Chapter 3
Tern’s eyes widened.
Chris let out a sigh, then raised his hand, grasped the blade with his fingers, and slid it aside.
Was it because the reaction was unexpected?
Tern, flustered, fell silent.
“What was that just now…?”
“I get it.”
“Excuse me?”
“I heard you loud and clear when you said not to disgrace the family name.”
“!!”
Chris quietly looked down at Tern and said, “Anything else you want to say?”
“…”
Tern couldn’t utter a word.
There was so much he wanted to say.
But why? Looking up at Chris’s cold, condescending gaze, his mouth just wouldn’t move.
‘What’s going on?’
Tern was confused.
Though hailed as a genius, he was still an inexperienced child.
He didn’t realize the feeling radiating from Chris was pure intimidation.
Or maybe he did, but refused to admit it.
Because feeling intimidated by the disgrace of a pathetic family was unthinkable.
One thing was certain, though.
His older brother, Christian, was different from before.
‘He’s changed? That guy?’
Impossible.
Tern clenched his teeth and growled.
“Let me warn you again—if you insult Baron Kazar’s name one more time, I will…”
“You mean you won’t let it slide? Yeah, I got it. You must be really bored if you keep repeating what you already said without me even asking. Or maybe you just want me to pay attention?”
“!!”
Tern’s face flushed red with anger.
He glared at Chris as if ready to kill, then spun on his heel and stormed off.
‘I’ve dealt with worse troublemakers than you. You’re nowhere near ready to take me on, you little mutt.’
Chris smirked.
‘Still, he’s kind of cute in a way. He was adorable when he was younger.’
In truth, Chris and Tern were no strangers.
They had met before during the Age of Ruin.
Tern was a fairly well-known demon.
But now, still a child, he seemed somewhat endearing.
Though that didn’t really matter.
Chris pushed the thoughts of Tern aside and grabbed the entrance to the Punishment Chamber.
Clack.
The door slid open.
It was time to grow stronger.
As Chris stepped inside the Punishment Chamber, complete darkness enveloped him.
‘Can’t see a thing. Can’t hear anything either.’
He moved his tongue to lick his lips but felt nothing.
It wasn’t just light and sound that were blocked.
He couldn’t feel anything through his hands or feet either.
‘Is this some kind of dark magic? A curse?’
The only sensation allowed was a faint feeling at his fingertips.
It was so he could find and handle the items he brought—an allowance to prevent starvation.
Surely, staying here too long would shred one’s sanity.
Now he understood why demons were punished here.
‘But it won’t affect me much.’
Chris had been through all kinds of trials.
Among them, he had been a treasure hunter—a top-tier one at that.
He had earned the nickname “Light’s Excavator” for uncovering treasures that could help resist the Magic Empire.
‘Though with the world falling apart, there was no one left to pay for those treasures, so I gave it up halfway.’
When exploring ruins, he often had to rely on faint hearing and blurred touch while his other senses were blocked.
So this place wasn’t particularly difficult for him.
‘In fact, it’s better than many places I’ve been. No traps, no risk of assassination. Completely cut off from outside eyes.’
Compared to the hells he’d endured before, this was like a comfortable hotel.
And the biggest advantage?
‘With all five senses blocked, I can observe my inner self more deeply. This kind of opportunity can’t be bought with money.’
During training to ascend to higher levels, some deliberately block their senses.
By cutting off the senses, they maximize concentration and focus solely on themselves.
That was exactly what Chris needed to do now.
If not for the Punishment Chamber, he would have had to find another way to block his senses.
‘First, let’s fix my body.’
He had lived a reckless life befitting a worthless scoundrel.
Despite his youth, he had been exposed to so many harmful things that his body was full of toxins.
It was seriously damaged.
‘But it’s okay. I can undergo a complete transformation.’
An incredible thing.
A metamorphosis!
Once reaching a certain level, the body’s constitution changes.
A transformed body regains perfect health and becomes ideal for mastering swordsmanship.
Any swordsman would dream of this.
But very few actually experience it.
It requires not only high enlightenment but also luck.
And yet, Chris was going to do it.
‘Because I can artificially induce this transformation.’
Artificial metamorphosis.
Unbelievable, but true.
‘I learned the secret technique in an ancient ruin.’
Originally, it was impossible.
It required exceptional medical knowledge, innate mana control, and the ability to perform “body modification techniques.”
No one in the world met all those conditions.
Except Chris.
‘I’ve even worked as a doctor.’
Not just any doctor—he was called a divine healer.
He had studied hard to make money but ended up earning none, instead gaining a reputation as a saint and suffering a lot.
‘My mana control impressed even heroes and archmages.’
And the final piece: body modification techniques.
He had learned those before the Age of Ruin began.
After escaping his hellish family and wandering the back alleys, he picked up all sorts of skills—thievery, street performance, gambling.
He even joined a circus troupe and learned body modification techniques.
Of course, the clowns’ techniques were crude, but with a little tweaking, Chris perfected them into a flawless bone-shrinking art.
That was why he could artificially induce metamorphosis.
‘Let’s begin.’
Chris pulled out a mana stone.
Each stage of the transformation required a mana stone imbued with a different element, and fortunately, he had gathered them all.
‘Start by purifying the toxins.’
He extracted mana from the white mana stone.
Then he sent it flowing to the areas where toxins had accumulated.
Crackle.
The purifying power of the white mana burned away the toxins.
It was a tedious stage.
But a crucial one.
If even a trace of toxins remained, the transformation would fail—and he could suffer severe internal damage or become crippled.
‘This is why deep medical knowledge is necessary.’
Besides the major blood vessels where mana flows, he had to know the anatomy of every corner of the body.
So he purified every spot where toxins might linger with white mana.
This required innate mana control.
Fortunately, Chris’s mana control was far beyond anyone else’s.
Not just mana control—everything he did was like that.
“You’re truly insane,” a hero named Evan once said.
“You should have been the hero,” Chris remembered.
He shook off the distraction.
After thoroughly burning away all toxins, he moved on.
He took out the mana stone imbued with fire.
This was the stage to strengthen the body.
‘Ugh, this really hurts.’
But it had to be done.
Chris closed his eyes tightly and focused on his goal.
“To rise to the top of the Magic Empire and save the world… yeah, right.”
He shook his head and silently shouted his real goal.
“I’ll become the Demon King and enjoy the greatest wealth and glory! And maybe save the world on the side!”
With that cry, a fierce heat surged through him.
The forging process had begun.
Crack, crack.
With eerie sounds, the miracle started.
The metamorphosis had begun.
Seven days had passed since Chris entered the Punishment Chamber.
Count Kazar, Chris’s father, furrowed his brows deeply.
“They still haven’t sent a distress signal?”
“Yes, my lord. Should we go inside?”
Kazar’s butler, Cox, spoke with concern.
Pale-faced, he was a half-vampire.
Despite being a vampire, he was unusually compassionate and had often worried about Chris before.
“It’s possible he’s too broken to send a signal.”
That might be true.
Count Kazar nodded.
The Punishment Chamber was a dreadful place.
At first, people dismissed it.
What’s so bad about blocking the senses?
That was the common thought.
But that notion shattered soon after entering.
Complete silence.
No one there, nothing to feel—only an overwhelming void that bred intense terror.
Even if you screamed, the sound wouldn’t reach your own ears.
The longer you stayed, the more you lost your mind.
‘Maybe sending him there was a mistake. Even a strong-willed demon would struggle to endure this place.’
Kazar frowned.
Given his son’s mental strength, it wouldn’t be surprising if he emerged a complete wreck.
‘How did it come to this?’
Kazar sighed.
His son, Christian, hadn’t always been like this.
He was once a promising child.
But perhaps his talent made him arrogant.
He gradually twisted, then completely broke.
‘If he’s going to live like a worthless worm, maybe it’s better if he becomes a wreck or dies this time.’
It wasn’t a cruel thought.
It was a father’s love, in its own way.
But as a demon, his mindset differed from ordinary people’s.
He thought that if his son was going to disgrace himself and live like a bug, it might be better for the father to take his life instead.
But.
“I will change.”
Those were the last words Christian had said.
His son’s gaze when he said them kept replaying in his mind.
There was something different this time.
‘After being fooled like this again, what more could I possibly expect?’
He shook his head with a bitter smile.
“And… there’s something else to report. The young master brought some items into the punishment cell. It seems there are dangerous objects among them.”
“Dangerous?”
Count Cazar furrowed his brow.
A bad feeling settled over him.
“They say he took a phantasm stone with him.”
“!!”
Count Cazar ground his teeth.
The phantasm stone.
A type of magical stone that induces vivid hallucinations.
Its effects were similar to those of narcotics, making it popular among nobles and the wealthy as a legal alternative to drugs.
Unlike drugs, the phantasm stone existed in a legal gray area.
“Didn’t we agree to quit using the phantasm stone?”
Among Christian’s many reckless acts, indulging in the stone’s effects was certainly one of them.
“That’s true. But judging by what he took this time…”
The steward trailed off.
Count Cazar slumped back in his chair, drained.
Change? What change?
He was trying to get high inside the punishment cell, away from prying eyes!
“To get intoxicated on hallucinations in a cell designed to block all senses… We don’t know what side effects that could cause. We have to open the punishment cell immediately. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee the young master’s life…!”
“…No. Stop this.”
“Huh?”
Count Cazar’s voice turned cold.
“Let him die if that’s what it takes.”
In his eyes, not a shred of hope remained.
Meanwhile, in the punishment cell.
“I’ve succeeded in a complete transformation.”
Chris let out a long sigh.