Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Where the Dragon Sleeps (1)
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[Gasp!]
Vega’s eyes widened as she looked at Ha-eun, who had just kicked the door open.
“Always acting so high and mighty, and now what’s this? ‘Mama’?”
[Th-that’s not it!]
“What do you mean, ‘not it’? I heard you loud and clear!”
[W-w-well…]
Vega's golden eyes darted around the empty air.
[I-it's as you said, my child grew up without parents, did he not? He may act fine on the outside, but he must be starved for a mother's love!]
“So you forced that kind of kinky roleplay on Oh-jin?”
[K-kinky! How insolent!]
As their argument raged on.
“…How long have you been listening, *nunna*?”
Oh-jin asked, his expression slightly stiff.
*'It'll be a problem if she heard from the beginning.'*
Hadn’t he been talking all about the first playthrough and the future changing?
“Huh? I heard from when Vega was saying something about watching over you from your side.”
“Ah, so you only heard from then.”
If it was from then, she wouldn't have heard about the regression.
“The atmosphere seemed a little serious, so I was deliberately staying out.”
A sharp glare.
Ha-eun crossed her arms and glared at Vega.
“I never imagined she'd ask you to call her ‘Mama’ in a situation like that.”
[A-ahem! Come to think of it, I don't have much time left to manifest today.]
Vega cleared her throat needlessly and twirled a lock of her long, silver hair with her fingertip.
For the record, it hadn’t even been ten minutes since she manifested.
[I shall take my leave now!]
She vanished into the pendant as if fleeing.
“…Good grief.”
Ha-eun uncrossed her arms and approached Oh-jin.
“Hey… uhm, Oh-jin.”
“Yeah?”
“Like Vega said… you're not actually starved for motherly love or anything, are you?”
“Of course not.”
Oh-jin let out a dry laugh and shook his head.
How could he be starved for something he'd never received in the first place?
*'I don't care about that stuff.'*
Parents. Family.
He had never once thought he needed them.
Because he had something far more precious.
“Anyway, where have you been?”
“Oh, you know. Just came back from some light training.”
Ha-eun replied, avoiding his gaze.
The expression on her averted face was dark.
“I heard you've been making some progress lately. Is it not going well?”
“Ugh… haah. It feels like I'm so close, but it's just not working.”
Ha-eun let out a deep sigh and scratched her head.
“It's like the finish line is right in front of me, but I've run out of stamina to cross it. Yeah, something like that.”
As expected.
Was the lack of mana the cause?
*'It's about time I made an elixir.'*
If he used the 8-star Stigma Stone he got from Lee Woo-hyeok, he should be able to solve her mana shortage to some extent.
“Just wait. I'll give you a present later.”
“A present? Why all of a sudden?”
“Fufufu. Let's save the fun for later.”
“Ah, what is it?”
Ha-eun scowled and pinched Oh-jin's cheek.
“Saying it like that just makes me damn curious, you little punk.”
“That was the point.”
“You little shit?”
“Fufufu! Anyway, just wait. I'll give you something good.”
He turned away, a grin spreading across his face.
“I'll be in the storage room for a bit.”
“Alright. I'm gonna go take a shower.”
Ha-eun fanned her sweat-soaked shirt.
Each time the shirt fluttered, his eyes were drawn to the flash of pale skin and the line of her cleavage.
“You're gonna burn a hole through my chest, you little punk.”
“It's not like they'll wear out.”
“True. My boobs are a bit too big to wear out.”
Oh, please.
“Hehe. If you really want to see, wanna come in with me?”
Ha-eun grinned and pointed to the shower.
“No, thanks.”
She'd just get flustered and blush if he actually said yes.
Though he admitted, he would like to see that.
*'Right now, I need to make the elixir first.'*
His heart fluttered as he imagined how happy she'd be to receive the elixir.
* * *
Making the elixir didn't require much preparation.
Just submerge a Stigma Stone in a bottle filled with distilled water, then use the Aquarius Stigma to dissolve the mana from the stone into the water. That was it.
*'Of course, it's impossible to dissolve 100% of it.'*
He heard that even dissolving just 10% of the mana was considered a success.
“‘Depending on one's proficiency in handling mana, it's possible to dissolve up to 20-30%,’ huh.”
Oh-jin hummed, looking over the information he found on the internet.
“Well, let's give it a try.”
He activated the Aquarius Stigma and channeled mana into the distilled water in the bottle.
A blue haze of light seeped into the Stigma Stone submerged in the water.
-Vwoooom!!
The mana within the Stigma Stone began to gradually dissolve into the distilled water.
-Ting!
[You have successfully dissolved the mana within the Stigma Stone.]
[Due to your phenomenal mana control, there is no mana loss!]
“Huh?”
No mana loss?
“No way.”
Oh-jin swallowed a dry laugh and checked the amount of mana dissolved in the distilled water.
*'There's no lost mana.'*
Just 10% was a success.
He heard that even the most skilled experts could only dissolve 20-30%.
“What is this…”
He couldn't believe what he'd just done.
But still, absolutely no loss?
And on the first try?
“…”
Vega's words from when he first learned Exceed suddenly came to mind.
-It's as if… you were born to rule over all Stigmas.
A talent that had left even the Constellation known as Polaris speechless.
That talent, which reached into the realm of the incomprehensible, had manifested once again.
*'Talent.'*
Could this really…
…be explained with a simple word like ‘talent’?
“…Is it because of the Black Heaven?”
He didn't know.
After all, he'd never handled mana before awakening the Black Heaven.
*'Well, anyway.'*
The elixir he'd intended to give Ha-eun was complete.
With a potency several times greater than he'd initially expected.
-Click.
“What are you doing in here?”
Just then, Ha-eun, fresh from her shower, opened the door and came in.
Her damp hair and slightly flushed cheeks were utterly lovely.
“Here, drink this, *nunna*.”
He held out the bottle, now without the Stigma Stone.
A faintly glowing blue light sloshed inside the bottle.
“What's this?”
“I said I'd give you a present earlier.”
“This is the present?”
“Yup.”
“Hmm.”
Ha-eun's eyes sparkled as she took the bottle.
“What kind of drink is this? I don't think I've ever seen one glow like this.”
“It's an elixir.”
“Heh. An elixir? You mean the kind that increases your mana…”
Her eyes shot wide open.
“W-wait, an elixir? Th-this is an elixir?!”
Her jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Th-this stuff is crazy expensive, isn't it? Right?”
“Fufufu. I guess so.”
In terms of price alone, it would probably be similar to the Dragon's Eye he'd given her before.
*'But that's for one with a 10% mana preservation rate.'*
The elixir he had made was one with a staggering 100% mana preservation rate.
Something like this was on a level you couldn't obtain with money even if you wanted to.
An elixir that increased one's mana capacity was something every Awakened coveted.
“Wh-where did you get this?”
“I got a few high-grade Stigma Stones as a reward for helping the Valhalla Guild before. I asked an Aquarius Awakened I know to make it.”
He gave a plausible excuse.
“Then you should drink it, Oh-jin…”
“You know elixirs are less effective for people with a lot of mana.”
At his current level, even if he chugged a truckload of elixirs, it wouldn't make a gnat's ass of a difference.
“That's true, but.”
Ha-eun clutched the bottle containing the elixir with both hands, a conflicted expression on her face.
“This is… t-too precious.”
No matter how precious it was, could it be more precious than her?
“Didn't you say before that whatever belongs to your little brother is yours?”
“…That’s.”
This *nunna*…
She was always putting on such a brave face, but she got all flustered at times like this.
Well, that side of her was cute, though.
“Anyway, it's not really useful to me, so you drink it. Besides, you've been struggling with your mana shortage lately, right?”
“…”
The corner of Ha-eun's eye twitched.
If Oh-jin knew she was struggling with her mana shortage…
“Then… did you make this just for me?”
“Who else would I have burned an expensive Stigma Stone for?”
“Agh! Aghhh!”
Clutching the elixir tightly with both arms.
She stomped her feet and let out an unintelligible groan.
“R-really, I can't deal with you!”
For someone who said she couldn't deal with it, her face was full of life.
“Then… I-I'm really gonna drink it?”
“Hurry up and drink.”
Oh-jin himself was curious to see how effective an elixir with 100% preservation would be.
“…Gulp.”
Ha-eun carefully opened the bottle and downed the faintly glowing blue elixir.
-Fwoooosh!
A red flame flickered around her body.
“—Ah.”
It began to seep into her.
“This is…”
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
“How is it? Is it working?”
“W-working is an understatement. Wh-what is this? Is it supposed to be like this?”
Ha-eun's jaw dropped as she felt the mana filling her entire body.
She had heard about the effects of elixirs a few times, but this was on a completely different level from what she'd heard.
*'My mana has doubled… no, it feels like it's tripled.'*
Part of it was because her mana capacity was small to begin with.
But beyond that, the mana contained within the elixir was immense.
“…Wait a second.”
Click.
Ha-eun removed her eyepatch.
“Hooo.”
She took a slow breath and focused her mind.
Thick veins bulged around her left eye as the Dragon's Eye emitted a fierce light.
-FWOOOOSH!!!
Billowing red flames erupted forth.
Ha-eun slowly extended her hand.
The flames gathered above her open palm.
*'From here.'*
Condense the flames.
The flames, which had been surging as if to swallow their surroundings, began to coalesce into a small sphere in her palm.
“Hah, hah.”
Her breathing grew ragged.
Beads of cold sweat dripped from her forehead.
Normally, she would have failed here due to a lack of mana.
*'But now!'*
Ha-eun's eyes flashed.
-FWOOOOOSH!!!
An even more intense flame erupted, condensing the sphere of fire in her palm.
The continuously condensing flame became a red orb that no longer even looked like fire.
“Ha.”
A bright smile spread across Ha-eun's lips.
An electrifying thrill ran down her spine.
—Yong'ok (Dragon's Jewel).
A crystal of flame created using the Dragon's Eye.
“Is that… the new skill you learned?”
A gasp of admiration escaped Oh-jin's lips.
The Yong'ok she had created was only about the size of a quarter.
*'Crazy.'*
But just looking at it was enough to give him goosebumps, sensing the astronomical power contained within.
*'If that hits you, you're dead.'*
That wasn't an exaggeration or an overstatement.
The moment that Yong'ok hit, you would literally be ‘annihilated’.
“Finally…”
Ha-eun's eyes welled with tears.
“I finally did itaaaaaaah!!”
A cry filled with elation.
Having broken through her plateau, she jumped up and down with boiling excitement.
“Congratulations, *nunna*.”
“Oh-jiiiiiiin!”
Ha-eun dispelled the Yong'ok and threw her arms around Oh-jin.
“I did it! I fucking did it!”
“Hehe. I saw.”
“Haaah!!! Really! Reallllyyy!”
She was so excited she showered his cheeks with kisses.
“Aigoo, my precious little brother!!! What can your *nunna* do for you?”
“You don't have to do anything.”
He hadn't given her the elixir expecting anything in return.
“What do you mean, ‘you don't have to’!”
Ha-eun grabbed both of Oh-jin's shoulders, her eyes wild.
“First, take it off!”
What was she talking about all of a sudden.
“And spread 'em!”
Spread what, you crazy *nunna*.