Chapter 39

Chapter 039

Mana Core.

It was also commonly called a Circle or Dantian, but in that it was an organ that handled Mana, it was fundamentally the same kind of thing.

In order to handle Mana, one had to inevitably open it, and it was indispensable for using an Adventurer’s abilities, such as Skills and Traits.

Normally, it would be opened together with Adventurer registration after graduating from the Selection Grounds, but some nobles used precious spiritual medicines to open it in advance.

There was only one purpose.

To learn the secret techniques of their House.

If one forcibly opened a Core, one could accumulate Mana, however faintly, even without going through the Selection Grounds, and the blooming of Traits also became possible.

In other words, whether it was Skills or swordsmanship, one needed a Core in order to train them. This was because every technique in Ebla was premised on the operation of Mana.

The reason Persica had already been able to use Magic Power in the Selection Grounds was because she had gone through that very process.

“You are truly…… I do not know whether I should call you amazing or foolish…….”

“What am I supposed to do when there was no one to teach me?”

“What did that child say?”

That child.

She meant Ishara.

“She just knew how to do it too.”

“……I should stop talking.”

Leaving behind the sighing Persica, I glanced at Jin Baek.

After going berserk earlier, he had completely taken to his bed.

“Khuhuhu…… Isran…… As long as we have you, our House will become the strongest in the Golden Land…… To leave the second floor behind…… even conquering the Deep Floors will not be a dream…… Khuhuhuhu…….”

“Grandfather, please come to your senses……”

That side was hopeless.

I shook my head and asked Persica what I was curious about.

“How is opening one at the Association different from what nobles do? You said it does not even cost much.”

If nobles added a modifier like “precious” to it, then it could be inferred that the value of the spiritual medicine was truly considerable.

But as I remembered it, the Adventurer registration fee was only ten Runes.

“That is after graduating from the Selection Grounds. Since you have already obtained the ability to take in Mana, the Association only has to form the framework of the Core. A cheap Mana Stone is enough, so of course it is inexpensive.”

Of course, if one did that, the efficiency would be lower, but since they were beginners anyway, it apparently did not matter much.

‘Now I understand why people were surprised in the Selection Grounds.’

When Ishara used Sword Aura.

They had not been shocked simply because they saw Sword Aura.

It was because someone who looked to anyone like a mere commoner was using a technique that nobles would use.

“You used it well from the start, so I thought you had already made a Core, but to think that was not the case…….”

“I did not even know something like that existed.”

Perhaps the time I had spent as a fairy had been the cause.

Back then, I had been able to move Mana however I wished through Thought-Force alone, so the body I obtained later might have been influenced by that time.

“No wonder I thought something was strange. You were using swordsmanship, but I did not feel Mana until right before you used a Skill.”

When she first saw my swordsmanship, Persica had tilted her head, saying something felt strange.

Thinking back now, it was only natural for Persica to feel that sense of incongruity.

The Mana that should have been felt had not been felt.

“In any case, do not use that method anymore. It is too dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

“Of course! The method you use is…… if we compare it to the human body, it is like making blood flow by moving every single blood vessel throughout your body one by one without a heart.”

Blood vessels did not originally have the function of making blood flow by themselves.

My method was to knead and stimulate those blood vessels to force blood to pass through.

It was an extremely difficult and, at the same time, extremely dangerous method.

“If you were an ordinary person, your body would have burst and you would have died long ago, or you would have become an incurable cripple. Honestly, I do not even understand how you have survived until now.”

“…….”

That was probably because my body was a blessed body like Ishara’s.

Was this not the body that had endured and endured the incurable illness called Mana Stone Disease, and eventually even used Aura?

It must have endured somehow because it was that sturdy.

‘Now I understand the cause of the agony I felt when I used my Unique Ability.’

The swordsmanship unfolded through my Unique Ability was naturally also a technique that assumed a Core existed.

But since I had no Core, as a fallback, it must have used the reckless Mana operation I had been using until now.

Using a method that was already burdening enough to begin with, I had used techniques several levels above my own, so it was only natural that my body had been reduced to a rag.

It was like circulating blood without a heart while sprinting at full speed like a madman.

“You rascal…… No, Isran! Become a member of our House! I will let you have all the wealth and power of White Cloud Castle!”

Jin Baek, who had awakened, began going berserk again.

The problem was that now even Jin Sohwi had begun joining him.

“Isran. Let us become family in the Jin Clan. As it happens, my second younger sister is truly beautiful……”

“…….”

Why are you acting up too?

At this rate, I really would end up becoming Jinsran instead of Isran.

As I was being held by the two and only sweating coldly, Persica came running over and pulled me away from them.

“He is my party member, you know? Do you have any idea how rude it is to bypass the expedition leader and directly contact a party member?”

Persica snapped sharply, hid me behind her, and quickly stepped back.

Why are you acting like this too……?

Watching the war of nerves between the two forces, I let out a sigh.

“In any case, can that thing called a Core be made right now?”

Somehow, I felt excited.

Making a Core meant that most of the problems currently facing me could be solved, did it not?

‘Perhaps I might even be able to complete Ishara’s swordsmanship.’

I still had not fully mastered Ishara’s swordsmanship.

I had learned how to operate Mana through the White Cloud Sword Method, but Ishara’s swordsmanship was far more difficult, so I had been struggling with it.

In a sense, one could say I had only now “entered the method.”

If I made a Core here, I might not only complete the swordsmanship, but also enter the “world of lines and trajectories” I had glimpsed through my Unique Ability.

“It is not difficult, but your case is a little different.”

Jin Baek answered with his eyes gleaming.

“A catalyst is needed to make a Core. Those Association bastards use cheap Mana Stones, but that is only possible because the subject is a beginner who has not accumulated any training at all. Your case is different.”

“……What happens if we do it the same way as the Association?”

“Your training has been accumulated chaotically without a nucleus, has it not? The moment a Core is made, all of it will disappear.”

Damn it, my level would drop.

It was not simply a problem of having invested two hundred thousand Runes.

Some of what I had achieved here had been accomplished through Swap, and if that flew away once, I could not recover it.

“Then what should I do?”

“What else? You must carry out a precise Core Construction Ritual with good spiritual medicine.”

“……Would White Cloud Castle perhaps have any extra?”

He said earlier that he would consider my wish unused, so could I not settle it with that?

When I said it with roughly that meaning, Jin Baek chuckled.

“I understand what you are thinking, but unfortunately, spiritual medicine is precious even in White Cloud Castle. Sohwi used the last one we had.”

“Ha ha……”

So it could not be done immediately after all.

Just as I was about to grow disappointed, Jin Baek spoke first.

“Hurry the investigation of South Spirit Mountain. If you go to the centipede nest, you should be able to obtain one there.”

“You mean we can get it from the Gigantia?”

“The blood of their leader is one fairly decent spiritual medicine.”

If it was the leader of the Gigantia…… did he mean Gigantress, the 3-star boss?

‘I thought its blood was junk.’

No wonder something with no use sold for a high price when put on the marketplace.

I thought it was an item for earning pocket money, but I never expected it to have a use like this.

“Is there not something better than that on the second floor?”

At that moment, Persica cut in.

Jin Baek asked back as if puzzled.

“What are you talking about? Something better?”

“I heard there was a spiritual medicine on the second floor that is better than Gigantress’s blood.”

“Are you perhaps referring to Black Jade?” 

“Ah, yes. That was the name.”

Jin Baek’s eyes narrowed.

“True, if it is a precious treasure like Black Jade, not only would the efficiency be good when constructing the Dantian, but one could also imbue it with a special nature.”

“Then that—”

“But that cannot be obtained.”

Jin Baek spoke flatly.

“Black Jade is considered one of the finest among spiritual medicines. As such, it is extremely difficult to obtain. Do you know the legend of the centipede?”

Persica and I shook our heads.

“It is said that a centipede that has lived for a long time, like a snake, also becomes a dragon and ascends to heaven. However, after the Downfall blocked the heavens a thousand years ago, the centipede that could no longer ascend condensed its energy into a Core and fell into a deep sleep. While waiting for the day the heavens open again.”

He used Mana to draw a small crystal in the air.

“When that centipede is killed, the sorrow and resentment of being unable to ascend merge with the Core and become Black Jade. It is truly a legend. In the thousand-year history of the Golden Land, no one has ever found it.”

“Ah…… so that is what it is.”

“Do not think it will be easy to obtain just because you ate something similar.”

Jin Sohwi’s gaze and mine turned toward Persica.

I wondered why she had brought that up, but she had eaten something similar?

“What did you eat?”

“Heavenly Thunder Pill.”

Insane, she ate that?

Heavenly Thunder Pill was a Byproduct that dropped at an atrociously low rate when defeating “Kirin,” one of the Field Bosses of the fifth floor.

Even the marketplace price was at least one billion Runes.

I had seen it exactly once in my thousands of attempts……

And this girl said she had eaten it since she was young.

“If you want to brag, just say you want to brag.”

“I told you because I was thinking of you, and that is what you say!?”

They call that bragging.

In truth, Black Jade was also an item I knew, but I had given up on it early the moment I heard the name.

Not only was its drop rate atrocious, even seeing the boss that gave it was difficult, and in the first place, we could not defeat it at our current level.

‘I should quietly use Gigantress’s blood.’

I could not waste time on an item that might or might not exist.

The concept of a Core itself was unfamiliar to begin with, and an item that bestowed a nature upon a Core was even more unfamiliar.

I did not need something like that.

In the first place, I had reached the Final Chapter even without it.

“Then please just handle the Construction Ritual later.”

“Good grief…… Very well. Just bring back the leader’s blood properly.”

“Yes, elder.”

The reasons to participate in the investigation team had increased.

‘This time, I might be able to resolve the Core and Mana Stones at the same time.’

I touched the hilt of the sword tied to my waist.

This time, I would complete Ishara’s swordsmanship.

***

The dispatch of the investigation team, which had originally been much later, was moved up to three days later.

Everyone in the House was busy with preparations, and rumors spread through the streets of White Cloud Castle, making the Adventurers increasingly excited.

─White Cloud Castle is dispatching an investigation team to the Demonic Region.

─Does that mean the damned Entry Ban will finally be lifted?

─How many months has it already been since we could not use the southern road?

Everything began flowing smoothly.

All of it was a change that had begun after Isran appeared.

“Talent bestowed by heaven, is it…….”

That night.

Jin Baek sat in the empty Training Grounds and looked up at the sky.

“Is this not truly coincidental, Hildegard?”

An absurd genius who had reached Great Completion in Buddha Patriarch’s chant in only five days.

Perhaps, throughout the entire history of the Golden Land, he had been born with talent without precedent and never to be repeated.

He would surely change history.

“If that fellow, rather than me, had been by your side, you would not have needed to become what you did.”

Hildegard Ortanis.

He thought of the woman who had once been revered as a legend, but was now condemned as a sinner.

If Isran had been there at that time.

Could the expedition party have passed beyond “that incident” on the seventh floor and reached the eighth floor?

“……It seems I really am nearing the time to die.”

He coveted Isran’s talent.

Anyone with even a little eye for people would have their eyes overturned upon seeing that talent.

Jin Baek coveted his talent madly, and found it painfully regrettable.

If only ten years.

If only he had appeared exactly ten years earlier……

“This must be an old man’s greed.”

However, there were no “ifs” in history.

There were only things that had happened.

“Are you watching? Your daughter is going there.”

In an era where everyone had abandoned her, there was only one person who had not given up on her.

Her daughter was heading below the abyss to meet her mother.

Was it coincidence that Isran was beside that child?

Or was it an inevitability appointed by the now-vanished heavens?

The sky draped in the gray Downfall did not reveal the secrets of heaven, so all that remained was to listen to his own heart.

“I should go prepare the Spell Formation. What hardship is this in my old age? Good grief…….”

Grumbling, he rose from his seat.

What he could do was only help Persica and Isran safely descend below.

That was likely the final mission left to his aged self.

For the child who would soon come, he hurried the preparations for the Construction Ritual.

***

The southern Demonic Region of the second floor, South Spirit Mountain.

In that place where entry had long since been forbidden, a man rose to his feet.

“It was long…….”

In his hand, he held a staff wrapped round and round with Talismans, giving off an ominous black flame.

In that place where the corpses of slain Gigantia lay scattered everywhere, the man chuckled.

“You will no longer be able to flee. I have planted a Banner within you, after all……” 

His eyes turned to the surroundings.

Among dozens of centipede corpses, traces of a truly gigantic being could be seen engraved into the ground.

“Soon, Black Jade will fall into the Order’s hands.”

The time of the prophecy had arrived.

The man chuckled and hid himself in the shadow of the mountain.