Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 600

When Renok squeezed out his blood and wrote on the notebook, he wasn’t doing it thoughtlessly. It was because of his unique talent, his resistance to target designation, and the foreignness that came from his altered aura due to the Outer God’s consciousness.

It was different from when vampires like Madam or Murphy demanded his blood.

Moreover, he was confident that using his blood through such an artifact would never reveal his secrets.

However, he never imagined that the entity beyond this notebook would mistake him for an Ascended One.

“Even if it doesn’t know who I am, it means it can infer my background to some extent through my blood.”

Renok was lost in thought.

“Which one could it be…”

The Outer God City and the Military City, both mentioned by Madam as potential locations for storing Kaise’s body.

Even now, it was ironic that both cities still seemed like possibilities.

If it was the Outer God City, where long-lived beings resided, it wouldn’t be strange for them to sense an Ascended One from Renok’s blood.

And if it was the Military City, which observed all the spirituality in the world, it was understandable that they succeeded in sensing Renok’s transcendent spirituality.

Regardless of their firm misunderstanding of Renok as an Ascended One, it was difficult to guess the other party’s identity with this alone.

[What should we do?]

“What do you mean, what should we do?”

He wouldn’t have started this if he was going to correct the other party’s misunderstanding or quietly back down now.

“There’s no reason to tell them they’re wrong.”

If the other party was mistaking Renok for an Ascended One, he would thoroughly exploit that fact as long as it didn’t cause him any harm.

Rather, it wouldn’t be bad to test how much of a secret the other party would reveal to Renok just because he was an Ascended One.

Renok dabbed his blood on the back of his hand once more and immediately raised his pen.

[I heard you are keeping Kaise’s body there.]

[After the betrayal of Paud, the higher-ups decided to change the place where Bajur’s body was kept.]

The answer came immediately.

[With the cooperation of the Blood Fear Duke, the location was selected, and with the advice of Grimulder, the storage method was decided.]

“……”

[The name of the current caretaker of the body is Eridnich. He is the 8th person to take over the job after Madeleine and Yovenson.]

The other party seemed to genuinely think that Renok was asking questions as an Ascended One, as they spewed out a lot of information with just one keyword.

The explanation was much more detailed than expected, making it difficult to understand who was who even after hearing the names.

He could only assume that they were the ones who cooperated with Kaise’s project decades ago.

“The 8th caretaker, huh…”

Madam didn’t tell him how many times she herself had been in charge of managing Kaise’s body.

However, even considering that, the fact that the successor in charge of managing Kaise’s body had changed eight times was something to keep in mind.

It was hard to understand unless the caretaker’s job itself was very difficult or there was a specific reason to change caretakers periodically.

[This piece of paper is much more obedient than I thought.]

“We don’t have much time. Let’s move on to the most important question.”

The sentence Renok wrote immediately disappeared, and soon a new sentence began to appear below it.

[I am looking for Kaise’s body. Where is it?]

[Ascended One, unfortunately, I do not know the answer to that.]

“……”

Renok, who made eye contact with Davie without a word and blinked, slowly wrote the next sentence.

[Tell me the reason.]

[The discussion about that was started and completely finished before I was created.]

While Renok paused his pen, not understanding the words, a sentence appeared again.

[I do not have the authority to access information from the time period when I did not exist. I am sorry.]

Created. Did not exist.

Renok, who belatedly realized the meaning of those words, slowly moved his pen again.

[What is your name and identity?]

[I am Zayble.]

The notebook replied.

[I am a Blood Record, designated as a forbidden book and destroyed hundreds of years ago, and recreated by vampires 50 years ago.]

“……”

Only then did Renok realize that the person he had been talking to was not human, and he let out a hollow laugh.

It was the self-intelligence of the artifact that recorded and managed information through this notebook.

It had awakened by drinking Renok’s blood and was now talking directly to him, explaining the necessary information.

“Davie, you knew, didn’t you?”

[The speed of communication was too regular for an organic being to be delivering messages.]

Davie’s reference to the other party as a piece of paper was not just a grumble based on its appearance, but a designation that had pierced through its essence.

Even as they spoke, letters began to appear sporadically at the bottom of the notebook’s paper.

[Time is, running out. To use the remaining authority again, you need to go through additional preheating…]

“……”

Regardless of the fact that this notebook was being friendly to Renok, did it mean that there was a time limit to how long it could be used?

Without delay, Renok chose the most efficient question he could extract from the notebook.

[Among the people involved in the project, the schedule for when two or more of them will meet. Tell me the place and date of the most recent appointment.]

[……]

Before long, a new sentence began to appear at the very bottom of the notebook paper.

The sentence was cut short, as if its power had run out, and the tone had also become shorter.

[Two months later. District 6.]

“…District 6?”

It was one of the central districts designated as a restricted area, and it was where the city government stored a large amount of past administrative documents that had been processed.

It was a district that he had visited before with the help of Pallad O’Con during the Defense Force incident.

As such, it was relatively more accessible than other restricted areas, and it was also a district where there was room for outsiders to enter.

Thanks to his past visits to this district, Renok was also selected as a team member to solve the radiation phenomenon in District 25, so it could be said that he had a connection with the place in many ways.

“A Blood Record…”

Did Madam know that the notebook, which called itself Zayble, had such abilities?

No, Madam was not so insensitive to profit that she would readily hand over a notebook that could answer questions on its own.

The notebook that drank Renok’s blood had autonomously awakened its intelligence and was attempting to communicate with Renok.

As a result, the fact that Zayble mistook Renok for an Ascended One was an advantage.

“It can’t be an object that spits out information without any cost. Its activation conditions and the amount of magic it possesses were too small for that.”

Renok muttered as he closed the notebook and tucked it into his chest.

“It’s more accurate to think of it as a memory device that can only record and reproduce specific themes or systems.”

[If it calls itself a Blood Record, it’s probably related to the theme of life’s blood.]

And that was proof that the method of storing Kaise’s body in the Black Consumer Project was still strongly related to blood.

He would have to test the notebook further to find out more details, but for now, Renok decided to be satisfied with obtaining the clues he needed to track down the body.

“It’s interesting. Kaise’s body might be in another city, but the traces that Kaise himself left behind are in the Machine City.”

The Black Consumer Project was clearly something that happened in a megacity, but the traces of its failure were scattered all over the continent.

Renok quietly muttered as he watched a cargo truck approaching from afar, rattling.

“Then, in the end, I have no choice but to see it with my own eyes.”

The blueprint of the huge room drawn in Kaise’s research journal.

The coordinates of the Machine City, Machina, and the Ascended Gate project that had already failed once in Machina.

A step to answer the questions that had been buried for a long time.

The preparation was complete. Now it was time to find the answer.

Screech!!

The shape of an old cargo truck stopped in front of Renok.

A scruffy man with his arm resting on the driver’s seat, glaring at Renok with bleary eyes, asked as if throwing a question.

“Ticket?”

“I don’t have one. Do you want to check that?”

The transportation Renok chose to go to Machina was not for those who had tickets and were treated as proper guests of the city.

Rather, it was an unauthorized passage for those who did not have an entry ticket to the city and wanted to return to Machina somehow.

Since he was leaving to find Kaise’s traces, he thought there was no reason to leave any unnecessary traces.

That was why Renok, despite having obtained a ticket through Davie’s ability, lied to them that he didn’t have a ticket.

The man scoffed at Renok’s question.

“It’s just the easiest question to confirm if you’re a guest, so don’t worry about it.”

“……”

The man gestured towards the truck’s cargo bed as if he was annoyed.

“Hurry up and get in. It’ll take a long time to get to the Machine City.”

Renok, who skillfully closed his coat and hid Davie’s figure in his arms, smiled faintly as he stood up.

“I will.”

* * *

Rattle, rattle, rattle!!!

After days of traveling in an old cargo truck, Renok had arrived at the far end of a vast wasteland, beyond the megacity.

The truck would occasionally stop, people would get off, and new people would get on, and then the truck would depart again.

The journey to the Machine City, Machina, was longer and more tedious than expected.

Passengers were being dragged along like living cargo, crammed into a narrow, old cargo truck that could carry about a dozen people at once.

Among them, there were a few people whose faces Renok remembered.

‘I see some faces I’ve seen on wanted posters.’

[There are also some friends whose bounties have increased in the meantime.]

Those who tried to enter Machina without tickets were mostly criminals or fugitives who were not above board.

They were either those who had lost all their support in the shadows of Vulcan and were trying to start over in a new city, or those who were in such dire straits that they couldn’t even think of that.

“Everyone’s on? Then we’re leaving!!”

The cargo truck departed at the same time as the middle-aged man holding the steering wheel shouted.

He didn’t wait for an answer, nor did he check all the passengers.

The truck sped off as if all that mattered was escaping this tedious wasteland.

“You’re dressed pretty neatly, mister.”

Someone sitting next to Renok, who was quietly lost in thought while looking out the window, spoke to him.

An old man with white hair, holding a dusty liquor bottle, was looking at him and smiling.

“It’ll be hard to get to Machina safely dressed like that.”

“……”

It was a face that existed on the wanted list in his memory. A bounty of 9 million cells. The crime was arson and murder.

“You don’t seem to know, but this truck isn’t something that takes people without tickets to the Machine City in one piece.”

The old man whispered quietly, glancing around.

“It’s a kind of sales product that makes a profit through various ‘commercial activities’ on the way to Machina.”

“A sales product.”

“Yeah. See those idiots who are getting off and walking because they think they’re wasting money?”

The old man chuckled as he looked at the people walking away from the window.

“We should be grateful to those morons. We’ll be safe until those idiots have their lives completely stripped away.”

“……”

Instead of answering, Renok stared at the old man’s right arm, which he was subtly hiding even as he clung to Renok.

The shape of a mechanical arm, which could not be hidden, was visible through the old clothes.

Renok confirmed it and chuckled before asking the old man.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“People who are dressed neatly like you usually have something they can rely on.”

The old man said, not hiding his servile smile.

“Well, I’m not asking for much. I just want to have a place to lean on in case something happens.”

Unfortunately, the old man’s wish was not fulfilled.

The next day, after a night had passed in the truck and the sun had risen, the old man who had been sitting next to him had completely disappeared.

“……”

Instead, the other passengers around him were looking at Renok with unusual gazes.

They weren’t just glancing at Renok, but they were openly making strange expressions and looking back at him.

Knowing that, Renok didn’t bother to pay attention to them. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused on recalling the magic research he had not yet finished.

As Davie had become able to use common magic to some extent, Renok had begun to resume his research on common magic, which he had put on hold for a while.

The correlation between unique magic and common magic. Dexter and Sinister. Because this world did not use that concept, Renok had also put it aside.

In a way, common magic was the only knowledge of the old world that Renok had from the beginning.

Considering the value of the relics and knowledge of the old world in this world, it was clear that there was still room for Renok’s common magic to be explored.

There was plenty of room for development. There were also plenty of opportunities to apply it to the achievements Renok had built up so far.

What he needed right now was time to deeply explore and delve into the magic of the old world.

Whoosh!!

Every time the day changed, the number of passengers in the truck continued to change.

It increased and decreased repeatedly, but Renok realized that the number of passengers was ultimately decreasing as the days passed.

The people in the seats in front of and behind Renok. The person sitting in the passenger seat and even the innocent-looking passenger who seemed to know less about the situation than Renok had disappeared overnight.

And one day, when Renok woke up and opened his eyes, he realized that only the driver and himself were left alone in the old cargo truck.

“……”

Whoosh!!

The driver, as if there were no more eyes to pay attention to, turned the steering wheel carelessly and turned around a winding road.

It seemed that the shape of a city could be seen faintly beyond the horizon, but the driver no longer seemed interested in going to the city.

Screech!!

Soon, the driver, who had parked the car near a valley where huge rock formations were lined up, got out of the car and nodded to Renok.

“Get out.”

“……”

Without a word, Renok got up from his seat, got out of the cargo truck, and stretched.

A secluded plain where all the surrounding scenery was hidden by the high rock formations.

More than a dozen people who had climbed onto the rock formations surrounding the old truck were looking down at Renok with crooked gazes.

“Is this the guy?”

“I’m sure of it. I can smell the money.”

“He looks neat, though…”

Renok, who was stretching his neck and loosening his body leisurely while watching the people whispering among themselves, asked.

“It seems like we’re not far from the Machine City, so there’s no need to take a break now, is there?”

“……”

One of them, who exchanged glances as if they were dumbfounded, walked forward and said.

“Friend, do you still not know what’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

“Really? Then it’ll be easier to understand if we refer to some teaching materials.”

At the same time as the man flicked his fingers, the cloth that had been covering one of the rock formations was pulled away.

Flap!!

Dozens of corpses, nailed to the rock wall, came into view.

They were not just nailed to the rock and killed, but their entire bodies had been emptied of their organs, and there was nothing inside their split bellies and eye sockets.

Renok, who had been looking around at the corpses, found the face of the old man who had spoken to him among them and clicked his tongue.

“I thought he would survive since he looked old, but he was unlucky.”

“As you can see, we are company employees who take the organs of our guests and sell them to Machina.”

The man said, patting his belly leisurely.

“They say that these organs sell for a high price in the Machine City, probably because it’s still a place where people live.”

“……”

“It seems that there is a high demand for these organ specimens in the process of experimenting with human experiments or cyborg procedure side effects. It’s a very good source of income for us.”

“So?”

“But if we sell all of our guests, rumors will spread and we won’t be able to do business anymore, so we’ve been refraining from killing them all as much as possible…”

The man said, pointing to the driver who had driven the cargo truck with Renok.

“This guy strongly insisted that we had to catch you and sell you.”

“No, I saw it!!”

The driver retorted to the man in a strong tone.

“That bastard was converting starlight into magic power by himself at night!!”

“……”

“He’s definitely a magician with a very rare talent!! If we don’t sell him here, we’ll regret it later…!!”

“So, what do you think?”

Renok scratched his cheek at the man’s question.

He had experimented with the efficiency of converting the properties of magic power in the process of researching common magic, and it seemed that someone had been secretly watching him again.

Was there someone among these outlaws who had the eye to see what Renok was doing?

“It’s nothing special. It’s just a minor trick.”

“Oh, really?”

The man smiled, not believing Renok’s words at all.

Click!!

The man, who had taken out a thick folding blade from his chest, tapped it and said.

“We’ve been thinking a lot. Because this business is lucrative, but we can’t live by selling other people’s organs forever. The enforcers are looking for us with their eyes wide open.”

As the man slowly walked towards Renok, the wind blew, revealing his upper body.

The appearance of a cyborg with his shoulders, arms, and half of his chest in the shape of a machine.

The man, scattering ominous red light between his joints, said.

“That’s why we were waiting for a guest like you. It’ll be perfect if we make a big score one last time and then wash our hands of it.”

“……”

“You have a ticket, right?”

The man asked, smiling as if he knew everything.

When Renok didn’t answer, he nodded as if he understood and raised one arm with force.

“I’ll show you something I bought at a high price in the black market of Vulcan to tame magicians who don’t listen to us like you.”

Click, click!!

The man, who proudly showed off his mechanical arm that had transformed into a huge cannon in an instant, said.

“It’s an agent’s cluster hand cannon that was said to have directly injured the infamous magician, Gyeonroe!!”

“…What?”

“There’s no need to say how deadly this will be to a magician.”

The man, who was happily looking at the cannon that was spinning fiercely inside his mechanical arm, held it out in front of Renok.

“I heard that the agent director personally issued a sales permit for this. If you don’t want to experience pain worse than death, it’s best to cooperate.”

“……”

Greta Witherhild, the agent director, had sold agent equipment at high prices in the black market, using Gyeonroe’s name, to cover the huge compensation she had promised after losing the power game with the cartel.

Only then did Renok realize how things were going, and he looked at this swindled criminal with a pitiful gaze.

“Yeah, that’s really scary…”

“…?”