The Story Of The Second Son Of The Baron Family [EN]: Chapter 65

The sensation of being submerged from head to toe in blood was indescribable. It felt like immersing myself in liquid magic, a fulfillment as if my entire body had transformed into magic itself. It was pure ecstasy.

For the moment, I couldn’t feel the throbbing from my broken ribs, nor the discomfort from the frayed circuits that threatened to tear apart with the slightest strain. But soon, I sensed that the situation was taking a strange turn.

‘!’

Magic Overload.

A phenomenon where, due to the excessive concentration of magic, the circuits not only overload but also become homogenized with the magic itself. It was something I only knew from theory, never having seen or experienced it firsthand. After all, those who experienced the overload phenomenon could never feel magic again.

To put it simply, the magic in my body is like a clean river. The external magic is like a dirty river. Naturally, the latter is overwhelmingly larger in quantity. However, they don’t encroach on each other’s territory because the two rivers are separated, and the latter river is vast enough to match its quantity.

Increasing the magic within the body is akin to purifying the dirty water through a purification device and transferring it to the clean river. But when the magic overload phenomenon occurs, the story changes.

It’s literally a flood. The small boundary that separated the two rivers disappears, and they merge into a dirty river, regardless of which was which. After that, even if the flood subsides, the clean river can never return to its previous state. It goes without saying that it can no longer be used as before.

‘Ugh!’

What a foolish, idiotic, moronic act. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t think about the consequences, even though I could have anticipated this.

It was entirely my fault, so I couldn’t blame or resent anyone. But rather than dwelling on my stupidity, it was far more important to figure out how to salvage the situation. If I couldn’t, everything I had achieved so far would be for naught, and even my survival would be uncertain.

Six purification devices operated tirelessly. The cores located throughout the circuits also exerted their power. But that alone was not enough to purify the water rushing in like a tidal wave. But there was no choice. There was nothing else I could do.

‘…’

I soon fell into a trance. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that my body led me into a trance before my will could. My body, realizing the crisis its master was in, was providing as much help as possible.

“Keuh!”

Glug-glug-

But can a single person, showing strength beyond their limits, overcome nature? I could say with certainty, NO. In other words, whether I fell into a trance or became one with the universe, the probability of changing the outcome was extremely low.

It would be different if my body were in good condition, but my current magic circuits were tattered, like a worn-out rag. Originally, I shouldn’t even be doing what I was doing at this moment. Whether I strained myself and tore the circuits or remained still and let them disappear, the result would be the same, so I was just thrashing about.

‘Ah, this isn’t going to work.’

But I couldn’t thrash about for long.

Pain.

An unprecedented pain, difficult to bear at the human level, washed over my body. Pain as if the cells of my body were being torn apart. It was a pain that was hard to endure while conscious, but my body, excessively activated by the large amount of magic, even took away the option of fainting.

In that endless pain, the two rivers merged into one, and I let go. What else could I do? The only fortunate thing was that my life wouldn’t be in danger. Whether being an incompetent human in the middle of the monster’s land could be considered fortunate was another matter. But no matter how desperate the situation, the world wouldn’t let me die.

Woo-oong-

‘…?!’

The circuits are also made of magic. The density is much higher than ordinary magic, and it is fixed, so even during training or extracting magic, the magic that has become a circuit does not move. But now, the water that was flowing in like a flood was seeping into the broken and torn circuits.

‘This is my chance!’

I sensed it. A stroke of luck. A chance that would never come again had arrived. Like a thirsty person isolated in the desert finding an oasis, like a thick, sturdy rope being lowered to siblings waiting on a tree, this phenomenon was my oasis and my rope.

An uncontrollable amount of water. I forcibly pushed it into the circuits. Tremendous pain followed, of course, but I was grateful for it now. Since I wouldn’t faint from the pain anyway, I could sharpen my mind more than ever.

‘It’s crazy. But I have to do something crazy now!’

Forcibly increasing the density of magic to expand the circuits was a crazy thing that I would never have thought of or carried out in normal times. If the usual way was to carefully place rebars and pour concrete according to the frame, what I was trying to do now was to pour concrete indiscriminately into a broken waterway.

But even if it was crazy, I had to be grateful and carry it out. It was fortunate in the current situation just to have a way. And to overcome the current situation, such ‘crazy짓’ [crazy behavior] was necessary.

#

“Puh-ah! Keuh-ah! Kah-kah!”

A human hand emerged from a pit full of red liquid. Supporting itself on the ground, it exerted force, and soon a person, covered in red liquid, emerged from the pit, starting with their head.

“Hah… Hah… I, I’m alive.”

I was completely exhausted. In terms of mental fatigue alone, it was more grueling than fighting a dragon. Unlike my mind, my body was more refreshed than ever, which only deepened the dissonance.

It was really dangerous. If the magic overload phenomenon had been a little more well-known, if my judgment hadn’t been clouded by anticipation and fatigue, I would have hesitated at least once. Nevertheless, the goddess of fortune raised my hand once more. I don’t know how long she will hold my hand, so I must be careful.

Also, breaking through the crisis did not end with simply escaping. As the saying goes, a crisis is an opportunity, and as the saying goes, an opportunity corresponding to the difficulty came down when I broke through the crisis. I seized that opportunity. The seven rings [magic circles] created in my heart proved it.

Turning misfortune into blessing.

In terms of the amount of magic alone, I would surpass even my teacher. Not only the seven circles but also the number of cores located throughout the circuits increased dramatically. Of course, there were not only good points.

The explosive growth now was literally forced. It was an act of forcibly opening a tightly closed door with the help of external force rather than my own, so I not only failed to obtain what I should have obtained in the process of opening the door, but also damaged a part of it. It was literally an act of forcing.

Thanks to this, even though I obtained a huge amount of magic, it was only a 7-circle in name, and in order to fix this, I would need time and enlightenment to match it. However, once it has been opened, it will be much easier than starting from a closed state.

“To put it simply, should I say it’s a 6.5 circle?”

Creak- Crack-

I checked my body condition by turning my joints here and there. I don’t know how much time has passed, but perhaps because my body was forcibly activated by high-density magic, I didn’t feel any burden in moving my body or operating magic, even though the injuries I sustained were not injuries that could be healed within a day or two.

Rip-

However, the fact that blood was flowing from my palm even though I had lightly scratched it meant that it did not give me the ability of immortality, as the legendary heroes did. Of course, what I have gained so far is valuable enough.

“Thank goodness. I thought I would have to stay underground for at least a few months, but I can go back right away.”

It was a body that felt burdened even by drawing up a little magic. As such, it was difficult to borrow the power of magic, and it would have taken a considerable amount of time to heal the injuries to my body.

Besides, since I had to get out of the monster’s land, freely manipulating magic was not an option but a necessity. In order to restore the circuits to their original state, I would have to meditate in the damp underground before winter at the earliest, or throughout the winter if misfortune overlapped. As such, today’s opportunity shortened my time by several months in the short term and several decades in the long term.

“Before that.”

When I turned my gaze, I saw the dragon’s corpse, still bleeding hot blood. Was it because it was a legendary being even in death, or was it simply because the weather was cold? It looked as if it would come back to life at any moment.

“It’s over. Everyone. It’s all over.”

It was a difficult and arduous path. I survived alone and vowed revenge, and I devoted nearly ten years to revenge. And finally, I reached the end. I knelt down and cried endlessly. The tears didn’t stop, but I didn’t want to stop them now.

#

After a short condolence, I began the full-scale work. There was nothing to throw away from the dragon’s corpse, from head to toe. The scales covering the upper part of its body were a material harder than any metal, and I had experienced the efficacy of the blood firsthand. Horns, claws, tendons, meat, etc., there was nothing to miss. But my interest was elsewhere.

Even if I couldn’t take all of this, if I could take just one thing, the hardships so far would be worth enduring.

The Dragon Heart.

It was not just a story passed down. I was able to find out that it actually existed in the last battle. The Dragon Heart was not simply a heart that circulates blood, but a storage that controls and accumulates all magic, like magicians.

When it spewed out its breath, most of the magic gathered at its mouth came from the Dragon Heart. It was undeniable that the basis for controlling that amount of magic, even though it drew in magic from the atmosphere, was the heart, so it was a spoil that a magician could never miss.

“Kuh. It’s disgustingly hard.”

I engraved the engraving of sharpness on a famous sword made of leftover mithril [a fictional metal] and steel. At the same time as activating the engraving, I pushed in magic and covered it with aura. The efficiency was very bad, but it would be okay since I wouldn’t use it for long.

Clang- Clang-

“It’s going to be tough.”

It was a scale with the strongest strength in terms of cutting, to the extent that even excellent knights had to be satisfied with making scratches. I had expected that the possibility would be low even if I borrowed the power of the engraving.

‘I’ll have to peel it off from the bottom.’

It was not easy even with a famous sword covered in aura. In the first place, even if I, a magician, spewed out aura, I couldn’t be better than the knights. I was just putting in inefficient effort with overflowing magic. Nevertheless, the leather was enough.

How many hours had passed? Finally, the heart of the dragon was in my grasp.