Chapter 79
Chapter 79
Ch. 79 .｡.:✧ Chapter 79 ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The problem was that I couldn’t be certain if that opportunity would come in this life as well.
‘Although it was in the previous round, I had forcibly rejected enlightenment once.’
Just as I had been able to do things beyond my current level in this round due to the influence of my past life, there was a possibility that I might fail to cross the wall in this round due to the influence of the previous one.
To prepare for such a situation, I was determined to get my hands on the dragon’s corpse by any means necessary.
‘If I had a dragon’s corpse… I could attempt research that I couldn’t do in the past.’
If I couldn’t reach it through the existing path, I needed to find a new one.
The dragon’s corpse would become that new path.
There wasn’t just one path, after all.
Of course, this was just my concern.
Enlightenment could come again through the existing method.
However, I couldn’t be optimistic, and I was just doing what I could.
‘Originally, the reason it was discovered was because the territory had collapsed.’
The collapsed territory was returned to the royal family, and the dragon’s corpse was discovered in the process of thoroughly searching the territory for anything useful.
Therefore, if the territory didn’t collapse, and if I could avoid the attention of the Lineta family, there was a very high chance it wouldn’t be discovered.
“…You have no intention of giving up, do you?”
“…Sigh. It seems it’s difficult to dissuade you any further.”
She still seemed reluctant.
“Please promise me one thing. If the plan goes even slightly awry, or if you judge there’s even a slight danger, please choose safety over adventure.”
She was saying to give up on the dragon’s corpse if things went even slightly wrong, as everything could fall apart.
Naturally, there was no reason to refuse.
‘I value safety too.’
I would do my best, but I had already experienced how my actions could change history.
If it really didn’t work out, I would secretly support the family to delay their downfall as much as possible, and if they still collapsed, it would be right to just give up.
“That’s enough.”
At my decision, Kayla showed an expression of slight relief.
She seemed to think that I wasn’t yet blinded by greed to the point of making poor judgments.
‘Still, she’ll probably keep watching.’
“Then it’s right to give her the spirit medicine. You said we don’t have much time, right?”
“Ah, a year should be fine. We need to make various preparations, and becoming a certified warlock isn’t something that just happens, so we do need to start activities soon.”
“A year… It’s not short, but not long either.”
Normally, it would be a short time.
However, for us, it wasn’t such a short period.
‘It’s only been a little over a year since I regressed, after all.’
That meant it was only been about a year since I met Kayla.
In that time, Kayla had recovered her leg, reached advanced expert level, and even gained a mana heart.
Athena was also evaluated as being close to intermediate level, and I had entered 4th class, so for us, a year wasn’t just a short time.
‘Moreover, with this level of skill as mercenaries…’
We could quickly build up a reputation.
Furthermore, for a warlock, infamy could also become a kind of fame.
We would build our reputation over a year, establish ourselves, and then use that as a basis to secure the position of certified warlock.
Moreover, I wasn’t just going out blindly.
I was a regressor, and I had a wealth of information.
Especially at this time…
‘This is right around when I had just escaped, briefly tasted freedom, and then fell.’
Thanks to that, I had quite a lot of information from firsthand experience.
Where dungeons were located.
Which monster tribes possessed artifacts.
Where ruins were discovered.
Where dimensional rifts appeared.
Just one of these pieces of information would be perfect for building wealth and fame.
I had several such pieces of information, and I knew how to most efficiently grow myself and my companions while also securing money and fame.
‘Well, things like dimensional rifts won’t happen within a year, but ruins and dungeons aren’t going anywhere.’
“I understand. Then… I’ll inform Athena and prepare her.”
I left a message for her to come to the research lab.
Kayla immediately left the room to find Athena, and I went to the research lab first to take out the hidden spirit medicine.
‘It’s still intact.’
Well, it was not something that would change just because some time had passed.
Meanwhile, Kayla brought Athena in.
“You called? What’s up?”
Before I could say anything, Kayla interjected.
“I’ve informed Thea. Based on my experience, it won’t take as long as it did for Master, but just in case.”
“You told Thea?”
Athena seemed to not have grasped the situation yet.
Well, I had never mentioned that I had made spirit medicine from Trenelci’s Blue Root and that I was going to give it to her.
There was no reason for Kayla to tell her either.
She trained properly without knowing, and telling her wouldn’t have changed anything immediately, plus there was a small possibility of giving her false hope.
“Athena, come here.”
“…Why?”
Athena hesitated for a moment at the unusual atmosphere, but soon approached me.
“I heard you’re close to the intermediate expert level.”
“Huh? Yeah. You heard? But I’m still far from it. My mana is lacking, my swordsmanship is lacking, and there’s a mountain of things I need to learn. You said we’d soon leave the underground dungeon and work as mercenaries, right? I’m trying to fill in as much as I can until then.”
She said that although she might not reach intermediate level due to lack of mana, she didn’t intend to be a burden.
“If I do well, we might be able to establish ourselves faster, and that could mean returning even a day earlier.”
That was correct.
“So I prepared this. Take it.”
Athena received the wooden box I handed her with a puzzled expression.
“You said you’d try to return as soon as possible, right?”
“Y-yes.”
That was a promise I had made.
“This will help you with that.”
“What… is this?”
“Spirit medicine.”
The one who answered was not me, but Kayla.
“You remember how I fixed my leg and created a mana heart with Master’s help.”
“Ah, yes.”
“It’s the same thing that was used then.”
At my words, Athena’s expression turned to surprise.
“Then, if I drink this…”
“It’s not impossible. Originally, I wanted to give it to you when you reached advanced level, but…”
Kayla’s gaze turned to me.
“Inha, you suggested giving it to her?”
“The outside is dangerous. Rather than looking to the future, we need to do everything we can now.”
Even if she couldn’t gain a mana heart, it didn’t matter.
There were ways to obtain other spirit medicines, and even if it failed, if she had the talent that Kayla acknowledged to that extent, I believed she could become a master given time, even if it took longer.
‘It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work.’
I had already crossed one hurdle.
Even if she couldn’t become a master, it would be enough if she could protect me until I became a high-level magician.
In the first place, that was all I had hoped for from my current companions.
Gulp.
Athena opened the wooden box with a tense expression.
Even after the box was opened, there was no particular change.
However, Athena seemed a bit different.
She let out a tense sigh.
“I just drink it?”
I answered her question with a short nod.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment looking at the spirit medicine, but then put it straight into her mouth.
But soon her expression turned to surprise.
‘It must have dissolved instantly.’
As the creator, I knew roughly what would happen.
However, her surprised expression soon turned to shock, and then she sat down on the floor and began mana breathing.
Suddenly, I felt a bit regretful.
‘It would have been good if there was a better mana breathing technique.’
Of course, what Kayla had wasn’t of a significantly lower level.
After all, she had been a knight from a fairly prominent noble family, and even as a commoner, she had to be active in the underworld, so if she had used a trash-level mana breathing technique, she wouldn’t have been able to be active, let alone survive for long.
Nevertheless, the reason for my regret was that there was a way to obtain an even better mana breathing technique.
‘It’s difficult right now, so I’ll have to give up on it.’
Athena was sitting in place, furrowing her brow intensely and breathing slowly.
A strong scent of mana could be felt around her.
I glanced at Kayla, but there was no particular reaction, suggesting she was doing well.
Even after 10 minutes, 20 minutes passed, there was no change in Athena’s body, and as it approached an hour, I started to feel a bit disappointed.
‘I guess body reconstruction isn’t possible after all?’
It was a bit disappointing, but it couldn’t be helped.
In fact, even leaving now was due to my own greed.
Of course, since I was the one who gave the spirit medicine, it wasn’t really my fault, but still.
However, unlike me who had half given up, Kayla was still intently watching Athena.
Crack.
At the sudden sound, I quickly looked at Athena.
Crack crack.
It seemed my assumption had been a bit premature.
Although not as radical as with Kayla, various parts of Athena’s body began to twitch, and a black liquid started to flow out from her entire body.
‘…This smell just doesn’t get any easier to bear.’
It was quite nauseating.
It was comparable to that foul odor when I first created Skeleton No. 1, so there was no need to say more.
After the body reconstruction began, the strong scent of mana stopped flowing from her body.
Unlike Kayla, Athena’s body reconstruction wasn’t radical, but it took quite a long time, and only after several hours did her twitching body finally stop.
However, even then, Athena still seemed to be concentrating.
‘It’s not over yet?’
At that moment, a strong flow of mana could be felt from Athena’s body.
The thought that something had gone wrong briefly crossed my mind.
However, the body reconstruction had ended well.
It was strange for something to go wrong at this point.
Kayla also had an expression suggesting something was off, and soon her expression turned to shock.
It seemed she had noticed something, and although I was curious, I couldn’t speak up.
Athena was in the middle of intense concentration.
The fact that she wasn’t stopping suggested that nothing had gone wrong.
‘Rather, judging by her expression… it seems she’s done something amazing…’
The only thing I could guess was the mana heart.
Suddenly, I realized that Athena still had a concentrated expression.
‘…Could it be that she’s intentionally creating a mana heart directly while undergoing body reconstruction?’
If that was the case, it would be quite shocking.
Unlike me, who had regressed and was in an abnormal situation where my mental abilities far exceeded my physical ones, if she was creating a mana heart on her own just with her talent and senses after being given a single spirit medicine…
It would be a situation that even I would be astonished by.
‘This is insane.’
If it was true, I could finally understand why Kayla had been praising Athena as a genius.
‘Are you saying that Kayla sees Athena as similar to me?’
If my body was a mysterious one that made the impossible possible for a human, then Athena could be seen as having a heaven-sent talent.
‘I need to handle this properly.’
If my thoughts were correct, mastery wouldn’t be an issue for Athena.
She had the potential to become a being beyond that, one that would only appear in legends or myths.
It was only after a full day had passed since giving her the spirit medicine that Athena finally opened her eyes.
“…Did you create a mana heart?”
“Yes, Master. I finally got one of those too. It was a bit of a struggle since my body was changing but there was no sign of it forming.”
She said it was all thanks to her teacher.
She was able to implement it thanks to the various explanations I had given her over time.
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