SSS Transmigration: I Can Extract And Evolve Overpowered Shadows-Chapter 46: The Betrayal (1)

Absalom stood motionless in the center of his allotted area, the air around him crackling with pressure, as if gravity itself deferred to his presence. Opposite him, perhaps twenty paces away, was Hinata, who looked battered, shifting his weight ever so slightly, mana flickering restlessly at his fingertips like anxious fireflies.

"Again," Absalom ordered.

Hinata exhaled, raising the hand that gripped a thin tree branch.

He let mana crystallize around it sharply. Once the crystallized mana had formed, he tried making it more fluid while activating the Witcher skill to send dark mana through the construct.

Although barely, and far from what he intended, Hinata managed to form a large mana-coated blade imbued with dark purple energy.

He quickly activated Mana Master as the dark blade screamed forward, carrying every ounce of his frustration.

The attack was fast, precise, and perfect — as far as he knew. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Absalom, however, was not impressed in the least. The young-looking old man never moved his feet; he simply tilted his head a fraction, and the sword energy and pressure from Mana Master shattered against nothing.

Shards of raw, semi-crystallized mana dissolved into glittering motes before they could even graze him.

Hinata’s breath hitched. "How—?"

Absalom shook his head. "This lesson doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I think it’s because you lack a basic understanding of mana, so why don’t we start from the very beginning?"

Hinata nodded, then collapsed onto the floor and stared up at the sky.

The moment he turned away, however, Absalom glanced down at his sleeve with a frown. A shallow cut ran through the fabric, left by the residual energy of Hinata’s attack.

A strange hesitation began to settle over Absalom. For the first time, he felt a reluctance to teach Hinata anything. Yes, finding a student was a good thing, particularly one with ties to his family, but was it truly right for someone like him to teach such a monster?

Hinata, noticing the shift in his master’s demeanor, looked over. "What happened?"

Absalom turned to Hinata with a faint smile, his shoulders slumped slightly. "I didn’t want to tell you this... but I was meant to die a long time ago. For a while, I didn’t even understand how I was still here, bound within these runes."

He exhaled quietly. "But after what you said... I think I understand now. The Dragonforge family’s sacrifice kept my soul in the living world. But I can feel it now. In three months at most... I’ll disappear."

"So, Hinata..." he said softly, a trace of regret in his voice. "Can you promise me something?"

Hinata raised a brow prompting Absalom to continue. "Could you take care of my clan and my daughter?"

A tremor ran through Hinata at the request. "Master, I thought you said no weird promises or deals."

Absalom laughed heartily. "I suppose I did say that, didn’t I?" He paused, then added, "But this shouldn’t be much to ask of you, should it?"

Hinata let out a slow breath. "Master, I’ll tell you now — my heart understands what it must do."

Absalom’s face broke into a wide grin. "Then I suppose the Dragonforge family will one day take its rightful place at the top!"

The moment the young old man stepped behind a rock to retrieve something, Hinata’s expression darkened. His tongue rose to click against his teeth, though he quickly swallowed the impulse, then rose to his feet in one fluid motion.

When Absalom returned to find Hinata standing with a sharp, almost cold gaze fixed on him, he froze — then smiled. "Do you love my daughter that much? One mention of protecting her and look how your entire demeanor has changed!"

Hinata said nothing, offering only a quiet smile. His gaze drifted gradually to the book in his master’s grip.

"Master, what’s that?"

Absalom nodded several times. "The very thing you need now. As I said before — magic is about the amount of mana and knowledge you possess; swordsmanship and other knightly arts are about your mana, grit, ideology, and perseverance; magic knights must carry the traits of both."

He took a short pause. "However, when it comes to more abstract paths, like your sorcery class or the witchcraft I once created, it has less to do with mana or grit, and more with understanding and enlightenment."

He drew close to Hinata and conjured two chairs facing each other. "This doesn’t mean sorcery is a shortcut, since unlike other paths, you can’t surpass your limits in the heat of battle with sheer mana or grit—like those brutish knights."

Hinata sank into the chair, eyes fixed on Absalom’s face as he continued. "What you do have is a peculiar advantage of being able to seek understanding and enlightenment anywhere. And once you attain it, your power will grow drastically."

Hinata sat with Absalom’s words for a long moment.

Since he could almost perfectly predict his future abilities, couldn’t he start seeking knowledge about them now—so that when he finally gained them, he would already be formidable?

For the Witcher skill, all he needed was to study magical spells from mages and learn how knights augment their bodies using their gift, authority, bloodline, talent, and mana.

For The Fool, all he needed was to deepen his knowledge of abstract subjects, the abilities of others, or abilities he had witnessed or heard of in his past life. So long as he understood them well enough and had sufficient points, he would be able to spawn different attacks.

His research had also revealed that divine and dark mana could not coexist within a single body, no matter how monstrous the host was. Which meant his seven paths had effectively been reduced to six, since divine mana would always prevent him from absorbing dark mana.

That meant he only needed to further explore reptilian adaptation abilities, beast summoning and control, divine beast healing, divine energy and buffing, and demon-kin spiritual contracts and dream realm control — though he was fairly certain his grasp on that last one was already solid.

Hinata couldn’t help but sigh. ’This just keeps getting more complicated.’

Absalom’s nose wrinkled as he grimaced to himself. After a time, his expression eased into a calm, gentle smile. "Very well; why don’t I teach you something most people will never learn?"

He fixed his fiery orange eyes on Hinata. "Have you ever given thought to what the essence of combat truly is? Or what, exactly, this power you wield really means?"

Hinata leaned forward, hands resting on his knee. "No, I haven’t."

Absalom raised his hand, and mana particles drifted from his palm, forming what looked like a fragment of the starry sky. "Then we had better start from the very beginning of the world."