The Dragon Slayer Who Regressed After 1,000 Years - Chapter 31

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Dragon Slayer Who Returned After a Thousand Years — Episode 031
Cain’s objective was simple enough.
Win Valenciusus’s favor and lower his guard.
But seeing how the man deliberately avoided him had shifted his thinking.
‘I’ll need a different approach.’
He concluded that mere conversation wouldn’t be enough to win him over.
The man had clearly taken offense.
‘Revealing myself as a Sword Master may have backfired worse than I thought.’
Most knights naturally looked up to the strong.
Of course they’d gravitate toward strength, eager to make a good impression.
But Valenciusus was the opposite.
‘That’s fine. To win someone’s favor, you simply give them what they need.’
What did Valenciusus need right now?
To awaken his Aura.
Cain observed Valenciusus’s personal training with careful attention.
‘There’s a flaw in his breathing.’
To one who could perceive not only Aura but Mana itself, the flow of Mana was more transparent than to anyone else.
‘He’s exhaling before the blade completes its arc. That’s why the Mana scatters before it can circulate.’
The next day after pointing that out.
When Cain ventured to the Training Ground, he found Valenciusus swinging his blade as usual.
But his breathing had changed markedly from yesterday.
‘The Mana is being absorbed steadily now.’
Once he corrected his breathing according to the advice given, the amount of Mana needlessly leaking away decreased noticeably.
Yet it was hard to say he’d fully improved.
At this rate, he wouldn’t even match an ordinary Knight.
‘Is there something wrong with his body?’
Ordinarily, without needing to consciously regulate breathing, one could naturally acquire Mana and convert it into Aura.
The motions of wielding a sword opened the channels for Mana to flow, which was refined along with breath and became the foundation of Aura.
So in theory, anyone could easily awaken their Aura through nothing more than the sequence of drawing and swinging a blade.
Yet Valenciusus couldn’t even accomplish this basic process properly.
It was decidedly abnormal.
‘Correcting his breathing to reduce Mana loss is only a temporary fix. The root cause lies elsewhere.’
Because Cain had mastered even magic, he could perceive Mana dissipating—something an ordinary person wouldn’t normally notice.
That’s why Valenciusus’s sword instructors hadn’t bothered to point out his breathing.
‘A normal body would have awakened Aura 3-Star and more.’
For a moment, Cain’s gaze lingered on Valenciusus longer than before.
A small puddle had formed at his feet.
Sweat.
‘…How long has he been swinging?’
The sun was just rising.
It meant he’d been here since dawn, swinging his blade.
Valenciusus, who had turned away yesterday with wounded pride, had steeled his resolve overnight and come to the Training Ground before sunrise.
Dozens upon dozens of repetitions. Hundreds of them.
The same movements over and over.
Calibrating the timing of his breathing with each pass.
Valenciusus finally stopped and exhaled heavily.
“…I should thank you, but I’m not sure what to say.”
The words escaped as a murmur.
Cain’s brow furrowed slightly.
Sensing a presence, Valenciusus stopped and looked toward him.
His eyes were considerably softer than yesterday.
“Yesterday… I tried exactly as you instructed, Cain. And it truly makes a difference.”
“What do you mean?”
“Until now, no matter how many times I swung, it felt futile—like I was just digging at empty air. But now the movement itself feels different. It’s astonishing that a single adjustment to breathing can produce such a change.”
“That’s precisely the sign that you’re properly absorbing Mana.”
Cain smiled faintly, and Valenciusus smiled back before lowering his head.
“Ahem. About my rudeness yesterday… I apologize. I fear I was too harsh with someone who came to help me.”
“Not at all. I was worried I might be overstepping, offering unsolicited advice.”
“Overstepping? Not in the least. I’m the one who should have known better than to cling to pride at a time like this. I was being stubborn.”
With a demeanor entirely changed from yesterday, Valenciusus bowed his head.
At his tone, Cain relaxed his expression into a smile.
“For someone who hasn’t awakened their Aura yet, your form is quite excellent, I must say.”
He offered the praise without reservation.
“However…….”
“However?”
And his counsel came just as freely.
“Your movements are somewhat rigid. You’re wasting strength in unnecessary places.”
“Ah…… is that so?”
“You must channel power only into the muscles that matter. When it leaks away like this, it obstructs Aura formation. Continue as you are, and awakening will take years.”
Valenciusus’s expression shifted at the blunt assessment.
“……I’ve met countless sword instructors, but I’ve never heard such a thing. They all focused only on posture.”
“Have they?”
Cain replied as though it were nothing, yet Valenciusus wore a quite serious expression.
“If it’s not too much trouble…… could you offer me further counsel?”
Like a thirsty man finding a well.
As the situation unfolded exactly as calculated, Cain pressed his lips together to stifle an emerging smile.
“Agreed. But first, I must examine the flow of your Mana. Shall we go to my room?”
“The flow of my Mana?”
“Yes, you’ll understand once we’re there.”
Despite having been consumed by jealousy only yesterday, Valenciusus harbored no real suspicion and followed Cain to his quarters.
“Lie down here for a moment.”
Cain pressed his fingers to Valenciusus’s wrist as though reading his pulse.
‘He doesn’t even understand what it means to expose one’s wrist like this.’
Strong men never surrendered their wrists.
To allow access to the wrist—the conduit of Mana—and permit another to channel their Mana through it?
It was an act that could render one crippled.
With a single intent, one could inject excessive Mana, shatter the circuits entirely, and condemn a man never to awaken his Aura for the rest of his life.
But Cain did not indulge his emotions.
‘If I kill Valenciusus now, I only dig my own grave.’
Killing him would undermine the very purpose of destroying the dragon.
He would spend his life hunted by the Imperial Knight Order, never to become a Dragon Lord.
And yet his words about checking his physical condition were not a lie.
He genuinely intended to channel Mana throughout Valenciusus’s body and make an accurate diagnosis.
‘Hmm?’
Cain’s brow furrowed as he felt the pulse.
The Mana, which had been flowing smoothly, encountered an obstruction in a peculiar place.
‘This channel should be open—why isn’t it……?’
The pathways through which Mana travels are called Mana Circuits.
The body contains countless such circuits, and Mana can only circulate smoothly if the paths are well-maintained.
‘Yet this path is completely blocked.’
This meant the Mana’s shortest route to the heart had to take a detour.
But even the detour routes were not properly connected.
The Mana, with nowhere to go, dissipated.
‘So that’s why his Mana hasn’t accumulated.’
Beyond breathing issues, the fundamental structure prevented Mana accumulation.
Even when it did gather, it was expelled almost immediately—the circuits were twisted to such a degree.
The path to the heart was blocked off entirely.
‘This isn’t simply a matter of constitution. This wasn’t how he was born—someone deliberately blocked these circuits.’
Cain, sensitive to Mana, could read the traces of magical force left within the circuits.
‘It’s not recent. This damage was inflicted when he was very young.’
Then who had done this? And why?
‘I don’t know that much. But…….’
He knew how to restore the circuits to normal function.
It was incurable by current standards, but with the knowledge of a thousand years hence, it was entirely treatable.
‘However, I shouldn’t tell Valenciusus that someone deliberately caused this.’
If he revealed this fact now, Valenciusus would suffer a tremendous shock.
And his mind would fixate on discovering who the culprit was.
‘What I need is Valenciusus’s trust and gratitude.’
Therefore, keeping this information hidden was the right call for now.
“Valenciusus. All this time, you’ve blamed yourself for lacking talent in swordsmanship, haven’t you?”
Valenciusus blinked, his expression one of bewilderment at this sudden turn of speech.
Cain pressed on, his gaze grave and steady.
“I think you can stop blaming yourself now.”
“I’m sorry? What do you mean by that?”
“After a careful examination, I found an abnormality in your body.”
“An abnormality?”
“Your Mana Circuit is twisted. Because of that, even when Mana enters through your breathing, it leaks away before reaching your heart—that’s why you couldn’t form an Aura.”
……
Valenciusus’s lips sealed shut.
Yet his trembling gaze spoke volumes.
Shock. Confusion.
His mouth opened again only after a long silence.
“So… my failure to form an Aura wasn’t because I lacked talent, but because there was something wrong with my body?”
“Yes. Though I’ll need to investigate further to understand the root cause.”
Valenciusus fell silent once more.
‘Not talent… but a defect in my body?’
For a lifetime, he had believed himself lacking in talent.
He had loved the sword and trained several times harder than others, yet heaven had denied him an Aura.
Nothing but helplessness and despair.
And now, to learn it wasn’t his fault at all.
A low breath escaped him.
Valenciusus lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Then quiet consolation reached his ears.
“I understand how profound this shock must be.”
Sincerity threaded through Cain’s voice.
“You’ve spent your whole life believing yourself to blame.”
……
Valenciusus could not answer.
His gaze fixed on the ceiling trembled faintly.
Cain allowed the silence to persist.
He understood that he needed time to let it settle.
At last, Valenciusus’s lips parted as though quivering.
“Then… am I unable to awaken an Aura for the rest of my life?”
“No.”
Cain’s voice was resolute.
“There is no need for despair. There is a way to straighten your twisted circuit.”
Valenciusus’s eyes widened, fixing on Cain.
“Is that… truly so?”
Disbelief was written across his features.
Not without reason.
A dream he had never relinquished since first taking up the sword.
To become an Aura Knight.
The knowledge that this stemmed not from lack of talent but from a flaw in his body seemed not a consolation but rather a push into an even darker abyss.
‘If it were just the absence of talent, I could at least accept it. But…’
If his body had been born unable to walk that path?
That was not resignation—it was theft from the beginning.
There is a world of difference between what one surrenders and what is stolen.
Many sword masters had never understood this.
Or perhaps, even knowing it, they could not have spoken it aloud.
Who would dare breathe such truth to the firstborn of the Drake Duke House, a family second to none in the Empire?
All of them, without exception, had only breathed false hope, insisting that with effort he would awaken his Aura.
Valenciusus knew their flattering consolations were lies.
That was what tormented him most.
No one had ever been honest with him.
But now.
For the first time, someone stood before him and spoke plainly of what was wrong with his body.
“It will take time, but it is not impossible. It can be mended.”
Cain’s eyes held no wavering.
At that unwavering certainty, Valenciusus rose to his feet.
And like one casting pride down to its very depths, he bowed his head.
“Please… I’ll do anything you ask.”
Cain caught the tremor in his voice and smiled with benevolent warmth.
“Very well. I’ll help you. But first, I’ll need some materials.”
Cain wrote something on a parchment and handed it over.
Valenciusus’s eyes widened as he scanned the list.
“These are… all impossibly rare items, aren’t they?”
“You did say you’d do anything.”
“…I understand. I’ll procure them as quickly as possible.”
Valenciusus nodded and turned to leave the room.
As Cain watched his receding figure, his smile turned cold as stone.
‘The eldest son of the Drake Duke House… I couldn’t have asked for a better card to play.’
There was only one purpose to helping him.
A foothold to infiltrate the Empire.
‘The man who drove a blade into my back—I’ll raise him with my own hands.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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