Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1000

Trrrring……

The phone rang in the room, the monitor light flickering.

Along with the sound of someone snatching the receiver, Maya’s irritable voice echoed.

[Doctor, I’m extremely busy right now. What is it?]

“Is that so? But you might want to take some time to look at the first gate.”

The boy, perched on an old chair, smiled as he held the microphone.

The fur ball, the old man, and the boy. The doctor, who had changed his appearance regardless of age or gender, turned his gaze to the monitor.

“Currently, major figures from the front lines are gathering around the gate. This level of power concentrated in one place is the first since the rotation of the Four Heavenly Demon Realms.”

[……]

“It would be ideal if we could reach the Commander now that he has manifested, but I have no choice but to tell you first. Can you go to the site immediately?”

[If you need help, ask the clown. What do you want?]

“Thousand, Evan Martinez, has been observed at the first gate.”

[……]

As soon as she heard that name, Maya’s reply was cut short.

She probably hadn’t forgotten what happened in the Endless Labyrinth either.

While the doctor smiled at the lingering silence, Maya questioned.

[……Did you say Thousand?]

“It’s practically his first official move since leaving the Azure Eye.”

The doctor replied leisurely.

“The reaction is quite intense, considering that the Apostle Killer who was defeated by Gyonryeon has now appeared at the gate. Especially now that the Conjunction Master has taken over the gate.”

[……]

“We need information from the site. Since you’re going to investigate the situation anyway, wouldn’t it be better for you to go, since you’re familiar with him from the labyrinth?”

[Ha, I wondered what you were going to say……]

Maya scratched the receiver in annoyance.

[The last time I met Thousand was before he became an Apostle Killer. The Commander did something in the cradle, so why would he cooperate now?]

“Hmm… That’s true.”

[I’m already swamped with adjusting the gravity stones I got from the temple. You’re making a pointless request.]

There was an incident where the Pandemonium forces that infiltrated Vulcan were defeated by Gyonryeon alone, but it wasn’t without gains.

They didn’t get the Forbidden Weapon from the Anathema Temple, but they did collect the gravity stones that formed the temple.

The gravity stones imbued with Anathema’s magic can be processed into top-grade ritual catalysts with a little work.

It was only natural that Maya was annoyed by the doctor’s attitude of changing the schedule now, after leaving that task to her.

[I don’t care who dies at the gate. In the first place, getting involved in something that isn’t related to the Demon Realm is-]

Maya’s voice suddenly cut off.

A strange reaction, as if she had just realized something very important.

[Wait, could it be?]

“It seems you haven’t forgotten it completely.”

The doctor chuckled and turned his gaze to another monitor.

The doctor’s eyes sank deeply for a moment as he looked at the darkness swirling inside the monitor.

“He’s been quiet for quite a while, don’t you think?”

[……]

“The monsters rampaging at the gate aren’t the ones we need to be careful about. I’m planning for the worst-case scenario.”

* * *

“Black-faced flower seeds, bile of the Gashigi beast, eyes of the Yukigirin, roots of the Cheollyeonggo……”

Whirr!

Every time Lenok moved his hand, the medicinal herbs and catalysts on the shelf came crashing down.

“Blood anesthetic, Kessler mana coagulant, Avator thought enhancer, and stock-type curse remedy.”

Lenok, who skillfully picked out dozens of medicine bottles from the shelf as if he were shopping, muttered with a satisfied look.

“As expected of the League’s Grand Sorcerer, he’s got a lot of rare medicines and catalysts. I’m already getting full just looking at them.”

Perhaps because the Conjunction Master himself was an excellent sorcerer and an even better surgeon.

There were plenty of medicines and catalysts that were hard to find even in the Vulcan black market or auctions.

Just finding and stealing things that he could take with him was enough to make his hands full.

Squelch!

Lenok, who had quickly raided the medicine storage and walked out, checked the nameplate of the room he had just been trapped in.

[Spare Anesthesia Room No. 2]

The room where Lenok was confined was a space specifically made for anesthesia, not surgery.

Lenok, walking out into the hallway, glanced at the faint green flame glowing in his hand.

Lenok let out a satisfied sigh, having successfully taken the [Ember] from the Tower Master.

“A good start.”

This light green flame was the power that the Tower Master used to heal his body.

Even though it took the form of a flame, it was an ember with the ability to ‘heal’ living things.

Lenok understood how rare and valuable this ember was.

‘It’s an ember ignited by the caster’s mana. There aren’t many abilities more suitable for me to heal injuries than this.’

Evan Martinez’s identity was that of a combat mage who combined pyromancy, barrier magic, and martial arts.

The fact that this identity, which was more exposed to the risk of injury, had gained healing abilities was a great boon.

The Tower Master must have struggled so much because he knew how important the value of this ember was.

‘If I could, I’d like to take the other embers and the other magical artifacts that the Tower Master possesses, but……’

He was interested in the other embers that the Blaber Tower Master possessed, and the magical artifact, the Time-Burning Acceleration Song, that he used.

Although he was interested in the embers and artifacts of the master of the tower that had been around for hundreds of years, killing the Tower Master here would alert the Conjunction Master.

It was virtually impossible to hide the Tower Master’s death in this life domain, which was in the form of an operating room.

Since he had escaped the sorcerer’s surveillance using target-specific resistance, it was right to abandon his regrets here and investigate the operating room.

“An operating room……”

It was called an operating room, but it was actually a giant dome of flesh, hundreds of meters in radius.

The pinkish-red rooms and corridors were randomly arranged, changing shape and wriggling on their own.

Since this domain itself was a living creature, it felt like being inside a giant intestine.

Lenok, watching the blood vessels faintly wriggling under the corridor, slowly took a step forward.

‘I don’t have much time. I need to move quickly.’

Soon, the first surgery would be over, and the sorcerer would have time to spare again.

Before the sorcerer returned after finishing the surgery, he had to quickly explore the domain and find what he wanted.

The goal was the fragments of the barrier and the remains of the immortal Michael Jellich.

Fortunately, Lenok also knew where to go.

‘I heard that the entire domain was in the shape of wrapping around the gate entrance. The entrance must be in the part that touches the ground.’

The place where the vibrations of this constantly wriggling corridor were gradually getting stronger. The core where the pulse of life could be heard.

The most important vital area that made this domain a living creature. The heart.

Passing through the shaking corridor, at the moment he entered the fork in the road. The corridor wall was cut open and widened to the side.

Squelch!

“……”

The space inside was very large. It was so large that Lenok couldn’t see the end with his naked eye.

Was it an exit leading to the gate entrance? Or a path leading to the deeper recesses of the operating room?

Lenok, who stepped into the open room, was speechless at the horrific scene that exceeded his imagination.

“This is……”

Hundreds of humans were hanging on the wall without a single piece of clothing.

A gruesome scene of them being hung up and displayed with rings pierced through their necks. Even after Lenok entered, they were limp and didn’t even move.

The entire room was made of a wall of humans, a sight that was hard to accept even after seeing it with his own eyes.

Lenok, who was silently looking around, realized that something was on display in the middle of the room.

“……Are they transcendents?”

Unlike the humans hanging on the wall, the people standing there were properly dressed and equipped.

A woman holding a grimoire in her hand, reaching forward.

An old knight shouldering a greatsword, shouting a battle cry.

A young lancer holding a spear, with an attractive smile on his face.

There were also various other people, frozen in place as if time had stopped.

A bizarre sight of them frozen in poses and appearances that best showed off their skills and talents.

“……”

Human taxidermy that was so vibrant that it seemed like they would come to life at any moment.

Their presence was considerable enough to immediately tell that they were powerful mana users in their lifetime.

Did the Conjunction Master display those he fought directly or killed in this way in the operating room?

No, if he was going to kill them, there was no reason to go through the trouble of embalming them like this-

As Lenok thought that, he suddenly realized something and caressed the Archangel’s Compassion in his arms.

Lenok’s face hardened as he realized that the humans taxidermied here were not recognized as inanimate objects.

“Could it be…… Are they still alive?”

The Conjunction Master did not display the humans here to kill and show off.

Even after experimenting on them and dissecting them at will, he kept them alive and taxidermied them in the operating room.

Could a creature as easy to kill as a human be kept alive and taxidermied like this?

An undeniable proof that the sorcerer’s power and skill had reached an inhuman level.

At that moment, the fingers of the woman holding the grimoire slowly began to move.

Creak, creak…….

As she forced her stiff fingers to move, her flesh was crushed and blood dripped down.

The drops of blood that fell onto the pages of the book created letters here and there.

A very clear and simple wish that even Lenok could immediately recognize.

[K-kill m-me]

“……”

Her smiling expression and unblinking eyes did not waver.

Her skin was hardened and necrotic, and her pupils were treated with preservatives to prevent them from rotting.

Her body was just a shell, and her senses had long been lost, so she couldn’t see anything.

She didn’t know who was approaching, and she just poured out her only wish to that person.

“……Haa.”

Lenok, looking down at the woman with a troubled expression, took out a small syringe from his arms.

Lenok, holding the syringe and sticking it on the back of the woman’s hand, whispered quietly into her ear.

“It’s a poison that works over time. If it spreads through your blood vessels in 12 hours, you’ll die without pain.”

[……]

“It’ll be over soon. I’m sorry.”

For the same reason that he couldn’t kill the Tower Master, he couldn’t kill them here.

The moment they died here, the life domain would immediately recognize their death and alert the sorcerer of the anomaly.

In the first place, the fact that they were still alive might be serving as such an alarm.

Flap!

At that moment, the woman finally raised her hand and clumsily began to turn the pages of the grimoire.

The moment she closed all the pages of the book, turning the page she was reading with her trembling hand.

The grimoire closed and emitted a faint magical light.

“……What is this?”

[……]

There was no answer. As if she had done her job, even her presence became faint.

Whirring!

At that moment, the wall behind the exhibition hall where the transcendents were taxidermied opened wide, revealing a hidden room.

Unlike the operating room, which was in the form of a wriggling living creature, it was a secret room made of solid metal.

Only then did Lenok realize the purpose of this space and nodded his head.

“So, he needed a room made of metal, not a wall of flesh. Is that why he hid this secret room?”

Was the reason why only the woman among the taxidermied transcendents could move to hide the entrance to the secret room?

The sorcerer’s idea of hiding the secret room using the woman’s magic instead of the operating room.

Sizzle!

Lenok, who stepped inside, felt the cold air circulating in the room and closed his mouth.

“……Was it a freezer to store the organs extracted from the transcendents?”

Cut arms and legs, heads and eyeballs. Hair and intestines. Human organs and body parts floating everywhere.

Finely dissected nerve bundles and muscle fibers. Bizarrely dissected organs and intestines were stored in test tubes.

Crumble……!!

The eyeballs in the test tubes rotated, and the head in the bathtub opened its mouth.

Some of them were turning their gaze towards him as if they had recognized Lenok’s presence.

The pungent smell of preservatives and blood. Just standing there made his head spin.

Lenok, who regained his senses by pressing his eyelids, looked around with a calm gaze.

‘It seems to be displayed indiscriminately, but there is a rule inside, not in appearance.’

The dissected organs gathered here were not gathered because of the sorcerer’s hobby.

Organs or body parts with unique appearances or abilities that could attract the sorcerer’s personal interest.

Specimens with two right arms, seven-fingered hands, and organs with hardened heart vessels.

There were also organs that contained special mana or were made of special materials.

He could tell that all the specimens had unusual power or rarity.

Lenok, who had thought that far, turned around, remembering the goal he had to find in the operating room, at that moment.

[You’re not the Conjunction Master.]

A voice echoed behind Lenok’s back.

A stiff, mechanical voice. But somehow, the tone itself was relaxed.

[If you don’t mind, would you come over here and get me out? I’ve been trapped for so long that I’m getting frustrated.]

“Trapped?”

[Oh, so you can hear me.]

The voice expressed an undisguised admiration at that moment.

[It’s rare to find someone who can sense a mental wave-based inflammation so well. Your spirituality must be very developed.]

“……”

[Come a little closer. I want to read your mental waves too.]

Instead of answering, Lenok approached, and the voice reacted immediately.

[Hmm? I sense a familiar presence…… Are you perhaps a pyrokinetic?]

A guess that was relatively close to the answer, but slightly off.

However, Lenok realized that the other party had sensed the array device attached to his arm, not himself.

It was used to release body heat, and it was originally a stolen item used by a pyrokinetic who couldn’t control his abilities, wasn’t it?

And the fact that the other party was reading the traces of an esper and talking to him like this meant-

[If you’re an esper, I’d like to propose a deal in the name of the Esper Awakening Corps.]

“A deal?”

[The leader of the corps, Zero Seat Ophelia, bestowed a ritual weapon for innate espers, the Mars. Have you heard of it?]

The voice said.

[It’s a weapon that’s used to increase the output of abilities by burning thoughts, and it’s also used for the forced awakening of the phase domain, but because of its operating method, I don’t need it. It would be more suitable for a pyrokinetic like you.]

“……”

[I hid it somewhere in the operating room because I thought it shouldn’t be taken by the sorcerer. If you help me, I’ll give it to you.]

“Is it okay to give away such a valuable item so easily?”

[Even though I look like this, I hold a pretty high position in the corps.]

The voice puffed out a ‘hem’ sound and boasted.

[The Zero Seat would be furious if she knew, but if I say it can’t be helped, the headquarters will understand.]

“I see.”

As soon as Lenok heard that, he glanced away.

He had guessed it right after hearing the voice, but he was sure after hearing the self-introduction.

He didn’t expect that his consciousness would remain in a form that could communicate like this, but it was certain.

“You are the Third Seat of the Corps, the immortal Michael Jellich.”

[……What?]