It was funny.
He who was feared by many felt fear for a kid.
The fear didn't take over him, but it existed.
Subtle, yet there.
Arthur was someone who had played through death more times than one could count.
Fear wasn't something that could affect his decisions.
Arthur knelt on his knees, not because of the fear he felt.
No.
He had gratitude for the person before him.
Kael had become the only light of hope in the endless darkness.
So for Arthur, it didn't matter—
Whether the person he served was good or bad,
A hero…
Or
A villain.
Arthur knew that Kael was skilled at doing the unexpected.
But what he saw before him was something entirely different.
Kael wasn't proficient in handling a sword.
That was a given for someone who had never trained his entire life.
Still, Kael had what many lacked.
The intent to kill.
He was calm.
Calm while facing the beast before him.
He didn't waste a single movement.
Every move was calculated—
More like meant to kill.
Arthur was impressed by the mana control that Kael displayed.
When he grabbed the monster by its head, Arthur could see the mana in his blood rushing toward the muscle cells in his hands, granting him explosive power.
Such an insane level of mana control allowed him to battle the beast with dominance, while only having the limited mana reserves of an Iron Core.
Mana control was something that wasn't taught, but had to be improved by the person himself.
Good mana control led to better usage of mana reserves, letting a person fight for a longer time than what was actually possible.
That was why veterans of war were much stronger than other people at the same rank.
A person who had improved his mana control through countless battles where death was a very real possibility was far stronger than someone who had never experienced live combat.
Such a war veteran could easily defeat someone with a higher core rank if the other person hadn't been in many combats.
But such a thing was only possible for lower ranks, where many rich nobles could evolve their cores through the sheer amount of resources available to them.
As one climbed higher on the path to power, things became more complicated.
Live combat experience and talent became essential for ranking up further along the path.
And the individuals who reached Platinum and the ranks above it weren't sheltered people.
Each and every one of them was an elite among elites, forged through pain and death.
So at higher levels, having good mana control was essential to gain an edge in battle, but it couldn't guarantee victory against an opponent.
And winning against someone at Platinum 2 while being at Platinum 1 was a challenge in its own right.
This was because the skill difference and the amount of mana reserves increased exponentially in the higher core ranks.
The difference between the sub-tiers themselves was vast, so comparing two separate core ranks was an entirely absurd thing to do.
A Platinum 1 expert defeating someone at Diamond 1 was very rare.
It wasn't impossible.
Though the difficulty of such a battle was impossibly high, there were many monsters in this world who were far superior to their counterparts.
These were the direct members of the major powerhouses of the world.
Arthur was such an anomaly himself.
But his case was different.
He was a commoner who had reached the absolute peak of power.
An Immortal fighting a Sovereign…
It was considered impossible.
But Arthur shattered that assumption with sheer strength, mana control, and an inhumane physique that could withstand the intensity of his battles.
So someone like Arthur, who could be considered the best in mana control in the entire world, being impressed by Kael's mana control was—
Ridiculous.
Arthur was impressed because to refine one's control, a person had to have fought numerous battles.
Live combat made one more attuned to the mana in the body.
It was like—the more you fought, the more your body got used to handling mana.
It flowed more freely through your blood and into your cells.
With years of experience, you could control that mana in subtle ways to explosively enhance certain parts of your body during combat.
What Kael was doing should have been impossible at his level.
He wasn't controlling the mana subtly; he was more like commanding the mana to obey him.
And he didn't enhance entire body parts, but—
Every muscle cell was selectively enhanced instead of the whole limb.
This was…
Arthur had no words for what he had just witnessed.
But little did he know, this wasn't the only shocking thing.
The moment Kael killed the monster, something entered his body.
Arthur's eyes widened.
That…
If he wasn't mistaken, the thing Kael had just absorbed was—
Mana essence?!