Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 633

Clunk, clunk!!

On the giant conveyor belt that moved without rest.

The width of the belt, visible on both sides, was over ten meters, and all sorts of objects placed on it were moving along.

Lenox, who had been lying on the belt, staring blankly at the passing scenery, slowly rose.

Lenox’s eyes, having regained their focus, shone clearly.

‘Only about five seconds have passed in my body’s time. I wasn’t out of it.’

A high-ranking mage who has reached a certain level can accurately measure time even when completely unconscious.

Although the concept of time is relative, it is possible to calculate how much time has passed by setting a few of one’s own biological reactions as reference points.

Lenox didn’t lose consciousness and fall onto this conveyor belt as soon as he opened the underwater barrier.

It was as if a lot of time had passed since he entered the barrier, and he had just collapsed as if he had been adrift in this space in the blink of an eye.

Click!!

Lenox grabbed an unknown pistol that was moving along on the conveyor belt with him.

‘Magic power is faintly leaking out, but the magazine is crushed, and the muzzle is folded. Beyond repair. It’s a completely broken item.’

Not only that.

Most of the other equipment and items placed on the conveyor belt also look decent on the outside, but they are mostly defective.

Occasionally, there are some intact items, but the other stolen goods that are pushed off the belt are also in bad condition.

Thud!!

Lenox turned his head at the loud noise of something falling from the back of the conveyor belt and smiled wryly without realizing it.

The shape of an exploration ship, tilted and stuck upside down in a mountain of stolen goods, broken equipment, and items, was visible.

Lenox immediately walked over to it and examined the condition of the exploration ship.

“The wear on the Armadelta alloy is less than I thought. I think I can ride it at least one more time…”

He had thought of an escape method since he entered the underwater barrier, but if the exploration ship was intact, there was no reason to take the risk.

Thinking so, Lenox immediately shrunk the shape of the exploration ship and stored it in his pocket.

Lenox, having taken in the appearance of the exploration ship, got off the conveyor belt and slowly looked around.

“Hmm…”

A giant glass cavity of an unknown size.

Beyond the conveyor belt that continued to the end of the cavity, unknown objects continued to pour out.

Beyond the transparent glass window, the transparent blue sea was surging, and the sight of a forest with lush palm trees and all kinds of intertwined trees could be seen.

The paradise of magic engineering. The heart of Machina, called the essence of mechanical civilization.

The scenery inside the underwater barrier, which is called the most core area, was surprisingly a place that seemed to have nothing to do with magic engineering.

At first glance, it looked as if the natural scenery was preserved purely, without any intervention or measures.

To find the Mind Chamber, he would have to go back against the direction the conveyor belt was moving.

Whirr!!

Lenox walked backwards against the endlessly moving belt and went against the cavity, but soon he was blocked by a giant glass barrier.

The appearance of a notification that appeared in magic letters in front of the solid glass barrier.

[Area 44B. Closed and incinerated on the day.]

[Those involved are to stand by until further instructions.]

“Closed…”

Come to think of it, right after Lenox entered this space, he heard an announcement that the area would be closed.

He had ignored it, but could that itself mean that someone was not allowed to go beyond this space?

The conveyor belt continued to move, but with the barrier closed, no more stolen goods or items were coming in.

The moment Lenox was pondering that fact, the air in the glass cavity suddenly felt hot.

Whoosh!!

The pure white flames that shot up from under his feet instantly engulfed and swallowed the stolen goods piled up like mountains everywhere.

The heat was so intense that various items, stolen goods, and trash were melting in an instant.

Even Lenox would have a hard time enduring it for long without a shield.

Lenox, slightly frowning, immediately used Blink to escape outside the glass cavity.

Swoosh!!

The place where Lenox is currently located is the jungle on the outermost edge of this huge island.

A winding glass cavity passage, like a jungle, was rotating as if encircling the island.

To get to the center of this island, he would have to follow the winding glass passage like a snake, but…

Lenox suddenly turned around and jumped into the sea that stretched out on the outskirts of the island.

Splash!!

Lenox, looking at the seawater that had risen to his waist and the gently rippling waves, put his hand under the sea.

Lenox picked up a few grains of wet sand from under the sea and opened his mouth.

“Davi. Can you see this?”

[Yes. You just need to calculate the curvature, right?]

Davi, who immediately understood Lenox’s words, said.

[42 grains of sand that Master is holding in his hand. All of them are perfect spheres.]

“I knew it. The natural environment itself is precisely implemented, but they couldn’t pay attention to the terrain under the sea.”

Lenox muttered as he washed the sand off in the seawater.

“This is a thoroughly artificially designed model garden. The sand and sea we are standing on, the glass cavity, and even the conveyor belt are all spaces created by magic engineering.”

Lenox walked out of the sea and lightly shook off his coat, and the seawater and salt that had stuck to it disappeared as if washed away.

Lenox, who had cleaned his whole body with a single gesture, looked at the shape of the huge forest that stretched out in front of him.

“To create a space that is closest to the most primitive nature using the technology of advanced magic engineering, there must be a reason…”

Instead of returning to the glass cavity, Lenox began to walk through the forest that was overgrown outside the cavity with his bare body.

Whoosh!!

The stuffy air rushed in as soon as he entered the forest.

If it were an ordinary human, it wouldn’t be strange if they collapsed from dehydration after not being able to endure it for long.

However, Lenox protected himself with various spells and concentrated his mind to not miss the changes in the surrounding environment.

‘Considering the location of the Pentarect, it is certain that the End of Theremer is here. But…’

Why is the Mind Chamber, where precious relics of the Old World should be kept, taking on the form of such a reckless uninhabited island?

It is difficult to know the specific reason, but it is certain that they must have a reason to artificially create this environment.

Lenox, who was constantly using magic detection to not miss any of the surrounding scenery, found a suspicious presence nearby.

[Master?]

“Between the tree trunks over there. The roots are twisted in an unusual way.”

A clearing made by forcibly removing the roots. Something is hidden.

Swoosh!!

Lenox, using a common spell to dig into the ground, lowered his gaze at the sensation of something catching.

“A skull? No, rather than a skull…”

Lenox’s expression changed strangely as he carefully picked it up with his gloved hand.

What looked like a human skull was, upon closer inspection, the skeleton of a completely different creature.

There were three horns above the forehead, one nostril, and more than five jaw joint bones below the jaw.

Even if he didn’t know, its appearance in life must have been that of a monster with a four-way split mouth.

However, Davi denied Lenox’s words on the spot.

[If a creature’s oral skeleton was attached in this way, its jaw would have been ground down every time it ate.]

“You’re saying that it’s not the skull of a real creature.”

Indeed, as Davi said, even though the strength of the skull itself was not very strong, there were almost no traces of wear and tear from the friction between the bones.

All that was there were traces that had been worn away by the passage of time and the flow of sand and dust.

Lenox, who had been standing there with a thoughtful look, muttered.

“It’s right to think in reverse. It’s not that the skull remained because such a creature existed, but what if they made the skull to try to reproduce such a creature?”

[Are you assuming that even this skull is a trace of an artificial experiment?]

“If the failure of the Ascension Gate is connected to the Old World, then this must also be a failure created in the process of bringing back memories of the Old World…”

Lenox said that much, then smiled wryly, put the skull down, and stood up.

“I think I know what the machine city wanted when they tried to create the Ascension Gate. And why they failed.”

[……]

Tap!!

While he was lost in thought, Lenox turned his gaze at the sound of footsteps coming from afar.

Two presences were caught by magic detection. Judging from their active life reactions and high magic condensation, they were skilled physical ability users.

The moment Lenox’s figure faded from that spot, someone pushed through the bushes and appeared.

“Hoo…”

Two men carrying heavy sacks stained with blood.

They were wearing metal suits that hid their faces, and judging by the epaulets on their shoulders, they were definitely executive-level personnel.

What was striking was that the two soldiers were covered in dust and looked quite tired.

The soldiers looked around casually, put down the sacks they were carrying, and began to catch their breath and talk.

“How much time has passed?”

“I don’t know either.”

The other soldier answered as he took out the contents of the sack and threw them on the ground.

Bones of a bizarre and unique shape, the same as what Lenox had found in the pile of dirt earlier.

“While staying inside this underwater barrier, my sense of time is completely messed up.”

“They said the interception system was activated outside the barrier. If something happens, we might have to stay here longer.”

“…Don’t say unlucky things. It looks like some deep-sea monster has smashed its head into the barrier again.”

“It was a top-level alert. It seems like there’s some talk coming out of other units too.”

“…Top-level alert?”

At that, the other soldier’s voice changed to a sullen tone.

“Damn it, that’s not a story I wanted to hear.”

“But it feels like we’ve been working non-stop for almost a few days, so it’s about time for a cycle to end.”

“I hope so…”

The soldier, who had sighed deeply, put his hand on the ground to gather the bone fragments and bury them, and at that moment, his voice changed completely.

“Hey, have you ever been here alone?”

“What?”

“The evenness of the ground is much more uniform than I remember. It looks like someone dug it up once.”

“…No.”

The two soldiers, who had looked at each other, quickly grasped the situation and jumped up.

Without a word, one took out a communicator, and the other put his hand on his waist.

The moment magic power surged through the metal suits and magic power flashed from their waists.

Zap…!!

A streak of lightning that flashed through the bushes simultaneously pierced the temples of the two men.

“Guh…!!”

Davi’s brainwave interference command, mixed into the electric shock, activated a beat late.

The front of the suits opened wide on the spot, and the two unconscious soldiers were spat out.

Lenox checked the faces and identities of the unconscious soldiers, quickly finished copying their magic patterns and tickets, and pushed his body into the metal suit.

Click!!

[Pattern code recognition complete.]

[Lieutenant Eric Frausch, Special Forces of the 3rd Mechanized Corps.]

When he put on the suit and poured in Eric’s magic pattern, the suit recognized its owner and moved.

It was designed to help by correcting Lenox’s movements in real time. It must be a high-end piece of equipment designed to help in combat as well.

However, there was no way to avoid the minor sense of incongruity, probably because it was customized to fit Eric’s body.

Following the trail of magic power that the two soldiers had passed through, he walked through the forest, and soon another glass cavity began to appear.

[13F]

Beep!!

When he placed Eric’s ticket, which he had copied in advance, on the wall of the cavity, the door opened easily.

A number that was considerably closer to the center compared to the 44B area where Lenox had woken up.

From the moment he discovered that bizarre skull, Hazami and Lenox had thought that this would happen.

A skull that imitated the traces of a living creature. Considering the relationship between the Ascension Gate and the Mind Chamber, it was definitely a trace of trying to imitate fossils or living creatures of the Old World.

Unlike the stolen goods in the 44B area, which had a little magic power but were of low value, data on the creatures of the Old World had high research value.

If so, it was clear that they would be handled in an important area or place.

As soon as he entered the 13F area glass cavity, several soldiers wearing metal suits like Lenox were moving busily.

The other soldiers recognized Lenox in an instant and spoke to him.

“Eric. Weren’t you going out with Justin?”

“Justin finished the preservation work on site and was immediately transferred to another area.”

Lenox replied without batting an eye.

“They asked me to help with the recovery of the debris that was not discarded during the incineration process in the 44B area.”

“…44B area? Were there still people involved in that area?”

“…”

In a slightly tense atmosphere, the other soldiers looked at each other, but Lenox thought that his lie was likely to work.

A message requesting cooperation from those involved just before closing the 44B area.

He was convinced that the machine city would never issue meaningless orders in the most secret and confidential area.

As expected, someone checked the line in that short time and said in a slightly softened voice.

“It is true that an order was issued regarding the closure and incineration of the 44B area and a request for cooperation. It seems that they took action on site without a temporary report.”

“Hoo… I wish they would stop using our manpower as they please.”

“It can’t be helped, so let’s move. Eric, you come too.”

The other soldiers all started to go back up the conveyor belt inside the glass cavity.

Lenox naturally followed them and asked.

“Where are we going?”

“Orders came from above. All personnel in charge of the biological and livestock parts in the Mind Chamber are to gather in the center.”

One of the soldiers said in a stiff voice.

“We’re going to the most dangerous unexplored region inside the underwater barrier. Even if you hear something, be careful not to remember it or say it out loud.”

As they quickly went back up the conveyor belt following the other soldiers, he could feel the surrounding facilities and scenery changing as they approached the center.

The traces of stolen goods and items that had been scattered haphazardly disappeared, and the area around the endlessly moving conveyor belt became clean.

Other soldiers could be seen wandering around the belt, classifying the grade of the items that were pouring out, and sending low-value equipment or items down the belt as they were.

The wider the cavity became as they went back up the glass cavity, the more intense the concentration of magic power became.

And one by one, people who were leading other soldiers began to appear from the center of the cavity.

The first leaders he encountered in this cavity.

The moment Lenox pulled up his magic detection and focused his mind, he realized their identities and gathered his magic power with a surprised expression.

“…Meisters?”

The Meisters who had served as judges in the selection ceremony and evaluated the results of Lenox and other artisans.

Surprisingly, the artisans who had passed various qualifications and verifications a long time ago and had reached a certain level were gathered inside this underwater barrier.

They were wearing suits of unknown origin, but their presence and unique magic power still remained in Lenox’s memory.

Lenox carefully observed the Meisters, and the moment he followed them to the end of the huge glass cavity passage.

He arrived at a huge lake located at the end of the underground.

‘This is…’

It wasn’t that there was a lake in the huge cavity.

The entire space that stretched out from the end of the corridor was in the form of a huge lake made of water.

However, even though the Meisters were walking on the surface of the lake, only faint ripples were occurring, and they were not sinking below the lake.

Lenox, who naturally used levitation magic to slightly lift his body, looked down at the lake and realized that it was not completely transparent, and his eyes lit up.

Under the surface of the beautiful lake that looked like transparent glass, the appearance of all kinds of equipment and parts were reflected.

Various pieces of equipment that Lenox remembered seeing were floating under the surface of the water, which looked like a huge glass lake.

The relics of the Old World that he had seen in the selection ceremony. Could this be the warehouse where the supreme treasures called the Mind Chamber were gathered?

The Meisters, who had seemed uninterested in the surrounding scenery, also seemed unable to easily take their eyes off the equipment shining under the lake.

At that moment, a voice calling them from the other side of the lake was heard again.

“You’re late. I’ve been waiting a little.”

The Meisters, startled by the calm honorifics, quickly raised their heads.

“That’s what I should be saying, Hermes.”

The Meister who was at the front among them slowly took off the helmet of his suit with both hands and revealed his bare face.

Chiiik…!!

“It’s too early than scheduled. I thought we would meet again on the city district relocation assignment day.”

“…”

At that, someone slowly walked out from the other side of the lake shrouded in fog.

The figure of a young man with dazzling silver long hair that reached his waist.

The man’s face, wearing a white uniform and staring at this side with a blank expression, was so neat that it felt inorganic.

Behind the man’s back, a huge circular ring rose proudly.

A mysterious sight where a dozen large and small rings overlapped, rotating in different directions and speeds, emitting light.

Hermes, with the dazzling ring of light behind him, smiled with his hands behind his back.

“I’m sorry. There was something I had to experiment with before the door closed.”

“Something to experiment with?”

“Yes. The supply of dismantling resources and the acquisition of stolen goods needed for this quarter are complete. All that’s left is to check and dispose of the verified creatures of the Old World.”

At the same time, Hermes’ pure white eyes lightly swept through the Meisters.

He looked around at the empty space and transparently stared at the other side of the quiet white lake.

Hermes, who had been silent for a moment as if he was trying to observe the reaction of someone invisible here, opened his mouth.

“But wouldn’t you like to see real humans, not just non-existent livestock or foolish creatures?”

“…What?”

“If what we are taking out from beyond this door is literally a toy from a broken world, wouldn’t there be humans like us beyond that?”

Hermes smiled brightly with a face that was not stained by a single speck of dust.

“It wasn’t planned, but today, in this place… I’m going to load the Godslayer of the Old World. Will you cooperate?”