Reincarnation
Here, a Ranker referred to the very foremost among the adventurers who delved into the Labyrinths.
A Labyrinth was a passageway linking this world of Lumen—ruled by the God Bright—to the other worlds currently invading it.
Lumen held many Labyrinths, yet three among them stood on an entirely different level, and one of those was situated in Lemumni, which bore the grandiose ancient name of “Humanity’s Final Bastion.”
Thanks to that, Lemumni had flourished until it rivaled the Empire’s capital itself, fattened on the byproducts that spilled from the Labyrinth and the throngs of adventurers who came to challenge it.
“Is it really that incredible a place? I can’t wait to go see it.”
“…Even if you say that, I’m not sending you. You’re still too young to leave the village.”
“Tch!”
Jun clicked his tongue lightly, then broke into a sly grin and held out his hand to Leonard.
Leonard tried to pretend he hadn’t seen it, but Fortuna stepped closer and fixed him with a sharp glare, so he had no choice but to dig a copper coin from his pocket and drop it into the boy’s palm.
“Hehe. Thank you, Boss.”
“You little pest.”
Leonard shook his head as if thoroughly disgusted, then waved them off and continued.
“I’ll handle the rest. Take Leon to the market.”
“Huh? He hasn’t gone yet? I figured Linda and Heni would’ve dragged him off the second the caravan arrived.”
“Heh heh. He still hasn’t finished drinking ‘that.’”
A mischievous smile spread across Leonard’s face.
“Aah.”
“‘That,’ huh.”
Matching smiles of pure mischief bloomed on Fortuna’s and Jun’s faces in turn.
Leaving Leonard’s office, Jun and Fortuna headed straight for the dining hall.
A short while later they arrived to find a beautiful young boy sitting alone at the table, staring down at “that.”
Even just sitting there ordinarily, the sunlight pouring through the window painted him like a living portrait.
“Leon.”
“Ah. Jun, Fortuna. You’re finally here.”
The golden-haired, blue-eyed boy—Leon—beamed at Jun’s call.
Was it only imagination that the whole room seemed to brighten the moment he smiled?
“Father Leonard was looking for you. Did you meet him?”
“Yeah. He asked me to help with something.”
“Did the village chief mess up again?”
Leon’s gentle voice cooled into something steely.
Jun and Fortuna, who had been teasing each other across from him, both turned at the shift in tone.
His eyes were far too cold for a child his age.
“Jun. Tell me.”
A short request, but one carrying real weight.
Jun, who had hesitated to expose the filthy side of adults, finally nodded.
“He embezzled village funds. Probably used them as bribes so he could go back to Lemumni.”
“…Will he actually be punished? They’ve already let it slide twice.”
“Not this time. Last embezzlement he barely scraped by after sending his son to Lemumni and pulling every connection he could.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
As if a weight had lifted, Leon’s soft smile returned, and the chill that had settled over the dining hall warmed once more.
Watching him, Jun thought:
This boy is definitely no ordinary child.
Well, so what if he isn’t ordinary? He’s not causing me any trouble.
Honestly, when he had first noticed Leon’s special nature a few years back, Jun had spent every day on edge.
Anyone could see the boy carried noble blood; there was no telling what kind of trouble that might bring down on this place.
Fortunately, years had passed without any of those fears coming true, and Jun’s anxiety had largely faded.
Things might change once Leon came of age, but by then Jun would already be long gone, leaving behind only the empty promise of “Let’s grab a meal sometime.”
“So don’t worry about that business anymore. Focus on your own.”
“Yeah, Sparkles. Finish ‘that’ already. Boss said to take you to the market.”
“Ugh!”
At their urging, Leon scrunched his face exactly as he had the first time and glared at the contents of the cup.
Bubble… bubble…
Even though it had been boiling for quite a while, the black liquid still frothed like a witch’s poison.
Every time a bubble popped, a stomach-turning stench crawled into their noses.
“Ulp!”
Leon squeezed his eyes shut, lifted the cup—then set it down again with a dry heave before it ever touched his lips.
After several more attempts he finally managed to bring it to his mouth, only to puff out both cheeks, eyes welling, looking ready to vomit before he could even swallow.
“Khkhkh.”
“Kikiki.”
“…Could you two not laugh so hard?”
“Nope.”
“Don’t wanna.”
“Haa∼.”
Watching them refuse without a second’s hesitation, Leon let out a long sigh, then looked down at the black liquid again.
“What on earth was the Sage thinking when he made this taste so awful?”
“Beats me. Maybe he wanted people to give up on easy growth.”
The black liquid in Leon’s cup was the Potion of Growth, created five hundred years ago by the Sage who had shone during the Second Defensive War, for the sake of future generations.
Short-term use did nothing, but long-term consumption developed the body, improved core performance, and even grew the soul.
No one yet knew exactly what “soul growth” meant, but it certainly didn’t look harmful, and the first two effects alone were so extraordinary that people of every station drank the potion.
Yet those who actually reaped its benefits were vanishingly few.
It wasn’t hard to obtain.
The potion was made simply by adding a few common herbs during the process in which the alien mana—called demonic energy—spewed by the Labyrinths was neutralized by this world’s own mana. It was ridiculously easy to produce.
The reason so few ever benefited was simple: it tasted utterly vile.
The flavor of this potion was not of this world.
Spicy, bitter, salty, sour, and somehow burnt as well.
The texture was pure horror—thick and sticky, exactly like a mixture of diarrhea and snot.
People said it was better to drink a cup of poison than the Potion of Growth.
In some countries they even force-fed it to prisoners as torture.
“If I just add a little water…”
“Would that work?”
“…No, it wouldn’t.”
As easy as it was to make, the potion spoiled just as easily.
A few drops of water ruined it completely and erased every effect.
That was why it had to be drunk on an empty stomach, and nothing else could be eaten until it was fully digested.
Even numbing the tongue with special drugs was impossible.
“If you can’t drink it, just throw it out. How long are you going to sit there holding it? Linda and Heni are waiting.”
“Huu∼. Fine.”
In the end Leon gave up on drinking the potion himself.
But instead of discarding it, he pushed the cup toward Jun.
Jun took it with the practiced ease of someone who had expected exactly that.
Leon always refused to waste the potion he couldn’t finish and made Jun drink it for him.
“Uwek!”
Jun lifted the cup just enough to catch a whiff, then immediately set it down with a dry heave.
After that the cup stayed glued to the table as if stuck with paste.
“Quit fooling around and drink it.”
“Tch. Easy for you to say from way over there.”
“Our Juni… what did you just say?”
“I didn’t say anything, Mom.”
Grinning at Fortuna’s murderous tone, Jun exhaled every last breath from his lungs with a long “Puhh∼.”
Then he activated his Psychic Core.
With his thinking speed sharply elevated, he pictured himself drinking the potion as vividly as if he were watching it happen right in front of his eyes.
Silence.
Of course, simply imagining something didn’t make it real.
But the skill he used next made it possible.
Realize
The cup that had refused to budge began to rise.
Moments later it reached Jun’s lips. Exactly as he had imagined, he opened his mouth and gulped the potion down.
Gulp, gulp.
The sound of his throat working and something being swallowed filled the dining hall.
Fortuna and Leon, who weren’t even the ones drinking, turned pale as they watched.
“Khak!”
Sometimes the sheer foulness and revulsion broke the skill.
Each time, Jun forced it back into place with the power of his trait, Endless Mental Power.
“Kkeup!”
Thud!
At last he drained every last drop from the cup.
“Aigoo, well done, our Juni!”
“You’re amazing, Jun!”
Fortuna and Leon clapped and cheered—yet they remained far away.
No, the distance had actually grown; both of them were half out of the dining hall already.
It was the same reaction he had seen ever since he started drinking the potion at age three, so Jun rose without a word and charged after them.
And then…
“Puhah! Poison Breath!”
“Kyaaak! You lunatic!”
“Jun! I told you not to do that!”
He chased the two fleeing figures around the room, madly spraying his toxic breath in every direction.