Three months remained until Nerha entered Libra, the combat mage training institution.
To build his body, learn magic, prepare for any hidden movements within the family, and manage every task in a single day—
Twenty-four hours was far too short.
“There was no issue. It was simply time for a routine inspection, so I opened the vault.”
Chloia was currently facing investigators sent from the main Radeus household regarding the incident where she had opened the secret archive for Nerha.
At the center of them stood Felix Radeus, director of the Radeus Internal Support Bureau and leader of the investigators. With a stern expression, he pressed her further.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have renewed the access time three separate times. There were also traces of mana usage.”
“Some of the seals on a few artifacts appeared unstable, so I adjusted them. I checked three times because I wanted to be certain. Are you still suspicious?”
“……”
Faced with Chloia’s flawlessly prepared excuse, Felix fell silent.
Everything that occurred inside this secret archive ultimately fell under Chloia’s authority.
Which also meant that as long as she could bear the responsibility, the investigators technically had no right to interfere with what happened here.
Unable to uncover any concrete evidence, Felix finally spoke again with visible displeasure.
“Chloia Bluevelvet.”
“Yes, Director Felix?”
Within the Radeus family, Felix’s position was far from insignificant.
“I’ve always believed you understood your place and circumstances well enough to behave appropriately all these years.”
“……!”
Chloia’s expression stiffened.
Even so, Felix continued coldly.
“So I hope you will continue carrying out your assigned duties faithfully, without causing unnecessary problems.”
Crunch.
“I’ll… keep that in mind.”
“Yes. You’d better.”
Leaving only those words behind, Felix and the investigators departed.
Only after Felix’s presence completely vanished did Nerha reveal himself from the corner of the archive where he had been hiding with stealth techniques.
“You okay?”
Chloia was smiling.
Or rather—
Only the corners of her lips were raised. The veins bulging on her forehead from rising blood pressure told a very different story.
“I’m fine. The only reason that pathetic bastard resorted to threats is because he couldn’t find anything to pin on me.”
She was already used to this sort of treatment.
After all, she had never entered the Radeus family of her own free will, nor had she ever expected better treatment from them.
Still, anger was unavoidable.
“Please grow stronger quickly. I want to keep that bastard under me for the rest of his life and work him to death.”
“R-Right…”
Would the day ever come when Chloia’s wish was fulfilled?
“It was a good thing we made a copy. I can’t believe they stormed in first thing at dawn…”
Before Felix arrived, Nerha had been deeply analyzing Karuan’s thesis.
Just in case, he had left the original untouched and brought only a copied version out with him.
Thankfully, that decision had proven wise.
Chloia let out a faint sigh.
“Still… no matter how I think about it, that old fossil definitely noticed your existence, Young Master.”
“Really?”
“As long as this is inside Radeus territory, there’s no way the director of the Internal Support Bureau wouldn’t notice you coming and going. He probably connected the opening of the archive to you, which is why he backed off so easily.”
Otherwise, no matter how well Chloia had hidden the evidence, he would have forced some kind of accusation onto her anyway.
“And when he told me to know my place… that was probably what he meant. Bastard…”
Don’t interfere in the succession war.
That was the warning Felix had subtly delivered before leaving.
“So? You planning to give up?”
At Nerha’s question, Chloia snorted and shook her head.
“As if. I expected something like this from the beginning. Besides, what exactly can he do? He’s not the family head. Is he planning to violate the family laws?”
The laws of House Radeus clearly stated that everyone bearing the Radeus name had the right to choose their own lord.
Strictly speaking, Felix had already crossed the line just by issuing that warning.
“One day, I’m definitely getting revenge. I’ve lost enough hair because of that bastard to fill a handful…”
She’s more talkative than I expected.
Watching Chloia vent her fury, Nerha chuckled quietly.
After the storm had passed, Nerha resumed his analysis of Kirian Radeus’s thesis.
The basic framework resembles the martial sect methods from the Central Plains.
The concept involved using the upper, middle, and lower dantians together to form one massive circulation system.
The advantages were obvious.
An overwhelmingly fast rate of mana accumulation—
And above all, terrifying output concentrated into a single strike.
But the drawbacks are too severe.
Because the method linked three separate mana reservoirs together, if even one of them were damaged—whether by a strike to a vital point or disruption of internal energy—the other two would collapse in a chain reaction.
And worst of all—
Once that happened, all three dantians would be ruined, leaving the user permanently incapable of cultivating mana ever again.
Though if your brain or heart gets hit directly, you’re usually dead anyway. For martial artists, it’s not normally an issue.
But that logic only applied to warriors.
Martial artists reinforced their meridians with internal energy, but the bodies of magicians were notoriously fragile against physical force and shock.
On top of that, protecting three separate weak points instead of only the heart made the entire structure vastly more unstable.
Karuan Radeus gave up his research at this stage.
The method could work for someone who spent their life as a secluded scholar.
But as a member of House Radeus, even Karuan had never been free from the inevitability of battle.
Nerha sank into deep thought.
Naturally, he had absolutely no intention of becoming some frail mage who collapsed after taking a hit or two.
Back in the Central Plains, Nerha—no, Shin Mujo—had once carried the title:
The Invincible Fist God.
Magic was merely supplementary.
True manhood lay in one’s fists.
That was his path.
I don’t intend to operate three dantians. What matters is whether there’s anything here useful for improving the method—and whether it contains clues about the secret Radeus cultivation technique.
He already had a rough idea, but this part required more serious thought.
Forget the upper dantian. With the Imdok meridian blocked, rerouting through alternate channels is too inefficient. Better to create a method that naturally opens the Imdok meridian during circulation…
This wasn’t something he could leave as abstract theory anymore.
He needed diagrams.
“Hm? What are you doing?”
Chloia tilted her head as Nerha suddenly tore down a wall poster and began sketching on the blank back side.
I thought he’d finish up and move on to the magic books I brought. What’s he doing now?
No matter how exceptional Nerha’s mana control was, his theoretical knowledge remained at the level of a mere second-circle mage.
There was no way someone at his level should have been capable of understanding a thesis written by a former Tower Master.
A human body?
She had almost joked, “You know tearing those down comes with a fine,” but curiosity got the better of her.
She quietly approached and sat across from him.
Scratch. Scratch. Swoosh.
Nerha’s pen moved without hesitation.
He drew a head, an upper torso, then roughly outlined the internal organs.
He’s good.
Not the kind of skill developed over a day or two.
“As expected… starting from Junggeuk, then moving through Daegeo, Cheonchu, Jungwan, Geogwol… Ah, circulation will bottleneck slightly around Daechu.”
Mutter mutter mutter…
What is he even saying?
Her expression turned blank at the incomprehensible stream of foreign terminology.
Why tear down a poster just for this… huh?
Drawing the body made sense.
But after that, he continued mentioning strange words while drawing lines all across the figure.
W-Wait…!
Chloia was a high-level mage herself.
It only took a closer look for her to realize exactly what Nerha was doing.
“From Jinchang, Sabaek, Indang, Gwangcho… up to Baekhoe. If the circulation continues like this, it’ll eventually stimulate the entire Imdok meridian…”
He’s drawing a mana circuit?!
She still didn’t understand the strange terminology Nerha was muttering, but every time he spoke, he pointed to a specific part of the body.
Combined with the thesis she had read before—
The realization struck her instantly.
I’ve seen this in research papers before. Those are all mana circulation pathways!
She never imagined there were so many detailed channels, but even she could tell that once all those lines connected—
They formed one gigantic circulation system.
“A mana cultivation method!”
The words burst from Chloia’s mouth before she could stop herself.
“You’re loud.”
“Ah—s-sorry. I was just too shocked.”
Her interruption had broken his concentration, and Nerha shot her an irritated glance.
After staring at her shrinking form for a moment, he sighed and set the pen down.
“Well, I’ll forgive it. It’s not complete yet anyway.”
“I-It already looks incredibly convincing though? Is this some secret art of the Radeus family?”
If that were true—
Then Chloia was currently witnessing a treasure worth more than gold itself.
“Radeus? Hah. Hardly.”
His unexpectedly indifferent response made her eyes narrow slightly.
“Don’t tell me you’re saying you came up with this on the spot?”
A presumed second-circle apprentice mage creating a mana cultivation method?
That was about as absurd and unrealistic as Nerha becoming the head of House Radeus.
“Think whatever you want. I already have enough of a headache trying to improve this.”
“……”
Chloia stared silently at the mana circuit he had drawn.
At that moment—
The instincts sleeping inside her as both a mage and researcher slowly began to awaken.
If I tweak this part… what would happen?
Her researcher’s curiosity practically clawed at the diagram.
“U-Um…”
“…?”
“Could I… help too?”
“You?”
Snort.
Vein twitch.
At Nerha’s openly dismissive reaction, Chloia nearly exploded.
You little bastard?!
I’ve studied magic twenty years longer than you!
…But provoking Nerha now would accomplish nothing.
Suppressing her fury with every ounce of willpower, she forced out an awkward smile.
“H-Haha! I’d actually be a huge help, you know?”
“Hm. Well…”
Considering her talent as an instructor, her research abilities were probably decent too.
Besides, more brains were always better.
Not like ‘your IQ 150 plus my IQ 150 equals 300,’ but still…
After organizing his thoughts, Nerha nodded.
“If you swear a magical oath to maintain secrecy, I’ll let you participate.”
“Deal!”
Chloia immediately agreed without hesitation.
Seeing her almost childlike excitement, Nerha chuckled.
After all, she had already spent decades cultivating a completely different method.
It wasn’t greed that drove her.
Just pure curiosity.
Three months.
For some reason, they passed without Nerha facing any significant interference.
During that time—
He created a new mana cultivation method based on Kirian Radeus’s thesis.
Under Chloia’s guidance, he officially began learning magic.
And he transformed his frail body—one that once looked ready to collapse from a light shove—into something lean and muscular.
“So it’s finally close…”
It was still February.
Snow continued falling beyond the windows as cold winds swept through the world outside.
Gazing at the winter scenery, Nerha quietly reflected on the major turning point soon approaching in his life.
“I wonder what kind of monsters I’ll find there.”
He picked up the official document resting atop his desk.
“…What’s with this ridiculous symbol?”
Cute decorations aside—
The contents were impossible to ignore.
The time had finally come for Nerha to enter Libra.
