If Davey came back with a wound, it was likely that Amy would strongly insist to have the wound treated. But this time, since there was no wound, Amy just looked around and was puzzled by the strange atmosphere surrounding the trio.

At times like this, Amy seemed more like a nanny than a lady-in-waiting. It wasn’t an impression that Davey should have of a girl younger than him, but Amy always gave Davey particular care.

Swish! Swish! It was a silent night. Although there was that incident at the banquet hall, the Duchy of Felicity still maintained a festive atmosphere. Not everybody knew about the incident in the first place, and nobles having such a petty fight was just hearsay to the people here.

While Davey was quietly reading, Baris swung his sword and asked cautiously, “Do you think it’ll be alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if he seems that way, Prince Baltian is the most promising candidate for the crown prince. I wonder if he’ll be vindictive because of the incident.”

“He can do whatever he wants.” Davey calmly buried his face in his book again.

Looking over at Davey, Baltian gave a hollow smile. Then he laid down his sword and sat at his seat.

“What about Winley?” Davey asked.

“She must’ve been exhausted from worrying too much. She fell asleep a little while ago.”

“You’re competing in the competition from tomorrow onwards, aren’t you? From what I know, you’re competing in the first round.”

“I can’t really sleep.” Baris quietly closed his eyes, as if something had set fire to his soul. “It looked weird, but you did crush him once. However, that’s not enough for me.”

“Then, what?”

“I will crush Prince Baltian with my own hands.”

‘Crush him with his own hands.’ Davey could see Baris’ strong determination.

Baris’ level was ‘Intermediate Expert’, while Prince Baltian, who fought against Davey, was ‘Beginner Expert’. In terms of mastery, Baris was more advanced, but it was difficult to predict the battle’s outcome. They were still on the same level of ‘Expert’, after all. The outcome would only be certain if there was an exceptional difference. That was why Baris was more concerned.

Davey gave a bitter smile. He wanted to teach Baris the swordsmanship he had learned, but nothing would change from just one day of lessons. He offered encouragement instead. “Don’t worry. You’ll do great.”

Baris chuckled while evening out his mana. “Of course. I’m your brother, after all.”

“Man, you’re laying on the butter real thick.”

“Haha!” After a chuckle, Baris soon got rid of his gentle smile. He seemed to be deep in thought.

“Hm…” Davey became somewhat curious. He focused his mana on his eyes as he watched Baris, who was sitting on a branch on the garden floor.

Whoosh… As the mana focused, Davey could see the mana revolving in Baris’ body, and the widespread and even movement of Baris’ mana.

‘It’s uniform.’ This was Davey's first thought when he saw Baris’ mana. Baris’ flow of mana was not too bad, but it did feel a little blocked in certain parts. Then, Davey had another thought, ‘I’ll help him, just a little bit.’

The method that Davey knew was from another world, and it violated the commonly accepted knowledge about the basic training method. If this method were to become well-known, it would cause quite a commotion. It wasn’t for no reason that many large clans in the martial arts world put their strength towards executing ‘Reborn’. This wasn’t something that Davey would normally use, but he didn’t want to be stingy with his own brother. Also, he was worried that the vengeful Baltian might do something to Baris.

“Baris.”

“Yes?”

“Let me give you a massage.” Davey calmly stepped off the branch, walked toward the sitting Baris, and went to face his back. As Baris closed his eyes and waited for Davey, Davey thought, ‘It’s going to hurt a little.’

“Keuhuk?! Big… Big brother?!”

“Hm. Your muscles seem really tense.”

“W… Wait!”

“It certainly is really knotted up.” Davey commented while massaging Baris’ shoulders.

Baris clenched his teeth and gasped for air. He wanted to escape, but he couldn’t do anything. He was losing strength in his entire body. “Keuhuk?! Keugh!”

“Yikes, this is bad.”

Baris was probably wondering why a simple massage hurt his entire body this bad.

‘Sorry, but this is not just a regular massage.’ Davey could see Baris’ expression. The mana, which Davey was spreading inside Baris through the massage, was secretly stimulating Baris’ mana, and forcing its movement without Baris noticing. Even with this simple explanation, it was obvious how much of a difference this would make. ‘Apparently xxxxland-style massages are quite effective.’

“Di mak!” [1]

While Davey kneaded the hardened mana inside Baris to make it flow, Baris was collapsed on the ground and trembling. “Hup! Keugh! What is… Aghh?!”

Davey smiled with satisfaction at the difference in the movement of Baris’ mana. ‘Ah, I forgot the back-up plan.’ Ignoring Baris, who was trying to catch his breath, Davey then spread out his right hand to gather mana. The mana began to shine in the shape of a small and elaborate magic circle, and Davey slapped Baris on the back as soon as it formed.

“Aagh?!”

“Look at the state your body is in right now. Yet you want to train? Just go to sleep.” Davey slapped Baris’ back again after talking to him in a criticizing manner. Baris let out another loud scream, but Davey only gave him another slap. He also made sure the small, gold magic circle engraved on Baris’ back was securely fixed.

‘I hope he doesn’t have to use it unless it’s necessary.’

Baris seemingly looked at Davey with discontent, but he probably had no idea. He was probably clueless as to how the part of his muscles, which Davey twisted while pretending to massage him, was changing.

* * *

It was a new day, and the continental swordsmanship competition officially began. This was important. The competition was a long-standing tradition, and it had seamlessly kept international harmony up until now. After all, a dispute at the competition would only become a conflict between countries. War wasn’t completely eradicated in the continent, but it was probably true that these competitions were suppressing war as much as possible by promoting harmony.

Davey pretended to feel ill, and he stayed behind. He repeatedly focused on concentrating and spreading his mana at his fingertips while sitting on the edge of his bed. Since Baris’ competition began in the afternoon, he would only be seeing the cute tricks of selfishly talented greenhorns if he went now.

“There’s enough mana inside to cast [Aura Blade], so why am I not undergoing ‘Transformation’?” While helping everyone else, Davey hadn’t been examining his own body very well. He knew very well that his body was moving very differently than normal, but this was too far off from his expectations.

All the heroes at the Hall of Heroes described ‘Metamorph’ as a self-evolution that took place when the physical body encountered the limit of growth. It was the only benefit of humans, who did not have an affinity with spirits or elves with long lifespans, the toughness and delicateness of dwarves, or the great evil power of demons. ‘Metamorph’ was the only change that happened once they embraced everything.

A normal ‘Metamorph’ happened when one began to embrace either a humanly impossible amount of mana, or another power. Therefore, as one reaches ‘Swordmaster’ from ‘Expert’, the mana, that had grown to its limit, gathers rapidly and evolves on its own when one reaches a certain point of enlightenment.

‘Metamorph’ would increase one’s strength, make their body stronger, maintain their youth, and lengthen their lives. It was a massive reward that came along with the effort.

But in Davey’s case, most of it was dormant. He only came back with an unimaginable amount of mana in him. It was like the mana, which was supposed to be accumulated slowly, entered all at once.

‘It wasn’t normal for me to go there in a coma in the first place.’ There was probably a reason why Davey went to the Hall, since everything happened for a reason. However, that wasn’t any of his business for now. All Davey wanted was to live a comfortable and long life. Because both his previous and present life were too short, Davey was a little obsessed with having a long life. ‘My goal in life is to live a long, happy, and healthy life.’

Davey had no intention of just sitting back and watching anyone interfere with his plans. Being a prince was incomparably safer than being a commoner, but it was also much more dangerous in a way. And since Davey had no backing, it was up to him to keep himself safe. However, it was troubling as the ‘Metamorph’ wasn’t happening.

“It happened easily in the Hall.” Biting back his complaints, Davey contemplated, ‘Should I force the ‘Metamorph’?’ He casually muttered something that would make the many knights, who longed to reach a higher level, pass out if they heard it.

There were many ways to do so, but Davey knew that they were all inefficient. He got rid of that idea after some thought.

‘Metamorph’ was something that naturally happened if the body was overloaded or given an opportunity. Even if Davey had experience, the human body and mana were unknown territory. If he were to force it, that would be like upgrading a game item with a 1% success rate, just vaguely thinking that it would somehow work for sure. The possibility of failure was real, and this involved Davey’s precious body and not some small piece of data, so it wasn’t even worth considering.

“Your Highness, His Highness Prince Baris’ match will start soon.”

“Is it?”

As Davey was silently training his mana for a while, Amy quietly peeked into the room and reported with an anxious face, “If you go any later, you might miss the match…” She looked like she was worried that Davey would do something absurd again.

‘I didn’t do anything! Well, I did do some abnormal things in front of her often, but this is still rude of her!’

“Amy.”

“Yes… Yes?”

“Let’s go.’

“Hup! Yes!” The worried-looking Amy lowered her head as she was startled.

‘There’s a lot I need to figure out, but let’s focus on the present now.’ At the Hall, Davey learned that he had to be patient. He slowly made his way there while fixing the garments of his comfortable activity attire.

* * *

The amphitheater of the Duchy of Felicity was truly a beautiful stadium. It was now filled with people.

The age limit for eligible participants in the competition was 20. It was a competition between youngsters, but it certainly wasn’t an inferior competition; after all, everyone here were talented representatives of their countries. In fact, even if normal people became knights after having their abilities recognized, it was difficult for them to reach the level of ‘Expert’. It meant that most knights could only use mana to some extent, although most palace knights would reach ‘Expert’ somehow. In that way, Baris’ gift was quite exceptional.

Davey headed to the special seat reserved for nobility, which was located above the regular seats. It seemed like they could’ve accommodated more people if these seats were gone, but Davey wasn’t that righteous to say that this wasn’t fair treatment.

“Whoop! Woooow!” Everyone cheered with a tensed expression and sweat in their palms.

Davey could see a boy doing a victory ceremony above the stadium.

“Oh, brother!” Winley, who was observing outside through the glass while chomping down on a cookie, was delighted to see Davey. “You’ve arrived. Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah.” Davey could never tell Winley that he couldn’t come because his stomach hurt.

‘These damn stomach movements!’ Eventually, Davey would have to use holy power or something if he couldn’t undergo ‘Metamorph’.

“Where’s Baris?”

“The match will begin soon.”