“You’re not bad… Not bad at all.” Hiroshi uttered while cleaning the blade stained with blood of gretchens. The greenskin horde has been completely culled, and with their demise, a sense of achievement grew within Hiroshi as he successfully led his peers to defend from the assault.
Goblins might be too strong for early-stage rank 0 apprentices like them as they have yet to get their hands on proper cultivation techniques, but gretchens are roughly as strong as mortal humans. With a little bit of strategy centered around the defensive carriage wall, it isn’t difficult for teenagers to kill them. In the end, they have successfully killed all the attacking greenskins with light injury at best, and from the sound, everyone could feel that other sides have also ended almost at the same time.
Then, it was time to recuperate while assessing the damage.
“H- hey Satoru, are you alright?” Hiroshi voiced his concern when he noticed Mordred’s bleeding hand.
“Hmm.” Mordred nodded in response, he wasn’t trying to be aloof or condescending, but he simply had no interest in blending in. Yes, he participated in the defense, even listening to Hiroshi’s arrangement, but there’s nothing else he can do at that time. It was either that or nurture hostilities from the other youths. Considering they might be Satoru’s potential teammates in the future, at the very least, maintaining an amicable relationship is the bare necessity for a cover.
After all, he can’t openly slaughter all of them without justification.
‘No… why have I been thinking about murder all these time…’ Mordred's mind was in a state of disarray as he came to the realization that thoughts of murder had been consuming him for some time now. He delved deeper into his thoughts and examined his metacognition, only to uncover an even more disturbing truth.
Originally, murder was nothing more than a means to an end, a tool to achieve his goals. However, since the memories he currently possessed were merely a fragment of his true self, it reveals flaws in his thought processing. Instead of using murder as a means, it has become more like his desire.
As the most murderous Magus of Holy Terra, he had always been unapologetic about his willingness to eliminate anyone who posed a threat to his goals, be it a child or an adult. He saw murder as a natural part of his existence, akin to breathing. Even in the midst of a perilous situation where every life was precious, Mordred had no qualms about taking a life if it meant ensuring his own survival or his benefit. To him, the value of human life paled in comparison to the importance of his interest.
‘But that was because all my missions had been related to assassination and genocide. Now that I am far away from Holy Terra, my task is no longer purely genocidal in nature. I shouldn’t think of killing anyone I found unpleasant.’
Deeply swallowing the bitter pill of reality, he suppressed his urge for murdering anyone that looked at him the wrong way. Mordred exhaled a cold breath as he put the gun in the holster on thigh. His absentmindedness invited questioning gazes from the other youths, but even after being called multiple times by others, he was still staring blankly at the distance.
It was only after Sakuya came by to his side that his attention was pulled back from daydream. “Satoru, are you okay?” She ordered as she shoved a red healing potion at his lips before checking his right hand.
Due to his untrained body, his right hand has been damaged. Unlike light-path magic guns that fire projectiles without mass, the one he used utilizes the principle of explosion to shoot projectiles in linear vectors at high velocity, therefore the knockback was intense. Since Mordred is distracted due to observing Katyusha’s combat methods during the assault of the greenskins, he did not register the pain of his right hand getting abused after shooting the gun multiple times in succession.
The truth was, this level of pain where people wouldn’t be able to use their hand to grip a cup of tea is not even worth mentioning to Mordred. This was because sound-path methods typically damage oneself before harming others, therefore he is used to having mundane pain all over his body. He wouldn’t force himself like this since he has to keep up appearances, but his thoughts are currently all over the place, and his mental capacity is limited. It wouldn’t be weird if some of his facade is broken.
“I’ve told you specifically that your limit is 16!” Sakuya scolded while forcing him to chug down a healing potion, some flowed from the gaps of his mouth. Using a telepathic sweep to count the amount of bullets he had in his person, she continued to lecture him. “You’ve shot over 71 times! It’s a miracle that your hand doesn’t fall off! Look, all the bones in your right hand are shattered and the muscles are torn. How the fuck can you still shoot the gun with all these damages!”
Sakuya called in Twin Helix’s medic, which was Seraphina the petite elf. She then made a ruckus by scolding the kobold warriors of how incompetent they were. Naturally, Sumire who oversees the kobolds by incessantly sending telepathic orders during the battle did not take it to heart as she understood that Sakuya was just venting.
Seraphina immediately inspected Mordred’s hand the moment she arrived and poured down some green liquid with reddish granules in them onto the wound after she determined the severity of the damage. Then, she chanted a spell. “How are you feeling?” She inquired as green, verdant vines sprouted from the spell catalyst that she poured on Mordred’s arm. The vines gently cleaned his arm from blood as they produced soft green radiation barely visible to the naked eye.
Swoosh! The vines quickly combusted as they could not handle Mordred’s searing hot blood, but Seraphina had anticipated it. The flaming vines burst into pale green light, accelerating the healing process significantly. Before Mordred was able to react, the damage on his muscle was mostly healed, but it’ll take time before his bones can fully heal.
Seeing Mordred being unresponsive, Seraphina reported her procedure to Sakuya. “Much like yourself, he has some resistance to my wood-path healing methods, it’ll take some time before he completely recovers. For now, I’m forcefully keeping his bones together by implanting fire-resistant medicinal roots binding his bone and sinews. In time, the roots would slowly be absorbed by his body as nutrients. I suggest not to exercise too much strength on his right hand.”
“There wouldn’t be a problem.” Mordred suddenly woke up from his stupor. “I require the blood of fire-path beasts to heal myself.” He practically whispered for the last part, “If the beast’s bloodline revolves around survival, it’ll be better.”
Sakuya frowned. His condition worried her, but after thinking for a brief second, she accepted his request. “Alright, let’s get you healed up somewhere.” Although she wasn’t sure yet, she has an inkling of why he put up a strange request.
She brought him to her personal carriage for some privacy before taking out a vial of blood, “This is Magmaheart Wyvern’s blood, a precious resource that couldn’t be easily procured in the southern continent since they only exist in the Land of Sand and Fire. Magmaheart Wyvern has a hint of Gravios’ bloodline, allowing them to be categorized as a metal-path and a fire-path lifeform at the same time. Their blood contains extremely high mineral content as well as being infused with sufficiently high fire elemental particles. The wyvern is specialized in defense and survival, it’ll fulfill your requirement.”
“Thank you, Miss Sakuya.” Mordred accepted and immediately drank the content. < Astaroth, I’ll leave it at you. >
< Yes, Your Majesty! I’ll be activating [Hemotherapy] to heal you, but keep in mind that a creature with Gravios’ bloodline is extremely precious, if you can get some more of its blood, I’ll be able to use my blood-path methods to purify it in the future. With this, gaining Gravios’ true bloodline wouldn’t be impossible, it can be used as a core for my Astaroth Blood Weapon. >
After gulping down the last drop of the thick, molten iron-like blood, his body ignited in a semi-translucent blood flame. Fwuah! Mordred breathed out crimson flames as he made a chewing motion, but unbeknownst to Sakuya, the blood is no longer under his control but Astarot’s instead.
Astaroth’s main path is blood and fire. Her healing methods are optimized to heal fire-path cultivators. The mineral content of the Wyvern’s blood can also be used to repair the bones and strengthen it, but the Archdemon wouldn’t want to use it all up. She artificially coagulated most of it and stored them near Mordred’s heart for future use.
Anything that could catch Astaroth’s interest is worth his as and those that could get her attention are definitely not simple.
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< Was Gravios bloodline that useful to you? > Mordred inquired.
< Affirmative. Much like the human race has an exceptional individual known as ‘Mordred’, the Armored Wyvern race have ‘Gravios’. If I recall correctly, Gravios’ true body should be in Gragos World, but for his bloodline to be in this world, someone must’ve brought it away. >
< Oh, Gragos World… It should be in the process of being subjugated by the ‘Armored Titan’, Reinhardt. He’s a sovereign from Kaiserreich, a country in the Land of Sand and Fire. Last time I heard, the subjugation progressed extremely slow due to the retaliation of the natives. Because of that, the Armored Titan’s true body has yet to return to Morgen World for some time now. > Mordred added, < Though, I couldn’t be sure since I don’t even know how long since I’ve been declared dead. >
“I heard that grade-S talents have special abilities that they themselves couldn’t explain… I’ve been holding myself back since I don’t want to be privy, but is that the ability of your ‘extreme mana pool’, Satoru?” Sakuya's question brought Mordred’s attention back.
These ‘special abilities’ granted by extreme mana pools were bestowed by the heavens during awakening. With the mana pool awakening procedure being a process that eluded the understanding of most mages, it is not strange for the source of these abilities to remain unknown. Most would simply revere them as extreme abilities bestowed by the heavens and accept the fact as is.
“More or less.” Mordred answered vaguely but not completely incorrect. “Since I’ve awoken my grade-S mana pool, I have the feeling that I can use the blood of fire-path lifeforms as an energy reserve, including my own. If the blood has a reptile-type bloodline, I have a slight chance of using their bloodline abilities to a certain extent. I’m not sure myself, but the Magmaheart Wyvern’s signature should be this armor, right?” Mordred’s right hand slowly reveals a faint red scaly pattern. Although it is currently soft, there is no doubt that a human shouldn’t have scales on their skin.
“!!!” Sakuya was shocked that she immediately traced her fingers onto his skin to examine it closely. “I’ve prepared the Magmaheart Wyvern’s blood as a rank 0 [Mage Armor] spell catalyst… but you were able to naturally use it as a bloodline defensive method.”
Schlick! The scaly pattern on his arm turned darker a few tones as it gained a hint of metallic shine. In Sakuya’s perspective, Mordred was able to use a spell catalyst without needing to construct a spell formation nor chant its activation sequence, as if they were his natural bloodline ability. However, as far as she knew, Mordred was ‘pure’ human in a sense that he does not possess a special lineage.
“[Myriad Blaze Sanguine Pool]...” Mordred admitted honestly as the scales on his hand ‘flap’ multiple times, showing that it was somewhat under his control. “To a certain extent, my extreme mana pool allows me to ignite fire-path blood to not only use them as an alternative energy source, but also temporarily gain their bloodline abilities. Though, I am still unsure of my limits.”
Sakuya squinted her eyes as she took out a thick book with a red leather cover from her dimensional storage. She flipped the pages multiple times, determined to see if he was telling the truth. When she found out what he uttered was real, she made an understanding look at Mordred. “Let’s see… the Myriad Blaze Sanguine Pool is a blood-fire mana pool. Anyone possessing this extreme mana pool could use multiple and is compatible with all types of Fire Radix. In addition, one has the ability to ignite blood of fire-path lifeforms as a secondary energy source.”
The encyclopedia was something that she inherited from her family, the information it contained was substantial, but still rather incomplete. “There’s no line revealing that you can temporarily use the bloodline abilities of fire-path lifeforms, but that’s understandable. Research regarding mana pools is barely a few centuries old, there should be some information which is written incompletely.” She logicized her own assumption, which was not completely incorrect.
If not for the Great Archmage publicizing some of his research regarding mana pool a few hundred years ago, the world’s understanding of mana pool would be far behind the current age. She wanted to put her findings into the encyclopedia but that’ll require more in depth examination regarding Mordred’s extreme mana pool. This information would grant immense benefit to Sakuya’s family but at the same time, would expose the limit and weakness of Mordred.
“May I put your information inside my clan’s database?” She inquired. “This book is a clone, it is connected with the main encyclopedia in my clan’s treasury…”
“I don’t mind.” Mordred replied nonchalantly. “In fact, I require your help in determining my limits.” In truth, he just wanted some justification when he used bloodline abilities in the future. If he could convince and turn Sakuya into his backer, he’ll be able to publicly use more methods and achieve more without garnering suspicion.
As for concealing his talent, Mordred can ass-pull any kind of story and if Sakuya confirms it, nobody would suspect it.
“Sure! I’ll be glad to.” Her contribution to the family will bring her long-term benefit so Sakuya has no reason to deny a win-win solution.
…
After some discussion regarding the details to conduct experiments to determine his abilities, both of them came out of the carriage, but the sun had already set. It is currently dinnertime, so most of the youths and some of Twin Helix’s members are sitting around a bonfire while waiting for the kobolds to serve food.
When he rejoined the crowd with Sakuya, he could already hear Katyusha narrating something, “Greenskins’ flesh and blood contain a high amount of energy and lifeforce, more so than most humans. In the future, you should not hold back on bringing their corpses. The Hunter Association would buy an infinite amount of them because they are the base material to refine sustenance potions.” She pointed at a group of kobolds quite a distance away.
Their line of sight is no longer blocked by the defensive carriage wall. They could see a group of kobolds deftly dismembering greenskins and beasts’ out of their precious body parts, categorizing them depending on their uses, and keeping them inside dimensional storages. The process was streamlined, evidence of having long hours of experience in doing so.
“What about the bones? Will they be thrown away?” A youth politely raised her hand. Mordred doesn’t know her name, but she was originally from Mira village much like his Mortal Shell.
“No resource should be wasted. Twin Helix’s captain has a motto, which is ‘there’s no such thing as useless resources, only untapped potential’. You should approach every resource as an opportunity to discover new ways of utilizing them to their fullest, whether it be through innovative thinking, continuous deep research, or perseverance. I believe that by embracing this mindset, you can achieve greatness and overcome any obstacle that comes your way.” Katyusha took out a vial of white powder from her dimensional storage before continuing.
“Let me tell you that bones are bone-path resources. It should be obvious but I am not a bone-path cultivator; they are rather rare, but they still require resources, so there’s still a market for it. This powdered bone can be used as a spell catalyst in its current condition,” She continued elaborating. “But even if you can’t use it, there are other people who can utilize it. Rather than throwing it away, you’re in a much better position if you sell them.”
“Finally, I’m fucking done!” Kenji suddenly joins in the bonfire, his topless body exposed to the world. From his wet, steaming hair, it was obvious that he had just taken a warm bath. “You kids wanna see something cool?” The dude started to flex his muscles while Twin Helix members rolled their eyes. Nobody in Twin Helix liked an unsolicited muscle flex, they are simply bored due to the repetition, but the youths of Mira village were so entertained that some began to whistle and beg Kenji to show them his jacked muscles.
Ignoring the hairless ape, Mordred took a seat somewhere quiet while Sakuya followed suit. “Miss Sakuya, what’s wrong with that glue eater?”
“Pfft, glue eater!” Sakuya releases a light chuckle. “Something happened a couple of years ago that made that idiot almost die of genetic collapse. To save him, the captain tried various methods, but her refinement-path methods were not as refined as they are now. I’m still not sure about the details, but back then, she tried to infuse nanoms into his body to stop his genetic collapse, but something went seriously wrong. The result was not going as expected as his cells are constantly breaking down while being repaired at the same time.” She was practically whispering.
“I heard the pain is similar to constantly having boiling metal rampaging inside your body. Instead of blood, it’ll be more like having magma flowing in his veins, I guess? But of course, Kenji is a strength-path martial artist, not a fire-path one, so his resistance to heat is not like ours.” She shook her head. “To ensure he does not become insane from the constant pain, the captain did something to his brain, probably turning off the pain receptor. As a consequence, his IQ took a freefall. He should be able to regain his intellect at will, but that’ll make him experience extreme pain that any other person would prefer killing themself instead of enduring it. I’m not even sure why his nerves haven't been fried yet or why his lifespan hasn't been exhausted yet…”
“What’s IQ?” Mordred asked.
“That would be the intelligence quotient, a metric that measures a person’s intelligence. The average person will have around 100-120 IQ, but Kenji in his non-combat state would probably be in the 80s or so.”
“What about you Miss Sakuya? How high is your IQ?” Mordred seemed like enjoying himself in the atmosphere as he exchanged casual nothings with Sakuya while waiting for dinner.
“Last time I checked, it should be 170, but I’m no match for Katyusha, Sumire or even the captain.” Sakuya paused for a brief second. “Katyusha and Sumire’s IQ should be around 200. Nobody knows the captain’s IQ but Sumire estimated that she should be around 400.”
“Does that mean the captain is four times smarter than a mortal?”
“She does have the ability to hear color, taste light, and see sound, but it’s not that simple.” She made a difficult expression. “IQ measures the crystallization of intelligence and wisdom. A mortal’s IQ has an upper limit of 185, but a cultivator has no upper limit. This is because after reaching a certain point, typically when one becomes a Lord, IQ is no longer a reliable metric as they have become too vague. How can the metrics of mortals be used to measure the intelligence of Legends, or even demigods?”
“I see…” Just as Mordred wanted to ask more meaningless questions, Sumire arrived with several of her kobold servants, carrying a large amount of food that contained mostly meaty dishes.
“Oh, everyone’s here, great! Although the scale of the attack was barely able to threaten us, successfully surviving your first battle is worth celebrating. Let’s begin the feast!” She announced.