The Survival of an Inferior

Mana continuously emits from the imposing rocky statues. At the far corner of the room stands a young man with a sharp gaze wearing a long coat. At his waist are two swords and daggers. 

I pull the Blade of Eternity for comparison, it matches the design of one of the swords. 

Yes, this man is The Hero fifty years ago... 

I decide to open the chest at a later date. I get down on the floor on the opposite side of the room with my legs crossed and close my eyes. 

"Hooo..." My breathing stabilises. 

Although the Pill of Life gave my body a perfect frame, there is a need to cultivate my physique. I start to absorb mana. A large wave of mana crashes and collide with me. 

The traditional methods of strengthening the body using mana involve absorbing mana and integrating it with the muscles, bones, veins, blood, and everything else in the body. The more you integrate, the stronger you can become. 

However, in the future, Rena will find that method unsatisfactory due to its inefficiency. Mana needs to travel through the narrow meridian to different parts of the body; Techniques involving direct integration cuts the effectiveness by half and send the practitioner into extreme pain. 

Thus, Rena will create a technique using inspirations from direct integration expertise known as "Manafication".

Albeit a powerful skill, agonising pain will follow and the chance of death is nigh. 

There are three stages: Bone, organs, and muscles. 

...

I take a deep breath and proceed to seep the mana into my index finger bone. My bone starts to vibrate and crack. 

"Ngh...Fuck..." I mumble. 

It hurts!!! 

But I must not scream. I must focus. 

The essence of Manafication is to "destroy and replace". Destroy parts of my body and reconstruct them using mana. Doing so not only improves your body but also makes it a "meridian" and the flow of mana can easily circulate, enter, or leave. 

The cycle continues as my bone breaks down before mana rushes and replaces it. 

"Huff huff..."

By the time I am done with just one finger bone, I sweat buckets from the pure torture. 

My index finger emits a purplish aura. The pure mana that entered my body became corrupted by demonic mana and it was demonic mana that replaced my bone. 

...

It is just a finger bone and I have a long way to go. 

"Huff huff huff...hooo..."

I try to calm myself. This is only the beginning of my torture. 

================================== 

Meanwhile somewhere in Rodgof... 

================================== 

In an empty room, only one chandelier lights the place from above. 

A massive drawing of the eye symbol paints the tall wall. 

An old man wearing a white long coat looks around and enters the door below the eye drawing, revealing a massive pyramid artifact behind. Heran stands at the base staring at it. 

"Master Haren." The old man bows to Haren. 

"Is the plan going smoothly?" Haren asks. 

"Yes, we have gathered massive followers for the descent of our God, the mana collected has reached a phenomenal level. However, a group of people in the dark is sabotaging our sacred mark and we recently lost contact with Cleric Katui. My apologies I will accept whatever punishment is worthy of me."

Haren sighs. "Raise your head. It does not matter. There always will be ants attempting to crawl one's feet. Heed them no concern." 

"Thank you very much for your graceful mercy!" The old man says and leaves. 

Haren shifts his gaze back to the pyramid. Despite everything going well, there is an odd lingering instinct for danger, that everything will go down in flames. 

"Did I miss something?" Haren asks himself. 

At the border of Rodgof, a mercenary carriage stops at the custom. The coachman shows the surrounding knights a document and the knight returns it. He then nods to his colleague and his colleague pulls the lever, the metal gate rises. The coachman thanks the knights and move on. Within the carriage are Rena and another woman. She is dressed in a blue-white long dress and a brown hat. Behind the carriage are horses of escorts for security. 

The woman opposite Rena is a merchant from Elvis. 

The carriages go through a pathway down to the sea. magic-fortified structures are holdings the sea apart.

The moment the carriage enters, Rena detects something ominous in the air. 

"What...?"

They stop in a town for a break. Rena starts her investigation and roams around the town. A homeless boy goes up to a stall and steals food before running away, not a common sight. 

"Brat! Damn it! Get him!"  The stall owner says to the two guys opposite the road. They sprint at the homeless boy. 

Rena stares at the situation and sighs. Even if she intervenes, nothing will change and she has a greater priority of secrecy. 

The homeless boy runs into an alley and the men follow. However, amongst the crowd, a guy in a hoodie jumps in and dashes into the alley. 

...

"Huh? Who are you?" 

"Mind your own business, he is a thief."

*BAM!* 

"ARGH?!!" 

"Huh?" Rena mumbles. 

She goes up and joins the spectating crowd. All of the men are twice the guy's size yet he effectively throws them around. 

One of them takes out a knife and thrust it at the hoodie guy. The guy grabs the blade and snaps it. 

!?

The guy follows up with a strike to the man's stomach, sending him flying into stacks of barrels. 

*BAMMM!!* 

"Ugh..."

The stall owner glances over in anger and says "Who are you? Fuck!" He looks around and sees a knight. "Officer! Here! There are two thieves!"

The guy turns around to reveal himself to be Kin. Kin grabs the homeless boy's hand and sprints off. 

Rena stares at the men on the floor. She notices the marks imprinted on their body strike the minor parts but enough force was sent to knock them out. 

"Such a young boy with admirable strength..." She mumbles. 

Rena decides that if she ever sees Kin again, she wants to talk to him.