Getting close to Demonic Mana leads to corruption and mental pollution. Unless one is strong enough to protect themselves, they will be consumed by it.
‘I should step up.’
Whoosh!
Circulating his inner strength through his body and mana around him, Rayrn lunged forward.
The creature was an undead being covered in iron ore—an Undead Golem, so to speak. Ordinary attacks would not even scratch it.
‘First, one strike.’
He drew the sword he had previously claimed was only for self-defense.
“Young Master! It’s dangerous—”
Rayrn had no intention of revealing his full strength anyway.
‘I’ll keep it within acceptable bounds.’
It was enough to control his power to a level that would only be seen as impressive if word got out later. His priority was protection. If he let the knights get close to that bizarre Undead Golem emitting Demonic Mana, he would only lose precious talent.
He swung his sword.
Vroom!
The blade was saturated with the soulforce of the Crushing Steel Sword. It was a strike of both weight and power.
Boom!
The soulforce, capable of crushing anything in its path, ground against the Undead Golem’s body before splitting it apart.
Crash!
The creature was smashed in half.
‘It’s not over.’
Far from fading, the energy coming from it remained immense. The damage hadn’t truly registered.
Grrrr— Screech!
Even with its body split in two, the Undead Golem swung its arm.
‘This is interesting.’
It had been a while since he faced an interesting opponent. He was in a situation where he had to fight while exercising extreme control over his power instead of using it all.
‘How thrilling.’
While others might find this situation incredibly difficult, Rayrn felt a sense of enjoyment.
Whoosh!
He simply swung his sword. Without a single stray thought, his mind was filled with the sole intention of crushing the enemy before him!
“Wh-what in the world is happening?”
“How… How can the Young Master…?”
The knights were in a state of chaos. The shock was especially great for the Hisran Knights, who were serving Rayrn for the first time.
The genius Administrative Officer, the Agriculture Official, the Mage.
Rayrn, the youngest lord of the family, held many titles. However, no one knew he could use a sword like that.
Among all the stunned knights, only one remained composed. It was Benson, who had been on missions with Rayrn for a long time.
Benson, who had accompanied Rayrn since his first patrol of the territory, was one of the knights handpicked by the Count of Ophern. He was a man who would give his life for his loyalty to the Count.
“Do not be surprised, no matter what happens. I will tell you about the special things surrounding that boy later.”
“I shall follow your orders.”
“Go and assist him well.”
“Yes, my Lord!”
Because of that conversation, Benson had been forewarned by the Count that Rayrn possessed secrets others did not know.
‘But I never imagined anything like this.’
The problem was that even Benson, who rarely got surprised, found it difficult to process what was happening before his eyes. A mage—and a rare genius who could create original magic at that—could also wield a sword?
Watching the level of skill behind those swings, he questioned if what he was seeing was reality.
Clang! Screech! Bash!
Groooar!
Rayrn swung his sword against the golem, weaving in and out, disrupting its offense and defense with incredible form. No, it was more than incredible; it was masterful.
‘How long could I last?’
The depth of Rayrn’s swordsmanship was profound. Benson had attained his knighthood through the sword, yet even he couldn’t guarantee how long he would last against Rayrn.
That was how exceptional Rayrn’s swordsmanship was. Even though his style differed from the traditional techniques of the Count of Ophern’s house, it was brilliant.
If possible, Benson wanted to watch him for days. He felt a greedy urge to observe that beautiful swordplay, wondering if he could mimic it or if it would help him break through the wall he had recently hit in his own training.
However.
‘Get a grip.’
Benson couldn’t afford to just stand there being impressed. His admiration for the great Rayrn had to end here. He needed to focus.
“Quiet! Watch the surroundings! Ensure no word of this leaks out!”
“Ah, yes, sir!”
“Soldiers, what are you doing? Keep a lookout!”
While the commoners were unaware, the conflict with the Marquis’s house had intensified behind the scenes. In such a situation, rumors of Rayrn’s true strength could become a problem. It had to be stopped.
‘…Incredible.’
Feeling a sense of regret that he couldn’t watch Rayrn’s admirable skills any longer, Benson barked another order.
“Hurry!”
Benson finished organizing the perimeter. And the moment he realized his task was complete—
Rumble! Thud!
Rayrn, who had begun incorporating magic into his swordplay, finally brought the Undead Golem down. The golem, which had grown larger by pulling in nearby iron ore and scattering Demonic Mana throughout the fight, eventually crumbled.
All that remained were bones that had rotted over ages and chunks of iron ore.
“A life born from Demonic Mana… interesting.”
***
‘This is great research material.’
Despite having performed an incredible feat, Rayrn simply gave a refreshing smile and swept all the remains of the Undead Golem into his Dimensional Pouch.
Whoosh.
It was a naturally born golem, one fused with the undead. Since it could serve as a precious material, Rayrn didn’t leave a single speck behind.
“Quite a haul.”
Only then did he laugh loudly, looking satisfied. Even as he collected the remains, the others remained in a state of constant shock. Benson was the one to snap out of it first this time as well.
“…You worked hard, Young Master.”
“Hard? It was nothing. If we had been unlucky, the Demonic Mana could have spread everywhere. Be careful, as there might still be some residual energy left.”
“Yes, sir!”
Benson approached with a stiff face to check on Rayrn’s condition.
***
After wiping out a goblin tribe and a strange Undead Golem, the second day of the exploration ended.
The third day dawned.
“Purification!”
As if determined not to leave a single trace of Demonic Mana behind, Rayrn continuously cast purification magic from early morning. While not as effective as holy magic, a mage’s purification could still erase Demonic Mana.
To an onlooker, he seemed so passionate that one might wonder if he had been victimized by Demonic Mana in the past. Of course, the fact that Rayrn had fought members of the Demonic Cult who practiced Demonic Qi in his past life was a secret known only to him. There was no way they could know the reason behind his proactive movements.
Instead, his actions were perceived differently.
“The Young Master is really looking out for us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t he erasing the Demonic Mana? He’s probably worried we’ll get contaminated.”
“Ah… So that was it!”
To those who held Rayrn in awe, his actions were framed in a positive light. The truth remained hidden, replaced by the story that Rayrn, the strongest among them, was taking the lead to erase the Demonic Mana for their safety.
Furthermore.
“Just how did the Young Master obtain such power?”
“I have no idea.”
“The Count will tell us later. Until then, keep this strictly secret.”
“Yes, sir!”
The reverence for Rayrn’s power grew.
It had already been two years since Rayrn began his public activities. He first revealed his talent as a mage through territory patrols, then increased productivity as an Agriculture Official, and finally purged those who were eating away at the territory as an Administrative Officer.
“That was amazing back then.”
“Indeed. Didn’t all those corrupt nobles get cut down?”
Thanks to him, the atmosphere of the entire Earl’s Territory had changed significantly. Those who committed corruption shrank back, while capable people were recruited in large numbers, led by his confidant, Esty.
Despite this, they were still recruiting, claiming there was still a shortage of talent. While he gathered administrative officers, he also began using a lot of manpower by building a refinery. An unexpected boom had begun, all thanks to Rayrn.
It would have been stranger if they didn’t feel awe and respect for him.
Unaware of these thoughts, Rayrn silently continued casting his purification magic.
“Should I help?”
“You’ll just ask for a price. Besides, this serves as training in its own way.”
“Tsk… Erasing Demonic Mana is fun, though.”
“Fun, you say? Then what will you give me as payment?”
“…I’m not doing it.”
Even while bickering with the Fire Spirit, Rayrn thoroughly erased the energy.
“Done.”
By the time he felt the energy was completely gone, noon was approaching. After spending the noon hour on lunch, Rayrn had the soldiers surround the area and mobilized the Iron Fist.
“Dig.”
“Yes, sir!”
It was an order from Rayrn, who held their lives in his hands. The men with shovels began to dig the ground frantically, as if they were born for this very task.
Scrape, thud, scrape.
Since the debris from the previous day had been cleared, progress was fast. After digging for some time…
Clang.
Objects similar to the iron ore that had covered the Undead Golem began to appear.
“Eh? Is this it?”
“Hold on. Wait a moment. Apprentices! Bring them here!”
The people mobilized to assist in the iron mine search stepped forward. They were blacksmith apprentices who knew how to distinguish iron ore. Rayrn could distinguish it himself, but he stepped back, knowing experts were better for this.
‘Professionals are better for things like this.’
The apprentices had been too shocked by the Undead Golem the day before to properly examine the ore. Looking nervous as if another undead might appear, the apprentices picked up the ore.
They didn’t dare get this wrong in front of Rayrn. They cracked open the soft ore and began to examine it closely before refining. And then…
“Hmm…”
“It… it really is ore! It’s iron ore! Iron ore!”
“Oh.”
It was confirmed to be iron ore. Just as Rayrn had said, the potential for an iron mine here was proven!
“…This is insane.”
“It’s only been three days?”
Searching for an iron mine could take months or even years. Even with Rayrn’s track record, people thought this task would take years. Finding an iron mine in the South was that rare.
Yet, it had only been three days since they started the search. Even including travel time, it hadn’t been a month. And they had already found it? The impossible had actually happened.
‘It might be real…’
‘An iron mine, of all things.’
Even those who were full of doubt had no choice but to let it go at this point. Amidst the whispering crowd, Rayrn nodded with an expression that said this was only natural. Then, he spoke.
“We need to check the size of the deposit, so hurry up and dig deeper!”
“Yes, sir!”
He began to give rational instructions for the next steps. The acquisition of the iron mine, which everyone thought would fail, began to move forward in earnest.
Four days, five days.
Time flew by. The workers’ hands showed no hesitation as they dug into the earth. When their strength failed, the next workers waiting in rotation were immediately deployed.
“I-it’s real.”
No matter how much they dug, there was iron.
‘My memory was correct.’
They still had to investigate how much was buried. However, there seemed to be no problem with the immediate supply of iron ore. It wasn’t in a mountain range; it was practically an open-pit mine that appeared as soon as they dug the ground.
While the mine construction would take time the deeper they dug…
‘There are many advantages.’
They just had to dig.
As long as they could extract it, there would be no problem with transport or refining. Every bit they dug would be sent to the refinery in the Holy City, where the surging flames would turn the ore into solid iron.
- You’ll definitely give me the reward, right?
“Of course.”
In an instant, the first stage of the work was completed.
‘I can catch my breath now.’
Now, it was time for the next step.