9 - 4 Families Robbed, Time to Leave, Mana Breathing

It was nighttime when I went out, just like the palace raid and the recon nights.

Speaking of nighttime, I should say that after the spider lady "gave" me the black star iron brick (or would it he an ingot?), I had stopped having those weird dreams about her.

Now my dreams had gone back to being random nonsense like normal.

Back to the night.

I snuck in, picked the lock on the vault expertly, took the treasures, and got out.

2nd family, 3rd, 4rth, all rinse-and-repeat.

In and out, quick and professional. I had to say, I was getting really good at this.

Although, being a good thief might not be the greatest thing to take pride in.

I also took some jewelry and weapons I liked. I couldn't just use a kama all the time, right?

Up until now, I had just had a random nice looking sword as my go-to weapon besides the kama, but I found a really nicely crafted dagger at one of the estates, and a beautiful stiletto in another one, so I decided to make those my new go-tos.

I was a rogue by all accounts.

I even went ahead and bought myself a little assassin's cowl earlier, just for tonight, to really sell the look.

Well, it was a look noone would get to see, but still. It felt nice.

Once I was done, the compass was at [22/100], and I was done with the imperial capital.

As for the fallout from all this, the emperor was still looking throughout the empire for his belongings, but he'd unfortunately never find them. The 4 families would surely be similar.

With that, I went back to the inn, where I had been staying for 4 months now, really perhaps too long to just be staying in an inn for, but I was content.

Hop up and in through the window, pack up, throw it (my packed up stuff) all in the treasury, and sleep.

Tomorrow, I'd go on my merry way.

I had already thought about it. The theocracy was where the Goddess' blessings were. Surely there'd be more treasures there.

So, I'd take the safe route, journeying the 10 empires first, before finally going to the theocracy to rob them dry last.

Hopefully I could get the next compass upgrade before then too.

I thought about the possibility of other treasures appearing in unknown, rural places in the Suiris Empire, but thinking about it, the fruit was something that seemed to have been a very unique occurrence, and the kama was also something I chanced upon.

It's not as though either were held by the local noble family, or anything. And considering even the major families of the capital only had 2 treasures each, I didn't think it'd be easy to find other treasures by just roaming the empire, even if other treasures did appear somewhere or another.

With that in mind, I was done here.

The Suiris Empire, where I was born and had lived my whole life.

Just like that, it was time to leave.

Of course, before leaving, I had to check my spoils. I'd do that tomorrow. For now, sleep.

***

Looking at the spoils, I came to a realization.

'It seems like worn items, like jewelry and clothing, and weaponry are the most common.'

Well, it made sense. It was relatively easy to find a weapon treasure since the wielder would make a name for themselves as a fighter. Not always, but sometimes.

As for jewelry, it was expensive, so the upperclass would be more likely to come into contact with it. So it made sense that it would also accumulate in the major families.

In comparison, something like the mystical fruit was almost impossible to find, and as for books, the royal family clearly had used a certain method to find their 3 books, as did I for my one, otherwise how would anyone find a random book somewhere among hundreds, thousands of other books, and choose the one that was a treasure?

So, in conclusion, the 4 families had 3 rings, which enhanced strength, speed, and what Tom called dexterity, which was a word that indeed seemed to fit the effects.

They had 2 swords, and something called a "Holy Hand Grenade". Tom said it was "infused with flames", and that it would spread a large fire to wherever it was thrown.

Seemed like it could hurt the person throwing it if they weren't careful.

I asked Tom if the "holy" in the title meant anything, and he said it meant it was created using holy-elemental magic.

He had already explained the magic elements to me previously, so I understood.

There were gods in this world, and they had created large domains in which their powers could be used as they pleased. When a mage used magic, they were actually interacting with one of the domains of these gods in order to cast a spell.

There were the present gods, and the gods that had created the worlds.

The creator beings were long gone, or so it was said, but their domains remained, and only the magic used by interacting with the domains of current, existing gods was called "holy magic".

The goddess of the theocracy was one of these beings.

This wasn't that big of a surprise to me, since I had grown up hearing of the Goddess all my life, but it was very interesting to me.

'Could I become a god?'

I shook my head of such nonsensical thoughts.

Tom also said he didn't know what it took to become a god in the "current era".

I asked him about previous eras, but he said he didn't remember.

'The 5 apostles of the theocracy, I wonder if they use holy magic?'

Back to the loot, besides these, there was a bow with an absurdly strong effect and a minor homing feature it would add to its projectiles, and an egg.

That's right, an egg.

Tom said it was the egg of a dragon.

Well, that was something to look forward to.

***

When Tom saw that I intended to keep on collecting more and more treasures, he finally decided to bring down the barrier.

The first thing I did was take the two books and start reading them.

Of course, it'd be a waste to just read like this, so I decided to hire a coachman to take me to the outskirts of the empire, near the border, to a town called Damerel.

While riding, I decided to read on the way. This was much more efficient.

Although I was more interested in the Knight Breathing Technique, since it would let me utilize mana and aura, I first decided to read the book on lesser demons.

It was organized into chapters, where each chapter was a new demon.

There were 45 demons in total in the book.

It seemed like although they were all called "lesser" demons, the ones later in the book were more difficult to summon.

At the start of the book was an introduction into the demon's hierarchy.

It said the hierarchy was as follows:

Lesser demons

Greater demons

Demon generals/Arch demons

Demon Kings

Demon gods

It said there may more than that, but the author didn't know.

Demon generals served under a demon king, whereas arch demons were not subservient to a demon king (although they could serve a demon god).

Besides that, they had the same general level of power, although of course there were differences between them, but the general tier was the same so they were regarded together as 1 rung in the hierarchy.

Looking through the descriptions of the demons in the book, I was amazed and simultaneously terrified to think that these were only lesser demons, the weakest of the bunch.

I also understood how the royal family had gathered so many treasures.

After the first 10 demons, the remaining 35 required special materials. The most common was something called "Mythril".

The first 10 only required a blood sacrifice.

Ranging anywhere from 10-100 living people, old or young didn't matter.

I was sickened at the thought of it.

I might be a remorseless thief but I wasn't someone who could mercilessly massacre innocents. Yet...hopefully I'd never have to stoop that low.

I wasn't naive enough to tell myself I'd never do anything similar if it came down to it, but I just hoped it wouldn't come down to it.

If I had to, I was willing to kill to stay alive. Who wouldn't be?

Well, I had killed the criminals I had practiced some techniques and things on before in the capital, so I wasn't fully free of guilt. Maybe the emperor had done something similar.

Among those first 10 demons, one was a demon that would help the summoner find 1 singular treasure in their world. It had an impressive search radius of 1000 KM.

It had to be used again per treasure, so the royal family must have used it at least several times.

Of course, I wouldn't be summoning any of these demons. Probably.

I certainly didn't need that one.

Putting that book away, I got excited as I took out the other, more useful one.

Mana breathing.

Opening it, the book gave a brief aside to the previous great accomplishments of knights who had used tbe technique, and then delved into the specifics.

The coachman and I had set off in the morning, and it was dusk when we arrived at an unnamed village for the night, before setting off again the next day.

It would take at least a few more weeks, maybe a bit over a month, to reach Damerel. This much was a must.

Instead of going to sleep, I read the knight breathing technique till the end, before hunkering down onto a bed and closing my eyes.

My thoughts were frenzied and chaotic, as what I had read seemed somewhat outlandish. But then again, all this was.

I couldn't manage to fall asleep easily that night, so I laid on the bed deep in thought.

The book said I needed to start mana breathing before the age of 19, or it would be too late to start without additional help.

I certainly didn't have any additional help.

However, I still wanted to try it.

I turn 21 next month.

Well, I just barely missed the mark, by a year. With my enhanced physique, maybe I could make it work still?

Thinking this, I closed my eyes again and decided to actually try and sleep this time.

This time, I did.

***

There were steps to be taken for the technique.

The first was a healthy and strong physique, filled with vitality.

Thankfully, I already fulfilled that requirement.

The next was to sense mana.

This was the hardest part. Most people got stuck here, apparently.

There were tips that were meant to help in this step.

I tried some of them before continuing on the journey with the coachman.

Some methods used by a few geniuses in the past didn't require too much movement, so i tried those in the carriage.

A few hours later, I suddenly felt it.

A trace of something, flowing through my veins.

As I grasped onto that feeling, it grew stronger. I understood that this was the famed mana.

It was faint now, a thin strand of it, barely enough to feel. It felt lile something was clogging it, such that it couldn't move around easily.

The book mentioned this. When first starting mana breathing, the amount of mana you can hold in your blood is small. You have to train your body to be able to hold more.

Slowly, I tried to forma conmection with the minute tracea of mana in my blood, attempting to circulate it better and decalcify it.

A few more hours later, there was suddenly a profound pain in my chest. Bewildered, I hurriedly stopped the mana breathing.

Taking a look at the book once again, I was confused.

It clearly said what this was. It was the precursor to the 2nd stage of mana breathing, the explosive heart stage.

After continuing to circulate mana through the intense pain, the heart would suddenly rapidly circulate mana throughout the body, completely decalcifying all the blood vessels and blood.

Afterwards, the heart would beat strong, one's vitality and physique would improve, breaking past the human limit, and the mana flow would be abundant and clearly felt at all times.

I had hit the limit of the first stage, the mana sensing stage, within a few hours. But, it clearly stated in the book that the fastest anyone had ever done it after the first few generations was several weeks. The founder's direct first generation descendants and disciples took a few days, and only the founder himself took a mere 2 hours.

Didn't this mean I was only slightly less talented than the founder of the technique?

Well, needless to say, I was feeling quite smug.

I told Tom about it and he looked shocked for a moment before calming down and looking pensive. Then, he seemed to come to a realization.

"What is it?", I asked him.

"Your body, it's special. I noticed it from the start, but I ignored it until now. Looks like you have a special bloodline of some sort. I can't tell what it is but it's not bad. About as strong as some stronger lesser demons."

"..."

Was that a compliment or an insult?

Well, I took it as a compliment. I had read the demon summoning book, so I knew now just how strong a "stronger lesser demon" was.

Essentially, once I fully awakened the potential in my blood, I'd be able to destroy a mansion in one hit.

Pretty awesome.

This had to be all thanks to that mystical fruit. I really wondered what it could be.

Sitting down in the treasury, I also realized I could just come in here to train and move physically when on a journey in a carriage, or somewhere else where I couldn't move.

Well, I wasn't aware of the outside world unless someone physically came into contact with me, so it was also quite dangerous. I decided to not do it casually.

Still, for now, I did, since I wanted Tom to be there to make sure I made no mistake with the breakthrough to the 2nd stage of mana breathing.

Circulating my mana again, my heart once again felt that explosive pain.

Enduring it while gritting my teeth, I continuously circulated my mana.

Eventually, when the pain was almost too much, Tom yelled at me to focus. With that, I pulled through the last stretch and felt an explosive, bursting sensation in my chest.

All of a sudden, mana started flowing crazily, and my sense of it got better and better at each passing second.

Explosive Heart Stage.

It would take a couple more hours to complete the breakthrough, but my body could handle that automatically.

Standing up, I excitedly punched out. Well, nothing happened, I just punched air, but it felt amazing.

Coming out of the treasury, I told the coachman to stop for a moment.

Confused, since it was the middle of nowhere, he did.

Walking to the side, I punched a tree with my bare fist.

What was left in the bark was a deep dent.

It didnt fell the tree, but I could probably use the side of my palm as an axe and cut it down if I tried. It'd just take multiple swings, like with an axe.

The only difference was this was a result of pure force, not force mixed with sharpness.

If I did have an axe, I could probably chop down the tree in a swing or two.

Excited, I hurriedly went back to the carriage and told the coachman to keep quiet about what he'd seen.

Terrified, he quickyl nodded his head.

Getting back in the carriage, we went on our merry way. Well, only one of us was merry. The other was horrified.