Chapter 138
Chapter 138
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: The Lich's Wand
-----------------------------------------------------------------
King Kailyus sank deep into thought.
"What should I give him?"
It was because he hadn't yet decided on a reward for the mage who had perfectly proven his talents just a few days ago.
"Tch, it would be great if he just became a royal mage... for him and for the kingdom."
Royal mages and royal commanders were official civil servants formally affiliated with Asteron.
As such, the kingdom provided them with steady support.
In fact, just collecting that would far exceed the value of the reward he planned to give this time.
'Why on earth did he refuse?'
He could accept the refusal of the royal mage position.
After all, he hadn't come seeking to become one in the first place.
His goal was to become a royal commander.
The funny part was that he had refused even that.
He had come of his own accord to become a royal commander, only to kick the opportunity away himself.
Honestly, from Kailyus's perspective, it was hard not to feel offended.
It seemed like he had either come on a whim, as if just dropping by for fun, or had some other ulterior motive.
But.
'...I can't chase him away.'
There was nothing Kailyus could do but grit his teeth.
Whatever his motives—be it a whim or something else—he had to hold onto him somehow.
He needed him to work for Asteron.
Even if that didn't work, he had to at least build a good relationship.
That was why he was offering a reward now and keeping him in the guest quarters.
After a long while.
"Yeah, that sounds good."
Just then, a brilliant idea flashed through Kailyus's mind.
If he offered that as the reward, the young man wouldn't be able to refuse this time.
***
"A new face... Could you show me your identification?"
After my training session with Elbert ended.
For the past few days, I had led my companions through every corner of District 1.
Even though we'd been given permission to stay as long as we wanted, who knew when they might kick us out.
It was best to hurry.
Fortunately.
"Here you go."
"This is... His Majesty's pass! My apologies!"
Thanks to the pass Kailyus had issued so we could move freely, we could go anywhere without hassle.
"See? Connections really make the world go round. Right, top ranker?"
"Totally. I didn't expect it to be this convenient."
"Even I'd wave someone through on duty if they flashed that pass."
"Good point."
We had now reached the outermost edge of District 1.
And here was the final hidden piece available in District 1.
A hidden piece that required exactly four people to unlock its trick.
'Still the same.'
Though faded with age, there were four red circles drawn on the floor, pointing in the four cardinal directions.
If we just stood in them, we could claim the final hidden piece.
I'd explained the method beforehand, so we quickly took our positions.
One person each in the circles, in east-west-south-north order.
No incantation needed—the reaction was immediate.
Whoosh!
Rumble rumble rumble...!
The circles under our feet glowed red, and the ground vibrated faintly.
I waited for the vibrations to stop, then tossed the prepared pouch of gold coins into the center.
Then.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The ground split open like a mouth and swallowed the gold pouch whole.
And in return.
Ptoo!
It spat out a small brown pouch.
I opened it.
"Aaagh!"
"What is that smell...!"
An overwhelming stench assaulted our senses.
It was definitely the hidden piece I remembered.
I explained to calm my startled companions.
"It's called Earth's Essence. Eating it makes your whole body tougher overall. Like a kind of elixir."
"...You eat that? It smells this bad?"
"You can't eat it raw. You'd regret it big time."
"Th-then how do you eat it?"
"Take it to one of the alchemists scattered around the city. There aren't many who can purify it, but once purified, it's perfectly safe."
"Oh, really? It won't taste like shit or anything, right?"
"Who knows? I've never eaten it myself."
"Ah, right."
With that explanation done.
We headed back to the citadel.
That had been the last hidden piece.
No reason to stick around anymore.
All that was left was to inform Kailyus that we were leaving.
And.
"His Majesty wishes to see you?"
"Yes, Lord Yoo Han. He's waiting."
Perfect timing—Kailyus had summoned me.
Probably to finish the reward discussion from before.
As expected.
"So, you want something material?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"I've decided what to give you. Something perfectly suited."
As soon as I met Kailyus, he got straight to the reward.
"May I ask what it is?"
"Of course. But just so you know, I won't accept your refusal this time."
"...Understood."
It meant I had to take it no matter what.
I'd already gained plenty, but greed kept bubbling up.
I hoped he'd chosen well.
As that thought crossed my mind, Kailyus spoke.
"The reward I'm giving you... is this."
Step, step, step.
At Kailyus's signal, people who had been waiting nearby approached me.
They held out a dark wooden box of unknown contents.
Swoosh.
It was a long wooden box, about the length of my arm.
"Open it."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Clunk!
I opened the box and peered inside.
"...This is?"
What lay inside was a very familiar shape.
I'd seen them countless times in shops or black markets.
"A wand?"
A wand exclusive to mages.
About 20-30 cm long.
Almost identical to ones I'd seen elsewhere.
With one key difference.
'...What is this aura?'
It emanated an energy that a wand shouldn't have.
And a rather foul one at that.
'What? Not demonic energy.'
It was slightly different from the aura of demons.
Calmer, chillier, perhaps.
If demonic energy was wild and mad, this was a subtle, eerie chill.
A wand with this kind of energy was clearly no ordinary item.
As I looked up, Kailyus opened his mouth as if to explain.
"It's a lich's wand."
His explanation was something I hadn't expected at all.
"...Pardon?"
Lich, what?
"You don't know what a lich is? A lich is someone who turned themselves into an undead to gain immortality..."
Of course I knew what a lich was.
I'd hunted them multiple times in the game.
'...This was that guy's wand?'
Now that he mentioned it, it did look familiar.
Among the lich's dozen-plus weapons, there had definitely been a wand with this feel.
If so, then Kailyus was telling the truth...
How was I supposed to take this?
Oblivious to my confusion, Kailyus continued explaining about liches.
"...Which is why you must be very careful. Use it wrong, and you could be corrupted by the undead energy."
Corruption by undead energy.
Perfect—he'd hit on exactly what I wanted to know, so I asked.
"Why give something like this to me, Your Majesty?"
It was about his intentions in giving me this.
As he'd said, a lich's weapon had the effect of corrupting its user.
So why give it to me?
Kailyus shook his head, his face showing no malice whatsoever.
"You'll understand the reason once you wield it."
A profoundly meaningful statement.
'Just wield it, huh?'
I reached out to try it right then.
"Wait!"
Kailyus shouted loudly, stopping my hand.
As I looked at him, he hurriedly explained.
"Didn't I just say? You could be corrupted by the undead energy!"
"Your Majesty, then when should I use it?"
"Obviously after you've built up enough immunity to undead energy. Until then, never use it. Keep that wand on you at all times for at least a year."
He seemed genuinely worried.
It didn't feel like he was gifting this out of malice.
The only downside was that he didn't have accurate info on the wand.
'Building immunity to undead energy isn't hard.'
Undead or demons—slight differences aside, they shared the same attribute.
The 'Dark' attribute.
That's why both were vulnerable to the 'Light' attribute of holy magic.
Anyway.
The way to build immunity to Dark attributes was simple.
Just expose yourself to it continuously.
Like fighting demons every day or learning undead magic like a dark sorcerer.
And in my case, I qualified on both counts.
'I fought demons daily... and learned dark-attribute magic.'
Probably no one except those who walked the path of darkness had stronger Dark immunity than me right now.
So.
"It's fine, Your Majesty."
"...What's fine?"
"I've already built up enough immunity to undead energy."
With that, I extended my hand to the wand.
Then.
Whooo!
A chill wind blew, and my hair whipped around.
At the same time, turquoise energy rippled around the wand.
'So this is undead energy.'
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Fascinated, I swung the wand through the air a few times and cast a spell.
Whooo!
The first thing that came to mind was a sphere of light.
But as expected, its power was weak.
The sphere was much smaller than usual.
The wand's undead energy was suppressing its full output.
Using light magic with this wand would probably be tricky.
Disappointed, I moved on to the next attribute.
Fire, water, lightning, earth.
I summoned spheres of all four attributes in turn.
Then.
Whoooo!
Spheres far larger than usual appeared.
Even without intending to make them bigger.
Only one reason.
I finally understood the wand's effect.
'Magic power amplification.'
It amplified magic power.
From the feel of it, about +200%.
'No joke?'
200% damage amplification was an effect rare even in legendary artifacts.
Magic power doubled? Insane.
And there was still one left.
'What about darkness?'
I dismissed the other spheres and summoned a dark-attribute one.
Then.
Fwoooosh!
The dark sphere that appeared spun wildly in place.
As if it couldn't contain the overwhelming energy inside.
Definitely amplified more than the others.
Around 300%, by feel.
Gulp.
I swallowed dryly.
I couldn't imagine what would happen if I used spatial magic with this.
'I'll test that later, somewhere safe.'
With that resolve, I looked up.
There stood Kailyus, looking somewhat flustered.
He asked casually.
"You... use dark magic too?"