Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1208

“Let’s part ways here.”

At a fork in an unnamed mountain range where the path ended and split.

Grisha, who had stopped before a path with no signpost, turned around.

Brushing off her old robe and adjusting her clothes, she looked at Lenok.

“I have an appointment with Paragon after the parade. I think we should leave from here.”

“I see.”

Lenok, who had been catching up with the twins, Pio and Gio, stopped walking.

Pio, who had been chattering non-stop while climbing the mountain range, suddenly looked speechless.

“Hey, Evan……”

Pio, who had been hesitating, turned to Lenok with difficulty.

Lenok waited for him to speak.

He hesitated as if he had something to say, then opened his mouth with a small sigh.

“Still… we used to risk our lives together to fight the Order.”

“……”

“I don’t know what you think, but we got along pretty well, right? So, um……”

He carefully placed his hand on Lenok’s shoulder, looking at his expressionless face.

Pio seemed relieved when Lenok didn’t brush his hand away.

“……Come back anytime if you want. If you’ve done something to displease Lapis, I’ll try my best to beg for her forgiveness.”

“Okay.”

Lenok, who had been listening to Pio quietly, smiled faintly.

“I’ll consider it positively.”

“……That’s not really a phrase used with a positive meaning, is it?”

Gio, who was standing next to Pio, who had a disgruntled expression, shrugged his shoulders.

“You idiot. Does Evan look like someone who would do something wrong to Lapis? He didn’t leave the Azure Eye for that reason.”

“Damn it, then what is it?”

“It’s much more complicated than that… and there must be an inexplicable reason. Something we shouldn’t dare to interfere with.”

Gio trailed off with a complicated expression, then turned his body away.

“So, if you want Evan to come back, shut your mouth. Lapis isn’t saying anything, so what are you babbling about?”

“You bastard, are you looking down on me? My patience is less than the cigarette ash Grisha flicks compared to Lapis.”

“That’s something to be proud of, you moron!”

The twins’ bickering, filled with curses, which he had seen more than five times on the way here.

Lenok, who ignored it as if it were natural, turned and headed towards Grisha, who was standing at the fork.

She turned her gaze, waiting for Lenok while smoking her pipe.

“I received help this time.”

Lenok said calmly.

“Thanks to you, I was able to achieve my goal at the parade and get out.”

The truth he could only obtain after letting go of his attachment to the project.

However, Lenok was able to leave the parade without directly paying the price for drinking Ethan’s blood.

The fact that he was able to avoid overdoing it and not give anything to the legion in the process was because of the help of Euphria and Grisha.

What Grisha had asked of Aphelia, in a way, had influenced everything Lenok would do in the future.

Lenok didn’t want to pretend not to know that fact.

“If you calculate the debt that way, all that’s left is the debt I owe you from the Azure Eye.”

Grisha smiled as she shook out her pipe.

“It’s just borrowing an old connection that we won’t meet again. Don’t worry about it.”

“The reason the Eminence [referring to Aphelia] intervened at that point was because of you, of course……”

Lenok hesitated for a moment before asking.

“It seemed more like a transaction than a friend’s request. What did you give to get her help?”

“You don’t need to worry about it. I gave her a spiritual power that I no longer use.”

“……Spiritual power?”

“She’s like a scale. If she receives something, she must give something in return.”

Grisha took a breath, holding her pipe in her mouth.

“Likewise, to borrow her power, you have to give up one of your ‘aptitudes’ [natural talents or abilities].”

“……”

“It’s just accepting an offer I refused a long time ago. Don’t worry about it.”

Grisha smiled and shook out her pipe.

“If it helped you today, then it means that refusing Aphelia’s offer a long time ago had meaning.”

In the end, Grisha settled her relationship with Aphelia in her own way at that place.

Even though it was not the way she wanted, it was clear that she had used that opportunity for Lenok.

However, Grisha already seemed to have no regrets about it.

“Aphelia seems to be interested in you. It’s probably because of what you did in the Central area.”

“……”

“I don’t know what happened with the Ability Awakening Task Force at the gate, but be careful when you meet her.”

Grisha said with a thoughtful expression.

“Aphelia was the purest person I’ve ever met. That’s why… she’s changed the most out of all the people I remember.”

“Changed?”

“When she first created the Task Force, she wasn’t like she is now. So, I don’t know how much the current her is the same person as the Aphelia I know.”

Grisha, who raised her gaze with a complicated expression, muttered.

“I don’t know. Maybe the Aphelia I knew is already gone, and ‘something’ is just imitating her……”

“……”

“Either way, it’s just a memory that can never be returned to.”

Was that a word for Lenok, or was it a resolution for Grisha to shake off her own lingering feelings?

While Lenok was unconsciously gauging her emotions, Grisha turned around.

“That’s all I wanted to say. Do you have anything to say to me?”

“Anything to say?”

“When Lapis wakes up, she’ll look into what happened at the parade.”

Grisha, with her pipe in her mouth, looked at Lenok.

“It’s been a long time since that child lost interest in the East Continent, but she’ll listen to anything you say.”

“……”

Something to say to Lapis.

Would that have any great meaning now?

At that time, the moment they sat facing each other by the campfire in the desert. He had already said everything he wanted to say.

Even so, if there was one piece of advice he wanted to give her now…….

“Both the Order and the Alliance are preparing for some kind of ritual.”

“Ritual?”

“Either way, it will be a huge turning point for each faction.”

Lenok met Grisha’s gaze.

“It’s okay to observe, but tell her not to get directly involved.”

“……I see.”

Grisha chuckled.

“That you told her to be careful. I’ll tell her that.”

“What have you been listening to me say all this time?”

Even if she said that, Grisha wouldn’t convey Lenok’s words in a strange way.

Lenok also knew that, so instead of questioning further, he turned and walked away without hesitation.

Grisha also naturally led the other observers and headed towards the opposite fork.

Observers like Pio, Gio, and Lyza watched Lenok with complicated gazes, but in the end, they couldn’t say anything more and turned away.

Lenok also looked at those observers before slowly moving his feet.

Like this moment when they were clearly standing in the same place once, but now they can’t walk the same path.

Lenok also does not regret leaving Lapis and deciding on an answer and continuing his journey.

If they don’t give up and keep walking, they might accidentally meet again someday and reminisce about the memories of that time.

That was enough.

That was enough to be satisfied.

It was time to return to Balkan.

* * *

It didn’t take long to return to Balkan, retracing the path he had taken with a thousand identities.

He rode his bike all night to reach a nearby train station, took a train to the satellite city of La Haven, transferred to an airship, and headed straight to the newly built airport in District 49.

Now that District 49 and the entire surrounding area were undergoing a major transformation along with the redevelopment of the Magic Tower.

As soon as Lenok returned to the high-rise building that was being used as a temporary office, he had to face Jenny’s suspicious gaze.

“……”

“……Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No.”

Jenny narrowed her eyes and looked at Lenok before tilting her head.

“It seems like you came out pretty quickly this time, considering you were holed up in the lab.”

“……Is that so?”

“Yeah. Usually, once you leave your seat, you’d easily be gone for two weeks to a month… hmm.”

Jenny, who had organized the documents she was holding and placed them in front of Lenok, whispered in a small voice that could barely be heard.

“I guess not?”

“What do you mean?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

Jenny, who had put on a poker face, asked casually.

“By the way, the first phase of the Magic Tower’s construction is almost finished, do you want to go see it together?”

“The Magic Tower?”

“Yeah. The basic structure has been set according to the design you initially decided on. It’s now at the stage of removing the supports and setting the frame.”

“……”

The reconstruction of the Magic Tower, which had begun before Lenok left for the parade, was slowly entering the initial completion stage.

It was faster than he had expected. Judging by the fact that Jenny mentioned it first, it must be the result of her efforts in various fields.

“The Magic Tower you designed. The design and structure are not bad at all.”

Jenny coughed and glanced at Lenok.

“When I first saw it, I wondered what kind of Magic Tower this was, but now that the frame is set, it looks plausible……”

“I’m sorry. I have something urgent to take care of.”

Lenok answered and stood up.

“I’ll follow you right away if you go look at the Magic Tower first. I’ll get ready.”

“Something to take care of?”

“It’s about my magic.”

Lenok’s expression was endlessly calm.

“Maybe it’s about myself.”

Clank!!

As soon as he left the office, he headed straight to Lenok’s personal laboratory without hesitation.

The laboratory and spell performance test site located on the outskirts of the megacity, right next to the closed District 59.

Walking through the research building that had been left half-destroyed after the previous experiments and research, he arrived in front of the huge test site.

Lenok, who calmly took a breath among the broken research equipment, muttered.

“Avatar Technique Deployment.”

Whoosh!!

A pure white halo unfolded and rotated above Lenok’s head, then rapidly increased in size.

Unlike the golden glow of the Ouroboros or the Kaleidoscope, it was a pale white light.

The moment the pale halo rose and grew to Lenok’s height and rotated.

Something that was rippling in blue all over its body slammed down in front of Lenok at an incredible speed.

Kwaaaang!!!

“……”

Something that was rippling non-stop with blue lightning slowly rose from its place.

Something with only a faint white gauntlet remaining in the place where his right arm used to be.

The ‘Avatar Body,’ which had now completely lost even its human form, slowly raised its head in front of Lenok.

[……]

The Avatar Body, which had been irreversibly altered by drinking Ethan’s blood and receiving the curse of reverse heaven.

Even though it did not possess a self or will, it moved and reacted on its own, beyond Lenok’s control.

It moved in response to external stimuli or variables, but its actions had no rules or consistency.

It descended as an avatar of lightning that destroyed, smashed, and annihilated everything except Lenok.

Lenok, who had thought that far, smiled bitterly.

“Not an Avatar (化身) but a Thunder God (雷身)…… Either way, it’s a problem.”

Using the Avatar Body to find out Ethan’s identity and gain something was a meaningful achievement,

But that didn’t mean that the rampage of the Avatar Body that had drunk Ethan’s blood was not a big problem for Lenok.

Lenok’s current Avatar Body was an entity that had lost its human form and was projecting rampaging lightning magic.

It was closer to an avatar of lightning magic than to Lenok himself.

The longer he maintained the Avatar Body, the more it would break free from control and try to smash everything except Lenok.

Because the purpose and reason why Lenok had been handling lightning was like that, and because the reason for the existence of lightning magic was thoroughly focused on destruction and annihilation.

If he left the Avatar Body as it was, it wouldn’t be strange for it to reign as a Thunder God that would trample, smash, and erase the city.

However, even though Lenok guessed that fact, he was not surprised or agitated.

He just calmly raised his hand and reached out to the Avatar Body.

“I thought something like this might happen at some point. Because I was using an entity that was not myself to act on my behalf.”

[……]

The Avatar Technique he had obtained in the military city of Yorta.

However, Lenok’s Avatar Body was not Lenok himself, but an entity modeled after a martial artist from the First World.

Because Lenok’s existence or talent was an absolute standard that could not be replicated or differentiated in a specific way.

Lenok created an avatar not of himself, but of a martial artist from the old world who was infinitely similar to him.

But that was precisely why Lenok thought that he might face his avatar in this way someday.

“I thought that someday, I might have to pay the price.”

[……]

An entity created not from Lenok, but from the past leader of the Order.

Therefore, it might be natural for the Avatar Body to ‘change’ someday.

It might have been natural that Lenok could not control that change as he wished, and that he could not control the outcome.

Nevertheless, Lenok had been using the Avatar Body to maintain his own identity and potential in the largest and most infinite form.

If he had to pay the price now, he could accept it.

“But I won’t destroy or eliminate you after coming this far.”

Crackling, crackling, crackling!!!!

Lenok smiled as he looked at the Avatar Body, which was emitting rough lightning without even answering.

“You might be the closest entity to the most immature and pure ‘me.’ You might be an entity that symbolizes me, who fell into the first world without knowing anything.”

[……]

Was it because Lenok’s words were heard in the surging lightning?

The lightning that had been rampaging and increasing in size momentarily subsided, and Lenok, who had stepped forward, said.

“If you are truly an entity that represents the past of the leader of the Order, then even the fact that you are here is a coincidence and not a coincidence. So-”

Lenok, who placed his hand on the Avatar Body’s shoulder, whispered.

“For now, go inside quietly and wait.”

[……!]

The moment a black ring flashed between Lenok’s index finger, the Avatar Body turned its head at an incredible speed.

At the same time, the moment blue lightning exploded from the Avatar Body’s entire body and soared as if it would blow up the entire laboratory.

The darkness that bloomed in Lenok’s hand instantly wrapped around the Avatar Body’s lightning and ‘preserved’ it in its entirety.

“Mandala Open.”

Whoooooooo!!!!

The Mandala of the Half-Moon Authority Domain [a magical space or dimension].

The eternal vessel that preserves any concept that exists in the world as it is, the moment it contained the Avatar Body.

The lightning that had been soaring and exploding above the laboratory disappeared as if it had been washed away.

Woo woo woo!!!

Lenok, who had stepped back, looked at the lightning flashing inside the sphere of darkness, shook his hand, and nodded.

“Okay. The emergency measures are over for now.”

[……From the beginning, were you talking to the Avatar Body to make it lower its guard?]

David, who had been watching the situation with a nervous look, asked in disbelief.

[To backstab not just anyone, but an Avatar, what is this…….]

“Backstab? Use nicer words.”

Lenok said, pulling David’s cheek.

“The Avatar Body is not an entity with an independent self. It’s just expressing the purpose of the rampaging lightning magic as it is. The word betrayal doesn’t apply.”

[Then why did you suddenly make such a confession to the Avatar Body…….]

“Because it’s not an entity with its own self, but an entity that is influenced by my own heart and will.”

Lenok turned his gaze.

“I used self-hypnosis through words to suppress the rampage for a moment. I needed to get close to preserve the Avatar Body in the Mandala.”

Until now, he had isolated the Avatar Body in the laboratory and looked for a way to solve the rampage, but after drinking Ethan’s blood, even that had become impossible.

The moment the Avatar Body lost its human form, it was clear that it was closer to a living lightning.

However, because the Avatar Body was closer to the pure form of power, it was easier to preserve it in the Mandala.

“I already have a method in mind for how to use the Avatar Body.”

Lenok said, looking around the laboratory.

“Let’s stabilize it first and find a way.”

[Let’s clean up this messy laboratory first and think about it.]

Clatter, clatter.

Lenok quickly cleaned up the laboratory with David’s help.

He drank potions and elixirs he found while cleaning to recover his depleted magic power and condition, and stretched his body.

Lenok, who had cleaned up the surroundings and left the laboratory, immediately took out his cell phone.

“I need to contact Jenny right away. She might have gone to the Magic Tower first.”

He had stopped by the office first in case something happened, but he couldn’t go with Jenny because of the Avatar Body.

But now, even if he went to see the construction site of the Magic Tower, there was a low possibility of problems.

As soon as he found Jenny’s number in his contacts and made a call, she answered.

-Ban.

“Jenny. My work here is done. I’ll return to District 49 right away, so……”

-Can you check the news or the deep web right now?

Lenok stopped walking at Jenny’s unusual words.

David immediately displayed all kinds of news channels and community sites as holograms in front of Lenok’s eyes.

Flicker!!!

The scene that unfolded beyond the screens and monitors was familiar to Lenok, but conversely, it was unfamiliar.

Tanks and armored vehicles that covered the horizon in black. The flags of the legion fluttering and marching non-stop.

The ominous emblems and patterns posted on community sites. Even the news headlines and the most recommended posts.

All the news and reports surrounding Balkan were pointing to one piece of information.

-The legion started moving as soon as the parade ended.

“……”

It hadn’t even been three days since he burned down the headquarters, and they had already begun to take action in earnest.

He knew that the legion was preparing for the next schedule at the point when Aphelia intervened and mediated the situation-

Jenny’s explanation continued.

-Through this parade, the legion’s command officially signed a cooperation treaty with Eminence Aphelia. They resolved to ‘conscript’ and summon a new legion commander from all over the continent to fill the vacant position.

“……”

-This is to strengthen the legion’s power and conscript generals based on their abilities, and ultimately, it is for the large-scale operation planned in the East Continent…….

Jenny’s stiff voice momentarily became blurred.

-……The main force of the Deadrise 1st Command, which oversees the central front, has officially declared a subjugation war against the Fortress.

“……”

Only then could Lenok understand why the legion was able to move so quickly.

Not the 2nd Command that led the parade, but the 1st Command that was currently in charge of the central front.

Was the situation at the parade the reason for transferring the command of the subjugation operation to the 1st Command?

No, perhaps from the beginning, the subjugation war was an operation under the jurisdiction of the 1st Command, not the 2nd Command.

-We’re going to start a meeting right now. I’m sorry, but can you come back right away?

“……Okay. I’ll go right away.”

Lenok said and put down his cell phone.

“But there’s no need to rush.”

The reason he tried to preserve his strength until the end of the parade.