Chapter 306

Chapter 306 Strongest Sage, Seeks Weapon

"Direct control over Dragon Veins' mana!?"

"You'd be really strong if you could do that . . . "

"Yeah . Strong . . . And on top of wielding unlimited mana, it's also possible to inject your mana into Dragon Veins' to cast magic through the veins . "

Having Dragon Veins connected to your magic circuits means turning the veins into part of your body .

Hence, you can cast magic through Dragon Veins .

. . . Of course doing so is incomparably harder than casting magic with your own body .

"Through Dragon Veins . . . Is it like when I cast that augment magic that one time!?"

"Yeah close enough . But since it's a direct connection between Dragon Veins and your magic circuits, using your mana to control it . . . done right, it can be way more flexible than that . . . It's like having the entire lands as your weapon . "

Hearing that . . . Alma's eyes are beaming .

"Awesome! Sounds so strong!"

"But . . . Considering it's got the name 『Man-eating Blade』, there must be something more to it than just strong right . . . ?"

Ruli asked with a worried look .

. . . Then too Alma seemed to realize the risk .

"I mean, can human's magic circuits even be connected to Dragon Veins safely?"

That's exactly the problematic point with [Man-eating Blades] .

Difficulty to control mana or low quality and such are problems that crop up only after your magic circuits have been connected .

The mana flowing in Dragon Veins . . . vastly dwarfs that of a human's, even before we get to quality and stuff .

As such, even if you're paying close attention to prevent mana influx, you still need extremely durable magic circuits to bear such power .

And even people who possess sturdy magic circuits would easily get swallowed up by the vast mana were they even slightly let their guard down .

During the era I lived in, there were casualties by [Man-eating Blades] practically every month .

The power contained in Dragon Veins was just that tempting .

The swords which were initially called [Dragon Veins Blades] received the name [Man-eating Blades] during that period of time .

As I reminisced the past . . . Grevil opened his mouth .

"Of course it's not safe . Those abominable swords claimed countless lives during the era I lived in . "

"Wait, you're saying 『Man-eating Blades』 were present during Grevil-san's era!?"

"Yes . Or rather, those swords only existed in that era . . . I have no idea how Mathias-san came to know about those swords . . . But since they were quite famous back in the day, it wouldn't surprise me if records of them remained in some documents . "

Grevil explained and covered for my knowledge about the swords .

Then . . . Grevil turned toward me with an apologetic look .

"Mathias-san, to tell you the truth . . . There is only one 『Man-eating Blade』 remaining now . "

"Eh? . . . Weren't there tens of thousands of those swords?"

『Man-eating Blades』 were a very popular weapon during my era .

After all it enables one to wield enormous amount of mana for free .

It's got its risks, but since risks naturally come with battle to begin with, many people didn't care about it .

As such, in its heydays, around 3000 [Man-eating Blades] got mass-produced every year, it was said that there were around 50,000 of those swords in the whole world .

Since the swords were still being mass-produced when I reincarnated myself, the final number should be even higher than that .

And yet there's only one remaining?

"Indeed . . . There were tens thousands of those swords during the height of popularity . However, presently there is only one remaining . . . Although there might be other swords that I'm not aware of . "

"Was there some kind of incident?"

"Rather than incident . . . There were just too many accidents . The mortality rate of swordsmen who employed [Man-eating Blades] climbed up to 25 times of magic combatants who didn't . As I could not overlook the ever increasing numbers of victims . . . I decided to ban the production of the swords and destroy all the existing ones . It was me who issued the order . . . My apologies . "

I see .

So that was why I couldn't find even one of those hugely popular swords with Active Material Detection .

Ugh why'd he do that . . . the thought did cross my mind for a bit, but he did the right thing as a king .

The mortality rate of that sword users was abnormal indeed .

A king who would look the other way at the huge amount of casualties for the sake of national power . . . would probably ignore it, but Grevil was a kind king who valued human life .

That he couldn't overlook the ever increasing number of victims is probably true .

"What about other countries?"

"Other countries did keep using [Man-eating Blades] for a while . . . But once they realized that those swords were responsible for reducing magic combatants' numbers, which harmed national power, they abolished it as well . "

I see .

In the end those swords were disposed of as good for nothing huh .

Well, [Man-eating Blades] are not especially powerful weapons for sure .

There are ways to cast high-powered magic even without enormous mana anyway, and those swords are more suited for inexperienced magic combatants trying to push themselves beyond their limit . . . something like that .

There were occasions when I employed those swords myself, but once I had amassed enough mana and usable magic, I was actually stronger without that sword .

Must be also why past countries rejected [Man-eating Blades] .

But I need this weapon now .

Our opponent, the demon won't wait for me to get stronger the honest way .