“Your Majesty.”

“...”

“All my subordinates are exceptionally skilled.”

“But your subordinates are only about class-C in the Dark Moon guild, yes?”

“...”

Class-C seemed like a low rank, but it most definitely was not. However, Lynesse’s uneasiness did not go away.

“They all have a card up their sleeves, regardless of their class. If you insult my subordinates further…”

“Oh my, I was just expressing my concerns. If you are that confident…” Lynesse interrupted Shari and put on a faint smile that was as spine-chilling as Shari’s. “You can probably handle any curveballs from Davey, that lightweight. If not, you will have no choice but to pay the price.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

As if she didn’t feel the need to beat around the bush anymore, Lynesse stopped smiling and savored her tea. “This tea isn’t very good,” Lynesse mumbled indifferently, and pushed her teacup toward Shari. “Let’s go back.”

“Yes.”

“Maybe I will soon have to get rid of the dog that doesn’t listen.”

“Command me when the time is right,” Shari answered coolly. There were no emotions to be found on her face.

5. An Unusual Rehab Training Technique

“Pri… Prince Davey? Why would you come…” Amy asked Davey cautiously as she followed him into the garden, which had the most weeds in the entire first prince’s palace. A lady-in-waiting had to be careful when asking questions. However, the fact that she was asking Davey these questions showed that his hard work had paid off.

Davey thought that it was normal to have questions, and he didn’t think it was a big deal if anyone asked any. He couldn’t deny that he was able to have this mindset because he wasn’t born and raised here. However, he also allowed Amy to ask questions because Amy knew her boundaries and when to stop.

At Amy’s question, Davey indifferently cleared the grass and wild plants out of the way. He went further into the neglected garden, which had become wilderness itself. It was ridiculous how no one had laid a finger on this place. How little attention was paid here for it to get to this point? He then said, “You can go now. If anyone is looking for me, let me know first.”

“Yes.”

“If they ask, don’t tell them I am here.”

Amy seemed to understand what Davey meant, and nodded a few times. She then left with a determined look on her face.

“Okay… Let’s get started.” Davey tugged his clothes down before sitting comfortably in the middle of the grass with his legs crossed. He didn’t mind laying down, but he didn’t really want to do that in a place full of weeds; it was pretty dirty.

After finding a posture that he could maintain for a long time, Davey looked around at his surroundings. He took off his glasses, closed his eyes, and uttered a magic spell, “Operation field.”

As Davey spoke, his weak mana united with his determination and started incorporating with the surroundings. Unlike holy power, which was engraved in the soul, or devil mana, which grew well on its own, mana was a little more intricate. Since Davey would not be able to escape a mana shortage for years if left like this, this was his special measure, and nature was where mana gathered best.

Davey thinly spread his mana, creating a unique space to connect with the surroundings. The mana floating around started gathering into his body. Like air entering the body through the lungs and only leaving the essential nutrients behind, mana entered him and escaped after leaving only pure mana behind.

This was a revolutionary mana breathing technique that was actually rather miraculous. It was pretty significant to be able to only leave pure mana, which helped to amplify magic usage, and discard any impurities that naturally accumulated while gathering mana. Impurities only hindered usage.

If the mages here saw this breathing technique developed by Odin, that bad-tempered woman who was also an ancient hero and called the God of Mages, they would be shocked. They would immediately try to find the principle behind it, since it would accumulate the same amount of mana they took months to do in a few days.

Of course, Davey had no intention of releasing this information to the public. Even if he did, there would only be a handful of people who could use it; only a gifted person could execute this breathing technique.

‘I seem to be full of myself? Be born gifted if you have a problem with it!’ Davey cleared his throat, and was surprised at how much he was influenced by Odin in terms of anything related to magic.

Even when Davey was reflecting on himself, he continued to perform the breathing technique, taking mana in and out. The process seemed very slow, relative to just taking in mana and storing it. However, since it was so pure, the mana would accumulate at an astonishing speed once he began to pick up the pace.

‘When you perform the breathing technique, do it as if you are holding on to all the mana coming in!’ That was the most well-known basic magic knowledge.

Odin was honestly worthy of praise for being able to think outside the box and invent a new breathing technique, regardless of her personality; no one would’ve expected such a result, since the process was extremely slow. Davey never got the chance to ask Odin if she managed to create this due to her years of studying without anything else to do, or because she was just a genius in her lifetime. After all, whenever Davey asked her a question, Odin would thump him on the head with her wand and say that he wasn’t focusing. She would also add an arrogant phrase or two.

Davey shook off the small memories from the Hall of Heroes from his head and began focusing again. It was mana he collected once before. Since he wasn’t gathering but awakening the mana this time, he would be accumulating usable mana at an incredible speed.

* * *

The effects quickly appeared! In the span of a few days, a certain amount of mana, holy power, and devil mana jumbled together and started flowing in Davey’s body.

To people who knew the theory behind mana, they would think Davey was a lunatic with a death wish. Holy power, mana, and devil mana were all separate energies that repelled each other, after all.

But Davey was able to use all three. How? Because he had gotten the fruit of successful research created by two lunatics and two oddballs working together.

They were the saintess [Daphne], who had a potty mouth and liked alcohol, and the short-tempered mage [Odin], who swung her wand like a weapon when she was displeased and tried to burn everything if she was called flat. There was also [Rho Aias], the necromancer also known as the Death Lord, but had such a sweet personality that she might as well be the actual saintess. And lastly, there was [Hypocria], the Goddess of Medicine famous for her accomplishment of studying almost everything about the human body. The miracle created by these four crazy women resulted in Davey’s strength.

The Hall of Heroes was a place where many heroes landed, but only the best in their field remained. Even if they were archenemies in their lifetime, they became rather close after spending a vast amount of time together. Maybe they connected with each other because they were lonely.

This was actually the case with Saintess Daphne and Archer Apollo. They were heroes who lived in the same century during their lifetime, but were archenemies. Daphne actually tried to kill Apollo whenever she had the chance. Maybe the two often fought without loathing the other because they developed a love-hate relationship throughout the years.

Still, Davey did not really want to associate with that cheesy guy, Apollo. Daphne would sometimes tell Davey stories about her lifetime over drinks, and when Davey heard about their relationship, he thought that it was quite a sight to see.

It was when Davey had been learning about curses and devil mana from [Rho Aias]. He remembered when a drunk Daphne kicked Apollo in the knee and stepped on his third leg after having drinks with Davey in the middle of the night. “What? You hit on Aias? Fuck! Didn’t I tell you to keep your dick in your pants, where it belonged? You weren’t satisfied with banging me once in your lifetime, you fucking asshole?”

Daphne had a potty mouth, but she was like a swearing softy. To put it a little more profanely, she was a ‘fucking’ softy. In fact, she also swore at Davey a lot, but would come and hand him a drink. Of course, Apollo was an exception.

‘Ha.’ As his laughter interrupted his flow, Davey tried to focus and gather mana again. The mana, which seemed to defy Davey, followed his guidance and moved around in his body. Only pure mana was left behind.

* * *

Davey’s progress started to really speed up once he began to make magic circles, as the mana started to accumulate. For a moment, when he focused on making circles from a certain amount of mana while absorbing it, time truly seemed to fly by. Magic circles weren’t something that one could just quickly whip up and create, like they did in movies. Well, normal mages could, but their progress would still be extremely slow.

“Huff…” While taking deep breaths, Davey closed his eyes and moved his pure mana. Most mages made a circle on their hearts and rotated it, but there was no way he could tolerate the clash between his holy power and devil mana that way. He would be lucky if his body didn’t explode instantly.

This was why Davey wasn’t in a safe condition; if his power increased even by a little, he would die from not being able to handle his own power. That’s why he was going to use the meridian circle, where he would make a precise circle in the shape of his blood and rotate it. It was a method close to entire body modification and it was insane, considering he could easily bleed out if he slipped up even once. However, for Davey, it was only a matter of reopening his path by retracing his steps. He had already succeeded once before.

Davey had told Amy to never come near, even if someone approached him. But to be honest, he was a little nervous; there was someone spying on him, after all. And since they couldn’t openly watch him, they would observe him from afar. It was unfortunate that they probably would not be able to clearly see what Davey was doing because of all the weeds. Although, this alone would inevitably make them suspicious.

As he slowly orbited his mana, a slight vibration went through Davey’s entire body. Since he was able to move it a little without any trouble, he did not let his physical body be disturbed by the vibration and kept a firm posture.