Return of the Dragon-Devouring Assassin

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The interior of the warehouse was complete darkness.

The single window had been covered, and the only light source inside—the lantern—had been extinguished.

But there was exactly one person.

One who moved freely through the pitch-black dark without a care.

It was Feyr.

Crack!

Darkness was no longer an obstacle for Feyr. Now that he had obtained the Serpent Sense, it was as good as having a second pair of eyes opened.

Feyr thought as he twisted Kal's ankle.

'What a strange power, no matter how many times I feel it.'

The Serpent Sense.

The ability displayed objects as if they had been sketched in white outlines against an inky black canvas.

And so, even in the pitch-black darkness, Feyr could clearly make out Kal's group.

"Geurk!"

"Graaah!"

"S-stop! Stop it!"

Kal and his gang let out screams of pain.

But Feyr said nothing, methodically grinding them underfoot.

In this place where survival itself was competition—he'd let it slide once, and now they wanted him to let it slide again?

Guys like these only listen when they've been beaten.

Pain had to be carved into the marrow; only when it became flesh and blood would they truly understand fear.

That was why he had arranged this stage.

Of course, he had no intention of killing them.

Killing them would only make things troublesome.

After methodically stomping them for quite some time, Feyr finally stopped and opened the door.

As he did, light spilled through the gap for just a brief moment, illuminating his face.

"Y-you……!"

Kal, who had recognized his face, pointed at Feyr with a trembling hand.

But instead of answering, Feyr gave a small smirk and walked away.

Thinking that this should have been more than enough of a warning.

***

Having finished his business, Feyr was making his way back toward the outer edge of the training ground where Beheli was.

'Those guys will be found by the instructors on their own.'

Kal's gang weren't poor performers, so the instructors would see to their treatment themselves.

'There's no reason to throw away ones who show promise.'

So there was no chance of them dying.

The only thing Feyr was curious about was how the instructors would react.

Would they try to find the culprit?

Or would they quietly bury it and move on?

'Either way, it doesn't matter.'

There were plenty of escape routes regardless.

Feyr walked on, mulling over such trivial thoughts.

Arriving at the outer edge of the training ground, he found Beheli sitting in quiet meditation.

"What are you doing?"

"You're back."

Beheli, whose eyes opened at my voice, relaxed his posture and looked up at me.

"Took. Long time. Do big. Business?"

"Yeah."

Feyr gave a casual reply to Beheli's idle remark and sat down beside him.

"More importantly, something interesting is about to happen."

"Something interesting?"

"You'll see."

At my words, Beheli blinked with an uncomprehending look.

He'd just gone to the bathroom and now he was saying something interesting was about to happen.

From Beheli's perspective, Feyr's sudden remark made no sense.

But that would soon become clear through the events that followed.

"Medic!"

"Emergency patient!"

Instructors carrying trainees on their backs, heading toward the infirmary.

Had some kind of accident occurred?

Beheli watched the ones being carried away with that thought in mind.

But the faces were familiar.

Then, recognizing who they were, Beheli cried out in shock.

"Th-those guys are——!"

Indeed.

It was Kal's gang being carried away.

At Beheli's reaction, Feyr simply grinned without a word.

Beheli stared at him wide-eyed and asked.

"Don't tell me…… this. Your. Doing?"

"Who knows. I just went to the bathroom?"

Even at Beheli's question, Feyr only shrugged nonchalantly.

"Ha……"

Sensing that further questions would yield no answers, Beheli just let out a hollow laugh.

"Whatever. Good enough."

Saying so, Beheli broke into a smile.

Even if he hadn't avenged himself directly, it was quite satisfying.

That was the only thought that came to Beheli's mind.

And alongside it, another thought rose with equal intensity.

"I want to become stronger."

Words that slipped out before he even realized it.

At Beheli's words, Feyr, who had been quietly watching, gave a slow nod.

'Motivation enough, then.'

If he harbored a desire to grow stronger on his own, there was nothing left to worry about.

He had a goal to strive toward, and the talent to walk that path as well.

Beheli would now be able to grow on his own without much help.

If he continued to grow at this rate, he would reach a higher level than in the previous life.

And if that came to pass, in terms of my own objectives……

'He'll make for a far more useful card.'

So he could only hope that Beheli would keep growing, unchanged.

For toppling a family—the Beilhart family—petty skills alone would never be enough.

***

After Kal's gang was carried away, the night quickly deepened.

The disturbance from the previous night was settled not as an outside attack, but as a quarrel among trainees.

It was because Zak, upon receiving the report, had little interest in Kal's gang.

And so the night passed in quiet, and the sun of the following day rose.

"Is everyone assembled."

As usual, the trainees had gathered at the training ground.

Zak got straight to the point.

"Any maggots who can read or write, raise your hand."

At Zak's question, the trainees each glanced around cautiously.

Literacy among mere slaves.

There was no way any of them had such a skill.

And so Feyr, though he could read, stayed silent.

Standing out in such a way offered no real benefit regardless.

When no one answered even after a long while, Zak clicked his tongue and continued.

"Tch, as expected, you maggots have not a single useful talent."

Zak then signaled to the instructors with his eyes.

The instructors began distributing two books each to the trainees.

The trainees who received the books only stared blankly at the covers.

Zak looked at them with an expression of contempt and began to explain.

"The two books you've been given serve two purposes. One is a language dictionary, and the other is a Mana Cultivation Method."

A language dictionary and a Mana Cultivation Method.

A strange combination out of nowhere.

But what it meant was clear enough.

'It means learn to read, and use that to learn the Mana Cultivation Method.'

Feyr looked at the two books he'd been handed.

Or rather, he looked at the Mana cultivation manual.

'It's been quite a while since I've seen this one.'

At the top of the cultivation manual, written in large characters, were the words 'Crescent Moon Cultivation Method.'

The Crescent Moon Cultivation Method.

A double-edged cultivation method—one that brought rapid progress in the lower stages, but grew slower and slower the higher one climbed.

This was the very cultivation method that had carried Feyr to the 8th Star in his past life.

'The higher the stage climbed, the smaller the amount of Mana cultivated, which made it quite grueling.'

With this cultivation method, progress already slowed once one reached the 4th Star—Sword Expert.

And so Feyr had independently reworked this method and completed the Last Night of Winter Cultivation Method.

Through the Last Night of Winter Cultivation Method, he had somehow managed to reach the stage of Sword Master.

'It had so many problems that fixing it gave me quite a headache.'

But once he started tearing it apart and rebuilding it, he couldn't even spare a glance at any other cultivation method.

Not that that was the only reason.

'That was a time when I was still in submission to the family.'

Back then, he had naturally believed that using only the cultivation methods given by the family was the right thing to do.

He had dug single-mindedly at one well.

And through that, he had reached the stage of Master.

But this time around, he had no intention of using this cultivation method for long.

Just a stepping stone.

That was all he thought of it.

But still……

'For now, this is the only answer.'

He had no way to find a Blood-Attribute Mana Cultivation Method right away.

What's more, he couldn't exactly reveal the way he cultivated his Blood-Attribute Mana.

So whether he liked it or not, for the time being, he had no choice but to use this cultivation method.

What was truly the bigger problem lay elsewhere.

'The question is what to do with this dense Blood-Attribute Mana.'

Up until now, Feyr had been managing it carefully enough that no one had noticed.

But going forward, he wouldn't be able to keep hiding it the way he had been.

Feyr turned over every possible solution in his mind regarding the situation before him, but nothing fitting came to him.

'At least I have time for now……'

Taking it slowly would be the right approach.

As Feyr remained lost in troubled thought, Zak barked at the trainees.

Feyr only shifted his gaze to look at Zak at his shout.

"Starting today, you maggots will learn to read, and use that as your foundation to master the Mana Cultivation Method."

Reading and a Mana Cultivation Method.

What on earth could the two possibly have to do with each other, that they were told to learn both together?

Every trainee thought the same.

But this was not about any connection between the two.

'Because they'll be needed for writing up documents on intelligence gathered in future missions.'

Not only that, but also necessary for communicating with other teams during missions.

In most missions, contact was made not through direct encounters but through traces and records left behind.

In other words, learning to read and write was all part of the training as an assassin.

However, among all the trainees, Feyr was the only one who understood the intent.

The trainees did not understand, yet since it was Zak's order, they simply followed as commanded.

Surviving—that was all it amounted to.

Zak then continued with his next explanation.

"This examination will have two top scorers."

At the word of two top scorers, the trainees' faces brightened ever so slightly.

"One each for reading and the Mana Cultivation Method."

Using one's head rather than one's body.

Something that had never happened before at the Lunar Eclipse Training Ground.

Because of that, the trainees welcomed this far more than physical training.

Moreover, since it was a test of the mind, even the trainees whose scores had otherwise been poor had a chance.

And so the majority of the trainees were holding onto hope.

But at that moment, Feyr raised his hand.

"What."

"If one person takes the top score in both, what benefit would there be?"

"Then a reward fitting that achievement will be provided."

A reward fitting that achievement.

Feyr licked his lips at Zak's words.

In his past life, the top score reward had clearly been one instructional manual useful for Mana cultivation.

But that was only when there were two separate top scorers.

What the reward would be for passing both examinations at the top—that was something even Feyr didn't know.

His vague guess was perhaps a key to the Bronze Vault, where the lowest-tier treasures were stored.

'Though honestly, that's already being generous.'

Under normal circumstances, one mid-to-low grade Spirit Medicine would have been the end of it.

As Feyr churned through his thoughts for a long while, Zak spoke as though he had nothing further to add.

"What are you waiting for, maggots. Get moving and start learning to read."

At Zak's cold voice, the trainees quickly began to scatter.

Feyr blended in among them and started mulling over the examination.

'For the examination, the Blood-Attribute Mana needs to be dealt with first.'

Heading off to take the examination right away was never going to make sense.

No matter how gifted a genius, learning to read in a single day and mastering a Mana Cultivation Method on top of that was impossible.

And so Feyr put the minimum gap at one week.

'Then within one week, I either get the Blood-Attribute Mana under control, or find some other way.'

The plan was set—now what was there to do with the remaining time?

The moment Feyr lifted his gaze with that thought in mind.

His eyes landed on Beheli, scratching the back of his head.

Looking at Beheli, Feyr's lips curled up at the corners as though a good idea had just come to him.