Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 669

The moment Dylan pulled out the blue heart, Lenok immediately recognized its origin.

It came from a religious group that thrived in WORLD 2.0, known as the Church, which worshipped a failed god.

In this world, it was an artifact imbued with the power of someone who had recently established themselves under the name of the Order [a shadowy organization].

Lenok also knew why Dylan had pulled such an artifact from beyond the door.

Dylan O’Casey was a test subject sacrificed in the Order’s plan to create an immortal, an irregular born at the end of that process.

That was the source of Dylan’s bizarrely powerful regenerative and physical abilities.

Whether he wanted it or not, his origins were strongly tied to the power of the Order.

If Dylan consumed the blue heart, he would gain great power, but more importantly, he would likely become unable to escape the Order’s control.

Lenok had brought Dylan to the underground laboratory to inform him of this fact.

After a moment of silence, Dylan looked at the throbbing blue heart and spoke.

“Even when I joined the office, I didn’t have any major complaints about my life. After going through something like that, you become grateful just for being able to eat every day.”

“……”

“But as the things I had to do increased, and it became difficult to settle down, I realized my problem.”

Dylan said quietly.

“My body is, in any case, the result of human experimentation. Since it’s a body made by others, I can’t say it’s entirely my own.”

Dylan, who had been fiddling with the blue heart, shrugged as if in self-deprecation.

“Clinging to the past isn’t cool. I’ve been trying hard not to dwell on that fact… but it doesn’t work out as I want it to.”

“Do you think your inner feelings were different?”

“The lingering attachment that remained… it was captured the moment I pulled the lever. Your random box is truly an amazing thing.”

Dylan said with a smile.

“Enough to know why you tried to give us this experience. It must be because you got something that great in the Machine City, right?”

“……”

“You are more daring and cautious than anyone I know. At this point, there’s no need to hear the reason from you.”

Having said that, Dylan took off the pro wrestler mask he was wearing.

A clean face with not a single hair left. Thousands upon thousands of tiny, unidentifiable characters covered his skin.

Lenok couldn’t read the characters, but he instinctively knew that they were related to the Order’s scriptures.

Now that Dylan was holding the blue heart, the Order’s characters engraved on his skin were writhing intensely.

A subtle movement as if urging him to consume the heart right now.

If Lenok felt that way, the urge Dylan was feeling must be beyond description.

“So…”

Dylan, who had been staring at the blue heart with a dazed look, slowly brought it to his lips.

As if he were about to push it into his mouth, the mercenary’s hand slowly tightened.

Crack!!

As if his brief hesitation was a lie, he crushed the heart as if squeezing it.

[Kieeeek!!!]

A terrible death cry, whether from Dylan’s skin or the heart, echoed.

The heart, which had spilled blue blood, convulsed and shattered, falling between his fingers.

Thud, thud!!

The pieces of the heart that fell at their feet instantly withered and turned into a handful of dust, disappearing.

All that remained was the blue bloodstain on Dylan’s fingertips.

Even that continued to writhe as if still having lingering attachments.

Dylan, who had neatly wiped off the bloodstains on his glove, nodded as if relieved.

“That’s it. I trust you.”

“……”

“What’s so hard about giving up something I wouldn’t have even seen if it weren’t for you in the first place?”

Dylan grinned and put his pro wrestler mask back on.

“Let’s go out and have a drink again! Because of this constitution of mine, I can’t get drunk no matter how much I drink.”

“No. There’s still work to be done.”

Lenok grabbed Dylan, who had put his arm around his shoulder and shouted cheerfully.

“Huh?”

Dylan tilted his head, looking bewildered.

“Ah, do we have to incinerate it separately? If it’s this kind of monstrosity, it’s only natural…”

“The reason I had you open the door was not for me, but for you to recognize the possibility you most desired.”

Lenok said.

“Since I made you give up on it myself, I’ll give you a suitable reward in return.”

“No, Ban. I mean, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have even seen it-”

“You gained powerful regenerative abilities through the immortal experiment, but I also know that you’re trapped by its limitations.”

Dylan closed his mouth.

“In this state, it would be impossible to complete the hierarchy. It’s not a matter of talent or effort, but because the regenerative limit of the body itself is fixed.”

Dylan’s regenerative ability was more powerful than any regenerative ability Lenok had ever seen.

Conversely, that was why Dylan’s limits were also trapped within that cycle.

Regeneration does not remember the growth of the body; it only returns the changed parts, whether positive or negative, to their original state.

Therefore, it would have been difficult for Dylan to achieve physical growth other than by honing his own magic and skills.

And that was a truly fatal limitation and weakness for a physical ability user.

“…What do you want to say?”

“I can release the limiter.”

At Lenok’s calm answer, Dylan’s lips twitched.

“What…?”

“To be precise, I’m going to forcibly release the biological mechanism and reaction limits of your body that are being maintained as a result of the experiment.”

Lenok nodded.

“Instead, the regenerative and physical abilities you’ve learned through your senses will be beyond your control.”

“……”

“In the worst case, you might not be able to control your abilities and your body might explode or disintegrate. But if you’re okay with that…”

Lenok brought his hand to his chest and met Dylan’s gaze.

“I’ll help you overcome your limits.”

Dylan couldn’t answer right away.

He knew very well that Lenok was not the kind of person to say such things as a joke.

The fact that he had opened up, broken the heart, and maintained that attitude might have been to ask this question.

And he also knew that if this magician said this much, it wouldn’t end in empty words.

Lenok wanted to know if Dylan was prepared.

After a moment of silence, Dylan’s mouth opened.

“…What do I have to do?”

“Nothing.”

Lenok, taking that as an answer, pulled out a long staff from his chest.

A relic-level artifact with ornate wings on both sides, the Compassion of the Archangel.

Inside the rainbow-colored jewel embedded at the end of the staff, a ghostly, pale glow seemed to be swirling as if alive.

Lenok, without hesitation, brought the end of the staff to Dylan’s chest and nodded.

“Stay conscious and endure until the end. Can you do that?”

“Of course.”

Dylan smiled.

“That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life.”

“I’ll go after counting to three.”

Lenok said, infusing magic into the Compassion of the Archangel.

Clack!!

The magic that wrapped around the staff gathered at the end, turning into a sharp blade.

Dylan, who instinctively knew that it would pierce his chest, swallowed hard.

Lenok began to count.

“Three.”

Thwack!!!

“Cough!!”

Dylan, who was looking at the Compassion of the Archangel that had pierced his chest in an instant, spat out curses while bleeding profusely.

“Damn it, I expected up to two…”

“I won in the psychological warfare.”

“…Was it a competition?!!”

The fact that he could speak even with his heart pierced was proof of Dylan’s monstrous resilience and regenerative ability.

It was the durability that had allowed him to survive head-on blows from Kraken Asillas.

As soon as Lenok realized that Dylan’s condition wasn’t that bad, he immediately rotated his magic.

The magic that had been sharpened to pierce the heart was now rotating into a rainbow-colored jewel.

[…Magician.]

He awakened the spirit of the archangel sleeping within the jewel.

[I told you not to wake me unless it was for His work.]

The archangel of the old world, Kashuin, a follower who worshipped a failed god and ultimately failed to overcome the end, opened his eyes.

[It’s already hard enough to conserve my strength and endure. If it’s something useless, I won’t let it go.]

Lenok nodded without batting an eye at Kashuin’s annoyed muttering.

“It’s about the Order. Do you know about the immortals?”

[Immortals? Ah, I see…]

Only then did Kashuin’s consciousness recognize Dylan, who had been pierced by the staff, and began to show a different color.

[In the Church, it was just a grand concept, a project that failed in practice and was discarded. Here, it seems to have been somewhat successful.]

“If you know, it’ll be faster. I’m going to release the limiter of the immortal now.”

[Hmm… well, fine. I’m also interested in what kind of immortal incarnation He desired.]

Kashuin’s will moved as he looked at Dylan, who was convulsing with interest.

The archangel’s magic flowed backward into Dylan’s body through the staff that had pierced his heart.

[I’ll forcibly upgrade this one’s faith level. Will that be enough?]

“It’s enough.”

The authority of the Church that the archangel Kashuin possessed.

If the head of the Church maintained that tone even after crossing the world once, there was no way that Kashuin’s power wouldn’t work.

The authority of an archangel who had crossed the world once twisted the doctrine and began to change Dylan’s body.

“Agh, ack…!!”

Dylan’s body trembled violently, his skin cracking and blood pouring out.

The characters engraved on his face became blurred and swarmed, and the blood on his red skin turned black.

However, new flesh quickly sprouted between the blackened skin, stopping the bleeding and raising the collapsed skeleton.

[He was a heretic who received grace but tried to reject faith. Does he know that he has been abandoned?]

Kashuin whispered mockingly to Dylan, who was foaming at the mouth and trembling from unbearable pain.

[It’s pathetic for abandoned dogs to lick each other’s wounds, but if it’s the foolishness of trying to prove disbelief by burning one’s own body, it’s worth watching.]

Using the archangel’s abilities and authority to intervene in the Order’s techniques.

He modified the authority of the scriptures engraved on Dylan’s cellular level, erasing and twisting the limits.

“Agh, aack…!!”

[I’ll be watching from afar to see how long you can endure. Hehehe… Ugh!!]

Bang!!

Lenok suddenly struck Kashuin’s spirit, who was letting out a strange laugh, with magic.

“Listening to your nonsense, you’re not an archangel, but a demon. Is it natural since the god you believe in is like that?”

[Damn it… you really hurt my spirit.]

“Stop talking nonsense and focus. I’ll forcibly stabilize your condition while extracting the artifact.”

Lenok, who had taken out an ampule of mixed painkillers and tranquilizers from his chest, stabbed it into Dylan’s limp neck.

As he pulled out the Compassion of the Archangel with both hands, the hole in his chest began to regenerate and close in an instant.

Crackling…!!

The overwhelming regenerative ability, which sucked all the bloodstains on the staff into Dylan’s body, was activating his body faster and more powerfully than before.

[I forcibly released the limits of his regenerative ability, but the possibility of this heretic controlling that power is extremely low.]

Kashuin said mockingly.

[The immortal experiment was originally one of countless backups designed for Him. Unless you hold it in your own hands and manipulate it, it’s an excessive ability for others… He’ll burn his own body and disappear soon.]

“Dylan is the one who survived the immortal experiment by breaking through that slim possibility.”

Lenok, who had checked that his breathing was still alive, said as he stood up.

“If I’ve done everything I can, it’s better to help him make a gamble at least within my reach.”

Thud, thud…!!

Every time Dylan’s unconscious body convulsed, his skeleton was distorted and his physique changed slightly.

Along with that, the density of the aura flowing from his body continued to increase.

It was the process of the immortal’s power, which had been released from its limits, adapting to his body.

Lenok carefully observed Dylan’s internal magic flow, recorded it with Davi [a device], and smiled.

“And Dylan’s regenerative ability is the best I’ve seen among physical talents. If I’m lucky, I might be able to adjust it to my needs and use it.”

Apart from helping Dylan, it was natural to replicate and study his biological mechanisms, hormones, and metabolic rate.

If the research went well, Lenok might also gain an extra life without the side effects of immortality.

And Lenok had no intention of letting such an opportunity slip by.

[…You’re similar.]

“Similar?”

Lenok frowned as he immediately understood the context, and Kashuin seemed rather embarrassed.

[No, I… yes, I was.]

Kashuin, who had denied it but then agreed, said in a cynical tone.

[Although the direction is different, you have a longing to find meaning in every moment.]

“……”

[I was just thinking that you might also be remembered as such a being by someone.]

Kashuin, leaving Lenok who didn’t answer, subtly hid his presence.

[I’m tired from being out for too long. As promised, don’t call me unless it’s for His work.]

Leaving Kashuin, who had disappeared as if falling asleep, Lenok slowly pushed the artifact back in.

He pulled a nearby chair and sat down, silently gazing at the scenery of the laboratory.

The archangel had told him not to call him unless it was for the head of the Church, but he had readily cooperated with Dylan’s matter.

That meant that the immortal experiment performed on Dylan’s body was also related to the head of the Church.

The head of the Church, who was maintaining his existence in the depths of someone’s memory and consciousness.

Why was he directly involved in the project called the immortal experiment?

“……”

“Mmm, mmm…”

In the meantime, Dylan was even talking in his sleep and had fallen into a comfortable slumber.

Lenok chuckled and slowly got up from his seat, leaving the laboratory.

It would be difficult for him to regain consciousness for a while due to the aftermath of the limit modulation, so it would be better to let him sleep soundly.

In the meantime, he had asked Ibelin to wait for a moment, so he needed to check the progress.

He was actually a little worried because he had left Antares in a strange atmosphere after he had taken out something ominous-

Such thoughts of Lenok were immediately swept away by the enthusiastic cheers coming from the garden.

“Waaaaah!!”

“It’s coming out again, more is coming out!!”

“Sis is really awesome!!”

“Pull it more, more!!”

In the middle of the garden, people were drinking with their arms around each other, surrounding a huge machine box.

In the center of it, every time Ibelin pulled the lever with a bewildered look.

Something kept pouring out of the inside of the machine box.

Clatter, clatter, clatter!!!

Like a jackpot on a slot machine, a shower of light poured down, with something big and shiny falling out.