Three Days Later — Before Dawn
Kain hadn't slept.
He hadn't needed to.
Not since the ogre.
His regeneration ensured fatigue left quickly, and now that he'd consumed both human minds and a magic beast, he suspected something deeper had shifted. He no longer craved rest—his body simply entered stillness and returned sharper, leaner.
He sat cross-legged on his dorm room floor, shirtless, scrawling diagrams on parchment. His notebook was already half-filled with:
Character profiles
Magic theories
Timeline disruptions
Profit schemes
Kill strategies
But today was different.
He was sketching mana circuits—not for spells he already knew, but for spells he'd never even considered.
Because until now, Kain Norigusho had no magic.
Not even the most basic affinity. In the novel, it was part of the tragedy. Born of a great family, but with zero magical aptitude. It was a cruel irony that helped justify the other nobles' hatred of him.
But now?
Now he was rewriting that rule.
There were three ways to acquire magic in this world:
Born with it. Natural affinity from mana inheritance.
Divine blessing. Gained by the Chosen, the marked, the rare.
Consumed essence. Forbidden. Ancient. Dangerous. Most called it heresy.
Guess which one he had?
He didn't just remember spells from the assassins and the ogre—he remembered how they channeled magic. How they bent the threads. How it felt to direct mana through nerve endings and aura nodes.
And when he concentrated… he could do it too.
A flicker sparked from his palm.
Small. Red.
Like a dying coal.
But it was his.
He kept practicing. Over and over. Until it grew.
By midday, he could shape a flickering flame in his palm and launch it like a dart.
By nightfall, he could use shadow-binding—the same technique the assassin used to root him mid-fight.
By morning?
He had a spell list.
Minor Flameburst
Shadow Step (limited range)
Quick Regeneration Pulse (active healing)
Ogre Fleshbind (defensive transmutation)
Mana Thread (can feel active spells nearby)
Not just spells. Styles.
He wasn't a mage.
He was a hybrid. Assassin-mage. Predator-caster.
He could blink into a shadow and stab you before you said "duel."
And no one knew.
Power needed funding. Allies could be bought. Ingredients had prices. Weapons didn't sharpen themselves.
And Kain? He had nothing.
The Norigusho clan gave him a fixed allowance—enough for books, clothes, and food. Not even close to what he needed.
But he had something else now:
Knowledge.
And in this world, knowledge could be weaponized.
So Kain devised his first money-making scheme.
The Chimera Market
In a week, he had his first prototype.
A crude alchemical binder he called the Fleshloom, made from repurposed ogre bone dust, cheap mana crystals, and basic transmutation theory.
It looked like a palm-sized glass capsule with twitching veins.
Inside it was a reagent that could, when broken over a wound, temporarily boost the user's regeneration and physical strength by simulating magical beast blood.
Technically illegal.
Morally questionable.
Highly effective.
He tested it on a downed dueling student during training.
The result?
The student snapped his broken arm back into place and finished the match, unaware of the miracle.
Kain smiled.
That was proof of concept.
H called it a research initiative.
A front. A fabricated persona:
"Seraphix Solutions" – Affordable Enhancements for Adventurers"
He'd registered the name under a false ID using a dead background character's data from the novel—Roth Tayer, a dropout alchemy student who never appeared on-screen.
Within two weeks, he was distributing his prototype potions to mercenary drop-points in the capital through Aldane's silent network.
They sold immediately.
Some called them "Godflame Vials."
Others, "Berserker Dust."
He didn't care what they called them.
Each one brought back gold.
And every gold coin meant more freedom.
More ingredients.
More test subjects.
More reach.
As he watched the coin stacks grow, as he cast his new spells by candlelight, as he refined his monster-crafted supplements and tested himself against illusion golems, something inside Kain began to twist.
He felt it in his thoughts.
In the way he looked at his classmates.
In the way he smiled at Lucas when they passed in the halls.
He didn't feel inferior anymore.
He felt like a god among script-bound insects.
Because he knew the truth.
They weren't real.
They were characters.
He made them.
He gave them pain, arcs, love, betrayal. They were his constructs, born from his depression, ambition, escapism.
And now they looked at him like he was beneath them?
No.
That was going to change.
The Princess Watches
She had been subtle. Careful.
Rhiannon Kaelis wore the illusion like a second skin—but Kain could feel the pressure of her gaze when he walked through the hallways.
She was watching.
Not out of fear.
But with the eyes of a ruler.
A hunter.
She suspects me, he thought. Not of magic. Not of Plunder.
But of intention.
Still, she said nothing.
She just watched.
Eliette Returns
"You're hiding something," she said, uninvited, slipping into his seat during evening study hall.
Kain looked up from his rune work.
"Everyone's hiding something."
"I watched you spar with a mimic. Your movements weren't standard. Not even noble house training. They're… coiled.Lethal. Like a trap waiting to snap."
"You think I'm dangerous?"
"I hope you are."
Kain closed the book and met her gaze.
"What do you want?"
Her answer was soft.
"Truth. And a place next to it."
He almost laughed.
She was becoming obsessed.
It would be useful.
And dangerous.
Very dangerous.
That night, Kain stood before the mirror again.
He wasn't testing spells.
He was studying himself.
The changes were subtle, but undeniable.
His pupils were darker now, ringed with violet. His skin didn't bruise as easily. His frame had hardened—not bulky, but tightly coiled like a predator under flesh.
His eyes weren't tired.
They were focused. Hungry.
He whispered to his reflection.
"Everything here... you came from me."
He touched the glass.
"You live because I let you. You breathe because I wanted you to."
Then, with a smirk:
"Gods don't need to survive. They just need time to awaken."