Chapter 76
Chapter 76
Ch. 76 .｡.:✧ Chapter 76 ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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One hour, two hours, three hours.
After a certain amount of time passed, my body naturally started to tire.
At that point, the specter began to share some of its energy with me little by little.
Whoosh…
Naturally, my fatigue dissipated and my body regained vitality.
Of course, receiving energy and life force like this didn’t disrupt my concentration.
Rather, since I had regained my vitality that had been depleted, as long as I was careful at the moment the energy first entered, it was a structure where concentration would inevitably continue to rise.
In the silence, the fourth circle was slowly being completed.
Around the time when the process was more than halfway done.
‘Hmm?’
As the circle neared completion, cracks began to form in the vessel.
I wasn’t anxious.
‘Growth, is it?’
As the circle grew, my body was growing as well.
The vessel was the most affected.
My whole body started to itch slightly.
It was a sign of my body becoming more familiar with magic, and it was much less intense than when I first accepted magic.
In fact, it had to be quite dramatic at first.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t long after the dimensional transfer.
It was no different from consecutively accepting mana and magic into my body, so my body had to react more radically than now to adapt to it.
Now, the reaction was definitely weaker than then, but it was happening steadily and for a long time.
The formation of the circle became a little more difficult due to the itching and expansion of the vessel.
‘Certainly, if I wasn’t an exception, I couldn’t use this method.’
There was no answer other than using an extremely inefficient method, or overcoming the wall at once through research and enlightenment, or steadily training in the right way under a teacher’s guidance.
Even then, moving to the 5th circle was a lonely battle in itself.
It should be considered impossible to rise without enlightenment.
It’s not for nothing that it takes a minimum of 10 years to go from 4th circle to 5th circle.
When a full day had passed, I felt that the circle was 90% complete.
‘Just a little more…’
I couldn’t let my guard down until the very end.
I focused until the last moment, and as if sensing my determination, the specter transferred a bit more energy to me.
As a result.
Buzz buzz buzz buzz.
Whoosh.
The fourth circle formed inside and began to resonate with the other three circles.
As soon as the fourth circle was completed, the vessel greatly expanded.
The itching gradually subsided.
Clench.
I felt a sense of achievement as I strongly clenched my fist.
At the same time, my body relaxed.
‘Ugh…’
Thanks to the specter’s support, there wasn’t much fatigue, but I still felt I needed to rest.
‘Should I tell them… a little later?’
First, rest.
There was no rush.
I had formed the circle, so I decided to postpone the test and announcement.
– Woo…
The specter that had given me a large amount of life force quietly left its place, and I fell asleep right there.
When I returned and announced that I had succeeded in forming the 4th circle, the three women congratulated me.
They must have been quite worried, as they seemed extremely happy to see me safe.
I immediately showed them the completion of Living Armor in front of them, demonstrating the use of 4th class magic.
“…Didn’t you just complete the 4th circle?”
“That’s right.”
“But to use 4th class magic right away…”
“Is it surprising?”
Athena nodded at Thea’s words.
“I heard that the circle is just preparation. I understood that becoming a 4th circle magician meant being ready to learn 4th class magic…”
It seemed Kayla had learned quite a bit when she said she would learn about magicians.
Indeed, it seemed that the two had grown steadily even while I was holed up in the research lab.
“If you have the ability, you can use higher-level magic even if you lack circles. I’ve shown you before, haven’t I? Land of Death is not a 3rd class but a 4th class magic.”
Moreover, Land of Death wasn’t an ordinary 4th class magic, so to use it properly, one needed to be 5th class.
Of course, the fewer circles, the more preparation was needed.
“…Come to think of it, you had already used it before. Sigh… It seems there are too many amazing people around me.”
Kayla lamented, shaking her head.
It seemed she was referring to Athena and me, but I always thought Kayla was no pushover either.
However, I didn’t say anything special.
I had mentioned it before, and she knew well that she had talent.
She just felt lacking compared to Athena or me and regretted it, but thanks to that, she said she was working harder not to fall behind, so there was no need to say anything.
“And Living Armor was something I had been researching and preparing for since before.”
“I know that. You received help from Mutre, right?”
“Yes. So it’s not that surprising.”
I brushed off Kayla’s exaggerated reaction and spoke to the group.
“With me reaching the 4th circle, it seems the preparations are complete.”
The three women fell silent.
“As I’ve said before, when I reached the 4th circle, or more precisely, became 4th class, we decided to start external activities.”
“…And I’ll remain here.”
“That’s right. It can’t be helped. The outside… is too dangerous.”
“Instead, we agreed that you’d settle down and call for us within 2 years at the latest, right?”
“That’s right too. I have no intention of breaking that promise. If it really doesn’t work out, I’m thinking of at least having Athena return here.”
Of course, there was a high possibility that wouldn’t happen.
By becoming 4th class, rapid growth was predicted from then on.
Therefore, in two years, I would have become at least 5th class, and at that level, there would be no reason not to be able to establish myself anywhere.
At 5th class, it was possible to become a certified warlock.
Except for the Holy Empire, assuming I was willing to endure some inconvenience, I could settle anywhere.
Athena and Thea’s expressions became gloomy.
“Of course, I don’t plan to leave right away. I’ll make separate undead to guard Thea, and we need to further stabilize the surroundings. More time is needed.”
I also needed to further improve the Land of Death, and after that, I planned to transfer control to Thea.
Most of the underground dungeon’s military power, consisting of me, Athena, and Kayla, would be leaving at once.
Depending on the situation, I might even take Baldur with us.
The force that had been watching Thea’s back would disappear at once, so Athena couldn’t help but worry.
Therefore, I planned to prepare several safety measures.
‘And… it’s about time to give Athena the spirit medicine too.’
Going outside was fundamentally different from operating in this area.
I intended to make all possible preparations.
For a few days after reaching the 4th circle, I rested to bring my body to its best condition.
After that, I assessed the limits of my body and realized that my physical condition was better than expected.
‘Well, I didn’t reach the 4th circle at this age in the previous round.’
From the beginning, there was almost a 10-year difference in when I started.
The vessel containing magic was only slightly more than in the previous round, unlike when I was at 3rd circle, but my body was on a completely different level from then.
‘The fact that my body is intact in the first place is a difference.’
In a way, it was a natural result.
‘First, what needs to be prepared…’
The most important thing was securing the safety of the underground dungeon.
Therefore, the first thing I did was to go up to the surface and improve the Land of Death.
‘When I first created it, I had to push myself, but not now.’
I threw orc bones, released magic, and then interfered with the Land of Death.
Originally, intervening in such a completed magic would be very difficult, but since this was something I had created and I had planned to improve it from the start, it wasn’t that hard.
Filling it with magic didn’t take long either.
I had already filled the Land of Death with magic, and above all, as the circles increased, the amount of magic I could extract from the seal greatly increased.
‘It’s almost double, no, close to triple compared to the past.’
As my own power increased, the utility of the staff also increased.
‘…It’s certainly different being made from a dragon’s body. Given the material, I’ll probably continue to use this even when I become 7th class.’
Originally, as magicians’ levels increased, they needed to improve or newly craft their wands or staffs.
As circles increased, the amount of mana that needed to be used increased dramatically, and as a result, in most cases, the staff either couldn’t properly amplify that power or just broke.
However, my case was different.
‘I thought the recovery was getting a bit slower, but it seems it wasn’t really stimulated in the first place.’
Despite feeding it plenty of magic, I thought the recovery speed was strangely slow.
Of course, the amplification rate steadily increased and stability improved, so I thought it was consuming a lot of magic as expected from being made of a dragon’s body, but it seemed quantity alone wasn’t enough.
It seemed the circles themselves were too few, and with insufficient output, I couldn’t draw out the staff’s full potential.
‘This is quite exciting.’
The higher the level of magic, the different its power, range, and complexity.
Around 6th class, one became a walking tactical weapon capable of wiping out hundreds of people at once, and with the assistance of such a staff, I couldn’t imagine how stable and powerful the magic I could use would be.
Of course, necromancy was different, but I also knew how to use magic that assisted undead and curses.
‘The higher I go, the more I need to specialize… I’m not sure if I can properly use dark-type magic.’
Dark Bolt was a representative dark-type attack magic.
With a good staff, improved level, and existing preparations combined, the improvement of the Land of Death progressed quickly.
All skeletons were upgraded to warrior class at once, and new undead were attributed based on the orc bones I had prepared.
I could have expanded the range too, but I chose to increase the number and quality of undead instead.
‘It’s not like we’ll be going far from here anyway.’
In addition, I added one special magic circle.
“…You say if we kill monsters here, a small amount of magic is produced?”
“Yes. Just try according to the specified method.”
This was a precautionary measure for emergencies.
Without me, they couldn’t charge magic.
I was going to make several black bones that store magic, acting as a kind of auxiliary battery, but we needed to prepare for any situation.
This was a method commonly used by warlocks, and although not very efficient, it was the most reliable way to obtain magic.
When I explained the method of killing monsters, Thea and the three combat personnel turned pale.
Athena and Baldur, who were listening to the explanation together, frowned, while Kayla maintained a calm expression.
Having once operated in the underworld, she didn’t seem to be greatly affected by this level of information.
‘She probably prepared herself for this from the moment she knew I was a warlock.’
“I’m freshly realizing that you’re a warlock. Isn’t that just torture? Even monsters would beg to just be killed at that level, right? You don’t usually produce magic like that. You mostly just extract it…”
“That’s because I’m special. This is one of the common methods warlocks use to obtain magic.”
“…You mean skinning them alive, gouging out their eyes and internal organs, and slowly killing them?”
That was just the biggest part.
The order I described was even more cruel, which was why the others were so shocked.
It was about killing the five senses one by one, starting from the extremities and moving towards the center, extracting emotions while keeping them alive as much as possible.
“It’s the easiest way to extract negative emotions. It’s convenient because you can extract pure emotions as they approach the brink of death. Then you convert that into magic. However, there’s a clear limit to how much you can extract from one individual, and one life disappears at a time, so the efficiency isn’t great… Um, can’t you do it?”
Baldur spoke with a bitter expression.
“We’ve educated them not to hesitate about killing monsters or murder, and even had them experience killing monsters… But there’s a big difference between killing at once and doing it like that…”
“Hmm… Well, there are torture specialists for a reason. What should we do…”
If they couldn’t do it, things would get complicated.
It wasn’t easy to extract magic from killing them at once.
‘If I force them to do it, they probably would…’
It was to protect the place where they lived.
If told to do it, they probably would.
The problem was that if their mental state deteriorated as a result, it would ultimately be a loss.
‘…I guess I’ll have to create one undead specialized for this.’
It was like automation.
By forcing the undead to perform predetermined actions, it was not impossible if we tried.
The problem was…
‘This way, there’s a high chance of misjudgment, leading to death in the middle of extracting emotions…’
Assigning this to high-level undead with self-awareness would not only sully their pride, but using a high-level undead for just this task would take decades just to recover the magic consumed in its creation, making it cost-ineffective.
On the other hand, using low-level undead without self-awareness meant they couldn’t do the job properly.
It could be called a dilemma.
‘Well, we still have to do it somehow.’
If there wasn’t even a single attack while I was gone, it would be unnecessary, but if not, we needed to replenish even a small amount of magic.
‘Ah, I should set this up too.’
This was also a method of self-supply in a way.
I couldn’t use it before, but it was possible now.
It was a method of not completely killing those who attacked, but keeping them alive as long as possible and slowly breaking them down.
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