Valerian walked alongside Azuma, a new lightness in his step. The fear he’d carried had melted, replaced by a profound sense of relief and renewed purpose. He paused, placing a hand gently on Azuma’s shoulder.

  “Let’s keep what was said in that cell a secret between us, shall we, son?”

  “Sure, Dad,” Azuma replied, his smile wide and genuine.

  “Good. Now, about your magic… what did you call it again? Divine Power?”

  “Divine mana,” Azuma corrected.He rested his hand on his chin, thinking for a moment, then slowly shook his head.“Even I do not know the true name of this peculiar power.”

  Valerian frowned in thought. “I’ve never encountered that term. It suggests you’re a soul from a long-forgotten era.” He smiled warmly, then his expression grew serious. “Do you recall anything else, Azuma? Typically, when a soul reincarnates, they leave behind some hint of hidden knowledge or treasure.”

  “I can’t remember anything from my previous life, Father. Only two names feel… anchored in my soul.”

  “And they are?” Valerian prompted, his heart beating faster.

  “One is Azuma.”

  Valerian blinked slowly. “your name?”

  “Yes. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. There must be a connection to the past life.” Azuma’s brow furrowed in concentration.

  “And the other name?”

  “Eonvor,” he whispered.

  “Who is that?”

  “I don’t know,” Azuma admitted, shaking his head. “But when I think of that name, I feel a pull, a strange nudge in my soul, like something is trying to break free.”

  Valerian stopped, his eyes fixed on his son. “We will find him, Azuma. Don’t worry. But you must promise me two things right now.”

  “What is it, Father?”

  “First: do not use your Divine Mana unless the situation is absolutely life-or-death.” Seeing Azuma tilt his head in doubt, Valerian quickly added, “This is for your own personal development, too.”

  “How so?”

  Valerian sighed. “Tell me, how did you disable the formation traps in the cell before you were even taken there?”

  Azuma's eyes widened, and a sly, sheepish grin spread across his face. “Ah… I used my Divine Mana to absorb the formation's structure, analyze it, and then redraw it with a slight change.”

  “Which was?” Valerian pressed, crossing his arms and tapping his foot once.

  “I simply replaced the owner of the formation… with me,” Azuma admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

  Valerian’s voice dropped, tinged with parental fear. “Do you know, Azuma, that without your Divine Mana, only a formation master of my rank could even attempt that? You don’t understand the danger. If people outside this city learn you can do this, they will come for you. They will hunt you, assuming you possess a powerful artifact or forbidden knowledge. Your body is also not ready for this power; using it will only continue to injure you. Furthermore, relying only on Divine Mana means you never develop true, natural knowledge—and that will be a permanent handicap. You would be nothing without it. Promise me you won’t use it until you naturally master other skills.”

  Azuma pondered every point. His father’s reasoning was sound; coupled with the painful backlash from the Null spell and the booming voice that had warned him to stop, Azuma was deeply wary of his own power. He nodded slowly. “I promise, Father.”

  “Good. Now, the second promise: You don’t have to shoulder the burden of our people alone.” Valerian’s warm smile returned. “Whatever magnificent, crazy plan you devise, loop me in. Let’s do it together.”

  Azuma’s smile widened, genuine and bright. “Yes, Father. We will.”

  “Great. No more secrets then, right?”

  Azuma paused, his gaze dropping to the floor. “Ah… on that note, I might have tampered with the formation in the hunting ground.”

  The entire council and the royal guards—including Mike, Sou, and Leo—had assembled at the hunting ground. The area looked normal, save for the massive rings of Armored Scale Cobra scales now embedded around the perimeter.

  Valerian’s group entered just as the first activation sequence finished. Nectar had been dispersed into the water, luring monsters inside the sealed boundary. What happened next was a blur of brutal, unsettling efficiency.

  A collective psychic pulse—invisible but potent—shot out from the cobra scales, stunning all lower-class monsters. Then, the four golden cobra eyes embedded in the central pillars flared, and the monsters began attacking each other in a terrifying frenzy. D-class monsters tore into A-class monsters, sacrificing themselves in a coordinated, mindless assault. The stench of fresh blood and nectar filled the air, attracting more beasts. The entire sequence was silent, controlled, and clinical. Finally, the few heavily injured survivors were impaled by automated earth projectiles.

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  When the chaos ceased, fifty monsters lay dead. The hunting ground was automatically sealed, preventing any waste, and the teleportation circle activated, transporting all the corpses instantly back into the city. The entire complex process required a single activation switch.

  Mike’s jaw was slack. Sou and Leo exchanged wide-eyed, stunned looks. “Is… is this all automated?” Sou finally managed to ask Valerian.

  Valerian’s face was grim as he stared at the carnage. Oh, you have truly done it this time, Azuma, he thought, before turning to his son for an explanation.

  Unaware of his father's predicament, Azuma proudly began his technical explanation. “Original Cobra scales acted as a proxy eye, casting a fear illusion where everything went dark. But with the power of four golden eyes and thousands of scales from three Cobras, I've amplified that fear. Now, the weaker monsters are driven into a frenzy, grouping together to attack the stronger ones, and those powerful monsters are held in a longer, deeper daze. This turns the hunting ground into an automatic culling machine activated by a single switch.”

  but Valerian was more stunned, as he knew more about formations than anyone present. This formation was one of a kind, invented by his son because it was the first time an ability taken from a monster was used in a formation. Until now, abilities were either turned into a potion, which, when consumed, gave the user 50% potency, or it was converted into an artefact, where 10% to 50% of the ability could be utilised by the wielder, depending on the forgemaster. Consuming potions is life-threatening in some cases, and hence most prefer artefacts. Azuma, on the other hand, used it in the formation with 100% output. It is to be noted that even the original ability user cannot use 100% of its ability all the time because one cannot concentrate constantly. It was as if all the snakes were alive and had been given a single objective to perform nonstop without losing any concentration. The formation was terrifying. Not only did it teleport the flesh to the city, but it also separated the heart stones from the monsters, consumed them to automatically refill the used energy, and then sent the balance to the city. He also noticed that the formations between the four eyes were interlinked so that the effects could be stacked against each other. To kill a high-rank monster, it could effectively create four illusions. There was one more formation placed outside the hunting ground with the snake scales as a primary source, which first used energy signatures to classify and rank the monsters. After identifying that there were no demons, the secondary formation was activated inside the hunting ground, releasing nectar into the water. After the monsters entered, the place was sealed from the outside, and the scales inside the hunting ground stunned all the lower monsters while the four eyes took control of them, culling down their own population. When everything was over, the illusion formation disappeared, and the earth formation appeared and took down the remaining monsters with projectiles. Valerian's whole body shivered at the formation. He could even see a few more interlinked formations, but their functions were unknown even to him. He counted fifteen formations interlinked with each other, layered with several power nodes to ensure smooth function even if one or more nodes failed. This terrified Valerian. If this formation were laid in the castle, it would become an impregnable fortress. This kind of formation master was sought out even by the Big Three, and his son, who was only three years old, did it. "What the hell is this Divine Mana? Is he really a reincarnation of a god?" he thought to himself. He couldn't believe it. It was a great blessing to his son and also his greatest threat. Fearing for his son's life, he looked at the council members and royal guards to see if anyone had realised what had happened. He noticed that all of them were in shock, but no one had realised the actual strength of the formation and what it could do. He dismissed everyone and took Azuma away.

  “Did you use Divine Mana for this formation?” Valerian asked, his voice low and urgent.

  Azuma nodded.

  “Promise me you will not tell another soul how you created this formation,” Valerian demanded, his face stern. Azuma, recalling their earlier conversation, instantly agreed.

  Valerian sighed, his voice softening slightly. “And I need you to rewrite a few things. Cancel the automatic recharging mechanism and the single-trigger system. I want two separate, manual triggers, one for each formation, operated only from the hunting ground.”

  “Why, Father? Didn’t you like the design?” Azuma asked, his face falling in disappointment.

  “No, Azuma. On the contrary, you did something so extraordinary that even your father needs time to understand and replicate it. But it is far too dangerous as it stands. Trust me and do what I say.”

  Azuma paused, then removed a small golden ring and offered it to his father. “It’s the key, Father. Whoever wears it can control the formation. You can make the changes yourself.”

  Valerian received the ring and slipped it onto his finger. Immediately, all the complex information about the formation flooded directly into his mind. Valerian gasped, staggered by the sheer volume of instant knowledge.

  Seeing his father’s shock, Azuma explained, “It’s an Encrypted AND Descriptor, or ‘END.’ Normally, you need data, time, and practice to gain wisdom. I basically skipped the steps and gave you the knowledge. With a few practices, you can gain wisdom. And don’t worry, it can only be used by you.”

  “Divine Mana?” Valerian finally managed to ask.

  “Yes, Father,” Azuma whispered weakly.

  Valerian’s shoulders slumped in weary resignation. “Go home, son.”

  After Azuma left, Antheros approached Valerian, her face strained. “What our son did… it’s so incredible that you don’t want anyone to find out, right?”

  Valerian stared silently at the ring, taking a minute to steady himself. He finally met his wife’s eyes. “Anthy, we gave birth to a genius who can take the world to heights that no one has taken it to before… or a demon who will bring the world to its knees.”

  Hearing the word “demon” made Antheros flinch.

  “A demon to whoever opposes us, I mean,” he quickly clarified. “Look at what he did for us. He’ll always be on our side, I believe that 100%. But it’s our responsibility to guide him to be a good person, Anthy. If we guide him well, he will be an excellent king.”

  “But he never listens to us, Val.”

  “I know. And until we are in a better place, I don’t think he will stop. Did you hear what the kid said? ‘A king should live under the skies, not under a rock.’ Hahaha, I would have gone with him too.”

  “Stop joking, Val. It’s not funny. What should we do? We can’t ground him for long.”

  “No, we can’t. We equip him.”

  “What?”

  “We train him in everything, non-stop. He will be trained by all of us in every field. We are going to exhaust him every day and keep him occupied all the time so that he won’t have time to think of anything rebellious. I know he will lose his childhood, but he is giving us no choice. If we leave him alone, all hell will break loose. This formation has made our lives easier; we can now concentrate only on him. If we train him for the next twelve years, by the time he is fifteen, we can send him to be a Challenger.”

  “No! Absolutely not! I won't send him anywhere near that!”

  “Anthy!” Valerian shouted, gripping her arms gently

  “You should have realised by now — our son is born to be a ruler. Raise him well, and he may stand beside King Orion.”

  She hesitated. “And if we cannot?”

  He looked up at the cavern’s dark roof. For a long moment, he said nothing.

  “Then he will not remain our son.”

  His voice fell to a whisper.“He will become… the Demon King Yama.”

  Arc 1 — Seeds in the Cursed Lands.