Ambush II

Next day, Trion woke up and rubbed his temples as he remembered the weird dream from last night.

"Hahaha, there is no way such a thing is possible...?" His laughter and words paused as he gazed at the dark crystal ring on his middle finger.

He looked left and right and mumbled, "Hmm, this is my room." Pinching his cheek, he cried out.

"Unreal, but it's impossible for it not to be real... That means the dream was real!" Trion exclaimed as he stood up and looked at himself in the mirror.

Seeing the ring, he mumbled, "Battle mode." The ring on his finger began to morph into a long violet crystal sword.

Holding the sword, Trion grinned from ear to ear. "It seems our family is really blessed. First Lith and Leon get artifacts, and now it's my turn. Maybe the Trion Woods have many powerful ghostly figures waiting for suitable heirs. Since it's in a secluded corner of the kingdom, no sane noble came here, leading to us brothers being recognized by these legendary figures," he thought, finding his conjecture more and more plausible.

Fortunately, Leon was not there, or he would have laughed his ass off hearing him.

"Though I can't share this news with Mom and Dad," Trion sighed, as the knight in his dream prevented him from sharing this secret with others.

"Maybe Lith and Leon, like me, were also instructed by their mentors not to share the secret," Trion guessed as he thought of this.

But then, remembering Orial, his mood soured. "Maybe if he showed courage or was at least willing to train with us, he might have also been chosen as a disciple by a legendary figure," he thought. But then he dismissed the idea, thinking even those legendary figures wouldn't have given him their legacies after seeing his character.

Trion then turned the sword back into a ring and then dripped his blood on it. After his blood mixed with magic, he felt a connection with the ring.

Checking the ring, he found ten books inside and began to take them out.

Shadow Moon Knight ArtSoundless Blade ArtReaper Soundless Steps ArtSword of DeceptionDark JudgmentShadow MoveLonely Moon Blade ArtCrystal GuardShadow PartnerShadow Guardian

Trion curiously looked at each of them, discovering that each contained more than just skill knowledge. Each book contained many basic spells before their perfect fusion spell was named on the cover.

Trion roughly counted the number of spells from the easiest looking one and was shocked to find it contained more than 35 spells before some spells fully and some principles fused into the spell written on the cover of the book.

Trion then first opened the Shadow Moon Knight Art.

He read it thoroughly, reading the first step many times over and over.

After perfectly memorizing the first part, he sat cross-legged and began to run the mana according to it.

He first focused inward and indeed found the so-called Manacore described in the book, finding it still just as described.

Opening his eyes, he took a deep breath to calm himself and then began to breathe in a specific pattern as described in the book. The breathing technique he began to use was called Shadow Knight Breath of Valor.

His chest began to heave in a rhythmic pattern while the mana and world energy began to follow his rhythmic breathing. He began to adapt to the flow of the world.

Slowly but steadily, he began to adapt as more and more impurities began to rush to his core. The still core showed a slight sign of movement. Trion almost lost his focus because of it but then regained his calm and continued his breathing.

After some time, he reached the threshold as his mana core began to revolve and then gushed out a torrent of mana.

Trion, due to the sudden force, almost screamed, but he bit his lower lip and took the pain, holding it in. He choked his scream.

"I can't let others see me like this, or that senior will take back what he bestowed on me," Trion bit the pillow with firm force until he was forced to remove his grasp as he got the urge to vomit.

Vomiting out black goo, he convulsed for some time as fresh mana revived his whole body, remolding it as it tempered his body.

After some time, Trion stood up and used a light spell of dark magic to get rid of the black goo and smell.

Trion then clenched his hand as he felt the change in his strength.

"Woah, just as described, it surely increased my strength. Pity, if I could have used that huge amount of mana to temper my body more thoroughly, rather than mindlessly letting it ravage my body, I could have fortified my body even more..." Trion thought, but then remembering the mind-numbing pain, he sighed, "No, that amount of pain is too much to let me focus on other things."

Sighing, Trion sat back cross-legged as he used invigoration (his own version described in the book, just using the same term not to confuse you) and checked his body.

His orange mana core was now a yellow mana core.

"Now that I have done it, I only need to learn to fully control my mana before I can fuse it with a little bit of my life energy and turn it into Aura," Trion thought. Then, standing up, he cleaned himself and went downstairs, where everyone was already sitting in the dining area while his mom was finishing the final touches of food.

"You surely slept a lot today. Did the festival yesterday exhaust you?" Raaz asked him, smiling, as he continued to carve the wooden bird in his hand into figurines.

He started his hobby after Tista began to help him with fieldwork, and with her magic, she helped him a lot, leading him to have lots of free time on his hands.

Sculpting was now his way of spending time.

Trion nodded while he sat with them.

Soon, Elena and Rena brought the food as the family began to eat happily.

"Lith, Leon, be sure to respect Nana. She is now doing us a massive favor," Raaz said seriously amidst the meal.

"Hmm, your father is right. Being guided by her will surely help you to enroll in any Magic Academy," Elena nodded too.

"Don't worry, Mom. You've seen Leon's spell. I'm sure even without Nana's guidance, Leon can enter those Magic Academies," Rena said smugly.

Raaz and Elena nodded, still mesmerized by the spell Leon demonstrated last night.

"Leon, dear, be sure to create more of such beautiful spells. I think this will surely help you woo some beautiful girls," Elena said with sparkling eyes, causing Leon to choke on his food.

"Mom, I am only 5," Leon yelled back in response.

"Humph, of course. What do you think your mother is talking about? The future! Lith, Trion, be sure to develop such beautiful spells too. If not, ask Leon for help," Elena snorted as she flicked Leon's forehead and then pointed at Lith and Trion, who were chuckling at Leon.

Seeing them choke on their laughter, Leon sneered in response.

Then, after their stomachs and brains were full of food and advice, Lith and Leon left for Nana's house. But just as they reached the crossroad, they saw knights blocking the path.

"Knights? I've never seen them before. They are probably here for us. I can easily kill them all, but I don't know about Leon," Lith thought as he glanced ahead.

Lith never doubted Leon's powers, as he knew Leon was stronger than him. The only thing he doubted was whether Leon could kill a human. Lith had already killed many beasts, but humans were another thing, unlike himself, who had already killed one both in this and his previous life.

"Hope nothing goes wrong," Lith thought as he began to walk calmly.

Leon, on the other hand, looked ahead as he saw those knights. "Oh! Yes, this seems to be the scenario where Lith was ambushed by them but they ended up dying," Leon chuckled and began to think of how to kill all these knights without arousing Lith's suspicion.

"Hmm, better wait and see how this plays out," he thought and continued walking calmly.