Chapter 152 : Chapter 152
Chapter 152
Sven, who had been lost in thought, shook his head in disbelief as he looked at the magic circle glowing red as if it were on fire.
“She was indeed a monster.”
He had heard the explanation about the Witch, but the amount of mana felt from the magic circle was not something that could be explained by the mere word ‘monster.’
Even seeing it with his own eyes, it was hard to believe that a living body could contain such mana.
“This much is only natural. She is the very person who blocked a legion all by herself.”
“That is true, but……”
Sven recalled Ian speaking about the Witch.
‘He clearly warned that she could become an enemy of humanity at any moment.’
The sweet scent wafting faintly from the magic circle felt terrifyingly dangerous, causing him to wrinkle his nose.
‘If she turns into an enemy, who on earth could stop her?’
“Seeing as you’re lost in useless worries again, this big brother will help you out.”
Just as Sven was about to fall into a bottomless pit of worry, Mogul strode over, slapped his cheek lightly, and continued.
“Both you and I need to know our place. Do you think people who can’t even beat that pig bastard are qualified to worry about such things?”
Mogul was right.
He had no such qualification.
Neither for him and Mogul being left behind in Moner.
Nor for the soldiers of the fortress who died under his command.
Nor for the fact that a Master like him was struggling against a mere Orc and had to rely on the Witch’s help.
It was all because he was weak.
Because he had been arrogant about his meager skills for so long and had stagnated.
“You’re right.”
Taking a deep breath, Sven adjusted his grip on his greatsword.
“Can you move?”
“This much is nothing.”
Looking sideways with skeptical eyes, he saw the wounds remaining on Mogul’s body healing rapidly.
“Already?”
“It’s not just that. She said she’d reattach anything as long as it wasn’t completely severed, and it wasn’t a lie. Plus mana regeneration.”
As if boasting about his rapidly filling Mana Heart, Mogul raised his aura on his axe and grinned.
“With this much firepower, it’s enough to catch one pig.”
Only then did Sven, whose synchronization with the magic circle was complete, take a deep breath and accept the overflowing mana.
“Indeed, it’s not just enough, it’s overflowing.”
Suddenly, their gazes met in mid-air.
“Then……”
“I will……”
Then, the two men, appearing before the Legion Commander, shouted simultaneously.
“He’s mine!”
“The injured should stay back!”
The greatsword and axe stormed towards the Legion Commander, who had barely managed to recover his arm.
* * *
- Human! Human! I feel tremendous mana!
At Calua’s cry while struggling in his embrace, Ian nodded.
“Yeah, we don’t need to worry about that side anymore.”
What was prepared over there was a top-tier magic circle with a whopping five 6th-circle spells stacked on it.
It was a magic circle called 『God's Blessing』.
- What kind of magic circle is it that I feel so much mana?
“Hmm… actually, I’ve never used it myself so I don’t know the details… but it’s a spell called 『God's Blessing』. I believe it was a spell that absorbs the mana of a designated enemy target to restore the allies' stamina and mana.”
『God's Blessing』 was a Hidden Piece discovered by a player taking the magician route.
Specifically, it was a magic circle researched by one of the past Tower Lords, and I heard that in the Magic Tower, it was called by its original title, ‘Miracle.’
‘Research famous enough for its title to be known externally.’
The reason such a famous magic circle remained unknown was simple.
All the pages with the formulas and diagrams were torn out, leaving only the pages describing the effects and necessary spells.
‘So the Magic Tower considers it one of the unrealizable magic circles.’
Players who took the magician route were different.
No, all players who heard about ‘Miracle’ thought the same.
The title ‘Miracle,’ the torn pages, and a Tower Lord's research journal that was a ‘special’ journal anyone could read despite being a Tower Lord's.
To anyone’s eyes, it clearly looked like a Hidden Piece.
Perhaps the players' efforts were not in vain, as the effect of the Hidden Piece became known before long.
Perhaps due to the setting that the Tower Lord researched it personally, magicians who researched this magic circle grew faster.
‘Considering they even revealed it to apprentice magicians, the Magic Tower must have known about it too.’
Bringing up the research to Garius was also due to this effect.
Unlike other classes where the difficulty of growth increases dozens of times once a wall is crossed, magicians tended to grow without blockage up to their limits just by holding onto this research.
‘But to think she really restored it.’
Even though the Witch’s workshop had the necessary materials, it was an unexpected achievement.
‘No, since she already restored it, we can’t use it for training, so maybe it’s not an achievement?’
When I explained the magic circle while omitting the information about players, Calua raised his head as if dissatisfied.
- But why is it ‘God’s Blessing’? ‘Miracle’ sounds much cooler… Ha! Could it be a spell restored by a god?!
Of course not.
Restoring the magic circle was closer to a happening caused by obsession bordering on madness combined with coincidence.
The player who restored the magic circle made that research journal public for everyone to see, and other players also succeeded in restoring it the same way.
Of course, the restored magic circle was completely different from the ‘Miracle’ the players had hoped for.
“It’s called 『God's Blessing』 not because the technique is close to a blessing. It was named that because people said you couldn’t use it unless a god came down and cast a blessing directly.”
- Hmm? Then is it divine magic?
“No, it’s just a figure of speech. Basically, they succeeded in restoring it, but using it required an enormous amount of mana. Above all, the mana loss rate was too high.”
- Hmm… Difficult.
“Think of it simply. How much magic can you use with one Orc magic stone?”
- 3rd circle! If we gather like humans, 4th circle is possible too! I used it today too!
He must have been combining magic stones by himself after playing with them earlier, as Calua raised his head proudly.
‘…Is that fun?’
It seemed more like he wanted praise, so I patted his head and continued.
“Right, right. But the mana contained in the magic stone is more than that, isn’t it? That’s called loss, and that magic circle has an even higher loss rate.”
- Higher? How much?
“Hmm… I’ve never used it myself, so I don’t know for sure.”
Even though I hadn’t used it myself, I remembered the first person who used that magic circle.
Didn’t they say they succeeded in activating the magic circle by destroying a holy relic?
It was from then on that the magic circle, previously called ‘Chicken Ribs’ or ‘Hidden Trash,’ began to be called 『God's Blessing』.
According to the fairly detailed information released, the loss rate was roughly…….
“About 90%?”
Calua, who had been leisurely enjoying Ian’s touch in his arms, flinched and raised his head.
- ……?
To throw away precious mana on the ground.
If there was that much, I could eat it, make it into magic stones and eat it, drink it if it wasn't a magic stone, or if I choked, ask Reina to eat it with delicious meat.
Even if the human is a demon hiding his form, there’s no way he would do such a vicious thing…….
“Ah, wait? I think it was definitely over 90%, maybe around 95%.”
It was definitely enough.
Calua nodded as if it were only natural, accepting the cold reality.
Then, he lifted his head and shouted at the demon who didn’t know the taste of mana.
- You demon!
Bonk!
Calua, clutching the bridge of his nose from the demon’s strike, continued tearfully.
- No matter how much you want a blessing, to throw mana on the ground!
“No, I told you it’s not a blessing…….”
Since when was he not listening?
Wait, so he was just nodding without understanding until now?
Thinking he was insolent, I glared at Calua, and Calua covered the bridge of his nose with two paws and shouted as if unfairly treated.
- That’s mean, Human! I like mana too!
A dry laugh escaped me at the sight of him whining as if genuinely aggrieved.
“You can’t even eat it if I give it to you, greedy thing.”
I tried all sorts of things to turn this wretched lizard into a dragon.
Everyone in the Special Mission Unit, including myself, tried to supply mana at least once, and I even tricked him into drinking blood by calling it strawberry milk.
All I found out was that food is the best thing for Calua.
Surprisingly, this dragon recovered more mana from meals than from mana or magic stones.
On the other hand, he rejected most of the mana delivered directly.
‘If it were a problem that could be solved with money, I would have felt at ease.’
Even for Calua, who eats enormously, he can't eat indefinitely, so time was ultimately the answer.
At least I found out that higher-ranked monster corpses restore more mana, so the only thing I can do is catch higher-ranked monsters for him.
- Not true! I eat well! There is nothing I can't eat!
“Yeah, yeah, you’re great.”
- Of course!
However, the reason he was so full of greed for mana was still a question.
But I can't ask a real lizard, and I haven't seen a dragon anywhere to ask.
‘Is it because he can taste it……?’
I think I heard somewhere that mana tastes good.
Considering the Witch’s cotton candy-like mana, it might contain some taste that isn't usually felt.
Or maybe the memory of having no mana was so intense that he subconsciously desires mana.
Or maybe it's just because he's young.
‘He whines so much that sometimes I forget he’s a dragon.’
- Suddenly I feel bad!
“Here, eat some jerky.”
Quick-witted lizard.
When I put jerky in Calua’s mouth as his eyes flashed, Calua chewed on the jerky, munching away.
‘As expected, once the Orc side is finished, I need to make money somehow.’
It’s a thought I’ve been having a lot lately.
Whenever I see food being sucked into that mouth like a black hole, I feel a sense of crisis.
‘Others say when they pick up a dragon, they get to see a lair and obtain all sorts of treasures and unique items, but why am I…….’
No matter how many ancient books I searched, I couldn't find a human entrusted with dragon parenting!
- Human, Human, Human.
Wondering where the jerky the size of a forearm I just gave him went, I spoke coldly to the lizard licking his lips.
“That’s all for today.”
Thinking he wouldn't believe me, I even opened the food bag to show him.
“You ate your share this morning, and that just now was my lunch and dinner. Now there’s no jerky left until the others arrive.”
- ……!
Seeing Calua’s eyes filled with shock brought a surge of proud satisfaction.
- Human…….
“I gave it to you because it’s almost time to rendezvous, so you don’t need to feel sorry.”
- It’s not that…….
Swallowing hard and shaking his head vigorously, Calua continued.
- Is there perhaps no ‘Dragon’s Blessing’? Calua should be able to do that too!
He must have still been thinking about 『God's Blessing』, as he started chattering.
‘Is he that dissatisfied with ‘God’ being attached to the magic?’
If the first player who used the magic circle had activated it by breaking a Dragon Heart instead of a holy relic, it might have been called Dragon’s Blessing…….
- Think about it carefully! Surely ‘Dragon’s Blessing’ would be a cooler magic! Because dragons are a great species!
“Hmm…….”
Wait, isn’t it plausible that a real Dragon’s Blessing exists?
In a world where even a lower-ranking cleric’s blessing changes the luck stat, and even spirits can bestow blessings, there’s no way a Dragon’s Blessing doesn’t exist…….
‘Besides, wouldn’t a blessing received directly from a dragon living on the continent be better than a Holy Spirit borrowed from a god?’
Thinking there was nothing to lose, I thrust my forehead at Calua.
“Alright. Try it once.”
- …Huh?
“Put your paw on my forehead and say something like ‘I bless you~’.”
- H, Human……? Did, did I do something wrong……?
“No, I’m not scolding you, just try it?”
Calua, whose pupils were trembling with a tearful face, cautiously moved his front paw.
- I, I… I, bless…….
When I looked up at the weak voice that sounded like it would make even an existing blessing disappear, Calua, startled, blinked his eyes.
- Hic!
The sound of the dragon’s hiccups echoed loudly inside my head.