I Became the First Prince: Legend of Sword's Song

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𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢⁴

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"No one is acquainted with such outdated techniques anymore," uncle said.

"They how do you store mana in your body?" I asked with curiosity. What he said does not make sense. "If a knight does not need a mana heart, then what is mana's point in our body? It's not like you can make mana rings like a wizard."

"We do," he said without looking at me.

"What?"

"The knights use mana by weaving rings like wizards," he says.

I found myself laughing at this remark the same way he laughed at me after finding out about my mana heart.

"It wasn't a story for you to laugh at," he said rather defensively.

The mood suddenly shifted. It was as if a child changed the world's most precious heirloom into candy and bragged about it. He looked a tad bit confused, his expressions not so clear, and his eyebrows were drawn together. It was then that I realized something wasn't right.

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During the time I spent as a sword sealed away in the royal palace, a lot had changed. Four hundred years was more than enough to change the world I had known into something so utterly strange and alien. All the common sense and systems I was familiar with no longer exist in this world.
There was once an old saying that knights crossed the realm of superhumans through mana hearts. And it was only 200 years ago when knights first discovered that they could use mana more efficiently by connecting several rings instead of mana heart.

"Why?" I asked.

"It's easier, quicker, more stable, and outright stronger," uncle replied.

Even if I agree that the mana chain is more efficient, it doesn't make sense to me that the entire notion of mana hearts no longer thrives. It was hard to accept this. In my time, a chosen few soared to superhuman status thanks to mana hearts. Their achievements were never trivial, and their stories were considered to be legendary. It's unthinkable that the practice of making mana hearts had died while I was locked away in the palace.

"It was about 220 years ago that all the continent's top two Sword Masters were dethroned by the knights who climbed using the power of the rings." His tone was a little stern.

"What does that imply?" I asked.

"It simply means that there is nothing that makes no sense. Geomgi pulled out a ring that had the property of breaking the heart. No one has made mana hearts since then. Its concept died with this." Uncle said, "it is about that time that famous martial arts scattered across the continent abandoned the tradition."

"100 years ago, when Count Eli, who insisted on mana hearts until the bitter end, fell completely, mana hearts became a substandard tool used only by mercenaries," uncle said, continuing his lecture.

Uncle clicked his tongue. He asked me why I bothered to learn such old-fashioned techniques as if he had seen through me, and as if he seemed to know what was going on in my head.

"How would I have known all of that!" I blurted out with frustration quite evident on my face.

"It's strange, common senses is unknown," he said, making a mockery of my ignorance.