Chapter 43

Chapter 43.

I had threatened the Black Market by telling them they absolutely had to finish everything by tomorrow.

‘But they probably will not really finish by tomorrow.’

I had not expected everything to be finished in the first place.

Even for the Black Market, preparing and moving such a tremendous quantity in a single day would take quite some time.

‘I should go check roughly how much has been completed.’

After eating, hunting a little, and resting a bit, midnight passed.

In other words, the date had changed.

I checked the quest again.

The objective of the Epic Quest was to Awaken Lee A-un to EX-rank.

The first step was removing Lee A-un’s curse, which was why I had fed him the ‘Pure Elixir.’

“Is it done?”

Lee A-un still had not regained consciousness.

Perhaps NPC Artier had moved him in the meantime, because he was sleeping very comfortably on the soft bed in the guest room.

‘How outrageous.’

Click.

I moved Nebula beside Lee A-un.

Click.

After clicking Lee A-un.

I entered ‘/kick.’

Thwack!

Nebula had merely stretched out his foot lightly, but Lee A-un’s body flew like a cannonball and slammed into the wall with a thud.

[Guheok!]

Lee A-un woke up with a scream that sounded as though his breath had been cut off.

[B-Brother? You came?]

“What do you mean, ‘you came,’ you brat? Someone might think you had been waiting diligently.”

Lee A-un awkwardly sat on the bed, looking somehow uncomfortable.

“Is he not cured?”

Regrettably, Lost Honor had no chat function.

That meant I could not directly convey my intentions to Lee A-un.

So, under normal circumstances.

I would have had to anxiously pace around, worried that something had happened to Lee A-un.

And I would have had to pace around again because I had no way to convey my words.

But now it was different.

The new function, Whisper.

Since midnight had passed, the usage count had been filled again.

With the feelings of a novice cook checking whether dumplings had steamed properly, I sent Lee A-un a Whisper.

[/w “Lee A-un” How does your body feel?]

[It feels much better.]

“Hmm... Has the curse been resolved?”

It probably had, but the sight he had shown after drinking the elixir had been so shocking that I could not help thinking, ‘What if?’

Wasting more time would be meaningless.

“If a problem occurs, I will solve it then.”

I was more than capable of improvising to that extent.

‘...If it is here, even if he really dies, there is a way to revive him.’

I could not easily test how the ‘Resurrection’ I used to revive NPCs would work on a real human.

But the important thing was that preparations were in place.

I took Lee A-un and moved to the treasure vault.

I opened the storage and took out a large number of other elixirs.

Their name was.

The Concentrated Elixir of Ancient High Elf Primordial Mana Arcana Blessed by the Long-Forgotten Primordial Blue God.

That was right.

It was the same thing Han Seol-ah had eaten until she fainted.

A supreme elixir that increased maximum Mana Capacity.

“Let us start with one thousand.”

I scattered them at Lee A-un’s feet.

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

Scatter, Elixir.

In an instant, the room was filled with brilliant golden light.

[Wh-What are all these...?!]

Lee A-un stared in horror at the mountain of glass bottles piled at his feet.

As though bewitched by the unusual energy pouring out from them, he carefully picked up one bottle and brought it to his mouth.

[!!!]

After taking one sip, Lee A-un’s eyes widened.

[M-My Mana... is increasing? I am not imagining this, right?]

“Yes. You are not imagining it.”

[This is amazing!!! Brother, thank you so much! Something this precious...! I will drink all of them!]

Lee A-un shouted energetically.

***

[Blegh. Uuurgh. Brother, Brotheeer....]

Lee A-un was crawling on the floor like a bug.

[I-I am dying. I am dying....]

“Where do you think you are going with that weak talk?”

Passing out after drinking barely a hundred.

Han Seol-ah downed five hundred in one sitting in no time, you brat.

“You know that is precious.”

[I know it is precious. I know it too well. That is why I am so grateful, but...]

Lee A-un cautiously watched my reaction.

[C-Could I not eat them while resting a little?]

No, you could not.

I was the man who had absolutely not gone easy even when Han Seol-ah begged.

“Impudent bastard.”

You get an extra thousand.

[...]

Lee A-un looked sickened as he stared at the enormous grave of elixirs, then picked up a bottle with trembling hands, as though he had resigned himself.

The speed at which he forced them down his throat was visibly slower than at first.

How slow.

Even your drinking is slow.

‘There is a good method for times like this.’

I moved Nebula beside Lee A-un.

Perhaps he sensed my intention, because Lee A-un’s face brightened.

[Y-You are letting me rest, right? Thank you! I will rest just a little and then eat again...]

“No.”

Boom!

With a grand sound, a flag flew in from midair and planted itself between Lee A-un and me.

[A duel will begin]

[...Brother?]

“It is post-meal exercise.”

I will make you beg to be allowed to drink more instead.

***

[Duel start!]

The countdown ended, and the crimson letters announcing a death sentence vanished.

Gooooooo—!

A man in pitch-black armor, radiating a frightening aura just by standing still.

Brother’s ‘character.’

And to Lee A-un right now, the ‘God of Death.’

A storm of magical power of terrifying intensity began to rise from him.

‘I am going to die...!’

Lee A-un pushed Backflow to its limit and prepared for the attack that would follow.

The man raised his hand.

Then black light.

Flash.

A pitch-black flash filled his vision.

Before he even had time to feel pain, his entire upper body evaporated on the spot.

‘Huh?’

Before he could even react, Lee A-un died.

Backflow had definitely seemed to activate.

He had felt the sensation that he had successfully absorbed the attack.

However, the amount of Mana contained in that attack seemed to have been the problem.

Because the moment he thought he had absorbed it, his Mana Hall burst.

Groping.

He reflexively felt around his stomach.

He had definitely experienced the vivid sensation of his Mana Hall bursting.

And yet, he was fine.

‘Is this the afterlife?’

Shuuuk!

From the floor of the pitch-black space where Lee A-un was floating.

Black hands stretched out in strands, grabbed Lee A-un, and dragged him down.

‘Huh? Huuuh!’

The moment Lee A-un thrashed his arms and legs as he felt himself sinking into the pitch-black floor.

“Haaah!”

Lee A-un woke up like someone waking from a nightmare.

“I-I survived?”

However, right after that.

Boom!

The flag and the duel message appeared again.

“W-Wait a moment, Brother. I died. I really died.”

Brother did not even reply.

‘...Brother must think this is just a game!’

He probably did not know that Lee A-un had actually died and revived!

[3]

“Ugh. Khuu, khuuuk.”

He was afraid!

This was not a game. This was a real world, and because of the duel’s result, he had really died and come back to life.

[2]

“Khh.”

In the distance, the residents of this world—the characters called NPCs—were gathered together, silently clapping.

He could clearly see the ‘interest’ in those NPCs’ eyes.

He felt a terrifyingly human and chilling vitality from them, as though they were treating another person’s pain as a spectacle.

‘Are those things not alive? Damn it.’

Lee A-un clenched his teeth.

‘I will never again complain that I cannot eat the elixirs...!’

[1]

[Duel start!]

***

‘Hmm?’

Just now, when I landed the first hit.

It seemed as though Nebula’s HP bar had shaken very slightly.

This was Nebula, who had not received even a scratch after taking Scathach’s Breath head-on.

And yet his HP decreased just because I beat down that newbie with no ability?

‘Did I see wrong?’

For a moment, I nearly fell into an obvious cliché at this absurd situation.

Usually, the line ‘Did I see wrong?’ was said precisely when one had not seen wrong.

That was the law of the world.

“Snowy.”

[Yes.]

“Record all duel data from now on.”

***

After the endless duels ended.

Lee A-un began drinking elixirs very diligently.

[Brother, please, just refrain from attacking until the duel defeat message appears.]

“No.”

[I will eat the elixirs more diligently.]

It was a change in attitude so sharp that it almost seemed as though he had heard what I said.

But I refused.

“Why should I do that?”

If I beat you up, you will drink the elixirs diligently, and I can also identify the true nature of your real ability.

Of course, it would have been good if I could wait.

Regrettably, Lee A-un.

There was no time.

There was an absolute shortage of physical time for me to wait considerately while he digested the elixirs.

I had to forcibly draw out his potential.

“Snowy. The result?”

[It is as you expected, Agent.]

Snowy stylishly unfolded a chart with a flourish.

It recorded the magic I had fired at Lee A-un and its power.

And.

The amount by which Nebula’s HP had decreased.

‘My guess was right. I did not see wrong.’

Surprisingly.

Every time Lee A-un was hit by my magic, he was dealing damage to Nebula.

Lee A-un, a powerless person whose Awakened Ability was clearly recorded as ‘None’ in the Compendium, had injured Nebula, who had not even been scratched after taking the full force of Scathach’s Breath.

[It is a bizarre backlash that reflects pain and death intact. Moreover, the pattern suggests he is gradually adapting to the attacks of the character Nebula.]

Furthermore, although it was only by a tiny amount, Nebula’s HP was decreasing more with each repeated duel.

‘Interesting.’

This was an impossible situation.

How could a Hunter with ‘No Ability’ possess such an absurd reflection ability?

There was only one thing I could guess.

Lee A-un’s Unique Trait.

The cause was probably something to do with [Child of an Outer God] and all that.

It was certain that he had initially Awakened as a high-grade Backflow user. Earth’s system would not be that sloppy.

However, when that Outer God bastard intervened, he received Heaven’s Curses, his fate was twisted, and his original ability was stolen from him.

Instead, what remained like a curse was probably that bizarre trait that reflected pain.

In any case.

He still seemed to be under the illusion that he was using Backflow, but if he learned the truth—‘I have become powerless’—it would be a fact depressing enough to make him despair.

For an ordinary Hunter, his life would have ended here, but...

For me, it was different.

To be precise, in my world, it was different.

“I will give Lee A-un a class change.”

In Lost Honor’s system, ‘None’ meant a perfect ‘blank slate.’

Yes.

From the moment I saw ‘No Ability’ in Lee A-un’s Compendium, I had intended to give him a class change.

A bizarre reflection ability that could even damage Nebula.

On top of this blank slate, I would draw the draft that would help me the most.

“From now on, you are a Black Mage.”

***

Lost Honor had a total of fourteen branches.

Each branch had six classes, as well as an ‘Apex’ that could only be changed into after mastering all six classes to level 99.

For example, Frost Sorcerer, the class unlocked through Han Seol-ah, was one of the classes belonging to ‘Branch 8 - Elemental Magic.’

Aside from Frost Sorcerer, the remaining five classes were Flame, Lightning, Earth, Storm, and Water Dragon.

These six classes together were called ‘Elementalists,’ and if all of them were mastered, the Apex, ‘Great Sage,’ was unlocked.

The ‘Black Mage’ I had chosen as Lee A-un’s class referred to a character following the ‘Branch 9 - Black Magic’ tree.

[I cannot... eat anym...]

Lee A-un had passed out while drinking elixirs, so I carried him and headed toward the ‘Shrine of Class Change,’ which changed a character’s class.

Originally, it was a difficult place one could only enter by visiting an official shrine in a major city and going through a long, boring, and pedantic entry quest.

But I had simply installed one in my hideout.

I passed the pillar shaped like a star, crossed the portal that looked as though the Milky Way were rippling, and arrived in a pitch-black space.

I looked up at the star shining in the distance.

[You have achieved all stars]

“I know, you brat.”

Nebula had already completed his class change into the Hidden Class, ‘Void Knight,’ which could only be changed into after mastering every single class.

Naturally, he could not change classes any further.

I held out the limp Lee A-un.

Starlight shone on Lee A-un.

[Assessing aptitude...]

NPCs in this world could also change classes.

However, unlike the player—me—who could freely choose and change into a class, NPCs could only change classes in a limited way based on what they possessed: talent, ability, personality, and all of the things collectively called ‘aptitude.’

‘Lee A-un will probably be judged as an NPC too.’

A non-player character.

In other words, because he was not ‘me = the player,’ Lee A-un would be treated as an NPC.

And after beating him up through duels, one thing among Lee A-un’s aptitudes was certain.

[Black Mage aptitude confirmed]

‘That is right.’

[Class Change List Available: Branch 9 - Black Magic]

[1. Blood Mage]

[2. Cursecaster]

[3. Demon Hunter]

Now then, from here...

I only needed to choose the class that would help with the Resonar strategy and the Tower’s 94th Floor strategy.

The correct answer was!

‘None.’

“I cannot be satisfied with this.”

I moved the cursor and closed the class selection window.

A ‘newbie’ I could raise from a blank slate! To my tastes! Had come here for once.

I could not be satisfied with giving him just one basic class.

The blood of a veteran player did not permit that.

“Congratulations. You have been selected as the subject of the ‘Emperor Raising’ program.”

I could state this with certainty.

This was overwhelming good fortune, enough to overturn all the absurd misfortune you had suffered.

[Uuuuh... Brother... I am dying agai—blegh...]

Lee A-un groaned, not even knowing that enormous fortune had descended upon him.