Time came to a standstill for Leo.

  A piece of cloth had been wrapped around his eyes, taking away his ability to see—while the screams of his dear Giulia took away the strength in his limbs.

  He was scared. He did not understand what was going on around him. No, he could not stomach the very fear that was overwhelming him. The rush of adrenaline that was taking him over was something he was feeling for the first time in his life, so he just stood there—trembling while trying to understand the situation.

  "Take the princess first! I don't need that pesky brat throwing a tantrum and ruining the fun. Just don't kill him. He can bring us good money."

  After those words were spoken, the screams of the young lady started fading as the sound of something being dragged away was inundating his ears. Leo soon understood that Giulia was being taken away.

  How can this happen? Mom warned us about bandits plenty of times, but we are right next to the capital. Why is this happening? Why? Why?

  "Where are you taking her?"

  Instead of a spoken answer, Leo soon felt the taste of dirt on his tongue as his head was pushed backwards by yet another boot.

  "Careful! We need him in good shape if we want to make some good money. Big boss is going to kill me!"

  As Leo got back on his knees, he started to understand his surroundings.

  At least four people. Two are holding us, one kicked me, and one is of higher standing in their group, but he is not the leader. The leader is not here. There are still too many, and I have no idea if others are close by. What do I do? They are taking her away. I'm scared. Maybe if I calm down, I can escape when fewer of them are around. I just need to run back to the castle and ask them for help. Yes, I have to just stay silent for now.

  "No! Let go of me! What are you doing? That was a gift from Leo! Don't pull on it! Hey, mmph…" The girl was shut up mid-sentence by a piece of pink cloth shoved in her mouth—a piece of cloth that should have been part of her freshly cleaned dress.

  Hearing what Giulia was saying as she was being dragged in the distance, Leo's mind went blank. He relaxed every muscle in his body, and fell on the kidnapper who was holding him.

  "Hey! What are you doing, kid? That's your girl being taken away. Are you seriously taking a nap? Hey! Get o…"

  The Basil holding him did not finish the sentence. No. He could not finish the sentence as his head had already been pierced by a water from a dirty, pinkish puddle.

  Leo took off the cover that was blocking his view, but the eyes behind the mask were not those of the 14-year-old boy. The fear that was dominating him just moments ago had all but vanished in a matter of seconds.

  "Oi! The kid just killed Vard! Didn't the boss say he was just a weak noble or something?"

  He had miscalculated; what he saw when he took off his blindfold was not just another mercenary. No. He saw three more in front of him. He also heard another seven hiding behind the trees.

  "Whatever, get him!"

  Leo did not waste another second. He attacked the man in front of him, trying the same trick that got him free, but the second man knew what to expect. He deflected the water that was rushing at him. The strong jet had cost the mercenary his shield, but he had enough time to swing his sword at the boy.

  He had miscalculated again. Those were not just some random thieves. This was a trained band of mercenaries. This also explained why they were so close to the capital. They had been planning this kidnapping for a long time.

  Leo dodged the sharp edge of the sword by the tip of his nose, but that was enough. There was no way for the enemy to deflect his attack a second time. The second attempt at using his water jet resulted in a hit. Nine left.

  The next two came at him at once, thinking that he would not be able to use his magic on both of them at once. This time they were the ones in the wrong. Leo split the water he was controlling and took both of them out quickly. But he also ran into a problem. The water he had been using ran out. It was now on the enemies around him, and he had no time to calculate picking it all up. The seven mercenaries who were left were rushing him.

  This seemed to be the end of Leo's short fight. The kid who was close to wetting himself had become a fierce fighter in a matter of minutes, mercilessly taking lives as if he had been doing it for years. But this was as far as his abilities went. The kid fell on his knees and spread his hands to the side.

  "Ran out of gas, huh? Don't think you are getting out alive now. The boss likes holding grudges, and you've killed plenty of his men."

  The angry basil swung his sword down on the noble. He could already picture the sharp edge cutting the boy clean in half. While the basili people were smaller than human men, strength is where they excelled, and Leo was going to understand this soon enough.

  Or…

  In a clean swoop, the seven enemies left fell to the ground. Every single one of them had their body pierced multiple times. Above them, a massive red circle was floating. This was the biggest trick Leo had pulled in his life; he was now manipulating big amounts of the enemy's blood and used it to take out the rest of the group instantly.

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  Leo, after confirming that nobody was left moving, got up and closed his eyes. In the distance, he could hear someone being dragged together with the muffled screams of his dear Giulia.

  "Not this time. Please be safe, Giulia," the boy said as he began to run.

  *****

  

  Mastering the basics of magic would open up new branches that, to beginners, seemed impossible to reach. The one thing necessary for attaining knowledge is knowledge. This principle stayed true for every ability a practitioner would learn.

  That being said, there were certain spells and types of magic that should never be used. As a matter of fact, blood manipulation was one of those forbidden practices. The sheer horrors that happened in the early days of magic when blood manipulation was invented were often too much even for historians to write down. As such, research and use of blood magic had long since been forbidden across multiple countries, leading to a halt in its evolution across the centuries.

  The world kept on developing without shedding the blood of the people. That was for the best. That's how things should be. But Leo, who should not have even heard of this type of magic, was breaking the taboo.

  From a nearby tree, the lifeless body of another mercenary fell. This one was neither human nor basil. Leo did not give it another look. Instead, he focused his attention on the goal. He could see a camp in front of him, right at the end of the forest.

  So Leo ran; he ran as fast as he could, taking out anyone who would dare stay in his way. A group of humans, an injured basili fighter, and a scared mercenary who looked around his own age—he did not care; he took out everyone. The young son of nobility who liked to sleep in and spend time secretly thinking about the princess he was friends with was nowhere to be seen. In his body, a merciless killer was now practicing what he did best.

  Almost reaching the edge of the forest, Leo had already prepared the weapon he would use. He had gathered enough blood—enough to take on an army. That was one of the attributes that made blood manipulation one of the strongest weapons in times of old; the source would not run out until every last enemy was dead. On the contrary, the more enemies there were, the more blood the mage had to play with. There was no need for any deeper understanding of the element, such as transmutation.

  The boy was getting ready to storm the camp when, out of seemingly nowhere, he felt a kick in his ribs. Leo flew to the side and hit a tree. The impact should have been fatal if not for his cleverly placed guard of blood that saved his life. Still, he was not unscathed.

  After getting up, he confirmed the identity of the attacker; he was not something that he thought existed in this world. Standing at two meters tall, with green scales that reflected the light of the bloody moon, stood a basil warrior with only one muscular arm left after his many battles. But that one arm was enough for him. He unsheathed his sword as Leo slowly approached.

  Upon seeing him, Leo subconsciously tightened every muscle in his body. He quickly understood that this was no average mercenary. This monster of a basil was the kind of warrior that could do him in with one well-placed hit, and Leo would not be able to dodge, deflect, or withstand anything brought upon him by that sword. Such is the disadvantage of liquids; they are easy to cut through.

  Still, that did not stop Leo from trying to fight back. There was no surviving that beast getting close to him, but he had plenty of range to deal the killing blow. Leo smiled, as he knew the mistake of not killing him with the first hit was going to bring Leo victory. But as he launched half of his artillery at the giant basil, he was the one put in front of an unexpected situation. All the blood ricocheted right off the attacker. After checking the site of the kick on his clothes, the boy understood the reason.

  "Oil, huh?"

  The basil did not survive all his years just by being physically strong; he also trained himself with the best counter for water-based magic. He coated his body in oil. With the right timing, he could easily deflect any attack Leo would throw at him.

  Assessing the situation, Leo changed plans. He jumped on top of a puddle of water and lifted himself into the air. He was going to escape and attack the kidnappers from there.

  But he had miscalculated; as soon as he started lifting himself, the basil in front of him disappeared. No. He jumped towards him. The next second, Leo found himself on the ground, head split open, right next to Giulia and what seemed like another familiar face.

  Lifting his face off the ground, the boy, with big, scared, almost unrecognizable eyes, said in a low, trembling voice.

  "Giovanni…why?"

  *****

  

  Barely holding on to his consciousness, the young boy, now unrecognizable from the killing machine who had rushed the camp, found courage to ask a single question.

  "Are you…here…to save Giulia?"

  Silence. There was no answer for only a short while; however, Leo felt like he had fainted twice before he heard something from the merchant in front of him.

  "Take him away."

  And that answer was the one he feared the most.

  The brute that beat him into submission grabbed him by the nape and slammed him onto a wooden cross, tying his hands and feet in the form of an 'X.'.

  All Leo could do was watch as Giovanni approached Giulia and gave her back the ability to speak by taking the cloth stuffed in her mouth.

  "LEO! WHY DID YOU COME HERE?"

  The boy was barely holding on as he was being screamed at. With his blurry vision, he was barely able to discern the facial features of the girl he had known since they were little. The one thing he did notice was her dress, now dirty and ripped from being dragged around.

  Thank God. The boy thought to himself. They did not lay their hands on her.

  Just as he thought that, he saw Giovanni grab her and drag her to the ground. The girl was barely able to scream anymore as the man Leo had known and joked with all his life was dragging her towards a nearby caravan.

  "Stop that! What are you doing to her?"

  Giovanni finally stopped and looked at the boy. "Don't worry. Whatever happens to her here is nothing compared to what will happen where we sell her off to."

  Hearing that affirmation, the girl found a new voice to protest against the man. But her words could not be understood by anyone, as blood from ruining her vocal cords was blocking the sound. All she could do was stare at the only person she could trust.

  "Hang in there, Giulia! I will bust out of here soon enough!" the boy promised as he was pulling on the chains that were holding him in place. It was now the third time his behavior had changed. Only this time, the courage he found was much purer, and it came together with a strong feeling of despair.

  He started using another untrained power, that of wind. He cut down the chains and the guard watching him in an instant. He was now free to save Giulia. His heart had calmed down.

  I did it. Only one step left. I am not repeating the same mistake! He felt as if he could save the situation and return everything to normal.

  But he was wrong.

  Before he could take another step, half of his body fell to the ground.

  "Huh?"

  Leo was confused about what was going on. He looked at the even more shocked face of Giulia, now bursting into tears of sadness and despair. He could not understand why she was doing that, but everything around him was turning dark quickly. He did not have the time to find an answer to his last question.

  It was then that Leonard Leopold had breathed his last on the cold, soaked, red dirt.

  What if cultivation was engineering?

  Engineer mind + Taoist cultivation + Blacksmith MC

  He died. He glimpsed infinity. Now he's building his way back—with a hammer.

  No shortcuts. Just a nine-year-old forging lightning generators and formations in a dying kingdom.

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