Chapter 128: Seriously? I’m Human?
Lando Estate, training base.
Dressed in a white tank top and black pants, Wayne stretched and loosened his muscles on the floor. Facing him like a mirror image was Veronica, also dressed in a white tank top and black pants.
Three days had passed since Kristen was followed. He escorted her to and from school every day by car, but hadn’t encountered anyone in a black robe again, and Veryl hadn’t sensed any surveillance. Strange, the other party seemed to have suddenly given up.
He couldn’t figure out the reason, so he assumed they were only trying to trick him into lowering his guard. He would not fall for it. Besides, escorting Kristen between his place and her school daily allowed him to bask in the youthful energy of college girls, which made him feel like he was becoming more innocent himself.
At night, Mona had learned to move on her own.
Every evening, Wayne would check in at base number three. What he actually did there didn’t matter; what mattered was letting the Thousand-Eyed Demon know that he was working hard without rest. Officially, he was away from the base during the day for his investigation into his friends and his friends’ friends, trying his best to gather sixty-six corpses through his connections. In reality, he did nothing at all. He’d outsourced all the work to the Church of Heavenly Father.
Big corporations were generous if nothing else. Had he not held her back, Mona would’ve delivered all sixty-six corpses in a single night.
The Thousand-Eyed Demon had gone into hiding since his last appearance. True to his representative symbols—the centipedes and millipedes—he lurked in dark, damp environments and never exposed himself to the light. His outrageous caution suggested the grand scale of his plan.
Wayne was a little anxious, but not overly so. He ate and slept when he should; he had already done everything within his power, after all. Whatever plot the demon was hatching and whether he intended to destroy the human world was for the Church of Heavenly Father to worry about.
Who knew? If he were to make a bold guess, he would say that before the Archbishop received the information, the report had already reached the Queen’s desk... Well, that might be over-reaching. After all, Windsor’s intelligence capabilities weren’t that absurd.
After warming up, Veronica knocked her fists together, curling a finger at him before he could do the same. Then, without waiting for him to make a move, she shot toward him like an arrow, her heavy punch aimed straight at his face.
Cultivating good habits was difficult, while breaking bad was a slippery slope. Under Wayne’s demonstration, she had grasped the basics of sneak attacks.
Secure the element of surprise!
Her fist was wrapped in a layer of fine scales, compressing air and pushing the currents to the sides. As her fist shot out, its terrifying power drew a white arc in the air. Instead of dodging the attack, Wayne raised his arm to block it. While he slid backward, he caught her fist.
“Got you!” they called out in unison.
They exchanged blows, their speed increasing. Every clash and move conjured violent drafts. More and more white currents emerged around them, quickly forming a small-scale hurricane. In the twisted air, only two pairs of black pants could be seen colliding here and there.
Bang!
Following a tremendous collision, Wayne flew out like a cannonball, slamming heavily into the wall behind him. The dull impact triggered a burst of dust. He stretched his neck, expression calm.
“Again.”
He enjoyed wrestling with Veronica—well, it didn’t really matter to him, but Veronica liked it. As the kept man of the Lando family, he had to cater to her preferences.
Their sparring was interrupted by Silvia.
The master had told her student and daughter to spar to develop their close-combat skills. They should be working together to improve, not rolling around on the ground in each other’s arms!
What are you doing? Be serious! What’s with the aggressive flirting?!
Silvia scolded them. From then on, no wrestling was allowed at the underground training base. She also required Wayne and Veronica to prioritize increasing their life essence by going in turns. The defensive side was not supposed to dodge the attacks.
In other words, they should take turns punching and taking hits while standing still. Once Wayne had fully tapped into his potential, and Veronica had acquired physical enhancement from taking hits, Silvia would personally teach them combat techniques.
Veronica had dragon blood, so it was natural that she should follow Silvia’s footsteps, and Wayne was found to be highly compatible with his master’s fighting style after testing; he himself was fond of it, too.
After many tries, he concluded he did prefer using his fists over a greatsword.
Silvia moved to the side of the training ground and asked Megan, “How long have they been fighting?”
“The young master and young lady have been sparring for twenty minutes,” Megan said. “They are in good physical condition and can handle two more training sessions.”
Silvia nodded, holding the report of the blood test. She had high expectations for her student’s future.
The report showed that Wayne was a pure-blooded human—no additives used in the production of his life. But how could a human possibly wrestle with a Dragonblood? Silvia’s first reaction was disbelief. It was absolutely impossible. But soon, she thought of another possibility.
Human constitutions differed. Disregarding the occasional freaks of nature with special constitutions, modern humans were vastly different from the original humans. Legend had it that the first humans were descendants of God, created by God. They had the original bloodlines and thus unlimited potential.
As time passed, the original bloodline gradually became diluted, and its potential was shackled. It became difficult to break the limits and return to origins, requiring transformation through Life Magic.
The Life Alliance, for example, combined the Life Magic of Nature, Sun, and Moonlight, making their believers resemble elves in appearance over time. The Church of Heavenly Father, on the other hand, had its own independent tradition in Life Magic; with sufficient faith, it wouldn’t be a dream to become an angel.
Opposing heaven was hell, and its followers would evolve step by step from familiars based on their different faiths, their final forms approaching the evil gods they worshipped. Of course, these were all evolutions that happened after birth. Those with insufficient innate potential had to seek alternative paths.
Those with the original bloodline were different. They were God’s favored children and were granted many options. They could evolve through the use of Life Magic, or maintain their selves to reach greater heights.
Silvia believed that Wayne possessed the original bloodline, or it would be hard to explain why his life essence was so powerful. She kept the report to herself, telling no one. One should never announce that they had hit the jackpot!
Thinking of how she had stolen her student from the Church of Moonlight, she became even more delighted, unable to stop her mouth from curling up.
Bang!
Dust rose in the sparring field. Veronica flew straight toward Megan. Watching the young lady flying like a human cannonball, Megan raised her hand and pressed it to her back, easily catching her and directing the terrifying force to the ground. Yet more dust was disturbed, but the floor under Megan’s feet didn’t even crack, showing how precise her control of power was.
Silvia knew Megan’s ability, so she wasn’t surprised, but Wayne was shocked. He had thought the butler would need hospitalization.
What was going on? How was she so strong? Had the old man, missing his dragon-blooded wife’s companionship, specifically sought out a dragon-blooded mistress?
Wayne looked at Megan in surprise. She remained composed without even swaying a little, clearly not having used her full strength. If his guess was correct, then Veryl really couldn’t compare to Megan. She not only had a different way to earn her promotion, but also had the same violent aura as Auston’s wife.
No matter how professional Veryl was, he couldn’t fill the void left by the mistress of the family. Even if he could, he couldn’t beat his master to the ground during their intimate moments. Thus, Veryl had met a complete defeat and left Londan with his suitcase.
“Stop blanking out. We’re not finished yet!”
Veronica covered her nose, glaring at the scum. While Silvia was present, Wayne only hit her in the face, but the moment her mother left, he would hit wherever he wanted, focusing on the sensitive parts to thoroughly infuriate her.
Stop pretending to have integrity. I dare you to keep hitting my chest!
Bang!
With a tremendous explosive sound, Veronica shot toward Wayne in a burst of white vapor, as if she had detonated air with her stomp—well, it wasn’t metaphorical. She had indeed broken the air.
It was a technique of mana manipulation. During the Silver Cross stage, mages could detonate mana to walk on air. Because it was air rather than solid ground, however, the support it provided was limited, and changing direction midair was extremely difficult and would cost a great amount of mana.
Ordinary mages rarely wasted their energy like this, but Veronica had dragon blood, granting her a great life essence. She had enough mana to allow such reckless usage.
“Referees, she’s cheating!” Wayne shouted. They had agreed to use only physical strength and no mana, yet Veronica was blatantly breaking the rules. Did she think the referees were blind?
Well, the referees weren’t blind, but one of them was her mother, and the other was the butler of the household. They both turned a blind eye to the foul and stayed silent. Such minor violations didn’t count!
Oh, no one’s stopping this? Then I’m doing the same!
Wayne’s body surged with mana, greatly enhancing his life essence. Flames wrapped around his arms, twisting the air as he shot forward to meet Veronica’s punch head-on, drawing a streak of red light.
Boom!
An explosion accompanied by blasting fire sent violent currents sweeping toward the exit of the base. When the air settled, Wayne and Veronica were entangled again. She had his neck in a chokehold, pressing his head firmly against her chest, while he had lifted her, slamming his knee into her back repeatedly.
Were they ordinary people, they would’ve killed each other long ago.
“Surrender, and I’ll let you go!”
“Are you kidding me? If you don’t surrender, I’ll make sure you’re bound to a wheelchair for the rest of your life!”
Megan said nothing since she was used to this. Silvia, on the other hand, covered her face with her hand. She felt like a third wheel. And she felt the sudden urge to seek out her bastard husband and beat him up.
“Enough. This round is a draw. Stop now.”
Silvia walked into the sparring ring and separated the two relentless fighters. Seeing the wet patch on the chest area of Veronica’s tank top, she assumed—or hoped—that it came from Wayne’s sweat.
She rolled her eyes and said, “Take a break, Veronica. I need to talk to Wayne.”
Why the secrecy? Is there something I can’t know?
When her mother took the scum to a corner, Veronica pricked up her ears to eavesdrop, catching snippets about a blood test report.
“Seriously? I’m human?!” Wayne widened his eyes and whispered-shouted, “Master, did you get someone else’s report by mistake? Given my ridiculous life essence, I should be something like a dragon.”
No, you don’t have dragon blood.
Silvia solemnly explained to him what the original bloodline was, warning him, “Remember to keep it a secret, even to Veronica.”
Wayne nodded and asked about his future training. When was he going to begin cultivating his Silver Cross?
“Keep excavating your potential first. Both you and Veronica have room for improvement. Sparring benefits you both...” Silvia clicked her tongue, feeling exasperated. “And be more serious during training. Even I can’t stand watching you anymore. Stop riling her up to wrestle with you. I’m still her mother at the end of the day. How can you tease her right in front of me?”
Master, change your perspective. Someone’s teasing your student right in front of you!
Wayne felt wronged. A force always came with a counterforce. At first glance, it might seem like he was taking advantage of Veronica, but he was clearly the one suffering losses.
Damn it, when will the new meta arrive? When will perverted—bah, good guys get our due?
After the explanation, Silvia left the base, and the training continued. Veronica asked curiously, “What did Mother say to you? Is there something wrong with your bloodline?”
“I’m an ordinary human.”
“How is that possible?”
“But I am.” Wayne changed the subject quickly. “And Master said that since you’re a girl, the next time you smash my face with your chest, I should avoid it as best as I can.”
“You—you’re the one who comes at me!”
Veronica raged, initiating the second round. The base was once again filled with their grunting and shouting.
***
Wayne’s residence.
A black luxury car stopped. Wayne opened the door and made eye contact with Veryl.
Anyone following us?
Not since that day.
Wayne nodded. Another day with no result. It seemed that the Thousand-Eyed Demon’s minions had given up. But why? It was just a few lives. They could’ve given him a chance to play hero and save the princess!
After dinner, the two women and one man enjoyed tea in the living room, followed by an hour and a half of evening tutoring in the study. There was more than one study at the mansion. The one with a hidden door was Wayne’s exclusive study and secret storage. Not even Veryl was allowed to enter freely.
Once he was finished with his class, he went to his private study, where Valkyrie handed him a white shirt and dress pants. She had spent ten days shaping the Holy Shroud into clothes tailored to his measurements. From the outside, it looked no different from ordinary garments.
“The blood of hell on the shroud is high-level, not from an ordinary descendant of an evil god. This will provide you with an immunity to elemental magic in a certain range...”
Wayne nodded. He had discovered the extraordinary properties of the shroud during his fight with Sigma. All products from the Church of Heavenly Father were of premium quality. Next time demons attacked one of their cathedrals, he would definitely get involved from start to finish.
“Is there any other special property? For example, wear resistance?” Wayne took off his shirt and got changed.
“The material is resilient, so it won’t wear down unless it’s hit by a particularly powerful attack. Just avoid sharp objects. Even if it’s damaged, though, you only have to bring it to me. I can mend it with my thoughts. But be careful not to lose too many pieces.”
As she spoke, he started taking off his pants. Valkyrie smiled slightly. “Nice body. Want me to help you change your pants?”
Wayne grimaced awkwardly. His first love from August twentieth was too difficult to win over. When she didn’t get embarrassed, he became the embarrassed one instead.
After getting changed, he tested a few fire spells on himself and was satisfied with his new outfit. Then he quickly changed back into his original clothes. Valkyrie smiled and stepped forward. Her student was incorrigible; it was time to give him a little lesson.
He put his clothes back on hastily, not giving her a chance to get close. He raised an eyebrow and said, “I’m going out tonight. I can’t wear this, or it may expose me.”
The Holy Shroud was once in the hand of the Thousand-Eyed Demon before returning to Wayne. To avoid suspicion, he had to keep it stored away for now.
Is that your excuse for changing right in front of me?
Valkyrie shook her head slightly, reluctantly accepting his excuse. She asked with a frown, “Wayne, do you need me to help investigate the demon?”
“No, you stand out too much. Tonight, I’m meeting with an informant to ask about the Church of Heavenly Father’s progress.”
He applied makeup to himself. Two minutes later, a convincing masked villain stood before Valkyrie.
He’s subtle about being righteous, but quite direct when playing the villain, thought Valkyrie.
Wayne gave her an OK sign, going from the underground storage to the sewers and disappearing without a trace. He didn’t notice that in the deep shadows outside his residence, a lurking figure had turned and left.
“Bruce...”
“Wayne!”