I Was the Hero, But She Turned Me Into the Villain-Chapter 29 - 28 : Awakening - Part 4

My whole body was burning inside.

Every vein, every nerve, every cell vibrated with such intense energy that it threatened to tear me apart. I felt my heart beating out of time, trying in vain to keep up with the dragon’s heartbeat.

—Ngh... damn it...! —I growled through clenched teeth.

I clenched my teeth, trying to control my breathing. My chest rose and fell violently, and a metallic taste filled my mouth before I noticed the warmth of blood trickling down my lip.

The pain was so overwhelming I felt my consciousness slipping, dissolving, as if my mind was about to shatter along with my body.

Suddenly, a voice thundered, snapping me back to some clarity:

—Daven!

It was the marquis. His tone was as sharp as a blade, and it woke me instantly.

—Control the energy! he repeated. Don’t let it dominate you! Guide it to your dantian... condense it... make it yours!

His words reached me immediately, shaking the fog in my mind like a lifeline thrown to a drowning man.

I clung to them desperately.

I inhaled deeply, ignoring the stabbing pain in my chest, and closed my eyes.

I had to... focus.

I had to guide that torrent to my center.

After a few seconds, I managed to sink into my inner world.

The chaos disappeared for an instant, replaced by a boundless space where I could feel the flow of my own body.

Currents of wild energy surged from every direction, twisting like uncontrollable serpents.

It was my mana... and, at the same time, it wasn’t.

I drew in a deep breath, filling my lungs until they hurt, and began to guide that force toward my dantian.

At first, the energy obeyed reluctantly, gathering slowly, like a cornered beast.

But soon, the real battle began.

The mana roared inside me, crashing against the dantian like a raging ocean, trying to escape... trying to consume everything.

Each impact resonated through my body; I felt my muscles tremble and my bones vibrate with every surge.

It was as if I was about to explode.

"I need... to contain it..." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

I clenched my eyes shut and held onto my consciousness with all I had, visualizing the energy as an overflowing river.

Little by little, I began to build a dam around it—a wall forged from pure will, separating me from destruction.

I pushed the mana through my meridians again and again, forcing it to circulate.

Each cycle burned like hell, scorching my nerves and veins, everything...

But it also polished them, reforged them, as if my body itself was being reconstructed.

Finally, the current began to yield.

The chaos started to organize, swirling into a spiral until it formed a stable vortex in my dantian.

I felt the mana condense slowly, crystallizing into a small core...

When it was over, I opened my eyes, and a strong stench hit my nose.

The smell was coming from me.

I looked at my arms and understood: apparently, I was expelling old blood and impurities from my body, turned into a dark, sticky sweat that coated my skin.

Even my breathing felt lighter... cleaner.

—"Good..." —the marquis’s voice echoed, deep, with a faint tone of approval.

I kept inhaling with difficulty, feeling each heartbeat of the core vibrate inside me.

It was small, unstable... but it was there.

Each pulse sent waves of heat through my veins, reinforcing my muscles, hardening my bones, cleansing the last of the impurities.

Still, I could feel it trembling.

As if one small mistake could destroy all my effort.

My breathing gradually stabilized, and the dark sweat on my skin began to dry from the residual heat of my own body.

—"Daven... remember," said the marquis, with an unreadable expression. "Your core is formed, but don’t drop your guard."

I nodded without answering, keeping my focus.

I could feel it in my dantian, pulsing faintly.

For now, I just needed to keep processing this energy.

After a few minutes, the pain slowly began to fade.

My body, exhausted, begged for rest—but my mind remained clear.

I had survived.

***

Three days had passed since I formed my core, and the changes in my body were already impossible to ignore.

My skin, once pale from years of confinement in my room, was now full of vitality, looking like porcelain bathed in a soft glow, and every movement felt more precise, more refined.

However, that same glow on my skin made training difficult. The maids’ stares became more intense, as if my mere presence were a magnet for them.

I could feel their eyes trailing over me without restraint, and for a moment, I was certain that if I let my guard down, they would barge into my room at any moment.

—"Haah..." —I sighed in resignation, gripping the wooden sword tighter in the vast training field.

The morning wind, the faint scent of damp grass—it was always pleasant.

From here, I could even hear the distant echo of soldiers training in the southern yard.

I adjusted my gloves and set my eyes on the wooden dummy in front of me.

Now I could feel the flow of mana coursing through my body, gentle yet constant, like a river I had finally learned to guide.

I extended my hand toward the sword and focused my energy.

Thin threads of mana emerged from my meridians, wrapping around the wood.

They trembled at first, unstable... then fused into a faint yet firm bluish layer.

—Let’s see... —I murmured.

I took a firm step, feeling my muscles respond with precision.

The sword descended in a clean arc, and the mana-coated blade left a fleeting glow in the air.

CRACK!

The wooden dummy split cleanly into two perfect halves, hitting the sand with a dull thud.

"Still not enough..." I muttered weakly, as a small wave of disappointment swelled in my chest.

Almost immediately, the flow of mana faltered, and the bluish layer around my weapon crumbled like sand in the wind.

I gritted my teeth.

My core was still unstable.

It was already a miracle I could control even this small amount of mana.

I looked forward.

Took a deep breath, closed my eyes for a moment, and refocused. Feeling the energy slowly recover in the depths of my dantian...

[Dantian: a deep, warm space located in the lower abdomen.]