Chapter 32 - Heromaker - V

They didn't sell anything I already had.

So, I just bought a bunch of expensive supplies. Potions, weapons, special ingredients, you name it.

The Royal Treasury had a bit of everything from the entire kingdom, so I took this opportunity to enrich the quantity of my stockpile.

I finally learned of that fact now, using [Absolute Awareness] to confirm my conjectures. My own intelligence was restricting me. There were places I could've looked into but had never crossed my mind.

Concepts I could've deduced.

Truths I could've uncovered.

Yet, I never touched upon them simply because the ability to think critically eluded me. Was it a side-effect of using my gift too often? Perhaps looking at all the answers at the back of the book without actually studying things for myself had come back to bite me.

Such a feeling left me in a foul mood.

[Mind: 11 (Idiot)]

"..."

My lips twitched. So the Gaea System could make such comments? Since when?

I wanted to check, but I didn't have mana to spare. The man before me, Alvs Ravisa, barely had something worth buying.

However, the threatening aura of the surrounding assassins had reached its peak.

"—Which was why I was thinking of inviting young master Aventine to the location of the temple..."

Alvs was talking about an item he had. The words flowed out of his mouth so eloquently and beautifully, piquing my interest wherever possible. It was the highest-tier sales talk, sharpened from years of experience.

Honestly, it was working. As such, my answer was simple.

I gave him what remained of my budget for today... and a little more.

"I'll take it."

—Clink!

The sound of five platinum coins hitting each other made Alvs shiver visibly in excitement. Although I did not buy the items he had brought with him — the titles for his slaves, beasts, and land — I bought the ancient artifact they pulled out of their treasury.

It was an old bronze rod carved with magical patterns and pathways. Holding the item in my hand, I secretly unsealed its power. The password buried within its existence was difficult to deduce. However, to me, it was as simple as unfurling a scroll.

Power began to leak out of the staff, boiling and churning like a tongue of flames.

However, I could not control it that well.

—Ssssssss!

"Ack!"

An immense heat began radiating out of and Alvs tripped on his words, terrified of the sudden outburst of energy. He scrambled back, fleeing from the high temperatures.

"Y-young master?!"

Owen and the others rushed forward, the sound of their armor rapidly approaching me.

"Keep your distance," I commanded them. "Don't melt the armor I have allowed you all borrow."

My eyes flashed.

This was a good opportunity to deal with those who were moments away from baring their venomous fangs.

[Mana: 320/320 » 0/320 (Core Mana: 300/300 » 0/300)]

—Thus, without warning, I invoked a spell.

[Blaze].

More than a few dozen people, hiding amongst the crowd of merchants and adventurers suddenly burst into flames. Their bodies turned into living bonfires, simultaneously combusting.

—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Their screams silenced all forms of chatter.

"To bear animosity towards me and my guests. Do the people of the have no manners at all?" 

I wanted to kill them right then and there. However, there was a better use for them.

The eyes of the people in the hall widened in fear. They retreated in shock and trepidation. Perhaps, to them, I was a tyrannical madman. To the people in the know, however, it was different.

They would think that I was a powerful mage whose forte was precision. To them, I was a lethal knife capable of slicing through only the vitals of its target — damaging nothing else.

Yet reality was far from both perspectives. I wasn't after their lives. Such an act would be the most foolish one I could have.

I did not want to level up and lose out on a beautiful ascension. 

Thus,

"Owen," I called out to the man standing a few steps behind me.

"Sir!" Owen gave a salute, confused about the spectacle before him. Although he responded faithfully, it was clear that he held a pinch of hesitation.

"I know what you want to say. Don't worry. They won't die."

[Blaze] wasn't lethal when used in this way.

"An ancient artifact does not equate to a dangerous one," I said.

It was just well-preserved.

[Blaze] was a spell that burned only a single target. However, I could do a little more than that by adjusting my mana output at the last second.

I understood its purpose and its nature.

Therefore, although weaker, I created a derivative using its original abilities.

I called this variant, [Burning Skin].

"Apprehend those bastards I've set aflame." I gave them a cheeky smile, "They're wanted criminals who you can hand over for a hefty sum."

"...Sir?"

The shock on Owen's face was quite funny to see.

***

The warriors weren't wanted criminals — they were notorious, however, their identities were quite hard to grasp — therefore I couldn't legally do much to them if they did not strike first. Furthermore, their magic resistances were much greater than those assassins of the .

If I burned them, they could extinguish the flames with a burst of mana. It was a certain kind of technique that allowed them to defend against magical curses.

Some of them even had a natural layer of mana surrounding their bodies, invisible to the naked eye.

"That's what makes them so formidable..."

For now, I would let them be. 

Unless...

"Oh?" A flash of hostility caught my senses.

One of them was enraged by the sight of burning bodies.

What was this? Trauma?

A slicing hatred for fire mages?

Looking into this person's essence, I found a lot of amusing things. Runes carved upon his flesh, skin, and bones. A thick layer of mana all over his body. Eyes that shook upon witnessing the horrific sight.

A deep-seated rage.

[Fire Immunity].

Yet he bore such an antithesis to the manifestation of his emotions.

***

—Swish!

I dodged by a hair's breadth.

Although I depleted all my mana, my regeneration was enough to keep up with my current expenditure. I heightened my intuition, my reflexes, as well as my sixth and seventh senses.

The wind surrounded me, heightening my speed.

—Swish!

—Swish!

—Swish!

Fist after fist aimed at my face. Their trajectories were simple yet loaded with power. If I either blocked or parried, my bones would shatter.

—Boom!

The warrior slammed the ground. His necklace shook with the shockwave he poured out. I would have been outbalanced had I not governed the wind around me to lift me up.

Five life-threatening attacks in barely two seconds. I could feel my blood running cold.

"Your anger... is placed in such a foul direction."

My eyes narrowed into thin slits, irritated by the sudden attempt at my life. I felt the anger of being targeted — a righteous indignation.

—Ssuk!

However, I could not release such wrath directly.

I let others do it for me.

"..." I watched as Owen sheathed his sword, seemingly disappointed in himself since he had been caught unaware. He had slipped up. It was a clear mistake on his part.

However...

"Well done,"

I spoke with due praise despite the sour taste in my mouth.

Restricting myself for greater glory...

It was simple in theory and difficult in practice — especially since the human mind was fickle.

Looking at the dead body of the warrior before me, I felt no satisfaction. To snuff out a life with one's own hands...

It was an invisible feeling. Yet I cut that thought short.

"How naïve of me," I shook my head, and my eyes grew unfocused, looking into the unseen distance.

My actions had already doomed thousands, hadn't it?