The Unstable Eye and the Road North
Through the wreckage, Allen could see Vito sprawled out as if transparent. His chest rose and fell slightly—he was clearly unconscious.
“You just had to ignore me, didn't you!”
Allen aimed the mana revolver at Nobak again.
“You think that pathetic toy will work on me?”
Nobak was right, but Allen ignored him and removed the output regulator from the mana revolver. At this rate, it would break after a few shots.
That should be enough.
A strange confidence welled up inside him.
His artificial eyes picked up odd-colored dots, lines, and shapes. Even on the surface of the spherical barrier protecting Nobak, there was a black dot.
Allen's instincts locked onto that spot.
Click!
The moment he pulled the trigger, a straight blue beam shot out. It would normally have been blocked, but the flash pierced the barrier and refracted inside.
“Guhhh...”
Nobak's body crumpled as the ricocheted beam struck the back of his head. Smoke rose faintly from the spot, and then flames began to lick at his body.
In this case, he had only his sturdy barrier to blame. If it had been weaker, it would have simply shattered.
Still one shot left.
Allen glanced at the '1' etched on the revolver and turned. He scavenged a steel pipe from the debris and lifted Vito out.
“Get up.”
“...”
Allen sighed and dipped Vito's unresponsive face into a nearby puddle.
“Pwah!”
The reaction was immediate. Water really was useful.
“Ugh! Nobak! What about Nobak?”
“He's over there.”
“Whoa... how'd you take him down?”
Vito gaped at Nobak burning away.
“I handled him pretty well, right?”
“How is that 'pretty well'? Uh... your eye?”
Allen's irises were normally light brown, but his left eye was emitting a blue glow. It faded quickly, returning to its original color.
Allen rubbed the corner of his eye as he replied.
“It's the eye Nobak was researching.”
“Is that thing safe?”
“No issues so far...”
Suddenly, a crack appeared on Allen's face. His left eye, which had been quiet, was greedily sucking in mana.
Due to his mana excess syndrome, his mana heart capacity was several times that of someone who'd trained the same amount of time, but his body trembled helplessly.
The eye absorbed mana like a demon possessed. Now he understood why it had been stored in a tank full of liquefied mana.
This was a huge burden even for Allen. His body was already fragile from poor mana control, and now the eye would double the damage.
Then, his left eye moved on its own like a chameleon's. Allen instinctively grabbed a cubic object in his field of vision.
A cool sensation from inside the object seeped through his arm, gently soothing the raging left eyeball.
Allen stared at the item in his hand, too stunned—like a sated lion—to think what to do with the now-docile eye.
“That's a mana essence stone. It says origin: Maze City in the Saldos Federation.”
A mana essence stone was similar to yet different from a mana stone that stored mana. True to its name—refined pure energy—it held far more potent and pure power than a regular mana stone.
These stones only came from the labyrinth, obtained by slaying the monsters inside or by lucky mining.
“Anything else? Looks like his space pouch ripped and ruined the contents.”
“Let's move first.”
Waiting until morning to scour the ground might yield usable gear, but escaping took priority.
Vito nodded toward the distant cluster of headlights. If they didn't leave soon, they'd face the cartel furious over losing a star partner.
Once they'd put some distance from the battlefield, Vito finally spoke up.
“Your eye okay? It looked unstable earlier, and you calmed it with that mana essence stone. Hmm... since it's a kind of artificial eye, maybe just take it out?”
As Vito reached for it, Allen's left eyelid closed on its own.
“It might hurt a bit, but bear with it for a sec.”
“I didn't close it.”
“What?”
The eyeball had shut the lid itself.
“No way that eye has a mind of its own?”
“Doesn't seem like it.”
Besides, it wasn't something to yank out carelessly. Allen's senses whispered as much.
“We need to check how it's attached first.”
“Oh, right. It's not some standardized corporate model, so we gotta be careful.”
Allen slipped between trees, mulling over the words 'Maze City.'
It was so massive you could call it a city-state—the home of the world's largest labyrinth.
Maze City (1)
Allen woke in the morning and opened the motel window. Dry, warm wind poured in with the sunlight.
He was currently in a city near the desert in the nation of Vega.
Having grown up in Ranka, where it was cool year-round, the sweltering heat was disorienting—but he'd adapted during his time in Aroma, so it was fine.
Aroma was near the equator, with similar temperatures. Its higher humidity actually made it feel hotter.
If one had to nitpick by equator, Aroma was closer to the southern hemisphere, while Vega was firmly in the northern.
The Saldos Federation was also in the north, sharing its southern border with Vega.
Allen's gaze turned north. The border was blocked by terrain, but his mind naturally drifted toward his destination.
Shifting his eyes back to the bustling streets and sounds, he heard a knock. Vito entered.
“Knew you were up.”
“Why knock if you're just gonna barge in?”
“I'd wake you if you were asleep. We gotta hit the clinic this morning, remember?”
Good excuse. Allen chuckled inwardly as he packed. Vito peeked at his left side.
“Bones healed up fine, and your left arm muscles are back to normal.”
“Fortunately.”
“Didn't think it'd take two months in a cast.”
“The bone was shattered into pieces. Doctor called it a comminuted fracture.”
With advanced medical magic and Allen's improved natural healing from mana training, two months was quick.
Of course, faster options existed, but broke as he was, Allen couldn't afford the doctor's fees.
Another month for muscle recovery made three total. Allen had turned 18, a full adult.
He glanced toward Ranka and the Sea Serpent Archipelago before leaving the motel.
His steps led not to a hospital, but a spotless back alley. There was a clinic here—of sorts. Run by an unlicensed doctor.
Descending underground, Allen knocked on the steel door. A brown-skinned orc with snowy white hair opened it.
“The kids are here. Come on in.”
The orc—doctor and owner of this illegal clinic—was a rare purist these days. He rejected magitechwear, keeping his body in its natural state.
In the exam room, the orc donned glasses and sat. Allen stood, awaiting explanation.
The orc booted a monitor and pointed to a brain scan. A mana resonance imaging scanner—commonly called an MRI.
“From the last checkup. What do you see?”
“Tentacle-like things wrapping the brain. The optic nerve from the artificial eye is extremely long.”
“Right. That's why I avoid magitechwear. Hard enough controlling my own body—why toss a healthy one for foreign junk?”
Realizing his rant, the orc cleared his throat. A doctor couldn't lose composure in front of a patient.
“Ahem. Anyway. The nerves from the left artificial eye have spread to every corner of the brain, as you see. Removing it means opening the skull for delicate surgery—and I can't do it.”
He chugged from a plastic bottle. Faint alcohol scent—booze.
Catching Allen's look, the doctor grinned shamelessly.
“My life's elixir. They revoked my license for boozing during surgery? Never failed once.”
“Where can it be done, then?”
“The surgery? Capital hospitals or big ones in the Saldos Federation. But the brain's tricky...”
No guarantees. Basically impossible—but Allen stayed calm. Nobak wouldn't make something that wrecked the user, and unlike the bomb collar days, he had autonomy now.
As Allen stared at the scan, the doctor drummed the desk.
“So, how'd this happen? Thirty years in the white coat, and this is rare.”
“Lost my eye and used an oparts on it.”
Oparts. The term for 'artifacts transcending eras' from the labyrinth.
Research on their magic-like-yet-different, incomprehensible powers drove modern civilization forward.
Thus, oparts were explorers' ultimate goal. Mana essence stones mattered too, but less so.
Of course, not all oparts benefited humans.
The doctor easily bought the cover story Allen and Vito had rehearsed. It wasn't fully false—Nobak had based it on oparts.
“Didn't know it was cursed junk. You kids need more caution. Come back next month if you want changes tracked—I'll cut the price out of curiosity.”
“No need.”
“Figured. One bit of elder advice: Cherish your body young, or suffer later.”
“Can't you just swap in magitechwear now?”
“That's the problem. Thinking you have spares makes you abuse your body, eroding respect for human dignity and life. Check news or stats—deaths and suicides are up, all from losing self-love via magitechwear...”
Allen exchanged glances with Vito and slipped out. Diagnosis done, no reason to stay for the lecture.
On the main street, Vito spoke up.
“That doc won't blab, right?”
“Drunkard, but skilled and trustworthy. That's how he survives the alleys. We vetted him. Nobak's dead anyway, and the cartel won't honor codes.”
“True. But really okay with the eye?”
“Yes, no issues.”
Aside from the brief rampage after killing Nobak, no problems since. He'd even gotten a small mana essence stone as backup.
Even with Allen's assurance, Vito fretted.
“Hard to remove casually, huh? Then Maze City, where all knowledge gathers, might have answers?”
“Or I could fully stabilize it and just use it.”
“And with your mana excess syndrome... Hmm...”
“Shorter lifespan than most. I know.”
“Good treatment could match normals. Or find solid mana training. Saldos dwarfs Vega, and Maze City's huge...”
'Huge city' stirred old memories. In their shack, he'd been held in warm arms.
'People gotta go to big nations, big cities to learn. Power keeps others off you. Look at our Ranka—small and weak, so bad f***ers... people invade whenever.'
'You're only five, Allen. No hard talk—eat this meat before it cools. Bought it special.'
Like that warm memory, people needed power. Martial, political, or financial.
Whichever path, options would multiply beyond now. Then he could heal his bo