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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 10
A while later.
Alkas, Lina's knight, quietly observed as he charged the mana stone.
‘Now he’s working hard.’ At first, it had seemed odd, but after that, diligently focused on charging the mana stone, as he always did.
‘He’s lost… a lot of weight.’ Unlike his previous appearance, where he was recklessly overweight, now he had a slightly plump look.
Of course, he was still a bit overweight, but compared to when school started, he had lost a remarkable amount.
‘Lina said it’s because he’s so infatuated with her…’
Lina had already made up her mind that was head over heels for her. And when she observed his behavior, it was easy to see why.
He wouldn't even eat his favorite meals, choosing instead to spend time with her during lunch. He was losing weight, and charging the mana stone with such effort.
‘But… something’s off about this.’
It wasn’t simply the naive affection of a boy; the intensity of his behavior felt different.
There was an undeniable sense of confidence and strength in the way stood, holding the mana stone. If she had to describe it, it felt like the presence of a mountain.
‘And sometimes… I get goosebumps.’
When poured mana into the stone, it wasn’t just the usual sensation.
Every once in a while, Alkas would feel a strange chill run through his body, his skin prickling.
At first, he thought it was just a coincidence, but after experiencing it repeatedly, and noticing that the sensation became stronger over time, he couldn’t ignore it anymore.
It almost felt as though some kind of ghost was nearby.
‘...But this should be the end today.’
The mana stone was almost fully charged now.
Once this was done, Alkas thought he would no longer have to worry about .
Unless he continued to stalk Lina like some obsessive admirer, that is.
‘Somehow, I don’t think that will happen.’
As he watched standing tall, confident, Alkas couldn’t shake the thought.
‘99%. It should be almost done.’
The charging gauge in the magic circle neared its maximum.
Suddenly, something unusual happened.
Whoooiiiiiiiiing—
A resonating sound echoed through the room. The source of the noise was the mana stone.
At the same time, the entire experimental area began to shake violently, like an earthquake.
The gauge on the magic circle fluctuated rapidly, swinging up and down in a much larger motion than before.
Alkas instinctively knew that something major was happening.
Flash. Flash.
The magic circle began emitting multicolored lights on its own.
‘Damn, what the hell is going on?’
Alkas immediately rushed toward the magic circle, but…
It was as if a wall had been erected, preventing Alkas from passing through the magic circle.
On the other side, Kaylen’s body was expanding and contracting, as though it were on the verge of bursting if it swelled just a little more.
‘If Lord Kaylen dies here… this will become a much bigger problem!’
Alkas bit his lip and quickly drew the sword from his waist. The sharp blade shimmered with green mana, and without hesitation, he swung it with all his might.
Clang!
Alkas’ sword hit an invisible barrier and was deflected, sending it bouncing back into the air. Despite releasing his sword aura, it had no effect.
He desperately shouted toward Kaylen.
“Lord Kaylen! Can you hear me? Take your hands off the mana stone and get away from there immediately!”
But Kaylen’s movements remained unchanged. His body expanded and contracted, yet he stood still with his eyes closed, not reacting at all.
It seemed that he couldn’t hear Alkas’ voice.
‘What in the world is going on…!’
Suddenly, the situation turned catastrophic, without any warning.
Alkas, trying desperately to resolve the situation, swung his sword with all his strength, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break through the invisible wall.
Instead…
Crack!
The sword aura dissipated, and the blade shattered.
Along with the vibrations from the mana stone, the energy levels that had been fluctuating began to plummet rapidly.
“Mana…!”
The gauge that had been at 90% fell quickly to 80%, then 70%, and eventually dropped to 50%.
Alkas could only watch in stunned disbelief.
‘This is a disaster.’
All the mana that Lina had spent months gathering—using her charm to convince several men—was now vanishing, just like that.
In this sudden, incomprehensible catastrophe, Alkas could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of dread.
‘And if Lord Kaylen is harmed in this… the consequences… I don’t even want to imagine them.’
Frozen with despair, Alkas looked toward Kaylen.
And then, suddenly, something appeared behind him. A faint, glowing shape was materializing.
Mana had gathered and formed a figure.
‘That’s… a sword?’
A blue and red sword.
A brown and green sword.
A white and black sword.
Six swords made of mana were slowly rotating behind Kaylen, like gears.
Alkas rubbed his eyes, unsure if what he was seeing was real. But the six swords became even more defined, their shapes becoming clearer and sharper.
At first, they looked like small toy swords, no bigger than a finger. But upon seeing them, Alkas couldn’t help but feel his strength drain away, and he found himself kneeling involuntarily.
‘What… is that…?’
Just the sight of the six swords spinning was enough to make it impossible for him to look away.
The sight was so perfect and beautiful that awe filled Alkas’s heart.
The six swords that had been weaving through the air behind Kaylen’s back were now getting closer to him.
Crackle.
The six swords burned Kaylen’s clothes and singed his skin.
Soon, the patterns of the six swords were engraved on his back.
It was a symbol that seemed to radiate like the sun, etched into his back despite the swords being no bigger than a finger.
Though they were small, the swords formed a symbol that covered Kaylen's entire back.
Then, the swords vanished without a trace.
Alkas watched in a daze.
As Kaylen’s figure gradually began to fade away, a massive sword shape appeared in its place.
“A massive sword…?”
On the sword’s hilt, there were runes inscribed.
Although Alkas was a knight, he had seen these characters many times before.
‘Runic language…?’
Before Alkas could examine the runes further, a burst of blinding white light erupted from the sword.
Completely overwhelmed by the light, Alkas lost consciousness.
Kaylen was contemplating how to better utilize his Mana Heart.
The Mana Heart, which primarily stored and emitted mana.
Even while receiving magical lessons from Lina for a month, Kaylen had been focused on how to best use both of these. After much thought, he came to a simple conclusion.
‘Let’s just combine both.’
He recalled his time as a Grand Swordmaster.
The body of the sword saint, whose Mana Heart extended beyond his navel, now his entire body had become a Mana Heart.
Based on that experience, this time, Kaylen intended to make his body function both as a Mana Heart.
‘It’s important to establish this while my body is still not that strong.’
If he tried applying the same concept to Ernshtine’s body, it would not have been easy.
Ernstine’s body had been one that completely applied the principles of a Mana Heart, and Infinity had fully adapted to it.
However, with Kaylen’s body, which was still not fully dominated by either…
It was easier to merge both and explore new paths.
‘Let’s begin.’
Kaylen stopped charging his mana and took out all the stars stored in his Mana Heart.
He then exploded them all, condensing them into mana, and began to circulate them around Infinity.
A golden star-shaped Infinity.
He placed mana at the tips of the Infinity, almost as if to tempt it, and continued to turn it so that it would not consume the mana.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The golden stars began to rotate in alignment with the mana.
As one full rotation was completed, the force drawing mana from Infinity started to increase.
‘Not yet.’
While controlling the mana to prevent it from being absorbed, Kaylen increased the amount of mana.
Like luring prey with a tempting bait, he continued to provoke Infinity.
The Infinity began to spin, completing one rotation, then two.
By the time Kaylen completed twelve rotations, the Infinity began to spin on its own, without the need to lure it with mana.
As it did, the force pulling mana from Infinity grew even stronger.
The force was now strong enough to affect the mana stone in Kaylen's hand.
‘Absorb it.’
The mana from the mana stone, which had traces of Infinity’s power, started to be drawn in as Infinity began spinning on its own.
‘But I can’t just feed it to Infinity like this.’
If Infinity ate the mana and was satisfied, it would stop spinning, which was not what Kaylen wanted.
Kaylen controlled the mana coming from the mana stone and started using it for the development of Mana Paths.
The mana from the mana stone was heavy and wild. It was difficult to control, and the Mana Paths would be fortunate if they didn’t tear apart.
But, as a Grand Swordmaster, Kaylen was able to make it possible.
‘I will develop the Mana Paths across my entire body.’
The mana from the mana stone and Infinity struggled to break free from his control, writhing as Kaylen’s body screamed in pain.
However, Kaylen endured the agony and silently focused on his development.
‘Just like when I was a Grand Swordmaster, I will make my entire body into a Mana Heart.’
The rough and heavy mana from the mana stone relentlessly began to carve through Kaylen’s body, but thanks to his delicate mana manipulation, it did not cause any fatal harm.
Kaylen combined all of his knowledge and insights to apply them to his body.
Hours passed.
‘Did I succeed…?’
From the area where his Mana Heart had been in his chest to the lower abdomen , the tangled Mana Paths fully merged into a single path.
At the center of it all was Infinity.
It was now not a Mana Heart, but had a different form.
‘This… should be called the Mana Body.’
The Mana Body.
It was a new level, one that did not limit itself to the Mana Heart , but instead stored and used mana throughout the entire body.
‘Although the amount of mana in this vessel is still pathetic compared to the level… the remaining mana in the mana stone is less than 50%.’
Over half of the mana had been spent creating this new vessel.
However, Kaylen was not disappointed.
‘With the larger vessel, I can now handle mana more efficiently.’
In the past, with this amount of mana, he would never have dreamed of regenerating the Six Swords.
But now, things were different.
Whoooosh—
Now, he didn’t even need to spin Infinity. He could absorb mana on his own.
The six sword hilts that had once sprouted from his Mana Heart were now placed at the center of the newly created Mana Body, and Kaylen began to pour mana into them.
The swords of fire and water.
The swords of earth and wind.
The swords of light and darkness.
The six swords representing the six elements started to grow, revealing their forms on Kaylen’s back.
‘They are still small.’
The size of the Six Swords was only as large as a finger.
However, the important thing was that they had reached the stage where their shapes were beginning to appear.
If it had been his previous body, he would have needed at least five times more mana than this to make it possible.
Thanks to the efficiency of the Mana Body compared to the Mana Heart, Kaylen had skipped the long process of gathering mana and moved quickly to the next stage.
‘Incorporating the swords into my body…’
Kaylen absorbed more mana from the mana stone, carving the Six Swords onto his back.
The same pattern of the Six Swords that had been etched into Emperor Ernstine’s body.
Only then did Kaylen feel a sense of stability.
It felt like he had regained a small part of his former body.
Though they were still as small as a finger now.
‘The size of the swords can be gradually increased. As for the remaining mana…’
After absorbing the mana, only 20% of the mana from the mana stone remained.
Kaylen pondered how to use the remaining mana and decided to use it for constructing a mana circle.
‘The mana circle also needs to be made to fit the new Mana Body.’
Having escaped the narrow confines of the Mana Heart, Kaylen now needed to form a new mana circle that would match his Mana Body.
Kaylen began using the remaining 20% of mana to form the mana circle.
The location where the circle would be established was the outermost part of the Mana Body.
More precisely, it would be placed on his skin.
Crackle, crackle.
One letter, then another.
Runic symbols began to etch themselves into his body.
As the tattoo-like markings spanned across his chest and back, the mana from the mana stone began to deplete.
‘I could only make one circle.’
The Mana Body.
The Six Swords as small as fingers.
One mana circle etched across his torso.
Having used up all the mana from the mana stone to create these results, Kaylen was thoroughly satisfied.
‘Now, I can finally live like a human.’
As he savored the satisfaction, a trembling voice suddenly reached his ears.
“A massive sword… you say…?”
It was the voice of the knight, Alkas, who Kaylen had completely ignored until now.
Soon, Alkas collapsed, losing consciousness.
Kaylen turned his back and looked at Alkas with a strange gaze.
“You had the potential to wield a sword.”
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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