Episode 9
Chapter 4: Until I Turned Ten (Part 1)
It’s fun.
Every single day is fun.
It’s been six months since Jin met Murakan. He’s now eight years old, has copied over fifty volumes of arcane texts by hand, and today is the day the Tona brothers leave Stormhold Castle.
“No more annoying trouble for the next two years,” Jin thought, watching the servants load the Tona brothers’ belongings onto the carriage outside the window.
Honestly, after thoroughly beating the Tona brothers in the hallway and dumping them by the Bird’s Graveyard (the servants quietly called it “The Bird’s Revenge” and found it oddly satisfying—Jin wasn’t the only one tormented by those two), Jin never really found them bothersome.
In fact, they were more like obedient errand boys, which made things easier.
The only thorn in his side was the nanny, Emma. She openly watched Jin, showing clear signs she wanted to get close.
“That sly woman probably followed me to the basement pretending not to notice at some point,” Jin thought.
Every time Emma approached, Jin cut her off sharply. Her intentions were obvious.
She wanted Jin to keep an eye on the Tona brothers.
But beneath that was a hidden wish—that Jin would someday fall behind the Tona brothers in status.
“Emma’s unpleasant gaze ends today. If she acts like this again, I’ll find a way to deal with her.”
So far, Emma hadn’t openly bared her teeth or stabbed Jin in the back.
Still, Jin decided to give her a parting message that would stick with her for life.
“Young master, shall we go greet the brothers?” Gilly asked.
“Yeah, let’s,” Jin replied.
The two of them headed down to the Stormhold Castle courtyard.
Heavy raindrops pelted down relentlessly as the guardian knights arrived to escort the Tona brothers back to their family estate.
One seven-star guardian knight and five six-star knights—retainers of the main house.
And there, finally, the Tona brothers wore expressions that said, “Good riddance” as they said goodbye to their devilish youngest brother.
“Brothers.”
“Ah, yeah, Jin.”
“Hey, youngest.”
Jin smiled as he spoke, and the Tona brothers stiffened.
“Why the shock? I came to say goodbye.”
“Thanks…”
“Thanks, youngest!”
“We won’t see each other for two years now. Bit of a shame, huh?”
Though the Tona brothers weren’t the least bit sad, they nodded vigorously.
Jin patted their shoulders and then turned his gaze to Emma.
“Take care, nanny Emma.”
“Thank you, young master.”
“And hey, a quick word.”
Emma leaned in close to Jin’s ear.
“Emma, I hope you’ll be a bit more cautious at the main house.”
The moment she heard that, Emma’s face went pale.
Realizing this eight-year-old had seen through her attitude all along sent a chill down her spine.
She couldn’t even respond, only bowing her head slightly, struggling to hold back trembling shoulders.
“We’ll be leaving now. Young master Jin, I look forward to seeing you even stronger in two years!”
“Yeah.”
The guardian knights saluted Jin.
They would now take the carriage waiting below Murakan Mountain to the main house of Runkandel, the “Garden of Blades.”
In two years, Jin would go there too.
“Damn kid, you better have a good explanation for why there’s only one strawberry pie in this basket.”
In the Stormhold Castle basement.
Murakan grumbled as he took the basket from Jin. Jin ignored the complaint and sat down in front of the bookshelf.
“Why? Why is there only one strawberry pie? What do you take me for?”
Murakan was angry because of the strawberry pie.
“Hey, be grateful for even one. I saved it just for you.”
“Do you think a dragon can be satisfied with just one strawberry pie?”
Don’t get the wrong idea—Murakan wasn’t just mad over a pie.
To him, that strawberry pie was a rare delicacy he hadn’t tasted in a thousand years.
It was also the only food that soothed his tongue while he remained “trapped” in the Stormhold basement after awakening.
“I don’t even need food. My spirit energy keeps me full all the time. Why suddenly care about being full?”
“You ungrateful brat! Do you know how picky dragons are? And you can’t even go outside because of your situation, yet there’s only one strawberry pie?”
Since awakening, Murakan hadn’t left the basement.
For Jin’s sake. Jin needed to keep their relationship secret until he grew older, and Murakan agreed that was the right thing to do.
The basement was originally a place only “riders” could enter.
If the family found out Jin had been sneaking in and copying arcane texts, Siron would probably hold Murakan responsible—even if he was the family’s guardian deity, a dragon awakened after a thousand years.
In that sense, Jin and Murakan were almost accomplices.
“Hah! Enough with your gourmet whining. You said you don’t like anything but strawberry pie. Do you think it’s easy to get fresh strawberries all the way up here?”
Jin had his own complaints.
Stormhold Castle sat atop Murakan Mountain, where it rained all year round.
Getting fresh strawberries here was no easy feat.
And this gourmet black dragon… considered all other food at Stormhold garbage, demanding only Gilly’s strawberry pie.
“Damn… a time when I can’t even eat strawberry pie whenever I want.”
“That time won’t last long. How about you eat it quickly and start training?”
“A little brat with no charm bossing around a great black dragon.”
Nom.
In the end, Murakan gave in. No matter how angry he got, the missing pie wasn’t going to appear out of thin air.
“Delicious… damn, it’s insanely good. You said she’s your nanny? You better introduce her properly to me someday.”
“Alright, alright. How many times do I have to say that?”
Jin shook his head with a smile.
The past six months had been more than enough to shatter all of Jin’s illusions about dragons.
The dragon he had imagined as a wizard was wise, dignified, mysterious, and powerful.
But the dragon he actually met was a brat, moody as boiling soup, and constantly scratching his thigh while lying down.
Scratch, scratch.
After devouring the strawberry pie in an instant, Murakan scratched his thigh.
“If there’s anything close to my imagination… it’s that he’s strong, I guess.”
From the second day Jin met Murakan, he had been learning how to manipulate spirit energy and the basics of various martial arts from him.
They hadn’t sparred yet, but just from the lessons, Jin could feel how strong Murakan was.
However, most of Murakan’s power was currently sealed.
That was because Jin’s own spirit energy was still weak.
To Murakan, Jin was like sunlight to a plant, or the sea to a fish.
In other words, Jin was Murakan’s sun.
But it was a sun that needed to grow.
For Murakan to regain his strength, Jin had to grow quickly.
“Copy for thirty more minutes, then come out to the hallway.”
“Got it.”
After finishing his copying, Jin faced Murakan.
“What did you copy today?”
“The Atilla family’s swordsmanship manual.”
“Oh! Atilla. Their swordsmanship is pretty good. I remember when they bit the dust about fifteen hundred years ago. Did you understand it?”
“About thirty percent. The rest is hard to grasp.”
“Don’t be down. Understanding thirty percent at your age is amazing.”
For an eight-year-old to understand thirty percent of a noble family’s arcane text was indeed impressive.
But Jin felt a thirst for achievement.
In Runkandel, “amazing” was average, and since he was living a second life, he wanted to do even more.
Otherwise, it would be hard to surpass the crazy geniuses—over a dozen of them—in Runkandel.
“I wonder how much the first head of the family understood at my age.”
“Ha ha. Yeah, you said you chose Temar’s sword for your selection ceremony. Is that why I keep comparing you to Temar?”
“No, it’s because I’ve heard so much about the ‘strongest in history’ being the first head. I want to compare.”
“The strongest in history, huh? Yeah, Temar was really strong. Probably even your father, the Sword Saint, would be a step below Temar.”
That was a realm Jin couldn’t even imagine.
Three years before his previous life ended, Jin had gained the power of Solderet and was growing rapidly.
Still, surpassing the Sword Saint was a distant dream.
Even if he became the “unparalleled magic swordsman” Solderet described, whether he could surpass his father was still uncertain.
“Hmm, that’s a bit discouraging.”
“Your father, the famed Changseong Knight, must have had talents far beyond yours.”
“So because of that difference in talent, am I doomed to never surpass him?”
Surpassing his father.
That was Jin’s greatest goal since his rebirth. If he couldn’t outdo Siron, he’d be stuck living under Runcandel’s shadow for the rest of his life—at least until Siron died.
The bitter death from his past life.
The three nine-star knights who attacked the Akin Kingdom—Jin secretly suspected Siron was the one who sent them.
He didn’t want to believe it, but the thought lingered.
“If we’re talking purely about swordsmanship, then yes.”
“Just swordsmanship?”
“Yeah, you fool. You think the sword is everything. But you have spirit energy and magic.”
“That’s right.”
“If you learn to master magic and spirit energy to their limits, surpassing not just your father but even Temar isn’t just a dream. So don’t be so impatient.”
“I’m not impatient. I just want to know my limits.”
“Hah! You think of ‘limits’ even after gaining Solderet’s spirit energy? Maybe you’re still a kid. You really don’t know much. Among the gods, Solderet’s other name is… ‘Infinity.’”
“Infinity?”
“Exactly. You already hold infinite potential—more than anyone else in the world. So hurry up and grow. You need to get out of this stifling place and experience something real.”
“In that case, what’s today’s training?”
“Spirit energy release. You’ll get to the basics of martial arts later anyway, so until you leave Pukpungseong, you’ll only train in this.”