Make the Barbarians Great Again

Chapter 2: Muscle-Heart Technique

Still, perhaps he didn’t want to die twice.

Thinking that falling asleep might mean the end, Orcus chose to reflect slowly on Hindir’s memories instead.

In the past, Orcus had sent Charun’s children and survivors beyond the Northern Sea to the Great Snowfield.

It was a place with relatively little royal influence, and the Parno family who ruled there had once received a great favor from Orcus—hence the decision.

‘They did arrive safely, at least…….’

Seeing the all-white world confirmed it was the Great Snowfield.

But the reality of the descendants living within it differed from expectations.

“They're no better than slaves.”

Now, nearly five hundred years later, the Charun tribe was barely surviving.

And that, too, as miners for the Parno family and under the name Barbarians.

The name of Charun had vanished, and they called themselves Barbarians—a pitiful reality.

Hindir had tried to escape that reality.

In the process, he fled from Parno’s pursuit and ultimately fell off a cliff.

“Parno… Parno……”

The favor Orcus had once granted them was saving the heir to their family.

Due to their bloodline, the Parno family had difficulty bearing children, and in that era, it was especially severe.

The family head had finally managed to father a single child at the age of 65.

How precious that child must have been.

The Parno family head of the time had sworn that even if the world turned its back on Charun and Orcus, they themselves never would.

Orcus had believed that promise…

“Was it foolish of me to do what I did?”

A warrior’s battles were always fierce and explosive, but his emotions had to remain calm.

Orcus suppressed his boiling emotions.

“…The family head wouldn’t have broken his promise.”

Regardless of the grim reality, the fact remained that Charun blood had survived in the Great Snowfield.

That meant the family head hadn’t abandoned the children.

“The problem… is probably the five hundred years that passed.”

Neither Orcus nor the Parno head of that era had expected the promise to span five centuries.

Should he blame the Parno descendants who ignored their ancestor’s will?

Or should he blame time itself, which had passed in the blink of an eye?

‘Or should I blame myself, who defied death?’

Orcus sat up and took a deep breath.

‘Perhaps it’s for the best. At least I didn’t fall into eternal sleep without knowing this reality.’

If no one remembered, it would all disappear like it never happened.

But he had returned, carrying those memories.

In that case, the promise had to be fulfilled.

Since the God of Warriors hadn’t watched over Charun’s future, now it was his turn to do so.

“Tsk. Even now, this body really is pathetic.”

With that resolve, Orcus looked down at Hindir’s body and sighed.

But considering the environment Hindir had lived in, this frail body was understandable.

Working day and night with nothing more than a few scraps of bread and soup that might have been boiling for a whole year in the massive pot at the center of the plaza—meat was out of the question.

“The wounds……”

The bleeding from the scrapes had already stopped, but the abdominal wound was more troubling.

It looked like the injury had worsened during battle, bleeding more than before.

Still, there was a simple way to deal with it.

“If only you could help me out a bit.”

Orcus glanced at the dead bear as he spoke.

If his guess was right, this creature had a tonic hidden within its body.

“Hm?”

Suddenly, Orcus felt the heat radiating from the creature was excessive.

Come to think of it, he wasn’t feeling the cold at all.

‘This isn’t warmth—it’s heat.’

He nudged the bear with his foot, but it didn’t budge.

“Are you pretending to be dead?”

Well, even if it were alive, this level of heat made no sense.

“It’s definitely not an ordinary beast.”

This heat was not natural.

There must be a source of it hidden within the bear’s body—and likely connected to what he hoped for.

Orcus left the cave, gathered a few sturdy, rough-surfaced stones, and returned to begin sharpening the long bone he’d used in battle.

It would take quite a while to sharpen it enough to cut through the bear’s hide.

But it wasn’t just the bone that needed honing.

In the quietly passing time, Orcus accepted the five hundred years and gradually became Hindir.

Using the bone blade, he slit open the belly of the dead bear and plunged his arm inside, rummaging for a while.

Eventually, his fingertips touched something hot and solid.

“As expected. No way a beast of this level wouldn’t have one.”

When he pulled his arm out, a small red orb lay in his hand—it was a core.

A stubborn creature that had lived in the white land with red fur.

Perhaps that’s why its core looked unusually sinister.

A red glow shimmered inside it, like it was holding a flame.

“With this, the wound should heal cleanly…”

Humans could store as much energy as possible using mana cultivation methods, but Charun people had no energy center.

No matter how potent the elixir, only the amount their flesh allowed could settle in their muscles, with the rest expelled naturally.

The retained amount was minuscule, so much mana was wasted.

In the past, Hindir had found that regrettable and, with the help of Teran—a skilled swordsman and mana user—developed a theory.

The Muscle-Heart Technique (근심법)

Move muscles to draw mana into the heart.

Storing more mana than allowed inside the body was dangerous for both Charun and humans.

The safest place to store such dangerous power was the energy center—but since Charun people had none, another space was needed.

What Hindir discovered was the heart—far more durable than a human’s.

‘Transform the heart into a core using the Muscle-Heart Technique and store mana there. As the body strengthens, the mana in the heart is naturally absorbed.’

But it remained a theory due to unresolved risks.

No matter how sturdy the heart, it couldn’t hold infinite mana.

Therefore, the body had to absorb all the mana through training, which was fine during rapid growth.

But as with all life, there came a time when growth slowed or stopped.

And if any unabsorbed mana remained in the heart at that moment…

‘Teran said the mana would backflow and cause the heart to explode.’

After solving that problem, Hindir had intended to pass the technique to his tribe—but the Cult War broke out and everything was lost.

But now, things were different.

“This must be fate, if this is fate.”

He could experience any side effects and find solutions himself.

If there were side effects that could not be resolved……

‘Before my heart explodes, I will set everything right.’

Thud—

Seated upright, Hindir swallowed the bear’s core in one gulp and began the Muscle‑Heart Technique.

He distinctly felt the bear core’s hot energy wrap around his muscles.

That was mana naturally being absorbed.

And what Hindir had to do was guide the rest of the mana into his heart……

Koo‑gung—

In that instant, a thunderous sound echoed through his body as his heart felt inflated.

He swallowed the blood that welled up in his throat back down, but he could not stop it from flowing out through his eyes, nose, and ears.

Since it was his first time attempting this, all of the pain was being confirmed for the first time.

Or perhaps the theory itself was flawed.

…If the theory was wrong, the situation would become dire.

‘Damn it.’

But Hindir steeled his will even more fiercely.

‘I didn’t come back from the dead just to die while fussing around solo. That won’t happen.’

He erased the unpleasant sensation coursing through his body and concentrated.

Thus Hindir was gradually drawn into a state beyond self-awareness.

The cave filled with blistering heat, and his entire body felt sticky with the mixture of blood and sweat.

But soon the heat across his body became so intense it was visible, and ultimately transformed into light.

Amid the dark snowy mountain, the soft light seeping from the cave looked as if a star had descended to earth.

But it was such a remote place that apart from the sky, no one saw it.

Hindir’s sunken consciousness rose again.

When he opened his eyes, it was pitch dark around him, but everything appeared clear to him.

“…Refreshing.”

Examining his body, all his wounds had vanished and no traces remained—he seemed like a new body.

One peculiar thing was that, like the dead bear, his body radiated heat.

Thanks to that, even though his clothes were ruined, he felt no cold at all.

And most importantly, his heart…

Thump— Thump—

From his heart, now beating steadily, came an intangible solidity.

He had succeeded in trapping the mana that should have been naturally expelled into his heart.

However, once he became conscious of it, the tightness felt quite annoying.

‘I wonder if this body can handle it.’

Feeling like disaster would strike if he didn’t move immediately, Hindir sprang to his feet.

“Hoo—”

Delighting in the refreshing sensation in his joints, as though every bone had been reassembled, he stepped out of the cave.

Facing the fierce gusts of wind head-on, it felt strange—he did not feel any cold.

“Perfect for running.”

Hindir dashed through the snowy mountain.

As he thrust his overflowing strength into his legs and leapt, the chest tightness at last eased.

“Hahaha!”

A loud laugh echoed through the snowy mountain.

His heart pounded fiercely again, filled with the possibility of reaching higher ground than ever before.

About two months passed.

He left records on the cave walls each time the sun set, so it was approximate.

Given the considerable time, Hindir’s physique had changed a lot.

He had continually trained his strength with rocks and logs found around him, and daily ran and climbed through rugged valleys and cliffs.

As a result, he could finally say he had a body worth something.

Of course, he had no concern that Hindir’s original body had already been massive by human standards.

As his body grew, the heart core had also been absorbed significantly.

Approximately half had been absorbed by now, which suggested how much mana had been wasted previously whenever he took elixirs.

Due to such surprisingly fast absorption rates, Hindir occasionally turned into a digger of valleys, searching for roots and herbs.

Unfortunately, he had no success.

‘Anyway, I can’t stay here forever.’

In his heart, he wanted to run to Larka Village where his descendants lived.

But that could instead endanger them.

What he intended to do would likely provoke conflict with the Parno family, and unprepared descendants could not handle that.

‘First, I have to be able to challenge Parno on my own.’

If he was going to start by speaking rather than fighting, he had to qualify himself.

Annoying as it was……

And honestly, he didn’t even know where to go.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, Hindir sensed a presence approaching from a considerable distance.

He looked toward the one sitting by the campfire, then averted his head.

“This might take a while.”

He tossed two more logs in, devoured fully cooked meat, and then the two men finally appeared.

They had physiques that looked well-suited to enduring the cold, and upon discovering Hindir, they clearly appeared startled.

“Huh? That’s a real person?”

“He…he looks insane, Chief Chaaju! That guy is completely shirtless.”

But as soon as they saw no weapons around Hindir, their expressions shifted quickly.

“That bastard has no sword.”

The man called Chaaju approached, staggering strongly from side to side as if his leg lengths differed—Hindir watched him blankly.

Even without showing it, he instinctively sensed the presence of the Great Warrior.

Chaaju, noticing that, slowed his steps and stopped at a safe distance.

Ahem. “Hey, old man. Who gave you permission to light a fire here?”

A typical threat from his mouth.

“Chae…Chaaju‑nim.”

“It’s the land of the Snowlit Crimson, you know?”

“You shouldn’t light fires casually and stuff…”

Just as he spoke, urged by a well‑built subordinate behind him, he straightened his shoulders again and spoke.

“That, that…”

“Isn’t that… a Blood Bear?”

The subordinate hadn’t been urging him at all.

“What? What nonsense… huh?”

Only then did Chaaju’s eyes see it.

The bright red and large bear hide hanging on the right tree…