Chapter 10: Ways to Get Stronger (1)

The next day, Shireen and Devan met in the castle yard. The two didn't talk at all, just stared at each other's faces, and the sudden laugh from Shireen was very clear this was to break the awkward silence.

'Let's calm down, this is Lady Shireen I'm facing.' Devan sighs.

A wind blew between them. Devan already regrets accepting the offer, but in order to achieve his goal, he has to endure something he hates. Calming down his boiling anger,

"Before we start training, let me explain to you what aura is." Devan said with a nonchalant face.

Aura is a subset of mana usage. As a branch of mana, it meant the power used by knights, sellswords and red priests who are warriors of R'hllor like Thoros of Myr. If wizards, warlocks, sorcerers or whatever they're called, use mana by storing it in their circlets, sword-wielders or spear-wielders store mana throughout their body.

"The inventor of the aura was a man named Archon Dracequitem, leader of the Archons of the Valyrian Empire. Unlike sorcerers, he was the first to figure out how to strengthen the human body by spreading mana throughout his body. The aura is the power that instantaneously releases this mana. Mana, which is normally spread throughout the body, is expelled in an instant according to the user's will, thereby demonstrating a powerful force."

Shireen's attitude was serious. She didn't take offense at Devan's explanation, nor did she show a playful attitude. When she actually took the class, she showed a serious side, and Devan's nervousness subsided to a certain extent.

"However, it is not important to know the history of the aura. Mana is a power that only the few chosen can use in Westerosi standards. Around one in a thousand men in Essos choose the path of an aura sword-wielder or a spear-wielder and around one in tens of thousands of men and women are able to walk the path of a magician… like Lady Melisandre. That's only in Essos, my lady. Magic is almost non-existent here in Westeros."

Devan continued, "That's why figuring out if you have an affinity with mana is the most important, especially if you're a Westerosi. The minimum requirement that aura sword-wielders and spear-wielders are required to have is the ability to sense mana. Most people fail here, that's why aura users like me are rare in this world, my lady."

It was a statement with a bit of arrogance. He was quite proud of himself. As Axell's disciple, when he felt mana for the first time in half a year, there was an uproar in Dragonstone that a genius had appeared to the point that it is kept secret in the Seven Kingdoms as magic is frowned upon in Westerosi society.

Devan. He was such a person. It's his right to be proud since he's one of the rarest people in Westeros that could wield such magic though not in the level of sorcery like Melisandre's.

However, Shireen did not give him the reaction he wanted.

"Then let's start with trying to sense mana. Could you explain how you went about it?" Shireen crossed her arms as she waited for Devan's explanation.

"Of course, my lady."

'Even if Lady Shireen is a swordswoman genius, mana talent is a different matter. This training will give you a taste of the harshness of reality. And as the years go by without feeling mana, you will realize how great a person I am, Lady Shireen.'

Though Shireen gradually began to immerse herself in her own world by closing her eyes as Devan explained the fundamentals of mana.

'The premise of this training was wrong. Since I was already aware of how to sense mana, and thanks to the Heavenly Demon Magician, I've been able to store mana, albeit a small amount. However, proceeding with only what I know is the shortcut to reaching degradation. Even if I can't comprehend why they do things a certain way. I need to learn how they proceed with things first…' Shireen's thought POV

"Focus on the rhythm of your breathing and concentrate." Devan began to circle around Shireen as he explained the fundamentals of mana. "It's important to feel everything that is in contact with your body. Once you get used to utilizing mana, that's when you'll be able to manifest aura."

Fire orb began to appear on Shireen's hands. Apparently, Devan didn't notice it just yet as he was busy explaining the fundamentals of mana.

Devan's teaching was completely different from Murim, but Shireen was not bound by a set of methods. There were several breaths coming out from Shireen's mouth. Devan said it's important to feel something tickling your skin in the process. That's the mana spoken in the continent of Essos, and even though Shireen didn't breathe out two a few times, mana began gathering around her. She had no choice but to do so.

As Shireen, who lived her whole life assimilating with the energy of nature, she knew what kind of character they had and how to induce them. One step at a time.

"Try to focus the mana that has spread throughout your body into a single point. That's how you manifest an aura."

From then on, it was the induction of mana, and she accepted them. When a foreign and mysterious energy entered her body, Shireen guided them throughout the body along the blood vessels.

In addition, the problem was also in the characteristics of mana. If Murim's mana felt heavy instead of barren, the mana of this world was rather light instead of rich. Mana that escapes as much as it is accepted. She felt like she wanted to grab them all.

Shireen knows better than anyone how to become stronger, but now is the time to embrace a new civilization. A new world that it is hers for the taking.

She finally accepted the man through her binding force by following Devan's explanation, though it made it impossible to just let the mana circulating in the body escape. Her mana gradually builds up. It was an instant when Shireen entered the stage of aura manifestation.

The body glowed red. Even though it wasn't something Devan had taught him, she temporarily strengthened her skin by concentrating her mana on one point. Shireen came up with a similar method.

'It's similar to Murim's outer work, but different. Exercising is a way to become stronger by

forging out the outside, but the way Devan is talking about is neither one nor the other. It can't make the outside stronger, but it can't build up mana on the inside. The method of squirting mana in an instant is very inefficient as the mana that is not gathered in one place from the beginning spreads out in all directions. The thought that came to mind when she saw Devan manifesting his aura was not wrong.'

"And have a short burst of power-" Devan glared at the sight of Shireen's body glowing in red.

"T-there's no way! She.. she's manifesting aura?!" He was literally shocked. How was Shireen able to manifest an aura so quickly? Most of the people from Westeros failed to achieve this and regarded it as a myth. Even in Essos, you are either blessed by the Lord of Light to have this kind of power or not.

It was certain. Based on her own experience back at her original world of Murim.

She slowly opened her eyes.

''That's what I thought. The way people utilize qi here is garbage.' Training with Devan, there was no reason to proceed further.

'It's definitely different from Murim. Murim aims to remove wastes from blood vessels through fortune and ultimately build up mana in the body. But this world is different. While gathering mana and hoping that it naturally spreads throughout the body, they don't have to restrict it or whatsoever. In addition, the problem was also in the characteristics of mana. If the qi of Murim is barren yet strong, the mana of this world is full yet light, resulting in mana that leaves the body more easily.'

Shireen looks at her left hand, a fiery orb emanating around it.

'If I were to make a distinction, the methods they use to utilize aura is similar to the external arts of Murim. It's not worth comparing the two. While the external arts are used to train the body and get stronger, it's only used to make the physical aspect stronger, but it doesn't help with storing mana within the body. The fact that they erupt the stored mana is also the reason which makes it inefficient. Using these methods, I won't be able to reach the top even with hundreds of years of training. Now I know why magic died out in Westeros.' She was able to draw firm conclusions. That the way the people use mana here is garbage.

The glow around Shireen's body fades away, shifting her gaze to Devan.

"How did you manage to do that? Was that aura just now…?"

"You should be able to tell by yourself." Shireen answered coldly.

"That's why I'm asking! It took me several years to just be able to manifest an aura!" Devan began to yell at her, "Tell me the truth! Tell me that you were playing with me by pretending you didn't know how to utilize mana! Yeah! Everything makes sense now! It was weird that I even lost to you in the first place! If you had this power, why did you hide it, my lady?!"

Devan's gaze on Shireen became complicated.

"You're misunderstanding everything, Devan. I hid my power?"

"If that's not true, how would anything make sense?! It took me several years to control the power of Valyria!"

Shireen burst into laughter.

'Really, the level of this world was below expectations.' Shireen rolls her hide as she laughs.

Devan's face turned red. Although he didn't say it out loud, Devan could not help but get angry at the way she looked like he was laughing at him.

"What's so funny?" Devan glared at her.

"Because it's funny." Shireen answered.

"... Are you laughing at my efforts, my lady?" Devan clenched his fist.

The atmosphere turned cold. Devan Seaworth. Dragonstone's talent. Although he was defeated by Shireen, his pride was not broken. On Devan's face, which seemed to explode at any moment, Shireen looked at him with a smile on her face.

"Let me ask you, Devan. While you were climbing for that goal, have you ever questioned the training methods that you were using?" Shireen's tone was mixed with curiosity and genuine at the same time.

"Are you… what are you trying to say, my lady?" Devan, though no longer angry, fixed his full attention to Lady Shireen.

"Sometimes people get it wrong. Just because it is a method that has been passed down from generation to generation from a very long time ago, that doesn't mean that it would be absolutely right. I had that thought while learning how to train aura from you, Devan. I was wondering why people were so fixated on this method when there were clear issues with it? Was it because they didn't know about them? Or, was it because your faith in Ser Axell was too strong?"

It was an unexpected statement. In every training, Devan looked down in anger and was hit with a single blow, and didn't say anything with a bewildered face. As Lady Shireen said, he never questioned it.

"The reason is simple. Because it's easier to teach it that way. If they only teach you what they have learned personally, there wouldn't be people that would be met with loss or criticism." Shireen paused for a moment. "I don't dismiss the fact that the several years you trained were important, but during the entire time, the fact that you didn't even question their methods once is the reason why I'm laughing at you, Devan."

She took a small walk, putting her arms behind as she continued to speak to Devan, "There is no such thing as a perfect answer in this world. Even the methods that you decided to follow were all created due to a single individual's worries for their successors."

When she was still Woo Ma-wang back in Murim, Ma-wang did not take his father's teachings directly. Even if Ma-wang's father was a person who reached the pinnacle of magic, he constantly analyzed and studied his words after such efforts. Ma-wang created his own Heavenly Demon Sect. Even those who criticized Ma-wang's actions at first, even exclaimed admiration for the power of the perfect Heavenly Demon Sect.

Ma-wang lived like that. Instead of accepting it just because it has been passed down from generation to generation, Ma-wang thought about why he had to accept this and whether this was really the best option for him as the Heavenly Demon.

Of course, such questions make life painful. He had to go through trial and error, and when he met a failed result, He had to taste the criticism and despair of others. Even so, change is necessary. Just as something handed down from the ancestors, Ma-wang always threw a question mark at himself.

Devan was left speechless. Looking back on his past trainings, Devan worked really hard to achieve where he is right now as one of the rarest Westerosi to have magic (though not at sorcery-level like Melisandre's). However, Devan's training method was inefficient, filled with blind devotion. He did what Ser Axell told him to do, and this time he accepted the offer because he wanted to learn the trick from him.

Despite the remarks that went against the common sense of the world, Devan couldn't refute it.

'It's not a bad way to follow the knowledge passed down from generation to generation. Devan may grow steadily like this and rise to the heights of what others call a genius. But that's it. People who don't question their lives cannot reign at the apex. Devan is one of the strongest people in this world I've ever experienced, but frogs in wells are bound to rot.' Shireen thought.

Shireen giving Devan an advice was out of her goodwill, because Devan is a Seaworth and a reliable vassal to her father Stannis. With her help, Shireen spit out his face-to-face remarks. From now on, it's up to Devan. If he does not accept reality with a red-hot face, his life will end in the expected end.

"Let's finish training here." As Shireen was about to go back to the keep, Devan talked out of desperation.

"Then…" Shireen then looks back at Devan. "Please tell me, my lady. What am I supposed to do from now on?"

Looking at Devan's question. Shireen remembered something back to her original world. It was really weird. Just like the madman came to her mind when he saw a boy named Kevin, Devan reminded him of a person in his memory named Blood Demon. They were the subordinates who followed Shireen the most when she was Woo Ma-wang. The Blood Demon was crazy enough to throw himself into a pit of fire.

The head of the Blood Demon Sect. It was inevitable to clash with them over power. Magician against magician, and in a wide plain, the heavenly and bloody demons had been at odds.

The battle was fierce. The ground turned upside down with one foot, and the sky split the moment the sword was swung. That day, the Blood Demon was defeated. He was a historical figure who unified the blood magic religion, but the power he faced from the Heavenly Demon Woo Ma-wang was different.

The Blood Demon knelt down.

"Are you going to continue to retaliate?" Ma-wang looked down at him.

He, who was spitting out blood, looked up at the Heavenly Demon and said, "No, I admit my loss. The Blood Demon Sect… will follow Woo Ma-wang of the Heavenly Demon Sect."

As soon as Ma-wang began to walk away from him, the Blood Demon yelled,

"Wait!" The Blood Demon coughs blood as Ma-wang looks back at him.

"This is my first time seeing someone as strong as you. What am I supposed to do in order to be as strong as you? I've decided to dedicate this body to you, it would be beneficial for both of us if I were to get stronger." The Blood Demon was a cheeky but unique person.

"Tell me! What am I supposed to do from now on?!" both the voices of the Blood Demon and Devan Seaworth asked in unison.

'He threw away his pride.' Shireen deviously grinned at him.

"Interesting." Shireen's eyes turned purple for a moment like one of those Valyrian's or the Targaryen's. This is the sign where Shireen had accumulated the Heavenly Demonic Arts though not entirely as she is yet to do a metamorphosis on her body.