Chapter 1: The Duke's breakthrough
In the middle of the night, in an abandoned cave in the mountains, a young man was sitting on the floor in a lotus position.
The darkness from the cave made it hard to see the man's face, but some details could still be seen. The young man had peculiar dark hair, while his skin was smooth and white. His upper body was bare from any clothing, exposing his chiseled muscles for all to see.
Although it was hard to make out his appearance, you would still be able to tell that he was an incredibly charming man.
Sitting still on the ground, the man seemed to be meditating. The only thing that could be heard was the man's concentrated breathing, as the man didn't seem to move a muscle.
If you looked closely, you would see the air surrounding the man visibly quake. The air was vibrating in tact with the man, quivering with his every breath. It was as if the man enveloped in a pulsating, making the scene look even stranger.
Surrounding the man was a blue mist, made up of Magical energy. It was being exuded from the man's body before gently floating in the air. The scene looked magical, almost fantasy-ish for most.
While the mist continued being exuded, the amount slowly coalesced and increased in density. The higher density gradually made the surroundings light up in a gentle azure blue light. As the light continued to grow stronger, the darkness began to disappear, finally revealing the mysterious man's identity.
This man was Kyle Luderia, the young duke of the Luderia duchy in the Kairo Kingdom. A man of great renown in the Kingdom as of it's most powerful figures.
But this isn't the time to talk about that... Kyle was currently in an important breakthrough.
Sensing that it was time, Kyle prepared to proceed with the final step. Opening his eyes and exposing two deep crimson red eyes, Kyle proceeded with his breakthrough.
Drawing one final deep breath, Kyle begins to attract all the magical energy in his surroundings, drawing it inside his body, slowly circulating it around his heart.
*Ba-dump-*
*Ba-dump-*
Kyle's heart rate quickly increased with the addition of the surrounding mana.
*ba-dump-!* *Ba-dump-!* *Ba-dump-!*
Slowly increasing the velocity of the mana, the mana in his body seemed to rage on, sending shock-waves into the surroundings.
The quiet atmosphere from before was no more, as the air begins to violently quake from the undulations of Kyle's beating heart.
*Crack*
As if a testimony to the great vibrations in the air, even the hard stone exterior of the walls started to crack from pure pressure alone.
*Crack* *Crack* *Creak*
The cracks continued to form, running along the walls -making small spiderwebs all over. The previous smooth walls were showing cracks all over, turning the scene into pure pandemonium.
Not caring for the changes in his surroundings, Kyle grits his teeth in determination and prepared for the next step. Having come this far, he knew there was no going back.
Sharpening his focus to its extreme, Kyle focused on the mana in his body.
Suddenly, all the mana circulating his heart starts slows down, forming small groups. The previous raging mana was as calm as a lake. Little by little, the mana takes form of needles, pushing into his heart like puncturing a balloon. As the needles puncture the heart, the mana begins to squeeze its way inside of it. Of course, some things are easier said then done...
"ArghhhHHHHHH!!!"
A bloodcurdling scream seemed to escape him. He couldn't help it, as it was obviously the most heart-shaking pain he had ever experienced.
Feeling his heart being crushed ever so slowly while still conscious was really hard. Anyone having such a drastic transformation done to their body would be bound to experience unimaginable pain.
Still, he didn't give up. Directing the mana inside him once more, Kyle gave the needles formed from mana its final order.
The needles surrounding his heart suddenly
As the transformation went underway, Kyle could feel himself becoming more and more exhausted.
Slowly, Kyle's could feel his eyelids beginning to fall, as his consciousness slips away...
<At the same time, in a village close by.>
The name of the village was Greenhorn village. The village was just your normal run of the mill town with wooden and stone buildings. Surrounding the village was a small stonewall, made to protect it from the wildlife.
The day was already over, and the only thing that could be heard in the night was the silent sound of the wind blowing through he trees. If you looked closely, you would see a few guards patrolling the wall. It was a normal night by any standards.
"ArghhhhHHHHH!"
Suddenly, a tremendous bloodcurdling scream could be heard coming from the mountains surrounding the village. The villagers were obviously startled awake. Everyone could feel an incredible pressure bearing down on them, as if a gigantic beast was looking right at them.
Both elderly and young walked out on the street in terror and confusion. The village's warriors was dispatched to the city-wall. Spiked fences was raised all around the city. Everyone wore pensive expressions, wondering if some demonic beast would come to attack their village. Unfortunately, no one would ever know, as nothing else happened that night, and the story would later on become nothing more than some folk-tale about a great mountain deity.
<<Back at the cave>>
The immense pressure from the breakthrough had finally seemed to calm down. A bunch of cracks and debris was littering the entire floor. making it completely unrecognizable. In the middle of the cave was Kyle.
Laying sprawled upon the ground, unaware of all the trouble he had caused, was Kyle. His breath was labored as he was gasping for air. His clothes was soaked with sweat as well as other waste materials that was expelled from his body. People who didn't know him would think that he was a homeless person, judging from his rowdy hair and the terrible smell he exuded. He was truly in a pitiful state right now.
*Badum-*
*Badum-*
Luckily, his heart seemed to be fine. It seemed to be operating well and was still providing for the blood circulation in his body, as if nothing had happened at all.
What Kyle had just done was achieving something worthy of being written down in history. He had made a breakthrough and become a 9-star magician!
To better understand just how amazing that is, one would first need to know more about this world. This was a world called Edelgard. It was a world of magic and swords. In this world, people are able to gather and cultivate mana from the vast magical energy present in the atmosphere to realize wonders often considered impossible by the common masses. Of course, since people could become stronger the more they cultivated magical energy, there obviously existed different realms depicting to a person's strength.
The realms-chart was usually divided in two, one for magician, and one for warriors. The magician-chart ranged from 1-star all the way up til the mythical 9-star level. The warrior-chart also worked in the same way.
Of course, everyone could be both a magician and a warrior at the same time because both professions utilized the mana present in the mana-core in their bodies. It was just highly unusual because people would then need to divert their time to train in both fields.
That however was exactly what Kyle did, and he even achieved 9-star! A mythical level unimaginable for anyone! He could truly be considered a demigod amongst the living right now, and he was just barely 24 years old!!
Since the day he was born, Kyle had always been a prodigy in the control over magical energy. He was proclaimed as a genius at the mere age was 3, already possessing a 2-star mana-core from his inborn natural absorption rate alone! One should know that the majority didn't even have the chance to reach 2-star in their lives! This just goes to show how terrifying Kyle's talent was.
"Holyshi-!"
Such a legendary figure, however, was now grumbling over some pain...
"Why did it have to hurt so much!?"
Grumbling to himself and cursing at no-one specific, Kyle couldn't help but scratch his chest a little from the aching pain.
One should know that Kyle possessed an excellent resistance towards pain, but even he was horrified from that experience. Though, he can't really be blamed. Feeling your heart being pierced with countless small needles formed from a highly volatile energy, as well as restructuring the organs bodily function really wasn't anything to speak of.
Shifting around on the ground, Kyle finally managed to stand up straight again.
Clearing his his head for any unnecessary thoughts, Kyle began scanning his body, especially focusing on his new mana-heart.
One should note that each advancement in a realm granted the practitioner more power and mana compared to the lower stages, as well as other certain perks. The 9-star rank however, was truly something else. Normally, the body's heart served as a human's mana-core, or a mana-storage if you will. A practitioner needed to gather mana from the surroundings to make up for the mana spent. With Kyle's new advancement however, Kyle could feel his mana replenishing by itself. His heart was producing mana!! As long as Kyle didn't use more mana than his heart could produce, he would have INFINITE MANA!!
This was truly a legendary perk worthy of the 9-star realm.
Satisfied by the results from his breakthrough, Kyle finally decided to stand up from the ground.
*Crack!* *Crack!* *Crack!* *Crack* *Crack*....
Cracking sounds could be heard coming from all of his joints.
'Huh, 2 weeks of meditation doing nothing more than sitting really gets to you...'
Pondering such thoughts, Kyle awkwardly made his way towards the exit of the cave. Walking after such a long period of inactivity was quite hard, even for someone like him.
By following the corridor he came in previously, it didn't take long before he found the exit. Exiting the cave, Kyle could finally smell the fresh motherly scent of nature.
The cave was located at the top of a mountain, giving him a good view of the surrounding area. If one looked below, one could see a village in the distance. The night sky was beautiful and clear, filled with stars shining like gems in the darkness. Feeling a little emotional from the fresh air, Kyle couldn't help but put a smile on his face. It was an innocent smile that appeared after realizing his worries for a while. Though, it didn't take long before his face scrunched up a bit.
'I really need a shower though... Being stuck in a cave for over 2 weeks really isn't as easy as one would think.'
Being inside of a cave for extended periods of time showed more problems than one would normally think. Well, for a being at Kyle's realm, food wasn't really a concern anymore unless it was for a extended period of time. He could supplement his body with the energy of mana, only having to eat every now and then.
No, what proved to be the biggest problem was the smell. Oh the smell! Not being able to go out for so long, it wasn't that strange for him to start to smell. His clothes was also in tatters from his breakthrough from earlier, having multiple holes and rifts here and there. The ragged clothes made him look like a beggar, a complete contradiction from his usual regal and charming self.
'I can't go home like this. That old butler Bertram would seriously kill me if he saw me in this state... Should I go to a village nearby to clean myself?... Maybe a river?...'
Pondering his options for a bit, Kyle then takes a look at the village below. That's when he discovered something odd.
Normally, a village would be mostly quiet and dark at this time of the night, but this one seemed quite lively. Looking over the place, Kyle could see multiple lanterns and torches moving around, lighting up the entire village.
'A festival?'
That was the only idea popping into his head while watching the village. What Kyle was actually watching, was the scared people of the village while they were inspecting the village for unknown intruders and monsters. The towns people were quite frantic because of the strong aura from earlier.
'Whatever. At least I will be able to get some new clothes there...'
Unknowing of the troubles he had caused the village, Kyle laid out into the night.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Cale5Jubilife
Cale5Jubilife Thank you for the read~!
I am constantly editing this chapter! I just can't seem to be happy about the end-result, hence all the editing, but I will keep the main moments the same!
If you find any mistakes, please comment on it. I would really like some pointers on how to improve my grammar and writing skills. The earlier the better~! I may increase or decrease the time between each release in the future, but I will try to release one chapter a month for the time being.
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