Chapter 45: Losing my mind, eh?

The warrior who had wanted to show off in front of this peasant felt as if the world was falling against his body, crushing him as he stood there, rooted in his position.

The simple yet powerful looking hand fell on his shoulder and a terrible explosion echoed on his mind. His whole body felt as if he was breaking apart, as if countless cracks appeared on every bones, refusing to support him anymore.

But what was worse was his mana core. He felt the mana that was inside beginning to boil, as waves surged and crashed against his meridians. He tried to take control of it, but he couldn't. He had no control over his mana anymore.

His legs wanted to give up under him, but he couldn't move, he couldn't fall. All he could do was look into the deep eyes of this demon. And what he saw made him shudder in fear.

In his black comon eyes, that could be seen in a lot of people, a faint red gleam could be seen, trying to come out from the deepest part of the beast that was simply touching him.

Suddenly, a voice echoed from the back, startling everyone. It was the main butler, announcing the appearance of the count.

The loud voice entered the ears of Rohan, but he couldn't care less about it. All he wanted was to let go of the chains he was feeling, of the rage that was boiling inside his body. All he wanted was to crush this person in front of him.

But a voice appeared next to him.

"Stop that Rohan." It was a serious voice, one that he already had heard a lot of time, but not with that tone. "I can still protect you right now but if you continue with the presence of the count you will be screwed, even if you will be able to kill everyone here."

Rohan turned his face toward the ridiculous words, and saw the seriousness on the face of Delia.

Rohan didn't ever remember having seen such an expression on the face of this young man, even when he had been attacked by the bandit in the middle of the forest. The red world began to crumble and faded away, while the cacophony filled back his ears.

He looked at the man trembling in fear in front of him, as tears were rolling down on his cheeks. He lowered his gaze to his hand, which was currently resting on the shoulder of the man, and lowered it again to see the emblem on his chest.

He was a rank 3 Beginner Warrior.

Before he could do anything, the warrior plopped on the ground like an old rag, with all the noble around watching with a dumbfounded look. If it wasn't for the count appearing and the son of the viscount who was taking care of this man, they would have already pounced on this insulting young man. Of course, they would have let the other warriors do it for them.

The girl leading the group of rotten wench advanced a step to make this nobody kowtow to her, but as her feet touched the ground, she lowered her gaze.

There, a yellow liquid was spreading from the warrior who was still looking with tearful eyes at this demon. What he had just seen would without a doubt mark his spirit until the end of his life.

In fact, he could feel that all his meridians were filled with cracks, and even some scratch had appeared on his mana core. Whoever was this monster in front of him, he didn't want to do no anything with it anymore.

Before the girl could do anything, all the noblemen turned their heads toward the staircase at the back of the hall.

The count was walking down the large stairs, at the view of everyone. He was old, so old in fact, that a guard at his side was holding his hand to help him move one step after another. He didn't even have a single hair on his face, and he was obviously not far from dying at any time.

But before Rohan could see more, Delia warned him.

"What are you still doing here? Do you really want them all to rip you into pieces in front of the count? I think you know plenty well that these people can be cunning sometimes!"

Delia was well aware of the standard of the man in front of him. He was still curious about who he was exactly, but he wouldn't ask any question.

Right now, he just needed him to get out of here. He would be able to make something about what had happened, but more and it would be really impossible even for his father.

Rohan snapped back to reality with these words, of course, Delia was right. He looked deeply at that man, with the terrible habit of talking too much. But, he could say that among all the noble or child of noblemen that he had encountered, this one was the only one he could consider a friend.

Without wasting more time, he excused himself and left this wonderful party under the eyes and the internal curses of the other guests.

He passed through the door while a tempest was still crushing his mind. His hands were shaking, and a strange anger was filling up his whole body.

He continued, walking alone in the street of the city, thinking about what had happened this night.

His direction was of course the shop of his master, probably still forging something at this moment. At least, this useless night had taught him something. About his dreams.

"I'm without a doubt losing my mind eh?" His soothing voice echoed on the alley he was walking, lighted by the moon watching the scene with a big mocking smile.

A few weeks later, Rohan was sitting in the middle of his room, with two potions and a bag at his side. On his hand, was a black rectangular stone, and a frown deepened in his face.

It was the Essence Stone, and this morning, since he felt that something was wrong with the fourth meridian he was working on, he had taken it to verify it. But what he saw was much more shocking than what he had thought.

Race: human

Age: 15 years old

Constitution: 4.96

Mana: 34.52 / 38.98

Spirit: 11

It was only a couple of months ago that he had been promoted to a rank 3 Beginner Warrior, and now that he was only 15 and a half, he was already ready to be promoted as a rank 4 Beginner Warrior.

But even if he wasn't shocked about the speed at which he was ranking up anymore, his constitution could easily stunned him speechless.

Such a value was simply unheard of for the warriors of his rank, and his body was still maturing. He was still a teen at the end of the day, not even an adult!

Rohan looked with confusion at the red data on the black stone. If there really was something wrong with the method he used to open his meridians, then the fifth meridian was making him a bit afraid.

If he somehow managed to modify the method to improve the speed at which a warrior ranked up, even though the method of his family was perfected through countless years, then he would without a doubt have difficulties to follow the path.

But he was sure to have perfectly understood these damn books! He had read it again and again since he was in age to read. He knew so much about the two books that his father had given him that he could easily write them from his memories. One for the beginner ranks, and the other for the Intermediate ones.

He put the stone away, a feeling a deja vu appeared on his mind as he remembered it was the same thing when he had become a rank 3 Beginner Warrior. In any way, he couldn't find an answer, and he wouldn't stop meditating.

Maybe he had indeed made an error somewhere, but he would still advance forward, and take on all the challenges presenting in front of him.

In the end, today would be the day when he would use for the first time the weak mana compression potion. He was sure that it would be enough to make him rank up, and if it wasn't the case, he still had enough weak mana potions in his bag to make up for it.

He popped out the cap of the vial containing the faint golden liquid. It was only a weak potion, but it's effect for the Beginner Warriors was said to be a divin one. He didn't doubt this saying, and in the span of a single breath, he gulped down the whole potion.

He closed his eyes and focused on the mana resting on the mana core. There was so much more mana that when he was only rank 1 that the compression was now much more tangible than before. And suddenly, the mighty potion came into effect.

A mighty strength made shook the mist of the mana, and as Rohan was gathering it, the mana was attracted in the center of the core and compacted itself. It was much faster than his session the day before, but it wasn't only the speed that was superior.

The shape of the compacted mana was a perfect oval form. Compared to before when it was only a weak mist taking the shape Rohan wanted, this time it was almost as if it was a solid item.

Without waiting more, he sent it all toward the path he had created going through his left arm. The path was smooth without any problem, and as he guided the mana when the meridian stopped, the powerful mana dug its path at a speed higher than ever.

The pain he was feeling and the damage that was done to his body wasn't enough to make him stop, and gnashing his teeth, he continued to control his mana to form his meridian.

He was now more experienced than before, and he finished the seance in no time, attaching the base of the meridian at the level of the palm of the hand. In a single session, he had formed a tenth of his fourth meridian. That was such a miraculous potion!

Following this, a torrent of mana engulfed inside his arm, running in the direction of the core, and reinforcing the meridian, strengthening it. After the river of mana had entered his mana core, it headed toward the other meridian and spreaded inside his body, forging him and making Rohan much more stronger.

The sensation he felt was one of an extreme ecstasy. His whole body was reinforced by the mana like never before, making it tougher, more malleable. He could feel his energy boiled inside his body, filling him with a divine sensation. He thought he was ready to destroy the mountain and run toward the end of the world.

Rohan opened his eyes. He expired a large mouthful of air. He had never felt that way before, and for a second time, he couldn't help but think that all warriors were indeed masochists. The wave of mana had indeed strengthened his body, but the pain was still difficult to bear.

He directly took out the weak recovery potion that he had prepared along, and drank it with a blissful expression. His body will need time to recover completely, but still, it has helped him shorten the time he needed by at least one month. He took out a new time the Essence Stone to look at his new strength.

Race: human

Age: 15 years old

Constitution: 5.54

Mana: 0 / 40

Spirit: 11

"Shit."