Awakening a spiritual root allowed a person to sense mana and opened circuits through which mana could flow inside the body. A mana cultivation method was a technique for circulating the mana present in the world through those circuits, refining it according to the nature of the spiritual root, and accumulating it in an energy center.

Awakening multiple spiritual roots was rare, but having more roots was not necessarily a good thing.

It was hard enough to excel at even one thing in this world. The martial path in particular stretched so far that its end was nowhere in sight. The more side pursuits one took up, the slower one's progress inevitably became.

Even awakening a single spiritual root and devoting oneself entirely to it was a daunting undertaking.

Of course, there were advantages. As mentioned, there were more options to choose from. Additional roots also allowed a person to sense mana more keenly and accumulate it more quickly, while the greater number of circuits made for more flexible control of mana.

But.

Although awakening multiple spiritual roots offered more options, achieving greatness by making use of every one of them was exceedingly difficult. That was why most people with multiple roots simply learned a cultivation method suited to the root that best matched their preferences and aptitude, enjoying little more than the advantage of faster mana accumulation.

'Having more circuits actually poses greater risks, too.'

As one's mastery advanced, new circuits could be opened as needed. But having a mass of complicated circuits within the body before reaching that level actually made mana harder to control. A single misstep could cause the circuits to become tangled, much like the Demons' mana addiction, and lead to self-destruction.

A double-edged sword, with advantages and disadvantages alike. Julius himself was no longer certain what he was hoping for from his grandson.

'I would have been happy with a lightning spiritual root alone. But multiple spiritual roots...'

The drawbacks of multiple spiritual roots all came down to difficulty and hardship. Yet overcoming those difficulties and hardships would bring equally great rewards. While others were bound to a single element, one could wield several, accumulate mana quickly, and manipulate it through a multitude of complex circuits.

But was such a thing truly possible?

'It is too early to worry.'

Julius composed himself and stared at the crystal. They suspected multiple spiritual roots, but had yet to determine precisely which roots Kyle had awakened, or how many.

WHIIINE...!

A faint vibration arose inside the crystal. Unlike the tranquil blue ripples Nelia had demonstrated, a heavy, violent pulse began to stir.

CRACKLE!

The first thing to appear was a flash of purple.

"Lightning...!"

Julius's eyes flew wide. For five years, his grandson had never taken off the thunder crystal and had regularly consumed elixirs imbued with lightning energy. The nature Julius himself had sensed was lightning, too, so its appearance was only natural.

This crystal, the spiritual-root resonator, contained pure, concentrated mana. It responded to the spiritual root of whoever touched it, changing the nature of the mana held within.

In other words, it conformed to the root's "caliber." And now, merely by placing his hand against it, Kyle was throwing the mana inside the crystal into turmoil.

'To stir the mana to such an extent...!'

Julius, too, had placed his hand on a crystal at the age of ten. The lightning spiritual root he had awakened was of such extraordinary caliber that none of the same element could compare. Yet the lightning within the crystal beneath Kyle's hand was in no way inferior to what Julius had produced back then.

WHOOSH!

Bright red flames flickered where the lightning had vanished. They were no mere little sparks. An enormous blaze filled the crystal, leaving not a single gap.

"Flames..."

Julius clenched his fists without realizing it. Lightning and flame. Both were destructive elements. They were correspondingly difficult to handle, but their power was beyond question.

CLANG!

A sharp metallic ring erupted from the heart of the raging fire, and blades of metal slashed the flames apart. Snow-white ice crystals blossomed throughout the space left by the dying fire, then immediately melted into a great wave, only for an enormous rock to rise and block its path.

"Wh-what in the world...?"

Watching from behind, Arian clapped a hand over her mouth. Though Kyle had told her about his dream, she had been utterly unable to picture what it actually looked like. Now, seeing the crystal, she immediately understood just how absurd the spiritual vision her son had witnessed truly was.

"Good heavens..."

Nelia, too, murmured with her eyes wide. The crystal's interior was utter chaos. Dozens of elements appeared and vanished in ceaseless succession.

The crystal began to vibrate. The mana inside was struggling to keep pace with the changes, so rapid and disorderly.

WOOOO!

The mana, now imbued with different properties, began to collide and intermingle. Colors gathered into a swirling mass before becoming a strange hue that could not be defined as any single color.

A light both murky and clear, dark and dazzling. It swirled, shaking the crystal.

"Chaos..."

Nelia groaned, her expression turning grave. At a glance, the turbulent mana within the resonator looked stable, but in truth it was so dangerous that it could explode at any moment. This went beyond simply having many spiritual roots. Each individual root was of far too high a caliber. As the corresponding density of the mana continued to swell, cracks began spreading across the crystal's surface.

"It's dangerous! Child, take your hand away!"

Nelia cried out urgently, but Kyle did not remove his hand.

He couldn't.

'Huh.'

Kyle stared at the crystal with a peculiar expression. This was not his doing. The spiritual root that had appeared within him, the lower energy center like a gaping hole in his lower abdomen, was greedily craving the crystal's mana. The complicated circuits inside his body connected to that energy center. Those winding pathways extended into his arm and palm, trying to cling tightly to the crystal.

'It's my body, but it won't properly obey me. What kind of nonsense is this?'

Was it because he was unused to it? No matter how he considered it, these spiritual roots and energy centers were bizarre. According to historical records, spiritual roots had first manifested in human bodies roughly four hundred years ago. Two hundred years ago, they had become prevalent enough to say that virtually "everyone" possessed one.

Humans were said to have evolved as magic became widespread and mana more familiar. But to Kyle, who had lived in the world of five hundred years ago, the changes felt so enormous that he questioned whether today's humans truly belonged to the same species as those of his time.

CRACK, CRACKLE...!

The cracks in the crystal widened, and mana began spilling out. Rather than dispersing into the surroundings of the Hall of Sword Pinnacles, it was sucked into Kyle's palm.

Through it, Kyle sensed the circuits within his body. They were as numerous and intricately tangled as the body's nerves, but, like the energy center, they had no physical existence within his flesh.

It felt, so to speak, as though the circuits were engraved upon his soul rather than his body. There were so many, and they were so complicated, that merely contemplating them was dizzying. Yet Kyle drew on instinct and experience to guide the mana through them.

These were not the instincts and experiences of ten-year-old Kyle, but those of the Sword Demon from five hundred years ago. Thus, his manipulation of mana took shape according to the Sword Demon's memories, not the cultivation methods of this era.

"Kyle!"

The moment the crystal finally shattered, unable to withstand the turbulent mana, Arian screamed and lunged toward Kyle.

WHOOSH!

A wind spirit answered her call, enveloping his body.

["How can you be so adorable?"]

Kyle heard the voice from within the wind gently wrapping around him. The wind spirit contracted to Arian—a vast, hazily visible bird—spread its six wings wide and chuckled.

["Arian's son. Had I met you sooner, I would never have contracted with Arian..."]

Its voice dripped with regret.

BOOOOM!

The crystal burst into fragments. Julius intervened in time, stilling the storm of mana with a gesture, while Nelia cast a spell that formed a barrier beyond the wings of wind to protect Kyle.

"Kyle, are you all right?!"

Arian plunged into the wind and swept Kyle into her arms. Nestled against her, he blinked his wide eyes. At that moment, his attention was fixed on what was happening inside his body.

The mana he had just absorbed had formed a crystal in his heart. Meanwhile, a squeezing pain gripped his lower energy center. That gaping hole was clamoring to be fed.

'I think I see how this works.'

Kyle moved the mana according to his experience as the Sword Demon. Mana drawn from the crystal in his heart circulated through his circuits toward his lower energy center. As it filled the center drop by drop, the squeezing pain rapidly subsided.

Circulating mana between his heart and lower energy center, Kyle reached a conclusion.

This was akin to an appetite. A person might not think they were hungry, only to catch a delicious aroma and suddenly feel ravenous, as though their stomach were being wrung out.

This empty hole—no, this vessel—had just caught the "scent" of mana. It had even had a little taste. That was why it was now impatiently pleading for more.

"Hmm."

Enough reflection for now. Kyle looked around. The shattered crystal had left no fragments behind, instead turning into particles of light and disappearing. The mana that had filled it had been extinguished by Julius's intervention.

"I think it broke because of me."

Kyle scratched his head with a sheepish smile.

"Is this expensive?"

His nonchalant tone drew a disbelieving laugh from Julius. Nelia let out a long sigh and shook her head.

"Expensive... yes, it is. Very expensive indeed."

The resonator was a magical tool fashioned with numerous spells. It was valuable enough in its own right, but refining the supremely pure, concentrated mana inside it took a very long time. Put simply, Kyle had just blown away the equivalent of a decent-sized castle.

"But child, could a mere tool be worth more than a single drop of your blood?"

Nelia gazed at Kyle with eyes overflowing with affection.

"For many years, I have tended the resonator and examined the spiritual roots and potential of many Alastor children. But I... I have truly never seen potential as tremendous as yours today."

"Nelia," Julius said. "What exactly is Kyle's spiritual root?"

"I cannot say. I hardly know what to call it... You saw it yourself, my lord."

"I did."

"What did you see?"

"Everything."

There was an unmistakable tremor in Julius's voice.

"Not merely one or two elements. I saw every element. It was like..."

"The world itself."

Nelia nodded.

"I have never encountered anything like this even in written records. Two spiritual roots alone are rare enough... but a spiritual root resembling the world?"

"It was not harmonious."

"But it contained everything, and looked as though it could become anything. Chaos, one might call it..."

Julius and Nelia turned their eyes toward Kyle.

"It is exceedingly dangerous, but that little body holds an absurd amount of potential."

"..."

"He should be able to learn any cultivation method and perform any sword style. If he wishes for lightning, his aura will become lightning. If he wishes for flame, it will become flame, and if he wishes for ice, it will become ice. No... perhaps it need not be confined to a single form. Once he is capable of bearing it, of course."

"Absurd."

Julius shook his head with a hollow laugh.

"Utterly absurd. A spiritual root of chaos? I have never heard of such a thing in my life."

"Nor have I. But my lord, we saw the resonator with our own eyes, did we not? We also saw it shatter from the sheer aptitude of a child who only awakened his spiritual root today."

"That is not all."

Julius strode over to Kyle.

"Just as the resonator's crystal was about to break, the mana inside it... was drawn into your hand."

"Yes."

"The way you answer makes it sound as though you intended that to happen...?"

"I wouldn't call it intentional... It just sort of happened."

He could hardly admit that he had drawn on his past life's experience. Julius gave a disbelieving laugh at Kyle's answer.

"What became of the mana drawn into your hand?"

"Hmm..."

Kyle hesitated for a moment, then tentatively held out his hand to Julius.

"I'm not really sure what this is, either. I think it would be better if you judged for yourself, Grandfather."

For the past five years, Kyle's study of this era's martial arts had been confined to the grade-five sword manuals in the grand library. The reason given was that he might develop bad habits before he had even awakened his spiritual root.

But he had his own suspicions.

The martial arts of this era began with the lower energy center and circuits that awakened alongside the spiritual root, but they did not end there. With each advance in mastery, the lower energy center grew larger and the number of circuits gradually increased.

'If there were only one energy center, they would simply call it the energy center.'

The fact that they specifically called it the "lower" energy center meant there was something above it. Kyle looked at Julius expectantly.

Julius could not fathom everything behind the look in his grandson's eyes, but he took the offered hand. Then he closed his eyes and sent his own mana into Kyle.

"...!"

Julius's eyebrows twitched.

'What... in the world...?'

There were far too many circuits for a ten-year-old child. Countless pathways intertwined as intricately as a labyrinth. More astonishing still, mana was already flowing through those complicated circuits, however faintly.

'Unbelievable...'

Had he already guided mana into his energy center by instinct? Before learning so much as a cultivation method?

'No, the mana... was not guided into his energy center. It has settled somewhere else.'

Surely not. Swallowing hard at the suspicion forming in his mind, Julius guided his mana onward.

In the process, he realized something else.

'It is pulling at my mana. As though trying to devour it.'

Of course, Julius maintained perfect control over his mana. Even so, the voracious nature of the talent within his grandson's young body left him astounded.

'Good heavens.'

Following the intricate circuits, he reached the place where the mana had crystallized. The instant he confirmed its location, Julius could no longer keep his eyes closed.

"Your middle energy center is already open...?"

Kyle's eyes gleamed at that astonished voice. Just as he had suspected, the lower energy center in his abdomen was not all there was.

"What is a middle energy center?" Kyle asked, wearing an innocent expression.

"The middle energy center... is the second energy center, located near the heart."

Julius carefully withdrew his mana.

"Only after fully developing and completing the lower energy center can one begin to open the middle energy center little by little. But you... yours is already open."

This overturned everything Julius—no, the entire world—knew to be true.

"Kyle."

Julius reached out with trembling hands and gripped Kyle's shoulders.

"Do you remember what I said five years ago? I said that Arian had given birth to a treasure, meaning you."

"Yes, I remember."

"Allow me to correct that."

Julius's eyes wavered.

"What Arian gave birth to was not a treasure... but a monster."

"Hmm..."

Kyle blinked several times before speaking.

"Calling your own grandson a monster? Isn't that a little harsh?"

"..."