Episode 6
Chapter 2: Days at Stormhold (5)

The next morning, Jin found the tunnel that the Tona brothers had dug.

Sure enough, the Tona brothers hadn’t cut any corners—they’d worked hard with their shovels. Deep inside the tunnel, a yellow stone wall was exposed.

Currently, there were seven guardian knights inside the castle, two nannies, about a dozen servants, and the Tona brothers. But no one would come looking for Jin alone here, nor would they suspect him.

‘Saying I came to mourn a dead bird was a good enough excuse.’

Recently, the followers of Runcandel within Stormhold had been worried about Jin. It was just too hard to find any trace of childish innocence in him.

In fact, many had moved beyond worry to fear. Among the servants, rumors spread that Jin was the spitting image of Siron, and the guardian knights already treated Jin like a superior.

But when Jin said he was mourning the bird he’d buried, everyone relaxed. They thought, “He’s still just a kid after all.”

‘Hope the next life will be better.’

Jin’s sorrow for the dead bird was genuine, so it wasn’t a complete lie.

He moved the bird’s grave deeper into the tunnel and pressed close to the stone wall. The surface bore the marks where the Tona brothers’ shovels had scraped.

It wasn’t a very sturdy wall. It wasn’t made of especially hard stone, so if he gathered shadows into his fist and struck, he could probably break it.

But if he did that, noise might leak outside.

Ordinary people wouldn’t hear it over the rain, but the seven or more guardian knights nearby would definitely notice something breaking inside the tunnel.

“Hahaha.”

Suddenly, Jin couldn’t hold back his laughter. Spreading both hands wide, he pressed them against the wall, and the stone began to vibrate faintly.

Vrrrrrr!

It was the result of a first-rank earth magic: “Earth Resonance.”

Earth Resonance was a spell often used by mages when camping or sleeping outdoors during adventures. Its destructive power was minimal.

“I thought I was going crazy not being able to use magic!”

The convenience and thrill of casting magic!

He’d forgotten this feeling for the past seven years. Since he’d had full consciousness and memory from the age of one, not being able to use magic was nothing short of a punishment.

The power of mages—mana.

When he first reincarnated, Jin had worried about when and how he would start using magic…

But it turned out he didn’t have to worry. Just as the spiritual energy given by Solderet was still effective, the mana he’d accumulated in his past life was still valid.

‘Though, since I’m still a child, there seems to be a limit to how much mana I can hold. But hey, that’s something!’

In his past life, Jin had studied magic for three years and reached just shy of sixth rank.

Right now, his mana was only first rank, but it was steadily increasing with each passing year.

He could feel it naturally growing as he aged, without any special effort.

The mana he’d built up in his past life was slowly returning as he grew.

That’s how Jin understood this mysterious phenomenon.

‘First rank mana at seven years old! That’s the kind of genius speed you only read about in history books. At this rate, I’ll reach sixth rank by twenty at the latest.’

This life was, no matter how many times he thought about it, incomparably better than his last.

It was sweet to the point of madness. At seven, he could already wield spiritual and magical power, had stored swordsmanship theory at a third-rank level and magic theory at fifth-rank level in his mind, and soon…

He’d even be able to study the secret scrolls of martial families from various countries that Runcandel had plundered! Every day was packed with things to fuel his enthusiasm.

“Ha! I really am a mage. Who knew even just using Earth Resonance would feel this good and fun?”

In Runcandel, moments when magic could be used were extremely limited.

Until now, it was almost as if there had been none at all. Jin had never had a moment of true freedom alone.

He was always with Gilly, or when Gilly was absent, a guardian knight or servant was nearby, and if not, the Tona brothers were pestering him.

So there was never a chance to use magic. Not that he’d needed to.

Now, though he practically bossed the Tona brothers around like subordinates, he couldn’t let them catch him using magic.

If word got out to the other brothers, or to Siron or Rosa, that Jin was using magic… that would be the end of this sweet life.

‘Guess I’ll have to seal off magic again for a while after today. I’ll use it all I want when no one’s watching, my mana.’

Tsk.

Jin smacked his lips and focused his mind on the palm pressed against the wall. The sensation of mana flowing down his fingers and seeping into the stone was electrifying.

Ssssss…

About ten minutes passed. The vibrations from Earth Resonance caused dozens of tiny cracks to spiderweb across the stone wall. Soon, dust began pouring down wildly, as if the wall might collapse at any moment.

Crack!

Finally, the center of the wall crumbled like a sandcastle. The hole was small enough that Jin had to crouch to enter, and he stared blankly inside for a while.

A long corridor that looked like an abandoned ruin, and at its end, a massive iron door. That was the scene that greeted him as soon as he broke through the wall.

It would be a mistake to think Runcandel’s secret space could be breached so easily.

Stormhold itself was a place even the elite troops of Ziphl would find difficult to infiltrate.

‘The Stormhold basement where pureblood Runcandel riders come straight after being recognized… so this is what it looks like.’

Riders.

Those who can lead the charge anywhere, carrying the family banner.

All of Runcandel’s children become riders when the time comes—unless, like Jin in the past, they’re especially inept.

So this basement was always a scene glimpsed only through stories from other brothers and his own imagination. Seeing it in person stirred something deep inside him.

‘I didn’t expect to feel much, but now that I’m here, it’s strangely moving.’

Exhaling deeply, Jin squeezed his body through the hole.

While in the tunnel, the distant sound of heavy rain had been constant, but inside the basement, it was eerily quiet. Jin took off his shoes with a slightly solemn heart.

He didn’t want to leave muddy footprints in the corridor.

The interior was dim, with hardened oil, flint stones, and torches scattered about.

Jin was about to conjure a small flame to light his way but instead grabbed a torch. Walking barefoot down the old corridor with a torch in hand, he felt like a monk.

‘Mother said that before reaching that door, Runcandel’s children have to prove they’re pureblood.’

That was a memory from when he was about sixteen.

Back then, Rosa still believed her youngest son would one day become a proud member of the family.

A twisted hope from a mother who couldn’t accept her child’s shortcomings.

Rosa had even bent the family’s rules to slip Jin information. Even if he never became a prodigy like the others, she wanted to believe he’d at least become a sixth-rank knight and earn the rider’s title.

The black panther Rosa Runcandel, one of the strongest in the family and the world, couldn’t objectively assess Jin simply because she was his mother.

‘Though eventually, even Mother came to face reality.’

Snapping out of his reverie, Jin stopped walking.

He was halfway down the corridor, about fifty steps from the main door.

‘Runcandel and magic…’

He chuckled.

Looking down at the faint magic circle etched into the floor, he couldn’t help but laugh.

It was a fairly large circle, but simple enough for a novice mage to understand.

A magic circle of blood and boundaries.

You’d often find these in the warehouses of wealthy merchants who liked to show off, at various gates in each kingdom, or at the headquarters of well-known mercenary groups.

The name sounded grand, but that was all.

In the end, this magic circle was just a simple security device, checking the danger level of whoever passed through by their blood.

‘The people who hate magic so much actually drew a magic circle in the family’s secret space? And such a pathetic one at that!’

Ugh.

Jin bit the inside of his cheek hard. A trickle of hot blood welled up and slipped past his lips, and he caught it in his palm.

Drip, drip…

Just a few drops were enough to activate the blood and boundary magic circle. When he flicked the blood onto the circle, a blue glow began to shimmer all around.

‘Prove I’m pureblood? What a joke.’

Prove you’re pureblood.

Jin suddenly wondered who the foolish ancestor was who first installed this magic circle.

The blood and boundary magic circle wasn’t a powerful spell that could even verify lineage, and Jin doubted such magic even existed.

All this circle could detect was this much:

Is the blood from a monster, a human, or someone infected with plague?

In other words, as long as you could get into the basement, pouring any human blood—pureblood Runcandel or not—would activate the magic circle just fine.

It was a cheap magic circle that only added a mysterious atmosphere to the old basement.

‘Believing in superstitions like a selection ritual, thinking this magic circle is only for pureblood Runcandel… our family really is something else.’

Clack! Clack! Creak…

As the magic circle activated, the sound of gears turning and various mechanical noises echoed from beneath the floor.

The sound of traps ceasing their movement—traps that would have triggered if the magic circle hadn’t activated—filled the air. Jin stood still, waiting until the noise completely died down.

“So, there were quite a few traps after all. Even if I don’t know the exact number, they were probably more dangerous than the secret traps in most royal families.”

The glow of the magic circle faded. That meant all the traps had been deactivated. Jin took a step forward and stood before the main gate.

Of the two mechanisms needed to open the secret chamber of Storm Fortress, one had been safely dealt with. Now, only the method to open this door remained.

But that was even easier than activating the magic circle.

“The child of Runcandel has come to comfort Murakan.”

Clack!

As Jin spoke the activation phrase, the gate began to open immediately.

This was also a type of “warding magic,” like the magic circle he had just passed through—but on a completely different level. This was a spell set by a great dragon who had long since fallen into a deep slumber.

The reason this warding magic was so formidable was that it would open instantly if you knew the activation phrase, but no matter what you tried, it wouldn’t budge if you didn’t.

Breaking it by force would require at least a ninth-rank knight.

“I remember hearing this activation phrase from my second older brother before I reincarnated. He mocked me, saying it was useless to even try to figure it out.”

Here, at the summit of Murakan Mountain, where Storm Fortress stood.

The name “Murakan” didn’t originally refer to the mountain itself, but to the black dragon who had ruled this place for ages.

Murakan had been defeated by the first head of the Runcandel family a thousand years ago, relinquishing Storm Fortress and falling into a long slumber.

It was one of the most famous tales among the many legends surrounding Runcandel.

As the door opened, the first thing that caught Jin’s eye wasn’t the bookshelf filled with arcane tomes, but a glass case.

Inside the glass case, he saw Murakan, transformed into human form, sleeping peacefully.

“I’ve never heard of this before.”

His heart pounded.

Seeing this unexpected sight sent a chill down his spine for no clear reason.

Frozen in place, Jin cautiously stepped closer to the glass case.