Chapter 181 – Chapter 37: Confluence

10,000 years ago, the Red Dragon of Apocalypse had destroyed all civilizations on the earth. The beautiful and glorious civilization of the indigenous species were completely lost to the world.

It was strange.

Drakon Kechatulla, the great dragon warrior, had fought against the red dragon by collecting all the power of the elder dragons of that time and had been finally able to defeat it.

The red dragon had destroyed all civilizations but not the world.

There were remnants of the indigenous species all over the world. The giants and lizardmen, species created by the indigenous species to fight against the Four Riders and the Red Dragon of the Apocalypse, had lost their first appearance but their bloodline continued.

However, the bloodline of the indigenous species had died out completely; they had no descendants.

What had replaced them? What had happened?

There was almost no one left in the world who knew this truth.

&

The next morning, In-gong rushed out of the Sanctuary. It wasn’t due to the sword duke but because In-gong felt some strange.

‘Conquest.’

He was able to sense the mood of the white woman deep in his soul. She wanted to leave the Sanctuary as soon as possible.

The reason wasn’t clear. It was still difficult for In-gong to communicate with Conquest. Sometimes he could sense Conquest’s feelings, but at present, she was more difficult than usual. She closed her eyes and seemed to be trembling with anxiety.

‘Is it because of the Sanctuary?’

In-gong couldn’t think of any other reason.

He left the Sanctuary with the sword duke and ran toward the cave with the transportation formation. They left the silver top and crossed the snowy field. There was something the sword duke hadn’t told In-gong yet.

In-gong cut off his thoughts and looked ahead. As the distance from the Sanctuary increased, Conquest’s mood improved.

Once they arrived at the cave, the boy and girl from yesterday welcomed the sword duke. They talked in the sura language, but this time, In-gong didn’t feel any discomfort because he had already learnt it. The sword duke gave a few orders to the boy and girl before guiding In-gong to a room next to the transportation formation. It seemed to be a naturally created room, but the word ‘training’ flashed through his head.

“Prince, please sit comfortably on the magic circle in the center of the room. I will finish organizing your aura before returning to the castle.”

“I understand.”

Instead of explaining things one by one, he was going to move the aura directly.

‘That is much better.’

In-gong was more accustomed to knowledge being pounded into his body, rather than learning one by one. He sat down, and the sword duke immediately sat behind him.

“Prince, take off your coat and circulate it naturally as you normally do. I will slowly intervene.”

After taking off his coat, In-gong started to circulate his aura. Then a white aura started to rise around In-gong’s body.

The sword duke held back a laugh. It had been only a few months since he first encountered In-gong at Thunderdoom Fortress, but the aura couldn’t even be compared to that time. It had grown tremendously in quantity and quality.

The sword duke breathed in and raised both palms to In-gong’s back. Not long after, he once again felt in awe.

It wasn’t because In-gong’s skin was very white and smooth. It was the circulation of aura occurring inside In-gong’s body which amazed the sword duke. He already knew In-gong had several aura hearts. So, it wasn’t surprising since the sword duke and demon king also had many hearts. However, he was more surprised than expected when he looked directly at the circulation.

In-gong had three aura hearts. He had a natural aura heart, the Moonlight Core, and the dragon heart, which was the most mysterious one. The sword duke hadn’t realized the dragon heart was in In-gong’s body, but the surprises didn’t end there.

The dragon heart wasn’t only involved in aura circulation. Magic power poured out of the dragon heart and interlocked with the other aura hearts. The magic power simulated an aura heart, making it four aura hearts instead of three.

As the number of aura hearts grew, the benefits would increase in two ways. One advantage was that the volume of aura would increase. The other was that the aura would become stronger and faster by connecting two aura hearts. The sword duke adjusted the way the aura hearts were connected so that In-gong’s circulation would improve. The result of the four aura hearts interlocking perfectly caused the sword duke’s heart to pound.

That wasn’t all. The sword duke was once again impressed with In-gong’s aura. No, this time he was surprised.

There weren’t just aura and magic power inside In-gong’s power. There was also psychic power and divine power. The sword duke already knew that there were many forces inside In-gong’s body. The movements of the psychic power and divine power deviated from the sword duke’s expectations.

The two forces should be independent of the circulation of aura. However, it wasn’t like that. Both powers responded a little bit to the circulation of aura. It was only a small movement, and there was no effect on the circulation of aura. However, the sword duke read the possibilities.

In-gong had already created a pseudo-heart made out of magic power. If so, there was a possibility for pseudo-hearts to be made out of psychic power and divine power. It might truly be possible, and if so, the aura hearts would be made up of four different powers.

The sword duke swallowed his saliva. The pounding of his heart wasn’t enough. He couldn’t hide his excitement. Laughter emerged; it was uncontrollable laughter.

‘Gandharva.’

No, it wasn’t just them. It was evident that something else was involved.

The sword duke could feel the power of an elder dragon from the dragon heart. It made sense since the 9th Prince had some equipment of the elder dragons.

The divinity of the gandharva, the dragon heart of an elder dragon, and the Moonlight Extract of the lycanthropes… However, it didn’t end there. There was still the most important thing remaining.

‘Extreme Nothingness.’

The essence of nothingness which contained the demon king’s achievements. The seed was lodged in In-gong’s spirit.

The sword duke was finally able to understand the demon king. He understood what the demon king had said about the torrent of destiny.

Aura, magic power, psychic power, and divine power… If all four powers created an aura heart, there would be no limits.

The sword duke broke off from his imagination. He was overly excited, but that would ruin In-gong’s aura circulation instead of helping it.

‘There is a sense of commitment.’

Was it because the demon king acknowledged the child of the 5th Queen as his? The sword duke laughed and denied it. It wasn’t that. The demon king he knew wasn’t such a man.

The sword duke concentrated his mind, and he poured his energy into arranging In-gong’s aura.

&

“Did you wake up?”

In-gong opened his eyes. He was still in the dim training room. The voice belonged to the sword duke, but the first thing he saw was Green Wind’s face. She pouted as she allowed In-gong to use her knees as a pillow.

“Green Wind.”

“Master, bah.”

Green Wind answered before disappearing into the wind. Thanks to that, In-gong fell to the ground with a low moan.

The sword duke laughed at the sight before asking,

“Prince, did you do something to make your guardian angry?”

“It was just a little joke.”

In-gong touched the back of his head and raised his upper body. He saw the sword duke sitting with his back against a wall. The sword duke laughed again.

“I think I understand. Those with Prince have to suffer a lot.”

In-gong nodded as he thought about Felicia’s and Anastasia’s complaints.

“Anyway, Prince, a day has already passed. Check it once.”

The sword duke’s meaning was clear. In-gong circulated his aura immediately. Not long after, admiration flashed through his eyes. The flow of aura had nearly doubled. The amount of aura had also increased.

“It is really amazing, Sword Duke.”

“Prince is even more amazing. It is the first time I’ve ever seen a body like that.”

It was at that moment that the clear voice of a woman resonated in In-gong’s head.

[Divine Sura Authority – Wind Style has been upgraded to Transformed Wind Style.]

[Divine Sura Authority – Lightning has been upgraded to Faithful Lightning.]

[Divine Sura Authority – Great Mountain has been upgraded to Transformed Great Mountain.]

“Ohh.”

From the upgrades, it was obvious that the techniques had improved. Maybe the sword duke had injected the techniques while adjusting his aura.

“Prince, I know you like it, but I think we need to hurry. This took longer than I expected.”

The sword duke hadn’t expected to spend a whole day readjusting In-gong’s aura. So, he was already later than planned by a day.

“I understand.”

In-gong had little reason to delay returning to the Demon King’s Palace. If he delayed anymore, Felicia and Caitlin’s worry would only increase.

The boy and girl gave a few rice balls to the sword duke and In-gong before preparing the transportation formation. In-gong devoured the rice balls as a light shone from the transportation formation.

No more questions were needed. In-gong and the sword duke moved onto the transportation formation.

&

He opened his eyes to see the Black Castle instead of the cave. The sword duke stepped down from the transportation formation first and said,

“Prince, I will go to the demon king. Don’t worry, I will definitely tell him about your merits.”

“I’m not worried.”

In-gong smiled gently. It seemed like the sword duke wanted to look at the demon king’s state. The sword duke knocked lightly against In-gong’s shoulder.

“Go rest. Give my regards to the other princes and princesses.”

“Thank you, Sword Duke.”

The sword duke didn’t say anything else and disappeared like the wind. Instead of hanging around the Black Castle, In-gong used the newly learnt Transformed Wind Style to head back to the mansion. His speed was much faster than before.

As he ran, he checked the time on the mini-map and saw that it was 8:32 p.m.

‘It is late.’

Caitlin and Felicia would be resting at their mansions, so it was too late to call on them now. It wasn’t midnight yet, but it had been awhile since their meal was over.

‘Let’s be satisfied with seeing Carack and Karma today.’

He would tell the news to the children of the demon king tomorrow morning. As soon as he arrived at the mansion, he opened his mini-map out of habit, and his eyes widened instantly. In-gong headed toward the terrace instead of the door, just like the sword duke. He opened the large window of the reception room and laughed.

“What, everybody’s gathered?”

It wasn’t just Carack and Karma. Felicia and Caitlin were also sitting on the sofas. Felicia and Caitlin, who were sitting down and reading books, jumped out of their seats and ran to In-gong.

“Shutra!”

“Are you okay? You aren’t hurt anywhere?”

Caitlin hugged In-gong, while Felicia, who missed out, shrugged and examined him with her eyes. In-gong hugged Caitlin tightly before looking at Felicia.

“Were the two of you waiting here?”

In-gong had spent roughly three days at the Sanctuary. The thought of them waiting here for three days caused his heart to throb.

“It is because you disappeared suddenly.”

“Unni was very worried.”

Caitlin smiled at Felicia’s words. As expected, Felicia covered her face with her fan, while a bitter voice spoke out from behind her,

“Shutra, don’t forget that we are also here.”

“Can’t you see us?”

It was Silvan and Chris. The two of them stared over at In-gong with sulky expressions.

“Yes, Hyungs are also here.”

Chris frowned at the soulless answer, while Silvan was already used to it and just laughed.

“I’ll tell you just once, but we were also very worried.”

“I wasn’t.”

Chris grunted angrily, and In-gong decided to go over. Then another voice was heard from the side.

“Prince, we are here too.”

Carack and Karma… In-gong really felt at home when he saw Carack’s smile which exposed Carack’s charming fangs. It was at that moment that Caitlin, who was still holding In-gong, suddenly pushed her nose against his chest and sniffed.

“Caitlin?”

Felicia was aghast, but Caitlin didn’t stop. She sniffed some more before raising her head with bright eyes.

“Shutra smells very good.”

Then Caitlin started sniffing again. Felicia shrugged and said,

“Caitlin, Shutra is a gandharva and inherently smells good… Did the smell get better?”

Felicia’s eyes flashed. She didn’t sniff like Caitlin but collected the smell using her fan. As the two sisters made a fuss, Silvan and Chris joined, and both of them made a startled expression.

“Prince, did you roll around in a flower bed before coming here?”

In-gong shrugged at Carack’s question before turning to Felicia.

“Noona, can you prepare a ward for that? I don’t want the smell or any sound to escape from this room.”

Felicia narrowed her eyes, but she nodded easily as she was already familiar with this request. She prepared the ward, while Caitlin and Chris sniffed him. They really liked the scent.

“It is done.”

A translucent membrane wrapped around the room, while In-gong, his siblings, Carack, Karma, and Delia sat on the couch.

“I want to give a gift to everyone.”

“A gift?”

Felicia made a puzzled sound. They thought he wanted to talk about the place where the sword duke had taken him. While everyone was confused, Carack suddenly clapped his hands and said with an excited voice,

“Prince, perhaps?”

“I know what you are thinking, and it isn’t wrong. Just wait a minute.”

As expected, Carack noticed quickly. In-gong used a hand gesture to calm Carack down and took a deep breath.

“Spiritualism, Four Heavenly Kings.”

In-gong didn’t care about using Spiritualism at this time. As the divinity of Dhrtarastra strengthened, his hair became black and long like when he fought against Abseltur. The room was filled with a heavenly scent. Everyone on the sofas couldn’t help exclaiming. They looked at In-gong with charmed expressions, proving that Green Wind’s words weren’t incorrect. Felicia’s face reddened. Chris swallowed his saliva unintentionally, while Silvan’s eyes widened.

“Amazing…”

Caitlin muttered.

It was a somewhat burdensome reaction. However, In-gong just showed an attractive smile before taking out some glasses from his inventory and placing them on the table.

‘It should be with some alcohol.’

In-gong followed up with some alcohol from the Dragon Temple. It wasn’t possible for them to suck his fingers like Green Wind, and he was afraid for his blood supply.

‘This is almost like a drug.’

In-gong concentrated divine power on his right hand, then he triggered the skill he learnt when he became a divine humanoid. In-gong wounded his fingertip with an aura blade and dropped a few drops of blood into the alcohol. As he became wounded, a new fragrance spread which caused everybody to drool. Thanks to the Lycanthrope Tears, there was no need for magic healing. As soon as his finger injury healed, In-gong turned off Spiritualism and looked at everyone.

“This is special. I guarantee the taste.”

Carack was the only one who had tasted In-gong’s blood, so he was greatly excited. However, rather than handing out the cups, In-gong only raised one. He had already decided who would taste first.

“Green Wind.”

In-gong called out to Green Wind. She appeared with a still sulky expression and said,

“Master is bad.”

It was as expected. In-gong said slyly,

“Am I still good?”

There was a long wait. Green Wind couldn’t help smiling and approaching In-gong.

“Still good.”

Her whisper was pleasant. In-gong patted Green Wind’s head gently and handed her the first cup.

&

“So, in summary, you went somewhere that you can’t tell us… No, you became stronger?”

“Yes.”