Chapter 100: Clan Induction (2)
“Then we’ll be taking our leave first.”
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Kang Da-hee tried to take Kali with her and head out of the Reception Room.
However, Kali stopped in her tracks for a moment and asked.
“Wait a second. This looks fun—can’t we watch a bit before leaving?”
“You can’t.”
“Tch, so uptight.”
In the end, Kali trudged after Kang Da-hee and left the Reception Room.
“What are you doing! Why aren’t you coming at me already!”
Pajijijik……!
The lightning surging from Tae-oh Barosi grew increasingly violent.
At that, Betty let out a small sigh and spoke.
“Ha……. Sorry, Diesel. My older brother learned social skills from novels.”
“Novels?”
“Yeah. He wasn’t like that originally, but then he suddenly got into some genre like martial arts novels or whatever, and he changed like this.”
“What I read were not mere novels! They were the masters who taught this man called me how to live his life!”
“What are you even saying.”
“Younger sister! If you continue to insult novels any further, this older brother will have no choice but to you…….”
“Shut up and put the electricity away while I’m still being nice.”
“Ha! That sharp gaze of yours is still the same!”
Realizing that reason wouldn’t get through, Betty made a threatening face at her older brother.
“Put it away. Right now.”
“Hm……? Are you rebelling against this older brother now? How adorable.”
Pajijijik……!
This time, lightning sparks flared up from Betty.
“I told you to put it away.”
“Hahahaha……! Very well! Then let us finish the sibling reminiscence we couldn’t complete last time!”
‘Hmm…….’
Somehow, it felt like I had ended up intruding in the middle of a family fight.
Diesel slowly observed Tae-oh Barosi.
‘His mana level is incredible.’
He had probably only just passed thirty, yet when it came to mana, it would be no exaggeration to say he was nearly complete.
In particular, the trait Melee Mages valued most—“purity”—had reached an extreme level.
‘His purity doesn’t even compare to Betty’s.’
She clearly possessed purity on a level completely different from ordinary mages.
But compared to Tae-oh Barosi’s mana, it was like the difference between the clearest stream and distilled water.
‘They say mana purity comes from a pure mind…….’
An untainted, upright heart.
Most Melee Mages either made constant efforts to maintain that state, or were people who possessed such a disposition from the start and thus gravitated toward becoming Melee Mages.
‘Wait. Then what about Kali?’
Her mana purity, as a Melee Mage, was also fairly high.
She looked worldly, but was her inner self actually pure?
“Making me wait this long! Must this body truly step forward first!”
“Try moving even a single hair. I’ll turn you into grilled lizard on the spot.”
“Oho……. Younger sister, it seems your mana is filled with far more killing intent than before.”
“…….”
“As expected, this man is someone especially precious to you…….”
“Sh, shut up! What kind of crazy nonsense are you spouting?”
Pajit……!
From Betty’s hand bloomed a rapidly spinning Sphere of the Brain Dragon.
Just as she was about to hurl it at Tae-oh Barosi.
“Betty.”
Diesel stepped in and stopped her movement.
“I’ll handle this.”
“H, huh? No! There’s no need to deal with that guy! We can just roughly send him back…….”
“It’s fine.”
“…….”
The opponent was a swordsman from the Brain Dragon Magic Tower and a half-dragon, no less.
Even if we were to simply send him away, there was nothing wrong with crossing blades first.
For Diesel, fighting was also a way to improve ability.
“Hahahaha……! So you’ve finally found the will to face me?”
“Not here. Follow me.”
“Very well! Lead the way!”
The only completed facility in the utterly ruined Safe House.
A “Training Ground” where all kinds of magic, firearms, and cold weapons could be tested.
There was also space prepared for sparring.
“Oh……. So there was at least one proper area.”
Tae-oh Barosi exclaimed as he looked around.
“Remarkable. This is the first time I’ve seen a place on this scale.”
“Doesn’t the Brain Dragon Magic Tower have a training ground?”
“It does, but not in this form. Our tower focuses more on researching spells.”
Generally, the mages in magic towers regarded magic as a kind of academic discipline.
Perhaps because of that, they showed little interest in the Melee Mage path, where physical training was important.
‘He must’ve had it pretty rough too.’
A Melee Mage from a magic tower.
In truth, it was an extremely unusual background.
Some magic towers even labeled Melee Mages as “heretical.”
Perhaps that closed-off tendency of such towers had influenced Tae-oh Barosi to wander outside.
“With this level, it wouldn’t fall short even if compared anywhere in the world.”
Had he taken a liking to the Training Ground?
Tae-oh Barosi nodded with a satisfied smile.
‘Of course it should be. Do you know how much money I poured into this place?’
Just the foundational construction alone had burned through hundreds of millions.
On top of that, all the various facilities inside were top-tier, so as Tae-oh said, it could be considered one of the finest Training Grounds in the world.
“Then shall we now properly confirm it?”
“…….”
“Whether you have the qualifications to become this body’s ‘commander,’ that is.”
Sreung.
Tae-oh Barosi drew his sword once more and took his stance.
“Come, mage.”
Facing his upright gaze, Diesel drew mana up through my body.
‘Perfect timing. There’s something I wanted to test anyway.’
The transmission of the Gongryu Sword I had promised Edwin Silver.
In truth, that swordsmanship was a technique that could not be executed by anyone other than my older brother and myself.
It required the Seed ability called “Eyes that Perceive” to be used properly.
‘Still, if it’s that man, it might be possible.’
Edwin possessed the Seed power known as “Cutting Surface.”
A powerful ability capable of cutting through all surreal phenomena.
‘Besides, I have a similar ability myself.’
The ability I possessed—“Manipulating Hand.”
If my older brother could only see the surreal, I went as far as manipulating it.
That meant that, like Edwin Silver, I could also cut through the structures formed by magic.
‘Using that as a foundation, I was able to improve the Gongryu Sword.’
Diesel had already modified several opening forms of the Gongryu Sword to better suit my own body.
The only thing lacking was real combat data, and this seemed like a good opportunity.
With that, Diesel formed a sword made of black ice in my hand.
“Oho……. That ice is…….”
Tae-oh Barosi muttered in admiration as he looked at the Black Ice Sword.
“So the rumors were true. They said you wield black ice.”
“I’m kind of famous.”
“I’ve also heard you can even use White Thunder. Is that true as well?”
“Who knows.”
Diesel shrugged, then raised the tip of the sword toward Tae-oh Barosi.
“You’ll find out yourself.”
“Hahahaha! That confidence of yours—I like it!”
The half-dragon burst into loud laughter, his eyes glowing blue.
“Then let’s see. Whether your confidence is backed by skill.”
Pajijijijik……!
Lightning far stronger than before erupted from Tae-oh Barosi.
“Come!”
He yielded the initiative as if it were only natural.
Just how confident was he to act like that?
In response, Diesel took my stance.
‘Modified Gongryu Sword.’
I recalled the swordsmanship that combined my older brother’s memories with my own applications.
‘Ironclad Piercing.’
A simple yet powerful thrust.
Originally, it was a form that used Seed abilities to pierce weaknesses along the most efficient path.
“Oho……!”
Pajijijik……!
But with my abilities, such detours were unnecessary.
“That is the lightning-type enhancement art, ‘Leigong’!”
Blue lightning flared up from Diesel’s body.
A single strike unleashed while even using lightning-type enhancement.
“Hahahaha! Looks like there’s no room to take it easy!”
Like a bolt of lightning crashing down from the sky.
A jet-black sword streak charged toward its target.
But—
‘……?’
Tae-oh Barosi, who should have been at the tip of my blade, was somewhere completely different.
“To alter and operate ordinary Leigong like this. Excellent! Did you refine it yourself?”
“…….”
What just happened?
I was clearly accelerated to some extent in reaction speed through Leigong.
And yet, Tae-oh Barosi’s movements were completely invisible to me.
“But compared to the ‘true’ Leigong, it still falls far short.”
The half-dragon grinned as he looked at Diesel.
Pajijijik……!
Clad in a form of Leigong similar to mine.
‘The true Leigong…….’
Taking those words as a hint, something came to mind.
A way to raise the output of the Leigong spell even further.
Diesel narrowed my eyes and looked at Tae-oh.
He was definitely using the same “Leigong” as I was.
‘No. That’s different somehow.’
Even with the power of surreal awakening, the spells used by Melee Mages were hard to distinguish.
That was because most spells manifested as enhancements to the body.
Among them, Leigong—with its outwardly visible form—was about the only spell Diesel could attempt to imitate.
I observed Tae-oh Barosi more closely.
Then I noticed that the core of his Leigong was different.
‘Did he combine spells…….’
In his Leigong, the Brain Dragon Magic Tower’s signature spell, “Sphere of the Brain Dragon,” was being used like a power core to maintain output.
And not just one, but three spheres.
“Originally, the enhancement art ‘Leigong’ was a spell directly passed down to the world by our ancestral Brain Dragon.”
“……I see.”
“That’s why combining it with the Sphere of the Brain Dragon is practically essential.”
Perhaps it was information even Betty Barosi did not know.
Considering that Leigong had not been among the many combination methods she taught me, that seemed likely.
‘Well, she is a Spellcaster.’
Leigong was a lightning-type enhancement art handled by Melee Mages.
And the half-dragon before my eyes was a Melee Mage—something exceedingly rare within the Brain Dragon Magic Tower.
“Can you imitate it?”
Tae-oh Barosi asked with a confident smile.
In response, Diesel drew up mana instead of answering.
Pajijijik……!
In Diesel’s grasp, a Sphere of the Brain Dragon about the size of a marble formed.
“Oho…….”
Though small in size, its power was anything but insignificant.
It was a sphere that compressed something originally several times larger into a single point.
“Did you learn that from Betty?”
The half-dragon’s eyes narrowed.
“How unexpected. To think that girl would teach magic to someone.”
It was a remark laden with meaning, but Diesel had no room to pay it any mind.
In my hand, magic capable of supplying power to an entire building was surging violently.
‘Now I need to combine this with Leigong…….’
I brought my palm near my heart.
Then I pushed it toward the mana core that maintained Leigong.
But for some reason, it just wouldn’t work easily.
‘……Why?’
“Stop it. You’ll end up a wreck if you keep that up.”
Tae-oh Barosi offered sincere advice from the front, but it didn’t reach Diesel’s ears.
‘Is it because I modified Leigong?’
After quickly analyzing the cause, I altered the form of Leigong.
From the Leigong I had modified to reduce strain on the body, back to the original Leigong that burned flesh and muscle entirely.
Pajijijik……!
‘Kuh…….’
Instantly, overwhelming searing pain assaulted me.
Without hesitating even a moment, Diesel forced the Sphere of the Brain Dragon back into my body.
“You have quite a reckless tendency. That’s not a good habit for a swordsman.”
Despite Tae-oh’s muttering, Diesel did not stop.
“Ahem, forcing it like that won’t make it work. It’s not something you can do with sheer spirit alone. Even for me, it took several months. Let’s call it a day here, so stop being stubborn and—”
But—
“Hmm……?”
“Krrrk…….”
Pajijijik……!
“What…… did you just do?”
“…….”
Diesel’s eyes glowed blue as I finally succeeded in combining the two.