Raon and Greer, the third prince of Owen kingdom, entered a tea house in a quiet alley outside the black market.
“Hmm, did I interrupt at a bad time?”
Greer de Owen frowned while touching his cup of tea.
“No, it was great.”
Raon shook his head and smiled.
‘It was perfect timing.’
Since he couldn’t reveal his own name because of the exam, he managed to overcome the crisis thanks to Greer.
The test did mention that he couldn’t reveal his identity himself, but didn’t say anything about others revealing it for him, so there was no problem with the test.
‘She was tricked completely.’
It looked like she thought he was a member of the direct line because Greer only mentioned him as a sword genius, not mentioning anything about him being a collateral. She seemed completely tricked when he took off his hood.
‘Well, there was a way even if he didn’t appear.’
Even if Greer didn’t show up, he still had many ways to get out of the situation. However, what happened was clearly the best solution.
“So, why did you come to this faraway place?”
Greer opened his mouth after drinking a cup of tea.
“I dropped by to purchase some equipment before taking the exam.”
“Exam?”
“It’s the exam to become a swordsman.”
“Ah, the graduation exam. Does that mean I’m one step ahead right now?”
“Sorry?”
“Huhu.”
Greer smiled and brought the sword hanging around his waist up to the table. A lion emblem could be seen on the sword once he drew it slightly.
“Oh! The mark of a knight!”
Dorian, who had been partially out of his mind, suddenly stood up.
“Well, I can’t exactly call myself a knight since I’m the prince, but my abilities have been recognized for now.”
“Congratulations.”
“Haha, thank you.”
Greer caressed the lion emblem tenderly before putting it back.
“But that’s some strange thing to happen. How could she suspect the Zieghart’s genius swordsman of theft?”
He murmured that it was nonsense.
What an idiot! It’s true. This crazy guy really did steal it!
“Ugh!”
Wrath started spreading coldness, frustrated by the fact that he couldn’t tell him about it, and Dorian groaned.
“You don’t need to worry about Jayna too much. She just has bad manners because she’s too spoiled. I’ll give her a good talking to.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“By the way, you mentioned equipment. What kind of equipment are you looking for?”
“I want to check on the swords for now, since we aren’t allowed to possess personal swords until we get officially recognized as swordsmen.”
Raon tapped on the sword he had. It wasn’t a bad sword, but it wasn’t a good one either, which was the reason he wanted to get a new one before entering the battlefield.
“Hmm, then I’ll introduce you to a good one. There is the workshop street at the western end, and in a corner…”
Greer used a few hand gestures to tell him about a workshop.
“It’s small and dirty, but I guarantee their competence. I want to introduce you to them personally, but I haven’t finished what I came to do here yet…”
“That’s not necessary. The explanation is already plenty.”
Raon shook his head. It wasn’t just the explanation, but his appearance alone had already helped him more than enough.
“I wanted to try fighting you again, it’s a shame.”
“Same goes for me.”
The energy he felt from Greer, who was now qualified as a knight, was on a different level from before. It looked like he had surpassed the wall by repeating missions and training, just like Raon.
“Make sure to visit Owen later. I want to try having a proper match against you.”
Just like when he left Zieghart, he smiled before leaving. Judging from the direction he went, he was returning to the black market.
“Wow, we barely managed to survive.”
Dorian breathed out a long sigh.
“I never thought the young master would act so rashly. Aww…”
“I had a plan.”
Raon smiled. Dorian must’ve been anxious, but he was perfectly calm and composed. The entire situation was at the palm of his hand.
“It’s unbelievable, but I guess it’s true if the young master says so. Shall we go to the workshop first?”
“No.”
Raon shook his head, feeling the butterfly squirming slightly in his inner pocket.
“I have something to do before that.”
* * *
After booking their lodgings, Raon took the black butterfly from his inner pocket.
The fluttering butterfly sat down on his finger, surrounded by a faint black light.
It was a beautiful light that made him want to keep watching it, but that wasn’t the butterfly’s true form.
I’m really wondering what you wanted to do that made you steal that useless butterfly.
“There’s nothing useless in this world. Everything has a use somewhere.”
Bullshit! There is plenty of useless garbage in the world.
“You will change your mind once you witness this.”
Raon took out a half red, half blue flower bud from his bag. It was the Teuton flower that he got from the Snow Tiger bandit leader.
“This is a gift for you.”
He shook the Teuton flower, and the black butterfly—who was sitting on his left hand—moved to sit on the unbloomed flower petal.
The black butterfly pushed its head into the Teuton flower. The petals’ color grew deeper, as if they were being painted. On the other hand, the black butterfly’s black wings were dyed white, as if they were losing their color.
Bright!
The black butterfly’s black light subsided, and the Teuton flower’s petals shone brightly.
The light born from the two mystical creatures spread throughout the room.
When the glimmering blue light started to subside, the black butterfly’s black wings had become a snow field and the Teuton flower’s buds had fully blossomed, spreading a refreshing scent.
Wh-what happened?! How did the butterfly, which couldn’t do anything but suck on mana like a starving demon, manage to make the flower bloom?!
‘I told you, nothing’s useless.’
As Raon smiled, the black butterfly flew up once the Teuton flower was fully bloomed. Its wings were fluttering energetically, unlike the first time he saw it.
“You are even prettier, now.”
When he raised his hand, the black butterfly flew around in a circle before settling down on his hand.
“Congratulations on lifting the curse.”
The black butterfly and Teuton flower had different curses.
The black butterfly was cursed to keep eating mana without being able to digest it, and the Teuton flower was cursed to be unable to gather mana.
Because of those two curses, the two mystical creatures’ ratings were at the lower end of rare.
However—
‘It’s a different story when the two of them are together.’
Once the black butterfly transferred the mana it had fully accumulated to the Teuton flower, which can’t gather mana, the two curses were lifted.
The black butterfly that would freely leave after giving away its mana and the Teuton flower that blossomed into a beautiful flower were in a symbiotic relationship that was only completed when they were together.
‘There’s almost no one that knows about this fact.’
Raon would’ve never known about that fact either if it weren’t for the knowledge from the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.
Whir.
As Raon was watching the Teuton flower’s clear light, the black butterfly tickled the back of his hand.
“Alright, I got it. I got it.”
He opened the window with a smile. He extended his hand out the open window to let the black butterfly fly away.
Whir.
The black butterfly slowly floated, cheerfully fluttering its wings. After circling around the surrounding buildings, it came back down to slowly look at him.
It folded its wing for the last time, as if it were saying goodbye, and flew away into the vast sky.
“Have a good life.”
Raon shook his hand and closed the window. He sat down on the floor to look at the fully bloomed Teuton flower.
Two of the four flower petals were glittering in red while the other two were glittering in blue. It was beautiful and smelled nice enough to use it as decoration.
‘This is its true form.’
Teuton flowers used to only have a small amount of fire and water attribute mana. However, the black butterfly had allowed it to blossom into a state with a lot of mana gathered inside of it, and that was its true form.
‘I think I can eat it now.’
Since he had confirmed that the flower had bloomed, it was now time to make that energy his.
Elixir was a mass of nature’s energy, but its purity was inevitably lower than nature’s mana because impurities piled up in the process.
However, the Teuton flower was different.
It didn’t bloom on its own, and receiving the help from another mystical creature purified its energy. Because it had two different attributes, the two mana types had a purity that could pretty much be considered raw.
‘It’s the perfect elixir for me.’
Raon had the Ring of Fire, the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, and an aura of frost. He was more suitable than anyone else when it came to absorbing the Teuton flower’s energy.
‘Then.’
He popped the Teuton flower into his mouth as if he were taking pills. He didn’t even need to chew it, as the Teuton flower melted down like sugar and went down his throat before it could even spread its sweet and floral fragrance in his mouth.
‘Woah…’
His stomach repeatedly heated up and cooled down. It felt like fire and ice were alternating, touching his stomach. He could confirm that Teuton flower was the real deal from the way it was making a fuss, to the point that it could tear his stomach apart.
Raon smiled slightly. He sat down on the floor to rotate the Rings of Fire and used the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. The pure energy sprouting from his energy center traveled throughout his body, and the Teuton flower’s energy smashing his stomach started to calm down.
Whir!
The heated aura from the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation came up through his mana circuit to guide the Teuton flower’s energy. His shoulder was hot, his heart was cold, his arm forearm was cool, and his thigh was heavy.
The Teuton flower’s energy started to spread throughout his body, following the energy of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.
‘It’s really pure.’
The two attributes contained inside the Teuton flower were as clean as the fresh snow. He just needed to circulate the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation for them to stick onto him by themselves.
Whir!
Raon’s entire body trembled. It wasn’t because of pain.
It was because of the exhilaration of Teuton flower’s energy accumulating in his energy center. As a result, his mouth was curved into an excited smile.
Thud!
Whenever he used the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation repeatedly, his energy center and body vibrated to discharge the waste that used to be stuck in his mana circuit like rust.
Whoosh!
Raon entered a trance, feeling his body and aura advancing to a different level.
* * *
* * *
Raon opened his eyes. Dark gray lightning struck from his red eyes.
There was no need to read the messages. The high purity energy filling his energy center, the mana circuit that had become broader, and his light body were telling him enough about how his body had changed.
‘It’s better than I thought.’
He thought he wouldn’t be able to absorb everything even if it was the Teuton flower, but he was mistaken.
The Teuton flower’s purity was even better than the Ten Leaf Grass. He could absorb most of the energy without any waste.
All his stats had increased, but the one that had increased the most was his energy. The energy stat has increased by more than 10, reaching 70.
‘I think I can probably keep fighting for half a day in my current state.’
The aura of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the Coldness of the Frost filling his energy center had increased as much as the energy stat’s number. It seemed he would do pretty well in a drawn-out battle now.
‘I think I can win against an advanced Sword Expert without much difficulty in my current state.’
He didn’t get stronger simply because his aura had increased.
He was now capable of using other techniques from the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, ones that he used to be unable to use because of his lack of aura, which meant he was now pretty much twice as strong as before. Though, it didn’t change the fact that there were still more techniques he couldn’t use than those he could.
‘That can’t be helped.’
The techniques of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation required a tremendous amount of aura. Even though he was purifying his aura with the Ring of Fire, it was inevitable that he lacked aura.
‘That’s why I need to grow up faster.’
He had a lot to do.
He needs to restore Sylvia to the direct line, save Judiel’s younger sibling, and decapitate Derus Robert.
It was necessary to get stronger for that sake, and not only in terms of aura—his body and mind as well.
“Haa.”
Raon stood up and looked out the window. It seemed he had been cultivating all night long, since that afternoon, as the sun was about to rise.
‘Let’s test it a little.’
He didn’t feel tired at all despite spending the entire night cultivating.
He went to an open area with no one around to test his changed body and internal energy.
He warmed himself up and stomped the ground.
Thud!
His footprint was engraved on the ground, and sand scattered around him. It was the same step as before, but the sound resounded throughout the open area because of the higher quality internal energy.
Wham!
He connected the power of his stomp to his waist to slash his sword. The cold air of daybreak was split apart like paper.
Whir!
A crimson light appeared on Raon’s blade. The techniques of the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’ that couldn’t blossom were released naturally.
Slam! Slaam!
His sword slashed like lightning as he swung it around. It was a succession of scary techniques that even a qualified swordsman wouldn’t be able to block.
Baam!
The heat wave emerging from his blade of fire had devastated the surroundings as if a cannonball had bombarded the place.
“Haa…”
After performing the Star Connecting Sword, the Fangs of Insanity, and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation one after the other, Raon straightened his posture while exhaling an excited breath.
‘This is great.’
Raon smiled in satisfaction. His body and blood vessels had improved even further from discharging the waste. The reaction speed of both his internal energy and his body had also gotten faster.
Trying to move his body is really nice.
There was a difference between heaven and earth when it came to just reading the message and actually moving the body. He needed to try moving his body to know precisely how much he had changed.
“Well, then.”
Raon tapped his sword, looking at the rising sun.
“Let’s go get a new sword.”
