Chapter 19

The Marquess Family's Magic Genius - Chapter 19 (19/324)

19

The moment he inserted his hand into the mana liquid.

The greenish liquid was sucked into his palm.

It looked as if his hand was drinking water.

Soon after, an enormous amount of mana began to be felt around his right hand, which had absorbed the liquid.

‘Wow.’

Even though it was just a low-grade inner dantian, to have this much energy.

It was a valuable item that lived up to its worth.

Now, it was time to guide this power toward the circle in his heart.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind.

Mana Body.

Thanks to the highest-level talent related to mana, controlling it wasn't difficult.

Thus, the energy from the inner dantian began to approach the circle.

So far, so good.

The problem was the next step.

The mana from the inner dantian and the mana inside the circle.

The process of aligning the two types of mana was waiting.

‘It’s about to start.’

From now on, he had to maximize his concentration.

Swallow.

After swallowing, he immediately began to extract a small amount of mana from inside the circle.

10%.

That was the amount of mana extracted from inside the circle.

The remaining 90% of the mana would be responsible for changing the nature of the mana that would enter the circle from now on.

With a little space left in the circle, the energy from the inner dantian began to flow in gradually.

If the energy from the inner dantian penetrated more than what was extracted.

‘The circle, unable to withstand the saturation, would burst.’

The mana capacity of a 1st Circle was not infinite.

Very slowly.

After inserting the amount of energy equivalent to the extracted mana, he tightly held the energy trying to penetrate deeper into the circle.

Next.

He immediately started to rotate the mana inside the circle.

One revolution.

Two revolutions.

The energy from the inner dantian resonated with his mana right when it completed two revolutions.

‘Done!’

I inwardly cheered upon seeing this.

The resonance.

It meant that the wavelengths of the two energies had been perfectly aligned.

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been possible to align the properties so quickly.

But now, it was entirely possible.

‘Because 90% of the mana was left inside.’

The newly introduced energy from the inner dantian was pure, but in terms of quantity, it was only about 10%.

The original mana inside was much more, so it would inevitably be overwhelmed by the sheer volume.

Actually, this was a half-crazy move.

If another 1st Circle mage had attempted the same thing, they would have been unable to control the continuously flowing energy from the inner dantian, and the circle would have burst.

However, he could take such a bold challenge thanks to the Mana Body.

The highest-level talent related to mana.

Without this talent, he wouldn't have been able to control the energy from the inner dantian at the 1st Circle level, nor would he have been able to harmonize it with his own mana.

After completing two revolutions, he released 10% of the energy outside the circle, just like he had extracted earlier.

The mana that flowed out blended seamlessly with the mana he had extracted.

Rotate.

Extract.

Rotate.

Extract.

He repeated this mechanical movement to align the energy from the inner dantian.

‘Tough.’

He was currently performing three processes simultaneously.

While controlling the energy from the inner dantian trying to squeeze into the circle, he was continuously rotating the circle and fixing the extracted mana in the designated position.

His mind was on the verge of fainting.

However, he couldn't afford to slack off in any of the three processes, as they were all organically connected.

The process, which seemed endless, was gradually coming to a close.

The massive amount of mana began to flow through his body.

It was mana that had been completely transformed to match his own properties.

Despite being drenched in sweat, a smile appeared on his face.

He had successfully refined the energy from the inner dantian completely.

‘Done!’

His gaze then shifted to the black barrier blocking the upper part of his heart.

He could do it.

It was an instinctive thought.

With this much mana, he could pierce through the barrier, no matter how solid it was.

A massive wave of mana began to move toward the barrier.

The moment the wave collided with the black barrier.

Bang!

A sound like an explosion inside his body erupted.

‘Gah!’

He felt an excruciating pain at the same time.

The mana filling the passage collided violently with the barrier, causing damage inside.

However, the result could be considered satisfactory.

The barrier that had been blocking the upper part of his heart for the past month was pierced through in one go.

Despite breaking through one barrier, the gathered mana showed no signs of losing momentum.

‘How far can I go?’

In martial arts novels, they often specify particular points like blood channels, but unfortunately, he didn't remember all of them. He only knew a few famous ones.

Baihui point?

It was probably that.

The point near the crown of his head.

If he could break through to there today, he could definitely say he had made significant progress with the inner dantian.

He would need to break through at least five more barriers.

The sudden increase in pain was a bit scary, but he had no intention of stopping here. If he didn't break through now, his power would stagnate for a while.

Life and betting are not one-shot deals, after all.

Even if he couldn't, he would still gain something.

Bang!

Bang!

His mana continued to charge upward, from the upper part of his chest, below his neck, and over his neck to the blood vessels on his face.

The resistance of the barriers increased as he moved upward.

By the time he reached near his face, it took more than three strikes to start breaking through.

‘What a dog-like characteristic.’

A body with blocked passages.

Those who overcame this on their own became legends.

Breaking through the first barrier was already difficult, and the difficulty increased sharply as he progressed.

‘They must have been real monsters.’

Inner Dantian Dissolver.

The method to manufacture this item, which liquefies the inner dantian, was known only to users, so those who claimed to have overcome it on their own couldn't have known how to make the dissolver.

Without consuming a spirit medicine like the inner dantian, they must have gathered energy through sheer determination to break through the barriers.

It was a feat that required both extreme hard work and tremendous talent.

Even he, without the inner dantian, would have taken several months to break through the barriers near his face.

Indeed.

People should live smartly.

He had no intention of overcoming this disease through brute force and ignorance.

His mind was filled with vast knowledge.

By the time he had broken through four barriers.

The energy of the mana, which had been condensed by the spirit medicine, began to weaken gradually.

It seemed the engine's power was running out.

Perhaps because he was observing his body with his Inner Vision.

He could see the inside of his crown, which he wouldn't normally be able to see.

Baihui point.

There, a much thicker and harder-looking barrier was in place compared to the ones he had seen before.

‘...’

The black barrier looked so strong that he naturally stuck out his tongue. It wasn't for nothing that martial arts novels said breaking through here would make a significant difference.

‘Should I break through it?’

It was a dilemma.

The energy from the inner dantian had weakened, and the pain he felt with each collision increased as he moved upward.

He wanted to wait for the next opportunity.

But the problem was when that opportunity would come. It wasn't as if a two-headed monster appeared every time.

‘If I can break through here this time.’

Each time he removed a barrier, the speed at which the mana moved increased, so he couldn't help but imagine the reward he would receive after breaking through this thick barrier.

There was definitely a sweet reward waiting.

His decision was quick.

The potential reward was sufficient to justify the risk.

‘Go for it!’

Would he die if he couldn't break through?

At worst, he would just be in pain.

The energy from the spirit medicine was still present, so it was worth trying.

With his lips tightly clenched, he infused his will into the mana. The image in his mind was that of a knight charging with a lance on horseback.

I hope the mana moves as I imagine!

The remaining mana collided with the barrier blocking his crown.

Boom!

With a massive rumble, his mind reeled.

The pain that followed was so excruciating that he couldn't even scream.

‘Guh...’

Before he could see the messages appearing, his eyes began to close.

* * * * *

“...Young Master...!”

“...Young... Master! Please... come... to... your... senses...”

Ugh.

Feeling someone shaking his body violently, his eyes opened involuntarily.

His blurry vision gradually cleared.

“Young Master! Come to your senses!”

Soon, he saw Ersiel, who was shaking him frantically and stomping her feet.

“Young Master!”

“Ugh... I'm fine, you don't have to shout like that.”

“A... I'm sorry... But... you lost consciousness, and I couldn't help it...”

“What time is it now?”

“It's six in the morning.”

Looking at the time, it seemed he had been unconscious all night. The floor in front of the open door was soaked with tea.

A broken teacup was an added bonus.

It seemed she had discovered him when bringing tea in the morning.

He had ordered Leonhardt not to let anyone into his room until morning.

So, he must have been lying there alone and unconscious.

Phew.

It was a bit eerie.

If he had bled while breaking through the crown, he might have left this fantasy world due to a brain hemorrhage.

“...Are you really okay?”

With a worried question, he smiled.

“Yeah, I'm really fine. I was just experimenting, and I fell asleep because of it. It's nothing serious.”

“...While experiments are necessary, you need to be more careful. Do you know how worried I was?”

Is this nagging?

Well, it's for my own good, so I'm not upset.

Being careful isn't wrong.

“Yeah, I'll be more careful from now on.”

After giving a smooth answer.

He immediately activated his Inner Vision.

He needed to check if the barrier near his crown had been broken.

Swallowing, he observed his insides.

‘Wow.’

His lips curled into a smile.

The black barrier near his crown.

There was a small hole in it, just like the black barrier he had initially tried to pierce with a cone shape.

‘This is... not bad, right?’

It wasn't the best, but it was good enough.

Once a hole was made, expanding it wouldn't be too difficult.

Unless the hole healed itself, which it didn't.

If he kept colliding mana with it, the barrier would eventually break.

The amount of mana he could store in the circle had also increased significantly.

It seemed the characteristic of his body with blocked passages had weakened, and the Mana Body had become more active.

The movement of the mana had also changed significantly from before.

‘Faster.’

It felt like the 100m dash time had been reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.

Thinking of the two-headed monster, he smiled.

The monster had given him more than he expected.