'Am I crazy?'

He had spent his previous life obsessed with swords, loved them until the day he died, and still loved them now that he had reincarnated. Even so, a dream that turned everything in the world into blades?

Rocks were swords. Fire was swords. Rainwater was swords. Trees were swords. Ice was swords. Lightning was swords. Then the sky, the earth, and the sea all mingled, becoming a single whole called chaos.

'Was there a sword in that too?'

He wasn't sure. The dream he had just had was no ordinary nonsense dream, but a spiritual vision heralding his spiritual root's awakening. Unlike an ordinary dream, everything in it was clear and vivid, and would not fade with time.

That was why Kyle remembered his dream precisely, yet his memory of its ending was hazy. Chaos, with everything mixed together. He had gazed at it, reached out...

Reached out. And then? He had woken up.

'Did I grasp it?'

He didn't know. His memory cut off abruptly after he reached out. Sitting on his bed, Kyle thought it over carefully.

He had already heard about spiritual visions from Arian, Erika, and Julius. Arian's had been a ship of wind, Erika's a garden of ice flowers, and Julius's lightning pouring down like rain.

They said they had watched in a daze before waking. Their visions had all taken different forms, but those forms had never changed. From the beginning, they had been a ship of wind, a garden of ice flowers, and lightning pouring down like rain.

Kyle's vision, however, had changed constantly, and he had been able to move of his own accord to reach out. It was fundamentally different from the visions he had heard about. It was also different from every vision he had read about.

'Was this really just some nonsense dream?'

Spiritual roots and spiritual visions were unfamiliar concepts to him. He had lived and died in a world where such things did not exist, so Kyle found it difficult to be certain.

What if he failed to awaken a spiritual root? He was confident he could find some way to use mana as he had in his previous life, even then. But if he failed to awaken the spiritual root everyone else did, Arian would undoubtedly be heartbroken.

'Huh?'

Just as he was about to sink into those worries, he felt a faint tremor in his lower abdomen. Once he focused on it, he immediately sensed a presence beyond the vibration.

His lower abdomen.

Something existed in the place this era called the lower energy center. Kyle immediately closed his eyes and felt inside his body. It might sound absurd, but his senses had been enhanced by both his previous life's experience and the elixirs he had consumed. If he wished, he could even feel the movement of his internal organs.

'A spiritual root...'

It felt as though a sense that hadn't existed yesterday had opened up. Through it, Kyle could perceive this thing called the lower energy center in his abdomen.

Rather than a physical organ, it felt like a hole that had suddenly appeared inside his body. Since the hole had no physical existence, it did not interfere with his bodily functions.

What was meant to fill that hole? He already knew the answer. Mana. A person who awakened a spiritual root could sense the mana in the world. Through breathing techniques, they drew it into their body, refined it, and accumulated it in their energy center. In other words, they filled the hole.

'Once I've filled this hole with a certain amount of mana, I distribute it through the circuits connected to it.'

In the Sword Demon's era, people had forged cores in their hearts by repeatedly braving death. But this was how people of the present era wielded mana.

"A spiritual root..."

Murmuring to himself, Kyle extended the spiritual root's sense beyond his skin. His whole body tingled briefly, and then he began to sense things he had never perceived before.

Kyle opened his eyes.

He could see currents that had been invisible to him. Bluish particles mingled with the morning breeze drifting through the gap in his window. When he rose and turned on the light, he sensed faint waves within its glow as well. With a quiet murmur of wonder, Kyle approached the window.

Rose Manor's garden lay before him. He wasn't even standing on the ground, yet the sense granted by his awakened spiritual root perceived the vast current of mana within the earth. No, it wasn't just the ground.

Mana flowed abundantly throughout the entire world spread before him. He was inside the Sword Tower, a gift from the Dragon King. Everything here was made of magic, and Kyle's spiritual root could clearly sense and see its flow.

"Hah."

Kyle gave a disbelieving chuckle.

'So this is another way of seeing.'

He had used mana in his previous life, but he had never been able to feel and see its flow with such clarity. Kyle opened the window and took a deep breath. He did so with the conscious intent of breathing in mana, but no mana clung to the air he inhaled.

'Is this why I need a cultivation method?'

Nodding, Kyle closed the window again. Then a question struck him.

'So what is my spiritual root?'

Arian, who had seen a ship of wind, had a wind spiritual root. Erika, who had seen flowers of ice, had an ice spiritual root. Julius, who had seen a downpour of lightning, had a lightning spiritual root.

But Kyle had seen all of those things. Nothing like this had appeared in any story he had heard or book he had read, and pondering it now would not give him an answer.

There was no need to puzzle it out alone. Kyle spun around and headed for the door.

"Kyle!"

He found Arian the moment he opened the door. Apparently, she had waited outside all night without sleeping a wink. She rushed over, gripped his shoulders, and asked,

"You're awake? How do you feel? Does anything hurt? Do you have a fever? Does your head hurt?"

Kyle smiled wryly at the rapid-fire questions.

"Mom, calm down. I'm fine."

"You're fine? Really? What about a dream? Did you have a dream?"

Another barrage of questions. Anticipation shimmered in her worried eyes.

"Yes, I did."

"What did you see? Lightning? It was lightning, wasn't it?"

Arian was certain her son must have awakened a lightning spiritual root. Not only had last night's dinner table been filled with food rich in lightning energy, but Kyle had also received numerous lightning-related elixirs from Julius over the years. Arian was not the only one who expected him to awaken a lightning spiritual root.

"No, it wasn't lightning."

But contrary to her expectations, her son shook his head. Arian's expression stiffened for a moment at his words, but she immediately composed herself and smiled brightly.

"Then what did you see in your dream? Wind? Hmm... Or did you see flames, like your father?"

"Well, it's a little complicated to explain."

Kyle scratched the back of his head.

"I saw everything."

"Everything...?"

"There was fire, and water, and lightning striking... Ice too. Just everything."

Arian's eyes went blank. She could not understand what on earth her son was saying.

Kyle understood no better than she did. With an awkward expression, he slipped out of her embrace.

"Let's go for now. Grandfather will be waiting."

Arian blinked dazedly as she watched her son walk away, looking remarkably untroubled.

* * *

Despite the early hour, all the Alastor purebloods had gathered in the great hall on the Sword Tower's first floor.

Naturally, they were there because of Kyle.

Their nephew had suddenly returned with Arian five years ago and had been basking in the favor of Julius, the head of the house, ever since. For five years, he had come and gone from the Hall of Sword Pinnacles as though it were his own bedroom, "playing" with the head of the house. When he wasn't doing that, he sat in the middle of the Sword Garden, communing with Baal's goblin.

There was nothing ordinary about the boy. Until now, they could still dismiss him as a snot-nosed child who hadn't even awakened his spiritual root. But today, that would change.

"What sort of spiritual root will it be?"

Varkas spoke with his arms folded. His cold eyes had been fixed on the elevator the entire time.

"Most likely lightning."

It was Gerard, the third son, who answered. He twisted his long auburn hair around a finger, his eyes as unsettling as a snake's.

"Most of the elixirs the head of the house has sent our nephew over the past five years have been related to lightning energy. After taking in so much of it, if he fails to awaken a lightning spiritual root... Well, that would be quite amusing."

"I'd like to see that amusing turn of events."

Varkas spat the words out. Naturally, he disliked Kyle intensely. His son's humiliation five years ago was part of the reason, but the greater reason was, of course, Julius's favor.

The boy already enjoyed Julius's favor for his exceptional gifts. What if he awakened the same lightning spiritual root as Julius?

Julius would naturally have Kyle learn cultivation methods and sword styles suited to a lightning spiritual root. And if his nephew's accomplishments satisfied him, he might even pass on his own sword style and cultivation method.

It wasn't as though none of Julius's children had awakened lightning spiritual roots. His eldest daughter, Katarina, his fourth son, Dante, and his sixth son, Seros, all possessed them.

In Varkas's view, those three were closest to becoming the next head of the house. Yet today, a nephew he had never even considered because he belonged to a younger generation might enter the contest.

'Even Katarina, Dante, and Seros weren't this favored by the head of the house at that age...'

It wounded his pride to concern himself with a nephew so much younger than he was. Still, Varkas had remained wary of Kyle ever since his son returned after getting his ass kicked.

His nephew's talent was real. Every one of Julius's children had been praised for a natural talent for the sword, but none of them had been as absurdly gifted as Kyle. According to what Varkas had heard, the boy had already finished studying every grade-five sword style in the grand library over a year ago, and had succeeded in performing their forms without mana.

Did that make any sense at all?

"You look far too murderous, Varkas."

Cartan, the eldest son, spoke. His calm eyes rested on Varkas.

"It is our young nephew's birthday. And perhaps the day a tremendous blessing is born to House Alastor."

"Aren't you worried, Brother?"

Unable to hold back any longer, Varkas snapped,

"You know he's no ordinary nephew. If that brat has awakened a lightning spiritual root—and one of the highest quality at that... Don't think being the eldest son makes you safe."

"An exceptionally gifted nephew gaining yet another gift is surely a blessing for Alastor."

Coldness entered Cartan's eyes.

"And I have never once felt safe because I am the eldest. Being the eldest does not guarantee I will become head of the house... Besides, even without our nephew, I have more than enough younger siblings coveting the position."

"Heh. I wonder how long you intend to keep playing the good man. Or are you intoxicated by your own magnanimity, refusing to consider our young nephew a rival?"

"You are simply far too petty, Varkas Alastor. How dare you place your greed for personal advancement above Alastor's pride?"

"Isn't my attitude exactly what suits Alastor? In our house, the strong are always right. And strength doesn't necessarily mean force of arms alone. In the end, strength belongs to the one who wins and survives."

Varkas sneered with a derisive snort.

"It's because you lack that ruthlessness that the head of the house finds you wanting. But I'm different."

"Different how? Surely you don't mean to crush our nephew because you see him as a threat?"

"Hmph. Do you think even I would do something that insane?"

But he could at least teach the boy some manners. And if, just if, a situation arose in which he needed to be crushed... The corners of Varkas's mouth twitched.

The elevator doors opened.

'What's this?'

Deep down, Varkas had also expected Kyle to awaken a lightning spiritual root. If that happened, he had naturally assumed Arian would come running out in delight, holding her son's hand.

But something was strange. Arian wore a puzzled expression, as though she couldn't make sense of something. And his nephew, with whom he had barely spoken over the past five years, looked calm rather than excited.

"Happy birthday, Kyle."

Cartan approached first. He looked at Kyle with warm eyes, entirely unlike the glare he had just directed at Varkas.

"Thank you, Uncle Cartan."

Kyle answered with a bright smile. He had been in the Sword Tower for five years. The place was so vast, and relations between relatives so distant, that they had rarely crossed paths. But whenever they did, Cartan always smiled and greeted Kyle first.

He had no idea what Cartan truly thought, but Kyle was rather fond of him. He was certainly much more likable than Varkas, who radiated hostility and wariness instead of offering congratulations, the sinister-feeling Gerard, or the taciturn Dante.

Even if Cartan's children weren't particularly fond of Kyle.

"What sort of dream did you have?"

"I'm not really sure myself."

"You're not sure...?"

"No. I did awaken a spiritual root, but I don't really know what it is. So I'm going to ask Grandfather."

"Hmm... That can happen."

Briefly taken aback, Cartan nonetheless nodded. However clever his nephew was, he was still only ten. Awakening a spiritual root was more than enough to confuse a child, so he might be muddled about the contents of his dream vision.

Though his nephew looked far too composed for that. Cartan did not detain him any longer and stepped aside.

"The head of the house is waiting in the Hall of Sword Pinnacles with Elder Nelia. The two of them will interpret your vision and identify your spiritual root."

Nelia, the grand library's librarian, was Julius's younger sister. Since childhood, she had been more interested in magic than swords. Recognizing her older brother Julius's talent was another reason she had chosen the path of a mage. She was now Gladiheim's chief mage and commander of its Mage Corps.

"Yes, I understand."

Kyle answered with composure and headed for the Hall of Sword Pinnacles. Arian followed, still dazedly turning his words over in her mind.

The hall's doors opened on their own as soon as he stood before them.

"You've come."

Julius rose from his throne. Nelia stood beside him, smiling kindly. She approached Kyle at a leisurely pace, ahead of Julius.

"Happy birthday, my child."

"Thank you."

"Did you have a pleasant dre—"

Nelia stopped dead. Her kindly smile vanished, and she tilted her head in puzzlement.

"My child. Your energy is... quite peculiar."

An accomplished mage, she had keenly detected the spiritual root within Kyle's body. Julius stopped beside her and narrowed his eyes.

"A lightning spiritual root... No, it isn't."

Julius murmured.

"No... That's not right. I can sense a lightning spiritual root...?"

"Be precise, my lord."

Nelia composed her expression.

"You can sense a lightning spiritual root as well. Isn't that so?"

"..."

Julius's eyes wavered. A lightning spiritual root was not the only thing he sensed from Kyle. He could feel other spiritual roots as well.

But it was difficult to determine exactly what they were.

"Has he awakened multiple spiritual roots?"

Julius murmured. People did not necessarily awaken only one spiritual root. Rare though it was, there were cases of people awakening more than one.

"That is what I sense as well... But there is no need to speculate. I came here to establish the facts."

As she spoke, Nelia raised a hand. Space parted smoothly where her hand passed, and a large crystal emerged from the gap to hover in midair.

"My child. This is called a resonator."

Nelia stroked the crystal, and blue waves swirled within it.

"The resonator responds to the spiritual root awakened within you and displays an image. But before that, would you tell us what sort of dream you had?"

"I saw the world."

Kyle answered in a steady voice.

"I saw a wilderness and rocky mountains, lava, snow, and rain. Then I saw the sea, the sky, the sun, the forest, and the wind."

"..."

"All of that kept repeating, and in the end, everything tangled together and swirled."

"What... do you mean?"

"Well, looking back, I think what I saw wasn't the world, but swords."

Kyle spoke as he approached the crystal.

"There was a sword within everything I saw. That was the dream I had."

As Nelia and Julius stood speechless before him, Kyle reached toward the crystal.

"Honestly, I don't know what on earth that nonsense dream was either. So I'm curious too."

Kyle's hand touched the crystal.