Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1154

“The place where you and I are is the secondary modification facility of the underground royal treasury.”

Lennok followed Jillian into the deepest part of the ancient castle’s underground prison, a massive research facility.

Lennok walked between the transparent ice coffins in the room where a chilling cold wind blew.

“It’s also called the ‘Subject Preservation Room.’ It’s a place where useful prisoners are frozen and preserved as royal assets.”

Chiiiiiiik!!!

Cold air was constantly emitted from all directions.

The cold, flowing like breath, maintained the temperature below freezing, creating the environment.

In the thick fog of cold air, the shapes of transparent ice coffins, frozen solid, were visible.

Inside the dozens of ice coffins hanging in the room, humans were fast asleep with their eyes closed.

“If you freeze humans alive using the ice-type bloodline ability passed down through the royal family, they become nothing less than royal treasures.”

Jillian, who was walking ahead, glanced back at the silent Lennok.

“Only the royal family of Kabahim can draw on the ‘talents’ or ‘mana’ created in this way from the royal treasury.”

“……”

“It’s the result of taking the early processes of ‘filtering’ talents and genetic traits from Ars Nova [a fallen civilization known for its advanced technology] and adjusting them to suit the tastes of the Kabahim royal family.”

Jillian spoke as he walked between the display cases of weapons, separated by thick glass partitions.

“It’s a process to preserve talent and mana using humans as materials, and to freely use them in the name of the royal family.”

“Are you saying this entire underground facility is nothing more than a giant forbidden weapon manufacturing plant?”

“It’s similar, but the efficiency itself is probably better than the Church’s method.”

Jillian said, looking at the people trapped in the ice coffins.

“Instead of grinding humans whole into weapons, they preserve the subjects with the royal family’s power and extract only their abilities. The convenience and simplicity of the process are better than forbidden weapons.”

“You know the manufacturing process of forbidden weapons in a disturbingly detailed way. Are you one of them too?”

“What the hell, you asked me, so what the hell are you talking about!”

Jillian, who had been angered by Lennok’s suspicious gaze, quickly composed himself and said,

“I saw traces left by the Church a few times when I was with the Titan Corps [a military unit known for its giant members]. That’s just what my colleagues told me.”

“The Small Universe, and now the Titan Corps, you seem to feel a great sense of belonging to them.”

“Ha, have you already forgotten what you tried to steal from my armory?”

Jillian scoffed and glanced away.

“Like the corps created by those who inherited the blood of giants, they were all stupid and dull. But when I was with them, I didn’t have to worry about my head getting complicated.”

“……”

“I thought it was a better place to live than the royal family, who were trying to follow the end of the Empire… but now it’s all over.”

The Titan Corps was a force that had been destroyed before Lennok even woke up in this world, its traces completely severed.

If Jillian was a member of the corps, it wouldn’t be strange for him to feel regret about that fact.

Could it be that even accepting the role of the Watcher was somewhat related to that?

Lennok thought as he looked around at the ice coffins lined up on all sides.

Woo-oong…!!

The appearances of the people ‘preserved’ in their complete forms inside the transparent ice coffins were all different.

A pale-faced female knight. An elderly mage in robes. A young boy with a similar appearance to Soryu. An old swordsman.

It would be difficult to secure such diversity even if you collected subjects from all over the continent, regardless of race, age, gender, or occupation.

Just looking at the subjects preserved in the ice coffins was enough to naturally steal one’s gaze.

Lennok, who was following Jillian through the cold storage room, stopped abruptly in front of one ice coffin.

“…This is.”

A male knight with his hands clasped together, eyes closed, inside a huge ice coffin.

Because he had definitely seen that face somewhere, wearing armor and in a proper stance.

“What, do you know someone?”

Jillian, who had been walking ahead, turned around with a nonchalant expression at Lennok’s reaction.

“They bought prisoners and slaves from all over the continent, so it’s not impossible, but… this is a member of the Ten Knights [an elite group of knights]?”

Jillian, who had come closer, glanced at the name written below the ice coffin.

“Dane Arp. Former Commander of the 7th Knight Order of the Ten Knights. He went on an expedition to conquer the Hanghasa Labyrinth [a dangerous and mysterious maze]. He lost all his knights and returned alive, then was imprisoned.”

“……”

“After returning to the capital, he was held responsible for the failed expedition and was preserved. As a weapon with the highest output among the level 7 subjects… why is Pandemonium [Lennok’s alias] paying attention to a guy like this?”

Jillian tilted his head, but Lennok did not answer and stared at Dane, who was asleep in the ice.

The Hanghasa Labyrinth conquest that he participated in under the identity of Evan. The Kabahim knight commander, Dane, whom he had encountered in the labyrinth.

The knight who had lost all his knights and retreated to Jaun Odis was now contained in an ice coffin.

‘It’s a strange feeling….’

To meet someone he had actually talked to, after so much time, like this, and in ice at that.

Seeing Dane preserved frozen, he realized what was happening here.

“Ha, a former knight commander…”

Jillian also looked at Dane with a complicated expression, his lips pursed.

“I knew they were ‘using’ even knights if they were suitable subjects, but this is the first time I’ve seen a commander-level one.”

“Is it because ordinary subjects are difficult to freeze and use as tools?”

“High-ranking transcendents, or those with outstanding talents or unusual births. Those with twisted and distorted innate natures are said to meet the conditions.”

Jillian’s expression turned endlessly cold.

“Aron said that all of this is a process of following an already established success. He said he needed help in that process.”

“……”

“He said that even this eerie sight was a matter of retracing a known outcome, but I…”

A process of following an already established success.

Does that mean that Aronbyger Kabahim had once succeeded in doing this a long time ago?

Or does it mean that he is looking at someone else’s success and projecting that process here?

But either way, Lennok was intuitively aware that the glass-colored gauntlet drawn on the shared wall was deeply intertwined with the core of this situation.

The image of the gauntlet engraved in the deepest part of this massive research facility hidden in the deepest part of the prison.

What it meant that the gauntlet, made using the blood of the Half-Sky, was engraved here. Lennok was not unaware of that either.

Kugugugugu!!!!

“……”

Even the slow vibrations echoing from afar seemed to foreshadow this moment rushing towards catastrophe.

The Mandala of the Authority Domain [a powerful magical field] that exists beyond the [Gate]. The true intention of Aronbyger Kabahim, who had hidden it until the very end.

The fragile trust that was twisted and broken beyond repair before he could even properly understand all the truth.

“I see.”

But even in this moment, Lennok felt that he was quickly heading towards the end, and slowly closed his eyes.

Jillian felt Lennok’s suddenly changed aura and glanced at him.

“Thief. Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Lennok said quietly, turning his gaze from inside the mask.

He grabbed his robe, moved his feet, and nodded to Jillian.

“Let’s go. If what you say is true, the remains of the ‘success’ that Aron spoke of will be in the royal treasury.”

“…You, something about your atmosphere has changed.”

Jillian frowned and tilted his head.

“You’re much calmer than before. What happened with Aron?”

“I just realized that many of the things he explained to me were not true.”

Lennok replied in a cold voice.

“I had some idea, so it doesn’t matter. But if what awaits at the end is as I understand it-”

Red light flowed out from inside the mask, carrying a cold intent.

“Indeed, from now on, I’ll have to finish this in my own way.”

“……”

Whether he sensed something from Lennok’s answer, Jillian didn’t say anything more.

Instead, with a hardened expression, he walked down the empty research facility corridor, heading deeper.

Step, step.

The further they went inside, the stronger the traces of people became, and the scenery around them changed.

The doors of the tightly closed passages were open, and half-drunk teacups were visible.

Camera footage was visible through the mana screens on the corridor, and signboards were flashing.

“What, you guys…!!!”

A researcher who had encountered Lennok at an intersection inside dropped the coffee he was holding in surprise.

The shocked researcher was about to take something out in a hurry, but stopped when he saw Jillian.

“Y-Your Highness?! What are you doing here-”

“Is that a call device to activate the internal alarm system of the research facility?”

“……!!!”

Before he knew it, the call device that the researcher had taken out was in Lennok’s hand.

Lennok, who was carefully examining the device that looked like a remote control about the size of a ring finger, narrowed his eyes.

“It can’t be hacked. There’s no mana or radio transmission unit. It’s not even a normal piece of machinery in the first place.”

Crack!!

Lennok crushed the call device in one hand and muttered.

“This must be another shoddy invention made using the abilities of a subject.”

“H-How…!!”

Kwaang!!

Before he could finish speaking, the researcher’s head was violently slammed into the wall of the research facility.

The researcher’s body, unable to even scream, slid down the wall with his head embedded in it.

Jillian, who was standing on the researcher who was convulsing with trembling limbs, nodded.

“There’s a record room that keeps all the information inside the royal treasury. The information you want is probably there.”

“Guide me.”

Having come this far, he had to find out what was happening in this massive freezer.

The reason why Aron was freezing and preserving thousands of humans and extracting their talents.

What he ultimately wanted, even while following Ars Nova’s methods.

Clank, Kwaang!!

Forcibly breaking the locked door handles, they broke through the research facility and moved forward.

Numerous bundles of paper scattered in all directions from the impact. Record sheets with all sorts of complex and difficult numerical values.

He grabbed the papers with legible characters with mana threads and quickly read them.

“It’s a list of the personal information of the royal family members with the Kabahim surname. The direct descendants are listed separately and are missing.”

Lennok said, handing the documents to Jillian.

“Are they even using the collateral relatives of the royal family as subjects to extract their talents and abilities?”

“If you’re lucky, you get to play the role of ‘preserving’ the subject, and if not, you become the subject yourself.”

Jillian replied.

“Royal family members who don’t accept it have their names erased and are exiled from this country.”

“……”

Could it be that Soryu was also wandering the continent as an exiled royal family member through a series of such choices?

After that, Lennok and Jillian searched through the research facility together, looking for data.

A vast corridor that ran through the center of the research facility. A record room that shared all the information going in and out of the facility in real time.

In front of the glass door blocking the corridor, Jillian fiddled with the keypad, groaning.

“Damn it. What was the password again?”

[PASSWORD ERROR]

[PASSWORD ERROR]

[PASSWORD ERROR]

[■]

[■]

Password errors appeared in succession. Looking at the remaining spaces below, it seemed there were two chances left.

In the meantime, Jillian made another mistake, leaving only one chance left.

Lennok looked at Jillian with a pathetic gaze.

“If you’re stupid, don’t play with your hands carelessly. What are you trying to do?”

“Shut up for a bit. It’s a number that’s worth remembering, so it’s definitely- ah, right!!”

Jillian cursed and groaned, then slapped his knee with his only remaining hand.

Beep.

[PASSWORD ERROR]

“……Huh.”

Jillian made a blank expression at the error message that appeared after entering the number.

Crack!!

Before the alarm could sound, Lennok inserted a mana thread into the mana circuit inside the keypad.

He paralyzed the internal mana circuit to shut down its function, and immediately recovered the transmitted protocol.

After preventing the alarm system from activating, he manipulated the function as it was and opened the glass door.

Weeeeeeeng!!!

Jillian stared with his mouth open at the glass doors that were opening sequentially from the end of the corridor.

“Thief… you’re a lot smarter than I thought.”

“Maybe compared to you.”

Lennok said, passing by Jillian and starting to walk.

As they entered the record room, a cold wind, so cold it was chilling, blew in.

A cooling system to kill the heat generated here and maintain the temperature… no, it wasn’t.

It was an aggregate of transcendent cold air flowing in from outside this research facility, not the record room.

A strong chill that made even Lennok, who was protecting his body with magic, feel a shiver, enveloped the entire space.

“Thief. Look over there.”

The moment Lennok realized that and heightened his tension, Jillian quietly pointed outside the record room window.

“There, can you see it clearly?”

“……”

A huge altar spread out outside the record room. A frost giant, emitting a cold breath, was located at its center.

Whioooooo!!!

A huge frost giant made of ice, with a blue glow, was kneeling with both hands clasped together.

The form of a quiet female body, asleep with her eyes closed. In the hands of the giant, who had an infinitely benevolent smile.

Aronbyger Kabahim was quietly asleep with his eyes closed.

Crack…!!

Aron’s body, frozen solid in the arms of the frost giant, was emitting a cold breath.

Jillian said.

“He’s looking through the talent of duality [the ability to perceive both the real and the imaginary].”

“…Looking?”

“I don’t know the details either. But I’ve known since some time ago that Aron was capable of such things.”

Jillian frowned at Lennok’s question.

“He’s looking somewhere and getting the knowledge he needs for all of this.”

“……”

“He’s asleep like that now, but once the process is complete, he’ll instantly sense us here.”

Jillian said, turning his gaze.

“This is all I can do. This record room was designed by Aron himself, and the scope of access is strictly determined by the user.”

“……”

“I, who betrayed the royal family, have no access rights. From here on, you’ll have to find the records you want on your own.”

“I was going to do that even if you didn’t say so.”

Lennok said, immediately looking around the record room.

Hologram screens installed on the ceiling and walls. Power devices that resonated and supplied mana from all directions.

Mana-filled stone tablets were floating, displaying information that was going in and out of the record room in real time.

“I’ll start right away, so go outside and keep watch.”

“No way. I don’t want to die at Aron’s hands.”

“Looking at the researchers earlier, it seems they still treat you as royalty.”

Lennok nodded firmly.

“If anyone approaches the record room, you buy me some time. Don’t you want to escape from here?”

“……Damn it, does this bastard think I’m some kind of watchdog….”

Jillian grumbled, but disappeared through the door next to the record room.

Only then did Lennok grab a stone tablet floating in the air and draw up mana.

He didn’t expect a data facility of this scale to be in the basement of the ancient castle, but this made it easier for Lennok to index the information.

‘The shape of the gauntlet drawn on the wall. It’s not just to collect the subjects here and make forbidden weapons.’

If he wanted to make a gauntlet using the blood of the Half-Sky, there would be no reason to go to such lengths to treat and deceive Lennok in this way.

From the point of bringing Lennok to the ancient castle, he would have simply suppressed him with force or tried to preserve his body using the royal family’s abilities.

‘If he wants to enter the [Gate] with my help, not make a weapon using me as a material-.’

Lennok’s eyes turned cold as he held the stone tablet.

‘The real reason he wants the power of a dead god so badly must be here.’

The keywords were the Gate and forbidden weapons. He set a date to filter out old data and sorted it in the order of most recent.

As he quickly tapped the screen, the stone tablets floating in all directions began to move along with the record room.

Woo-oo-oong!!!!

The shapes of countless stone tablets, overlapping and lined up in a row, filled the vast space of the record room.

Lennok walked between them, quickly looking at the ‘records’ written on the stone tablets.

[The Kabahim royal family’s bloodline ability is a congenital ice-type ability obtained by contracting with a dead outer god.]

[Systematized the process of preserving the talents of subjects, completing an efficiency comparable to forbidden weapons.]

He quickly passed by, only looking at the titles of the records written on the stone tablets.

Records that didn’t need to be looked at in detail, other than to grasp the overall flow.

The deeper he went into the record room, the more detailed and complex the records written on the stone tablets became.

[Established the preservation process using the royal family’s bloodline ability in the 683rd reproduction experiment.]

[Successfully reproduced the ‘materialization’ process of talent and hierarchy. Started collecting subjects.]

“This way.”

The royal treasury in the basement of the ancient castle, where human talents and hierarchies were preserved as royal assets.

The core principles and management history were kept intact inside the record room.

[If the remains of a dead god are recovered from the sanctuary beyond the Gate, the preservation process can be applied.]

[Confirmed the condition that the bloodline of an Ascendant [a being of immense power] must be sacrificed in the process of entering the sanctuary.]

“……”

Lennok put down the stone tablet with a cold expression and moved his feet.

The moment he picked up the oldest and most worn stone tablet with the oldest records, in the deepest part of the record room.

[It is noted that all the above processes and rituals were extracted and cited from Ars Nova’s ‘Archive.’]

“……Archive?”

Lennok’s expression hardened at the word he couldn’t ignore.

He knew that the Kabahim monarch was hiding far more than he thought.

Because the truth he had glimpsed through the records far exceeded Lennok’s expectations.

But even that shock was nothing compared to the record written on the next stone tablet.

[The talent of duality is the only aptitude that can simultaneously look into reality and the outer sea, the material world and the imaginary dimension.]

[This is consistent with the qualifications of a librarian to access the ‘Archive’ of the central city of Ars Nova.]

“……”

Only then could Lennok understand how Aron was doing this in the basement of the ancient castle.

The talent of duality possessed by Aronbyger Kabahim. The true value of being able to see both sides of fate at the same time.

It was the qualification itself to look into the records and history of the destroyed Ars Nova.

‘……I see.’

The reason why human talents could be so easily extracted, refined, and wielded as the power of the royal family.

The true meaning of Jillian’s words that it was a process of following an established success.

Even the fact that the stone tablets in this record room resembled the Ars Nova search engine that Lennok had seen on the deep web.

[The dead god’s alias confirmed through the Archive is the Cold Comet. In other words, the frozen ice spirit.]

[The power of the dead god, the Cold Comet, is the dominion of concepts beyond the limits of the ice system – the stagnation and reduction of entropy.]

[If the preservation process is successfully completed, time reversal through the reduction of entropy will be applied throughout the capital.]

[By applying the above power to the Authority Domain of the Ascendant, the time in which the domain existed will be reversed entirely.]

[Reproduced the ‘Ascendant Resurrection Sequence’ extracted from the Archive with an 85% probability.]

“Wait, could it be…”

The reduction of entropy. Time reversal. Ascendant Resurrection Sequence.

The real goal that Aron was trying to achieve by applying a series of processes to the Authority Domain of the Half-Sky was-

[The final manifestation of the resurrection of the Ascendant Half-Sky.]