5 — Chapter 5

Have you ever tried pulling a harpoon embedded in your body?

It was no different.

Without hesitation, at an unexpected moment.

You have to pull with all your strength.

“Ugh…”

Of course, indescribable pain followed.

You could die from the blood pouring out of the pierced holes in your body.

The only consolation was that this wasn’t a harpoon and there was no worry of the wound tearing open.

The energy that had roughly doubled was pulled out in an instant and began rampaging inside my body.

The massive energy trembled as if relieved, and the swelling that had looked like it might burst calmed down as if by magic.

For now, the immediate danger was quelled.

The problem was the aftershock.

The released energy was mercilessly thrashing about my already ruined body.

‘…Stay still.’

I forced my concentration and strained to hold down the rampaging energy.

Even so, it was less than a handful of energy.

After catching the vigorously fluttering energy, I began to wrap it around my body.

About half of the energy was absorbed into my body and the pain ceased.

I couldn’t tell how many times I’d repeated it.

In my previous life I wouldn’t waste any absorbed energy and rarely used it multiple times, but now I consumed energy immediately whenever my condition worsened even slightly.

I squinted one eye and bit my lip.

It’s not necessarily bad.

Being able to always maintain peak condition is something anyone would crave.

As long as that unfathomable, immense energy remained, I could face beasts in top condition at any time.

The problem was that I couldn’t even think I could control it myself.

It didn’t feel like I was wielding the energy freely; rather, I felt dragged along by the energy.

This couldn’t continue.

My foot that had been hovering in midair touched the ground and my vision wavered.

The man supporting my body had let go.

The man’s gaze was not on me.

He was simply looking around at the landscape, as if appreciating it—the area littered with beast carcasses.

“How old did you say you were?”

The man asked in a displeased tone.

For a moment I almost spat out a curse.

If not for the overwhelming sight the man had shown me, I might have unleashed a tirade and kicked him.

This guy hadn’t expected anything from me.

Logically speaking.

Handing a razor-sharp sword to a child whose baby fat hadn’t even gone or throwing them into a pack of feral dogs is not something a sane person would do.

He even knowingly entrusted me with disposing of the beasts on purpose.

It’s different from the past when I had to pick up a weapon just to survive.

It was no different from tossing someone off a cliff and seeing what happens.

But it wasn’t completely incomprehensible.

The reason the man made such a mad choice was probably….

“Is it because of that energy?”

The man muttered.

The mysterious, gigantic energy sleeping within my body.

The man was curious about the identity of that power and the identity of the one who harbored it—me.

I spat saliva mixed with blood and returned the remaining energy to my heart.

The massive energy, as if naturally so, sucked the drawn-out energy back in.

I worried it might rampage again, but fortunately there was no further change.

“I don’t know either.”

Choosing my words carefully, I answered inwardly and examined the now-quiet energy in my heart.

Why had my controllable energy suddenly increased?

I retraced the events of that time.

I killed the breaths of dozens of beasts while consuming and drawing out energy, repeating it dozens of times.

I brandished energy in a frenzy and swung my sword, and as soon as I regained my senses I drew out energy again to heal the increased wounds.

And then the energy in my heart began to rampage.

Thinking back to the last time, it seems the energy only ran wild when recovering from injuries above a certain threshold.

Or perhaps the amount of energy extractable while hunting beasts had increased.

The important thing was that each time the massive energy left my body a mess.

Like a child throwing a tantrum at having its toy taken away.

While I was on the verge of figuring it out but couldn’t reach an answer, the man wandered nearby, pulling hearts from the carcasses of the dead beasts.

He looked as nonchalant as if picking up fallen fruit.

Watching the man—whose demeanor was familiar—I noticed the red beast carcass collapsed in the center of the village.

“Will you leave that as it is?”

“I’ve already pulled its heart. The rest will be eaten by wild animals or taken care of by people.”

I looked at the ruined sword lying on the ground and asked.

“Then, can I use it?”

The man who had been pulling out the last beast’s heart looked up and furrowed his brow.

He looked like he couldn’t understand what I meant by ‘use.’

“If it’s food, there’s plenty besides that. It’s not like I can’t spare that much, so don’t worry about it. Well… if you have that kind of hobby, I don’t mind much.”

The man nodded his chin in a gesture of permission, then bent over again and began finishing his work.

There seemed to be some misunderstanding, but it didn’t matter much.

I picked up the ruined sword and approached the red beast’s carcass.

The red beast was like the leader of the wolf-shaped creatures.

Wherever wolf beasts gathered, the red beast always led the pack.

The carcass, split open as if its shoulder blades had burst, looked quite grisly.

Thinking it was for the best, I began to cut away the charred flesh, and the man, finished with his work, silently approached and watched me impassively.

‘First, the hide.’

The intact hide of the red beast wasn’t yet soft enough for me to skin easily, but if I cut along the torn sections I could manage to salvage something. Thanks to the roughly doubled energy I could cut it out somehow. It still wasn’t easy.

After some time, wiping the sweat from my brow, I cut the last connecting piece.

With a heavy thud, the red beast’s left leg fell away.

While I caught my breath, the man—who had been leaning against the wall that barely kept its shape, arms folded—asked.

“What do you plan to do with that?”

Of course there was no reason to tell him, so I didn’t.

He would find out soon enough.

Soothing my tired body with a light sigh, I began to stab with the sword and slice away the fascia and flesh clinging to the bone.

It was easier than skinning.

As I pulled out the increasingly exposed front leg bone and removed the remaining joints, a rather convincing weapon form was revealed.

A blade harder than steel and sharp enough to rival most swords.

A white sword with a faint red hue rested in my hand.

“You plan to swing that?”

“There’s nothing stopping me from it.”

I quickly hid the sword behind my back and gauged the man’s reaction.

Surely he wouldn’t tell me to hand it over, would he?

Fortunately, the man only watched my action with mild curiosity and soon lost interest.

I had worried he might press me persistently, but his indifferent attitude pleased me for the first time.

A sword made from the beast’s bone was heavier than a metal sword.

Maybe for a spear it’s different, but for a sword or axe, being heavier was far better.

Its weight alone made it sufficiently threatening to attack an opponent and had significant effect when parrying.

I tore a strip of cloth to wrap the handle and hung it on my back with a cord I found rummaging through the village.

Wearing it at my waist would have been much better, but considering its size this was the better option.

“So, what now?”

“First, you’d better wash up.”

I pictured how I looked and couldn’t help but nod obediently.

“This is yours.”

The man handed me a pouch he had been carrying at his waist.

It was the pouch where he’d collected the hearts of the beasts I’d caught.

I looked at the hearts in the blood-dripping pouch, then handed it back to him.

“Take it.”

“You should swallow them when you can. Don’t be foolish—eat them now.”

I would do that if I could.

But if I swallowed them, the energy I’d barely calmed would probably rampage again.

No—there was no doubt it would.

Swallowing them might let me use more energy, but I wasn’t short on energy.

I could draw out as much energy as needed, so it was better not to take unnecessary risks.

“Then, I’ll take just one.”

“If you insist that stubbornly to the end, I won’t stop you.”

Just in case, I took out the heart that looked to be in the best condition and handed the pouch back to the man.

It was something to try later when I had the luxury. I cleaned the piece of heart that encased the core and shoved it into the pouch.

Following the man to a nearby riverbank, I stripped and began to wash myself.

Red blood and shredded flesh flowed along the river, and it would have been cleaner to simply go about naked than keep wearing the clothes.

The man cleaned only his hands and face, then tended to his sword.

Perhaps because of the flames that had been wrapped around the sword, there were no noticeable stains.

“First, we’re heading for the capital. There’s someone you need to see there.”

“Who is that?”

I asked while wringing out the clothes I’d washed until they no longer bled.

No matter what, I couldn’t walk around naked.

“The Seer of the Magic Tower.”

“What?”

What was the Magic Tower, and what did a seer even do?

As I stared blankly waiting for an answer, the man blinked a few times and continued his explanation.

“The Magic Tower is where those who wield magic gather, and a Seer is one of them who has received a divine oracle.”

I knew of magic.

I remembered disliking how every childhood fairy tale featured bizarre powers that made bloody battles end blandly.

I recalled my father looking embarrassed and laughing awkwardly when asked why such people would show up late and take charge.

[They shoot fire, control the weather as they please. Isn’t it cool that they can defeat an army with bare hands? They say in war they stopped countless arrows with a whirlwind; I’d pick a mage as the protagonist too.]

[Is that all true?]

[That’s what they say. You know—the miller’s second son who ran away the other day. He chased after a mage who came to the lord’s birthday.]

Back then, I thought they were just con artists.

So I sold off all the fairy tale books in the house.

Shooting fire and controlling the weather—what nonsense. Even in my past life, when everyone wielded beastly powers, I’d never heard of such abilities manifesting.

Yet here I was, hearing it again from that man’s mouth.

Even as a joke, I didn’t like it.

“Why would someone as important as that want to see me?”

“An oracle came down. Ancient evil spirits are reviving, and a child was born in the south who swallowed that power.”

Saying this, the man pointed to the area around my solar plexus.

“You’re not telling me you hunted and swallowed a beast with that much power at your age, are you?”