The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 44: The Hounds (1) (Part 1)

The primal energy—Mana.

A power refined from raw Mana to make it usable:

Mana Force and Aura.

Both are derived from Mana, yet the mechanisms behind them are so fundamentally different that they actually clash.

Those who use Mana Force cannot wield Aura.
Those who wield Aura cannot use Mana Force.

This has long been regarded as an immutable truth across the continent.

But I knew better.
I knew that wasn’t the full story.

The Archmage, a hero of the Allied Forces, once said:

— More precisely, it’s that mages who use Mana Force can’t handle Aura.

The Archmage defined Aura in simple terms:
The power to manifest things that exist only in one’s imagination into reality.

— Let me give you an example of warriors who unleash overwhelming power through Aura.

Warriors enhance their bodies with Aura, unlocking superhuman strength.
According to the Archmage, this concept was first inspired by the “ant.”

A small insect capable of lifting objects tens of times heavier than its own body.

But what if that physical structure was applied to a human?
Wouldn’t that mean a human could also lift objects tens of times heavier than their own body?

The mage answered that question:

— The amount of force is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the muscle.

Meaning the larger the muscle, the greater the strength.

That was the extent of what I could grasp.
From that point on, the explanation went in one ear and out the other.

— When the body increases in size, its cross-sectional area increases by the square.

Because cross-sectional area is width × height.
But volume is width × height × depth.

So with the same amount of material, volume increases by the cube.

— Thus, the body’s volume grows exponentially faster than the muscle’s cross-sectional area.

So what if ants were as large as humans?
They wouldn’t be able to produce the same strength.

Conversely, if humans were as small as ants?
They could exert strength like ants.

Think about it: only small-bodied insects can exert strength tens of times their weight.
Even fleas do this.

Therefore, the reason ants can lift objects many times heavier than their own bodies is due to body size.
More precisely, volume.

Thus, even if humans replicated the physical structure of ants, they wouldn’t be able to lift objects thousands of times their weight.

— Hence, mages came to this conclusion:

Ah! Such feats are fundamentally impossible!

And so, no matter how much they used Strength-enhancing magic, mages could never transcend the physical limits of the human body.

Because with their exceptional intellect, they had “understood” that such things were impossible.

— But then, Aura-wielding warriors would say:

“I just do it, and it works?”

They really are out of their minds.

It’s something utterly impossible under magical law.
Something that absolutely, without a doubt, violates the natural laws of this world.

And yet, in front of your very eyes, there are warriors moving like ants—using those very physical principles.

From a mage’s perspective, it’s enough to make you go insane.

— As they say, it’s mental collapse…

This is the principle behind how Aura enhances physical abilities.
A power that ignores the world’s laws and brings impossible ideas from imagination into reality—

A force that doesn’t exist anywhere, and yet somehow does:
Aura.

That’s why mages cannot use Aura.
Because their superior intellect leads them to understand that Aura shouldn’t exist in the first place.

And conversely, knights cannot use Mana Force.
Because the moment they study and understand Mana Force, they inherently deny the existence of Aura.

Aura and Mana Force—

Though both are altered energies derived from the same primal Mana, Aura is considered the exclusive domain of knights, and Mana Force the exclusive domain of mages.

But that doesn’t mean Aura is omnipotent.
Because it’s a power that violates natural laws, it comes with restrictions.

The Archmage described it like this:

— It draws the resistance of the world itself.

That’s why even using Aura to enhance the body or weaponry can be difficult.

However—

There were rare cases.

Insane individuals who could manifest absurd fantasies that should never be possible within the laws of reality.

People who not only overcame the world’s resistance to Aura, but surpassed its limits altogether—

Masters.

Masters manifest their own unique fantasies into the real world.
And then they apply them to themselves as though they were natural laws.

Thus, utterly ludicrous feats that should be impossible become reality.

And right now—

The power radiating from Kai—

It resembled my [Regeneration B+] skill, but followed a different path.
It also bore a faint similarity to the miracles of a Saintess, yet the essence was entirely different.

This was a power that no living creature in this world had ever achieved.
A power that, by all rights, should never be possible in this world.

Immortality.

In other words, Kai has taken a step into the realm of a Master.

And with that, he’s one step closer to becoming the Commander of the Frost Legion.

Seriously…

‘That madman.’

Across both my past and current lives, he’s the craziest powerhouse I’ve ever seen.

While I was searching the Snowy Mountains, Kai had taken a step into the realm of a Master.

If there’s any consolation—

‘He’s not a fully-fledged Master yet.’

Becoming a Master isn’t like naming a pet dog—it’s not something one achieves overnight.

Even within the Battenberg Kingdom, where the House of Whitewolf belongs, you could count the number of Masters on one hand. Across the whole continent, there still aren’t many.

Master: the peak of Aura.

Kai had merely taken a step toward that peak.

And even that was insane.

Kai is only 20 years old.

As far as I know, no one has ever reached Master at that age.

At any rate, he hasn’t yet achieved true Immortality like he did in our previous life.

Even back then, it wasn’t true immortality.

The only true immortal is the Monarch of Immortality, one of the six Monarchs serving the Emperor.

Kai’s immortality isn’t that.

Just like I need nutrients to activate [Regeneration B+], Kai needs Aura to maintain Immortality.

Meaning: when Aura runs out, the immortal power fades.

Back when Kai was Commander of the Frost Legion, he overcame this limitation to some extent by becoming a Lich.
But right now, he’s still human.

Translatin_Otaku

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