Chapter 276
Chapter 276
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 276
Chapter Title: Extra Chapter: Stage 1 Unlocked
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ding—!
Extra Chapter
Stage 1 Opened!
A familiar chime rang out, accompanied by a window full of unintelligible text. I had no headspace to decipher it. My gaze shifted to the person beside me.
“…….”
Leo stared down at me with eyes lost in shock. The sudden burst of light had tricked my optic nerves into aching. I squinted, trying to say something, but no sound came out—like dust was lodged in my throat.
Leo spoke first.
“…You’re awake?”
“…Ah. Yeah.”
Thud—
As I rolled my neck, Leo shot up from his seat with the look of someone who’d seen a ghost, stumbling back a step or two. I gaped at him in confusion. Bewilderment filled his eyes. Only after a long moment did a hollow voice emerge from his parched lips.
“Lucas.”
“…….”
I turned my head away and let out a long breath.
I didn’t feel like responding. I understood why he was looking at me like that, speaking in that tone. Something heavy sank in my gut. I didn’t think my trust had been excessive, or that my friends’ faith was this shallow. None of us had anticipated something like this actually happening. You don’t know anything until you experience it firsthand. What seemed true then might not be now, or what wasn’t then might be now. Change was perfectly natural.
I tried to sit up, then flopped my head back onto the pillow. Using my muscles felt alien; my body was heavier than if I’d just woken from sleep.
“Don’t get up.”
“…….”
“Lucas.”
He kept repeating my name in that dazed tone.
“Say something.”
A foreign voice—not mine—slipped from my lips. I hadn’t meant to sound angry, but it could come across that way. I cleared my throat some more and slowly pushed myself up. Only now did I notice the unfamiliar linen patient gown.
‘Come to think of it, this is a hospital….’
It wasn’t. As my eyes drifted that way, a hollow mutter came from beside me.
“Do you know how many days it’s been?”
I looked at him. I hadn’t paid much attention to his appearance before, but now I saw his face was in rough shape. He’d lost visible weight. His mouth was set in a grim downturn, and the hair he usually slicked back neatly now hung unkempt over his forehead. Dark circles peeked through the strands. When I didn’t answer, Leo continued on his own.
“Three days.”
“…….”
I had to pause to process what I’d heard.
Three days? It threw me. I’d figured a few hours at most.
Another possibility for his earlier reaction clicked into place. Frowning, I blurted out an explanation without thinking.
“…It felt like I just woke up from a nap. More importantly, I…”
“Lucas.”
Leo cut me off. I’d been trying to discuss what happened three days ago, but he kept skipping the point and just calling my name—what was this? I flashed a soulless smile, hoping he’d cut it out. He sat back down beside me and ventured cautiously.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
“Thirsty?”
“Not yet.”
“Not yet?”
Whether I’d stolen his sleep or not, Leo echoed my words. The dark circles under his eyes made it clear he hadn’t rested. I’d slept for three days, so a drink of water sounded good now, but honestly, even that felt exhausting.
Leo seemed to have more to say on the subject. He glanced around, lips twitching.
“What I mean is…”
“What.”
“Don’t you need mana?”
“…….”
My face twisted, and Leo quickly spoke up.
“No, I’m not accusing you of anything like that. I know you’re—you know, alive… never died, never willingly drunk human blood. And that’s still true now, of course.”
His words weren’t registering.
So that’s what he meant by thirsty. My head went cold.
My eyes dropped to his arms and hands. Bandages clung in places I didn’t want to know the reason for.
Even if new humans looked like old ones on the outside, their bodies worked entirely differently, especially in injury recovery—nothing like old humans. So those wounds were all fresh, from just hours ago.
I snapped my fingers. Mana seized Leo’s arm and yanked it over. I grabbed his hand. A fresh knife nick marred his fingertip, barely scabbed. Similar marks dotted the other fingers. I stared him down and opened my mouth.
“Tell me.”
“You haven’t changed.”
So my attitude was the same as ever? It didn’t matter. I enunciated slowly, word by word.
“Tell me, Leo.”
“It was just for the experiment.”
“What experiment.”
Leo glanced behind him. His wary eyes swept the room once, then again, unsatisfied.
The door was secured with old-human locks and layered defensive spells. The windows were the same. The wall where they should’ve been felt subtly off, and checking the ceiling confirmed it—no molding there. They’d spaced it for curtains to avoid suspicion from outside, then erected a magical wall.
If he was worried about intruders, the precautions were thorough.
Leo rubbed his ashen face and said.
“You’ve been out for three days, so we should call the medical staff. But sorry. Can’t do that. There’s a lot we need to talk about.”
“No need to apologize. I’m grateful you’re not calling them.”
“You know how you collapsed.”
“Yeah. After drinking the holy blood.”
“…Well, normally we don’t say ‘drinking’ holy blood—we say ‘receiving’ it.”
I knew. Even I’d said ‘receive’ when I was in my right mind. Patiently, I explained to Leo slowly. Rushing made me short of breath, so I couldn’t.
“Right, spiritually speaking, but physically, in this situation where I ‘drank’ it and collapsed, ‘drinking’ is more intuitive. No energy to be precise about every detail, so just get it. Anyway, I know I drank the consecrated wine from the chalice and collapsed.”
“Haha… Yeah. Hearing a cardinal talk like that is kinda fresh.”
Leo laughed brightly for a moment, like we were back to normal. Seeing his usual expression eased my tension a bit. But the innocence faded fast. Worry clouded his face, reverting to how it was. In a sunken voice, he said.
“Good, you know, so that speeds things up. As you know, after receiving the holy blood, you absorbed Elias’s mana. Luckily, no one else knows. Only Narke, me, Elias… and Mother.”
“What did His Majesty say?”
“He’s in the same boat, so no worries. No reason for him to change his stance over an incident like this now.”
“…….”
No reason to change.
My earlier concern wasn’t reality. So I could guess exactly where the marks on Leo’s arm came into play. Good info on my other friends’ reactions and the outside situation too.
Now I wasn’t sure what I should be feeling. Grateful? Relieved? Sorry? Unfortunately, my mind was still blank.
Eyes fixed on my hand, I said.
“…That’s a relief. So, what exactly happened to me.”
“Your core is getting stronger.”
The unexpected words made me stare at him silently. Leo, still haggard, gave a faint smile.
“That’s it. Be happy, Lucas. In theory, you can now hold more mana than me and Elias combined.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because your core and mana can accept anything.”
I kept staring, and he got the hint, continuing.
“From observing you over the past three days, we detected you absorbing trace mana in the air. We even ran some direct tests.”
“Tests.”
“Of course, that doesn’t mean you absorb everything. Having the ability and actually doing it are different. Tests showed that blindly absorbing someone else’s mana would harm you too. So your core doesn’t bother with others’ mana.”
I already knew that. Leo’s mana encircled my core right now, but mine wasn’t absorbing it.
Leo hesitated, cleared his throat with a cough, and went on.
“I’ve been calling the state where your mana and core are normal ‘not hungry,’ but you probably won’t like that. I don’t either.”
“You know me. But it’s intuitive. Go on.”
“This state persisted after you stabilized. We tried touching you, channeling mana, pulling yours—nothing. Your core didn’t want mana then. Probably because it had enough. So in daily life, you won’t absorb others’ mana like last time. That was purely an accident.”
I nodded slowly.
“There were times your condition worsened midway, and in emergencies needing urgent measures, you absorbed human mana. But your core still took damage either way.”
I murmured, retracing his words one by one.
“Pulling in mana.”
“You had to survive. Obvious. Normal mages can’t pull others’ mana like you—they’d just die. You’re still exceptional. But this is just your innate ability.”
Leo kept twisting his captured fingers, continuing like he was talking to himself.
“…That’s all. You were just struggling not to die in a near-death situation, and luckily, you had a survival-specialized ability. Someone definitely dying—what can’t they do? If others had your power, they’d go around draining people on purpose.”
“…….”
“I don’t know what you felt before losing consciousness, but I can guess your confusion now, so… strictly speaking, you don’t crave blood. You crave mana. Blood’s just the medium.”
“Yeah.”
Silence fell after that.
Leo broke it again.
“It’s not over. Your core’s gaining expandability.”
“Expandability?”
“It’s growing. We don’t know if it’s your mana or the core’s nature yet… but you’ll likely feel voids periodically. Your own reserves can’t fill what growth needs.”
“Why conclude that?”
He stared at me instead of answering, then picked up.
“No clue how long this growth phase lasts. If it’s an inherent trait of your mana or core, it might never end. Could grow near-infinitely, of course.”
“…….”
“I think it’s side effects from a lifetime of suppressed growth finally kicking in. Why now and not last year? No idea, but we’ll figure it out from here.”
Bad? Not really. But it amplified my questions. What dragged me to this point that day? Why did the holy blood react only to me? If ‘drinking the wine’ wasn’t the issue, was ‘receiving the holy blood’?
“Leo. What about the investigation?”
“You mean if there was a problem in the cathedral.”
I nodded.
“Nothing wrong with receiving the holy blood. We investigated everyone in the cathedral that day over the past three—no one colluding with Adrian Ascanien, no recent meetings or letters with those from the list you got from Jürgen Beck.”
“…….”
“Still, Adrian Ascanien sending you that drug was surely prep for this. He knew it would happen. Can’t claim otherwise.”
“You’re not suspicious?”
“…….”
It might seem out of left field. But Leo met my eyes and answered right on target.
“Why would I be? I trust what I’ve seen.”
“…….”
“If I doubted you, I wouldn’t be here, Lucas.”
Right. No reason for all those injection marks on his arm either.
Now I had to steady myself. Find the truth. That burden couldn’t go to my friends’ shoulders.
“I’ll grab something. Be right back. Wait.”
Leo stood and said.
I nodded. Instead of warping, he unlocked the door and stepped out. As he left, I leaned back against the headboard and exhaled deeply.
‘Let’s think.’
I needed to finish what I’d been pondering earlier.
No issue with the previous holy blood. Last Mass was about two weeks before I collapsed. Counting the mandatory Protestant Lord’s Supper at Imperial Academy 2, it shrinks to a week, but that doesn’t count transubstantiation, so exclude it.
What changed between those two receptions?
Waking from the Pentaron terror? Ash Wednesday 1898? The former was huge, but if foreseen, Adrian Ascanien would’ve rushed back, locked me away, or handled it himself. No one acts on unforeseeable events. So the latter. Ash Wednesday pulls spiritually if problems arise ‘after receiving holy blood,’ but realistically, it doesn’t fit.
Or a curse Adrian Ascanien placed long ago? Bavarian Medical Center scans would’ve caught it, but his poisons use unknown ingredients even to them—worth considering.
‘…Problem is, no hypothesis has confirming evidence. Like the archbishop said, time to find out.’
Ideally, find it now, while I can rewind time and test.
But how?
I ran a hand through my hair and took a deep breath.
Nothing I could do right now, so first, check what I got before collapsing. I opened my status window, muttering the unfamiliar name at the bottom under traits. A new window appeared.
Extra Chapter
Stage 1: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Stage 2: ―
Stage 3: ―
Below were rows of boxes marked ‘―’ the same way.
‘…Huh.’
What was this? Needed a clue to try anything—no explanation. What kind of Extra?
‘First, that Stage 1 opened today.’
If it matched the Chapter system I knew, I was at that stage now. But no reason to duplicate an existing system. ‘Opened’ suggested something else.
I glared at the text, pondering.
‘Staring won’t drop info.’
Just tap it or something.
The thought hit, and my center of gravity vanished. A horn blared, ear-splitting.
Hoooonk—!
“…!”
My eyes flew open. Sky above. A small carry-on lay crushed under my shoulder.
‘…?! Wait. I was in the hospital room?’
“Hey! Get out!”
“What are you doing!”
No time to freak. Everyone around stared. Carriages and cars whizzed overhead. I’d collapsed in the middle of the road.
“Get up!”
Someone grabbed my arm and hauled me up. I snatched my carry-on and apologized to the driver in front of me.
“Sorry.”
“Jeez!”
“Why were you lying there? Kid already lost it….”
The middle-aged old human who’d helped me grumbled as he dragged me to the sidewalk, then his eyes widened. Mouth agape, he tilted his head like he’d seen it all. My head was spinning already; this didn’t help. Squinting, I asked.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why are your eyes that color?”
“Pardon?”
“They’re pink. How do human eyes….”
Beats me.
I started to say so, then a thought struck, mouth hanging open.
This was Berlin. The scenery differed slightly from what I knew, but did anyone in Berlin not know my eyes were pink?
Entertaining the crazy idea, I asked carefully.
“…What’s today’s date, by chance?”
“March 20th.”
March 20th? No way. It was early March.
Had I time-traveled forward? I whipped around. Cars on the street looked dated. Benzend’s 3rd-gen mana-powered car announcement. This year’s article flashed in my mind. Every vehicle here was old-gen.
The man ahead backed away like he’d met a lunatic. Before he bolted, I grabbed his arm.
“…What year is it?”
“…1886? Heh…”
“…….”
I let go, and he vanished quick.
Standing there, I blankly stared down the street. Laughter bubbled up.