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Chapter 8: The First Awakening (2)

“Urgh!”

Henry gritted his teeth as he continued with his push-ups.

His arms trembled, as though his muscles were about to burst, but he had to fulfill his daily quota no matter what. It was a promise he had made to himself.

Thud.

After finally filling his quota, Henry collapsed onto the ground. He had never done any sort of physical training in his past life, and it had proved to be much more difficult than his footwork practice.

However, Henry’s stamina was increasing noticeably day by day.

Muscles required sufficient rest after they were worked. Only then could the torn muscle fibers reattach themselves and grow bigger. That was why it was often said that getting enough rest was just as important as exercising. But Henry was able to bypass this process through self-healing magic. So, in a sense, mages had the greatest advantage when it came to muscle growth.

“Heal.”

After healing himself, Henry immediately got up and started running.

“The fittest isn’t called the fittest for no reason, huh?”

Barren smiled faintly as he watched Henry. Henry was a gifted genius, as he had predicted.

“Working on both his physical training and footwork training. My Lord will like this very much.”

Barren could not help but smile as he imagined the heights Henry would reach in the future.

The training continued.

After finishing his run, Henry once again used healing magic on himself, then picked up his wooden sword and started swinging it in front of him. This was to train his balance, as well as his arm muscles.

‘That damn emperor!’

Whenever he felt like tossing his sword aside and giving up, he reminded himself of the emperor. If not for that foolish emperor, he would have been in his Magical Spire, doing research on magic.

Henry used his anger as a driving force to continue training.

* * *

“Phew, finally the day is over.”

Wiping away his sweat with magic, Henry returned to his room after finishing his supper. The same schedule repeated for a couple of days. Kevin had not yet returned, so the monotonous schedule would continue for longer.

Henry lay on his bed and rested for a while, before getting up and sitting down at his desk.

‘Let’s see, where did I leave off yesterday?’

On his desk lay a clean book with a leather cover. Henry had written down countless names in the blank book.

It was a hit list.

In it were the names of all the Nobles who had harmed him and his companions in his previous life. Armed with the best memory in the empire, Henry wrote down the names of the Nobles, one by one.

“That should do it for the number of names to strike today… Next.”

Henry never rushed when writing down his hit list. He wanted to be sure that he wrote down every single name of those that wronged him.

Having written down enough names for the day, Henry closed the book and unfolded a map of the continent, which had been rolled up into a round container.

The great western continent, Eurasia.

Shortly after the first-ever unification of the vast Eurasia, the previous emperor had renamed the continent the ‘Eurasian Empire’.

‘Such a bland name.’

But Henry was not against it. It was all the same, whether it was called a ‘continent’ or an ‘empire’.

On the map were several large and small markers, accompanied by words describing them.

‘Let’s look at the west today.’

Henry picked up a pen and reached out to the western side of the continent. Henry had made this map himself, and called it a treasure map for one simple reason.

In his previous life, Henry had hidden various treasures and artifacts throughout the region as he had traversed the continent. However, the secret of their locations had died with him as he was brutally killed by the emperor and the Nobles.

Henry decided he had to collect those treasures himself in order to begin his new life, as he now had no wealth of his own.

He traced his memory, trying to recall the locations of as many treasures as possible.

Scribble, scribble.

The pen in Henry’s hand moved along with his thoughts. A long time passed.

Creak.

The door opened, with no knock. It was Caughall.

Without even turning around, Henry raised his hand and ordered Caughall not to come near him.

“What is it?”

“Young Master Henry, Young Master Kevin has returned.”

“Kevin?”

Upon hearing the news, Henry looked up at his calendar. It had only been five days since Kevin set off. How could he have returned already?

It was unbelievable news.

“Let’s greet him.”

Caughall led Henry to Kevin’s room.

Although Kevin had gone on a simple errand, and thus there was no need for such attention, a huge crowd had formed in the front of his room.

“A-Ahem.”

Caughall cleared his throat to gain the attention of the crowd. Upon noticing Henry, they each took a step back.

“Why are all of you gathered here?”

A maid answered.

“Well, Young Master Kevin’s condition is not very good.”

“Kevin?”

“Yes. You’ll have to get the details from Young Master Kevin himself, but it seems like he ran into a group of bandits on the way back.”

“Mm, is that so?”

Henry had dealt with the bandits on the trade route himself. If Kevin had somehow still encountered bandits, this meant that there must have been another group.

After dispersing the crowd, Henry entered the room with Caughall. Inside were Madame Morris and a doctor, who lived at the estate, taking care of Kevin.

“Pardon me.”

Henry gave a light show of respect.

Upon seeing him, Madame Morris began to cry and grabbed Henry by the collar.

“You, you, you bastard! Because of you, my Kevin…!”

Her face was streaming with tears. Henry looked at Kevin over Madame Morris’ shoulder without even looking at her face.

‘It’s exactly like what the maid said.’

Judging by the bandages that were wrapped around Kevin, it seemed that the doctor had just finished performing emergency treatment on him.

After Madame Morris calmed down, Henry questioned the doctor.

“What happened?”

“It seems that he encountered a herd of wild beasts.”

“What makes you say that?”

“These are not cuts made by blades. Claw marks and fang marks were found on him. The same goes for his horse.”

“Is his situation critical?”

“He has accumulated extreme fatigue. Even before he left the estate, he wasn’t feeling very well, and it seems riding for an extended period of time has caused his condition to worsen further.”

“Thank you for the diagnosis. Do you need to give him any more care?”

“I’ve done everything I can for now.”

“Then do you mind if I have a moment with him, alone? Oh, Madame Morris, you too.”

“Ridiculous! What else do you plan to do to my son!”

“Caughall.”

“Understood.”

Caughall left the room with the doctor and Madame Morris, who continued to kick up a fuss. Eventually, only Henry and Kevin were left in the room.

When Kevin, who was lying like a corpse, noticed Henry, he tried to sit upright.

“B-brother…”

Henry reached out and stopped Kevin.

“No need to get up.”

Not only was Kevin’s butt swollen from the long period of horseback riding, but there were also countless cuts and bruises from wild beasts all over him. Despite his injuries, he had pushed himself past his limits.

He had overcome those wounds and completed his job brilliantly, despite the fact that it was a punishment from Henry for his rude behavior.

‘Hmm, he is quite tenacious.’

“B-brother, as you requested, I’ve brought back the green crowflower.”

“I see, you’ve done well. You’ve fulfilled your promise wonderfully. As promised, you’ll be the one to attend the Swordsmanship Academy.”

“Thank… you…”

“Rest now. When you wake up, everything will be okay.”

Henry gently stroked Kevin’s face with his left hand. Mana faintly flowed out through his fingers. He was casting the ‘Sleep’ spell. After Kevin fell asleep, Henry saw the bunch of crowflowers lying on the other side of the room. They had been freshly plucked from the Burnham Estate. Henry took them and returned to Kevin’s side.

“Heal.”

Paaaat!

Henry used the healing spell on Kevin’s whole body, just as he would when treating his own muscle pain. Although he could not miraculously heal flesh wounds like the priests, he was able to treat Kevin’s accumulated fatigue and various internal injuries to some extent.

Upon receiving the healing spell, Kevin’s expression eased up. Henry checked to ensure that Kevin was breathing soundly before leaving the room.

‘With that, all the ingredients are ready.’

* * *

Henry returned to his room, walking past Madame Morris. She glared at him spitefully as he walked off. Once in his room, Henry immediately began making preparations to create Miracle Blue.

“Caughall, go and get a large pot and a few empty bottles.”

“Understood.”

Caughall left and returned quickly with all the items. Henry ordered Caughall to leave, and not to enter the room, no matter what. After completing the preparations, Henry removed the map from his desk, placed down the prepared ingredients, and began grinding them down with magic.

Next, he put them in a pot and used magic to heat it up.

Bubble, bubble.

The pot did not contain even a single drop of water, but as the essence of the ingredients leaked, it soon turned into a thick, viscous solution.

Henry continued to stir them with magic.

‘It’s been a long time since I smelled this.’

It was an elixir made every year for the young disciples of the Magical Spire. Now that Henry was dead, the event might have been stopped, but he was certain that other mages would try to create a similar elixir.

‘Well, they’ll only end up with a low quality fake anyway.’

After extracting the undiluted solution of Miracle Blue, Henry froze it. He then used more magic to grind the frozen solution before boiling it again. He repeated this process several times, and the color of the extract slowly changed. It also began to emit a completely different smell. The continued processing of the solution had changed its properties.

All that remained now was to adjust the concentration to suit his body. The reason for diluting Miracle Blue was simple: The pure undiluted solution was too thick to consume, and such a high concentration could cause the user’s magical power to run wild and make their heart burst.

‘But for me, I’m just going to drink it.’

Henry knew that the undiluted solution only caused magic power to run rampant if the user could not digest it properly.

‘In the end, it comes down to how well I can digest it.’

This was the moment of truth for Henry.

Losing control of one’s magical power was a phenomenon that occurred in mages who took in too much magic at once. Those who could not properly digest the magic solution ended up with stomach pain.

However, one’s ability to control their magic was based on their mental fortitude and sensibility, not their physical capabilities. Regardless of the physical state of his new body, he would be able to withstand the pure solution, since he had already experienced the 8th Circle of magic.

Henry gulped dryly and then picked up the cooled pot.

‘Still, I can’t help but tremble a bit.’

In theory, all his thoughts made perfect sense. This was, however, the first time in the history of the Magical Spire that this theory would be put to the test.

After a few deep breaths, Henry closed his eyes tightly and began to gulp down on the undiluted solution.

Gulp, gulp.

The thick liquid slid down Henry’s throat.