Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 406

[I thought he was audacious, but this is beyond my imagination.] Clack! Olivierra, picking up a white stone, muttered as she placed a piece on the board. [I never thought someone would challenge me to a game of Oh-baek-ro [a board game similar to Go and Othello]]. “Do you know the name of this game?” [You challenged me to a game without even knowing the name Oh-baek-ro? How absurd.] A soft chuckle echoed from behind the veil. [It’s a type of board game that a sage created hundreds of years ago and spread throughout the world. The rules are simple, but the deeper you delve, the more complex the subtleties become, making it a pastime for many… But I don’t particularly like this Oh-baek-ro.] “Why is that?” [The one who created this game must have been an Ascendant [a being who has transcended mortal limitations].] Lenok’s hand, which had been moving swiftly, paused for a moment. Olivierra, not paying attention to Lenok’s reaction, continued. [If you are a master of magic, you can read the meaning behind the subtleties of Oh-baek-ro. An arrogant and dogmatic conviction that even the one exploring it gets tired of… It tries to force and teach that to those who delve into this game.] “……” [It’s supposedly to nurture future generations, but it’s rather unkind and violent, to the point of being excessive. Unless you are a superhuman with a firm sense of self, getting deeply engrossed in this game is dangerous.] Clack! She flipped the board white by placing her stone next to Lenok’s, and scoffed. [So, when it was briefly popular among the lower classes, I personally intervened to ban it. That was decades ago.] If one is not a superhuman who has completed themselves, the more one delves into Oh-baek-ro, the more likely they are to be forcibly influenced by the subtleties within. Lenok, knowing that the creator of this game was Jin-Doon, could only smile wryly. “Well, if you’re a mage of your caliber, you wouldn’t be happy to be toyed with by an Ascendant.” Lenok said, picking up a black stone. “Then, I can inform the chairman of the Cartel of their defeat after a long time.” [Hah, I haven’t captured many stones, but I’m not about to lose to a brat like you.] Olivierra muttered confidently and lifted a stone. [Continue.] The two continued to exchange attacks and defenses, playing the game. Olivierra’s confidence was not in vain; her skills were considerable, even to Lenok. Her ability to control offense and defense and her reading of the game were so skillful that it was hard to believe she didn’t like Oh-baek-ro. The fact that she recognized this game as a type of artifact created by an Ascendant meant that she had delved deeply into it. Considering that, Olivierra’s confidence was understandable, but it was no match for Lenok, who had been directly taught by the game’s creator. Clack!! As the black stones gradually but surely covered the board, the veil covering Olivierra began to shake faster. With her insight and reading ability, she could clearly grasp Lenok’s skill level. Seeing her white stones being flipped one after another, Olivierra spoke in a tone of disbelief. [You… You challenged me with such skill while claiming to be a beginner? There’s a limit to deception.] “It’s not a lie that I haven’t been learning the game for long.” Lenok said, raising his gaze to meet the light shining from behind the veil. “There’s no need for me to change my words and deceive you even in a place like this.” […It’s not a lie. Then?] Olivierra, who had researched the subtleties of this game herself, could understand what it meant to have gained this level of skill in such a short time. A board game where the higher the mage’s level and rank, the more they understand the subtleties from various perspectives. Is he handling the board at an equal or higher level than her without being swayed by the powerful direction inherent in the game? That must be deeply related to the nature of a person, which is fundamentally different from innate magical talent or accumulated experience. Lenok nodded inwardly, watching Olivierra, who seemed lost in thought. ‘Is it because she already knows about this game? It worked better than I thought.’ Oh-baek-ro is a method itself to remember and teach the subtleties and direction of barrier magic in the correct form. It’s nothing less than the most refined and metaphorical learning device that a transcendent being like an Ascendant could create. But conversely, if you fully understand the purpose of the game and use it in reverse, it’s like being able to read the other person’s mind to some extent. Lenok was using the excuse of his aptitude for ability to play this game with her, and in turn, he was trying to read Olivierra’s mind. If he were to directly peek into the mind of a Grandmaster mage, he would be in serious trouble, but if he could reverse-calculate her thoughts revealed through the game, he could draw a picture without revealing himself. Jin-Doon must have read Lenok’s mind through a similar process and decided to pass on his barrier magic. Lenok, who had inherited that barrier magic, was now reading the minds of others in a similar way. ‘The fact that she didn’t reject my proposal means that she has something she wants. At least, I need to be able to hear what her conditions are.’ Of course, it might be difficult to find out all of Olivierra’s secrets or the abilities of her spells with just this. However, by observing her mind reacting in real-time as the game progresses, it is possible to find the most appropriate answer. What the head of the Cartel, an old Grandmaster mage, wants and why she is holed up in her lab. That was what Lenok wanted. “You know that I’m investigating the secrets of the Black Consumer Project, right?” Lenok, who had been quietly watching her lost in thought, casually brought up another topic. “Yorta’s Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, Machina’s Gate of Ascension… I now understand that various cities that have grown in power since the fall of Ars Nova have sought ascension in their own ways.” [……] “At this point, as the end approaches, I need to know what others have done to ascend.” [Why?] Lenok raised his gaze and stared into Olivierra’s eyes, which were hidden behind the veil. “Because I realized that there are secrets I don’t know yet, hidden in those seemingly meaningless failures.” The existence of Alcaide, who was involved in the Black Consumer Project. Whether it was an individual or the name of an organization, Lenok didn’t know why that existence was involved in this megacity’s project. And why the Ascendants were wary and concerned about that existence. In the end, Lenok didn’t get the answer from Jin-Doon. That must be because Jin-Doon himself had a reason why he couldn’t directly tell him that secret. Then Lenok had to move on his own. Until now, he had only moved as the situation flowed, taking the maximum advantage, but now it was different. Even if it meant going against the power and time that this megacity had built up, Lenok had to hear about that secret directly. He knew that he now had the power and the qualifications to do so, to the point where he could no longer avoid it. Olivierra stared at Lenok’s face for a while before slowly lowering her head. [You are not the only one who was curious about the secrets hidden in the darkness of the project.] “……” [But if no one has gotten a clear answer about that secret, don’t you think there’s a reason for that?] “I suppose so.” Lenok smiled faintly. “But if the end is near, what does it matter?” There is no time. For this world, and for Lenok himself. Everyone is aware of the despairing fact that the end is near, but should they endure the fear of not knowing when that moment will come? Lenok did not want that. As much as he had tried to break free from his shackles, he did not want the ending to be an empty echo. That’s why he had been wandering around this city and the world in search of answers, wasn’t it? What he wanted had not changed. The most fundamental desire to live was still alive and breathing deep within Lenok’s heart. [Continue.] Olivierra said. Lenok did not answer. In silence, the two began to move their hands across the game board. Clack, clack!! They poured their energy into defeating their opponent without using any magic. Apart from the magic overflowing from his body calmly subsiding, his mind was spinning rapidly, circulating all the senses in his body and embodying them. Kiiing! A hollow emptiness, as if he had returned to the time when he first opened his eyes in this world. But Lenok could clearly recognize that the composition of his body had changed from that time. His incredibly excellent memory was clearly comparing and contrasting the bodily reactions of that time and now, and pinpointing the differences. Zzzzt…!! The aftereffects of the relatively lighter mana addiction. Insomnia suppressed by the effects of the medicine, and lungs that were much more accustomed to smoking than before. The ever-expanding amount of magic and the circuits that densely covered his entire body. And even the flow of power rotating deep within Lenok’s left eye. Only then did Lenok realize why Olivierra had ordered this formality and nodded. ‘It’s a realm that can only be reached by elevating the mind without drawing on magic.’ A level of mental concentration that would be difficult to reach unless one was focusing on a match against a mage of Olivierra’s caliber. Isn’t it a realm of mental cultivation that has little to do with magical talent? As Lenok unconsciously began to touch his neck, Olivierra, who immediately noticed the sign, nodded. [You’re touching somewhere other than your eyes, so you’ve got the feeling. Do you remember the sensation?] “…More or less. Is this what innate ability meant?” The violet magic eye is a mirror that visualizes Lenok’s mind, and although it operates with magic as its power source, its origin is far removed from magic. The power to reveal the user’s wishes or mind without any spells or systematic learning. The ability that appears by drawing out the thoughts that exist under the fundamental form of life, as much as magic, was the magic eye. [How absurd. I never thought that you would enter a state of elevation while playing Oh-baek-ro with me… Usually, when you focus on a game, your mind tends to be focused on the match in front of you rather than the magic eye.] “As long as you reach the result, it doesn’t matter how you get there.” Even as he raised his hand, not a single bit of magic moved. Is this a process of temporarily breaking away from the magic that was always one and embodying the power of another realm? But Olivierra, as if she had made a decision from Lenok’s answer, put down the stone she was holding and brought her hand to her veil. [That’s right. After all, at the point of dealing with causality, only the result is observed at the end.] “…What?” She brought her hand to the veil covering her face and slowly lifted it. And from within, her two eyes revealed their true form for the first time. [I have kept that realization fully preserved in these two eyes.] Lenok, who had not expected her to reveal her hand first at this point, stared blankly at the sight. An appearance that seemed as if time had stopped, awkward to call her an old monster who had lived for an immeasurable time. The seven colors of light contained in her eyes, which were originally shining in an indigo hue, slowly rotated, drawing a beautiful rainbow. The magic eyes of the seven-colored treasure, shining so wildly that it seemed as if one would be sucked in just by looking at them. Only after facing those eyes head-on did Lenok realize why she wore a veil to cover her face. It was not just because her mind or magic would be shaken by simply looking at them. The moment her two eyes began to look outside directly, the scenery inside the lab was distorted, repeating changes and regressions. “This is…” The second hand of the clock on the wall of the workshop moved forward and then back again. The clock hands were constantly rewinding towards the point when she began to reveal and observe with her two eyes. Only then did Lenok realize exactly what kind of power the magic eyes of the seven-colored treasure possessed. “Is reality being fixed according to the act of observation…?” [It’s the power to observe only the results from the aspect of causality and change reality accordingly. Do you understand what this means?] Olivierra said, looking into Lenok’s eyes as if amused. Lenok nodded. If he combined the various stories she had told about the magic eyes, the answer was not difficult. “…It means that because it’s closer to an innate ability, it’s relatively easy to access the fragments of causality.” Even an Ascendant would have to take enormous risks to reach the principle of causality through spells. But the case of abilities is different. As it is extremely dependent on innate talent and that mental strength, it is a more intuitive power than any magic or spell under certain conditions. Olivierra had been researching how to actively combine such an ability with her spells and mind. [Even if it’s infinitely weak, it’s a kind of reality alteration. I had to endure a temporary drop in my level to make this power completely mine.] Now he could understand why Olivierra had not intervened in the Cartel’s affairs and had been holed up until now, and why she had been so engrossed in research, even at such a risk. What was contained in her eyes was the ability to interfere with causality, a law-altering power. The more a superhuman has built up their rank, the more they would understand how powerful and fatal that power is. There was no need to change causality by observing the result. Even if one could only observe the result of reality and fix it, there would be countless ways to use and apply it. That was the power of the magic eyes that Olivierra Ron Maze had obtained in her later years. And Lenok, sensing something in the midst of that, asked. “Wait, could it be that your magic eyes are related to the failure of the project back then…?” [It’s not satisfactory, but it meets the minimum standard. Then you could also become a bridgehead.] Olivierra’s face was smiling as if she was enjoying herself. Which part of Lenok’s words and actions had touched her standards and changed her? It was truly absurd that Olivierra was trying to delve into Lenok’s magic eye development in reverse without even revealing the details. [Good, you audacious one. Let’s see what kind of power the magic eye that will open in your right eye will have.] * * * Late Sunday afternoon. Inside the bedroom, which was covered with blackout curtains, only quiet breathing filled the air. Beep beep. The sound of a bell echoed from under the thick blanket. “Hoo…” Lenok, reaching out from under the blanket, grabbed his cell phone and sighed deeply. Dabi, who had been curled up in the breaker box licking his tail, raised his head. [Master?] “It’s time to wake up.” Swaaa!! With a dazed expression, he washed his face at the sink and faced the mirror. A young man, not having even fixed his messy hair, was staring back at him with a toothbrush in his mouth. “……” Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since he had stared blankly at the mirror like this. It was as if he was remembering the day when he first escaped the factory and barely faced his own face while vomiting. It had been a week since he had been going back and forth between Lavatenon University, the Carlisle Research Institute, and Olivierra’s lab. At this point when the Gold Restriction was lifted and the Dyke family was faltering, at this moment when the city was in turmoil due to the conflict between the light and the dark. Ironically, Lenok was more focused on studying and researching for his own growth than ever before. “Hmm…” He had gained a little weight compared to before, but he was still slender. Considering that this was also the result of forcing himself to eat a balanced diet, he could only laugh. The haggard look and the dark circles under his eyes were definitely less than before, but they had not completely disappeared. Lenok, who had been silently touching his eyes, closed his eyes once and then opened them, and his left eye began to rotate and fluctuate in a violet hue. Wooong…!! “……” The mirror, unable to withstand the power of the magic eye, was fluctuating as if it would break at any moment, but Lenok ignored it and focused on looking at the mirror. To be precise, he was looking at his right eye, which was shining black, not his left eye, which had already opened. The right eye, which at first glance seemed to have no changes. But if you look into the right eye with the left eye that visualizes the realm of possibilities, you can see it. Deep within the right eye, which seemed to have no changes, a faint golden halo was beginning to emerge.