Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 18

Crackle. Crunch.

Yan felt the powerful energy spreading throughout his body as the life vessel broke.

Huaaak-

His stomach felt like it was burning, but he couldn’t show it because of the special commander next to him and the crown prince standing blankly in front of him.

‘That damn bone, acting like he had something to show, why did he end up so vainly… Ah!’

Yan had a slight clue about the reason.

It seemed that the rotation of the mana heart affected the life vessel and weakened its durability, and Momon, who didn’t know this, tried to draw out his power and the life vessel eventually couldn’t withstand and broke.

‘There’s no other reason that comes to mind.’

Yan came to that conclusion.

‘So how much did I absorb?’

He was sorry that he couldn’t see the crown prince’s power, but it was not bad at all for him.

Yan looked around and examined his body with great anticipation.

‘Puhah!’

He almost burst out laughing.

The energies mixed with life force and mana were scattered all over his body.

The amount and concentration were astonishing even for Yan.

How much mana would he have if he could gather them all into one?

Yan smiled with satisfaction and gathered his prayer.

And then he moved his gaze to the crown prince who was standing blankly in front of him.

The crown prince looked at the remains of Momon with a suspicious expression.

“It seems like it’s over for sure…”

He carefully examined it, wondering if he would come back to life and attack, but he couldn’t feel any mana or life force.

“Huh!”

The crown prince let out a hollow laugh.

He thought his spine would shiver when the lich uttered the word ‘area expansion’.

‘Self-domain (自己 領域)’, which only a few strong ones realize.

As much as he manifested his long-accumulated wish in the world, the caster could exert a power that was no different from a god in that domain.

In the empire, only four dukes were known to be able to use it.

The four dukes could create storms and firestorms with just a wave of their hands, or freeze exploding lava.

But if the lich had really realized such a ‘domain’…

‘Total annihilation, or mutual destruction.’

No matter how high his magic resistance was with his dragon body, he would have been seriously injured.

The crown prince muttered quietly.

“I’m still weak.”

Then he suddenly moved his gaze to Yan, who was standing awkwardly.

“I saw you having a fight with Cruel Dwight. You also did a great job here.”

At that moment, Yan was slightly surprised, but nodded heavily.

‘Sure. He was watching the inside of the Blade Mountain with the communication device.

But fortunately, he doesn’t seem to know that I ate the magic stone, or that I woke up the lich…’

The problem was that the crown prince’s eyes were too soft.

It was too unfamiliar.

“Don’t be afraid.

I don’t intend to scold you for what you did. I might praise you if anything.

But…”

The crown prince looked up and down at Yan and tilted his head slightly.

“…What’s the matter?”

The crown prince answered Yan’s question that it was nothing and called the special commander.

“Special commander, send this kid to the medical station.”

“Yes, sir.”

In principle, trainees could not use the medical station unless they were injured to the point of death, but it was the crown prince’s order.

Even if the special commander didn’t get along well with the crown prince, he didn’t want to antagonize him over this.

“I’m fine.”

Yan was reluctant in this situation and said so.

The crown prince frowned and pointed to Yan’s right thigh.

The blood that flowed along the open wound soaked his pants.

He couldn’t say that it was not a problem.

“…Okay.”

Yan sighed and followed the special commander to the gate.

As he watched him leave.

“What is he hiding?”

The crown prince murmured lowly.

Yan thought he had hidden his prayer and hid it.

But the crown prince didn’t know exactly what it was, but he had a hunch that there was something about Yan.

* * *

The Empire has something called the ‘Imperial Knight Qualification’.

It refers to those who can handle mana, not those who ride horses, as ‘Knights (氣士)’.

Thus, even the magicians who belong to the Empire can acquire the knight qualification.

There are a total of ten grades, from the lowest 10th to the highest 1st.

In the case of knights who use swords.

10th grade can be obtained by just realizing mana, and this grade was called an apprentice knight or a trainee knight.

9th grade is for those who have a single coin or a circle.

8th grade is for those who can make the sword sound (劍鳴).

7th grade is for those who can manifest their energy on objects.

6th grade is for those who can skillfully apply sword energy to their swords or bodies.

5th grade is for those who can twist the sword energy into a line shape. That is, they can shoot out sword qi.

From 4th grade onwards, they had to be able to draw out the sword aura, the dream of knights.

After that, they were separately called ‘superhumans’ or ‘entrance to godhood (入神)’.

-They are the super-strong ones who transcend the limits of humanity and become gods (神化).

There were less than twenty in the Empire, which had a population of tens of millions.

The future Imperial Seven Stars, who had the title of the Empire’s new stars, and some skilled ones were 3rd grade.

The four dukes, who were called the guardians of the four directions, and the captain of the emperor’s personal guard, the ‘Royal Knights’, were 2nd grade.

And the strongest in the Empire that Yan knew.

The emperor was the 1st grade.

* * *

In his previous life, Yan was able to reach the second level of enlightenment, albeit imperfectly.

He guessed that it was because of the coincidence of breaking through the realm and merging with the dragon’s breath, which allowed him to free himself from the brainwashing.

“Would the current crown prince be able to manifest his mind at the third level… maybe?”

At the end of the battle with Momon, the crown prince’s figure, emitting a golden glow, was already in the ranks of the superhumans.

Yan, who was racking his brains to figure out how far the crown prince had reached, said.

“Wow, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll find out for sure when I get a chance.”

He decided to postpone his judgment for now.

It wasn’t certain anyway.

“By the way, is it okay for a trainee to rest so much? I’m not used to it.”

It felt like he was getting special treatment…

Yan was now resting and getting a thorough diagnosis at the medical station, just for a thigh injury.

There was no one else in the ten or so beds in the medical station, and the doctor who examined him also left somewhere after checking his condition.

Yan looked around.

Various medicines and bandages were placed here and there.

‘How many should I take?’

Yan was also somewhat skilled in emergency treatment and wound care, even if he was not as professional as a doctor.

If he took some familiar medicines or bandages, he would have something to use later.

But.

‘Sigh, forget it. Let’s not do something that will get me in trouble.’

He had nowhere to hide them anyway.

Yan lay down on the bed and thought about what he had gotten from the Blade Mountain.

First of all, the elixirs.

‘He said he made them for over a thousand years…’

Momon was furious, and it was understandable, because they were all extraordinary.

The ordinary elixirs couldn’t even compare to their effects, and they had various effects.

The ruby-colored elixir was like an elixir that healed… no, regenerated the body quickly.

The blood vessels and muscles that had been torn from overusing mana before were cleanly restored, and in some ways, they felt wider and stronger than before.

The only downside was that it was a one-time use, and the minor wounds he had received from the lich did not heal.

The topaz-colored elixir was an elixir that changed the body to the level of modification.

‘Who would have thought that he would force the bone transformation, which would have taken at least a year, to happen in one go?’

The bone transformation was changing the structure and density of the bones to make the body optimized for martial arts.

Normally, it would have required a process of enduring pain as if the bones were being ground.

But thanks to the elixir he drank this time, he was able to achieve it in one go without suffering for a long time.

‘Of course, he had to taste all the pain in that one time.’

He thought he was going crazy.

He felt a different feeling when he clenched his fist.

But if he was asked if it was a bad feeling, he would definitely say no.

‘My motor skills have improved tremendously compared to before.’

He threw a punch in the air and smiled contentedly, comparing himself to before he drank the elixir.

‘These two alone are a great gain, but… the best ones are these.’

The last elixir was filled with mana itself.

It was the beginning of the mana heart, and he used it all to create the sun.

Mana heart.

If he had made the core and continued to use the dragon’s breath without any information about it, his body would have exploded.

It was normal for a balloon to burst if you put too much water in it beyond its limit.

He was heartbroken when he found out.

It was almost impossible to recover the broken core, and even if he did, it would have a clear limit on his growth compared to before.

‘But the mana heart doesn’t have that worry.’

What if there was too much mana accumulated?

Then he could just create a new planet.

Infinity.

In theory, he could achieve limitless growth.

‘The life vessel also seems to have absorbed well.’

Momon’s life vessel was so full of life force that it could be called a thousand-year-old magic stone.

The mana heart took some of them and gave birth to the second planet that surrounded the mana heart.

It wasn’t something Yan intended to make, but the mana heart just gathered the leftover energy and made it on its own.

‘It’s quantity over quality, but… the efficiency is amazing when the two planets rotate together.’

Yan was in a state where he could only vomit.

But there was something more surprising.

‘There’s still a lot of mana that hasn’t been absorbed.’

What would happen if he could gather the mana scattered all over his body?

Shiver!

He shivered just by imagining it.

The only thing he could regret a little bit was that the newly created planet was still incomplete.

But that was nothing compared to the growth he had achieved so far.

Yan picked up the mess on the table and raised his mana.

Whoosh.

The faint energy began to cover the mess.

And soon, a sharp energy materialized on the blade.

“Sure enough… it works.”

The sword energy, is the exclusive property of the sixth-level knight.

It was the foundation of the ‘knight’, the starting point.

A smile appeared on Yan’s lips.

He raised his sword energy, but the sun still had plenty of mana available.

‘This should be enough to be a fourth-level knight in terms of mana.’

But still.

‘I’m a little dissatisfied…’

At first, he thought it couldn’t be better than this when he saw the results.

But as he dug deeper, he found that there were some things that were not perfect.

It was probably because the dragon’s breath he had acquired this time was still ‘incomplete’.

‘There’s a clue to that in the place I’m going to enter soon.

So let’s wait a little longer.’

He was planning to go to the place where the original of the dragon’s breath was.

Wouldn’t there be some improvements to the parts he thought were lacking?

‘If not… well, I can do it myself.’

Once he had a direction, it wouldn’t be too hard.
After sorting out his thoughts.

He turned his gaze somewhere.

“Are you cold? Come on in.”

The entrance to the medical station.

“How did you know I was outside? I tried to hide my presence.”

“I don’t know about your presence, but my eyes are not holes.”

A high-pitched voice.

It was the chief instructor.

He stood quietly at the door, watching what Yan was doing with his senses.

He seemed to have used some kind of stealth technique, but Yan’s senses, which had become sharper with the bone transformation, never missed it.

‘He has a lot to say to me.’

Sure enough.

The chief instructor walked towards the bed with a chuckle, emitting a lot of aura.

“You gave me some information, right? That wasn’t it?”