Karnak, Monarch of Death

Chapter 262: The Treasure in One’s Palm (3)

There were no surprises. Three days later, Lapicel came back with the answer. ”I figured it out!”

To confirm, Varos, Serati, and Leven immediately followed her to the secret training hall.

—Not that we need to. It’s obviously real.

Varos’s certainty made Serati raise an eyebrow.

—You’re not even considering the possibility that she might be wrong?

—Of course not.

Well, she had made a mistake in the past. That was how Karnak had caught her. If she hadn’t made a mistake, she wouldn’t have ended up with that terrible fate.

—But as a warrior, I trust her absolutely. I was her enemy. I’d know best.

Once inside the hall, Lapicel took a deep breath. With all eyes on her, she calmly drew up her aura. It was the chaos aura Karnak had bestowed upon her, still not yet fully her own. Blue aura surged like fire, wrapping the gray-haired girl in flame.

”Right here, like this...” She muttered as she swept her sword through the air.

The movement looked more like a ritual from a shamanic rite than swordsmanship. A gust of wind stirred, and simultaneously, something within her shifted. What was once separate became one. What had not been her now became her.

Serati and Leven had to struggle not to let their shock show. Just as the setting sun claimed the sky, Lapicel’s sea-blue aura slowly turned into a magnificent shade of purple.

—Purple-tier...?

—Unbelievable...

An overwhelming power was surging from the body of the fifteen-year-old girl. It was an enormous power that could sway the fate of an entire nation.

Leven clicked his tongue.

—She’s starting to scare me, honestly.

Serati gave a faint laugh.

—She scared us from the beginning.

Even Karnak had tried to flee to the edge of the horizon when he first met her. Leven voiced his shock.

—It’s just ridiculous. How is that even possible? Just how monstrous is her talent?

Varos stepped in.

—Even for Lapicel, talent alone wouldn’t be enough. She may have lost her memories, but she’s still the Martial King of Cyphras.

Lapicel opened her eyes. She carefully examined the purple aura enveloping her body and asked, ”Did I get it right, Brother Varos? I think I did, since my aura changed...”

”You did. Good job, Lapicel,” Varos replied.

Unlike the two others, who still looked pale with shock, Varos kept his expression completely composed. He was a seasoned liar after all. He praised her with ease, and Serati couldn’t help but wonder. Now that they had the answer, how was Varos going to learn it from her?

He couldn’t just come out and say, Teach it to me too, right?

Is he going to pretend he needs to verify she got it right and ask her to explain the method? But this isn’t something you can explain with words...

But she was wrong. Varos looked straight at Lapicel and said, without hesitation, ”Then teach the technique to Sir Serati.”

”Huh?” Lapicel blinked in confusion as Varos took on a stern expression. ”You only truly understand something when you can teach it to someone else.”

Lapicel blinked again. Well, that wasn’t exactly wrong.

”It’s for your own benefit, too. You’ve heard people say you learn the most when teaching others, right?”

Also true.

Lapicel nodded. ”Okay.”

From the side, Leven and Serati exchanged whispered thoughts.

—Wow. He just slipped that one through like it was nothing.

—Will this really work? Even Lapicel has to be getting a little suspicious at this point.

And indeed, Lapicel did feel a little off about it. Brother Varos isn’t wrong, but... is this really necessary?

Still, she didn’t suspect him. There was no reason to. If Varos had only been a silver-tongued trickster, she would have. But he wasn’t just smooth-talking. He was also deadly with a blade.

Despite his young age, he was already a purple-tier aura user and undoubtedly stronger than Lapicel herself. The breadth of his martial knowledge and wisdom was vast, and its depth, immeasurable. There were no doubts about it.

And whenever Lapicel had a question, hadn’t he always had the perfect answer ready?

Why would someone so powerful resort to tricking a young girl over something like this?

Satisfied, she turned to Serati. ”Could you check if I’ve really mastered it, sis?”

”Uh... yeah, sure.”

Lapicel approached, and Serati instinctively swallowed hard.

She was still the same adorable child she’d always been. But now, her whole body was wrapped in a purple aura. It felt like Serati was standing in front of a tiger. Well, tigers could be cute when they acted friendly, sure. But when you noticed the size of their claws and fangs... you’d be terrified all the same.

Okay, stay calm. Just stay calm.

Lapicel touched blades with Serati. ”I’ll show you now!”

As mentioned, this technique couldn’t be described in words. The only way to convey it was to resonate their auras and show it directly.

An elegant current of aura filled the training hall, and like the good girl she was, Lapicel dutifully shared her realization with Serati. And what were Varos and Leven doing during all this?

—Let’s sneak in what we can while we’re here!

—You read my mind!

Truly, they were shameless adults.

***

Ten days later, inside the secret training hall of the Strauss family, Leven burst out in triumphant laughter. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this happy in his life. Purple aura was now surging brilliantly around his entire body.

”I did it! I finally broke through the wall!”

It wasn’t just the advancement itself that made him happy. He had now reached purple-tier at a younger age than his brother Emil. At last, he had clear proof that he’d surpassed the one he’d always been compared to.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely my own doing. I had help from Lord Karnak and Sir Varos...

Still, there was nothing to be ashamed of. After all, hadn’t Emil also reached his level thanks to Gellard’s full support?

He was just as spoiled as I am, so who cares!

Lapicel, who had broke through the wall first, congratulated him sincerely. ”Congratulations, Brother Leven!”

”Thanks, Lapicel.”

Serati watched them both with a gentle gaze. Both had now reached purple tier, the same level as Erantel, the Commander of the King’s Order. They had joined the ranks of the powerhouses numbering only a few across the entire Seven Kingdoms.

”Now both of you have surpassed me,” Serati commented.

Leven glanced over at her cautiously. ”Ah... Sir Serati...”

In the end, she had yet to break through her own wall. She had worked tirelessly, but she remained at blue-tier. But it wasn’t because she lacked talent. Rather, this was normal. The other two were just monsters. Even so, watching those who used to be beneath her surpass her so easily... it had to sting.

”Go on ahead. I’ll be working hard to catch up,” she said.

She didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. Her expression was serene, and her voice composed. She looked like an enlightened monk who had cast aside worldly attachments.

Even I’m surprised. Why don’t I feel anything about this? she wondered.

It was completely absurd to even compare herself to them. That must have been why jealousy couldn’t take hold of her.

Lapicel was once again in awe. Sister Serati’s amazing. How can she keep her heart and head that clear and calm?

In swordsmanship, what was more important than the state of mind? Even if she had pulled ahead for now, a step forward or behind meant nothing on the long journey of martial cultivation. What mattered was steady, unrelenting progress.

Serati’s response only further encouraged Lapicel. ”I’ll keep working even harder, sis!”

What more is there to work on...? Serati had her doubts but didn’t point them out. Lapicel saying weird things isn’t anything new.

Changing the subject, she asked, ”By the way, what about Sir Varos? Has he broken through again?”

She was referring to whether Varos had pushed beyond the purple-tier.

Leven shook his head. ”He’s already beyond us. I imagine the wall is that much harder for him to break through.”

***

It didn’t prove difficult.

”Yup. Achieved silver aura.”

Varos stood calmly in the deep forest beyond the outskirts of the Strauss estate. Radiant silver aura flowed over his body.

Watching him, Karnak asked with a pleased grin, ”Great. So, you can use your old level for a while now, right?”

There was nothing to fear anymore. The invincible Death Knight Lord had returned!

”Well, maybe not invincible. There were quite a few opponents stronger than him,” Karnak muttered.

So, he amended the statement slightly. The Death Knight Lord, once invincible to all but the Four Great Martial Kings and the Three Archmages, had returned!

”At that point, am I even invincible anymore? Sounds like I’m halfway down the rankings.” Chuckling, Varos raised the silver aura in both hands. Then, he frowned. ”But there’s a problem, young master.”

”Hm? What is it?”

Varos began manipulating the aura in his hands. The silver energy twisted into various shapes, expanding, contracting, concentrating, and changing form. It looked like he had more control over it than even his own limbs.

He was demonstrating mastery at the moment of awakening, as though he had trained with it for decades. It was a feat only someone like Varos could pull off.

”You’re using your aura just fine. So what’s the issue?” Karnak asked him.

Varos concentrated the silver aura between his hands again. For a moment, the energy surged with light, then faded, returning to normal.

”Yeah, it’s no use after all.” Licking his lower lip with a troubled look, he said, ”I have no idea how to use the gold aura.”

Karnak stared at him in disbelief. ”You don’t?”

Hadn’t he always been fine climbing through stages before? And now, suddenly, he couldn’t?

”Come to think of it, I’ve never actually reached the gold-tier myself,” Varos admitted.

”Huh. Now that I think about it, you’re right.”

Varos had been a death knight. He had ascended to strength equal to a martial king through dark aura, not through conventional aura progression.

He hadn’t even originally awakened aura on his own, which was why he’d struggled for a while after returning to the past. Still, because he’d reached such heights as a death knight, once he awakened aura, he could easily replicate lower stages of mastery.

It was akin to having a view from the mountain peak while re-walking trails below. It was simple. But the gold-tier stood level with his former peak. It wasn’t something he could look down on. It stood on the same height, only via a different path.

Trying to grasp it was like standing atop one summit and attempting to understand another mountain across a ravine. You could see it, sure, but not in detail.

”So from here on, it’s a path I’ve never walked before. I’ll have to figure it out with nothing but my own strength,” Varos said.

”Think you can do it?” Karnak asked.

Varos scratched the back of his head awkwardly. ”Who knows?”

A man who had always relied on shortcuts and unorthodox methods was now facing the straight path for the first time. ”Can I really pull this off?”