Haroon - Volume 5 Chapter 1
A knowledge fragment and Kindjal of Twilight
Soon after Haroon drank the potion and fell unconscious he received several U.I. sound, though he couldn’t hear them.
[You have killed an ironsnake]
[You have leveled up by 5]
[You have acquired a set of items and Iron-bone sword]
[You have gained 80 S.P.]
[You have gained 100 Fame]
[Focus is increased by 2 points]
[Stat ‘Will’ is newly created. Initial value is 2]
[You have earned 300 Gold as bounty reward]
The Ironsnakes’ life force was stronger than he’d a.s.sumed so it died right before he would die, so the level up was delayed.
While his H.P. and M.P. were regenerating as a level-up reward, something strange was happening to his body half-submerged in the pool of ironsnake blood.
Interestingly, the pool of blood that wasnt congealed yet moved as if it was alive, and was being absorbed by Haroon’s body. The blood pool formed inside the ironsnake’s mouth entered his body through his skin. It moved lively through his body and affected bones, muscles, and blood vessels.
Though this wasn’t known to the people, ironsnakes’ blood had greater regeneration effects than trolls’ blood; and with the potion he drank, its effects were enhanced resulting in a miraculous healing process.
His bones were relocated and at the same time they knitted together much denser than before. Due to the rich amount of iron in the blood his bones were literally getting as hard as steel.
It was also making changes to his flesh and muscles. The muscles inflated and deflated as if someone was kneading them, making them much tougher and stronger.
It was a full day before he regained his consciousness.
“Huuugh!”
He woke up, moaning from the pain he recalled. For a second, he got confused and had to recall where he was and what was happening. He finally came back to his sense when he saw daggers and many a.s.sa.s.sinating weapons stuck on the ironsnake’ palate.
‘Is it really dead?’
The scene coming into his eyes wasn’t reality, so he was sure he hadn’t died. The death count was on seven, so he thought he would die, but fortunately for some reason he didnt get killed.
He raised himself up and looked around.
‘I don’t feel any pain. Did all my injuries heal?’
They all did. His broken legs were back to normal, and all other places as well. He certainly had felt his ribs and bones getting shattered as well as his muscles getting twisted or snapped with great pain. As if they were telling it was all lies, his body was back to normal.
But that wasn’t everything.
“Why do I feel so light?”
His body felt so light, as if he shook off a burden of tens of kilograms. He felt like he could shoot himself up to the palate if he pushed the ground with both hands.
Strangely enough, he didn’t feel any pain from his body.
He tilted his head in confusion. He s.h.i.+vered just from recalling that unbearable pain, but it was all gone. It felt like every bone was broken into pieces, but now he couldn’t feel more refreshed.
“How did my body? Could it be the potion that I took? Oh, I’ve leveled up as well!”
He couldnt tell why his body felt so refreshed, but he thought it was the potion and the level up that returned his body to a normal state.
He gave a sigh of relief, thinking that he could have died if the ironsnake didnt die before him.
But he could never think, even in dreams, that the ironsnake’s blood would cause such unexpected changes to his body. He didn’t think deeply about his body being oddly refreshed and full of energy.
Two sharp fangs were s.h.i.+ning, dividing the moonlight into three parts that lit the inside of the ironsnake’s mouth. Those were the poisonous fangs that threatened Haroon the night before.
Then his eyes widened as he remembered he was lying in the pool of blood that almost covered his face.
“Where’d all the blood go?” He thought.
He remembered drinking the blood for quite a while. He looked at the place he was lying, but there wasnt even a single drop of blood.
‘Oh right, let me check my stats first!’
Hed slain a monster that he wouldn’t be able to at his level, so he was sure he’d gained a good amount of stat points. As Haroon checked his stat window his eyes began to s.h.i.+ne.
Name: Haroon
Race: Human
Cla.s.s: Swordsman
Level: 55
t.i.tle: Ironsnake slayer(and 7 others)
H.P.: 1,870
M.P.: 2,015
E.F.P.:740
Strength: 72(+15) Stamina: 65
Intellect: 36 Wisdom: 54
Luck: 44 Agility: 73(+12)
Endurance: 26 E.S.P.: 21
Focus: 30 Will: 2
S.P.: 448 Fame: 1,880
Leaders.h.i.+p: 565
Fire Resistance: +10%
Magic Resistance: +10%
Remaining bonus stat points: 10
He’d leveled up five times when he lost consciousness. Also, he had gained 80 S.P., which proved how strong an ironsnake was. Though he wasn’t sure if it was the effect of the new t.i.tle he got, he gained 2 points each for every stats, and he gained 5 extra points each for Strength, Stamina, and Agility.
‘Huh? How come I got all these stat points?’
The fight he had with the ironsnake consisted of being beaten to death, then fortunately finding its weak point to exploit. At most, he would have gained some points for Endurance or Focus. But he gained points for stats he never expected.
He thought about it for a second, but he couldnt understand it. He didnt remember anything he did that contributed to gaining those stats.
‘Well, good things are good.’
Putting the unsolvable mystery aside, he accepted the facts as they were and looked for other stats.
There was a new stat.
‘Will?’
There was a new stat, Will, though he didn’t know what it did.
Haroon invested his bonus stats into Strength and Wisdom equally. He then opened the skill window to find that there wasn’t any improvement. He opened his inventory. He realized he’d gotten three hundred Gold and two new items.
Ironsnake Armor (set)
Cla.s.s: Unique
Contains: Helmet, Hard Leather Body, Gloves, Boots, underclothes
A set of armor made with Ironsnakes’ leather. Ironsnakes consume various mineral substances, solidifying their leather harder than iron, so it has better defense than metal plate armor. This top-cla.s.s armor set is only given to warriors who have slain an ironsnake that lived over five hundred years, and it can only be worn by them. It has a set bonus.
Set bonus:
Armor +200,
Magic Resistance +100,
additional 20% resistance for every elemental attacks,
Strength +10,
Agility +15,
Stamina +5
[Untradeable]
This was the best item Haroon had ever gotten.
“I should get changed right now.”
His armor and clothes were worn to rags because of the acidic substances in the ironsnakes’ saliva. He had nothing else to wear, and it was untradeable anyway, so he decided to wear them right away.
The helmet was more like a hat, and the gloves were fingerless, so they seemed more like outdoor wears rather than armor.
Despite their defense, they were light and soft. Wearing the underclothes that stick to the body improved the wearing sensation. They sure were unique items.
“Ow! I feel like I could fly. This sure gives a lot of strength.”
The set bonus gave extra stats or abilities on top of what the individual items had when worn together. Their dull, dark color didn’t stand out too much which he liked. People would think they were made with black orcs’ leather. Just wearing new items felt like gaining ten levels instantly.
To gamers, getting precious items was an unspeakable joy something to be proud of.
Shaking off the excitement, Haroon took out another item.
Ironbone sword (Bone sword)
Cla.s.s: Rare+
A sword made with an ironsnake’s bone. It had absorbed various iron substance for a longtime, gaining hardness that even manimbued blades cannot break. It is quick at absorbing and inducing mana, making it useful for mana using swordsmen.
Strength +5
Stamina +5
Requirement: Level 50
Haroon liked the color. This dull, black sword had a similar shape and size to the steel sword he’d been using but lighter than it by a quarter. It seemed like a two-handed sword, but he had no problem using it with one hand.
Haroon grabbed its handle without any hesitation.
“You are my favorite now.”
He swung it for a bit, and satisfiedly wore it on his belt.
‘I’m gonna check again.’
He was excited to see the effects of the items.
Name: Haroon
Race: Human
Cla.s.s: Swordsman
Level: 55
t.i.tle: Ironsnake Slayer (and 7 others)
H.P.: 2,395
M.P.: 2,240
E.F.P.: 740
Strength: 82(+15) Stamina: 80(+10)
Intellect: 35 Wisdom: 59
Luck: 44 Agility: 76(+15)
Endurance: 26 Focus: 21
Focus: 30 Will: 2
S.P.: 448 Fame: 1,880
Leaders.h.i.+p: 565
Physical Armor: 200
Magic Resistance: 100
Remaining bonus stats: 0
He now had over 2000 H.P. and M.P. After getting the antidotes, he would have enough mana to keep Brat summoned and use her poison skills for forty to sixty seconds. Also, now he became a character with high Strength, Stamina, and Agility as befitting a swordsman. This meant should he have to deal with monsters, using a sword would be enough without the help of elemental spirits and throwing weapons.
Haroon thought it was amazing that he had made rapid development in abilities once again. He finally started moving after looking at the status window till he got sick of it.
After putting the steel sword in his inventory, Haroon started collecting the throwing weapons from the ironsnakes body. Daggers were easy to retrieve as the handles were sticking out. Throwing knives, which didn’t have hand-guards, and shurikens were harder to retrieve as they dug deeper into the flesh, but it wasn’t that bad.
This took a while. He had to search every corner several times to find the few remaining ones. His transparent ones were still missing. Those ones had no handle at all, so they were barely noticeable.
‘I didnt know I had this many throwing weapons.’
He had over 50 daggers, and over 100 throwing weapons. Fortunately, the durability on most of them didn’t dropped much, except for the ones that hit the ironsnake’s bones. Opposite to its amazingly hard scales, the flesh inside of it was very soft.
While searching the wounds with his fingertips to find his transparent daggers, Haroon was surprised by what he found instead.
“Oh! This must have killed it.”
There were traces that a knife had pierced through. He couldnt reach the knife, but the traces lead to the brain of the ironsnake. He a.s.sumed that one of the transparent throwing knives must have entered the weak point of the wall of flesh and messed up the brain.
“Right!”
Finding a transparent throwing knife on its chin muscle, he recalled that the old throwing knife, a legacy of the legendary throwing knife master, had started glowing and making sound. He tried to focus and listen for the sound.
That throwing knife, which Viscount Paros gifted him, was still making sound though he couldn’t see it. After searching for a while, he finally found it inside the ironsnakes brain.
The knife he found digging up the brain had a rusty but glowing blade, and was making some kind of strange resonating sound. Haroon could feel weak vibration coming from it.
‘So that means the legacy of the legendary throwing knife master is somewhere around here!’
Which he a.s.sumed was not inside the ironsnake’s mouth.
‘Could it be?’
He grimaced at the thought of it being in its belly. There was just enough s.p.a.ce for him to crawl in, but he didn’t feel courageous enough to check where the foul smell of iron was coming from. Giving up on finding the rest of the weapons, Haroon got out of the ironsnake.
“Holy sh-”
Haroon’s eyes widened. He couldnt believe his own eyes. The ironsnake’s body revealed under the moonlight seemed at least forty meters long, and just its head seemed over three meters. The body’s diameter was at least two meters.
Its head had sharp spear-like horns, unlike the lump on lump orcs, and they were as big as his steel sword. The horns were emanating multi-colored light unlike its dark-red colored scales, and he could see something was flowing between the horns, like electrical arcs.
It took some time for him to take it all in, what he was seeing. He was surprised that his bones were still in tact. No creature would be safe if tangled by that thick body.
Coming back to sense, Haroon became curious about just how hard its scales were. He pull out his sword. He firmly grabbed the sword and focused on it, and the sword started s.h.i.+ning softly. Haroon’s eyes were full of joy.
‘Nice!’
His mana, that wasn’t moving at all before even if he tried, was now finally reacting to his will.
He half closed his eyes and focused on the mana that resided deep inside his lower gut. At the same time, he moved his focus to his sword, and could feel some of the mana unwinding into strings and rapidly moving to his shoulder, then his arm, and finally into the sword.
Hed finally moved a step towards becoming an Expert! Though it was more like the tip of a toe rather than a full step, he could control his mana at will. When the mana covered the whole sword, he opened his eyes to see his sword glowing with a thin orange light.
He felt like he could cut anything with that mana blade. A refres.h.i.+ng energy was coursing through his entire body.
Shouting, he jumped high up into the air to strike down the ironsnake’s body with his bone sword.
“Kugh!”
As the blade and scales collided, Haroon lost his grip on the sword and got bounced back. It was the aftershock coming from the impact. A sharp pain sweeped through his hands, arms, and shoulders.
His body vibrated. Even if his sword wasn’t in his hands, the shockwave was still in his body. Though swordsmans.h.i.+p wasnt his strength, he thought he was still good enough to not drop it at any point. But it was unavoidable.
The pain was so great that he was forced to endure as he couldnt even reach and grab a potion. He looked at his shaking hands. His hands were full of blood. His palms were ripped horizontally.
“d.a.m.n! I don’t know what to say.”
The pain was still great, but he took out wound-treating powders from his inventory and applied them to his palms, and drank a potion.
The small amount of mana that was being injected into his sword lost its way and started moving about in ways he didnt intend. And because of that, he started feeling pain from everywhere. So he started walking, using Messenger Walking. He thought that acc.u.mulating more mana might calm them down.
Through his heated feet, cool refres.h.i.+ng mana started flowing in. Mana flew through the path that previous mana has opened, and acc.u.mulated deep inside his lower gut
The mana that had acc.u.mulated in his lower gut spread out like a fog, and started circulating through the familiar path along with the incoming mana. That flow drew in the bits of lost mana that were trying to break through any crack they could find, then flew as one.
‘What a relief.’
Soon, all the bits of lost mana came back to their original path. At the same time, the wounds in the mana paths were being healed. Of course, he couldn’t see with his eyes, but he was sure of it as the pain was relieved.
Haroon stopped walking and stood next to the ironsnakes body. There was a scratch he made. He wouldn’t even get to make a scratch if it wasnt a mana blade.
‘Will it even fit into the subs.p.a.ce?’
He didnt dare try. He wanted to extract the gallbladder if he could. To do so, he had cut and open up the body but it seemed impossible. Even when the mana blade struck at full force only left a scratch.
For now, taking care of the dead body was the main priority. Haroon summoned Brat on stand-by mode.
“Long time, Mas. Whats up?”
Brat asked in a drowsy voice. The same line with her old voice would have irritated him right away, but now it felt totally different as it was clear and cute.
“Hey, Brat, I got the ingredient to make antidotes but it’s too big to put into the subs.p.a.ce. What should we do?”
Brat understood right away what the problem was.
“C’mon, I sometimes forget how stupid you are, Mas. Thanks to that I do all the hard work. Just open the subs.p.a.ce and shout ‘Store in subs.p.a.ce’. It is as simple as that. You should have asked this waaaaaay earlier. Mas, you pathetic,” she replied.
Haroon felt anger rising up inside of him, but pushed it down. He was the one who summoned her for help.
‘d.a.m.n it! She hasn’t changed at all,’ he thought.
“Thanks. Ill see you after I make the antidotes.”
“OK. Then Ill get back to sorting the polluting substances. Be quick and let me see the world too.”
“Got ya.”
After unsummoning her, he realized he should have asked if she could help locate where the knife was signaling to, but decided to deal with the dead snake first.
“Open Subs.p.a.ce!”
As the subs.p.a.ce appeared before his eyes, he grabbed the ironsnakes horns.
“Store in subs.p.a.ce!” He chanted the spell.
The ironsnake’s huge body got sucked into the subs.p.a.ce. There were items he’d collected on one side of the subs.p.a.ce.
That dead body was coiled and put to one side. And thanks to that, there was still a lot of room in the subs.p.a.ce.
“Another quest down!”
He would be finis.h.i.+ng the quests that he got from Thaust Castle if he collects a few more lumps from the Lump Orcs.
Thinking that, Haroon could finally take a rest, sitting on the ground.
His stomach groaned.
He had forgotten how hungry he was, from the joy of level ups and dealing with the dead body of the ironsnake. Now that he was resting, his stomach was singing for food.
Haroon took out some meat jerkies and a sack of water, and slowly started eating them. Jerkies couldn’t taste more delicious. He did nothing but eating for a while. As his hunger was being relieved, he could see the boulder near him.
Then he remembered almost getting killed by the ironsnake.
‘If only my broken leg didn’t get stuck in its throat.’
Haroon’s body shook, imagining him melting in its glastic fluid dying slowly.
He didn’t want to die, absolutely not. He didn’t want to experience losing consciousness anymore. It was because he was afraid of losing stat points. He didnt care much about the level but stats. Especially stats like E.S.P. or Focus which took a long time to gain, so losing 20% of them to the death penalty would be very shameful.
“Huh? Why are you still making the sound?”
The knife was still making the sound, making subtle vibrations.
‘One of the legacy wasn’t in its gut. So that means.’
Haroon started searching the place. He could easily locate the place as the light and sound went away if he went too far. It was directing him under the boulder he was leaning on. The boulder that had moved slightly had a giant pit under it opening its grim mouth. He realized he wasn’t able to find this pit because of the boulder that was covering it.
Maybe that was how the ironsnakes build their den, digging holes under the boulders that he’d seen, going around the mountain. It was so well hidden that he couldn’t locate them.
‘Should I check the inside?’
It felt like a cold, unpleasant energy was coming out from it. The hole was made diagonally downward. Though he had killed the ironsnake, Haroon’s eyes shook with fear at the thought of it, recalling the unpleasant memory of being almost eaten to death.
He was very lucky to survive the attack and kill it, but he wanted to avoid fighting it again at all costs. After checking how hard their scales were, he couldnt believe how he was able to kill that.
“Im going in!”
He had two goals playing Beyond: being strong and finding the legacy of the legendary throwing knife master. He had no choice but to go in. Determined, he lowered his body and entered the den.
The den was wide and round, shaped like a cave. The ironsnakes body had a diameter of over two meters, so the height was big enough for him to stand up. The den was quite steep, and he didn’t know what would appear, so he had to crawl down very carefully.
The wall was solid rock and there were some glowing stones mixed into it that he didn’t know the name of. At least he was able to locate things. Fortunately, the vein of glowing stones was getting much thicker, making it easier for him to travel deeper. The cave became wider the deeper he goes. And at last, he came to a giant room.
There were two thick vein of glowing stones embedded on the walls. He estimated that he’d traveled about two hundred meters at a thirty to forty five degree angle. Seeing how the surface of the walls and ceilings were quite rough, it seemed that the room was formed naturally. The ironsnake must have found the room, somehow, and dug down to the room from the surface.
Haroon started searching the room. The first thing he noticed was how the ground was hollowed, telling him that that’s where the ironsnake would rest. And actually there was nothing else noticeable. Oppose to his worries, there were no other ironsnakes. Even Kaltz didnt know much about ironsnakes, not to mention how much less Haroon would know, but at least he could tell that the ironsnake he killed lived alone.
And then, he saw something. It was where not much glowing stones were embedded, sunk in the darkness. As his eyes adapt to the darkness, he saw something piled up in the corner.
‘What are those?’
He drew close and saw weapons, armors and many other sc.r.a.ps piled up.
s.h.i.+elds, swords, axes, plate armors. There were so many that it would be enough to cover the entire wall, and they were all rusty and broken into pieces. There was no telling how old these items were. There was even a staff made with a metal rod. He could see how many humans it has killed. Though he couldnt say how long it could live, it lived eating monsters, knights and magicians who came charmed by the lure of the jewel mines.
He figured this pile of items was formed as the ironsnake gagged up what it couldn’t digest after eating its prey, seeing as how the items had been corroded. Thinking about that made even touching them seem creepy and horrible, but even so he started searching through them for the sake of the legacy.
The room was filled with the sound of corroded items falling onto the ground.
“Holy moly. Just how many did it eat?”
The pile of weapons was as tall as him, with all different shapes and kinds. It was easy to tell that they were from different eras seeing the decorations and shapes. Putting those aside, he thought ironsnakes might live longer than he thought.
He got to the bottom of the pile, but didnt find anything he wanted. Though he found some useful items, there was nothing like the legacy of the legendary throwing knife master.
‘There are some sc.r.a.p metals I can sell, magic staffs that might work after being repaired, and some magic bracelets. Is this all?’
Disappointed, Haroon stood up. But just when he moved a step, he felt the ground sinking down slightly. That was where the pile of sc.r.a.ps were. Haroon inspected the ground.
He realized it wasn’t the rock he was stepping on.
“This is the skin of another ironsnake!”
He was standing on the skin of an ironsnake, and it was flat as if someone folded it. An ironsnake, coiled, buried in the ground as a whole from head to tail, not even missing a single fang.
He guessed that the ironsnake he killed took over the place from this ironsnake, then threw up indigestible items over the corpse. As the time pa.s.ses the flesh would have rotted, and the weight of the items must have compressed the skin down.
Haroon held up the head part. He expected it to be heavy, but he could easily lift the head part up high, and other parts without much difficulty. He thought of how the bone sword was lighter than the steel sword, then it all made sense.
He unfolded the skin, and he could hear its bones breaking. The skin and the bones had not lost their original shape yet. Could the legacy be in the skin? He wondered. Thinking of a way to separate the bones and the skin, he decided to spin it around high up in the air, holding the end of its tail.
The fangs fell out as he lifted it up. He spun it a few times, and the bones and a few other things shot out, starting with the jaw bones.
After making sure nothing was left under the skin, he started checking the things that were shot out. There were two things that drew Haroon’s attention. One was a metal plate that glowed, and another one was a short sword.
‘Could it be the legacy of the legendary throwing knife master?’
But his hands stopped in the middle of reaching for the sword. It was probably the legacy he was looking for, but he found the metal plate more intriguing. It was about ten centimeter long and thirty centimeter wide.
He couldnt tell what metal it was made out of. There was a symbol that looked like a sun, and some round pattern that surrounds the sun, and there was a hand shaped engraving next to it.
Looking at it for a moment, Haroon matched his hand to the engraving.
A lightning was shot from the metal plate and shocked his body. Haroon let out a faint scream.
His view suddenly became unclear. His eyes kept closing, and he lost control of his body, collapsing on the floor. Soon, a voice was heard inside his head.
[You have acquired a Knowledge Fragment]
Knowledge Fragment
Cla.s.s: Mystery
A tellion metal plate with the knowledge of The Ra Empire. This metal plate was made in the golden age of The Ra Empire, by the royal family for the upcoming ruler of the Empire. It transfers knowledge directly to the activator. There are seven metal plates made, and each one gives different pieces of knowledge and wisdom about The Ra Empire, the Empire that ended the Chaotic Age that lasted several millenniums and united the continent.
Cost: 100 Mana & 200 S.P.
[Would you like to learn the knowledge from the fragment?]
Haroon couldn’t move his body, but tried his best to nod. Of course, his body didn’t move an inch, but an image began playing in his head.
There was a man standing.
He focused on the image wondering if he was the legendary throwing knife master, but the face was indistinguishable. Soon, something was being removed off of the image, possibly armor or clothes. And the inside was revealed.
‘That must be the internal part of the body!’ Haroon exclaimed.
Surprisingly, the image was displaying the inside of the body. He could see only the bones. While looking at it, an explanation was heard in his head.
A human usually has 206 bones, but it depends on age and race how they are arranged. Excluding these, there are the auditory ossicles (three in left and three in right) in the middle ear as well as sesamoid bones that forms in tendons or ligaments. Bones are cla.s.sified by their shape, into groups such as: long bones, short bones, flat bones, pneumatic bones, etc.
Pneumatic bones have one or more lacuna that contains air, like the upper jaw or leg bones. Long bones have an empty framework in the middle, and it thickens at the end and becomes epiphysis. As the framework and epiphysis develops separately, oval shaped cartilage separates them and forms epiphyseal lines. As the human grows the framework and epiphysis interjoin to become one.
Epiphyseal lines can be observed during a child’s development. Most bones originally forms as cartilages inside the connective tissues, and this later gets subst.i.tuted by bony tissue, and some bones are directly made by connective tissue. Epiphysis have joint facets on the side that touche neighboring bones, and are covered with articular cartilage.
The surface of bones have a compact substance or bony tissue named cortex, and these compact substances releases thin bone plates that form sponge structures. This sponge structure is especially developed on epiphysis, and it has the special property of forming a uniformed pattern.
The lacuna in some bones is called the medullary s.p.a.ce or marrow s.p.a.ce, and are connected to spongious structures connected by scrobiculus, and they are filled with marrow. Marrow which is actively making blood shows a red color, so is called red marrow. This is usually in some epiphysis, short bones, and spongious part of flat bones. However, it can be found in every bone during child development. The framework of grown adults contain yellow marrow, which is rich in fat, and its distribution increases as one gets older.
Both bony tissues, spongy or compact, are overlapped with bone plates. Especially the compact substances which have several layers of bone lamellae(haversian lamellae), concentrically overlapped in different directions, with each layer having haversian ca.n.a.l where blood flows.
There is another layer between the haversian lamellae called ground lamellae. Bony cells are arranged between the layers. There is periost on the surface of the bones which have a solid mixed texture. Nerves and blood vessels are spread over it to protect the bones and carry nutrients. If the periost is removed, the bone cannot survive, be made, or regrow.
It was detailed information about the bones. It was written with complicated vocabulary, but mostly understandable.
As the explanation ended, a new image was shown following with a detailed explanation of each part of the body.
Hand bones are twinned, consisted with 27 pairs of bones. These bones are small to allow exquisite and free movements. The gripping movements are made by radius, ulna, carpal bone and.
The explanation once again came highly detailed so he could understand properly, and with images it told him how each bones works and coordinates to make movements.
When the explanation about the bones ended, muscles started growing on the image of the man. And was followed by an explanation about the muscles.
Muscles can be separated into three kinds depending on the structure and their function: The skeletal muscles that are connected between bones under the skin of hands, feet, chest, stomach, etc., the cardiac muscles that forms the wall of the heart and the visceral muscle that forms the wall of stomach, bladder, womb, etc.
The word ‘flesh’ and ‘muscle’ usually refers to skeletal muscles. Skeletal muscles are also called striped muscles, and they are voluntary, meaning one can control them at will. The heart muscles also are striped muscles, but they’re involuntary. Visceral muscles are called smooth muscles, and are also involuntary.
It was followed by zoomed moving images of muscles by parts, and how they function. Through these images, he could learn how the muscles move during different actions.
It was blood after the muscles. He could see in great details how the blood flows inside the body.
Blood refers to a liquid substance that flows in blood vessels, and is largely cla.s.sified as cells and plasma. There are three type of cells: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Plasma is mostly water, blood coagulation factors and electrolytes that are essential for life conservation.
Bloods main function is transporting substances: bringing oxygen from the lungs and nutrition from the digestive system to the entire body as well as removing carbon dioxide and waste from cells and bringing it to the excretion systems. It also carries heat away from heat producing parts like skeletal muscles and liver, equalizing heat distribution to entire body. With lymph, it also contributes to the immune system.
A human has four to six liters of blood, and this is about 8% of a body’s ma.s.s. The amount of blood circulating in the body is automatically controlled even when one drinks water or spills some blood through wounds. When large amount of water is consumed, water is excreted from the blood to the skin or bladder.
It was followed by explanation on how much pressure the water flows with when making actions, how it interacts with muscles and how blood flows inside the bones.
The next part was about mana.
On the image of the body, twelve main path and 365 acupoints appeared and flickered. It started explaining at the same time.
Mana is the origin of energy in the universe and everything else. It exists as a concept and sometimes materialized. For example, the flow of mana might not be observed with the eyes, but it can be solidified, and even weighed.
Experiments on containing and acc.u.mulating the energy of the universe inside the human body was started in many ancient civilizations. The study of mana was made philosophically, scientifically, and physically through many civilizations over tens of thousands of years. Rune, also known as G.o.ds Language which is a language where the sounds have the power to actualize their purpose. It is recorded that there are 365 different syllables, but only a few could be recovered, such as hoom, chee, etc. were discovered as a method to realize mana, later named ‘Magic.’
Soon after the discovery of magic, it was found that swordsmen who went through enough trainings acc.u.mulates mana naturally and methods were found to willingly control it to manifest on blades or body parts. As people realized how effective using mana on a blade was, some masters started studying how they could artificially acc.u.mulate mana like magicians.
It’s a common view that divine power, also known as G.o.d’s might or G.o.d’s will, is also a type of Mana and.
The lesson about mana was exceptionally long, and it contained a lot of information.
Haroon didn’t understand most of it, but he was still able to grasp the concept of mana, though it was probably because mana was not something he could observe with his eyes unlike bones, muscles, or blood.
Then it started explaining about about each and every one of the twelve paths and 365 mana stations (also known as blood islands or meridian points.) The biggest points were located right below the tailbone, and deep inside of the lower gut. They were almost next to each other.
According to explanation, these two points are one but can be separated, and the location might vary depending on the individual. It is called the Mana Ocean, where the mana is stored a.s.sumably as liquid or gas.
‘So circulating the mana along the different paths changes its properties, huh.
The tablet was saying so: Mana pa.s.sing through specific points in specific orders produce different outcomes. If only it would tell him the specific details, named Mana Flow. But there was no further explanation.
Anything about mana was about theoretical concepts, nothing practical. It didnt even mention how to acc.u.mulate mana in the body. The lesson about mana ended before all his expectations were met.
The subject was then continued to thinking process. The lesson that defined ‘thinking’ as the product of neural substances’ activity that takes place in the brain was continued to lessons about meditation. Through large amount of explanation of different methods of meditation and their effects, Haroon felt the need of meditation.
An interesting part of the lesson about thinking process was organ memory. It was claiming that the memory is not only stored in the brain but some part of it is shared with organ cells such as the heart, stomach, or liver.
The long, long lesson was finally over.
When the image vanished before his eyes, he felt rather sad and empty. It came as thirst, the thirst for more, better, deeper knowledge. It tortured him for a while.
Soon, he shook it off recalling how he got up to this point from almost being nothing. Renewing his determination, he clenched his fists.
‘Ive got a new goal,’ he thought.
On top of the goals he had, Gaining physical and mental strength and finding the legacy of the legendary throwing knife master he set a new goal of obtaining the artifacts of the ancient civilization. The joy and satisfaction of gaining knowledge could easily be comparable to the joy of gaining physical strength. Moreover, it motivated him to move forward in the journey of knowledge that n.o.body has seen the end of.
Even with a quick thought, he could see how learning things like this would benefit him. Fully understanding the structures of bones and muscles would allow him to know which movements he need to make to maximize their effectiveness. The knowledge about mana would enable him step up and become an Expert sword user. Though he hadn’t learn any new manflow, he was satisfied with the mana circulation that he naturally learned. Through more studies and meditations, he might even make a new manflow.
‘And this is only the first fragment? I wonder how good the last fragment is.”
Just thinking about it made his heart race.
The excitement lingered in his head for a long time. Listening to it once allowed him to grasp the ideas of the information introduced to him, but that wasn’t enough. He had to listen to it several times to make it his own knowledge.
Then he looked back at the sword.
It was about sixty centimeter long. It was too long to be a dagger, too short to be a longsword. The blade was thin and double-edged, and the center was carved in so that blood would easily flow off of it
It was hard to tell what kind of weapon it was, but when he grabbed it he realized that the center of ma.s.s was near the tip of the blade, meaning it was a sort of throwing knife. He swept the dust off the rusted surface, then found a small symbol engraved on it.
You, you are the one who will protect me day and night. Anyone who opposes me, betrays me, insults me will pay for it.
A voice was heard inside his head, just by looking at the symbol that hed never seen before. This is a big deal, he thought. There was a high chance that it could be a legacy of the legendary throwing knife master.
“Item info!”
Kindjal of Twilight
Cla.s.s: Not Revealed
Lore: Not Revealed
Additional stats: Not Revealed
“What? ‘Not Revealed’? What is this even?”
He couldnt tell why nothing was revealed at all. He closed and opened the item info several times, but nothing changed. There was something special about it for sure. Maybe his level wasn’t high enough to see its information.
[You have acquired ‘Kindjal of Twilight’, one of the four weapons of the legendary throwing knife master. Kindjal of Twilight has a recorded skill. 100 S.P. is required to learn this skill. Would you like to learn the skill?]
Haroon excitedly nodded. It was something he was longing for.
Without a sound, a moving image appeared before his eyes. It was showing the inside of a man’s upper body. It was showing a track of mana that starts from the mana ocean and ends at the tips of his fingers. When enough time has pa.s.sed for him to remember the track, the image was zoomed to the mana ocean, moving on to each acupoints that the track pa.s.ses.
Unwound mana started moving through highlighted acupoints. He tried to remember the acupoints as if he was charmed, but then he noticed something.
‘Strange. That isn’t the shortest path.’
The track it was taking was far from being the shortest path. He found it odd that it pa.s.sed through acupoints near the heart. If it was to head to the fingertips, there were many acupoints that would shorten the path.
‘Oh! This must be a manflow!
The knowledge fragment once mentioned that not all mana pa.s.ses through all acupoints, but mana gains properties depending on the acupoints it pa.s.ses and its order. This was a mana flow that the legendary throwing knife master used to use mana with special properties.
Just when he was about to take a rest after memorizing the acupoints, the demonstration begun on the image.
The flow of mana began from the mana ocean, pa.s.sed through a rather complicated path and reached the fingertips, being imbued into the dagger that the man was holding. The dagger was glowing brightly, and was powerfully thrown by perfectly combining the power of the shoulder, arm, wrist and their muscles.
The dagger flew, riding the air like a fish swimming through water, and hit its target.
‘How is that even possible?’
There was nothing strange other than its trajectory was not linear. It flew with a curved trajectory.
The man in the image threw daggers consecutively. They all shot in different directions, and flew with different trajectories, but they all hit the target. One that shot directly towards the target seemed to have barely missed, but flew back and hit the target.
Curve Pitch (Pa.s.sive)
Level: Mid-expert
Using mana with bending properties and sound-absorbing property, Curve Pitch allows the user to throw throwing weapons silently with curving trajectories. The effect depends on throwing motion, throwing power, and how well the user can control their mana.
Mana: 150 per shot
Requires 100 S.P. to learn
Haroon cheered joyfully. No a.s.sa.s.sination skill would top Curve Pitch if he learned it properly. Even Expert sword users wouldnt be able to easily dodge throwing weapons that attacked crucial points after sliding off the ground or dropping from the sky. There was mana imbued to it, so its effectiveness was incomparable to knives that were thrown with physical strength alone.
Before learning this skill, he was able to create a similar effect utilizing Brat, but this skill consumed way less mana. Moreover, this didn’t cost any elemental force points nor antidotes.
The learning S.P. cost was high due to its rarity but he had enough points spare to invest as he’d acc.u.mulated quite a few in the Huk’ran mountains while slaying countless monsters.
Haroon spent three whole days and night in that one spot.
He studied from the metal plate named Knowledge Fragment and trained Curve Pitch that he’d learned from Kindjal of Twilight.
Before leaving the cave, Haroon looked at the small circle he drew on one side of the wall. The mana that was unwound from the mana ocean gathered at his fingertips, following the familiar path they had been taking.
His hand created afterimages as if it had separated into 5 hands.
As if he threw all five daggers at once, they all flew to the circle at the same time. They were silent, but they were flying in different trajectories. The blades were subtly glowing with blue light.
Haroon clenched his fists with joy. He already knew the throwing knives would hit the target the moment he threw them.
The knives all hit the inside of the small circle with small intervals between them. He checked the skill window to find hed mastered level 1 of Curve Pitch. He wanted to train more, but he had to stop there for now. He was running low on food, and he needed to go to his guild members waiting and training with the Hukran Knights.
He had no reason to stay in the cave any longer.
Haroon took anything useful from the pile of items and put them into the subs.p.a.ce. He also put the other ironsnakes’ skin into the subs.p.a.ce.
“Is that all?”
He looked around the cave, and looked at the glowing stones.
‘This would be useful in the dark.’
Using some old weapons, Haroon cut out some glowing stones that stuck out of the wall. After that, there was pretty much nothing other than junks in the cave.
It was the place he acquired a dagger of the legendary throwing knife master and learnt his skill. The value of the things that he learned from the Knowledge Fragment was incomparable to anything. It was hard for him to leave this place, but it was now time for him to go. Another ironsnake would take the place.
It was early in the morning when Haroon got to the surface. The eastern summits of Huk’ran mountains were bright.
‘About two days, I a.s.sume?’
It was hard to tell the flow of time in the cave. He thought two days but he had no idea how much time had actually pa.s.sed. He slept when he was sleepy, and he ate when he was hungry. He spent rest of the time studying and training. It could have been exhausting, but Haroon wasnt tired. He felt lucky, and his joy relieved all the stress that built up.
‘I should train Messenger Walking on the way out of these mineral lands,’ he thought.
He wanted to stay as long as possible as he’d experienced how dense the mana was. Making up his mind, he started walking toward the daylight that was drawing back the curtain of darkness.
But the walking didnt last ten minutes. He heard hissing sounds. It was ironsnakes, not one but two.
‘Huh? They were not showing up for days, what is it going on now?’
He lowered his body and approached where the sound came from. He found a dead deer the size of a cow, and two ironsnakes contesting over it.
They were both coiled up about five meters apart, and hissing at each other only sticking their heads out. Unlike the forty-meter-long one he luckily killed, these ironsnakes were no longer than five meters. They only had one horn on their heads, and their tails had about a fist sized lump (which made him think they could be boa snakelets but he couldnt be sure.)
He realized they had different colored skins. One had dark red colors like the mountain and the one he killed, and the other one had light brown colors like the neighboring mountain.
‘Do their skin color vary depending on their habitat?’
It was probable. He a.s.sumed that was because of the ores they consumed to harden their skin, but also thought they could simply be different species.
He also noticed that the hissing sound was slightly different as well. Sticking out their forked tongues to read the opponents’ information mixed in the air, their yellow eyes were glowing with the rising sunlight looking for a chance to attack.
Their attack were made at almost the same time. As the contest continued, they became more sensitive to each others movements. They raised their heads about a meter, then launched themselves at the same time to bite each others’ neck.
The size, speed, and reaction time was almost the same. They both had no intentions of dodging the attack, so once they bite the neck, they didn’t let go and tried to coil around the other. Their skin made strange sounds as the scales rubbed.
Soon they released venom from their fangs. It seemed they succeeded in piercing the scales. Haroon could see venom flowing down the outside of the fangs, s.h.i.+ning under the morning sunlight.
It would be normal for beasts to fall back when they realized it’s a fair fight, but these two were trying to finish the fight in one go. While envenomating each other they tightened their coils, and now they seemed like they were one big ball of snakes.
But as more time pa.s.sed, it seemed the venom started working. He could see their movements were beginning to weaken.
‘Wait! This is a good chance!’
He was having fun watching this interesting fight, then he realized it was a good chance to defeat both of them. He drew the bone sword as he ran at the ball of snakes. The blade made a sound as it was drawn from the scabbard.
But the snakes didnt even notice him because of the venom effecting them. As if the venom affected the nervous system, their movements were very slow.
Watching them up close might have given him a better idea of where he could attack with his sword, but he felt like he had no time for it. He feared hesitating any longer, recalling how he’d almost been eaten by one of them.
“AHH! f.u.c.k it!”
Haroon looked for the mouth which would be wide open biting its enemy. There was no gap between the mouth and its opponents’ body but Haroon shoved his sword in between them.
The one that got hit by the sword quivered, feeling the pain. By now he was able to easily guide the mana into his sword, and bone sword itself was sharp so it wasn’t hard for him to cut the soft mouth. Putting more strength into the sword Haroon could feel it cutting deeper. Knowing he could kill it, he put all his strength into the sword to stab even deeper.
‘It’s going in, it’s going in!’ he thought.
But then it was stopped by something solid. He’d probably hit the bone or the outer skin.
Biting his lip, he drew back the sword and changed direction to stab it once more.
After several stabs it’s mouth was covered in blood, all messed up by the blade. He’d still managed to shove the sword into its brain.
Its yellow eyes were losing the light of life. It was still moving, uncoiling slowly, but that must be because of the closed nervous system reptiles have. It needed more time to stop moving.
He gained confidence after killing one, and turned toward the other. It sensed the danger and tried to escape by uncoiling then pulling back its fangs. But that couldn’t be done. It too was slowed by the venom.
Haroon knew what he was doing this time. With a single stab he penetrated the palate and its brain. As he moved his wrist a few times, its movements gradually slowed, and the signs of life faded from its eyes.
The U.I. sound that alerts the end of a battle was heard after he wiped the blood off the blade with a piece of cloth and put it back into the scabbard.
[You have leveled up 2 times]
[You have gained 40 S.P.]
He didnt get an item this time but easily gained 2 levels. But compared to the ironsnake he experienced, these two were weak.
‘Did they give me less E.X.P. because they are younger ones?’ he questioned.
With another sudden question, he firmly grabbed the sword. A thin layer of mana covered the blade.
The blade that was swung at full power struck down onto the head of a dead ironsnake. With a flesh cutting sound, the blade cut open its skin.
He succeeded. The bones still blocked the blade but at least he could cut the skin. This meant he could deal with ironsnakes of this size.
With manimbued blades, he was confident fighting with the ironsnakes. On top of that he was able to summon his elemental spirits.
‘I knew it! These are not fully grown.’
He would have completed the quest much easier if he’d encountered young ironsnakes like those two. He s.h.i.+vered recalling the horrible event he went through.
Haroon opened his stat window and invested two points each into Wisdom and Intelligence, realizing the importance of them. He proudly looked at the window
Name: Haroon
Race: Human
Cla.s.s: Swordsman
Level: 57
t.i.tle: Ironsnake slayer (and 7 others)
H.P.: 2,230
M.P.: 2,320
E.F.P.: 740
Strength: 82(+15) Stamina: 80(+10)
Intellect: 42 Wisdom: 66
Luck: 44 Agility: 76(+15)
Endurance: 34 E.S.P.: 21
Focus: 31 Will: 2
S.P.: 188 Fame: 1,880
Leaders.h.i.+p: 565
Physical defence: 200
Magic resistance: 100
Remaining bonus stat: 0
The joy of checking the stat window never got old for him.
His level was at 57. He’d gained seven level just from killing three ironsnakes. Training in the ironsnake’s den while losing track of time brought him 5 additional points in both Wisdom and Intelligent, as well as a point to Focus.
‘I really wonder what the official level of these monsters is,’ he thought.
Of course, there might be info about the ironsnakes that live in the other places if he asked Bell to look it up, but he knew Huk’ran ironsnakes were much tougher.
Haroon opened the subs.p.a.ce to put in the ironsnakes.
“Store in subs.p.a.ce!”
He was worried that it might not fit as there wasn’t much s.p.a.ce, but there was room for one at least.
He decided to put the other one in the enchanted magic bag. He would show that to old man Kaltz. As soon as he put the dead body in the bag, a U.I. sound alerted him.
[You are poisoned! You are receiving 70 damages per second]
“Holy s.h.i.+t! This is even stronger than Brat’s poison!” He yelled.
Then He felt something wet on his hands. He must have cut the venom sac as he slashes the first one, and then the venom must have leaked out and he touched it as he put it in the magic bag.
He sure was careful, not even breathing just in case. But still got poisoned after all.
Haroon quickly took out the antidote from the inventory, the one that old man Kaltz gave him. He was worried that it might not work as the venom was so poisonous. Fortunately, it worked as it had only touched his skin and he was fast enough.
Haroon quickly looked up at the sky that was just starting to get bright, then started moving to find a place to rest. He didn’t feel the need to sleep but he needed to keep his body in peak condition to prepare for anything that could happen in the Huk’ran mountains.
As he moved, he saw many boulders on the ground. They were just boulders before he met the ironsnakes, but now he saw them differently.
He randomly selected a few boulders and inspected the ground near them. Some of them had signs that they had been moved. It meant there was a den under the boulder.
‘So there are ironsnakes all over this place, but how many? s.h.i.+t.’
It was disgusting just to think about it. n.o.body knew how many ironsnakes were there, under the mineral lands where the plants don’t grow, lacking a proper dirt layer. Just counting the boulders he checked, two or three boulders out of ten had signs that they were moved.
‘Let’s get back to the real world for now and see if there’s anything about the ironsnakes.’
Haroon sat down under the boulder that he’d double-checked hadn’t been moved before, and then set it as a safe zone.
Translated by Channy_
Edited by Kmatt
Editor’s notes:
Channy: Welcome to Manaology 101 Theoretical concepts!
Kmatt: Geesh that wasn’t fun, it’s been at least 13 years since I last did biology stuff, if it’s not all perfect someone else can point it out in comments >,
