Chapter 5

Mad Swordsman of the Shadow World (5)

The punishment room was one of the most brutal punishments in the training camp.

It was a place where a special magic circle blocked all senses except touch.

It was literally a room where nothing but darkness existed.

It might not sound like much, but for those with weak mental fortitude, it was a terrifying place where their minds could collapse within a few days.

Because of that, those sentenced to the punishment room were confined for at least one day, or as long as four to five days.

With only the bare minimum of water and food.

‘If it's there...’

What Theron needed right now was a space and time where he could be completely alone.

‘Considering the training ahead...’

Not long after learning the mana cultivation method, the real training would begin.

These childish exercises would soon be over.

Considering what was coming.

‘I need to overhaul this garbage mana cultivation method... and raise it to the 1st Star.’

He did not have enough time.

Theron organized his thoughts as he watched the ones fighting roughly.

There definitely could not be any more pointless wastes of strength like this.

Especially for what lay ahead.

To do that...

‘I think I need to... establish myself here properly too.’

A place governed entirely by the law of the jungle.

He needed to put things in order once so that incidents like this would not happen again.

His thoughts were settled.

“Palcote!”

Theron shouted loudly and charged at him.

Unfortunately, the gap between his current self and Palcote was greater than he had expected.

Even if they fought head-on, he would not necessarily be pushed back.

‘But right now, I need to leave a definite impression.’

Just once.

Pabat!

The moment Palcote turned around, Theron kicked off the ground and leaped.

Thud!

His knee struck Palcote squarely in the jaw.

Caught by the perfect attack, Palcote could do nothing before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground.

Thump!

They were around the same age, but Palcote stood more than a head taller than Theron.

To say nothing of his build.

When someone like Palcote went down in a single blow, the training ground fell silent.

“...Theron?”

Perka blinked in shock as he looked at Theron.

But Theron merely looked coldly at the surrounding trainees and said.

“Anyone else have a problem?”

It was a side of Theron they had never seen before.

One that did not make them think of him as an idiot.

________________

“...Theron?”

As though hearing the name for the first time, Berton looked at the instructor in front of him with a puzzled expression.

Bengle, the instructor in charge of Section 5, nodded obsequiously and spoke.

“Y-Yes. He's one of the trainees in our section... the one they call Idiot Theron.”

“Idiot Theron completely crushed six trainees from Section 5?”

As Berton's cold gaze fell upon him, Bengle flinched and rolled his eyes.

Although the incident had happened suddenly, everything that occurred in Section 5 was ultimately his responsibility.

And if it was the utterly merciless Berton...

“Th-That was something I could never have predicted. Until only a few days ago, he couldn't even squeak in protest, so I never thought he would cause an incident like this...”

“A hidden blade is often sharper than one left exposed.”

Berton closed the book he had been reading and placed it on the desk.

Then he looked at Bengle and said.

“More details.”

“W-Well... three of them suffered broken limbs, and two were merely knocked unconscious. But... there's a trainee named Palcote who's quite strong in Section 5.”

“Palcote? You mean that bear of a bastard.”

Berton was familiar to some extent with the more notable trainees in each section.

Bengle hurriedly nodded and continued.

“Y-Yes, that's right. His large build makes his stamina somewhat poor, but he's exceptionally strong, so he's worth keeping an eye on.”

“And?”

“Th-That... Palcote was knocked unconscious in one blow.”

“Unconscious?”

Did it make sense for him to knock out someone nearly twice his own weight?

Especially when they were still novices who had barely begun learning the mana cultivation method.

“Are you sure it wasn't exaggerated?”

“Almost all the trainees saw it. Their testimonies match.”

“...I see.”

There were occasionally people like that.

People who awakened to something because of some kind of trigger.

Berton's eyes narrowed.

As though pondering something, he lightly tapped the desk with his index finger.

Tap tap tap tap tap.

But after finishing his thoughts, Berton soon spoke to him.

“You said his name was Theron?”

“Yes.”

“Lock him in the punishment room for one week, then keep a close eye on him afterward.”

“O-One week?!”

Bengle exclaimed in shock.

Normally, because a person's mind could collapse, three or four days was considered the maximum...

“Isn't one week too much?”

“Didn't you say he was an idiot anyway? It's better to make an example of him at a time like this.”

But Berton thought differently.

‘If...’

If a week in the punishment room could become another trigger for that boy.

‘Either he'll completely change... or he'll go insane. It'll be one or the other.’

Either outcome made no difference to Berton.

With an indifferent expression, Berton opened the book he had been reading again.

Seeing that, Bengle wore a troubled expression, but.

“U-Understood.”

He stepped back and bowed his head as he answered.

Because Berton very rarely reversed a decision once he had made it.

And...

“That is the decision.”

The matter was immediately relayed to Theron.

Unlike when he had stood before Berton, Bengle now looked at Theron with a vicious glare and spoke.

“Considering what you've done, it wouldn't be enough even if I broke all four of your limbs and threw you out as food for wild beasts...”

Bengle deliberately put on an exaggeratedly angry expression as he spoke.

Because even he knew the punishment was far harsher than expected.

“You'd better be careful from now on. If any of you cause trouble one more time, I'll throw you straight into the punishment room.”

Bengle looked at the instructors who had come with him and said.

“Take this bastard away.”

“Yes!”

At Bengle's order, the junior instructors grabbed Theron's arms from both sides.

At the sight.

“Th-Theron!”

“Theron...!”

“...”

Renil looked at Theron with the guiltiest expression of them all.

Hadn't this happened because Theron had tried to help him?

And the punishment room, of all places.

There was not a single trainee who did not know how terrifying that place was.

Those with weak mental fortitude would start screaming to be let out after only two days.

“But Instructor, isn't one week in the punishment room far too severe? We'd rather...!”

Perka stood up and spoke to Bengle.

Just as Bengle was about to glare fiercely at him.

“Perka.”

Theron calmly called his name.

“I'm fine. So don't say anything more...”

Theron shook his head.

Because one more word here could result in Perka being punished alongside him.

Perka knew that as well, so he merely lowered his head with a frustrated expression.

“...Sorry, Theron.”

Renil spoke to Theron with an expression as though he were on the verge of tears.

A week in the punishment room because of him...

But Theron looked at the instructors with a calm expression and said.

“Let's go, instructors.”

“...?”

Why was someone being dragged to the punishment room this calm?

The junior instructors who seized Theron's arms and dragged him away looked at him with puzzled expressions.

But unlike their confusion, Theron was thinking something entirely different.

‘A whole week in the punishment room...’

It was completely unexpected.

Honestly, he had thought it would be four days at most.

But now he had gained time where he could be alone.

And for an entire week.

“Go in.”

When the door to the punishment room opened, pitch-black darkness seemed to writhe as though it would swallow him whole.

The bare minimum of food and water required to survive for a week.

Theron entered the punishment room carrying only those things and sat down.

Rustle.

‘One week...’

That was enough time to eliminate all the flaws of the Darkfin mana cultivation method and merge it with a new mana cultivation method.

Moreover...

“1st Star...”

If he could accumulate enough mana to reach the 1st Star with the completed mana cultivation method...

‘I might be able to go find that during the next training.’

In his previous life.

If he could find the thing that had changed the body of his former self, Idiot Theron, and even removed the Death Sigil.

‘I can become stronger. Stronger than before...’

Theron thought back to his previous life.

He recalled Castillo's face, the man who had driven him to his death.

And Asbon Zionheart as well.

To kill those bastards, he had to become far stronger than he had been in the past.

And now.

He stood at the starting point.

‘An opportunity like this won't come twice.’

If he caused the same kind of incident again just to get into the punishment room, next time he might have his limbs cut off instead.

This precious time.

Theron focused every nerve on the mana cultivation method.

The Darkfin mana cultivation method taught by the training camp allowed one to accumulate mana quickly, but the more one practiced it, the more the mana circuits became blocked, eventually making it impossible to use mana at all.

‘First... I'll slightly alter the mnemonic formulas of the mana cultivation method...’

But he had to proceed very carefully with this part.

Even if the other instructors did not notice...

‘Berton.’

It would not be easy to evade the discerning eyes of the chief instructor who oversaw Hell Island.

The moment they discovered he was learning a different mana cultivation method, they could immediately suspect him of being a spy.

Theron carefully began stripping away the unnecessary portions of the Darkfin mana cultivation method's mnemonic formulas.

And...

“This is the real thing.”

The mana cultivation method Theron intended to mix into it.

It was the finest mana cultivation method he knew, and at the same time, one with the advantage of being able to merge with almost anything.

The Tempest mana cultivation method.

A mana cultivation method whose name meant Ghost of the Storm.

Its defining feature was that it allowed one to wield an enormous amount of mana like a storm while leaving no trace, like a ghost.

Of course, the method of learning it was incomparably more complicated than ordinary mana cultivation methods.

‘...That doesn't apply to me.’

Theron had already reached the 7th Star using the Tempest mana cultivation method.

Operating its mnemonic formulas was as easy as breathing.

“Huuuuuuup, hooooooo...”

He inhaled through his nose, then slowly exhaled over twice as much time.

‘First...’

His priority was to mix the Tempest mana cultivation method into the existing Darkfin mana cultivation method and improve its efficiency.

If he completely fused the Tempest mana cultivation method into it, no one would be able to recognize its characteristics.

However, fusing two mana cultivation methods was no easy task, so Theron concentrated more deeply than ever as he moved the mana inside his body.

And...

Sssssssss!

Mana gathered according to the mnemonic formulas of the Tempest mana cultivation method began flowing toward his lower abdomen.

But having mana of two different natures occupying the same space was extremely dangerous.

If he did not quickly remove one side, the two could collide inside him.

‘Slowly... slowly...’

And according to Theron's will, the mana created through the Tempest mana cultivation method slowly began circling around the mana created through the Darkfin mana cultivation method.

As though searching for something.

But soon...

Rumble!

A tremendous collision erupted inside Theron's body, enough to make his entire body jerk.

If it had exploded, his body could have burst apart and killed him on the spot.

Theron calmly controlled the two streams of mana.

‘At this level...’

Because the amount of mana created by the two cultivation methods was still quite small, he could control it.

Had even one side accumulated more mana, attempting something like this would have been difficult.

‘This is the fastest method.’

If he wanted to finish the fusion and accumulate 1st-Star mana within a week, this was the only way.

Theron once again moved the mana of the Tempest mana cultivation method.

The two streams of mana tried to collide once again, but...

Swoooooosh!

The two energies slowly began merging into one inside his body.