felt like was going to die.
After he had finally managed to lug the wood back to Clement’s cottage, he had fallen right asleep.
However, at the break of dawn, the old man started banging on the bed he was sleeping in. ‘How does he have so much strength?’ He wondered, rubbing his sore bottom.
“Alright, we’ll do the classic exercises. Give me ten upper-downs.”
Leon stared at him in confusion. “What’s upper-downs?”
Clement had face-palmed, cursing loudly.
As it turned out, upper-downs were push-ups, and after Leon had done 10 of them, he had been made to do various exercises, some he recognized and some he didn’t.
After all that, he fell to the floor, gasping for breath.
“T-there. I-is that good e-enough?”
Now it was Clement’s turn to stare at Leon in confusion.
“That was just the warm-up?”
***
After a couple of hours of pure torture, Leon collapsed in a heap, feeling like his body was being burned up.
“C’mon. Stop being extra. We need to work on your mana channels now.”
‘I’m not being extra, you evil man.’
Slowly forcing his muscles to move, Leon followed Clement outside, where he sat down heavily on the coarse black soil.
“Now, what do you know about mana?”
Leon pondered Clement’s question. Although he knew about the power that the Reborn used, he didn’t know that much about it.
Taking his silence for an answer, Clement continued, “Mana is the raw power of the universe. Anybody can use it. Though I hear that for your race, only a select few can harness it.”
Clement motioned at his body. “You need to make mana channels that best fit you. For example, I have mana channels mostly in my legs, as I prioritize speed over strength. To find your fit, I’ll be expecting you to develop your channels by the time we need to go.”
“If not…” Clement looked at Leon with a serious expression. “You already know about our plans. If you prove to be worthless… you know what’ll happen.”
“Okay,” replied Leon, listing hopelessly to the demand. How was he supposed to even do what Clement was speaking about?
“Now, you’ll be meditating here every day after the exercises. This whole place is covered by a protection skill, so don’t worry about any Lost Ones or demons killing you here.”
And with that, he left Leon alone, whistling as he went back into his cottage.
After Clement left, Leon sat in silence, trying to see if he could sense anything inside him.
After sitting in silence for what seemed like hours, he finally gave up, slowly standing up with his stiff muscles.
‘How am I supposed to do it?’
Walking around, he stretched, marveling at the blue sun in the distance.
However, as he was enjoying his period of silence, a sudden noise caught his attention.
It sounded like a tinkling of bells, like the ones back on Earth. It was coming from the cottage, making Leon think that Clement was doing something with his artifacts.
However, as he again sat down and tried to find this thing called mana within his body, an explosion jerked him around.
BOOM
The cottage exploded, pieces of stone and wood flying in all directions. ‘Wh-’
Clement suddenly came flying out, pushing Leon away. A split-second later, the place where he had previously been was stuck with multiple black needles.
“You need to run, I’ll buy som-”
As Clement tried to speak to Leon, a sudden presence pressed down on them. Although Clement was rather okay, albeit looking a bit tense, Leon felt blood spurting from his nose and mouth.
“Hey, Clement. You got yourself a new toy?” A bright, tinkling voice came across the horizon, revealing a petite man with blonde hair and wearing black battle armor.
“Why have you come to my household?” Clement asked, his face grave.
The man laughed, a sharp, happy sound ringing out.
“Why do you think so? That boy there… he’s very important.”
Leon felt horror in his chest as the man turned his attention to him. “C’mon, boy. We won’t hurt you. We’ll give you a way to go back home.”
“You just have to do a few things for us.”
Leon was quickly pushed back behind Clement as he whispered to him, “Don’t trust them. They’re from the Tower. They’ll probably do experiments on you, as they have been deprived of humans for months.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Nodding, Leon backed further away from the man, while Clement summoned a black dagger from thin air.
“Oh my… we can’t be having a battle, are we?”
Sighing, the man also summoned a sleek rapier, its blade seeming to radiate power. Then lifting it, he pointed at Clement.
“Then, I, the Fifth Prince of the Abyss, challenge you, Charon, former general of the King’s Army, to a duel!”
The man smirked at Clement.
“This should be fun!”
And they both leaped at each other, weapons flashing with power.
***
Clement struck first, lashing out with his dagger, which slowly changed shape into a long spear. However, the man only smiled faintly and deflected it easily.
And then, activating his Skill Tree, the man was covered by tendrils of lighting.
[Lighting’s Fifth Step: World-Ending Judgment]
The man’s entire being was covered with crackling lighting, so much so that his real body disappeared. Soon, metals began flying at him, attracted by the magnetism of the electricity. And slowly, his appearance grew, until…
The man was a giant, made of lighting and metal.
Clement, however, didn’t seem to be unnerved.
[Light’s Third Step: Bending Rainbows]
All around the giant, rays of pure light flashed around, creating an intricate pattern of light.
‘So bright,’ thought Leon, shielding his eyes.
[Mass Conversion]
Activating a skill, Clement injected mass into the pattern of light surrounding the giant. And then, with a giant explosion, the trap of light fell onto the giant, the giant’s appearance becoming broken down, as pieces of metal began falling from its body.
Roaring, the giant summoned a fist of lighting, slamming Clement down into the ground before he could react.
Leon yelped, running over to see if he was fine, but stopped when he saw Clement activating another part of his Skill Tree.
[Light’s Seventh Step: Godspeed]
Clement propelled forwards, so fast that he looked like he was teleporting.
He… was traveling at the speed of light.
***
Can something with mass travel at the speed of light?
It’s impossible.
Well, according to regular physics.
Because if something travels at that speed, it’ll start to have infinite mass, which means that it will also require infinite energy to move.
And nothing has the infinite energy that is needed.
Unless you count mana.
Mana is infinite, just like the universe.
And people who wield this power can travel at the speed of light.
However, if you use this Skill, remember.
Your mass is also infinite.
You have become the heaviest thing in the universe.
What’ll happen if you crash into something?
***
As soon as Clement launched forward, the world broke.
Although Leon wasn’t aware of what was happening, the very molecules that were in this place called Sheol began to break apart, scattering into the Unknown.
And when Clement crashed into the giant, everything disappeared.
Leon’s very molecular structure disappeared, along with the whole planet.
It just didn’t exist anymore.
***
And then, slowly, Leon opened his eyes.
Sitting up, he pondered the vision he just had.
Was the thing they called Mana trying to show him something?
It wasn’t that Leon was suddenly seeing the future. After all, he knew that Clement wasn’t so stupid to destroy the world just because of a duel.
However, a thought kept nagging at him. If Clement was able to travel at the speed of light, that would mean that mana had infinite energy.
But… wouldn’t that make mana energy?
After all, for something to be infinite energy, it would have to be energy.
Closing his eyes, Leon lay down. He would need to maximize his proximity with energy if his theory was correct. After all, it was known that energy was everything.
Matter could be converted into pure energy, meaning that the soil where Leon was stretched out was energy as well.
Lying on the black soil, he tried to feel something other than the coarse feeling of dirt, or the stench of brimstone in the air. He tried to feel something deeper inside of him.
And slowly, he began to feel a certain tingling.
It was like something inside of him was begging to be released, and that something was desperate.
The tingling began to increase, almost feeling like the unpleasant sensation of when your body parts fall asleep.
However, as the feeling increased even more, Leon felt that something was missing. And with that, the sensation went away.
Sighing, he sat back up.
‘I’ll have to try tomorrow.’
***
And with that, 3 days passed, with Leon spending the morning exercising, and the afternoons meditating. He felt closer to the thing that was missing but still hadn't grasped it.
Leon woke up, stretching his muscles. After 3 days of intense training, his muscles were much more developed, albeit not that much as he was still just a teenager.
“C’mon, Leon. We’re going somewhere today.”
“Will it take up my meditating time?”
Clement rolled his eyes. “No, it's just for the morning.”
“Okay.” He followed Clement out of the house, pulling on some of the clothes that Clement had given him. His past ones had been ripped, shredded, and bloodied. These new ones felt a bit scratchy, but it was very similar to Human clothing.
He followed Clement out of the protection skill’s boundaries. This was the first time he could see what place the cottage was in, and he looked around in curiosity.
However, to his disappointment, it was similar to the place he had first woken up in, with the black plains, with Lost Ones lumbering around slowly.
“Where are we going?” Leon asked, observing that Clement’s clothing seemed to be fitted for battle, with a light chain-metal suit and protective pants.
“To get you a Bound weapon.”
“What's that?”
Clement made a motion with his hand, summoning the dagger that Leon had seen in the vision into reality. “This is my Bound weapon. It grows along with you but also grows weaker with you. And you only get one chance at it, so be careful while choosing.”
“Thanks. But still… why are you doing so much for me? I thought that I was just propaganda?”
“Of course, but just in case. We’ll need every demon and man if we’re to overthrow the current King.”
He stopped, peering into the distance, looking around to make sure nobody had followed them. “C’mon. We’re going into this hole.”
Then, pulling out a stone, Clement pushed at a button nestled in the rock.
Slowly, his and Leon’s bodies began fading apart, the tiny tendrils of flesh and bone drifting into an almost inch-wide hole in the ground.
And then, the rock snapped back into place, leaving no trace that anybody had been there.
***
Leon and Clement materialized in a room surrounded by pillars.
“C’mon. Put this on.”
He handed Leon a regular white mask, with tiny inscriptions carved into the sides.
“We can’t show anyone that you’re a human. They’ll kill you if they even suspect it.”
Nodding, he put on the mask. Its interior was strangely comfortable and hid his face well.
“Now, follow me.”
Clement took the lead, opening a tall door, and marching into a bustling marketplace.
It was filled with demons. Some were manning stands, while others were walking around, some buying and some bartering for prices. The entire market was in a cave, which was covered with gleaming crystals, which supplied the light for this place.
“W-what is this place?” Leon’s heart started pounding. He had never seen this many demons in one place before. Strangely, most demons, albeit the old ones, were most alike, with classic black hair and crimson eyes.
“The black market,” Clement replied, eyeing the place. “Even us demons have shitholes like this.”
Judging from his tone, Leon could tell that Clement didn’t approve of this place existing.
Walking for around 10 minutes, they finally stopped in front of a small shop, nestled into the corner of the cave wall.
[The Bound]
Seeing the shop sign, Leon winced.
‘Why are all demons so cringy?’
Opening the door, he and Clement stepped into the shop.
Leon coughed as he smelled the musty air.
The shop looked old, with bookshelves and shelves covered by weapons.
“Oh! What do we have here?”
A tiny person peeked out around a shelf.
He looked like one of the elves from Leon’s childhood stories, with pale brown hair and sharp pointed ears.
“Hello there.”
The elf grinned hideously.
“Incarnate.”