Chapter 51-60 A Feast for the Ogre Slayers (Patreon)

Chapter 51

A Feast for the Ogre Slayers

When thirty-one warriors returned to the settlement dragging the ogre’s corpse behind them, the village erupted into celebration.

The Bloodclaw Tribe normally avoided festivals that produced too much noise.

Even the Prophecy Festival, one of the settlement’s largest events, was relatively quiet. The Harvest Festival was the only day each year when the tribe allowed itself to become truly loud.

Making a commotion inside the forest risked attracting monsters.

Today, however, no one worried about that danger.

During the battle, the ogre had roared countless times.

Those cries had carried all the way to the settlement, which was not particularly far from the battlefield. There could not have been a single nearby animal or monster that failed to hear them.

Nothing in this part of the forest would be insane enough to approach after hearing the roar of an ogre, the tyrant of the forest.

“Krahahaha! Well done! You have truly done well, Karath!”

Grild gazed at Karath with absolute trust.

Jark, standing beside the chief, wore the same expression.

So did Delina.

“Karath!”

Thud!

“Karath!”

Thud!

Every orc in the settlement joined the chant.

Like the rhythms of the Harvest Festival, they stomped their feet against the ground and created a powerful beat that shook the chest.

Standing in the middle of their welcome filled Karath with pride as well.

However, the source of his satisfaction differed slightly from theirs.

The tribespeople praised him as the great warrior who led the hunt and slew an ogre.

Karath was proud for another reason.

Ogres ranked among the strongest creatures in the forest.

The fact that the Bloodclaw warriors had killed one without suffering serious losses meant that very few monsters could now threaten the settlement.

Expanding the tribe’s hunting and patrol territory would become much easier.

Developing the village would also become safer.

Karath decided that locating a mine should be his first priority.

Now that the tribe could extend its territory, he wanted to search for iron ore or some similar mineral.

The ogre hunt had been so exhausting partly because the creature itself was terrifying, but the tribe’s poor weapons were equally responsible.

Stone and wood could barely pierce the ogre’s hide.

The tribe also used bones taken from powerful monsters, but even those possessed little more strength than especially durable stone.

If they could have shaped those materials into truly sharp edges or points, the situation might have been different.

Unfortunately, the Bloodclaw Tribe lacked the techniques required to refine them properly.

Their weapons struggled to cut through the ogre’s muscles and could do almost nothing against its bones.

They had managed to break a few of its thinner finger bones.

Even those fingers were only thin by ogre standards. Each was nearly as long as a human foot.

Had the tribe wielded steel axes and spears instead of tools assembled from stone and wood, the battle might have ended at the first pit.

Once they gained enough experience, ten warriors might be able to kill an ogre.

Perhaps even five would be enough.

With proper iron weapons, that possibility was entirely realistic.

Orcs might have been weaker than ogres, but compared with humans, they possessed extraordinary strength.

“Krahahaha! Why are you thinking so deeply on such a wonderful day, Karath?”

While Karath planned for the future, Grild approached and placed a heavy hand upon his shoulder.

“Karath is simply overwhelmed with joy, Chief.”

“So that is the reason. Krahahaha! Excellent! Today, we feast! We shall fill our stomachs with ogre meat!”

“Krahahaha!”

“Hahahaha!”

“Karath!”

Thud!

“Karath!”

Thud!

The tribespeople began chanting Karath’s name once more, and the celebration naturally began.

In a primitive settlement, a festival did not involve anything especially elaborate.

The warriors laughed together and shouted loudly.

The children ran around in excitement despite barely understanding what had happened.

The women began butchering the ogre and preparing meat for the warriors who had fought it.

The tribe continued laughing and celebrating for some time.

“Karath!”

Gerina called his name as she approached from the butchered corpse.

A massive lump dripped blood from her hands.

Karath stared at it in silence.

There was no need to ask what she carried.

It was the ogre’s heart.

“You are the hero of today’s feast, Karath! Show everyone how bravely you devour the ogre!”

For some reason, Gerina seemed especially overwhelmed by orcish pride today.

She thrust the blood-soaked organ toward him and raised her voice.

“Oooooh!”

“Karath!”

“Karath!”

Every orc in the settlement turned toward him and resumed chanting.

A single thought appeared inside Karath’s mind.

He was in trouble.

As mentioned before, Karath did not enjoy raw meat.

During his human life, Arnold had occasionally eaten cooked blood sausage or organ meat, but those dishes had been thoroughly prepared.

He wanted nothing to do with a blood-covered heart that looked ready to begin beating again.

Until now, whenever someone gave him the heart of a monster, he had quietly moved into a corner and fed it to Buddy.

Buddy was currently staring at the ogre’s heart with the gaze of a starving beast.

Drool poured from his mouth like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

Unfortunately, with the entire tribe watching, Karath could not hand it to the wolf.

Trapped on every side, his mind began working as quickly as it had during the ogre hunt.

Then an idea came to him.

“The heart of the prey belongs to the warrior who accomplished the greatest feat during the hunt!”

“Exactly!”

“That is right!”

“Karath!”

“Karath!”

Karath lifted the heart as he shouted.

The tribespeople agreed enthusiastically and continued chanting his name, clearly urging him to eat it at once.

“But Karath was not the warrior who accomplished the greatest feat during today’s hunt.”

The atmosphere across the settlement instantly became cold.

“How could delivering the final strike alone be considered the greatest contribution? Karath could only kill the ogre because every warrior fought together, weakened it, and held its attention.”

With the entire gathering silenced, Karath continued before anyone could object.

“That means the greatest contribution belongs to the warriors who fought beside Karath. Among them, one warrior placed himself in the greatest danger and drew the ogre’s attention without concern for his own body.”

Karath turned and held the heart toward Gwein.

“Uncle Gwein accomplished the greatest feat!”

Gwein had been the warrior whose left arm was destroyed by the ogre during the battle at the first pit.

Orc blood had allowed him to continue shouting defiantly even after his bones were crushed.

Now his arm rested inside a splint, and he looked to be in considerable pain.

The fact that he still came outside to celebrate with the tribe was impressive in itself.

Gwein stared at Karath in shock.

He clearly had not expected this outcome.

For a moment, the surprise even made him forget his pain, and the tension disappeared from his face.

“Krahahaha! Thank you! Thank you, Karath!”

Laughing as though his arm no longer hurt, Gwein extended his healthy right hand and accepted the ogre’s heart.

The value of a gift depended not upon what the giver desired, but upon what the recipient treasured.

To the orcs, the heart of a powerful monster represented both the highest honor and the greatest medicine.

At least, it did for every orc except Karath.

Today, Karath had given Gwein the most valuable reward he could offer.

The warrior had been injured during a battle fought under Karath’s command.

Naturally, Karath needed to compensate him properly.

Benefits and support for injured employees were important.

He absolutely had not surrendered the heart merely because he did not want to eat it.

“Karath has given the heart to me, but I know who truly accomplished the greatest feat today!”

Gwein raised his voice with such force that no one would have believed him injured.

“Karath gave every warrior credit for this victory! Today, I will accept this heart as the representative of all the warriors who fought beside him! This celebration belongs to the entire Bloodclaw Tribe!”

Then Gwein bit into the ogre’s heart and began chewing with great enthusiasm.

“Krahahaha!”

“Excellent!”

Inspired by the sight, the tribespeople erupted into even louder celebration.

“Woof! Woof!”

Amid the cheerful noise, only Buddy’s cries sounded sorrowful.

Chapter 52

Another Tyrant

No enormous change came to the settlement immediately after the ogre hunt.

The day following the celebration, some warriors began repairing the traps destroyed during the battle.

Others departed to hunt as they normally did.

The only meaningful difference was that the hunting parties began traveling slightly farther from the village.

There was one other difference.

“I am jealous, Karath. Kaden wants one of those.”

Kaden stared at Karath’s new white weapon while drooling almost as much as Buddy.

Karath held the ogre’s femur.

Although the exact structure of an ogre’s skeleton differed from that of a human or orc, it was still a bipedal creature. The overall shape remained similar.

Karath had wanted a weapon like the one Grild carried for years.

The chief’s club, one of the relics left behind by Garthon, had also been fashioned from an ogre’s femur.

Whenever Karath swung a stone axe with his full strength, the handle either broke or separated from the head.

Since Karath had surrendered the heart to Gwein, he used his right as the hunt’s greatest contributor to claim one of the ogre’s thigh bones.

Testing revealed that a full-powered swing could shatter an ordinary boulder without much difficulty.

The femur itself suffered no visible damage.

It was neither sharp nor pointed, but that hardly mattered.

The tribe’s stone axes had never been particularly sharp either.

They were little more than blunt weapons.

If Karath was going to use a club, the ogre femur was a hundred times better than the fragile stone tools he had carried before.

He had defeated a monster and received an item, just as though he were playing a game.

“Tch. Karath told you to use your head, Kaden.”

Krog criticized his older cousin as usual.

To make the insult worse, he casually swung the ogre femur in his own hand and displayed it proudly.

There had only been one ogre corpse, while many warriors participated in the hunt.

They obviously could not divide every useful part without restriction.

Karath received first choice because he surrendered the heart to Gwein and selected a femur.

Krog noticed what Karath was doing and immediately claimed the other one.

Kaden, meanwhile, remained true to everything he had shouted during the battle.

The moment the warriors began dividing the trophies, he seized the ogre’s skull.

Karath still had no idea what Kaden intended to do with it.

Perhaps he had always envied the skull of the ogre displayed inside Karath’s home.

“Damn it. The next time we kill an ogre, Kaden will choose a femur.”

“Everyone will probably want the femurs after seeing these. Do you think your turn will come?”

“Hmph! If Kaden smashes the ogre’s skull and earns the greatest contribution, he can choose anything he wants.”

“You intend to break an ogre’s skull with that wooden-handled stone axe? Your own skull will probably break first. Keh heh.”

The two continued arguing like Tom and Jerry.

Karath smiled as he walked through the forest beside them.

Buddy followed behind, still sulking over the ogre heart that had never belonged to him.

“It is still difficult to believe,” Krog said, swinging the femur in his hand. “We can hunt ogres now.”

“Keh heh heh. Nothing in this forest can stop the Bloodclaw Tribe anymore!”

Kaden nodded proudly.

Karath did not rebuke either of them.

“Yes. From now on, we should continue building traps and expanding our territory.”

As they expanded, they needed to search for ore.

They also needed materials that could be turned into cloth and crops such as wheat or rice that could be planted and harvested repeatedly.

There was no longer anything inside this forest that they needed to fear.

Once the tribe expanded its territory and secured metal and food, Karath intended to search for other orc tribes and bring them beneath Bloodclaw rule.

The tribe’s current population was far too small.

For faster development, population would ultimately be the most important resource.

While Karath considered how to expand their territory and slowly advance the tribe’s civilization, a strange sense of familiarity came over him.

The forest had become silent.

The quiet felt familiar, but Karath could not immediately identify why.

He was not the only one who noticed.

Krog and Kaden’s expressions changed.

A moment earlier, they had been Tom and Jerry.

Now they were warriors of the Bloodclaw Tribe.

A cold chill climbed across Karath’s body.

Thump.

Thump.

As though resisting that chill, his heart began pounding violently.

Then the ground trembled.

Thud.

Thud.

The vibrations were slow but heavy.

The word ogre naturally appeared in Karath’s mind.

Krog and Kaden seemed to reach the same conclusion, and all three looked toward the direction of the sound.

The creature waiting there was not an ogre.

The instant it appeared, Buddy, who always remained silent during a hunt, released a low growl.

Karath could not scold him.

The irrational existence before them left no room to worry about such a minor issue.

The moment Karath saw it, he understood.

He had underestimated the monster-infested forest.

Chapter 53

Beyond the Ogre’s Domain

The moment Karath saw the creature, a memory from five years earlier returned to him.

Roberto had told him that the Bloodclaw Tribe did not live in an ordinary forest.

They lived within a mountain range.

Worse, the entire range was a forbidden land inhabited by countless monsters.

Five years had passed since Karath heard that explanation, and the memory had gradually faded.

Perhaps he had never taken it seriously enough in the first place.

When had he begun underestimating the monster-infested forest?

Had it been several days ago, when the tribe successfully hunted an ogre?

Had it begun during his coming-of-age ceremony, when he killed a troll alone?

Perhaps it started even earlier, during the winter when he was eight and trapped the Horn Boars that attacked the settlement.

When he thought about it, his confidence seemed ridiculous.

An ogre might be called the tyrant of the forest, but that only meant it ruled one forest.

In American terms, it was the king of a single neighborhood, or perhaps one borough at most.

Karath had acted like someone who ruled the Bronx and immediately declared that he had conquered New York City, perhaps even the entire United States.

While reflecting upon his arrogance, Karath had already concealed his presence and hidden within the undergrowth.

Krog, Kaden, and Buddy were crouched beside him.

“What kind of monster is that?” Krog whispered.

“Kaden has never seen anything like it. What about Karath?”

“Karath has never seen one either.”

After a brief discussion, they reached the same conclusion.

None of them had ever seen or even heard of such a creature.

“It looks like a lizard,” Kaden murmured.

He was not wrong.

The monster resembled an enormous lizard.

“What kind of lizard grows that large?”

Its size shattered all common sense.

Even from a distance, Karath could tell that it was far larger than the ogre they had killed several days earlier.

It looked less like a lizard and more like a dinosaur.

Karath remembered watching Jurassic Park on television as a child. The creature was large enough to remind him of the Tyrannosaurus from that film.

“A dinosaur...” he muttered.

“A what?”

“What is that?”

Krog and Kaden had never heard the word.

Karath pretended not to hear their questions because explaining extinct animals would be unnecessarily complicated.

On closer inspection, however, it did not truly resemble a Tyrannosaurus.

Its body size was comparable, but its shape remained distinctly reptilian and moved upon four legs.

It looked exactly like the kind of monster fantasy novels and games called a drake.

Karath silently decided to use that name.

“What is wrong with this one?”

While Karath studied the drake, Kaden spoke again.

“What do you mean?”

“Buddy. He is acting strangely.”

Karath looked down at the wolf beside his feet.

Buddy had bared his fangs and was glaring at the drake as if he wanted to charge forward and tear into it.

A possibility entered Karath’s mind.

Perhaps the ogre had not destroyed the Giant Wolf pack.

Perhaps this drake had done it.

That question did not matter at the moment.

The important fact was that an impossibly powerful monster had appeared near the Bloodclaw settlement.

This damned mountain range truly deserved to be called a forbidden land.

Karath had always known that creatures far more dangerous than the lions and tigers of Earth lived here.

However, orcs also possessed physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary humans.

He had believed those advantages would allow him to create a safe and prosperous settlement.

Then this irrational creature appeared.

The traps damaged during the ogre battle had not even been fully repaired.

Even if every trap remained intact, could they kill this monster?

Perhaps because of his orc instincts, Karath immediately began considering ways to hunt it.

Every conclusion inside his mind was negative.

A larger creature was not always stronger.

However, there was a reason combat sports divided competitors by weight.

Nature followed the same principle.

A large herbivore could kill a lion, rhinoceros, or hippopotamus with a single careless strike.

As a creature’s size increased, its weight rose dramatically.

Moving that mass required greater muscles and exponentially more force.

To withstand its own weight and power, the creature also needed absurdly durable bones, hide, or scales.

The drake was essentially a biological tank.

Fighting a tank without firearms would already be madness.

The Bloodclaw Tribe did not even possess proper metal weapons.

They would be challenging it with stone axes, stone spears, and sharpened bones.

There were limits to how unfair reality should be.

Avoiding the creature was the only sensible choice.

A miraculous victory might still be possible.

Karath did not want to imagine how many tribespeople would die to purchase it.

He wanted to remain hidden and allow the drake to pass.

Then he noticed its direction.

The drake was moving toward the Bloodclaw settlement.

Each slow, heavy step sent a vibration through the ground.

“Krog, Kaden. Listen carefully.”

Karath’s mouth opened before he had time to organize every thought.

“Karath will lure that creature away. Both of you must return to the settlement immediately.”

“W-what are you saying?”

“We should fight together, Karath.”

Krog responded in alarm, while Kaden boldly insisted upon remaining.

“Fighting that creature with the tribe would simply get everyone killed. It is also moving directly toward the settlement. You understand what that means.”

“That is exactly why we should fight together!”

“Krog is right! We can use traps like we did against the ogre. If we cooperate, we might win. It may be larger, but perhaps it is weaker than an ogre.”

“Most of the traps from that battle are still damaged.”

“Then we fight from behind the stone wall!”

Kaden forced his rarely used mind to produce another argument.

Karath could already imagine the drake casually swinging its tail and reducing the wall to rubble.

“The wall will not matter. If that creature reaches the village, the entire tribe could be slaughtered. Karath will lure it in the opposite direction. You will return, warn everyone, and prepare until Karath comes back.”

“Prepare for what?”

“Dig a pit large enough to trap it. Tell every warrior what appeared and prepare them for battle.”

Karath did not truly believe preparations would allow the tribe to defeat the drake without losses.

Successfully killing it at all would be a miracle.

They might simply be wiped out together.

His instructions were an excuse to force Krog and Kaden back toward safety.

“You are coming back, right?” Krog asked.

Both warriors stared at him uneasily.

“Of course. Do you honestly think something like that can kill Karath?”

Karath covered his face with the shameless confidence Arnold had developed through years of adult life.

Then he picked up a stone from the ground.

Thud!

He hurled it at the impossibly large reptile.

“Go!”

The rock was nearly the size of a human head, but it failed to leave even a scratch upon the drake’s scales.

The creature slowly turned its head toward Karath.

“Go now!”

Before Krog or Kaden could stop him, Karath sprinted away from the settlement.

The drake’s eyes appeared cold and indifferent.

Yet the moment Karath met that lifeless reptilian gaze, he became absolutely certain of one thing.

They must never fight this creature.

Its eyes seemed to squeeze his heart.

Without the orc blood surging violently through him, his entire body might have frozen in place.

Then the drake began crawling toward him.

It was moving on four legs.

Even so, every step shattered common sense.

Thud.

Thud.

The speed produced by its enormous body was terrifying.

“Follow Karath, you oversized lizard!”

Karath continued shouting provocations the creature could not understand while throwing more stones.

Hiss.

A horrifying sound came from its snake-like tongue.

Perhaps the drake was finally becoming irritated.

Its speed gradually increased.

Crack!

Crash!

Crack!

Until then, it had avoided the largest trees, perhaps to reduce noise or conserve energy.

Now it simply smashed through everything in its path.

Every tree that collided with its body shattered regardless of size.

Karath had no choice but to sprint through the wild forest with all his strength.

Running across untamed terrain was exhausting, but he had no time to complain.

“Damn it!”

He cursed in the language of his previous life and ran desperately.

The creature’s body looked far too enormous to move properly.

Yet it followed him at nearly the same speed despite demolishing every tree that blocked its path.

Chapter 54

The Breath of the Drake

How had Karath ended up in this situation?

Being chased by an impossible monster caused an old question to return to him.

As a child, Arnold had watched novels, films, and comics filled with characters who willingly sacrificed themselves for family, friends, or lovers.

He had often wondered whether he could do the same.

Would he truly offer his life if someone he cared about faced danger?

When the moment finally arrived, Karath did not have time to debate it.

His body moved before he fully understood the situation.

Perhaps the lessons repeated since his infancy had influenced him.

Every Bloodclaw child was taught that protecting the tribe mattered above all else.

Perhaps the orc blood flowing through this body had guided him.

It was also possible that Arnold’s soul had simply been purer and kinder than he ever realized.

Whatever the reason, Karath had willingly chosen to become the sacrifice.

“Why are you following Karath, Buddy?”

The young wolf was still running beside him.

Karath had fed Buddy for less than two months.

Was that really enough to create such unreasonable loyalty?

“GRAAAAAH!”

While Karath ran and entertained those useless thoughts, the drake roared in fury and swung its enormous tail.

Crash!

Dozens of nearby trees shattered and collapsed from a single strike.

The impact created a chain reaction.

Trees fell into one another like dominos.

“Damn it!”

Several trunks broken and launched by the tail flew through the air toward Karath.

Crash!

Fragments of wood rained from above.

Some pieces were larger than Karath’s entire body.

The title of the old song It’s Raining Men naturally appeared inside his mind.

Perhaps It’s Raining Wood would have been more appropriate.

With cheerful music playing in the background, the scene might have looked like a ridiculous moment from a cheap comedy.

Experiencing it personally was far less amusing.

“Raaagh!”

Karath threw himself sideways, rolled across the ground, and sprang upright without caring about the cuts covering his body.

When there was no time to regain his footing, he scrambled forward on all fours.

“Damn it! Karath survived!”

Avoiding every fragment was impossible.

Fortunately, none of the largest trunks struck him.

Hiss.

The drake seemed displeased by his survival.

It crawled toward him even faster.

Karath had no time to look back and judge the distance.

He could only continue running forward.

He could not allow himself to be caught yet.

The settlement was still too close.

If he was destined to die, he would at least finish what he had chosen to accomplish.

“Come after Karath, you oversized idiot!”

Perhaps accepting his death had removed his fear.

Perhaps the orc blood exploding from his pounding heart had driven him half mad.

Even while facing certain death, Karath continued cursing and threw another rock at the drake.

Hiss.

The stone struck the creature.

In response, the drake began another game of dominos with its tail.

“Daaamn it!”

Once again, broken trees rained from the sky.

Karath struggled desperately through the debris, narrowly avoiding the largest trunks before sprinting onward.

He no longer had the strength to provoke the monster.

He could not read the forest paths or maintain a sense of direction.

He simply ran forward with one obsessive goal.

He needed to create as much distance from the settlement as possible.

Karath did not know how long he continued.

“Haa. Haa.”

The orc body he once considered inexhaustible began failing.

A sweet metallic taste rose from his throat.

The forest that had been racing past his vision seemed to slow.

In reality, his legs were losing speed.

Thud.

Thud.

Hiss.

The sounds produced by the drake grew closer.

Karath realized that he would die soon.

Then the noise behind him suddenly stopped.

Whoooooosh.

A violent sound like an enormous whistle pierced his ears.

Karath had no time to turn around, yet the unsettling noise forced him to look back.

The drake had raised its head.

Its abdomen expanded as it drew in an impossible amount of air.

“No. Please tell Karath that is not what it looks like.”

The creature appeared to be preparing a breath attack.

Whoooooosh.

Ignoring Karath’s desperate wish, it inhaled even more violently.

“Woof! Woof!”

Buddy suddenly barked beside him.

“Are you encouraging Karath?”

The wolf shook his head as though answering.

Then Buddy changed direction and ran sharply to the side.

Karath’s eyes widened.

For some reason, it felt as though the wolf was telling him to follow.

His mind was already becoming hazy from exhaustion.

With nothing left to lose, Karath turned and chased Buddy.

“GRAAAAAAAH!”

Several seconds later, the drake released its breath.

Fire erupted from its mouth.

The bushes and trees between Karath and the monster ignited instantly.

The roar of flames rushed toward him with terrifying speed.

Then Karath heard something familiar beneath his foot.

Crack.

The ground collapsed.

Karath and Buddy plunged together into the darkness below.

Chapter 55

Three Days Without Karath

“Hiss...”

After releasing its breath, the drake panted heavily while producing the unpleasant sound unique to reptiles.

Breathing fire consumed an enormous amount of energy. Even a drake could not use such an attack carelessly.

However, the tiny prey dancing around in front of it had continued escaping for far too long, irritating the drake until it finally lost patience.

Its body strained by the sudden expenditure of energy, the drake breathed heavily and examined the scene it had created.

The land extending dozens of meters ahead had been reduced to ruins.

Trees and undergrowth burned everywhere.

There was no possibility that such a small creature could have survived within that inferno.

“Hiss?”

The drake tilted its head in confusion.

It could not see the irritating prey anywhere.

Its tongue flicked through the air.

Perhaps the flames had consumed the creature so completely that nothing remained.

The drake quickly lost interest and began moving again.

It had used its breath because of that troublesome prey, but the flames had also burned the surrounding trees, animals, and monsters.

Food now lay scattered across the ground.

Already forgetting its failure to eat Karath, the drake moved toward the charred creatures.

Drip.

Drip. Drip.

Rain began falling from the sky.

It was almost as though the heavens intended to extinguish the forest fire created by the drake.

The monsoon had arrived in the Grimwood Mountains.

Three days had passed since Karath lured the enormous lizard away.

Rain poured over the Bloodclaw settlement.

Only silence remained within the village.

During the first day, every tribesperson believed Karath would return.

On the second, they forced themselves to insist that everything would be fine even as darker possibilities entered their minds.

By the third day, no one spoke.

They merely waited beneath the endless rain, as though hoping the water falling from the sky might wash away their grief.

Only one orc refused to waste time in despair.

“What is it, Krog?”

Grild had already been growing old.

After losing Karath as he had once lost Garthon, the chief seemed to age rapidly with every passing hour.

He endlessly regretted repeating the same mistake.

He had failed to make Garthon chief before his death.

Now he believed he had also waited too long to surrender the position to Karath.

Grild had barely eaten or moved during the past three days.

Every warrior in the settlement had gathered inside his house because Krog insisted there was something they needed to discuss.

“There is something Krog must tell everyone.”

“Then speak.”

The chief answered without strength.

Krog looked around the room.

“What are all of you doing? Sitting here because Karath disappeared is not how warriors of the Bloodclaw Tribe should behave.”

“Disappeared?”

“Karath will return!”

“He will come back. Karath always comes back!”

Several warriors rejected Krog’s words desperately.

Others accepted them through silence.

“On the day Karath left, he gave Krog and Kaden an order. He told us to prepare to hunt that enormous monster.”

“That is true!” Kaden added loudly. “Karath told us exactly that!”

“Krog intends to obey him and prepare to kill the creature.”

Krog had spoken calmly until then.

Suddenly, his voice rose with the force of a speech.

It was one of the skills he had unconsciously learned after spending so many years beside Karath.

“We are warriors of the Bloodclaw Tribe!”

Every eye turned toward him.

“We should not sit here mourning Karath! We should be preparing to take revenge upon the monster that stole him from us!”

Krog swept his gaze across the assembled warriors, meeting their eyes as though challenging each one.

He had completed his coming-of-age ceremony, but he was still only fifteen.

Without Karath, the village would have considered him little more than a young and inexperienced warrior.

“Krahahaha! Krog speaks the truth!”

“Of course! That is what a Bloodclaw warrior should do!”

Power filled Krog’s voice.

One after another, light returned to the warriors’ lifeless eyes.

“Krog and Kaden saw the creature beside Karath,” one of the veterans said. “Have you considered how we might kill it?”

The question itself revealed how much Karath had changed the tribe.

In the past, the words hunting a monster would have meant finding it and swinging a weapon at its skull.

If the prey was weak, the orcs approached quietly so it could not escape.

If it was powerful, they simply gathered more warriors and charged together.

Now, after learning Karath’s methods, they instinctively understood that hunting something stronger than themselves required a strategy.

“Yes. Karath taught Krog what must be done.”

Krog answered confidently.

His hands, however, were clenched tightly from nervousness.

Uncertainty filled his mind.

Could he truly lead these warriors and kill such a monster?

What if one of his decisions caused their deaths?

Most frightening of all, could Krog possibly replace Karath?

An ordinary orc warrior would never have worried in such a way.

Krog had spent more time beside Karath than anyone else, and his way of thinking had gradually changed.

More precisely, Krog had spent years trying to imitate the orc he admired.

That influence also gave him the courage to stand before the tribe now.

He had begun by asking himself what Karath would do.

Krog could not know the exact answer because he was not Karath.

He was certain of one thing.

Karath would never want the tribe to remain helpless like this.

He also would not charge blindly into certain death.

Karath would search for a solution.

That was why Krog, one of the youngest warriors present, had stepped forward.

He wanted to fill even a small part of the space Karath had left behind and continue what Karath had begun.

Accomplishing that might require a small lie, something an honorable orc warrior normally avoided.

Krog silently asked Karath for forgiveness.

Karath had discussed several ideas for improving the settlement, but he had never explained how to kill the enormous reptile.

Krog was now pretending that he had.

“First, we must strengthen our weapons enough to wound the monster.”

“How do we do that?”

“We use the bones of the ogre we killed several days ago. They are the hardest material in the settlement. We can use them to grind our stone blades and bone weapons until they become as sharp and pointed as possible.”

That much truly came from Karath.

He had once explained that the ogre’s bones could be used to improve the tribe’s existing weapons.

Karath had also said they needed to locate something called iron, but Krog had no idea what iron was and left that part unmentioned.

“We also need to dig a pit large enough to trap the creature. It will require an enormous amount of work, but the monsoon can hide the noise.”

“Krahahaha! Then that is what we shall do!”

“We can trap it and attack in turns, just as we did with the ogre!”

The warriors, their energy returning, began contributing ideas of their own.

“Whenever the rain is heavy, the warriors will dig the pit,” Krog continued. “On days without rain, we must hunt for food. The women should sharpen and repair the weapons.”

“Hmm. There will be little prey to butcher during the storms, so they can work on the weapons then.”

As the meeting continued, even Grild slowly regained some strength.

He had lost Karath, but Krog’s awakening offered him a small measure of comfort.

Perhaps someone capable of becoming the tribe’s next chief still remained.

The warriors continued their discussion, occasionally filling the house with the powerful laughter of Bloodclaw orcs.

When the meeting ended and everyone began leaving, Krog stopped Kaden.

“Kaden.”

“What?”

Kaden turned with a puzzled expression.

Then his eyes widened.

Krog was holding out his ogre femur.

“Take it.”

“Why are you giving this to Kaden?”

Only three such weapons had existed in the settlement.

With Karath gone, only two remained.

Kaden could not understand why Krog would surrender one of the tribe’s strongest weapons.

“You should use it against the monster. It will be more effective in your hands than Krog’s.”

Krog’s reasoning was simple.

Regardless of fighting skill or hunting ability, Kaden possessed more raw strength than any warrior in the settlement.

Ordinary attacks would probably fail to harm the massive reptile.

If the tribe’s strongest warrior wielded its strongest weapon, perhaps he could inflict real damage.

“Use it to crush that monster’s skull. If you fail, Krog will use it to crush yours.”

Although Krog knew the decision was logical, his hand trembled as he surrendered the precious weapon.

His pride as an orc warrior had not disappeared entirely.

“Krahahaha! Do not worry, Krog. Kaden will shatter its skull with a single strike!”

Understanding the meaning behind the gesture, Kaden accepted the ogre femur with a confident laugh.

Chapter 56

The Library Beneath the Forest

Drip.

Drip. Drip.

An unfamiliar sound entered Karath’s ears.

“Ghhh...”

He opened his eyes with a groan, pain spreading across his entire body.

Then his final memory returned.

He had fallen through the ground.

Karath realized that the impact of the fall must have knocked him unconscious.

“Woof! Woof!”

Buddy noticed that he was awake and hurried over, licking Karath’s cheek.

“You saved Karath, Buddy.”

Had Karath not followed the wolf before the drake released its breath, he would have been roasted alive.

Drip.

Drip. Drip.

Water continued falling onto his body.

“Damn it.”

Karath wiped his face.

“The monsoon must have begun.”

It had already been close to the rainy season.

That was not the most urgent problem.

“Where is this place?”

Karath did not know where he had fallen.

He moved away from the dripping water and forced himself upright, then examined his surroundings.

A vast ceiling stretched overhead.

Rainwater poured through a hole in one section.

Karath had apparently entered through that opening.

Fortunately, it was not particularly large.

The remains of an enormous tree blocked most of it.

The tree had probably been destroyed by the drake’s breath before falling across the opening.

Karath lowered his gaze and searched the underground chamber.

The first objects he noticed were things he had never seen since reincarnating.

Yet they had once been completely familiar.

“Bookshelves?”

Rows of shelves filled with books stood before him.

The room resembled a library from his former world.

After considering its size, Karath decided it was too small to be a true library.

It looked more like a university professor’s office.

A desk and chair stood beside the shelves, strengthening that impression.

Karath rose and approached the books.

What kind of person had created such a place beneath a monster-infested forest inhabited by ogres and drakes?

What kind of books had that person collected?

Curiosity naturally overwhelmed him.

Learning language and writing from Roberto had truly been fortunate.

Roberto had explained that the continent possessed a common language.

Different kingdoms and regions spoke with varying accents and occasionally used different words, much like regional dialects.

The written language, however, remained the same.

Karath should therefore be able to read these books.

He had studied under Roberto for only three months, so there would certainly be words he did not understand.

Even so, he could attempt to infer their meanings from context.

By the time Karath finished considering those possibilities, he had already reached the nearest shelf.

The first title that caught his attention was Introduction to Magic.

“So magic truly exists.”

Roberto had told him about magic and mages.

Seeing an actual book devoted to the subject still felt strange.

As though drawn by an invisible force, Karath reached out and removed it from the shelf.

He opened the cover and began reading slowly.

Some words were familiar.

Others were completely unknown.

Whenever he encountered one he did not recognize, Karath continued reading and attempted to infer its meaning from the surrounding sentences.

After studying the book for some time, he reached an unexpected conclusion.

“This works almost like writing a program.”

The fundamental structure of magic was remarkably familiar to a former programmer.

Chapter 57

Magic Written Like Code

Karath returned to the beginning of Introduction to Magic and slowly read through it once more.

Sections containing familiar words were easy enough to understand.

Others were filled with unfamiliar vocabulary and proved far more difficult.

Rather than forcing himself to comprehend every sentence, Karath skipped what he could not understand and inferred its meaning from the surrounding context and the information he had already learned.

Rustle.

Rustle.

“As expected... it really is similar.”

By the time he finished the book for a second time, his initial suspicion had become certainty.

The contents of the roughly one-hundred-and-fifty-page book could be reduced to three basic principles.

First, mana flowed through every part of the world.

Second, whenever a particular natural phenomenon occurred, it produced a corresponding pattern in the surrounding mana.

Third, magic involved discovering those patterns and manipulating mana to reproduce natural phenomena artificially.

The important part was that the patterns responsible for different natural phenomena could be logically combined to produce even more varied effects.

To Karath, the process resembled constructing a program from different sections of code.

Magic was not literally identical to programming.

Perhaps he was merely translating an unfamiliar concept into the framework he understood best.

Whatever the case, its underlying principles felt similar enough to something familiar that magic did not seem as incomprehensible as it otherwise might have.

More importantly, magic could accelerate the tribe’s development.

If the book was correct, Karath could use mana to produce various natural phenomena at will.

By combining those effects with his modern knowledge, he might create objects far beyond what should have existed in a primitive society.

The machines would operate through magic rather than electricity, but their functions could still resemble modern technology.

Then again, if magic could create electricity, they would technically still be electrical machines.

Karath amused himself for a moment by arguing against his own thoughts.

No matter how much effort he invested, he had previously believed the Iron Age might be the highest level he could reach.

Forget the Information Age.

Even reaching the Industrial Revolution and creating something resembling a modern society seemed impossible.

Possessing modern knowledge did not mean one person could reproduce thousands of years of human progress within a single generation.

Magic changed that calculation.

With it, Karath might be able to create a strange civilization that appeared medieval in most respects while possessing scattered pieces of modern technology.

Its value would not be limited to conveniences.

Perhaps magic also offered a way to kill the monster that chased him.

The drake’s appearance alone had convinced Karath that the Bloodclaw Tribe could not defeat it with their current strength.

Being pursued by the creature had transformed that suspicion into certainty.

A single sweep of its tail had shattered dozens of trees.

Even more frightening was the fact that its scales had remained completely unmarked after smashing through hundreds of trunks during the chase.

If its scales were that durable, how strong were the muscles and bones beneath them?

The breath it released at the end remained terrifying even in memory.

Perhaps one of the spells in this place could harm it.

Karath might not even need to use conventional magic.

By combining magical principles with modern knowledge, he might someday construct a modern weapon.

A railgun powered by magic instead of gunpowder was one possibility.

There was only one problem.

Could Karath actually use magic?

According to the book, the first requirement for becoming a mage was the ability to sense and manipulate mana.

That ability depended entirely upon natural talent.

Someone who failed at the first step had no path forward.

The other requirements were the intelligence to understand and apply magical principles, along with the perseverance to continue studying.

Karath possessed more than enough of both, thanks to the memories and experiences of his previous life.

“There is only one way to find out.”

Having reached a decision, Karath sat cross-legged on the floor and opened the book again.

“Let us see...”

Perhaps being alone without any tribespeople nearby caused the habit to emerge.

Karath hummed to himself like a middle-aged man from his former world while turning the pages.

Chapter Two: Mana

What Is Mana?

He reached the section he had marked during his previous readings.

After studying it one final time and committing the instructions to memory, Karath placed the book on the ground.

“Haa.”

He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Mana flows through every part of the world. Most people fail to perceive it precisely because it has always surrounded them.

Karath recalled the sentences one by one and attempted to sense mana.

Naturally, he did not succeed immediately.

More accurately, he had no idea what mana was supposed to feel like.

He wished someone could guide him.

The book explained that most people could not recognize mana because its presence was too familiar.

Only individuals with extraordinary talent sensed it without assistance.

For that reason, a teacher normally helped the student.

The teacher gathered the scattered mana in the area or cast a spell nearby, making it concentrated enough for the student to recognize.

Anyone who still failed to perceive it after such assistance lacked the aptitude to become a mage.

Karath paused.

Gathered mana?

A familiar scene entered his mind.

During the Harvest Festival, the Prophecy Festival, and coming-of-age ceremonies, the tribe’s shaman had used mystical powers.

Each time, a translucent energy resembling heat haze flowed from the shaman’s mouth and body.

Could that have been mana?

With nothing to lose, Karath concentrated upon the memory.

He recalled the strange translucent energy he had witnessed repeatedly over the years and tried to remember exactly how it felt.

Was this it?

Karath did not know how long he remained focused.

Eventually, he sensed countless faint traces of energy surrounding him.

They were far weaker than the shimmering power emitted by the shaman, but the sensation was unmistakably similar.

Determined not to lose them, Karath maintained his concentration and cautiously opened his eyes.

“Ah...”

The world had changed.

Something flowed through every empty space he had previously believed contained nothing.

It moved like air, invisible yet present everywhere.

Karath understood instinctively.

This was the mana described in the book.

Now that he could sense it, he needed to proceed to the next stage.

Karath inhaled deeply.

As air entered his lungs, a portion of the surrounding mana traveled with it.

Ordinarily, it should have left his body again when he exhaled.

Instead, Karath held his breath and attempted to interfere with the energy while remaining conscious of its presence.

At first, nothing happened.

The mana he inhaled escaped completely with each breath.

Karath repeated the process.

Again.

Again.

Eventually, a tiny amount began lingering within his lungs instead of leaving immediately.

The book instructed him to circulate that energy through his body.

Karath carefully guided the mana that remained inside him.

Much of it escaped during the attempt.

Only an unimaginably small trace, no larger than a speck of dust, completed the circulation.

To his surprise, that fragment did not return to nature.

It settled within his body.

Karath’s concentration sharpened.

The first success, however small, filled him with unexpected excitement.

He drew another breath and began gathering mana again.

 Chapter 58

The Laboratory Beneath the Mountain

Karath spent his first day underground sensing and accumulating mana.

On the second morning, he began exploring the facility.

He needed to understand what kind of place he had discovered.

More urgently, he needed to locate an exit.

Finding magic here meant little if he could never return to the Bloodclaw settlement.

After searching the underground structure, Karath concluded that it had once been a private research laboratory.

One chamber appeared to have served as a bedroom.

Another contained what remained of a cooking area.

The room where Karath first fell held the bookshelves, desk, and equipment that made it the main laboratory.

He eventually found an exit as well.

Unfortunately, rain was pouring beyond it.

The storm was so violent that returning to the settlement immediately would be extremely difficult.

Traveling through heavy rain was exhausting under ordinary circumstances.

In a primeval forest without roads, it became far more dangerous.

Karath also had no clear understanding of his current location.

The final stages of the chase had been too desperate for him to observe the surrounding terrain or remember his direction.

He would need to reconstruct the route using the few landmarks he had noticed while fleeing.

Returning empty-handed would accomplish little anyway.

He still lacked any method of dealing with the drake.

Whether he later returned to this laboratory or carried the books back to the village, he needed to preserve a route between the two locations.

The torrential rain made leaving markings difficult and carrying books even worse.

There was one small comfort.

The drake would also struggle to locate the settlement in weather like this.

Karath had lured it a considerable distance away.

The creature had never directly seen the village and had no reason to know its exact location.

Unless it wandered blindly through the storm and reached the settlement through impossible misfortune, it should not attack within the next few days.

At least, Karath desperately needed that to be true.

Otherwise, risking his life to lure it away would have meant nothing.

He decided to focus on what he could accomplish.

The monsoon did not produce relentless rain from its beginning until its end.

There should be a period of lighter weather within several days.

Karath could return to the tribe then.

He repeated several times that the village would remain safe until he arrived, gradually calming himself.

Once his anxiety eased, another question occurred to him.

How had this place remained untouched?

It possessed a visible exit, yet not a single monster appeared to have entered.

Curiosity drew Karath one step beyond the entrance.

When he turned to look back, he immediately understood why the laboratory had remained hidden.

The cave entrance was gone.

A steep mountainside stood in its place, with half of Karath’s body seemingly buried inside the rock.

This was the power of magic.

Some form of illusion concealed the entrance.

More precisely, the passage appeared to have been carved through a real section of the mountainside.

The opening was only large enough for one person to pass through, while the surrounding slope was genuine stone.

A massive monster moving through such a broad and steep area had almost no chance of noticing a narrow opening it could not even see.

Karath had no idea how the spell worked.

That only made it more fascinating.

If magic could produce such a convincing phenomenon, it would undoubtedly become useful to the tribe.

He returned inside and decided to study until the rain weakened.

Karath had expected the storm to ease after two or three days.

Instead, the downpour continued without pause for five full days.

He repeatedly wondered whether something had happened to the settlement.

Each time, he reminded himself that it should still be safe.

The drake had not lived near the Bloodclaw territory before.

None of the elders had ever spoken of such a creature, which meant it had entered the region only recently.

It did not know the surrounding land.

The violent rain would make finding the village even less likely.

Karath used those arguments to control his anxiety while waiting for the storm to end.

He did not spend the time idly.

Karath continued reading the books on the shelves and practicing magic.

Gradually, his efforts began producing results.

“Haa.”

He took a slow breath and sent the mana accumulated inside his body toward his fingertips.

Using it as a connection, Karath interfered with the mana flowing naturally through the air.

He forced the external energy into a specific pattern above his palm.

Flare.

The moment the pattern was completed, a small flame appeared over his hand.

It was the First Circle spell Fire.

“Haa. At least it takes only five seconds now.”

Karath had begun attempting spells on the second day.

Manipulating mana already circulating within his body felt completely different from using that mana to influence the surrounding energy.

The difficulty was far greater.

During the first day of spell practice, every attempt ended with Karath exhausting the mana he had gathered and being forced to rest.

He alternated between resting and attempting the spell countless times.

Several hours passed before he successfully produced Fire for the first time.

After repeating the process for another three and a half days, he could now complete it in approximately five seconds.

First Circle spells possessed simple structures and required only a single pattern.

Their calculations were not especially complicated.

Once Karath became accustomed to interfering with external mana, they were relatively easy to cast.

The location also contributed greatly to his rapid progress.

During the five days underground, Karath read several additional books from the shelves.

He discovered that all of them had been written by the same author.

The mage’s name was Renstein, and Karath suspected he had once owned this underground laboratory.

According to Renstein’s writings, the Grimwood Mountains possessed an unusually high concentration of mana compared with most other regions.

That abundance had made it far easier for Karath to sense, absorb, and manipulate mana.

First Circle spells also explained how he and Buddy survived five days underground without serious difficulty.

Drinking water was simple.

Rain fell constantly outside.

Food was more troublesome.

Buddy occasionally ventured into the storm and returned with small prey such as rabbits.

Karath then used Fire and other First Circle spells to clean and cook them.

At last, the miserable routine came to an end.

After five uninterrupted days, the rain finally stopped.

“Then it is time to return.”

Karath had prepared in advance.

The moment he confirmed the storm had weakened, he left the underground laboratory.

He carried a leather bag discovered while searching the rooms.

Inside it, he had packed the magical books closest to his current level, along with several objects that appeared useful.

Before departing, Karath deliberately moved a short distance from the concealed entrance and swung his ogre femur against the stone.

Crash!

The blow left a visible mark that would help him locate the laboratory when he returned.

After completing every preparation, Karath encountered one final problem.

“Damn it. Which direction leads home?”

He had no idea which way to travel.

The possibility that the rain might begin again before he reached the settlement made the uncertainty even worse.

Buddy suddenly walked away with complete confidence.

Karath followed, hoping the wolf knew something he did not.

Buddy glanced back to confirm Karath was behind him, then increased his pace.

They traveled for two or three hours, alternating between a light run and a rapid walk to conserve energy.

Gradually, Karath began recognizing the surrounding terrain.

They had reached the section of forest through which he fled during the early stages of the drake’s pursuit, before exhaustion and panic erased his awareness of the route.

From there, Karath knew the way.

He overtook Buddy and began running ahead.

Before long, he reached a familiar area used by the Bloodclaw warriors as a hunting ground.

Several tribesmen were hunting nearby.

The moment they saw Karath, they froze.

“Karath?”

“You are alive?”

Their voices carried complete disbelief.

Chapter 59

The Ancestors’ Gift

“You were alive?”

At the warriors’ shocked question, Karath scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

He could hardly shout, “Did you really think Karath died?”

Given the circumstances and the number of days that had passed, even Karath would have assumed the same.

“Nothing happened to the settlement, did it?”

Instead of explaining everything he had experienced, Karath answered their question with one of his own while wearing an embarrassed smile.

He would eventually need to tell the entire tribe what happened.

There was no reason to repeat the story separately to every warrior he encountered along the way.

“Your disappearance was the biggest thing that happened, you bastard!”

“Where did you go, and why are you only returning now?”

Apparently forgetting they were standing in the middle of the monster-infested forest, the warriors abandoned all thought of concealment and rushed toward him while shouting.

Judging from their reaction, the drake had not attacked the settlement during the past five days.

Thud!

Thud!

The fists pounding Karath’s body in celebration were far less reassuring.

“Let us return to the village!”

“Today, we celebrate!”

The two warriors happily struck him several more times before making the declaration.

“What kind of festival can we hold during the monsoon?”

“A warrior we thought was dead has returned. Of course there will be a festival.”

“That is right. Today will be the Resurrection Festival.”

“What resurrection?”

Anyone overhearing them might believe Karath had died and returned to life five days later.

He was not some divine savior.

Besides, the famous resurrection from his old world had taken three days, not five.

“Forget the festival. Karath will return to the settlement first. There are things he needs to do.”

“Fine. We will catch enough prey for the celebration and follow shortly.”

The hunters remained behind to fulfill their responsibilities.

Karath continued alone toward the settlement.

He encountered another hunting group on the way and received a second enthusiastic beating, but nothing else happened before he reached the village.

“Karath?”

“You are alive?”

The tribespeople reacted exactly like the warriors in the forest.

Karath looked around nervously.

Surely they would not greet him with their fists too.

Being struck by two or three warriors was manageable.

If every orc remaining in the settlement celebrated that way, Karath might reach the afterlife after surviving the drake.

He swallowed dryly.

“Karath!”

Delina moved faster than anyone else and wrapped him in her arms.

“Karath has returned. His first night away from home simply lasted a little longer than expected.”

Perhaps he was relieved that nothing had happened to the village.

Perhaps the warmth of Delina’s embrace reminded him of childhood.

Whatever the reason, Karath greeted her with a playful answer like a young boy returning after mischief.

Thus ended the first extended absence of his orc life.

Grild’s house contained the largest indoor space in the settlement.

The chief and every available warrior gathered there.

Karath had already greeted the women and children who remained in the village.

Now the hunters and scouts had returned as well, allowing the tribe to hear everything at once.

“Karath.”

Grild spoke with a solemn expression.

The chief looked noticeably older than he had five days earlier, as though the worry had aged him years.

“Yes, Chief.”

“Karath’s return fills Grild with joy. However, as chief, he must ask this question. Where were you for five days, what were you doing, and what is inside the burden on your back?”

Grild had spoken for everyone in the room.

As the one responsible for their worry, Karath should probably have answered honestly.

That created several problems.

Would the tribe accept knowledge created by humans?

How would Karath explain that he could read and speak the human language?

That explanation would eventually require revealing his secret meetings with Roberto when he was ten years old.

The matter was complicated.

Karath had considered the problem from the moment he began learning magic in the underground laboratory.

After thinking for several days, he had prepared a solution.

“While the drake chased Karath, he fell from a cliff and lost consciousness.”

“Is the drake the enormous lizard monster?”

“Yes. While unconscious, Karath entered a place that may have been a dream or vision. There, he met the ancestors.”

“What?”

“You met the ancestors?”

The warriors reacted with astonishment.

They were not shocked because they doubted an absurd lie.

Their expressions revealed absolute belief.

“The ancestors shared knowledge that will help Karath protect the settlement.”

“Then the burden on your back contains that knowledge?”

“Yes. These objects contain what Karath spent the last five days organizing from the teachings the ancestors gave him.”

Grild stared at the magical books Karath removed from his leather bag.

His face contained nothing but wonder.

There was no suspicion.

That reaction was natural from the tribe’s perspective.

The shaman had discovered Karath’s spiritual aptitude when he was around nine or ten.

Orc shamanism centered upon communing with the ancestors.

A vision containing their teachings was therefore entirely believable.

“What are these strange pictures?” Grild asked while examining one of the books.

“They are also knowledge given by the ancestors. They said these symbols are necessary to learn and use the power they entrusted to Karath.”

“So you required five days to organize everything they revealed.”

“As expected of Karath. He received wisdom directly from the ancestors.”

“The ancestors continue watching over the Bloodclaw Tribe. Keh heh heh.”

Karath spoke his ridiculous lies with a perfectly serious expression.

Grild and the warriors nodded in admiration.

Karath felt slightly guilty and changed the subject.

“Did anything happen while Karath was gone?”

“There was one important event.”

Karath had expected the answer to be no.

He had asked only to redirect the conversation, but Grild surprised him.

“Two days ago, on the third day after your disappearance, Krog gathered every warrior.”

Grild explained what Krog had said and what the tribe had done afterward.

When the story ended, Karath looked toward Krog in surprise.

Trying to kill the drake with a trap similar to the one used against the ogre was probably unrealistic.

Everything else surpassed Karath’s expectations.

Krog had remembered Karath’s earlier ideas and begun improving the tribe’s weapons.

More impressively, a fifteen-year-old warrior still regarded as a youngster had stepped forward and attempted to lead the adults.

Krog met Karath’s surprised gaze with a broad, delighted smile.

Nothing else seemed to matter to him.

Karath had returned alive.

What an adorable fool.

Had Krog possessed anything other than the fierce face of an orc warrior, Karath might have crossed the room and kissed him.

Krog’s actions also created a valuable opportunity.

Karath would not need to personally direct every part of the tribe for a while.

That mattered because he desperately needed time.

“Chief, Karath has a request.”

“What is it?”

“The ancestors gave Karath their knowledge, but he has only organized it. He has not yet mastered everything.”

“That is understandable. Learning the wisdom of the great ancestors cannot be easy.”

Grild nodded thoughtfully.

“Karath asks for time to study it. He believes he must learn this knowledge as quickly as possible if the tribe is to hunt the drake.”

“You are correct. Hunting and patrols are important, but neither can be more important than understanding knowledge left by the ancestors. That is especially true if they gave it to protect the settlement from danger.”

“Exactly.”

“The chief speaks wisely!”

With the permission of Grild and the warriors, Karath’s secluded training began.

Chapter 60

Rewriting Magic

One month passed after Karath withdrew from his ordinary duties.

Calling it secluded training made the arrangement sound far more impressive than it truly was.

The Bloodclaw settlement had no isolated cultivation cave like those found in martial arts stories.

Such a thing could hardly exist within a primitive society.

Karath simply remained inside his house.

Each day, he reread the books brought from the laboratory, accumulated mana, and repeatedly practiced spells.

“Fire Arrow.”

A month of training produced significant results.

Karath could now use Second Circle magic with reasonable ease.

First Circle spells activated almost as soon as he formed the intention.

Even Second Circle spells required only around five seconds.

“It really is similar to coding.”

The habit of speaking to himself had grown stronger during a month spent researching alone.

A First Circle spell required the creation of one mana pattern.

Second Circle magic demanded that two different patterns be controlled and combined simultaneously.

A Third Circle spell required three.

As the circle increased, both the number of calculations and the volume of mana being manipulated rose multiplicatively rather than additively.

It resembled writing nested loops in a program.

The difference was that a programmer only wrote the code and allowed a computer to perform the calculations.

With magic, Karath had to calculate every overlapping process personally while manipulating mana to match it.

Now that he could use Second Circle spells freely, Karath also understood the theory behind several Third Circle spells.

His mana control was not yet refined enough to manage the required complexity reliably.

More importantly, his mana reserves were pathetically small for unrestricted Third Circle casting.

That did not mean Third Circle magic was completely beyond his reach.

“Fireball.”

Karath spoke the activation phrase, although the words themselves contributed nothing to the spell.

After a month of solitary research, meaningless incantations had simply become another form of talking to himself.

He manipulated mana.

A crimson sphere appeared above his palm.

It was a simplified Fireball created through a shortcut of Karath’s own design.

The difficulty of a spell increased according to the number of patterns it required.

The circle system described in the books was essentially a classification based upon how many separate mana structures composed the spell.

Fire Arrow, the Second Circle spell Karath had cast earlier, combined the First Circle elemental spell Fire with a directional pattern that launched the flame toward a target.

The spell received its name because the moving fire resembled an arrow.

A standard Third Circle Fireball added compression to the structure of Fire Arrow.

Once the condensed flames reached their destination, they exploded like a grenade.

That explanation gave Karath an idea.

He modified the written formula for Fireball and removed every component related to direction.

The result was a spell containing only two patterns, flame and compression.

Its complexity therefore fell to the level of a Second Circle spell.

The drawback was obvious.

Without the directional structure, the sphere could not fly.

Karath would need to carry it personally and detonate it at close range.

The spell showed remarkably little concern for the safety of its caster.

Even if it lacked immediate practical value, creating the simplified Fireball remained important.

Renstein’s books appeared to have been written for teaching.

They broke down the calculation process of spells from every circle and even quantified the amount of mana required during each step.

Every spell had been formalized.

Karath did not have enough time to follow the books exactly and master magic through the slow, traditional sequence they recommended.

The drake had not attacked during the previous month.

Perhaps the fading monsoon kept it away.

Perhaps it had moved into another region.

That did not matter.

The creature could eventually approach the settlement again.

Other monsters equally powerful might also be hiding elsewhere in the Grimwood Mountains.

With Karath’s current mana reserves, freely casting Third Circle spells remained impossible.

Mana capacity could only be increased through persistent training over time.

According to the standardized magic described in the books, harming the drake would require at least Fourth Circle magic.

Realistically, Karath suspected even that might be insufficient.

A Fifth Circle spell would offer a better chance.

Unfortunately, each increase in circle multiplied both the difficulty of mana control and the energy required.

Karath might need several years before reaching that level.

The tribe did not possess several years to wait safely.

He needed shortcuts.

Karath would dismantle standardized spells into their individual components, combine them differently, and incorporate modern knowledge to create dramatically more efficient weapons.

Fortunately, that kind of work felt familiar.

Few developers or programmers wrote every line of code entirely by themselves.

Whenever they needed an unfamiliar function or encountered a problem, they searched through online documentation, technical blogs, public repositories, and programming forums.

The important distinction was whether someone copied the borrowed code without understanding it or dismantled it, understood every part, and optimized it for the specific program being created.

Karath had always belonged to the second type.

Someone else’s code rarely fit perfectly into his own work.

More importantly, analyzing and adapting code had felt like a game to him during university.

Breaking apart Renstein’s standardized spells by pattern and recombining them into new structures therefore felt remarkably similar to programming.

That did not mean Karath was enjoying himself.

The emotion inside him resembled something else entirely.

“Damn it. This feels exactly like the days before Karath worked himself to death.”

Running a small company had never been comfortable.

The futures of dozens of employees depended upon his decisions.

That responsibility created unbearable pressure.

The final project of Arnold’s life had determined whether the company would survive.

As the contract deadline approached, the unfinished software drove him toward madness.

He worked through night after night until overwork ended his life.

The current situation felt almost identical.

In truth, it was worse.

If the company had failed, Arnold’s employees would not have died immediately.

This time, failure could mean the destruction of everyone Karath considered family.

Unless he found a method of killing the drake and other monsters of similar power, the Bloodclaw Tribe might eventually be slaughtered.

Under that pressure, Karath continued his research.

This time, he would not allow his life to end meaninglessly.

He would protect his family until the very end.

Though he remained only a Second Circle mage, Karath continued dismantling and rebuilding magic.