Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 836

It was an unusually early evening when the sun began to set. At the edge of the undeveloped district lay a desolate urban area, abandoned after its development.

Beneath the land, obscured by sandstorms, magnetic interference, and layers of dust accumulated over time, thousands of people were gathered in a vast underground plaza, shouting with fervent enthusiasm.

“Waaaaaaaah!!”

Thwack!! Crack!!

Several superhumans engaged in a bloody battle, killing each other.

Each sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking intensified the crowd’s cheers.

Lenok was among the crowd, watching the fight unfold in the arena.

“A battle royale with no rules? Other than counting heads for betting, there are no restrictions.”

The arena was quite large, with various obstacles that hindered vision and movement.

It was clearly designed to pit multiple superhumans against each other simultaneously, rather than a one-on-one fight.

The match time was 15 minutes. They would fight until only one remained, and if no one was left by the time limit, a penalty would be imposed.

What the penalty was, he didn’t know, but the superhumans in the arena were fighting desperately, suggesting it was quite an effective rule.

Click!!

Fshhh!!

Outside the arena, participants preparing for the next match sat in a row, injecting needles into their forearms.

“Is the drug mix not done yet?!”

“There’s not much time left until the match starts!!”

“It takes about five minutes for the drug to take effect. Bring the ampules now!!”

Enhancers used to boost the combat abilities of superhumans.

In this underground arena with no rules, such practices were not only rampant but had become an established procedure.

In the outer waiting area, so-called ‘designers’ were engrossed in creating doping agents with their own unique ratios and combinations.

The fact that the underground arena was chosen as the meeting place that Murphy mentioned meant that it was a space where drug use was natural.

Squeeze…!!

Muscles swelled explosively, veins popped out prominently, and body temperature soared rapidly, while their eyes became eerily profound.

Superhumans who had taken doping agents forgot the pain, boosted their strength, and gained a composure that was not their own.

Thud!! Crrrunch!!

Even amidst the extreme pain of broken arms, torn muscles, and flying bone fragments, they maintained their reason and sought victory.

By simply injecting drugs, they became warriors who had surpassed their limits, putting on the best performance in front of thousands of spectators.

“Waaaaaaah!!”

“Hmm….”

However, Lenok shook his head as he watched the superhumans fighting desperately and the crowd’s escalating reactions.

“Crude. There’s nothing much to learn here.”

[The organisms fighting in the arena. They are not even close to Master’s level.]

Davi, who was busy hacking into the surrounding cameras and surveillance equipment from inside his pocket, asked as if he was dumbfounded.

[I could understand it before, but why would you try to learn anything from those organisms now?]

“I’ve known about the existence of the underground arena for a while, but I’ve rarely had the chance to participate.”

Lenok answered, watching the match with his arms crossed.

“I have some knowledge of doping and stimulant combinations, so I thought there might be something noteworthy… but it’s not as much as I expected.”

The last two participants remaining in this match collided fiercely.

A rusty scythe and a chipped sword. They desperately clung to their worn-out equipment as if it were their lifeline, swinging them wildly.

The desire for salvation, both urgent and desperate, appeared on both of their faces.

Bodily fluids from the fight smeared their faces, transforming their expressions into something indescribable.

As their faces were magnified on the giant screen, the surrounding audience went wild.

“Yeah, that’s it!! Kill them!!”

“F***, f***…!!! I bet on that idiot!! Get up!!”

“Hahaha, look at their faces. I come here every week just to see that!!”

The pungent smell of alcohol and drugs filled the air.

Sweat and alcohol mixed, rising like a mist, forming a hazy cloud, and people intoxicated by excitement and drugs shook their bodies mindlessly.

The loud electronic music and shouts that echoed in his ears alternated, pounding in his stomach.

Lenok, who had been watching the match with his arms crossed, sighed and raised his gaze.

“Just standing here makes me feel drained….”

[Would you like me to make the stadium a little less crowded?]

“No, never mind. It’s almost time.”

After seeing the chaos Davi had caused on the deep web, he was afraid of what other ways he might play with people.

Lenok immediately left the crowd and moved to the outskirts of the stadium.

He saw vendors setting up stalls along the outer walls of the stadium and agencies selling arena-related merchandise.

Lenok looked around and stopped in front of a designer who was busy preparing drugs in the outer waiting area.

Except for the fact that he was sitting in a wheelchair and looking at his workbench, he was a completely unfamiliar face that Lenok did not remember.

However, Lenok tapped the man on the shoulder and asked in an indifferent tone.

“You said you’d go ahead and prepare the doping agent, but is it still not done?”

“……”

“It’s time. Lead the way to the agreed location.”

“……Ban?”

The man, who had been staring at Lenok with wide eyes as if he couldn’t believe it, pulled at his chin with one hand.

Snap!!

Murphy, who had thrown off the mask he was wearing, looked at Lenok with a surprised expression.

“That’s an amazing disguise… I didn’t notice at all.”

“What are you talking about when you were also in disguise?”

“No. You’ve mastered a disguise technique that’s on a completely different level than mine.”

Murphy’s gaze turned sharp for a moment.

“The scent of blood is different. It’s not just a skill to change your appearance. Are you even altering your biological information?”

“Maybe?”

Even if he had half of his body modified, as a vampire, his criteria for distinguishing humans must be biased in that direction.

Murphy looked at Lenok suspiciously, then turned his wheelchair and handed Lenok a test tube.

“The adjustments are almost complete. Using the data I obtained with your cooperation, I’ve minimized the rebound as much as possible while maintaining the effectiveness.”

“Interesting. You’ve reduced the side effects of the doping agent using my blood?”

“To be precise, I’ve postponed them until after the effects wear off.”

Murphy chuckled softly.

“Ten minutes immediately after taking it. It won’t cover the entire match time, but I think you’ll definitely see the results you want.”

“……”

Lenok didn’t answer, just staring at the doping agent in Murphy’s hand.

“Is there something you don’t like?”

“No, it’s not that, but….”

With that, Lenok lightly activated his mana and touched the drug in Murphy’s hand.

Following Lenok’s touch, which lightly brushed the test tube, a faint ripple appeared on the drug.

The drug looked the same on the outside, with no visible changes.

“What did you do?”

“I added a simple adjustment. If I had to put it simply, I just did a little coloring.”

Lenok chuckled at Murphy’s somewhat puzzled reaction.

“It doesn’t matter if I get caught, but there’s no need to leave any traces. There won’t be any problems with the drug working as you designed it.”

“……Okay. Let’s go up and talk in detail.”

He inserted a card into the elevator located at the end of the stadium, and the locked floor opened as the elevator ascended.

“The other designers participating in the project will be there. In terms of time, we’re a little late.”

“I’d like to hear more about that. What do you mean by strengthening criminals and using them as hunting dogs?”

Since the construction of the megacity, there must have been more than one or two secret plans that used uncontrollable outlaws as test subjects.

However, if a city council senator and an excellent doctor like Murphy participated in such a cliché project, it would be a different story.

Even if the purpose itself was obvious, if the means and process were not ordinary, the results would also be extraordinary.

“That’s just an excuse. Its essence is not much different from when I first entered this business.”

“Not different?”

“The plan to create efficient doping agents and supply them to VIPs in various fields. This underground arena is, so to speak, a competition where designers in that field gather to compare their skills.”

“You rented an entire underground business and held such a huge event for that?”

“As I said before, the leaders and celebrities of various cities are very interested in this business.”

“……”

“If they can’t become outstanding superhumans themselves, they want to become something similar by using the blood of superhumans who have already reached that level… It’s not that strange, is it?”

Murphy shook the phone in his hand and laughed.

“It’s also the most efficient way to get the contact information and secrets of celebrities and politicians from all over the continent. That’s why I got into this business.”

There must have been a reason why he entered the blood-selling business despite being able to work as a doctor.

That was probably related to how Murphy escaped Ars Nova and ended up in the Balkans.

“Anyway, if you don’t want to be exposed, keep your mouth shut. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Do as you please.”

Lenok accepted Murphy’s proposal only because Murphy had asked for his cooperation as compensation for this checkup.

At the same time, he thought that he might be able to see the type of doping agent or materials he wanted in this project.

If he didn’t like how things were going, he could always overturn it. There were plenty of ways.

Whirr!!

As the elevator stopped, the door opened, revealing a lavishly decorated room.

The VIP seats were located on the ceiling of the arena. The room was surrounded by glass, offering a panoramic view of the arena.

About a dozen people who had already taken their seats in the room turned their attention to Murphy.

“Alejandro Murphy!! You’re finally here.”

A middle-aged man with a plump figure, wearing a suit, spread his arms wide and approached Murphy, bursting into laughter.

“I thought you got scared and wouldn’t come since you were so late. We’ve been waiting.”

“Dristan. Cut the useless greetings.”

Murphy replied, swatting away the thick hand of the man called Dristan with a gruff voice.

“Are the customer lines connected?”

“Yes. They’ve been watching the match for a while now. We had to show our precious customers a boring fight soaked in cheap drugs.”

Dristan whispered with a low laugh.

“You know everyone is tired of experiments using Gamma Sequence doping agents. It’s time to move on to the next one.”

“……”

“Today is the day we unveil the Lambda Sequence doping agent, so everyone is very excited.”

Dristan, who seemed bored by Murphy’s lack of response, snorted and turned his head.

“Then let’s get started right away!!”

At that moment, a masked host jumped out from the center of the underground arena below.

[Hello, everyone. We will now begin the main event match of today’s underground arena!!]

“Waaaaaaaah!!”

The cheers penetrated the solid soundproof glass of the VIP seats.

[For today’s match, the organizers have prepared something very special, and that is this!!]

As the host snapped his fingers on the platform, syringes in soft cushion cases appeared from below.

[Lambda-level doping agents carefully selected by the world’s top designers. The champions participating in today’s match will take these drugs and compete!!]

A dozen syringes were neatly lined up on both sides, emitting a sleek glow.

The various drugs inside the syringes shone with a brilliant light.

[The Gamma-level doping agents that designers have developed so far were, in the end, poor-quality drugs that depended on the user’s level, or rather, discriminated against people. But Lambda-level doping agents are different!!]

[The highest-grade adjustment that induces a certain level of ability enhancement and forced awakening regardless of the user’s level!! That is the new Lambda-level design of the new generation!]