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nTime sure flew quickly.

nEugene suddenly had this thought as he looked in the mirror during the early hours of one morning. He casually tidied up his shaggy mop of hair as he stared at his own face in the mirror.

nHe was now seventeen years old.

nFour years had already passed since the end of the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony and his adoption into the main family. Although his face still looked like that of a young boy’s, his body was almost fully grown. As Eugene examined his own wide chest and broad shoulders, for a moment, he was overcome by his emotions.

n‘This really is a great body.’

nThis was a topic that he had thought of several times over the seventeen years he had lived in this body, but he never got bored of repeating this fact within his head whenever it came up.

nFirst of all, he had a handsome face. Eugene wasn’t just saying that because it was his. Even if he was forced to look at it objectively, he would have to admit that his features were good-looking. Although he felt that Hamel’s face from his past life wasn’t all that ugly, comparing that face to his current face after being reincarnated as Eugene, the difference in their looks was about as much as the difference between an ordinary elf’s and a human’s.

n‘Though not as much as an elf compared to an orc.’

nEugene had no desire to disparage the face of his previous life to that extent. After patting his smooth cheeks a few times, Eugene started stretching his facial muscles by pulling all sorts of expressions in the mirror.

nThe nasty look in his eyes when he frowned hadn’t changed at all since childhood. It was just a part of his innate character. Despite going around with narrowed eyes ever since he was young, Eugene was just glad that he didn’t have any wrinkles.

n‘I had an even nastier look in my eyes during my previous life.’

nRelaxing his frown, he gave a broad smile instead.

nBut was this handsome guy in the mirror really him?

nAlthough he had already graduated from truly thinking such nonsensical thoughts, even after seventeen years of living in this body, he still felt amazed each time he saw this handsome face in the mirror.

n‘I have to admit it, your blood is strong,’ Eugene thought as he raised his eyes to his gray hair.

nThe older he grew, the more prominent the gray hairs became. Every time Eugene saw this hair color, he was reminded of Vermouth.

nEugene had his reasons for indulging in such self-absorbed sentiments this early in the morning.

nAfter initiating his mana when he was thirteen, Eugene had trained his mana every morning without skipping a single day. And today, Eugene had finally reached the Third Star in the White Flame Formula.

n‘That was quick.’

nHe could feel the split-off cores circling around his heart. Three points of light that showed he had reached the Third Star of the White Flame Formula.

n‘Way too quick.’

nAfter he had started to train his mana, Eugene had realized something.

nThe White Flame Formula’s performance was incomparable to the mana training scripture he had learned in his previous life. Eugene was able to extract the optimal degree of efficiency from just a small amount of mana, and the speed with which he absorbed mana was also extremely fast. The cost of spreading this absorbed mana throughout his body and turning it into strength was also not very high.

nHowever, for him to have achieved this rank so quickly… it couldn’t just be attributed to the superiority of the White Flame Formula; it was also because Eugene’s body was naturally ‘attuned’ to absorbing mana.

n‘…Although it’s great that this body’s performance is so amazing….’

nSometimes he couldn’t help but feel perturbed.

n‘If it’s already this fast… just how much faster will my progress be later.’

nIt would be the opposite of subtle.

nBut this was actually quite a pleasant issue to be perturbed about. Eugene smiled as he looked at his reflection.

n‘But the strength I had in my previous life won’t be enough.’

nThis amazing body had been granted to him, Eugene Lionheart, and it had given him a lot of expectations for his future. With this body, he couldn’t be satisfied with just relying on the memories and experiences of his past life. Eugene had become convinced of this fact years ago.

nHamel had definitely been a great talent. Although he wasn’t as good as Vermouth, he had also known how to wield all sorts of weapons. Without any formal training, Hamel’s skills had been forged and honed on the battlefield as he toed the line between life and death. This meant his techniques had been refined through constant usage.

nHamel had made a name for himself with just these skills and had even come to mistake himself as a genius. It was at this point that he had met Vermouth and… Hamel had suddenly realized that he wasn’t a genius after all.

nAfter becoming Vermouth’s companion, he had also gone through a lot. His techniques had been further polished, and he’d added even more skills to his repertoire.

n‘But it’s still not enough.’

nIt wasn’t enough to just acquire the strength he had in his previous life. To take advantage of this talented and greed-provoking body of his, he needed more than just his past life’s memories.

n‘I need to learn everything.’

nAnd not just to a basic level either.

nThe sword, the spear, the ax, and the bow; he already knew how to skillfully handle most weapons. He had confidence in his weapon techniques since he had refined these skills in order to not just survive but thrive in the Devildom.

nBut he wasn’t quite there yet. Although he was still a little slower than he had been in his previous life, he knew in his head how to get there; it was just a matter of when not if. His body would catch up to what he knew it was capable of. So if he would eventually get there anyway, wouldn’t it be more efficient to use his time elsewhere.

n***

n“Looks like I need to learn some magic,” Eugene suddenly spouted.

n“What kind of bull** is that?” Cyan gasped.

nAs Cyan sat on the ground, trying to catch his breath, he lifted his head to look up at Eugene. The monstrous guy standing beside him wasn’t showing any signs of exertion even after all the exercise they had just done.

nAt first, this would have made him flare up in envy, but now… after four years of looking at that relaxed expression, he was already used to it.

n“I said that I need to learn some magic,” Eugene kindly repeated.

n“And I said, ‘what kind of bull** is that?’” Cyan spat out with a confused expression on his face.

nEugene wasn’t the only one whose body had grown during these four years. Cyan had also grown a lot. Of course, it was obvious that Cyan didn’t really appreciate this fact, and Eugene was a big reason for that. Although they might be of similar age, Cyan was just a tiny bit shorter than Eugene, and the difference in their skill levels was just as great as ever.

n“Speaking of this morning….”

nEugene continued speaking without offering Cyan a hand up. Cyan was still a brat with too much self-respect; he wouldn’t admit he had lost even when he was defeated, and he wouldn’t appreciate it if Eugene offered him a hand up. Even though Cyan would no longer fuss about being insulted or whatnot, like what had happened when they first met, it would only stoke feelings of frustration lingering within the corners of his heart if Eugene were to show him any kindness.

n“…I was just training in the White Flame Formula like I usually do….”

n“Could it be, did you really…?” Cyan couldn’t finish the question.

nCyan’s eyes started trembling as he got a bad feeling. Gritting his teeth, he jumped to his feet.

nEugene smiled as he saw Cyan getting flustered like this.

n“…and then this happened.”

nAs Eugene finished speaking, the mana that was usually spread throughout his body gathered near his heart. Once there, the three stars at his core began to resonate with each other. These stars, locked together in a circuit around his heart, began to explosively amplify the power of his mana.

nFwooosh!

nMana, in the form of pure white light, engulfed Eugene’s entire body. Cyan stared at this sight with wide eyes. The white flame-like light wrapped around Eugene’s form looked like a flowing lion’s mane.

n“What… the **…!” Cyan swore, his voice shaking.

nSince he also practiced the White Flame Formula, he was well aware of what that mana cloak engulfing Eugene signified. By covering his body in a blaze of mana like that, he had truly created a fiery beacon that honored the name of the White Flame Formula.

nThis meant that Eugene had reached the Third Star of the White Flame Formula. .

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