The Weakest to Strongest

My father, Kaizen Samsory is the world strongest knight.

Even the Family head of the Crestician, Bellirk Crestician, could not hold a candle to this man.

Smirk.

Kaizen showed a toothy grin.

"I've truly made the correct decision to come and meet you today. Your naive question has become a great topic of interest for me. Thank you, my son. Come closer."

Could he win against a god? Kaizen had called this question a 'topic of interest'.

Once Ruya walked up to him, his father lightly patted his head. The handful of shadows like fire were still swirling on Ruya's palm right now.

"How do you want to use this power?"

"I want to use it for the family, father."

I want to use it for myself.

There was no need for him to answer honestly. The only things the clan had given Ruya in his past life was scorn and contempt.

He had never felt the warmth called 'family' again after turning 5 years old. Therefore, Ruya had absolutely no intention of using his life to serve the family, unless he somehow became the head of the family. However, in order to do that, he would have to defeat his monstrously powerful siblings.

"Kuhahaha!"

Kaizen suddenly burst into laughter. The echoes resounded throughout the entire Tempest House and shook the ground.

The siblings waiting outside the throne room all jolted in surprise. They had never heard their father laugh so vigorously in recent years.

After a while, the laughter subsided and Kaizen turned expressionless as usual. He bent down and brought his face up close to Ruya.

"What an amusing lie. You can be more honest with your father, you know?"

Ruya hadn't expected this situation. Nevertheless, he suppressed his shock and slowly spoke.

"…for me."

"Hm?"

"I want to use it for myself."

"Right. After beating your brother and leaving them out in the storm, there's no way you'd use your power for the clan. I'll be watching over you from here on out."

Kaizen walked past Ruya and left the room. After his father's footsteps disappeared into the distance, Ruya finally noticed the cold sweat running down his face and back.

A mixture of disbelief and relief painted across his face.

"Phew!"

He let out a large breath of air and wiped his sweat with his sleeve. He had never faced his father in such a bold manner during his past 25 years of life.

'I did it. I made it!'

As the adrenaline rush subsided, he could finally hear his heart beating like crazy.

Through today's conversation with his father, Ruya had obtained Kaizen's approval to use Ruther's power freely, and his father's expectations of him were high.

'In my first life, I ended up dying without getting the chance to properly use Ruther's power, and I never would've thought that father would hold expectations for me back then.'

Even after getting banished from the family, Ruya did not have the liberty of using Ruther's power freely.

The family wouldn't allow a banished Samsory to gain power and potentially use it against them.

Therefore, Ruya had to hide in the Kitayan Kingdom and train in secrecy. The Kitayan Kingdom was affiliated to the Corody Magic Tower Corporation, which was under the Crestician Clan's influence. It was the perfect place for Ruya to hide, as he was technically a magician back then.

The Samsory Clan's long-time secret: the founder's contract with Ruther.

Ruya was already aware of this undisclosed information before his rebirth. Kaizen had called it a secret the family had 'kept hidden for a long time', but Ruya was more knowledgeable about the details of the founder's relation with Ruther than his father.

Ruther had told Ruya about his history with the Samsory family personally after their contract was made. At that time, Ruther and Ruya would chat amicably like two close friends.

'But he never told me why he left the Samsory and became a god of magic instead of the god of swords. He didn't get involved during my death either.'

Moreover, ever since his rebirth, Ruther hadn't spoken to him once.

Ruya, speculated that his rebirth was a phenomenon that had transpired due to Ruther's power and authority, but that was merely a hypothesis.

***

When Ruya was one year old, he realized that the power he had obtained through the contract was still available to him.

'It became usable immediately after I 'selected' Larent.'

On his 'Sword Ceremony' day, during the night after the ritual was over, a 9-star magician's curse, the 'Talentless Seal', was cast on Ruya. It was the same curse as his past life. The incident was repeating itself.

[Contractor, it seems that someone bore a grudge against you since your childhood. You haven't been able to use your full potential due to a trivial curse. That might've been the reason why I was so captivated by you.]

Those were Ruther's words right after they had made their contract.

As Ruya remembered that conversation, he watched the curse's chains slowly crawl into his cradle. While he was fully conscious, he couldn't resist or block the curse with the body of a 1-year-old.

He began blaming his newborn body for his powerlessness. He could neither resist the curse slithering towards him, nor call out for help.

Suddenly, Ruther's power manifested itself.

The chains never managed to reach Ruya, and disappeared into his shadow.

Curses of this level could not affect Ruther's contractor. Using his past life's magic teacher's expression, it was an 'extremely cheat-like' effect.

'Just you wait. I don't know who cast this curse on me, but once I've grown up, I will find you. And I will kill you.'

The power to control dark like shadow aura that my father called 'Void Energy'; his knowledge of magic he gained in his past life; and, despite having unlocked and practiced it belatedly, his skills and talent with the sword. Ruya had retained all these qualities through the reincarnation.

He would not face the same fate as last time. The family would not banish him for not having any talents this time. An entirely different future was awaiting him.

"Young Master."

"Yes, Nanny Gilly?"

As he turned around, Gilly was waiting for him at the entrance.

"The head has announced his departure. You must come to see him off."

"Okay."

"But… are you alright?"

Gilly asked in concern.

She had seen Datonay returning to his room with ashen-white face and expressions of terror, therefore she couldn't hide her worries for Ruya.

"I'm okay. Are my elder brothers and sisters leaving as well?"

"Yes. They only came here to greet the head. Ah! But Lady Lily has left behind a gift for you, Young Master."

"I'll open the gift later. I should go see father off first."

There were over 100 guardian knights who had turned up at the Tempest House, accompanying their respective Samsory faction leader..

As Kaizen was preparing to leave again, the others had no reason to stay. Once they would leave, Ruya could ignore his brother Datonay and spend his days quietly at the Tempest House here on out.

Spend his days quietly gaining strength without anyone noticing, in fact.

"All hail!"

"All hail!"

The knights raised their swords to the sky as Kaizen exited the gates. Ruya and his brother stood next to them and bowed their heads as well.

'The next time I see my father will be at the main house instead of the Tempest House.'

Kaizen returned to the direction of the Demon Sea.

The people who were expecting Kaizen to lead them to a bloody battle against the Crestician family all hid their disappointment deep in their hearts. The Samsory faction leaders each returned to their original whereabouts, followed by their guardian knights.

Kaizen never returned to the Tempest House again until Ruya turned 10 and left. However, the guardian knight called Lrim would occasionally leave for the Demon Sea in order to inform the Head about Ruya's recent actions.

'Elder sister Lily isn't in her right mind. I'm still only 5 years old… Hahaha. To think she'd give me such an amazing present!'

Ruya shouted out in his mind as he opened the gift in his room. Gilly's eyes also turned wide as she checked the item left behind by Ruya's third sister, Lily.

Before their eyes was the heart of a beast summoned by a magician from the Crestician family. Lily had personally killed the summoned beast in the continent's Northern region.

The Mythical Creature, Phoenix Heart.

A rare and precious gift Ruya never received in his previous life.

Lily was wishing for his well-being and wanted her youngest brother to grow up strong and healthy.

Ruya could now decoct the heart and consume it.

Jin's third sister, Lily Samsory.

Currently aged 18, she is known around the world as 'Tempest Lily'.

In the Samsory family's 500-year-old history, not a single child failed to become a rank-7 knight before reaching 16. By 18, most would be rank-5 knights, and the average would become a rank-3 before the age of 20.

Lily's case was the complete opposite of the past Ruya.

She exceeded the Samsory's norm. While Ruya became a Rank-5 knight at 25 years old, she achieved the same feat at 12 and was already a 5-star knight at 16.

Moreover, she was currently a 6-star knight.

Despite not being 20 yet, she reached a stage that most people around the world could only dream of attaining.

By exceeding the Samsory norm, the word 'genius' that applied to all Samsory could no longer do justice to her and her achievements.

Regardless of her talents, Lily was one of the few people who had shown goodwill and compassion towards Ruya in his previous life.

'She may have a screw or two loose in her head, but she's given me an incredible gift. I was just starting to get frustrated by my slow growth speed.'

One month has passed since Kaizen left the Tempest House.

During that time, the smell of the Phoenix Heart being decocted in the kitchen had spread throughout the entire castle. Moreover, several corridors and halls near the kitchen were scorching due to the special heat released by the Phoenix Heart.

Despite all this havoc, Lily had returned to the Northern region as if the heart was insignificant to her.

Normally speaking, a Phoenix Heart was… a rarity similar to an elixir that even kings and queens couldn't eat often.

The meat was tender and softer than veal, it had a richer fragrance than truffles, and its effects were far more potent than herbal tonics.

"Young Master, within a couple of hours, you'll finally be able to eat the heart. Good job waiting patiently until now."

Ruya nodded excitedly as his eyes glimmered.

It had taken Lily's gift a month to be fully cooked. Gilly hadn't been able to sleep properly during this entire month because she was busy simmering the Phoenix Heart for her young master.

Nevertheless, she was ecstatic. Ruya's happiness was her happiness. A nanny within this family was responsible for a Samsory child's growth, and their future depended greatly on how strong and dependable the child became.

Due to this tradition, Ruya felt guilt-ridden towards Gilly. In his previous life, his nanny's life had taken a turn for the worse after his banishment from the family. Her future was bleak and her lifestyle had completely crumbled.

"You may not be aware, Young Master, but the Phoenix Heart is an elixir that is especially effective on children. You can increase your tolerance against flames only by eating it at a young age. Lady lily has given you a truly priceless gift."

"Really?"

Ruya was far more knowledgeable about the heart than Gilly, but he pretended to be interested by her explanation.

He had studied about the Phoenix Heart endlessly during the years when he was training his magic.

'However, I didn't do research on it back then because I wanted to eat one, but because I wanted to learn the traits of a phoenix as a magician.'

Summoning a phoenix was every magician's dream. But Ruya had died right before becoming a 6-star magician, the stage at which one can finally summon the bird in question.

"Of course! I hid your eyes when I first saw the puddle of blood inside the box, but once I realized it was a priceless product that even the Vermillion imperial family couldn't easily obtain…"

As Gilly continued her lengthy commentary, Ruya began to think about phoenixes.

He couldn't wait until he could finally summon one during this life. Learning magic as a Runcandel was strictly prohibited, but Ruya had no intentions of giving up on it.

As long as he didn't get caught, everything would work out.

Moreover, if he gained unparalleled power or influence, or if he had a good enough justification, then it wouldn't matter even if he did get discovered.