Chapter 40: 40

༺ Dupe Bug (3) ༻

 

  There were two ways to consume Mandrakes.

 

  One was to chew on the roots but Mandrakes were similar to ginsengs in a lot of ways – there were rumors that eating them raw was the best way to consume them, but the officially better method to consume it was by boiling it into a stew like a Chinese medicine.

 

  By combining it with 28 other ingredients including reed roots, silvervine, matrimony vine roots and antlers, you boil it for over 10 hours… 

 

  Yes. It was just like traditional Chinese medicine.

 

  As expected of a Korean game.

 

  “That’s done! Now we just have to wait. What are you doing Korin?”

 

  “Making the wait a bit more interesting.”

 

  “Nnn?”

 

  Marie tilted her head in doubt after seeing the letters I wrote on the ground by removing the dry leaves.

 

  “These are rune letters, right?”

 

  “Yes. Can you read them?”

 

  “I don’t understand what they mean, but I’ve seen them in one of my courses.”

 

  “This one here is ᚢ [Uruz]. It means untamed / pure strength.”

  

  “Then, what about these ones here?”

 

  “This one is ᚹ [Wunjo], which means joy and glory. The one next to that is ᚨ [Ansuz], which represents a great deity of the pantheon and this ᚷ [Gebo] here is the symbol of a female warrior that was favored by one of the gods.”

 

  “It doesn’t look like a simple combination of letters. Does it mean anything?”

 

  “Apparently you get this when you combine these four letters. O warrior, you are being watched over by the pantheon and the great warrior, so obtain glory through your power.”

 

  “Wow~. That’s an interesting interpretation!”

 

  “Yes. So from ancient times, this set of runes have been sent down as an unignorable declaration of a fight to Rune Mages.”

 

  “Where did you learn this from? Isn’t rune language pretty much unused these days?”

 

  “I learned it from my Master.”

 

  Less than a year ago, I had been learning runes and spearmanship under her. The Void and the Primal Rune she left behind… Even though I learned how to reach the Void, the Primal Rune was a bit of a different issue.

 

  Knowing the letters did not mean I could use them, after all.

 

  By ‘retrieving’ and carving into one’s body, a Primal Rune was something that could only be used by one person. One of the goals of the final boss of this scenario was to retrieve one of these Primal Runes for himself.

 

  My master wanted me to inherit the Primal Rune but ended up being killed before that by ‘that guy’.

 

  “What kind of person is your master? Is your master from the Tower of Mages or something? Or else, it would be hard to know about runes, right?”

 

  “Hmm… My master… is just a normal person. A normal person that you would find anywhere.”

 

  A normal and kind person, who did everything she could.

 

  “…You look very fond of your master.”

 

  “Uhh… do I?”

 

  “Nn. And you look very sad as well.”

 

  Marie directly stared at me for a while before pulling me by my hand all the way to the boiling pot of medicine. 

 

  “Would you like some potatoes?”

 

  “Umm… I did skip my meal but…”

 

  “I have it so don’t worry! Doggo!”

 

  – Clap clap!

 

  Something began sprinting towards us after her clap. I was a bit nervous from the rough and violent set of steps but what appeared afterwards was a blood-red dog which was as big as a large werewolf. 

 

  “Looks like you have full control over your familiar.”

 

  “It’s thanks to you, Korin. Because you’ve been giving me your blood all the time… I was able to form a proper contract.”

 

  A familiar of a vampire – inside the Blood Realm formed by a vampire above the elder-rank, they were as omnipotent as the vampire themselves.

 

  Their strength was at the pinnacle of every familiar possible, and it wasn’t an overstatement to say that the status of a vampire was decided by the strength of their familiar.

 

  “Is his name Doggo?”

 

  “Not bad, right?”

 

  “Well, he is a dog I guess…”

 

  Upon a closer inspection of Doggo, I realized that he had started to form a ‘physical’ shape that was a lot clearer than before. He was similar to a clay doll formed with drops of blood before back when I was fighting him, but he now looked like an actual organism.

 

  As expected, Marie’s talent as a vampire was unprecedented.

 

  “By the way, isn’t this guy also my child in a way?”

 

  “H, huh? What do you… mean?”

 

  “Like, think about it. If he’s made of blood, then half of this guy’s blood was probably mine, so doesn’t that make me his father? Hahaha!”

 

  “…!! I, I see. That makes sense.”

 

  Perhaps because she had been outsmarted by a knight as a mage who seeked wisdom, Marie lowered her hat all the way down and silently hid her face.

 

  After a while, she lifted her head with a bright smile and gave a suggestion.

 

  “So since you are Doggo’s daddy…!”

 

  “Yes?”

 

  “How about you play with Doggo?”

 

  “Play with him? Like, he’s not a real dog though so why…”

 

  “He likes to move around a lot, so you really need to play around with him! It surprises me sometimes because he brings dead demonic beasts from the hunting grounds if he doesn’t have enough exercise!”

 

  “Is he a real dog or what…”

 

  Wasn’t he more like a tiger or a lion considering his size? Why was he acting like a dog?

 

  “Doggo! Papa is saying he will play with you!”

 

  “Woof!”

 

  Doggo walked up to me and lowered his tongue while panting out loud. Hmm… I guess he’s a little bit cute?

 

  “You might spill the stew so go play over there!”

 

  “Okay mama.”

 

  “Thank you~”

 

  “Haha, Doggo! Let’s go play with daddy!”

 

  I took Doggo over to the corner of the empty plot of land but I wasn’t really sure what to do, because I had never played with super large dogs that were 1 meter taller than a person.

 

  “Should we play catch with a rock or something?”

 

  “…”

 

  “Doggo?”

 

  The big guy, who had been clinging on while panting just then, suddenly turned different.

 

  “Grrhhh…!”

 

  “U, uht?!”

 

  Suddenly, Doggo started rapidly dashing towards me!

 

  – Kwang!

 

  “…?!”

 

  Even though his speed wasn’t as fast as the one he had inside the Blood Realm, that was definitely not the speed of a playing dog. It was so fast that I could have died immediately upon contact. If I got hit by that instead of that tree…

 

  – Gulp!

 

  “Kukekekeke…!”

 

  That was when I saw something – the wicked smile on Doggo’s lips which he had been concealing by ‘pretending’ to be nice!

 

  – Kwang! Kwagagang!

 

  – Kwagagagagang!!

 

  “Let’s have potatoes when you’re done!”

 

  Marie’s voice was barely audible through the thunderous roars resonating across the area. Following that, another voice echoed from behind.

 

  “Haa… haa! Senior Marie! I brought some food over! It’s enough for the three of us to… Nnn?”

 

  – Pugak! Kwagagak!

 

  Rolling across the ground, I somehow managed to re-posture myself. 

 

  Doggo you bastard! Are you trying to kill me!?

 

  “Mr. Korin!”

 

  “Alicia?”

 

  “W, what is happening? Is there an enemy attacking us?”

 

  “Give me your hand!”

 

  “Huh? H, here you go.”

 

  – Slap!

 

  I gave her palm a slap.

 

  “Hnn?”

 

  “Your turn now. Doggo! Alicia-noona here will be playing with you from now on!”

 

  “…What?”

 

  “I’m too old to play with dogs…”

 

  “Grrhh!”

 

  “Huh? Huhh? Kyaaaaat?!”

 

  The newborn vampire-breed dog was way too proactive.

 

  ****

 

  Soon, the Mandrake stew was done. This decoction made of all sorts of medicinal herbs and a Mandrake was bubbling in a color that was as dark as outer space.

 

  “Looks good.”

 

  Marie poured the medicine into a bowl as if she was used to it.

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  “It’s best to drink a Mandrake stew in one go. Let me put ice inside.”

 

  After creating a large cluster of ice with her magic, Marie placed it inside the bowl of medicine. I could already feel with my hands how lukewarm it was, and it looked like there wouldn’t be any problems with drinking it in one go. I poured the content down my throat while being grateful of her consideration.

 

  ‘Bitter.’

 

  The Mandrake stew was very bitter but it wasn’t unbearable because things that were good for the body were all bitter in general. 

 

  “Mr. Korin. Here’s a candy.”

 

  “Hoh…”

 

  There was a very intense and bitter aftertaste so I was craving for something sweet and Alicia handed me a honey bomb candy in a timely manner. It was sweet enough to numb your tongue so I usually had this only when I was trying to focus on something, but it was okay after being mixed with the bitter taste of the Mandrake decoction.

 

  “Korin! Would you like some potatoes?!”

 

  “No. Why would I have potatoes while having medicine? I’ll eat it later.”

 

  “Mhmm…!”

 

  Her cheeks bulged out like balloons. More importantly, a system window appeared in front of my eyes.

 

『You have consumed a Mandrake Decoction.』

– Your mana regeneration speed greatly increases.- Your maximum mana capacity increases by 1,300.

 

 

  It wasn’t an overstatement to say that this was a miraculous improvement for mages. The mana pool I had after Alicia’s incident was [Low (2,870)]. Considering how I was recovering less than 1,500 mana a day, it was a massive improvement.

 

  Right now, my mana pool was at 4,170, and if this was the same as the game, the regen speed should have gone up by over a thousand so I should be recovering about 2~3,000 a day.

 

  ‘With this, my stats have finally reached the level of a full-fledged named character.’

 

  Although it really was a random set of stats, I was starting to have similar stats to named characters. Taking into account the support I had through the Precept, it was safe to say that I wouldn’t lose to peers of my level.

 

  “Senior Marie and Alicia, you should have some too. Having it on repeat isn’t going to do anything anyway.”

 

  Because a Mandrake was a very potent herb, they only showed their effect once. You could have it again once the medicine was fully absorbed into your body but that would halve the effect and this decoction would also go bad before that so it was better to give it to other people.

 

  “Can I?”

 

  “Just leave a little bit please, so that I can give it to others as well.”

 

  A pure knight like Jaeger had no use for it, but Lark and Yuel would probably love it. As for Dorron, I would sell it to him. 

 

  Considering the effect of a Mandrake stew, he would gladly pay up to 10 gold coins for it.

 

  “Oh right. After boiling it once, you should put the leftover Mandrake in a fridge,” said Senior Marie.

 

  “Isn’t it over once you boil it once?”

 

  “You can continue boiling it into a tea, and it will help harden your bones!”

 

  To think there was such an effect to used-up Mandrakes…! As expected of the daughter of a family of farmers, she knew a lot more than I did.

 

  Next up was the White Silver Mandrake.

 

  “It’s my first time seeing a Mandrake of this color! What is this?” Senior Marie asked.

 

  “I just got a bit lucky. Ah, I have to eat this one by myself.”

 

  “Don’t worry about that because it’s yours, Korin. We’re grateful already for you sharing the stew with us!”

 

  “But I am curious about what it does.”

 

  Alicia added after Marie. Both of them seemed very intrigued by the White Silver Mandrake which they were seeing for the first time.

 

  “Huu…”

 

  White Silver Mandrake. Although there was the downside that you had to eat this horrendous-looking thing raw, it did have a ridiculously positive effect to it.

 

  – Gulp!

 

  I slowly munched through it starting from the roots. Thanks to Marie dusting off the dirt with her magic, the texture wasn’t so terrible. There was a time when I chewed on a raw fresh ginseng, and it had the exact same texture as that. The flavor wasn’t actually that bad.

 

『You have consumed the White Silver Mandrake.』

– An Aura Core has been formed.- Your Aura Rank is { Medium }. You may accumulate up to 3,500 aura.

 

  At last!

 

  At last, I have gained it. My main energy source in the last iteration, the Aura Core!

 

  “Huhuhu…”

 

  “Mr. Korin?”

 

  “I wouldn’t have had to go through all that stuff if I had this.”

 

  The original plan was to consume this before the boss fight against Marie. It was a type of expedient that would let me, who was still at the level of a Grade 2 named character, use the ‘Sixth Style’.

 

  “I have an Aura Core now.”

 

  “Hukk… An Aura Core?!”

 

  “Are you serious?”

 

  Aura Core.

 

  It was a storage of aura that knights had once their control over aura reached the pinnacle.

 

  Although it was formed naturally inside your body once you reached { High } in your Aura Rank, I was able to obtain one a lot earlier than others thanks to the White Silver Mandrake. 

 

  Besides, if I reached { High } in my Aura Rank, I would be forming another core so that meant I would be having double the cores!

 

  With an Aura Core, it was possible to store excess aura inside it, and that was why the difference between knights at the Medium Rank and those at the High Rank in terms of Aura was like that of heaven and the earth.

 

  Even if they had a similar amount of aura, a Medium Aura Rank knight would be fighting with about 4,000 aura whereas a High Aura Rank knight would be fighting with at least 10,000. 

 

  That was one of the reasons why the power balance surged through the roof into the Milky Way when it came to the highest level of knights. 

 

  A simple calculation would already tell you that one side had more than double the other side’s ammunition.

 

  For someone like me who had a terrible Aura Rank as well as Aura Capacity from birth to be able to use the ‘Sixth Style’ which consumed a tremendous amount of aura, measures like this were essential.

 

  “That is some… amazing effect. Then the gold one…”

 

  “Not yet. That is for later.”

 

  In response to my words, Alicia halted her hands that were heading to the Golden Mandrake.

 

  “Ah~. I guess it’s bad to have different types of medicine at once right?”

 

  She wasn’t necessarily wrong so I didn’t bother correcting her.

 

  ****

 

  There was a very rational reason behind why countless professors of the Magic Department gave up on joining the Tower of Mages and remained behind to be professors at the Academy. 

 

  The overwhelming number of books inside Merkarva Great Library was one of the reasons, but that came second. If so, then what was the first and foremost reason?

 

  It was because on the western side of the Academy was the enormous laboratory which had the best experiment subjects that mages could ever dream of.

 

  An example… was a ‘Unique Grade’ demonic beast that was sealed due to being unkillable.

 

  “Now now. Please prepare the restriction spell, and the Magic team? Please double-check the sealing chains and the pressure.”

 

  Professor Deina couldn’t help but twitch the corners of her lips while seeing the test subject that was prepared for this experiment. 

 

  Since the Academy was an education facility, inhumane and immoral experiments were forbidden but being able to use a massive and renowned monster like this as a subject was one of the privileges that the professors of the Merkarva Academy had.

 

  “King of Iron Mountain. To think I would see such a famous great monster with my own eyes.”

 

  Laying in front of the eyes of Professor Deina was a large boar.

 

  Reaching 6 meters in length, it weighed 50 tonnes at the very least. The fearsome fangs going up looked more like smooth steel than a bone, and the skin of the boar that was large enough to cover a small house appeared like a metal plate instead of the stiff fur of an animal. 

 

  This ‘Rune Boar’ which was currently sleeping in its sealed state was the legendary demonic beast from 85 years ago, which had been barely sealed after it crushed the northern Dingle Peninsula into fragments.

 

  King of Iron Mountain.

 

  Killer of Heroes.

 

  The Demonic Pig of the Dingle Peninsula.

 

  A great demonic beast that was sealed by the previous previous chairman, Biren, Josephine the Dimensional Witch and… the one renowned for being the strongest knight of the time, Tates Valtazar.

 

  Even though two semi-Unique Grades and a Unique Grade Knight like Tates Valtazar had joined the expedition, they weren’t able to kill the King of Iron Mountain.

 

  The reason for that was the ‘Primal Rune’ that this Rune Boar had inside it. The ancient power that functioned as a concept rather than a simple addition of power was inside the beast.

 

  – Clap clap clap.

 

  “Wow~ What an amazing boar.”

 

  At the corner of the laboratory, an afro-haired knight wearing vambraces walked up to the sealed boar which was being sealed by the best restrictive items and the world’s strongest spells.

 

  “Professor Fermack. Don’t go too close to it.”

 

  “I am aware, Professor Deina. Is this it? The one that I have to carve a ‘rune’ on in this experiment?”

 

  “Yes. You’ve seen it in the textbook right, Professor Fermack? This is the boar that swallowed an entire iron mine as well as the Primal Rune that was carved deep inside the mine.”

 

  “Of course. I’m from the Dingle Peninsula, you see. This thing comes out in our fairy tales.”

 

  Professor Deina commented on how ironic it was that even the great demonic beast that used to be unstoppable in its times was now just a villain of a fairy tale, as Professor Fermack showed his agreement.

 

  “Haa~. It’s great that we have you, Professor Fermack. It’s pretty much impossible to find Rune Mages these days.”

 

  The one that sealed the rationality of this demonic pig was the Rune Magic of Tates Valtazar. 

 

  In other words, the first step to undoing the countless seals that were cast on this monster was by unsealing the rune spell, and that meant you needed a Rune Mage.

 

  There was a time when Professor Deina contemplated whether she should learn Rune Magic herself just for this experiment. However, learning a new language was proving to be very difficult and due to all the ambiguous descriptions in the modern times, it was extremely hard to learn them.

 

  That was when Professor Fermack showed up. He was a knight but was a user of Rune Magic. 

 

  “That’s how everything is with dead languages. Only knights like me with a bit of room to spare for mana uses it, but it’s still hard to use in a real fight.”

 

  “Are there still some people in the North that use rune letters?”

 

  “There are some. In Berkut Academy, it’s a part of the mandatory course.”

 

  “Ah~ right. I do remember inviting a professor from Berkut Academy for an experiment that required an expert at Rune Magic.”

 

  Although the origin of rune letters wasn’t very clear, the northern continent was believed to be where it originated. 

 

  Looking back, strangely enough, most of the great demonic beasts that were unstoppably powerful tended to come from the North.

 

  “By the way, what was this experiment about again?” Professor Fermack asked.

 

  “It’s about the alpha specialty of Unique Grade entities. I am planning on writing an article regarding the alpha energy of Unique Grade demons and how they affect the lower Grade entities.”

 

  “Unique Grade, huh…”

 

  Professor Fermack immediately thought of a few names, because there were two Unique Grade demi-humans in this Academy already.

 

  Leaving aside the Heavenly Yaksha due to the complex circumstances because of her relationship with the New Faith and the empire in the East, Marie…

 

  “Now now. Shall we start with interpreting the sealing runes that are cast on this pig?”

 

  The two of them ended their short conversation and focused on the demonic boar in front of their eyes.

 

  It had been 80 years since it was captured, but the vicious energy emanating out of this sealed monster was still the same even after 80 years of captivation.

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