The Irresistible Scent and Mana's Unexpected Evolution
The moment Seres lost consciousness, they all swore up and down.
"We just reunited!"
"Why go through all this trouble because of these idiots?!"
"Why collapse again and break our hearts like this?"
Chaos erupted once more. Arios, Hames, and Viol all rushed toward Seres at the same time, and Sibylius—who had been supporting him—thought to himself,
What the actual fuck is this?
It was ridiculous, but he also felt a twinge of respect.
To make all three of them fall this hard at once!
Each one had power, status, and social prestige in spades, not to mention their equally fucked-up personalities. And yet, here they were, acting like they'd rip out their own guts for him.
Is it all thanks to that pretty face? This is on the level of a divine gift. They call it 'a beauty that topples nations' in the far east, right?
Just moments ago, the clash between Viol and Arios had nearly brought the country to its knees, so yeah, "nation-toppling beauty" fit perfectly.
...I owe him a debt now.
Sure, Seres was the cause, but he'd also been the one to stop it. If he hadn't stepped in claiming he could handle it, the fight would've dragged on. Sibylius might've jumped in too, trying to shut them down by force.
And if one of them accidentally killed the other...
Even imagining the fallout was horrifying.
Against his will, he felt indebted to Seres.
"Everyone, stand back."
Sibylius eyed Seres with mild displeasure but still tried to help him.
"Crowding around an unconscious patient and yelling won't do a damn thing."
He calmed the three of them down and repeated his earlier words.
"I'm going to investigate treatment options now, so stay here and don't interfere."
"Can't I come in and check too?"
Arios—who he'd heard speak for the first time—protested. It had been ages since she'd seen Seres, and she was worried, so she insisted on following.
Viol blocked her.
"You a doctor? What good would you do in there?"
"Ugh!"
"Watch it. I'm holding back from killing you only because of Seres."
"That's my line!"
The two glared at each other like beasts baring fangs, murder in their eyes, but they couldn't actually lunge. They couldn't bring themselves to disobey Seres's words from earlier.
Hames sighed at the pair, posturing pointlessly when they couldn't fight anyway.
"Enough. Get back inside. I'll keep watch here."
"Understood."
Sibylius left the scene to Hames and hurried back into the house.
"This time for sure."
He laid Seres back on the bed and activated various magical tools. Using magic for a precise examination took quite a while.
After waiting over ten minutes, Sibylius suddenly felt pangs of hunger.
Meal time's still far off. Is it that scent?
The fragrance wafting from Seres seemed even stronger now that they were alone in the small room. It was pleasant, but for some reason, it kept whetting his appetite, so Sibylius pinched his nose shut.
This won't do. I need to grab something to eat.
He left the magic running on autopilot and headed to the kitchen.
Meat sounds good. Sausage stuffed with pork intestines.
There were rumors in the capital that, being half-demon, she devoured humans, but that was bullshit. Even pure demons couldn't survive solely on humans. Sure, they were monsters that ate people to absorb the power in their flesh and grow stronger, but most lived on normal food—and Sibylius was no exception.
She grilled some sausages plainly, plated them, and pulled out a bottle of wine to go with.
But midway through the meal...
"What's going on?"
No matter how much he ate, the hunger didn't fade. It was like eating cotton candy—stuffing his face but feeling that strange emptiness in his gut.
No... no way!
Startled, Sibylius rushed back to where Seres lay. Surrounded by that scent again, the hunger eased slightly, confirming his suspicions.
What the hell does he bathe in?!
No doubt about it. The bizarre phenomenon stemmed from the fragrance emanating from Seres's body.
No wonder it felt weirdly appealing and delicious.
Some enchanted perfume with a strange spell? Sibylius pondered, then frowned.
A magical perfume potent enough to affect me? Does that even exist?
Even if it did, where would he get something that strong—and why douse himself in it daily?
Recalling Viol's words about the scent being the same every day, Sibylius then remembered Hames's comment: it came naturally from his bare skin, no perfume needed.
Words he'd dismissed as delusion hit hard now.
Is it real?
After talking with the awakened Seres and learning a bit about him, the possibility crept in. He was such a weirdo; maybe flowers just bloomed from him or something.
He leaned in closer to sniff. A sweet yet clear fragrance—subtle without cloying heaviness, calm yet intensely captivating.
Just like Emperor Viol said: the scent of dignified flowers.
The idea that such a fragrance arose naturally from bare skin was unbelievable.
Is he even human?
Sibylius bent at the waist, bringing her face right up to inhale deeply. Entranced, she even tugged at the front of his robe to check if the scent came from his actual skin—and that's when she locked eyes with Seres, who had just come to.
-------------------------------------
The moment I regained consciousness, I was face-to-face with Sibylius again. But her actions were seriously weird. She'd been undoing the front of my robe and leaning in close.
"What the hell are you doing?"
I asked sternly, and she jerked back immediately.
"...I was just checking your condition."
"Why the fuck does that involve undressing me?"
You can do it with magic without touching clothes—and hell, you're scanning me with spells right now.
When I pointed that out, Sibylius cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Ahem! Hear me out to the end. Separate from the health check, there was a strange smell coming from your body, so I was verifying it."
"What smell?"
"Something like a floral fragrance. What is that?"
Beats me! This scent was original to Seres's body. In the male leads' perspectives, every scene where they met her described the fragrance wafting from her. No explanation why, but probably because she's the romance-fantasy heroine or whatever.
"No clue why, but yeah, it comes off me. So what?"
"No, just... curious."
Sibylius brushed it off like it was nothing and tried to drop the topic. But that only made her behavior seem more suspicious to me.
Come to think of it, didn't Sibylius in the original story go on about Seres's scent specifically?
"You know this counts as sexual harassment, right?"
The thought crossed my mind, so I warned her.
"You promised me. You said you wouldn't fall for me."
"I was merely inspecting something odd! Don't misunderstand!"
She stressed, steering the conversation away.
"I'm offended by the misconception. Let's drop it. ...More importantly, I'd like to know your condition."
She narrowed her eyes, studying me.
"Your speech is much smoother now. Feeling better?"
"Better than before."
Still hurt, but not as bad. Felt like a blockage had burst open.
Was yelling my head off before passing out actually helpful?
"Hmm. During the mana rampage, forcing movement widened the pathways further as a side effect."
I described my state, and Sibylius pinpointed it instantly.
"In a way, it worked toward the original goal."
"Original goal?"
"Take a look."
She cleared the magic circle around my body and summoned a report-like array of complex text instead.
"Results from scanning your body. Understand it?"
Nope, not at all. I could read this world's script right after possession, but this? Nothing. Readable, but packed with jargon I couldn't parse.
"Simply put, a high-efficiency mana cultivation method is active inside you right now."
Seeing my blank stare—like she was talking to an idiot—Sibylius explained.
"Mana compressed to unleash greater power, circulating through your body to boost cultivation efficiency several times over."
"Hold up."
I was flustered. Easier if she'd said I had a terminal illness or something. This was too out of left field.
"Why's something that amazing churning away in my body?"
"That's what I want to know."
Sibylius eyed me up and down.
"You're operating mana in a highly unusual way. Forsaking all its benefits to counter something inside your body."
"To restore my health."
"To shield from some oppressive force?"
I nodded, but her next words made my eyes widen.
"That's the wrong approach."
"What?"
"Protecting internally with mana doesn't eliminate the pressure. It might seem fine short-term, but ultimately, your mana gets crushed too."
What the hell? I used the method from the original story, and now its creator calls it wrong? Flabbergasting.
"...So what would you do?"
"I'd balance it so the protective mana naturally cancels the pressure—sacrificing body strengthening in exchange."
Damn it all! Her explanation made my mistake clear.
The original "protect with mana" wasn't just brute-forcing mana into the body. It was more like neutralizing dangerous chemicals by mixing them carefully!
What I did was like bulking up physical endurance to resist poison—dumb as rocks.
"Got it? Your misguided method triggered unintended effects."
Sibylius elaborated. The pressure didn't vanish, so the shielding mana got squeezed too—but in the process, it refined into purer, higher-grade mana, like mastering an elite cultivation technique.
"Aura used by Sword Masters is ultra-compressed mana. So some warriors thought: why not cultivate with pre-compressed mana from the start for better results?"
"And how'd that go?"
"Most became invalids; a few barely recovered."
"Like overdoing a workout that's supposed to be good for you?"
"Men like you might not get it, but overexertion doesn't always build strength."
Nah, I get it. Random workouts without structure don't make you stronger—they wreck you. That's why trainers exist. Regular exercise is risky; channeling energy through your body? Way worse. Like qi deviation in wuxia novels.
"Overtraining wrecked them from the inside."
"Exactly. You should've ended up the same, but whatever's pressuring you auto-healed the damage, limiting it to this."
She pointed at me—still aching but able to talk.
"So how do we fix it?"
"You improved just now by pushing too hard, right? That extreme strain acted like proper training."
"You're saying train with this busted body?"
"This is botched cultivation, so counter it with the right one to fix the side effects."
As I grimaced, Sibylius said,
"Not all bad. I guarantee it. Succeed, and you'll heal and keep the high-efficiency perks—getting way stronger."