Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 44

‘To think it clears out the pollutants accumulated in my body while expelling waste… This alone makes it worth the money.’

It’s a drug mixed with strong stimulants and various narcotics, so while its effects are powerful, removing its side effects wouldn’t be easy. Clearly, something called an elixir is different.

At the very least, I’ve secured a way to remove the waste that accumulates from smoking.

I quickly throw out the blanket and clean the entire studio apartment.

Lenok, having opened the window wide to ventilate the still faintly fishy-smelling room, leaned against the wall and began to slowly examine his own body.

‘Let’s see….’

While he doesn’t have expertise in the study or techniques of handling the body, it’s not difficult to roughly check which areas have improved.

Since Lenok suffers from more than one or two penalties, he would immediately feel it if any of them became even slightly lighter.

‘First, the mana addiction… it’s much better.’

In the process of digesting the elixir, he had braced himself for mana addiction and relentlessly tried to strengthen his body with mana, but surprisingly, he felt no particular pain other than a slight throbbing.

Normally, right after stopping the mana enhancement, he should have felt a sharp, needle-like pain and a complete loss of energy throughout his body.

Considering that quite some time has passed since he stopped using mana and he feels no signs of it, it was reasonable to assume that the addiction symptoms had been greatly alleviated in the process of taking the elixir.

‘The other penalties haven’t improved much.’

He doesn’t feel an overflow of strength throughout his body, his shaky body isn’t suddenly grounded, nor does he feel a sudden sense of fulfillment where something was lacking.

At this level, there was no need to think about [Beauty Dies Young].

He didn’t expect that a penalty related to lifespan could be resolved with a mere health-enhancing elixir.

Unable to resist the itch, he eventually put a cigarette in his mouth.

Even though he knew it was a foolish act after having just expelled the waste, it was hard to stop.

He stared blankly, bringing the flame he had conjured on his fingertip to the end of the cigarette, lost in thought.

‘So, in the end, this only alleviates mana addiction, and at best, insomnia?’

It’s not even like the penalties have completely disappeared.

It’s just that he’s not affected by mana addiction at the time of taking the elixir. If he starts strengthening his body with mana again, he’ll be tormented by extreme pain again.

In the end, to freely pump mana into his body without side effects, he would have to take a 100 million cell elixir every time… No matter how much he thinks about it, it’s not cost-effective.

Unless Lenok becomes so rich that he can spend 100 million cells a day like water, this is a premise that doesn’t even need to be discussed.

‘Still, it’s not like I gained nothing.’

Lenok straightened his thoughts as he exhaled all the smoke from his lungs.

Just the fact that he can temporarily offset the effects of the penalties is enough to give him hope.

This alone confirmed that the terrible shackles that had accumulated on his body were not an inescapable curse.

Yes. It’s just that, but.

That alone was enough.

The fact that there’s a way, even if it’s not perfect, allows Lenok to move forward.

The next steps can be worried about later.

Once he had organized his thoughts, his body finally relaxed, and drowsiness began to pour in.

With slow movements, he stubbed out the cigarette and slid down to lie on the floor.

As the sunlight streamed in through the window, Lenok fell into a death-like sleep.

It was a truly long-awaited morning, free from insomnia.

#

Time passed again.

Lenok rested for a week, once again realizing how miraculous the elixir he had taken was.

The effects of the elixir didn’t end in just one day.

For nearly a week, he didn’t feel any insomnia and could fall asleep whenever he wanted and wake up whenever he wanted.

By getting the deep sleep he couldn’t properly achieve without sleeping pills, he melted away all the mental stress that had unknowingly accumulated.

It was the first time he felt like he was getting proper rest.

He picked up his phone for the first time in a while to contact Jenny.

It was time to give her a heads-up to start looking for the next request.

Especially now that he was taking requests after registering his name on the deep web, his value should have increased compared to before.

If he was lucky, he might even receive the items Lenok wanted as payment, so it was only natural that he was eager.

[Ring….Ring…..]

“……?”

The call isn’t going through properly.

It’s not like he’s out of the service area, so is her phone completely turned off?

Since exchanging contact information with Jenny, it was the first time her phone had been turned off.

Lenok immediately got dressed and headed to her bar.

‘…It’s definitely strange.’

The city is unusually quiet.

Aside from Lenok, it was hard to find people walking on the streets.

Did something happen while he hadn’t checked the news for a while?

He quickly turned on his phone and went to the news section, but even that wasn’t working.

“What is this….”

Could it be that something unknown has happened in this city, to the point that the traffic isn’t working properly?

Lenok, who had instantly raised his guard, immediately burst open the door to Jenny’s bar.

“Long time no see.”

Jordan, who was sitting on the bar stool and wiping a glass, waved his hand.

Lenok, feeling a slight sense of relief at seeing him, sat down at the bar and immediately asked,

“Where’s Jenny?”

“She was called up by the summons. She’s probably stuck in some unknown office right now.”

Lenok opened his mouth again at Jordan’s nonchalant reply.

“What’s going on in this city right now?”

He knew that something huge was happening, enough to make his phone stop working, but he had no way to get information.

Lenok, thinking that he would definitely find a solution to this problem soon, asked, and Jordan widened his eyes as if he was surprised.

“What, were you in a coma for a week or something? It’s stranger that you’re asking this now.”

“…….”

Since he had spent most of his rest sleeping, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

While Lenok couldn’t bring himself to reveal the truth, Jordan spoke again.

“Do you know about the news regarding the Philemon Autonomous Territory?”

“I know roughly.”

“Then it’ll be quick. The delegation from the Autonomous Territory, which was originally scheduled to arrive around the end of this month, sent a notice of their visit just a week ago. Thanks to that, Balkan is in complete chaos right now.”

“…..It can’t be just because of that.”

He understood that Jenny was absent because of the arrival of the Autonomous Territory’s delegation.

The summons issued to the brokers was like a recommendation from the city government not to do anything unnecessary while the delegation was in the city.

But that couldn’t be the reason why the city was so quiet right now.

The silence that had fallen over this city of tens of millions of people clearly implied something more.

At Lenok’s sharp words, Jordan nodded readily.

“Right. The reason the city is quiet right now isn’t entirely because of that. A truly unimaginable big shot has expressed their intention to participate in the Autonomous Territory’s delegation.”

“An unimaginable big shot, you say?”

Although Lenok hadn’t known Jordan for very long, he roughly knew what kind of person he was.

His speech wasn’t exaggerated, and his actions were very cautious.

If he, who generally preferred simple expressions, was saying this much, it meant that a truly enormous figure from the Autonomous Territory had visited Balkan.

As expected, Jordan’s following words far exceeded Lenok’s expectations.

“The Transcendent who has been secluded in Philemon’s Lighthouse for decades, ‘Thousand Eyes,’ is coming here with the delegation… It’s the first time in nearly a hundred years that a level 9 Ascendant is visiting Balkan. Everyone is holding their breath and watching the central square.”

#

Even though Lenok lacked knowledge about this world, he knew what an Ascendant meant from having devoured numerous magic theory books.

A great mage who is treated as a strategic weapon on their own and causes tension across the entire continent with a single move.

Ascendants are those who have surpassed such great mages and are truly challenging their limits.

They don’t move easily because they have imposed powerful restrictions on themselves to overcome their limits, but their level itself is impossible to discuss on the same plane.

They are great pioneers whose achievements are recorded in history.

They are the magnificent pillars that support this precarious world that revolves around cities.

Among them, ‘Thousand Eyes’ is one of the most special and respected pioneers.

The lighthouse keeper of Philemon, ‘Thousand Eyes’ Madrea Falcier.

A great Transcendent who has been monitoring the dangers of the outer sea as a lighthouse keeper for over hundreds of years, and one of the less than ten remaining level 9 Ascendants in this era.

She has dedicated her long life to observing disasters, looking thousands of kilometers from her seat, watching the past and future, and freely traversing the timelines—

The most moderate and responsible, and a respected Ascendant.

She, who had never interfered with the secular world while fulfilling her duties as a lighthouse keeper, had expressed her intention to participate in the negotiation process between Balkan and Philemon.

Even as part of the Autonomous Territory’s delegation.

The meaning of this was simple. The Ascendant had sided with the Autonomous Territory.

No further words were needed.

As soon as Lenok heard that story, he excused himself to Jordan and immediately left the bar.

If not now, he might not have another chance to see an Ascendant with his own eyes.

In his hand was a small scope that Jordan had given him. Jordan had already roughly guessed what he was going to do.

He immediately grabbed a nearby taxi and headed to the 20s district.

The driver, who had been idling without customers, greeted him with delight. The radio in the taxi was also broadcasting live coverage of the Ascendant’s visit.

He stopped the taxi near the 19th district, about a dozen kilometers away from the central square located in the 5th district.

Whoosh!!

Using magic, he floated his body into the air and landed on the rooftop of a nearby building.

Levitation magic wasn’t fast and consumed a lot of mana, making it very inefficient, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that.

Lenok, who was about to go up to the rooftop of a building where he could barely see the central square, frowned as he sensed that there were about two people waiting on the rooftop of the building.

‘…Soldiers.’

One sniper, with a long sniper rifle resting on the edge of the building, was steadily staring at the distance, and one communications officer, holding a communicator, was constantly exchanging passwords.

Judging by the emblem on their chests, they seemed to be special forces directly under the city government. There were probably similar forces deployed on the rooftops of buildings above a certain altitude.

To deploy such forces even to places where it was impossible to even gauge whether sniping was possible.

It was a scene that clearly showed how much attention Balkan was paying to the Ascendant’s visit.

It was a bad move to knock them out or reveal himself here.

He couldn’t use invisibility magic on his body because of mana addiction, but it wasn’t difficult to deceive their eyes.

He completely erased his presence with sound magic and cast a simple illusion magic that prevented the two from focusing on their surroundings.

He felt a sensation of mana being pushed back, as if there was a special defense in the goggles they were wearing, but he ignored it and forcefully pushed through.

Crackle…!!

To Lenok, who could successfully interfere with mana even against other mages, the barrier of such equipment felt like paper.

Lenok, who had walked past the two people who had begun to focus solely on what was in front of them, sat down on the edge of the rooftop and brought the scope he had received from Jordan to one eye.

It seemed like something that would normally be used on the sniper rifle used by the soldier next to him, but it was necessary to see a long distance.

Since mana addiction was hindering him from enhancing his eyesight, he had no choice but to use this method.

Still, the performance of the scope that Jordan had given him was good, and he could immediately see the central square at a glance.

The vast central square located in the 5th district was filled with more than tens of thousands of people.

It was the first time he had seen such a large crowd since coming to this world.

People of all kinds were gathered without a place to step, all looking in one direction.

Longing, admiration, respect, fear, excitement… Although their directions were different, their earnestness was second to none.

Lenok also turned the scope very slightly and twisted it in the direction of their gaze.

Numerous police forces, soldiers, and agents in suits, no less than the gathered crowd, were all gathered, making a wide path and waiting for someone.

Someone’s voice leaked out from the communicator of the communications officer, who still hadn’t noticed Lenok’s presence.

[They will arrive within 30 seconds. Everyone, stay alert and wait!!]

[They’re coming..!!]

After a brief moment, a short procession of about thirty people appeared.

The delegation from the Philemon Autonomous Territory had finally arrived at the central square of Balkan.

Each of them had a stiff, tired expression.

Their faces were full of vigilance, and their eyes, looking around, were full of hostility.

It was clear at a glance that the relationship between the Autonomous Territory and the megacity was not good.

And in the center of that procession, a small old man with a hunched back and snow-white hair.

One person, with a small hairpin in his neatly combed hair, wearing fluttering clothes, and slowly walking while tapping the ground with a cane in his hand.

Thousand Eyes, Madrea Falcier, was entering the square.