Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 990

The First Gate (1)

The first gate, where he arrived to obtain the fragment as a catalyst to twist the orbital period of the barrier.

A massive magical beast’s corpse, positioned as if to protect the gate leading into the central front.

Uuuuuung…!!

The magical power emanating from the beast’s skeleton surged like a wind sweeping across the prairie.

However, instead of heading towards the beast’s corpse, Lenok lingered around the hill for quite some time.

“I was wrong.”

Lenok, who had been feeling the invisible ‘flow’ by reaching out his hand into the air with his eyes closed, stood up.

As soon as he found the first gate, Lenok tried to intervene in the flow of power around it, but all attempts failed.

‘I can feel it’s here, but it’s not a concept I can touch in a tangible form.’

Lenok’s eyes sank deeply as he stared at the barrier, which was swaying like a transparent curtain.

‘It seems impossible to acquire a fragment of the barrier here right now.’

The first gate was a passage leading into the barrier and the actual path to Ars Nova itself.

The closer one got to Ars Nova, the more intense the collisions became, and the thicker the barrier grew.

Lenok’s sensory perception could penetrate the thin barrier around the gate, but he couldn’t forcibly tear off a fragment.

‘In the end, I have no choice but to acquire a fragment of the barrier directly from inside the gate.’

It would be ideal to obtain the fragment without taking risks, but at this point, the chances of things going so smoothly were low.

However, the reason Lenok didn’t head straight to the gate despite knowing this was that he knew he needed to be more cautious from now on.

‘The Grafting Art Master is an 8th-level special ability user. If we clash, the opponent will likely be very different from anyone I’ve faced so far.’

The reason Lenok could gain an advantage against other superhumans of the same level after reaching the 8th level was due to the core image he possessed.

It was possible because he had gained an advantage in almost every battle by using the kaleidoscope image that reflected future possibilities and his talent that was not bound by any system.

Acquiring various abilities and techniques and using them against the right opponent under the right circumstances.

It was the same with his victory against Lieutenant General Robert Roberaide.

Wasn’t it because the Hellfire Illusion Palace was a power that was compatible with the legion commander’s microcosm that he was able to catch him off guard so easily?

However, such analysis and strategy might not work against a special ability user.

‘Should I have asked Oliviera for more information?’

Since the first gate itself wasn’t a hidden place, he had judged that he could obtain relevant information on-site.

However, now that contact with Angel had been lost and things had gone awry, he couldn’t deny that he was in need of information.

“…It’s not like there’s no way.”

Lenok, muttering to himself, sat down on a hill with a good view of the gate and reached into his pocket.

Click!

The Eye of Heavenly Wisdom. An artifact that mimicked a human eye by carving a jewel.

It was the Heavenly Vision Art Weapon that Lapis had gifted him at the end of the events of the Fortress and the Thousand Calamities [referring to a past event].

It was said to possess the power to record all things in the universe and function as the thirteenth lighthouse in itself.

During the meeting, Lenok had once modified it into a scope for his magic gun, but he had since recovered the artifact and kept it in its original form.

“……”

Lenok stared at the Eye of Heavenly Wisdom for a moment before gripping it tightly.

It was proof that Evan Martinez had been with the lighthouse keeper’s mission.

It was an object with complex meanings for Lenok in many ways.

Although he had never been bound by the Blue Eye [a group or organization], he had somewhat sympathized with the answer Lapis had chosen.

Lapis respected Lenok’s intention not to be bound by the duty of the Watcher and gave him this eye before sending him off.

After fully awakening as a lighthouse keeper and handing over the relic of the Heavenly Vision to Lenok, whose regrets was she trying to sever?

Ironically, after leaving the Blue Eye, Lenok had actually spent more time thinking about Lapis.

Even though she had wished for it and Lenok had helped her, was his decision to send Lapis to the border of the world at that time the right one?

“……”

Nothing is eternal, and everything continues to change.

Lapis was simply following and changing according to the ending that the Heavenly Vision had already faced.

Lenok smiled bitterly, stopped his thoughts, and carefully poured magic power into the artifact.

Kiiing…!!

The Eye of Heavenly Wisdom, having received magic power, rotated smoothly and emitted a soft light.

A magical weapon that awakens its functions in response to the user’s magic power and gradually expands its abilities.

Among the artifacts Lenok currently possessed, it was no exaggeration to say that it was one of the top three in terms of sophistication.

Holding the transparently shining Eye of Heavenly Wisdom, he brought it up to one eye.

As he looked at the gate through the lens, his vision expanded rapidly, and he began to see what he couldn’t see before.

Lenok, who was looking at the gate by turning the artifact like a telescope, muttered unconsciously.

“…A city.”

A small city built on the bones of the corpse of the magical beast.

The gate city was built as a place where people lived, using the ribs as pillars and the spine as a roof.

In terms of area and population, it was slightly smaller than Kaiush, a medium-sized city Lenok had visited before.

It was likely that a living area had been created over a long period of time by the gathering of forces, merchants, and refugees passing through the gate.

In fact, it was the first entrance to the central front and a transit point.

‘The entrance to the gate… I can’t see it from here.’

The first gate referred to the gate city built below the massive corpse of the magical beast.

The city itself, built under the bones of the beast, was the entrance to Ars Nova.

However, if the gate was a passage to Ars Nova, there must be a specific space where entry was possible.

‘If I want to cross the barrier, I have to go through the gate city after all. It’s not something I can’t accept, but…’

Lenok’s goal was not to cross the gate and head to the depths of the front line right away, but to acquire a fragment of the barrier.

And when Lenok looked at the gate through the Eye of Heavenly Wisdom, he could see a vast haze shimmering above the gate.

Uuuuuuung…!!

The transparent haze rippled and resonated with space-time as it spread out on both sides of the gate.

It seemed to reflect the scenery on the other side without any function, but at some point, it blocked all information like an inviolable wall.

Something very powerful, neither visible nor felt, was preventing Lenok’s senses from reaching behind the gate.

That haze, which stretched out on both sides of the gate with a strange resonance, was the [Barrier].

It was the conceptual barrier itself that the high-ranking long-lived species of the outer city of Kundara had directly installed and managed, using the shadow of the star as a medium and spreading it across the continent’s power grid.

‘Is this as far as I can go for now?’

Lenok had only confirmed the traces of the barrier through the Eye of Heavenly Wisdom, but he wasn’t that surprised by the fact.

As Clarice had explained, the barrier was a star-patterned holy armor spread across the continent’s power grid, using the shadow of the star as a medium.

As long as night existed on this planet, it was a semi-permanent barrier, but rather, its form could not be properly confirmed during the day.

Perhaps he would only be able to see the true form of the barrier at night.

‘It wouldn’t be difficult to wait here until night, but…’

As he had arrived near the gate, he had hoped, but he still couldn’t reach Angel.

In the end, he would have to find a way to reconnect with Angel inside the gate city.

“…I have no choice.”

Lenok, who had been pondering, sighed and moved his feet.

He jumped over the hill, riding the wind of the prairie, and headed straight for the makeshift fortress built at the entrance of the city.

“Halt. Stop right there.”

The soldiers on guard, who were on the lookout, reached out their hands towards Lenok as he approached the fortress.

“Stop using your magic power and kill your thoughts. We’ll have a brief inspection.”

“Kill my thoughts, not just suppress them?”

Lenok tilted his head with a blank face and instead raised his magic power.

“Do you say that to everyone who passes through the gate?”

Whoosh!

The afterglow of the magic power that flowed out turned into a hot gust of wind.

The art of mixing thoughts with pure magic power and converting it into an attribute.

“…!!!”

A vague yet skillful pressure that showed he was an excellent mage without revealing his identity.

Only then did the soldiers realize that the other party was a powerful high-level mage, and their faces changed completely.

“I apologize. You are a person related to the front line.”

The soldiers, whose attitude had become polite in an instant, bowed their heads.

This place was a battlefield where all sorts of superhumans and monsters clashed.

It was reasonable to assume that a high-level mage like this was a high-ranking official of a large force.

“Currently, the guards are on alert for victims of the demonization ritual. Excuse me, but could you show us your belongings?”

“Demonization ritual?”

A soldier, who seemed to feel the need for an explanation, opened his mouth after exchanging glances with his other colleagues.

“It’s a term for the sacrificial rituals performed by cultists. They are clumsily imitating the Guido Order [a religious group] around the gate, and there are many victims.”

“……”

“Especially if magic users are affected by this ritual, they turn into monsters obsessed with killing, so we need to be especially careful.”

Cultists and human sacrifices. And a demonization ritual.

It seemed that there was a lot of talk about the atrocities of those who were clumsily imitating the order.

The actions of the cultists, which were being watched and worried about by the soldiers gathered here, as well as the 3rd Dead Rise Legion.

“I think I’ve seen that demonization ritual a few times on the way here.”

Lenok took out a pendant that was dyed red from his pocket and showed it to the soldier, asking.

“Is this related to a force that uses pendants like this?”

“…!!”

“This is…”

An artifact placed on the altar during the process of helping the search party and subduing the cultists.

As expected, the soldiers seemed to recognize the pendant as well, and they exchanged glances with each other.

The soldiers, who had been deep in thought with stiff expressions, carefully asked Lenok.

“Are you perhaps… the mage who helped the search party?”

“Has the information already been delivered inside the gate?”

“The command has sent down information about you. Thank you for saving the search party.”

The soldier, who immediately saluted Lenok, nodded his head.

“The commander is waiting for you. I will guide you.”

Was it because Lenok had shown that he was a high-level mage and had taken out the artifact first that he was able to avoid suspicion?

It wasn’t a bad thing that he had entered the gate city more easily than he had expected.

However, there were still some suspicious aspects about the makeshift fortress guarded by the guards.

‘There are no traces of the Order Alliance.’

If the Grafting Art Master had taken over the first gate as rumored, the mages of the Order Alliance under his command should also be present.

However, it was not the Order Alliance but the soldiers of the search party who were guarding the gate to the gate city.

Was it that the Grafting Art Master had handed over all the work to the search party? Or was it that the alliance was not paying any attention to the gate at all?

As he walked along the bridge leading to the city, following the soldier, Lenok was thinking about various possibilities.

Saaak…!!

Lenok, feeling a chilling sensation that ran down his spine, immediately raised his hand.

A movement based on instinct rather than reasonable grounds and judgment activated the Eye of Heavenly Wisdom.

Lenok’s steps came to a sudden halt as he looked at the makeshift fortress just before entering the city.

“……”

Lenok, who was silently looking up at the scenery of the makeshift fortress, asked the soldier.

“Are this makeshift fortress and bridge facilities that originally existed in the city?”

“No, they are not. They were not there when Master Blayber was in charge.”

The soldier, who was crossing the bridge without hesitation, replied.

“When the Grafting Art Master came, he said it was to guard the entrance to the gate city and had it built in a single day.”

“……”

“We don’t know how he managed to build and place a makeshift fortress of this size in just one day, but…”

“I see.”

Lenok, who had responded appropriately to the soldier’s words as he tried to continue his explanation, looked up at the fortress with the Eye of Heavenly Wisdom.

The sense of incongruity of the makeshift fortress that could not be confirmed with the naked eye. The bizarre truth that could be glimpsed through the lens.

On top of the gate built with foundation stones and bricks, a huge, sticky flesh giant was riding.

Jjeojeojeop…!!

A grotesque figure, wrinkled and bizarre, as if the giant’s upper body had been grafted onto the gate and all the hair on its body had been plucked and dried.

It was wriggling like a living creature, stretching out blood vessels and flesh under the makeshift fortress and breathing.

[Ggurururup…!!]

The flesh giant, whose whole body was sewn together, opened its mouth wide, letting out a silent scream.

It was not that the shape of the fortress itself was disguised and hidden. That flesh giant was also just a part of the gate.

What the Eye of Heavenly Wisdom showed was not the inside of the object but the essence of the soul.

It was proof that the makeshift fortress, which should have been an inanimate object, was a chimera created by modifying a living creature.

It was proof of someone’s skill in modifying a living creature into a makeshift fortress and still keeping it alive.

“……”

The Grafting Art Master had not given up or neglected the management of the gate.

In a way that only he could, he had modified living creatures and assigned them the role of monitoring the gate city.

It was the truth that Lenok, who was excellent in spiritual power itself but did not have the eye to see souls, had finally confirmed.

Just as Lenok realized this and was about to slowly lower the Eye of Heavenly Wisdom.

The flesh giant, who had been twisting its body on top of the gate, made eye contact with Lenok.

A calm male voice flowed from the giant’s unfocused mouth.

[I thought the discussion about the lighthouse’s work was over.]

“…!!”

Swaeak!!

The giant’s upper body, which had been attached to the flesh, stretched out at an incredible speed and instantly came right in front of Lenok’s nose.

As the flesh of the giant that had been on top of the gate crawled down under the bridge, the bridge shook and trembled greatly from the impact.

Kkigigigik…!!

Jjeoeop!!

“W-What is this…!!”

[I wondered why I kept feeling a bothersome gaze.]

Ignoring the soldiers who couldn’t even recognize who was causing the impact, the flesh giant crawled up to Lenok and stared at him.

The giant, moving its wrinkled and swollen lips, spat out a low male voice.

[It was you.]

“I didn’t expect to be treated like this when I came to the gate city.”

Lenok said, looking at the flesh in front of him.

Although he was pretending to be calm, Lenok’s mind was working quickly in this situation.

He understood that things had gone wrong from the moment the flesh giant, which had become one with the gate, had recognized Lenok.

However, now that he had realized who was talking to him, he couldn’t back down here.

Having finished his thoughts, Lenok slowly tilted his head and asked.

“Grafting Art Master. Do you usually greet guests like this?”

The Grand Art Master of the Order Alliance. An 8th-level special ability user. The manager of the first gate.

The Grafting Art Master was directly sending his consciousness down in front of Lenok.