Kane swallowed his saliva. He hoped that all of his sacrifices were not in vain. “What’s the result? I can no longer see the finish line.”

“Try to figure that out by yourself, boy.”

This ant… Kane uttered a sigh. “Since you saved me, that means I’ve failed?”

“Wrong!” shouted the ant with glee. “Whether you’ve passed the goal line or not, it’s because of your perseverance… No, it’s more of your recklessness. Either way, I’m content with them. Both are required to endure my training regimen.”

“Recklessness? I used that move to save myself from death!” argued Kane. He felt that the action he took was necessary and within his calculations. Although admittedly, the outcome was… not desirable.

“Oh? It wasn’t an impulse, then?” doubted Maur.

Kane shook his head. “No. Even if I used vis to protect myself, I eventually wouldn’t have anything left to endure your spells. I know it sounded like an excuse, but it’s the truth.”

The ant paused for a moment before saying, “Understandable. I suppose casting five rank 2 spells is a little too much…”

“Glad you understand that.”

The ant continued, “...for your current form’s strength. Isn’t that right, Kane? Or should I say, Exalted Ax Saint Kane?”

“...You figured that out, huh.”

“Hmph, do not underestimate my intelligence. Your name and weapon choice are dead giveaways. Anyone in our caliber would immediately recognize you after watching your axmanship in action. What confuses me is you didn’t even bother hiding your power… as if you don’t care at all.”

Kane crossed his arms. “That’s because I don’t want to make my life harder. But, that doesn’t mean I’ll constantly show off my power. Now that you know my identity, it would be nice to give me yours. My memory of The Circle is hazy.”

The ant was silent, listening to every word. He then said, “Fair enough. I am Maur, one of Grand Archmages of The Circle. I won’t blame you if you haven’t heard of me because I only joined five years ago.”

“No wonder. But, there is something I’m more curious about,” said Kane.

“Which is?”

“How are you so powerful even though you’re an ant?”

“Hoho…” Maur chuckled, shaking his antennas, then cackled. “Hahaha! You sure you want to know?”

“Yes!” Kane leaned forward.

“The secret issss-” Maur trailed off. A few moments later, he said, “-reserved until you’ve completed my training.”

Kane blankly stared at the ant, dissatisfied. “Is it personal to you?”

“Not quite. My background can be added as one of your motivations. And don’t even try to ask Rey. He won’t know since I never told him.”

So, it’s personal… Kane was tired of Maur’s roundabout answer, but he understood the reason. Talking about their past was a rather sensitive topic. Still, how was it possible for an ant — the weakest insect — to become a Grand Archmage, the highest title for a mage?

“If there’s nothing else, let’s go back—”

“Wait,” interrupted Kane. “I want to stay here a little longer.”

“Why? Do you miss the flowers?” teased Maur.

“This is the place where I fought my nemesis.” Kane turned around. His mouth formed a hollow smile.

Maur stood up with his two tiny feet, staring at the half oni. “Wait, so you’re the culprit behind all of the destruction? You damn cheeky bastard.”

“Don’t blame me. He was the one who chose this place for his deathbed. Anyway, I wish to see his corpse for the last time,” he said as he walked while Maur was latching onto him.

They traveled across the barren landscape, passing through the craters and fissures. Thirty minutes later, they stumbled upon the largest crater of them all. Its circumference was as massive as Niflenia Academy — no, perhaps even larger. They tried to measure the depth, but it was impossible due to the black mist filling the hole.

Kane pointed toward the enormous crater. “There. That is the spot where I killed him.”

“This crater reeks of death and despair. Even I would not dare to seek what lies beneath the mist,” remarked Maur.

“Have you tried dispelling it?” asked Kane.

Maur shook his head. “I did. No spells could. It appears that any matter touching the mist disintegrates.”

“Hmm, let me try.” Kane sat down on the edge and then descended toward the center. The incline was narrow yet it did not pose a problem for him. Approaching the black mist, he grabbed a pebble and threw it. Then, a dark grey tendril-like thing manifested. The pebble instantly turned into infinitesimal dust when the tendril touched it. Dangerous! He stepped back as the tendril vanished.

“See? I told you,” said Maur from above.

Kane scratched his chin. The mist wasn’t this malicious when he indirectly created it with his weapon. Could it be because the weapon was much more twisted than he thought? The fact that it was still sitting in his house at the Westcreek Kingdom, Kane worried that somebody would steal it. He should’ve visited the kingdom before it was too late.

“It would be wise to stay away from it,” warned Maur.

“No. I know another way,” insisted Kane. He extended his arm and closed his eyes, manifesting the strands of his soul. As the strands reached the mist, the tendril appeared — just like before. However, the tendril retracted and disappeared. The mist then formed a tunnel, creating a passage large enough to cross. They descended into the corridor and traversed the mist.

“Damn, that’s awesome! What did you do?” asked Maur with a happy and surprised tone.

“It recognized me as its rightful owner. After all, I’m the one who caused this with a weapon of my creation,” explained Kane.

“Right, I heard you also professed blacksmithing. To create such a devious weapon… what rank was it?” asked Maur.

“The rank didn’t matter, per se; it’s the materials that I used to make it. I won’t spill the secret to you, sorry.”

“Hmph, I never asked that. That weapon must have had severe backlash upon using it, am I correct?”

“Yes. In fact, it’s more serious than you think.” Kane nodded.

“I’m not interested then. Anyhow, you should make some strong but normal weapons for me in the future.”

“How are you going to use them?” asked Kane.

“For my underlings, of course!”

“I’ll consider it,” Kane replied with a tiny smile. At the same time, he noticed something on the ground not too far. It was a human body. He picked up the pace to observe the corpse.

A tall human male lay at the center of the crater. His smooth face and slender body were in mint condition as if he were sleeping, yet the gaping, dried wound on his stomach proved otherwise. Upon seeing him, Kane clenched his fists for a brief moment. He then turned around and saw the ant was hovering around the corpse.

“A corpse? How did he not disintegrate already?” asked Maur.

“I’m not sure. Probably either the mist does not affect the dead or his leftover vis protects him.”

“Intriguing. Either way, his vis must’ve been abundant before his death — for his corpse to appear fresh. Was this man your nemesis?”

“Yes,” answered Kane with a somber tone.

“Hmm, he is familiar for some reason. I think I’ve seen him before in spite of never meeting him even once,” said Maur, resting his head on his tiny hairy front legs.

“He’s the Exalted Sword Saint, Aureus, the most famous one among us. You had most likely seen him from statues or pictures.”

“You must be joking. He died because of a deadly disease,” Maur retorted.

“That’s merely false cover-ups by Reus’s followers to save his reputation. They didn’t want the world to know that the weakest saint managed to kill the strongest saint of all time,” explained Kane.

“Makes sense. The sword saint has influenced a large number of people. But, seeing his very corpse right here, this is huge news!”

“Do whatever you want with the corpse as long as you don’t snitch on me. I assume you’re as intelligent as you say?”

“Why would I? There’s no benefit for me, and we have no enmity to begin with.”

“That’s what I thought too.” Kane then turned around. “Let’s return to Niflenia since I’ve confirmed that he’s dead for good.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you have some resentment left toward him, so…”

“No. I’ve killed him and that’s the end of my revenge. Unleashing my anger means I’m still bound to the past. And I’ve decided to be free from any shackles,” said Kane.

“Nicely said. Though, if I had a nemesis, they would’ve been ground to dust or tortured for eternity in another realm to satisfy my revenge!” Maur laughed.

“If only it was that easy during that time,” lamented Kane. “Also, I don’t think it’s possible to even damage the corpse. His leftover vis is protecting him.”

“Is that so? Let me try.” Maur began chanting a spell. A magic circle with hundreds of runic texts and diagrams flashed. A moment later, runes-filled white stone spikes were hovering above Aureus. Each of them could pierce a rocky mountain with ease.

“Rank 5 Earth spell: [Gavalan’s Fingers]!” The spikes plunged toward the corpse. Despite the devastating power, they immediately shattered upon touching the vis.

"That’s one helluva strong aura. As expected from the corpse of the sword saint,” remarked Maur.

“You’ll need at least two or three rank 7 spells to damage him.” His guess was based on his duel between them.

“Damn, I can't cast that kind of spell with this mist surrounding the area! I gotta have space!” he complained.

"Can't you just empower your previous spell instead?"

“I can, but then, they wouldn’t fit in this narrow space.” Maur tried the spell once more. The spikes were much bigger; however, the mist destroyed them since they surpassed the height of the ceiling.

They also tried to move Aureus toward the mist; they failed. Not even a budge. Moving the ground where he lay down also failed. Kane considered enhancing his strength with Maur’s magic, but that would be a bad idea. Unlike vis, enhancement spells wouldn’t make his bones stronger, meaning there was a high chance that his bones would shatter upon impact.

“I guess it can’t be helped. Let’s just go back. I’m already satisfied with him being dead,” said Kane as he turned around. Despite saying that, his heart was uneasy. What if Aureus got revived by a resurrection spell or ritual? It was merely a legend, so he cast that thought aside and decided to not worry too much about it. Besides, there was the mist, which would prevent anything from entering.

Kane and Maur then returned to Niflenia. By the time they arrived, the sky had already turned orange and Reynar was nowhere to be seen. A small piece of paper, anchored by a rock, was lying on the ground that said, ‘I have gone to my quarter. Please send my regards to Master Maur.’

“Meet me here tomorrow after school is over and we’ll start our training. Don’t forget, boy!” said Maur with an excited tone.

“Why are you calling me ‘boy’ when you already know my identity?” complained Kane.

“Then, what’s your real age?” inquired Maur.

“I don’t exactly remember. Around 120 years old, I think.”

“Mine’s 278. Which means, you’re much younger than me, and therefore, I’ll keep calling you ‘boy’.”

“That’s…” Kane wanted to say something, but he held back. He hated to admit that Maur was technically right.

Another question popped into his mind: how could an ant have such a long lifespan? With enormous vis or mana, humans could prolong their lifespans for several hundred years. The case should be different for ants. Granted, Kane knew nothing about an ant’s age, but it shouldn't be as long as humans and therefore even ants that were as strong as Maur should only live up to a maximum of a hundred years.

“If there’s nothing else, I take my leave, then. So long, former ax saint boy!” Maur flew backward, breaking the sound barrier.

Gazing toward Maur, Kane had a sudden realization. He checked his uniform's condition. Every part, especially the sleeves, were ridden with holes. Welp, it couldn’t be helped. He could ask someone for a replacement.

While on the way to the dorm, Kane was thinking of his ax replacement. Should he buy or make another ax? He doubted that there would be a rank 2 weapon in this kingdom and if there was, probably would be overpriced. But then again, crafting an ax required blacksmith equipment which was not available. He probably had to find a smithy first.

---

The next day, the results from the past week’s tests were announced. He made it to the top twenty. Calypso and Lucrais ranked first and eighth respectively. As for Zumi, Athera, and Brian, they were somewhere in the middle out of 244 students.

He sat on one of the benches in the training ground. Some people were practicing their spells on the dummies and some were sparring. It was more crowded than usual. Watching them, Kane wondered when Maur would arrive.

A moment later, he sensed something approaching fast. It then abruptly stopped on the above his head, and then landed on Kane’s shoulder. It was Maur.

“Hey, you’re already here. Are you that excited to train with me?” asked the ant playfully.

“I simply want to spend my time efficiently. So, what are we going to do next? It’s impossible to train here or teleport.”

“Let’s start with the basics first. Boy, do you know the difference between vis and mana?”

“Hmm.” Kane let out a low noise. “Vis is an energy that enhances one’s strength and serves as an extension of limbs or weapons, which will gain the same properties as the medium. It has many uses, from combat applications like raising one’s strength and protection, to non-combat applications such as stopping blood flow and preventing diseases from spreading. Its core is located in the abdomen.”

“Meanwhile, mana is an energy that is required to manifest spells and controls objects. They’re stored in our head and can’t be freely controlled like vis. Basically, mana is a currency to pay for casting spells.”

“Good, I don’t have to explain more. The methods to improve them are also different. Now, explain the ways to improve vis.”

“There are several ways: muscle and stamina training, breathing exercises and exerting vis. The fastest way, of course, is drinking vis-increasing potions. But they can cause unwanted side-effects if consumed too much, such as permanent muscle injury, damaged vessels, etc.”

“Quite similar to mana-improving methods. Do you know all of them? There are four ways.” Maur’s antenna formed the number four.

“Beats me.” Kane shrugged.

“Spending one’s mana until it’s empty, meditation, drinking mana-increasing potions, and aging.”

“Aging? Is that a legitimate way?”

“Like you, I didn’t believe it the first time I heard it. But then, I realized it after I got older. The moment you awaken your mana, the process of improvement will begin.”

“So that’s why every strong mage I’ve fought was never young. Unlike those who use vis.” Kane nodded in agreement.

“Yes. This is also the reason most nobles and lazy people prefer to become a mage. Doing nothing still makes you stronger, albeit by little.’”

“What will we do for our training? It must involve casting spells, right?”

“Not quite. You’ll see.”

As the bell tolled, the people on the field stopped their activity and went elsewhere. They were most likely taking a break from their training.

Maur hopped off and said, “Let’s go, boy.”