The Dragon Bone and the Subspace
Lim Dojun nearly lost consciousness for a moment.
After Olivia's necklace transformed into smoke and was absorbed, his body began to undergo a violent transformation.
Crack.
Crrrrack!
Bones, organs, blood vessels, muscles, and fat were all broken down and replaced with something new.
The human body was changing into that of a dragon.
An intense pain surged through him, strong enough to turn his vision pure white.
His expression twisted horribly and his face flushed bright red.
But the agony lasted only a moment.
Before long the pain vanished, and Lim Dojun looked down at his own hand.
Outwardly there seemed to be no change, yet internally it had definitely grown stronger.
“What the hell did you just do!”
Olivia finally snapped, raising her staff as she shouted.
The heirloom necklace passed down through her family for generations had turned to dust. There was no way she could endure that.
“......”
But the moment her eyes met Lim Dojun’s, she swallowed hard and slowly lowered the staff.
The atmosphere had changed.
He had already been a monster of a man, which was why she had avoided fighting him and agreed to a truce. Now, however, his eyes had grown even deeper.
“Th-that necklace was a treasure handed down through my family for generations. And you destroyed it. What are you going to do about it?”
In the end, she could only protest with words instead of action.
“Hmm...”
Lim Dojun was just as flustered.
He had merely looked at it, yet the dragon bone had been absorbed?
Of course he felt good about it.
Dragon-style magic displayed far greater power when backed by a dragon’s body.
Still, Lim Dojun put on a brazen act.
“Ugh. M-my head...”
“......”
“I-I’m getting a headache from absorbing that thing just now. Did you curse me?”
“......”
“......”
When Olivia stared at him with icy eyes, Lim Dojun simply shrugged.
“Ah. You didn’t fall for it.”
“Would you have fallen for it if you were in my place?”
“The curse was just talk, but it’s true that the smoke from earlier had a negative effect on me.”
Lim Dojun did not lie.
Naturally, the closer he drew to a dragon’s body the stronger he became, but the rate at which his body stiffened also accelerated.
The dragon’s will was activating more vigorously and beginning to devour him.
If he could completely overcome it someday, that would be one thing. For now, it was a double-edged sword.
‘Of course, it’s a sword I must seize if the chance appears.’
There was a way to overcome it.
Learning a superior mana breathing technique would solve the problem, and since he had already passed the elders’ test, that opportunity would arrive soon enough.
“......”
At Lim Dojun’s words, Olivia was left speechless.
She couldn’t be sure whether it truly had a negative effect, but if he claimed it did, what could she say?
Besides, his expression earlier suggested he really had been in pain.
For that sly bastard’s face to flush that red.
“...Sigh. Forget it.”
Since the young master’s injuries had not yet fully healed, Olivia had no choice but to give up.
Lim Dojun was a man with a conscience.
He had acted shamelessly at first, but after destroying a family treasure he decided he ought to offer compensation.
So he spoke at length with Olivia.
Their family, the Rodonos House, had fallen after being framed with false accusations. They were now struggling to restore their honor and exact revenge.
She explained that attacking the auction house had also been an attempt to reclaim the Rodonos family’s legacy. Listening to them, he could understand.
Of course, he would still need to verify the objective facts later.
-If you need my help with anything in the future, tell me. I will help. However, I cannot assist with anything unethical.
He offered this as compensation, and Olivia nodded in acceptance.
-You’re the disciple of the Blue Magic Tower branch head, correct? Within a year you’ll rise to an astonishing height.
Having recognized Lim Dojun’s potential, she felt he would be useful later.
That much seemed a fair price for the lost necklace.
Once their agreement was smoothly concluded, Lim Dojun and Casian used the village as a base camp. They investigated the dragon ruins, explored the surrounding area, and searched for branches of lightning wood.
Boom!
A fireball flew toward a maggot-shaped monster nearly a meter long and exploded.
Casian watched in admiration.
“Wow. You’re casting fireballs without chanting now?”
“I got lucky.”
Lim Dojun answered humbly, but in truth it was skill, not luck.
‘The incomplete dragon-style magic theory evolved and raised my overall magic level.’
Thanks to the knowledge gained from the ruins, his proficiency in attributes other than cold had risen considerably.
Because of that, he roamed the mountains casting spells and realized that mastering lower-grade magic was not far off.
It seemed that before long he would be able to cast every spell without chanting, not merely the cold-attribute ones.
He had set a goal of raising his magic proficiency during this ruins expedition, and achieving it brought a natural smile to his face.
‘This guy really is amazing every time I see him. He’s the perfect junior for our major.’
Casian found Lim Dojun fascinating as she watched him.
They had already stayed in this tiny village for several days, yet Lim Dojun never lost his smile.
-Damn it! If I have to come out on another ruins exploration mission, I’m no mage!
-Those cursed exploration majors! If you’re going to ask for something like this, just freeze me instead!
These were curses he often heard from fellow mages whose anger had reached its peak.
Casian could no longer contain her curiosity and asked.
“Jun. Isn’t it hard?”
“What is?”
“Just… all of this. If you only stayed in the training room you wouldn’t be used to it.”
He was used to it.
In his prime, Lim Dojun had treated all-night marches and outdoor bivouacs like meals.
The sleeping arrangements offered by the villagers were practically a hotel by comparison.
“I’m fine.”
On the contrary, after being confined to a wheelchair, traveling across the vast natural world felt incredibly refreshing.
“Wow… If you had joined our major, everyone would have been thrilled.”
“Haha. What a shame.”
Lim Dojun had promised to learn the Blue Magic Tower’s vision upon his return.
Only afterward would he choose his major, and he was leaning toward researching cold-attribute attack magic.
Casian had seen as much during their days together, so she only said it was a shame in words.
“Still, could you come on missions with me from time to time?”
“As often as you like. I’m very interested in ruins exploration myself.”
“Thank you! If I find a good ruin, I’ll come find you first!”
Casian bounced with excitement. Watching her, Lim Dojun actually wanted to say that he was the grateful one.
After all, traveling together might let him stumble upon a dragon-related ruin by sheer luck!
The villagers welcomed the pair’s extended stay.
“Thank you, mages!”
“This is the first time the self-defense group has had nothing to do!”
People from the Rodonos House were staying in the village, and Lim Dojun and Casian roamed the mountain range at all hours.
Thanks to them, the surrounding monster population had been wiped out. The increased safety was palpable.
Olivia occasionally watched Lim Dojun hunt. Seeing him grow stronger day by day, she could only shake her head.
“...No matter how much of a genius someone is, is it possible to change this quickly?”
She herself had been called talented, yet this was beyond comprehension.
At any rate, she was glad she hadn’t charged at him when she was angry.
The Rodonos House knights who had gone to the city to assess the situation had now returned. Even with their help, fighting him would have caused serious losses.
‘Yes. For the price of one necklace, we’ve gained such a powerful ally for the future. That’s a bargain. He also swore on the honor of the Blue Magic Tower to keep his word.’
He had said he would not help with unethical matters, but Olivia paid it no mind.
The Rodonos family’s revenge was perfectly justified.
There was good news for Casian as well.
After diligently roaming the mountains with Lim Dojun, she could focus comfortably on magic related to her major.
“Ah!!? I found it!”
She had even discovered a branch of lightning wood.
Deep in the mountain range, among trees that had absorbed the earth’s energy, those struck by lightning and burned exactly in half produced a precious material that required both luck and coincidence.
“The mission is complete.”
Lim Dojun had also begun to feel there was no longer any reason to stay. The timing was perfect.
“Let’s sleep here tonight and head back tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
That night.
In the deep early hours when only moonlight remained, Lim Dojun was awake alone.
One hand held the lightning wood branch, the other a small stone.
With his eyes closed, sweat poured down his face.
“Appear… appear…”
The dragon ruins.
What Lim Dojun had obtained there was not merely an increase in magic proficiency.
There had been truly important knowledge as well.
Dragons naturally caressed space as easily as breathing. Dominating the surrounding area with their most confident attribute was one of those abilities. Using a Dragon Heart fragment, we attempted to materialize this spatial magic.
Spatial magic.
That was the core of the skill that had evolved under the name Incomplete Dragon-Style Magic Theory 2.
He could not do it as naturally as a true dragon, but he could imitate it.
What he could manage right now were simple applications—twisting space in a desired spot to change the direction of his own attacks or cause an enemy’s attack to miss.
‘This will improve with practice too.’
The reason he remained awake while everyone else slept was to attempt a slightly more difficult application.
There are tales that dragons folded space to store whatever they wished inside. We tracked down those legends as well…
Subspace magic!
Whoooong!
When sweat was pouring from his entire body, a vortex visible only to him appeared before Lim Dojun’s eyes.
The entrance to the subspace.
He swallowed hard and placed the stone inside.
Then he closed the subspace. Sweating profusely once more, he opened it again. The stone was still there.
“...It worked!”
Upon succeeding, Lim Dojun grinned.
The space was still small and opening and closing it was difficult, but at least he had created it.
If he stored precious items here, he would no longer need to worry about losing them or lugging around a heavy bag.
Lim Dojun placed the lightning wood branch inside the subspace and thought the same.
‘Practice is the only path forward for this too.’
Using spatial magic in combat was not an urgent priority.
Combat only required victory, so there were many other methods available.
However, the utility of a subspace needed to be mastered as quickly as possible, so he would practice it at every opportunity.
Thinking that, he looked around. When he confirmed no one was watching, he entered the house.
A moment later, Lim Dojun’s figure vanished without a trace.
Pssshhh.
“Hoo.”
After ending the connection and rising from the capsule, Lim Dojun let out a long breath.
He returned to Earth once a day to check his messages.
Kim Eunju the center director, Park Daecheol of Happy Service, Lee Sehan the benefactor from the ruins…
Any of them might have contacted him, so checking was essential.
Even then, he did not skip practice.
Whoooong!
While checking his contacts, he focused his entire mind and created the subspace once again.
It felt slightly faster than the first time he had opened it.
And when he tried to close it again…
“...Huh!?”
Glancing inside the closing subspace, Lim Dojun was startled.
He quickly canceled the closure, reopened it, and reached inside.
What his hand pulled out a moment later—
“...I can take this out here too?”
The lightning wood branch rested in his grasp.