The Dragon Slayer Who Regressed After 1,000 Years - Chapter 34

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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 1000 Years — Episode 34
His son’s response that followed was enough to harden Alton’s expression.
―It wasn’t about information. I asked to become his disciple so that I might learn the blade. There was no other intention.
The statement was so preposterous that Alton could only stare in disbelief.
“……I don’t understand. Setting aside the fact that you’d take a surveillance target as your master, what could you possibly learn from some seven-star nobody…….”
But there was more to come.
―He wasn’t seven-star. He was a Swordmaster.
“What?”
Suspicion flickered across Alton’s eyes in that instant.
“As I understand it, this Cain is roughly your age, yes?”
―That’s correct. It turned out he was three years younger than me.
“And he’s a Swordmaster?”
―Yes.
Impossible words.
If this were true, Cain would be a prodigy without equal in an age.
Even he himself, lauded as a genius since childhood, had only reached the rank of Swordmaster in his mid-thirties.
Alton’s disbelief was entirely justified.
‘Does this make any sense at all?’
Yet his son merely repeated the same answer like a parrot.
―I witnessed the Sword Force with my own eyes. There is no doubt.
“…….”
No matter that his son had yet to awaken his Aura, he was not a fool who wouldn’t recognize Sword Force.
Alton had even demonstrated it before his son once.
“……I find it hard to believe, but very well. Let’s say he is a Swordmaster. Even so, I don’t understand why you’d take him as your master. The world isn’t short of Swordmasters.
―True. The blade instructors you provided were all Swordmasters as well. But my master was the first to resolve the fundamental problem.
“The fundamental problem?”
―My Mana Circuit. Did you know? My entire circuit was severely twisted.
A question mark rose again in Alton’s mind.
‘Twisted Mana Circuits? That shouldn’t be possible.’
When his son was young, he himself had examined him and found nothing wrong with his body.
He had confirmed with Estar’s Mage Tower Master that the boy had been born with a normal body, and had felt relieved.
An abnormality? Now?
‘If there had been an abnormality…… his Aura couldn’t have accumulated normally.’
The logic seemed sound at first, but it didn’t make sense.
His son had undergone medical examinations since then.
The prolonged silence that followed spoke volumes of Alton’s shock.
―Father?
“Yes. I’m listening. So you’re saying…… there was an abnormality in your body?”
―Yes. My Mana Circuit was severely twisted, he said. That’s why I couldn’t accumulate Aura…….
“That’s what this man Cain told you?”
―That’s correct. He even fixed my tangled circuit.
For a moment, Alton thought he must have misheard.
“What are you saying? Fixed your circuit?”
―Exactly as I said. My master corrected my circuit back to normal. The process was somewhat painful, but…….
“My son.”
Alton continued, his voice deliberately grave.
“A Mana Circuit cannot be fixed. Apply external force and it snaps like thread. Restoring it is impossible.”
―But he did fix it. My movements feel completely different now—I can sense it throughout my entire body.
If it truly had been fixed, Alton would have been overjoyed, but he could not believe it.
“Who told you it was fixed? Did this man himself claim he had done it?”
―Yes.
“By what method?”
―He had me gather various materials and brewed a medicine from them. After I took it, he performed the procedure…… and afterward, there was definite improvement.
“That could be nothing more than suggestion.”
―It’s not suggestion. There is genuine progress.
Though the words came from the heart, Alton could not accept them.
Some strange medicine, and then twisted Mana Circuits made whole?
There is no method known to achieve such a thing.
And it was difficult to believe there had ever been a problem with the boy’s Mana Circuit in the first place.
“My son. Whatever this is, you must stop now.”
―Stop, you say?
“Don’t expect to learn anything serious from that man. Have you forgotten your purpose? Why do you think I sent you there?”
―The task you’ve entrusted me with, I will see through to the end. But I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with receiving instruction here.
“Instruction is one thing. The problem is you’re getting it from a charlatan, a man of no substance.”
―…….
“To be frank, I don’t trust him. I’m even suspicious of what he’s been feeding you.”
―There’s nothing wrong with my body. If anything, I’ve improved.
“Enough. I don’t want to hear it.”
Alton cut the conversation short.
He had no patience for defenses of Cain.
“Since you’ve become his student, learn what you can about him. Being close to him works in your favor for gathering information.”
―…….
“Why don’t you answer?”
―……Understood.
With those words, the light from the Crystal Orb faded.
It had been a thoroughly unpleasant exchange.

* * *
“Rise. Today we train in combat.”
At Cain’s words, Valencius rubbed his eyes and sat up, his hair disheveled.
“Pardon? What did you say……?”
“Change into something suitable for going out.”
Through the window, the sun had not yet risen.
But one cannot refuse a master’s command.
Without protest, Valencius changed into his outdoor clothes.
“Let’s go.”
The two of them left the palace, meeting the cold dawn air.
Following behind Cain, Valencius asked:
“But……where are we headed?”
“The Beast Demon Forest.”
“What?”
Valencius stopped in his tracks, startled despite himself.
All traces of drowsiness vanished in an instant.
“Isn’t that……the place even Swordmasters are reluctant to enter?”
“That’s right.”
“And you’re still going?”
“Yes. That’s where today’s training will take place.”
Valencius was left speechless.
And with good reason—the Beast Demon Forest had a fearsome reputation.
They say trolls and ogres appear the moment you set foot inside.
Monsters with hundreds of tentacles are said to dwell there.
Even Swordmasters are said to have difficulty escaping alive.
All manner of sinister rumors circulated about it.
“That place……the Imperial Knight Order itself is known to avoid entering it recklessly. It’s far too dangerous.”
“You’re right. But don’t worry. We’ll only go to the safe areas.”
The Beast Demon Forest was vast.
While monsters that even Swordmasters feared prowled the outer reaches, there were also zones inhabited only by relatively weaker creatures.
Cain, who had once spent years training within the forest, knew the locations of all the monsters’ territories by heart.
But ignorant of these circumstances, Valencius could not so easily dismiss his unease.
“But why combat training all of a sudden? I can barely swing a sword properly yet…….”
“Barely? You’ve already swung it hundreds of thousands of times.”
―…….
“Your stance is solid enough. What you lack is live combat experience. And there’s nowhere better than the Beast Demon Forest to build that sense of real danger.”
His words carried conviction, but anxiety still lingered on Valencius’s face.
Walking with that dread for a full day’s journey—
“We’ve arrived.”
The forest’s entrance loomed like the gaping maw of a colossal dragon, sinister and oppressive.
“Let’s go in.”
The moment Cain stepped into the forest, Valencius followed behind and asked:
“Master, about the subjugation request you mentioned on the way. We’re supposed to go to one of the locations on the list—why did we come here instead?”
“I looked through the monster subjugation list, and the root cause traces back to the Beast Demon Forest. I figured if we cleared just this one place, the rest of the problems would solve themselves.”
Valencius stared at him in shock.
Not tackling one subjugation, but multiple at once—and all of them within the Beast Demon Forest, no less.
But Cain stepped forward into the forest as though this were the most natural thing in the world.
“What are you doing? Come on.”
“Y-yes, I’m coming!”
His words were willing enough, but Valencius’s shoulders remained hunched tight.
Yet before long.
‘Hm…?’
Valencius’s head tilted slightly to one side.
They’d ventured quite deep into the forest, or so he’d thought, yet not a single orc had appeared.
“Master? Why aren’t we seeing any monsters?”
“Because I’m skirting around them.”
“What? The monsters? How do you mean?”
Cain felt no need to answer.
Before his regression, he’d traversed these paths so many times they’d grown tedious—he couldn’t very well say he’d memorized every detail.
‘Besides, with the Prophet’s Eye looking seven seconds ahead, there’s no way we’d run into anything.’
As his Mana rose, the Prophet’s Eye’s range had extended from five seconds to seven.
If his Circle advanced here?
He could peer further still.
‘Next time I consume a heart, I should focus on expanding the Circle.’
The balance between Aura and Circle determined whether he could truly wield the Demon Swordmaster’s power.
Cain’s gaze shifted toward Valencius.
‘First, I need to develop this one and prove my worth.’
Winning Alton’s approval would make entering the Imperial Knight Order far simpler.
Obtaining the Prophet’s Relic made gaining entry to the empire an absolute necessity.
‘Fortunately, nowhere offers better training than the Beast Demon Forest.’
Valencius was lucky, in a sense.
No other master would have conceived of such an ordeal.
“Your breathing—is it becoming labored?”
“Yes, my breath feels tight. Everything feels so stuffy.”
“The Mana density here is thick. The very trees are saturated with Demonic Energy.”
“Demonic Energy? Isn’t that… something bad?”
“Quite the opposite. Just breathing it in builds Mana within you. For someone who hasn’t yet formed an Aura, this place is nothing short of paradise.”
“If it’s so beneficial, why doesn’t anyone come here?”
“Because of things like that.”
The moment Cain finished speaking, a tree splintered with a crack.
A creature crowned with hundreds of tentacles loomed above them, gazing down.
“U-uhhh….”
Valencius caught his first glimpse of a Beast Demon and stumbled backward, mouth agape.
He couldn’t fathom why he hadn’t sensed something so enormous approaching.
“That’s Tendra, a Beast Demon. It resembles the trees here so closely that unless you’re careful, you’ll miss it entirely.”
Cain spoke the words without inflection.
“Draw your blade. It’s your opponent.”
“What?”
Valencius’s pupils trembled violently.
In that same instant, Tendra’s tentacles cascaded down upon them both.
Cain drew his sword.
One slash.
That was all it took.
Dozens of tentacles hurtling down were severed in unison.
Valencius froze in place.
He hadn’t seen a single motion.
‘I saw the blade leave the sheath. But after that….’
There was nothing.
The process had vanished entirely, leaving only the outcome.
He’d watched swordmasters train before, seen their techniques, but this was an entirely different plane.
Cain sheathed his sword without concern, then pointed to a single severed tentacle lying on the ground.
“I didn’t mean for you to face the main body. Your opponent is that tentacle.”
“What? A tentacle?”
The severed tentacle writhed across the ground before taking shape.
A creature no larger than a child fixed Valencius with eyes burning crimson.
“Tendra’s tentacles regenerate as independent entities once severed. Weak, but perfect for your training.”
Cain gave Valencius a light push between the shoulder blades.
“Now. Begin.”
Valencius swallowed hard.
Cold sweat trickled down the small of his back.

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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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