Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1214

Kyunroe Subjugation (6)

“It’s been quite a while since I last visited this place.”

The Balkan 30th district was an area where facilities requiring large spaces, like amusement parks and ports, were concentrated.

Among them, the botanical garden located in the 31st district was one of the largest public facilities in Balkan.

It was a popular place with many attractions, as it recreated the ecosystems of the entire continent, and it was also safe.

Parents visiting with their children, students on field trips, and employees from research institutes were all mixed together.

When he was working as a freelancer, it was one of the few places in Balkan where Lenok could feel the warmth of people.

But the reason Lenok visited the botanical garden today was not to observe people he couldn’t get close to.

“……Let’s move. I have things to do.”

Lenok, who had been looking at the couples and families in the botanical garden with an unreadable expression, turned away.

From the first day he visited the botanical garden until now, the reason for his visit had always been the same.

Davi spoke as if understanding Lenok’s feelings.

[Come to think of it, I wasn’t around when Master first visited the botanical garden.]

“It was only a few days after I arrived in Balkan that I had to buy medicine. It was quite a while ago.”

Lenok walked through the crowd, lost in thought.

“I was smoking the same tobacco here when I acquired the powerful AI that became your model. Thinking about it now, I wonder how I managed to smoke something with such severe side effects… Why do you ask?”

[No, it’s not a particularly important issue.]

Davi wagged its tail inside Lenok’s pocket.

[I was just thinking about when Master gave me my name, and I think I know where that naming sense came from.]

“……It’s not like I named you so carelessly.”

Ever since he suggested a new elixir name candidate, Davi’s reaction seemed strangely off.

Lenok cleared his throat awkwardly and answered, slightly adjusting his voice.

“If it’s something like a spell or a domain, where you combine it according to your abilities and mental image, I understand, but names are usually more helpful the more intuitive they are. And the name Davi is not only intuitive, but it also has a lot of meaning behind it.”

[It’s not that I don’t like the name Master gave me.]

Davi rubbed its head, then tilted its head as if remembering something.

[Well, as long as Master doesn’t change my name to something like King Davi later… Huh?]

“Davi?”

[Come to think of it, that might be a cool nickname in its own way?]

“……”

Listening to the unpredictable thoughts of the digital spirit, he walked through the palm trees, pushing through the crowd.

Even in the crowded streets, Lenok walked as smoothly as a ghost without colliding with anyone.

“Huh? That person….”

“Wait, I think I’ve seen him somewhere….”

People who had nothing to do with him occasionally looked back as if they felt a sense of déjà vu about Lenok.

But before their gaze could reach him, Lenok’s figure had already disappeared into the distance.

Whoosh!!

The souvenir shop located inside the botanical garden.

He naturally bought a leaf-shaped ornament and headed for the back door.

He opened the side door he had used countless times and crossed the endless stairs with a blink.

The moment he arrived in front of the huge basement filled with purple mist.

Lenok opened his magic eyes and raised his magic power.

Whoooosh!!!

“……”

The thick purple smoke that obscured his vision.

When he first came here, Lenok knew nothing about this purple smoke.

As time passed, he improved his magical achievements, developed his skills and insight, and understood that this was not ordinary fog.

And now, after a long time, Lenok knew exactly what it was.

The purple smoke that enveloped the orchard, which was strangely familiar to Lenok-

“Oh, my, my.”

Before he could come to a conclusion, someone slowly emerged from the other side of the fog.

An old man with a grumpy face, sitting on a stall in front of thousands of wooden drawers that filled one side of the wall.

His face, leaning on the stall with a pipe in his mouth, looked a little worse than before.

The old man grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth.

“Who might this be? Am I seeing things?”

“……”

“I never thought the great archmage would show his face in my orchard again.”

The owner of the orchard in the 31st district, Plumber.

A pharmacy that Lenok had visited dozens of times to buy doping agents and stimulants when he was working as a freelancer.

An orchard he hadn’t visited for at least a few years since he was able to manufacture custom tobacco.

“I wasn’t planning on doing business today, but if it’s you, that’s a different story.”

The old man slowly raised his hand towards Lenok.

“Come in. It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face, let’s talk up close.”

“Plumber.”

Lenok called his name.

“It’s been a while.”

“……”

The old man, who had been turning away from the stall, stopped moving for a moment.

The old man, who had slowly turned around, looked up at Lenok, chewing on his pipe.

“And you haven’t changed at all since the first time I saw you. It’s unsettling.”

How many people in this world could say that Lenok hadn’t changed?

But Lenok knew what memories the old man was recalling when he said those words.

The memory of buying doping tobacco for the first time at the orchard he had visited after being introduced by Jenny when he first started working as a freelancer.

The bitter memory of spending almost all the bounty he had just obtained to buy a few cigarettes was still vivid.

So many things had happened, and he had experienced so many important things that couldn’t even be compared to that.

Why was the memory of that day, when he spent the night breathing in dust in the back alleys of Balkan, so vivid?

Because the memory of when he opened his eyes in this world was so painful and precious, Lenok was still here.

The old man knew that Lenok still had the same feelings as he did back then.

“You’ve changed a bit, though.”

Lenok said, looking down at the wrinkled face of the old man across the stall.

“You look more… tired than before.”

“Once you get this old, every day is different. It’s none of your business.”

The old man waved his hand and narrowed his eyes at Lenok.

“Rather, you’re the strange one in that regard. Even more so after becoming an archmage.”

“……”

“That ridiculous honorific you use, as if you don’t respect the other person at all, is the same as before.”

Instead of answering, Lenok stared at the old man leaning against the stall.

The old man, who had twitched his shoulders at the emotionless gaze, asked, exhaling smoke from his pipe.

“You didn’t come here to share useless sentiments, so why did you come here?”

“The purpose of visiting the orchard is the same as it was before.”

Lenok replied.

“I came to buy something.”

“Ha, medicine….”

The old man chuckled.

“That’s unexpected. Since you stopped coming here, I thought you no longer needed the orchard’s medicine.”

“……”

“I thought you were either able to make your own medicine, or your health had deteriorated to the point where medicine was useless. Was it neither?”

“Neither is entirely wrong.”

When he was working as a freelancer, he used to buy medicine from the orchard about once every three days.

The reason he stopped visiting the orchard was because he had mastered alchemy and was able to make his own medicine, so it wasn’t that long ago.

It was only after he was able to artificially adjust the abilities and side effects he needed and customize them that he was able to stop relying on the orchard.

Not relying on medicine made by others in the long term was essential for Lenok, and it wasn’t difficult to achieve results as he had consistently invested time in it.

“It would be faster to show you than to explain.”

Lenok reached into his pocket and took out a cigarette that had not yet been lit.

Lenok approached the stall and slowly pushed it into the window, looking at the old man.

“……Hmm.”

The old man, who had been staring at the cigarette, recognized that it was the same product that Lenok was smoking and nodded.

The old man slowly picked up the cigarette and tapped the filter and body with his wrinkled hand.

“Type C. Anti-balancer. Combustion blend with absorption… A product that burns for 10 minutes and provides 45 minutes of effect.”

“……”

“It wouldn’t be difficult to increase the duration, but it seems you’ve made some compromises to maximize the effect.”

He smelled the filter once, skillfully lit it, and put it in his mouth.

He held the smoke in his mouth once and exhaled, and the second time, he took it deep into his lungs.

The old man’s slightly frowned expression softened for a moment.

“Epinephrine regulator. A small amount of central nervous system stimulant. Caldion anesthetic and Stania stabilizer mixed in a beta ratio, then distilled and soaked in the leaves of the Mitaka tree.”

“……”

“The leaves are finely ground and mixed with various catalysts, including augmentation stones, and then preserved for three days. Then sealed for another week, wrapped in a filter, and given a spell….”

“How is it?”

“Perfect.”

The old man, with the cigarette in his mouth, said with satisfaction as he exhaled smoke.

“I’ve rarely tasted anything as good as this among custom products. The aroma and aftertaste are excellent, and the impact and recoil are flawless.”

“……”

“The effort put into each process is enormous, but what’s amazing is that you’re getting more than expected yields in all of those processes… How can you maintain the optimal ratio even after combining so many drugs and catalysts?”

The old man burned the cigarette to the end of the filter, exhaled all the remaining smoke, and glanced up.

“You’ve created something that can temporarily boost the energy of even a dying person, but the side effects are similar to a cheap cigarette. You could prescribe it as a medicine in a large hospital right now.”

“……”

“You have a talent that would make most ‘pharmacists’ look bad. With this level of skill, it’s understandable why you haven’t set foot in the orchard for a while.”

Plumber’s orchard was a particularly large and vast pharmacy in the shadows of Balkan.

It was natural that Plumber, who managed the orchard, was such a skilled pharmacist and drug dealer.

Therefore, he had expected that showing the old man what he had made would give him an idea of his skills, but the old man’s insight was beyond his expectations.

“It’s amazing that you can make something like this on your own, but all the drugs and catalysts used here are top-quality products that are hard to find anywhere.”

The old man glanced back at Lenok.

“Why did you come to my orchard when you can procure these materials on your own? Surely you didn’t want to show off your skills to this old man?”

“The product I’m looking for has the exact opposite effect of what I just showed you.”

Lenok answered calmly.

“I’ve made many different medicines, but all the products I’ve made so far have had a specific purpose. It will take time to manufacture other medicines from now on.”

“……”

All the tobacco and doping agents that Lenok had made so far were focused on assisting Lenok’s poor physical abilities.

Efforts to compensate for the condition of his body, which was difficult even to run without medicine, while minimizing the side effects that accompanied it.

After countless studies, Lenok had achieved satisfactory results, but it was only focused on physical assistance and reducing side effects.

In order to make products with different effects, he would have to research and establish the manufacturing process again from scratch.

It wasn’t impossible if he had enough time, but he didn’t have the time to do so now, with the subjugation battle right around the corner.

If he could find what he needed in the orchard, that would be good, and if not, it couldn’t be helped.

But Lenok was already sure that Plumber had what he wanted.

“A product with the exact opposite effect of this cigarette you showed me… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The old man frowned, resting his chin on his hand and muttering.

“This cigarette is something that provides physical enhancement and side effect suppression at an extremely high level. If you want the opposite, are you saying you want a drug that enhances the mind?”

“That’s right.”

Lenok nodded.

“It would be even better if it had very strong side effects.”

“……A product that artificially amplifies the mind, and with very strong side effects.”

The old man looked at Lenok with a sullen expression.

“There are plenty of those kinds of things among cheap drugs. Poor quality products that are highly addictive and have severe aftereffects, turning people into cripples immediately after taking them.”

“……”

“But a mage like you wouldn’t come all the way here looking for something like that.”

The old man said, revealing his yellow teeth.

“Don’t beat around the bush and tell me straight. What do you want?”

“I want something with an effect powerful enough to artificially separate consciousness.”

Lenok replied.

“I don’t care how strong the side effects are, it must be something that can forcibly separate my consciousness immediately after taking it.”

“Hey, are you trying to mess with me?”

The old man said, sounding displeased.

“There’s no drug that can separate the consciousness of an 8th-level archmage. If such a drug were on the market, it would have been used in chemical warfare for archmages long ago.”

“……”

“Even a powerful hallucinogen wouldn’t work on a top-tier mage like you, so a drug that separates the consciousness of a living transcendent? You’re looking for something strange.”

The order and rules of magic are powers that depend on the mage’s own will and prejudice.

Therefore, most mages who have reached a high level possess both a strong ego and consciousness.

The reason why many high-ranking mages are mentally unstable or insane is because their ego and consciousness have become so large that they cannot handle it themselves.

It is virtually impossible to interfere with or separate the consciousness of such a high-ranking mage with just a few drugs.

The old man, who had quickly returned to his sullen mood, waved his hand.

“I don’t deal with that kind of thing in my orchard, so go away. You’ve wasted my time.”

“……”

“I’m answering you because of the sincerity you showed me today. If someone else had asked such a ridiculous question, I would have kicked them out immediately.”

“I didn’t come to the orchard to buy ‘medicine’.”

Lenok replied calmly.

“I knew from the beginning that the thing I wanted was in this orchard.”

“What is that….”

The old man, who had been about to retort, stopped talking.

It was because he realized that Lenok’s gaze, who had calmly raised his head, was directed at the purple mist that filled the orchard.

This mist, which had never changed its shape or color since Lenok first visited the orchard.

He had not even guessed the identity of the mist before, but now he was sure of it.

“I’ve seen a similar smell and color in the center.”

Lenok said.

“The sanctuary of a fallen ascendant. In the orchard of knowledge, where the language stones were used as trees… there were fruits.”

“……”

The purple-tinged magic realm of language located on the outskirts of the central front.

The cursed fruit on the tree of wisdom that grew by feeding on humans.

Lenok remembered the scent of corruption that emanated from that fruit.

The lost paradise of Jinwa that he had seen using the fifth lighthouse. The tree and fruit he had encountered there.

Lenok had realized that the purple mist rising from Plumber’s orchard was the same scent as the one from Jinwa’s lost paradise.

“……You.”

The old man, Plumber, asked with a stiff face.

“Did you, by any chance, visit her lost paradise?”

“I’ve known for a long time that you’re not an ordinary pharmacist.”

Lenok slowly moved and stopped in front of the old man, turning away from the stall.

“I thought it was no coincidence that you used the name orchard.”

“……”

“I didn’t think there was any reason to care even though I knew that Jutiya had taken the time to visit you… but now the situation is different.”

Lenok said, looking down at the old man with a cold gaze.

“Plumber. I need to take some of the corruption from Jinwa’s fruit that you have here.”

“……That’s foolish. Kyunroe.”

The old man stammered in a terrifyingly stiff tone.

“This is not something I have because I wanted it. It’s a tribute I received from her, and a part of her curse.”

“……”

“Even an archmage wouldn’t be able to withstand the thoughts of a fallen ascendant with a clear mind. This is not something that can be used with a purpose or intention-”

“That’s exactly why I need that fruit.”

Lenok smiled.

“If it’s not that strong, it would be impossible to forcibly cause an existence with a consciousness like mine to go berserk.”

“……What, what are you trying to do?”

Instead of answering the question, Lenok looked up at the basement filled with purple mist.

Shuuu…!!

The deepest part of the thousands of wooden shelves behind the stall.

Only after looking through it with his magic eyes could Lenok properly see the scene beyond.

The source of the purple mist that spread out and enveloped the entire orchard.

The purple fruit that appeared in the center of the wooden shelves at the same time that Lenok ‘mentioned’ and ‘recognized’ it.

The presence of the fruit grew stronger as he walked past the stall.

The fact that he had a personal acquaintance with Jutiya. The fact that he was keeping the fruit of Jinwa that had opened in the lost paradise.

The fact that he was maintaining his sanity while surrounded by the purple mist emanating from that fruit.

All of this might be evidence that he was once a being comparable to a noble or an ascendant.

But the reason why Lenok was only now pointing it out and revealing the truth was-

“I have no intention of changing the direction that has already been decided before the war.”

Lenok, standing in front of the old and antique shelf where Jinwa’s fruit was placed, raised his gaze.

Beyond the thick ground, as if looking out at the distant metropolis, Lenok muttered.

“But if I’m going to start, I intend to go all the way with a single attempt.”