I Became the First Prince: Legend of Sword's Song

Ｃｈ． ４

Uncle's face was awful, and I wasn't very fond of him since we met. But now I know for sure that I dislike him with a burning passion.

To further prove his point about mana chains being superior, he handed me a book.

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"The mana Chain Basic Theory," written by Burno Bourdorf, the eighth successor of the 16th disciple Werner Rachel, the founder of the mana chain, Ernest Altringen, and compiled by Gregory Hessley

I surely did not like this book after reading its title, and I am equally sure I do not want to read it. But the curiosity of knowing what happened in the past 400 years that changed the system so drastically began to gnaw its way up, and I found myself opening the book.

From Sword Beginner to Runner to Expert and Master, the words of the knight I knew had become obsolete. The new age was full of unfamiliar concepts. "Circle" for wizards, "Chain" for knights, and the number of rings for dividing the status of knights.

"Single Chain", "Double Chain", "Triple Chain", "Quad Chain", and lastly, "Penta Chain".

These foreign words were used to refer to the status of small knights. The knights that uncle mentioned who brought down the top 10 Sword Masters of the continent 220 years ago were only "Quad Chain".

They weren't even Penta. If not even the strongest of mana chain knights can bring down the strongest of those who trained using mana hearts, what more can their Penta Chain knights do?

I was so immensely proud of the mana heart inside my body. It was a feat that I had to struggle to accomplish using this new body. But now, it feels just like another useless lump in my body.

I can't believe that just a few moments ago, I was so confident despite losing all of my powers in exchange for this fat prince's body. But the knowledge of hundreds of years of the prosecution was nothing like the power I lost. That power was something I could take back with enough time. But this was a separate matter.

I was already skipping through the pages of the book. Some of the pages had turned yellow and had the characteristic odor that tells you that the book is old. Its pages were already fragile too. I continued to think while my right hand turned the pages.

「Basic concept of mana chain ductility」

The concept that utterly destroyed a legacy of my time was described as a recipe in a second cookbook. I could not stop myself from looking at it with contempt and hate.

"It's not a bad trick, is it?" Uncle said, breaking my focus.

Just skimming through one book forced me to accept that Mana Chain had replaced Mana Heart. Mana Chains certainly had the potential. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but laugh after I finished reading the book. My concerns no longer remained."

"Altringen, Altringen," I repeated like an incantation that would help me remember when and where I heard that name before.

I closed the book and examined the cover. The title on the time-worn cover was unnecessarily elaborate. One of the founders of the mana chain, "Ernest Altringen". Somehow, the name was familiar.

A long time ago, there was a man who was neither a prosecutor nor a wizard, but a hybrid. He picked out a great sword, asking who would fit the name "Sword Castle". He ended up devising a different technique to revolutionize the mana concept, and his last name was "Altringen".