Chương 3: The First Breath

The forest was quiet. Too quiet. Leo sat beneath an old oak tree with his legs crossed, his small hands resting on his knees. He was four years old. For an ordinary child, sitting motionless for nearly an hour would have been impossible. For Leo, it was merely frustrating. He breathed in. Slowly. He breathed out. Even more slowly. Again. And again. His consciousness turned inward. There. A faint thread of energy moved through his body. Internal Energy. Leo's expression remained calm. But inside, he was surprised.

It's growing. Very slowly. Painfully slowly. Yet it was growing. After two years of cultivation, he had finally managed to establish the foundation of his Internal Energy. It was almost laughably weak. If someone from the Murim world saw it, they would probably assume he was an ordinary beginner. But Leo didn't care. A foundation was a foundation. And he had something that no beginner possessed. Experience. He remembered the cultivation methods he had spent decades refining. He remembered the mistakes of his youth.

The shortcuts. The dangerous techniques. The methods that damaged the meridians. The techniques that appeared powerful but created hidden weaknesses. Most importantly… He knew how to wait. Leo slowly guided the energy through his meridians. One circuit. Then another. The energy moved like a thin stream. His new body resisted him. The meridians were still developing. The channels were narrow. Every attempt had to be controlled carefully. If he forced the energy, he could permanently damage himself.

So he didn't force it. He simply continued. A little at a time. One day. One breath. One cycle. One year. That was how cultivation worked. Not through miracles. Through repetition. A branch snapped. Leo's eyes opened. He immediately stopped circulating his Internal Energy. Someone was approaching. Small footsteps. Then a familiar voice.

"Leo!" His older sister—or rather, his only sibling—came running through the grass. Her name was Mia. Stolen story; please report. She was six years old. She stopped when she saw him sitting beneath the tree.

"There you are!" Leo looked at her.

"What?"

"Mom said we're going home."

"I'm coming." Mia stared at him suspiciously.

"What were you doing?"

"Thinking."

"About what?" Leo paused.

"Things." She frowned.

"You're weird." Leo smiled. If you only knew. They walked home together. Mia talked the entire way. She told him about a merchant who had arrived in town. About a traveling magician. About a boy who had supposedly seen a goblin near the northern road. Leo listened. He rarely interrupted. But one word caught his attention.

"Magic." Mia nodded enthusiastically.

"Father said the magician can make fire without wood!" Leo glanced at her.

"Can you?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not a mage." Leo thought for a moment.

"Can Father?"

"Of course." That answer was enough. Leo needed to begin learning properly. That evening, Leo approached his father. Marcus was sitting near the fireplace, sharpening a small farming knife. Leo stood in front of him.

"Father." Marcus looked up.

"Yes?"

"Can you teach me magic?" The knife stopped. Elena, who was preparing dinner nearby, also looked over. For several seconds, neither spoke. Marcus eventually smiled.

"You're interested in magic?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Leo thought carefully. He couldn't tell him the truth. Because I need to understand the fundamental energy system of this world. Instead, he said:"I think it's interesting." Marcus laughed.

"That's a good reason." He placed the knife down.

"Come here." Leo sat beside him. Marcus raised one hand.

"Magic begins with Mana." Leo's eyes sharpened. Exactly what he wanted.

"Mana exists everywhere. In the air. In the earth. In living things." Marcus closed his eyes. A faint blue glow appeared around his fingers.

"But Mana alone isn't magic." Leo watched carefully.

"You need to sense it." The blue glow disappeared.

"Then gather it." The glow returned.

"Then control it." The light condensed into a small sphere.

"And finally…" Marcus moved his fingers. The sphere became a flame.

"… give it a form." Leo stared. Not at the flame. At the process. His eyes narrowed. He could see it now. The way Mana entered Marcus's body. The way it circulated. The way it gathered. The way it transformed. So that's how they do it. It wasn't entirely different from Internal Energy. The difference was in the relationship between the user and the energy. Internal Energy was cultivated internally. Mana was drawn from the environment. But the moment Mana entered the body… There was a circulation process.

Leo's heart beat faster. Interesting. Marcus noticed his expression.

"Do you understand?" Leo nodded.

"I think so." Marcus smiled.

"Then try." Leo raised his hand. He closed his eyes. He searched for the Mana surrounding him. There it was. Everywhere. He reached toward it. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. Marcus watched patiently. Leo frowned. Why? He could sense Mana. He knew it existed. So why couldn't he gather it? He attempted to pull it toward himself. The Mana moved. Barely. A tiny amount entered his body. Leo immediately felt something wrong. The sensation was violent. His Internal Energy reacted.

The two energies collided. Pain exploded through his chest. Leo's eyes widened. He immediately stopped. The Mana dispersed. Marcus stood up.

"Leo!" Leo fell backward, breathing heavily. His tiny hands trembled. Elena rushed toward him.

"What happened?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine!" Leo ignored them. His mind was elsewhere. He had felt it. For less than a second. Internal Energy. Mana. They had touched. And they had rejected each other. But that wasn't what excited him. It was what happened immediately before they separated. For one brief instant… They had moved together. Leo slowly smiled. So it's possible. Marcus looked at his son with concern.

"Maybe you're too young." Leo looked up at him.

"Maybe." He didn't argue. He didn't explain. He simply stood. That night, Leo returned to his room. He closed the door. Sat on the floor. And began thinking. His previous life had taught him one fundamental rule. Never attempt to master something you don't understand. So he would not force Mana into his body again. Not yet. First, he needed to understand it. He needed to understand its structure. Its flow. Its nature. Its relationship with the human body. And most importantly…

Why had it reacted to his Internal Energy? Leo opened his eyes. A strange excitement filled them. For decades, he had believed Internal Energy was the peak of martial cultivation. Now he had encountered something completely new. Magic. Mana. A system that his former self had never known. For the first time since becoming the Heavenly Demon… Park Suho had discovered something he genuinely did not understand. And he loved it. Three months passed. Leo stopped trying to combine the two energies.

Instead, he focused entirely on Mana. He practiced sensing. Then gathering. Then releasing. Slowly, he improved. At five years old, he managed to produce his first magical spark. A tiny flame appeared above his palm. It lasted less than a second. Then vanished. Leo stared at the empty space above his hand. He smiled. It wasn't impressive. It wasn't powerful. A trained mage would probably laugh at it. But Leo didn't care. Because this was not the end. It was the beginning. He raised his hand again.

A second spark appeared. This time… It lasted two seconds. Leo's smile widened. Then a voice came from behind him.

"Leo?" The flame disappeared. He turned. His father stood in the doorway. Marcus stared at him. Then at the faint smoke rising from his son's palm. For several seconds, he said nothing. Finally—"You've learned magic." Leo nodded.

"Yes." Marcus smiled. A proud smile. But Leo noticed something else. His father's eyes contained worry. Not fear. Worry. Leo's expression changed.

"Father?" Marcus looked at him.

"There are things you need to know before you learn more." Leo remained silent. Marcus closed the door behind him. Then he said:"Magic isn't as simple as people think." Leo listened.

"Some people are born with extraordinary talent." Marcus sat down.

"Others spend their entire lives trying to control Mana and never become powerful." He paused.

"And there are things in this world that even the strongest mages are afraid of." Leo's eyes narrowed.

"Like what?" Marcus looked toward the window.

"Monsters." Leo waited.

"Ancient creatures." Another pause.

"Dragons." The room became quiet. Leo's expression remained calm. But something inside him stirred. He remembered the Murim world. The ancient dragons. The monsters that even martial masters treated with caution. So dragons existed here too. But Marcus continued.

"Don't ever think that because someone can use magic, they're invincible." Leo looked down at his hand. A tiny spark appeared between his fingers. Then vanished. He smiled faintly. I know. He had already learned that lesson once. In his previous life… The strongest man in the world had still died from a blade he never saw coming. Leo closed his fist. This time, he would be more careful. Much more careful. Because he had been given something Park Suho had never possessed. Time.

And he intended to use every second of it. End of Chapter 3.