༺ The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (2) ༻
There was a fairy called Baobhan Sith.
It was an astral spirit that sucked the blood of any men it seduced using its beauty and charming white dress.
Because of its otherworldly beauty, every man tended to be bewitched by it the moment they saw it.
Right – as long as they could see it, that is.
“Lululu~”
‘…What? Why is he ignoring me?!’
Facing the sudden intruder of the forest, the fairy fluttered its skirt and tried to seduce him, but the man remained firm. It was the first time that this experienced demonic spirit, which had been roaming around the world for centuries, saw a man who was unmoved by her charm.
It was a massive disgrace that the White Queen was being disregarded like this!
‘Huhh? Are you going? Really? Are you just going to leave?’
The fairy tried to stop him with a sorrowful voice, but the voice failed to reach him.
How was it that he could ignore its beautiful voice? Even though there had been no man in existence who had ever resisted the temptations of its voice!
The pride that the queen had built up for centuries crumbled down in an instant. The fairy was appalled by the fact that there was a man whose mental willpower could be as strong as this.
‘Hmph! You’re doing yourself a disservice by ignoring my temptation. I would have at least let you enjoy heavenly pleasure before your death!’
Baobhan Sith was looking at the man with a seductive gaze when it noticed an astral body standing before the man’s path.
‘Hkk, hkk…!’
The man was walking to a ‘banshee’, who was in the form of a gloomy-looking granny.
The woman wept in sorrow. After noticing the presence of the man walking to itself, the banshee held its voice in.
‘What? He’s walking straight to the banshee?’
He was going to die an instant death at this rate. Although the Baobhan Sith had also been intending to kill him when seducing him, it still couldn’t help but tilt its head at the sight of the illogically irrational actions of the man.
In the end, when the man foolishly walked all the way up to the face of the banshee… the banshee let out a loud scream.
‘KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!’
Those who hear the Banshee’s Scream would surely die.
It was a horrendous scream that made Baobhan Sith furrow its eyes despite also being an astral body.
The scream was a powerful attack that would immediately put people to death if they didn’t have enough resistance or tolerance to magic. Even though the man seemed to have a strong body and willpower, there was no way that he could stay alive after being screamed at by a banshee a hair’s breadth away—
“Is it this way~? Or maybe that way~.”
‘Kiii?’
He was way too normal.
There were indeed some people that could survive after hearing the scream of a banshee but… they would still bleed from their ears or their eyes… or at least give a frown.
The banshee was stupefied after seeing the man continue humming as if its scream was nothing.
‘What is this guy?’
‘No idea.’
That banshee wasn’t the only one. Several other evil spirits of the Prohibited Forest gathered after hearing the banshee’s scream.
‘Here comes a newbieee!’
‘He’s mine! Mine!’
‘Hue hue hue! A new visitor of the forest!’
‘Don’t go easy on himmmmm!’
Evil spirits of the Prohibited Forest.
Originally, they were free spirits that roamed across the world but were forced by the mages to become wardens of the forest and were therefore about to die of boredom.
Playing with intruders and ripping them to pieces was what gave them enjoyment, but there was no one they could play with apart from the lunatic robbers who dared to steal the treasures of the Tower.
The reason this forest was the worst region to fight in, was because the bored evil spirits had the tendency to immediately gather to any source of entertainment including a fight. But…
‘What the hell? What the heck?’
‘What is… wrong with this guy?’
One man… Korin Lork had visited their forest by himself, and there had already been 4,000 evil spirits trying to kill him one way or another. They each showed off their spiritual powers and slashed at Korin.
A banshee’s scream and the charm of a Baobhan Sith were all at the level of powerful attacks that could sink dragons.
‘???’
‘???’
But despite their attacks and even though the ground quivered and the forest cried in pain… not even one of them was able to hurt him.
Korin Lork’s 2nd Precept.
This precept that was put in place to strive for a grand aspiration while restricting oneself allowed him to be uninterrupted by half the evil creatures of the world thanks to a play of words.
‘Huhh? Wait a second!’
His destination was the place where the mages of the Tower were cultivating powerful herbs to help with their experimentations.
The Tower of Mages was the place where most of the magic experimentations and progress occurred. However, that in turn called for unending experiments and a supply of expensive ingredients that were required for those experiments.
Because of that, the mages of the Tower began to grow herbs in the den of evil spirits that were safe from the hands of robbers.
Those ranged from mandrakes to the water of rejuvenation, magic acorn, and the 10,000-year-old ginseng from the distant east.
Essentially, this place was the abode of all sorts of global elixirs and powerful herbs.
However, magic plants grew slowly and required a lot of time. There were several different herbs here that were a few years to centuries old, and for the super rare ingredients like the ginseng that required the mages to dig up the entire piece of land surrounding it, there was a Unique-Grade demonic spirit guarding the treasure.
Those were the valuable treasures of the Tower that they had been growing with care and surveillance. The priceless elixirs that far exceeded what money could buy…
“They are all mine now.”
Were about to be stolen by one thief.
***
Jackpot! A massive jackpot…!
The ❰Prohibited Forest❱ of the Steel Archipelago could only be described as a big fat jackpot.
The invaluable treasures that must have been nurtured under the extreme care of the mages – the herbs that were supposed to be taken hastily one at a time while evading the endless rampage of evil spirits – were currently being swept away by my hands.
“Mandrakes… who cares about these! Wait, that’s? Liquid Azurite? Drink it away~”
-Slurp slurp! Nom nom! Gulp!
– Your Aura Rank has increased.
– Your Mana Rank has increased.
– Your Aura Capacity has increased by 2000
– Your Mana Capacity has increased by 1500
– Your resistance to poison has increased.
– It is an artificial nest. The effect has been halved.
– You have acquired [Intuition of a Sparrow].
– Feel the wind with your skin and be quick at noticing danger.
I consumed a few of the elixirs right there and then, while throwing everything I found into a large bag. There were a bunch of powerful herbs here, but I couldn’t consume them all at once. If I were to consume a bunch of them without any measures in place, my body wouldn’t even be able to absorb all their energy.
For now, I decided to be content with that much. Besides, Liquid Azurite was already an elixir that was at the level of a hidden piece, so I was happy enough with that.
‘Let’s see. Add that to what I saw last time I did my stat check…’
Aura Rank: {High (13,130)}
Mana Rank: {High (11,920)}
Specialty: {Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior, Pain Tolerance, Domain Comprehension, Triple Core, Demonic Aura Release, Herculean Strength, Rune Amplification, Intuition of a Sparrow}
Strength: 223
Agility: 165
Vitality: 160
Aura: 174
Mana: 174
“Huu… This much, huh? With this, my stats should be even higher than Lunia’s.”
My total mana capacity had taken a huge leap when I acquired Airgetlam and was now above the mana capacity Marie had before becoming a vampire. Considering how she used to be called the blessed prodigy of magic even before her vampirification, it was quite incredible.
Of course, it was still far from being high enough if you were to compare that to the balance breaker of the knights, Hua Ran, who had more than 100,000 Aura when unsealed, and Marie who had reached 70,000 Mana capacity after becoming a vampire, but…
Those two were supposed to be raid bosses in the first place! A mere player having these stats at this point in time was incredible okay!
Plus, this wasn’t all there was to it. The repeatable farming field, ❰Prohibited Forest❱, still had in store an excellent treasure that had a 1.5% drop rate after defeating the King of Ghosts. That very treasure was currently right before my eyes.
Although the Unique-Grade demonic spirit, King of Ghosts, should be also right in front of me, it didn’t matter to me in the slightest whether he was a Unique-Grade monster or not.
It was because none of the astral bodies were able to do anything to me, so long as I didn’t perceive them.
“Huu… Am I shivering right now?”
My heart was beating rapidly like there was no tomorrow. The plan was to come here and retrieve the treasure one day, but I was expecting that day to be in another year’s time at the very least.
I slowly dug out the soil surrounding the elixir. Slowly but surely… without being enticed by the red fruits that slowly swung back and forth, I continued digging it out with care.
This wicked thing! Trying to enchant people with its luster!
“Hehehe…”
Slowly and carefully, like a mother caressing a baby, I moved my hands. Little grains of dirt got under my nails but that wasn’t important in the slightest!
“Ohh! Ohhhhh…!”
At last, I finally laid my eyes on the beautiful and attractive roots of the herb. Its lustrous beauty couldn’t be concealed by the dirt around it.
So this was it!
This was the spiritual herb…!
That legendary elixir that Elder Dreryan brought from the east after using 10 years’ worth of the cult’s budget!
『Korean Ginseng』
It was one of the three great elixirs of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, on par with the Yellow Gold Mandrake and the World Tree Fruit – a hidden piece that could only be acquired from the Prohibited Forest.
‘Let’s put this aside for now.’
I placed the ginseng into a pre-prepared container and carefully rested it inside my bag. Let’s ask Marie to boil it for me later!
The ground now had a hole after the herb was taken out, so I kindly replaced the contents with the potato seeds that I got from Marie. The Prohibited Forest had the best environment and magical fertilizers for the plants to grow because this was where the mages of the Tower grew their herbs.
This place was certainly going to provide an amazing habitat for the seeds.
For the next two days, I continued digging out herbs and planting seeds in return until my bag became as big as Santa Claus’s bag of gifts.
I couldn’t carry this to the Tower of Mages, so I firmly attached it to Uaithne and hid it in a secure place.
“Now. Time to get working.”
The time we had decided on was drawing near, so I started heading for the Tower.
***
The Steel Archipelago had four different-themed fields. First, of them was the Prohibited Forest located on the west of the main island – the repeatable farming map where the mages grew magical herbs and placed thousands of evil spirits to guard the land.
South of the island was where the port was located. There were also numerous iron mines and magic stone mines, so there were always a bunch of chimeras and mages.
On the eastern and northern front of the island was the ‘Land of Frost’. It was the place where giants had fallen in the distant past after losing the war against the Danann.
Therefore, that was the place where the resurrection of giants was going to occur.
Lastly, there was the sewage under the Tower of Mages. It was the passage where all sorts of disgusting filth left through to get to the ocean.
“Huu…”
The sticky ground beneath clung to the soles of my shoes. The humid and stinky air pervaded my nose and a gust of odor ate away at my nerves with every breath.
“This place is even worse than the other sewage.”
The reason why there were no fish living near the Steel Archipelago was because of the pollution caused by the Tower. These mages threw away the leftover filth of their innumerable experiments down the drain without any care.
Actually, wasn’t there a side quest available during the Tower of Mages Subjugation Act where you had to kill the ‘Sewage Monster’, which was created by the damage done to the environment…
-Flap!
“Mhmm…!”
Quickly, I raised the red spear, Gae Derg, and pointed it at the source of the sound. That sound just then sounded like the fluttering wings of a bird, but… was there a bird this deep into the sewage? A bat maybe?
[ᛞ] — Dagaz
I engraved the rune that brightened your line of sight in the darkness, and it immediately lit up the entire tunnel of the sewage. This was one of the regions of the Tower that had monsters. My plan was to avoid as many fights as possible but…
-Plop!
That was when I caught sight of something causing the water running down the sewage to ripple. I hoped it would be a normal water demon but considering that size…!
“GHIIIIII…!”
The monster burst out of the water in one leap.
“Tch…!”
I kicked off the sticky ground of the sewage to jump back.
Kwang!
The head of the monster crashed through the walls of the tunnel, but the monster had not a single wound on its head.
I looked at the monster who glared back at me with a growl. There were shells covering its deteriorated eyes and there were several dozens of cracks on the mouth of the monster, making it resemble something that would come out of that one zombie game.
“Damn it… How unlucky can I get?”
Field Boss, Monster of the Underground Sewage. A pitiful monster created by the environmental pollution of the Tower of Mages. It was a Grade 1 demonic beast that was supposed to be defeated by a full party.
‘It will draw the eyes of the mages if I take too long. I have to end it in a flash.’
As soon as I concentrated a flow of mana into my left arm, a silver arm… Airgetlam started to appear. Although I had yet to fully master it, the compressed power of the sun was surely going to be…
“Kyuu?”
It was then. The monster who was opening its gruesome mouth wide open, threatening to devour me in one swoop, suddenly let out a dumbfoundingly cute groan.
-Kuek? Kuek?!
As if someone was grabbing it on the back, the monster was dragged behind. The under-developed legs of the monster desperately tried to scrape the ground in an attempt to save itself, but there was an overwhelming difference in strength.
“KYUUUUU?!”
Before long, the monster was lifted into the air by its tail and—
-Kwang! Kwagang!
-Kwang! Kwarurung! Kwaang!
It started being rammed into every edge and corner of the tunnel, and the death throes of the monster were covered up by the crumbling pebbles of the sewage.
One-sided violence.
“…”
To my knowledge, there was only one person in the world who could show such a devastating difference in strength.
Walking out from behind the enormous body of the monster down the sewage tunnel was a girl wearing nun clothes.
Hua Ran was carrying the tail of the late field boss.
“Can you cook this?”
“It’s dirty. Throw it away.”
………
……
…
Going up the underground sewage of the Tower of Mages, one would end up at an old control room. Despite being the control room of a sewage system this big, it was barren and unattended, but the room left behind by the ancestors proved to be a good safe zone for the player.
Those guys from the Tower. Maybe they were complacent or something, but none of them looked after the sewage and didn’t even bother approaching it in the first place.
All they did was throw in some chimeras and evil spirits.
This was why the world wouldn’t go around with only those so-called ‘intelligent’ mages. They just didn’t know how there were some things in the world that had to be done despite being exhausting and unclean.
“Let’s stay here for a bit while we wait for the rest of them to arrive.”
I carefully put my bag down in the dusty control room. There was no knowing when Marie, Master Erin, and Lady Josephine would arrive, so I had to clean it up to some extent.
“By the way, how did you come here so quickly? Even though I was quite early.”
The time we had decided on was in 2 days’ time. We were generous with the time because unlike me, the others had to defeat demonic spirits on top of demonic beasts.
Of course, most of the weaklings would immediately turn their tails and run away upon seeing Marie and Hua Ran, but this was still way too early.
“I turned into a cro… I mean… I ran.”
“Uhh… They didn’t see you, right?”
“No.”
It was true that it would have taken her less than a few hours if she sprinted across the island at her full speed but… for some reason, it felt a bit different.
In any case, I was getting prepared to clean up the dust in this room when Hua Ran walked up to me in large strides.
“You… Are you hurt?”
“Huh? No, not really.”
“No.”
She then suddenly turned around with a flick and walked away while mumbling something to herself.
“Turn into… a cat… he’ll find out…? Then, a wolf?”
It appeared that she was talking to Ran. Now that I thought about it, I could probably get Ran’s help with the cleaning.
“Hua. Can you come here for a bit?”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yeah yeah. I have a favor to ask.”
Her eyes turned evidently bright as she hopped her way across with a bright look on her face. Since when was she so happy to listen to my request? Was this the outcome of an open heart-to-heart conversation?
“Why? What is it?”
“Can you switch with Ran?”
“…Why?”
Suddenly her vigor took a massive fall. Although she always had an indifferent look on her face by default, it was very clear that she looked even more down than usual.
“I wanted to ask Ran to clean up with me.”
You don’t like cleaning, right?
“…I can do better.”
“R, really? Then can you lend me a hand?”
“Un.”
After turning her head around with a flick, Hua started cleaning up the room. There appeared to be some verbal fight going on, but Hua ended her internal conversation with, “Be quiet.”
“…”
It was impossible to tell what was going on in the mind of a girl in puberty.
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