Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 11

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I frowned, pushing her fist away.

Eighth.

Even in my past life, the Eighth never really liked me.

When we were young, she was wary of me because I drew a better sword than her at the Iron Lineage Ceremony, and after my constitution became problematic, she completely ignored me.

‘Still, she was better than the other brothers who openly bullied me….’

She had a tomboyish side, but like a child chosen by the Sacred Sword, her nature was kind.

‘Why is she suddenly like this?’

She often picked fights with me since she was younger, but it was just cute teasing like a child. She had never attacked me so suddenly like this before.

“Watch your mouth! I’m a direct descendant, and you’re a bastard! And I’m a year older than you!”

“A year? It’s just a few months difference.”

I clicked my tongue and ignored her anger, trying to move on.

No, that was the moment I tried to move.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me! I’m not finished talking!”

The air rippled for a moment.

An attack coming at my back much faster than her earlier punch.

‘She’s even using mana?’

It was on a different level than just throwing a punch. Even a child’s fist was as good as a weapon the moment mana was infused into it.

The thought of just letting it go disappeared.

Whoosh-!

I lightly twisted my body to avoid the punch.

The wind that brushed past was quite sharp, but it didn’t hit me, so it was fine.

I reached out and grabbed her by the collar, pulling her close to my face.

“……!”

Hwa looked tense.

But I didn’t care and spoke fiercely, filled with momentum.

“If you’re going to whine, go do it to your mother. I’m busy, so don’t bother me.”

Flinch!

Hwa flinched like a frightened puppy.

Even though she could easily break free with her strength, she couldn’t resist and was frozen in fear.

‘Well, she’s been raised so preciously that she’s never heard such harsh treatment before.’

I felt drained and released Hwa’s collar.

‘What am I doing to a kid?’

Even though she was a direct descendant, she was still just a ten-year-old.

Hwa, trembling, shouted in a spiteful voice.

“I, it’s all because of you!”

“What?”

“You, you caused that incident at the Iron Lineage Ceremony… I’m always being compared to you by people, and I always get scolded by my mother! Why are you doing this even in training! Don’t act up just because you’re a bastard! Just stay quiet! You idiot! Moron! It’s your fault!”

‘What?’

The moment I heard those words that sounded like a tantrum, I felt dazed.

“It’s unfair! I can’t sleep every day, I can’t eat snacks, and I only train, but you were born with such great talent…! I didn’t want to either, but Mother… Hah!”

Hwa quickly covered her mouth and started to read my expression.

…I feel deflated.

I sighed deeply.

It was pathetic.

The Hwa in my memory was a strong swordswoman who wasn’t afraid even among dozens of large monsters and endured their attacks with her body.

But seeing her now, she was no different from a child of that age.

‘Well, she’s only ten years old. Besides, the Eighth’s nanny was famous for being gentle.’

I looked at Hwa.

Hwa trembled for a moment at my gaze, but she started glaring at me with a face that said she wouldn’t back down.

“I envy you.”

“What did you say?”

“It must be nice to blame others. Blaming your siblings, blaming your mom, blaming your talent. As you said, I’m a bastard, so blaming others is a luxury.”

“……”

Hwa pursed her lips.

Even if she was young, she was still a child of the Soongmoo Lee Clan. She was definitely a prodigy. She must have understood what I meant.

“If you’re a descendant of the Lee Clan, don’t waste time on this nonsense and swing your sword one more time in the training ground. You can’t sleep? Then don’t sleep. If you can’t catch up even without snacks, then don’t eat.”

I glared at Hwa.

The Eighth, who was a little taller than me thanks to eating good food and growing up in a good environment. But for some reason, she felt much smaller than me.

“Who are you to tell me what to do! What do you even know!”

“Because I’m also a Soongmoo Lee. If you were going to defeat me, you should have gone all the way. If you didn’t want to compete, you should have ambushed me and broken one of my bones.”

“Wh, what are you saying…!”

“Do it right. You can do it, right?”

Hwa’s expression turned blank.

“If you resent me, use any means to defeat me. And get an apology. That’s the way of the Soongmoo Lee I know.”

I turned my head and walked away.

Then, I heard her shouting again from behind.

“Al, alright! I’ll get a bigger result than you in the Naming Ceremony and crush you! I’ll make you call me ‘Noona’ [older sister] and beg for forgiveness!”

I chuckled at those words and shook my head.

* * *

The results of the Naming Ceremony’s group training are sent to each child’s guardian every week via official document.

The nanny stared blankly at my training results on the clan’s intranet, muttering.

“This… this can’t be happening.”

“What can’t be happening?”

“No, but still, this, what is this?”

The nanny, who was fumbling with the mouse, dragging and releasing it repeatedly, rubbed her eyes and checked the monitor again.

[14th Week Performance Report]

[Child Name: Ninth Young]

[Gender: Male]

Mana Arts: Grade 1

Weapon Arts: Grade 1

Written Exam: Grade 1

……

[Overall Grade: Grade 1]

The nanny couldn’t believe the results she was seeing.

She thought that his grade would drop at least once due to poor condition, but he had never dropped from Grade 1.

“Nanny. Are you relieved now?”

“Young Master…!”

The nanny looked overwhelmed.

“This nanny can’t do anything for you… and yet you’re doing so well.”

The nanny’s eyes welled up.

She had noticed his extraordinary talent, but she never imagined that he would get Grade 1 in all subjects.

“I understand. Young Master. Do as you wish. I never thought you would continue to get Grade 1 as you said back then….”

“How can I survive in this den of demons if I can’t even do this?”

“A den of demons… Young Master. Where did you hear such a word? I really don’t understand you, Young Master.”

I smiled silently at those words.

Bang-!

The door burst open, and my aunt barged in.

“Hey! Kiddo! You’re here! Let’s go train!”

“……I just finished training.”

“That’s why we need to go! Training Mana Arts relieves fatigue!”

It would only make me more tired, not relieve it. At least, training with my aunt would.

The nanny looked at me with a pitiful expression, but she didn’t say anything.

…Even though you said you wouldn’t interfere, please say something at times like this, Nanny.

“Alright. Let’s go. I had something to show you anyway.”

“Huh?”

I jumped up.

My aunt, who was tilting her head and examining me, suddenly looked shocked.

“Yo, you! Co, could it be!”

“Shall we go for now?”

I smirked and moved my feet.

My movements were relaxed and comfortable. And within those movements, the flow of mana was even smoother.

“You’ve achieved 1-Star!”

My aunt’s face lit up.

* * *

The Naming Ceremony’s group training is of a high standard.

Just because I get Grade 1 in every subject doesn’t mean the training is easy.

It was just advantageous for me.

Overall physical strength, survival skills, Mana Arts, Weapon Arts, cartography, history…….

My physical strength was already built up through long training, and I had already learned various academic subjects in my past life.

Even the Weapon Arts and Mana Arts, which the instructors didn’t expect me to be able to keep up with, had memories drawn from the training ground’s armory, and I had also been training with my aunt for the past few months, except when sleeping, so it wasn’t difficult.

At that point, I didn’t have to worry about my grades, so I decided to use the training time differently.

‘And it was quite helpful. No, very helpful.’

I suddenly felt a foreign mana invading my mana circuit.

It was my aunt’s mana, with her hand on my back. My aunt was deliberately stimulating my mana.

At that moment, my mana resisted my aunt’s mana. In the process, neither the mana circuit nor the mana core was biased, and they were perfectly balanced.

“Perfect…! 1-Star!”

My aunt had her hand on my back and blinked, not knowing whether to be surprised or happy.

“Isn’t it awkward to handle the mana circuit? How did you get the hang of it? I thought it would take another year! Besides, you couldn’t do it until yesterday!”

“I realized it while receiving training.”

“Training? Do they teach that there?”

It was training where they threw you into a machine that unleashed real magic, albeit lower-level magic.

Since my mana capacity was naturally lower than the Eighth, who had been eating elixirs like water, I had no choice but to control my mana in a textbook manner to defend myself.

When I failed to control my mana and the balance of my mana core or mana circuit was about to break, I operated my mana with the single-minded determination to defend against the magic, without calculating balance or harmony.

“That’s when I realized it. I also realized why you didn’t teach me any tricks, Aunt.”

“Huh? Uh, uh?”

Lee Kyung-hwa blinked, not understanding what her nephew was saying.

‘Tr, tricks? Is there such a thing?’

But the gaze her nephew was sending was so full of trust that she couldn’t possibly tell the truth.

“Instead of trying to balance the mana core and mana circuit separately, you just have to leave them alone. Mana will flow naturally like water. After all, our body itself is just a vessel for containing mana, isn’t it? Trying to divide that vessel was foolish.”

Lee Kyung-hwa felt an even greater shock as her nephew continued to speak.

‘Mana flows as it is……?’

It was a slightly different concept from modern Mana Arts.

The concept of most common Mana Arts is only to ‘control’ mana.

Therefore, she couldn’t understand the concept of letting mana flow as it is. No, she hadn’t even thought about it.

That’s why Lee Kyung-hwa also tried to synchronize the mana circuit and mana core by force to handle a single Mana Art.

‘Our body is a vessel, a vessel…….’

Yes, it’s no different from a vessel.

Mana flows in this world. Humans just contain it in their bodies.

Ah.

Lee Kyung-hwa let out a low exclamation.

“Ah, Kiddo. I think I can do it too.”

“Yes?”

“It’s okay. I’m used to the mana core and can’t handle it…… I think I can do it. Like Kiddo…… it may take a long time, though.”

My aunt started to ramble.

‘Did she realize something?’

The moment the light returned to her blank eyes, my aunt suddenly jumped up.

“Thank you! You lucky charm! Scratch that, you’re a lucky charm, Kiddo!”

My aunt suddenly hugged me.

Crack!

A bad sound came from my bones.

“Cough! Keuh! Au, Aunt! Ribs! My ribs!”

“I’ll work twice as hard as I do now! No, three times!”

“If you work harder than you do now, I’ll really die…!”

“No, you can keep up.”

Lee Kyung-hwa released her arms that were hugging her lovely nephew.

Lee Kyung-hwa couldn’t hide the corners of her mouth that were rising.

“Let’s move on to 2-Star.”

“Yes? Already?”

“If it’s you, reaching 2-Star won’t be difficult either. And if you succeed in 2-Star…….”

Lee Kyung-hwa hesitated to speak.

She wasn’t a very good speaker.

So, what she said was.

“The Naming Ceremony will be a piece of cake!”