Chapter 276
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 276
Chapter Title: Such a Story
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Demian.
The one who cast the Word of Command on both Jun and Shylock. Because of that incident, Shylock had his own magic sealed and lost the Mage Tower.
If Jun hadn't come to this world, he too would have lost his life.
"That bastard... showed himself in there?"
Perhaps because of that, Shylock's question came out deadly serious, and Jun silently nodded, pointing to his choker.
"He was hiding inside the Word of Command. Even if it was just his will."
"Hmph... So he's been reduced to a mere specter."
"Yes. He told me to learn from him."
"Judging by your reaction, you refused."
"That's right."
"No, wait a second. Sorry to say this, but... didn't that guy try to teach you something? Then surely the method to use the Word of Command..."
"...I could have learned it."
"Ah..."
Regret... no, pity appeared on Mershar's face.
If Jun had learned the Word of Command from Demian's will, he could have resolved the one afflicting Shylock's body.
But they couldn't say it outright.
Mershar had vaguely heard about Jun's circumstances.
A master who tried to rip out his disciple's heart for his own use.
Asking him to learn magic from such a teacher again would be an outrageous insult.
Still, the fact that the possibility of lifting Shylock's Word of Command had vanished was regrettable.
"You don't need to worry about that."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a long story, but... I've absorbed some of his techniques."
"Absorbed them?"
Something a black mage might say.
"He permitted it from the start anyway."
"Hmm... I see."
Then Mershar asked with an awkward expression.
"Sorry to ask, but... you can't use them right away?"
"It'll take some time."
"Ah... Yeah, that makes sense."
Just like you can't master a technique from reading a book once, Jun needed time to digest it.
"Senior, are you okay?"
"Me?"
"...Yes."
At Aiden's question, Jun looked inward.
Emotionally perfect? No, he'd have to say not quite.
The memories 'he' still held felt more than just complicated about this incident—they carried sorrow, and it was affecting him even now.
But as leader, he couldn't show it.
As Jun was about to speak again.
"..."
His eyes met Aiden's blue ones.
They were full of worry.
Maya beside him, and Eleanor too... their gazes toward Jun brimmed with concern.
"Hm. Well, shall we talk outside?"
"Everyone looks so curious..."
"Can you blame us? The captain acts like he knows everything about us, but we know nothing about his past."
Jun scratched the back of his head at Eleanor's grumbling complaint and offered an excuse.
"I wasn't trying to show off or anything..."
"Anyway, that's how it is. This time too, we had no idea what was happening to you and just watched from behind. It's not exactly a great feeling."
"She's right. So blow honestly, sword boy."
"I'm curious too, Senior."
Had these three ever agreed like this?
Jun cleared his throat awkwardly and slowly opened his mouth.
About his life.
Not Lee Jung-jun's.
About 'Jun's.
The slums where he'd grown up since childhood.
His mother, who gave birth to him and gradually weakened.
Times when milk didn't even come properly, so he had to beg from neighbors.
Jun was a gloomy, quiet child.
The kind commonly seen in the slums.
No self-esteem, just living like a stone in the back alley or a shadow.
"What would a kid in that environment wish for? A family, obviously."
He was left alone at just five years old.
He didn't know where his mother went.
Did she abandon her young child?
Or did her sickly body give out, collapsing on the street to become a handful of dirt?
Jun probably thought it was the latter.
Those lips that cupped his cheeks and kissed his forehead had been warm.
"That thirst grew worse after Mother left. Clutching my starving belly, drinking muddy rainwater, I still longed for Mother's embrace—and my unknown father's."
It sounded pitiful at first glance.
Even in Lee Jung-jun's world, such things happened somewhere.
The slums overflowed with such kids. That's why no one cared.
Just like the other child found dead in an empty house the day before.
His life would have ended the same way.
"Then, someone came to fetch me."
He knew at first sight.
That he was his father.
"The Mage Tower he took me to was at least warmer than the slums, and meals came every time."
Treatment he'd never experienced in his life.
Was it really 'treatment'? More like just keeping him alive.
But not shivering in the cold or starving felt like a warm family embrace to young Jun.
"Some suspension bridge effect or whatever. Anyway, I was grateful he was my father, and I started learning magic under him."
At seven, he formed a circle and was called a genius.
At eight, he followed his father to the academy.
But at nine, strange signals came from his body.
"Demon God Body. I was reaching the age where I could properly 'sense' magic power, and it started whispering to me."
To become one with it.
At ten, his body repeatedly faced the crisis of being dismantled by magic power.
"Demian noticed just in time."
Thanks to that, he avoided dissolving into magic while sleeping.
But afterward, Demian realized the Demon God Body dwelled in Jun, and his gaze changed.
"Well, you all know the rest."
A child born from a one-night prank.
Perfect for experiments.
After that, Jun spent five years locked in a solitary room without seeing sunlight.
At some point, he couldn't even see his father's face, and like the young Jun had foreseen, he would have died in that room, forgotten by all.
"If things had gone that way."
That was 'Jun's story.
After that, it became Lee Jung-jun's.
"After casting the Word of Command on Shylock and me, Demian's body visibly weakened. That's how I killed the bastard and escaped the Mage Tower."
He killed Demian, who thought he couldn't use magic due to the Word, and caused the Mage Tower's core to overload and explode.
After that, he gained freedom and met his current comrades.
"That's 'my' story. Just your typical orphan who happened to have special powers."
"Um... so you're not a future person, sword boy?"
"I've been wondering since before—what's this 'future person' thing even from?"
"He knows so much about us. So I thought the leader was from the future."
"No way..."
He could say otherworlder, but nothing more.
His comrades didn't pry further, and the story ended there.
Just such a story.
The story of a child who lived.
Now, it had become his own.
Such a story.
Two more months passed.
Jun, Aiden, Eleanor, and Bern's gazes turned to the orange orb.
Mershar was still busily adjusting the magic circle around it.
"Oh."
"She's coming out."
"This time... it worked, right?"
"Definitely. In our last spar, even I felt a chill."
A gate formed as light slowly flowed from the orb.
Someone stepped out from within.
No need to say—Maya.
Traces of vomiting blood everywhere, but she walked out on her own two feet.
Jun caught her as she collapsed to her knees, and Aiden poured a potion into her mouth.
"Success..."
Bern murmured, gazing at the far sturdier vessel than before.
All at level 7.
It took about four months for everyone to achieve it.
And the end of this season was approaching.
A month after Jun awakened at level 7.
Aiden reached level 7 within the A-dimension and overcame the trial of the first emperor.
A week later, Eleanor hit level 7.
And finally, Maya reached level 7.
The reason Maya took so long was the extra time needed to brew and assimilate elixirs.
"Haa..."
Maya stood after treatment, grinding her teeth as she muttered.
"Finally killed and absorbed one."
"Good work."
Maya had perfectly processed one of the dozens of ancestral spirits.
Many remained, but it was still a huge leap.
"Look at this."
Infusing magic into the Acanthus Fang, Maya swung. A chunk of space sliced off.
"Whoa... Opened the spirit realm?"
"Yeah... There's a rift."
"Now we can communicate with the old folks anytime by going in there."
"Handy, I guess..."
Eleanor tilted her head uncertainly, but Jun watched the shrinking rift with keen interest.
"Nice. What'd you name it?"
"Spirit Sword."
"Hm."
Exactly as Jun knew.
The Maya in the game had wielded that dimension freely too.
"A step above the Yin Dimension."
Now, those who couldn't sense spirits like Eleanor wouldn't see Maya hidden in the spirit realm.
Powers that couldn't intervene in dimensions wouldn't touch her there either.
"And this is possible now."
For a brief moment, Maya's body blurred.
Spirit form.
The ability to leave her body in the spirit realm. It perfectly covered the openings visible when attacking from the Yin Dimension before.
"Definitely level 7."
"So... we leaving now?"
"Yeah."
"Yesss! I'm free at last!"
Mershar, who had been tweaking the orb until the end, came running with a scream.
"Thanks for all your hard work, Mershar."
"Don't even get me started. You have no idea how much blood and sweat I poured into tuning this thing..."
The A-dimension had been crucial for the group to reach level 7 so quickly.
And Mershar handled it alone.
"That old geezer ditched me to handle it solo."
Shylock had left midway for other business.
Two weeks ago, so Mershar had barely slept.
"A few more days and I would've cracked."
"Thanks."
"Pay me in goods, not words. You know I deserve compensation too."
"Sure. Any alchemy materials you want, just ask."
"Heh... You'll love it. Not keeping the good stuff to myself."
Jun's [Potion Brewing] skill helped sometimes, but not like a real alchemist like Mershar.
One day, they might need his help.
"Alright, everyone ready?"
Before leaving, they looked at the basement they'd indebted themselves to for months.
Unlike when they first arrived, it was now empty.
The day to leave with light hearts had come.