciple embraced that love and affection as a lover.

Certainly, I understand my disciple’s heart.

I too fell for that child. A child with a look I’ve never seen before in my life. A chest and buttocks that seemed willing to embrace anything. And on top of that, a splendid character.

In fact, the reason I remember that child’s scent is because sometimes I used magic to steal their underwear.

Of course, now I have let go of those feelings.

The disciple had put in so much effort to meet that child.

Seeing the child dying every day, they suffered and resorted to all sorts of drugs, narcotics to endure.

What’s even more amusing is that they complained about not being able to see the child not only in their dreams but also in their daily life.

They disliked seeing the child die, but they found happiness in seeing them as a fantasy in their everyday life.

The disciple was that broken. Unconsciously, they had become indifferent like a dragon when it came to killing people.

That disciple, with regained vitality and a strong gaze, looked at me.

Perhaps they had healed and recovered a lot by going back to the past and meeting Amelia. Moreover, now that they possessed such power, everything seemed fine.

The problem lies with that child.

Why did I give up on loving that child?

It was purely a matter of vitality.

That child was born with inherently low vitality.

If an ordinary human is born with a vitality of 100, that child was born with only about 30 vitality.

In other words, their lifespan was extremely short. Human life spans are already short, but hers was extreme.

When the child was executed instead of the disciple, there was barely a year’s worth of vitality left anyway. Perhaps the child knew. Knew about their own lifespan.

So, without hesitation, they were executed instead of the disciple.

Will the disciple take any action if they find out the truth?

Will they sit down and mourn, or will they bid farewell happily…

Or will they change the world once again.

If they do change the world, I am very curious about what they will do this time.