Tempering (3)
Tempering (3)
Raize gulped down the coffee she had ordered from her assistant and looked at Dojin.
"So? What exactly do you want me to do?"
"Um, pull my father out from my memories."
"That's fucking nonsense...... Do you think a mage is some kind of god?"
Having heard Dojin's absurd explanation, Raize let out a light sigh and began explaining it in a way even he could understand.
"Listen well. A mage can do anything, but not everything."
"......What the hell does that mean?"
"It means the conditions are crucial."
She could make you fly in the sky.
But not freely like a bird.
She could give you wings.
But not say you could fly through the sky.
She could create a new human.
But she couldn't turn a bird into a human.
Magic is versatile but not omnipotent.
"You want me to extract memories from your head? Possible. But turn them into a person? How the fuck?"
"......That's for the mage to figure out."
"Haah... So, can you not just spout off without any proper alternatives? It's pissing me off for no reason."
As Dojin spat out words like a designer infuriating an engineer, Raize sighed heavily, unable to hide her irritation.
"Extract memories? And that's it? Turn them into a person—into a Golem? Or actually synthesize a real human?"
"Uh...... Well......."
"See? That's exactly why I said don't speak without thinking."
She wasn't wrong. Even Dojin felt considerable reluctance at the idea of creating a person implanted with his own memories.
But making a Golem out of it? Golems couldn't perform delicate movements like swordsmanship. Big and clumsy—that was the hallmark of a Golem.
"Then...... what should I do......."
"I tell you every time...... You'll get yourself in big trouble living so thoughtlessly."
"Sorry."
"......Hoo, this is the last time?"
With those words, Raize ended up providing a plausible idea in Dojin's place.
With the women around him handing over answers like this, there was no way Dojin would feel the need to think for himself.
"First, what exactly do you want?"
"I want to...... face off against my father."
"A duel, huh... Even if I synthesized a human, I couldn't replicate the movements you want."
"......Why?"
"Creating a human with magic is hard enough, but implanting memories too? If that were possible, this world would already be ruled by magic-cloned high-level adventurers by now?"
Hearing it, it made perfect sense.
As Raize said, if such technology existed, the Otherworld would already be dominated by high-level adventurers or knights.
So, what now? If cloning wasn't possible, could he never fight the man he'd dreamed of?
But Raize was a mage—the one who always had answers.
"So, you just need to face off, right?"
"Yeah."
"Doesn't have to be in reality?"
"Right?"
"Then we're good. I'll come find you later, so get yourself mentally prepared."
"Uh... Will it take long?"
"Not even a few days."
With that, Raize shooed Dojin out. As he walked out of the Magic Tower, he looked up at the high sky.
'What to do.......'
He pondered his immediate future briefly, but the answer was always the same.
Swing the sword.
He had lived his whole life for that alone.
Days passed with him going to the Ho-beop-gwan with Eunha to receive instruction from Hoyeon, and not long after, a haggard-looking Raize visited the mansion.
"Ugh...... I'm tired... Hurry......."
"......You don't think of me as some fatigue recovery potion, do you?"
He said that, but since the reason she was this exhausted was Dojin himself, he silently absorbed her fatigue.
And through the now all-too-familiar process, he converted the fatigue into pleasure and expelled it from his body.
This level of earthly heat couldn't melt a heart harder than steel.
"Whatever. Shall we go in then?"
Having recovered from her fatigue, Raize casually entered the mansion and headed to Dojin's room.
Upon arriving in the room, she immediately spread out the bedding and ordered Dojin.
"Go ask Noah to make me a sleeping pill."
"A sleeping pill? Why?"
"Just do as I say."
Dojin was curious, but it wasn't enough curiosity to ruin things. He went to Noah, who was working in the lab, got the sleeping pill, and asked Raize.
"Here. So, why do you need this?"
"When do you take a sleeping pill?"
"To sleep?"
"Right. You're going to sleep from now on."
"......Now?"
Outside, the sun was high in the midday sky. Sleep at a time like this? That's when Dojin realized why Raize had asked for the sleeping pill.
No matter how tired she was, she probably couldn't sleep in broad daylight like this.
"What happens when I fall asleep?"
"Like last time, I'll enter your dream. But unlike before, you'll have consciousness too."
And above all, she said it would allow him to fight the opponent he wanted.
That was enough. Everything else was irrelevant—as long as that was possible.
As long as he could cross swords with his father......
"Shall I drink it then?"
"See you in the dream. Dojin."
Hearing that, Dojin immediately downed the pill. As expected from an elixir by alchemy master Noah, he fell asleep the moment he swallowed it.
"......He's asleep?"
Realizing Dojin had fallen asleep, Raize immediately began drawing a magic circle around them.
No interruptions allowed, so she double-locked the door physically and magically.
Completing the pre-developed magic circle, Raize slowly climbed on top of Dojin.
"......It's dangerous if you fall off mid-magic."
It was just an excuse for a mage of her caliber, but a plausible justification for later.
Raize began removing Dojin's pants. As his penis was exposed, the moment she saw it, her vagina started secreting sticky vaginal fluid.
"Haa, haa... N-need lubricant...... Definitely not licking it because I'm a pervert, lick......."
Even though she was wet enough not to need lubricant, Raize said that as she took Dojin's penis into her mouth and sucked.
She equipped the erect, slick penis straight into her own vagina, overlapping her body with Dojin's.
"Haa-eut, th-this is dangerousss......."
The instant the penis was inserted, her brain turned into a penis-obsessed idiot. But there was no helping it. No female could stay sane after being imprinted with such pleasure.
"Q-quick—get in—."
Chilkeok-.
Raize settled the penis all the way to her uterus, then pressed her forehead against Dojin's. Moments later, she fell asleep along with him.
Umjil-umjil!
But she had overlooked sensory blocking.
Her body still remembered the pleasure as she plunged into Dojin's mental world.
[N, N, NEW CHALLENGER!]
"......Where's this?"
When Dojin came to, he was standing in some dojo.
Since the dojo he'd been visiting most lately was Hoyeon's Ho-beop-gwan, this one looked remarkably similar.
Beside him, Raize landed belatedly.
"Phew... Good, seems like it worked."
"Worked? Where are we?"
"Hmm, this is a world I created based on the arcade game I saw when I entered your dream last time."
"......Arcade? You played games in my dream?"
"Now, let's see what happens next."
Raize completely ignored Dojin's words lightly and looked across from him.
Then, as if they'd been there all along, someone appeared naturally.
Their face was very similar to Dojin's. But they looked just a bit older than Dojin.
Dojin knew immediately who it was. He'd seen them plenty in videos since childhood.
"......Father."
"This is based on your memories, so it can't be younger than your first memory—but."
"—No, make him younger."
"......? Didn't you hear me? It's based on your memories—"
But regardless of what Raize said, Dojin naturally began manipulating this world.
Can't see his father before he was born? Of course not. Time doesn't flow backward.
But on a scientifically advanced Earth, there was technology to capture time: video cameras.
Dojin had grown up watching his young father on video.
From his debut, smashing all enemies and flaunting his talent—a superstar.
He'd watched videos until his eyes were bloodshot to learn his swordsmanship, range, habits, everything.
Recalling his 17-year-old father was easy.
"......How?"
Raize stared at Dojin in disbelief as his father appeared younger than him.
Even a genius who remembered everything from his birth couldn't see before that.
How the hell was this possible? Even so-called omnipotent magic couldn't reverse time.
But that wasn't important now.
The 17-year-old father Dojin had created—17-year-old genius Kim Do-hoon—was looking at Dojin.
"Who the hell are you."
"Oh, the rude attitude's the same too."
Kim Do-hoon in the interview videos was extremely rude. That's how he remained in Dojin's memories, and the one appearing here now was the same.
Dojin chuckled at that fact and raised his sword. Do-hoon's expression changed upon seeing the live blade.
As expected, illusion or memory—father was father. Thinking that, Dojin opened his mouth.
"Does it matter who I am?"
"......Ah, you. You're an interesting guy."
Seureung-
Drawing the sword that had appeared at his side, he faced off against Dojin. The two stood in astonishingly identical stances, ready to spring.
"Match."
[Fight!]
Right after the game-like alarm rang out, the two charged at each other.
Chae-aeng!
Dojin's sword aimed for Do-hoon's neck. Filial impiety to strike at his own father's throat, but this wasn't real.
'As expected, a genius.'
Do-hoon effortlessly blocked Dojin's sword.
Considering Dojin's swordsmanship surpassed his—the perfected art of future Do-hoon—it shouldn't have been possible.
Unlike the body, technique improves with time.
Even a dying 60-year-old master swordsman could slice down a healthy man.
Moreover, Dojin now had a youthful 20s body with 40s mature swordsmanship.
The fact that he could keep up filled Dojin with intense defeat.
'No, even if it's my imagination, how's he this strong?'
A teen shouldn't match peak physical strength or technical perfection.
Yet the Do-hoon before him was catching up to Dojin's swordsmanship at insane speed, his immaturity an advantage.
'......Did I have this much inferiority complex?'
To him, his father was like the sky.
It was true. Without his father, nothing would remain of Dojin's life.
So now, Dojin was trying to slash the sky.
'If I can cut him.'
In that instant, Dojin accelerated. A technique from 40s mature Do-hoon that a teen Do-hoon wouldn't know.
Naturally, the reaction was late. Even genius Do-hoon couldn't instantly overcome 20 years of experience and effort.
And targeting that gap, Dojin's sword flew in.
Genius or not, this was unblockable. Physically impossible.
Dojin smirked slightly at Do-hoon's dumbfounded expression.
Cracks began to form in the sky.