Chapter 19 Part5 (1/2)
<chapter 19.=”” clean=”” up=”” -=”” 5=””>
It was an extremely dark, underground secret room. It had the same vibe as the Anti-Skull secret facilities he'd found.
”You're a disappointment, Gerrit.”
”Senior...”
He could hear the two men's voices through his ears; one of their voices was familiar, and the other was unfamiliar.
”Senior Betadorn... Did you really have to go this far?”
”It would've been better had we had just taken it easy.”
At that moment, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's consciousness became clear. He quickly realized what kind of situation he was in, perhaps because this was his second time experiencing this. Hadn't he experienced something like this when he had absorbed the level 4 magician, Gerrit's bone?
It was a playback of memories that came about due to Bone Reinforcement's resounding success! As he acquired the much too clear memories and experiences, he would feel a sense of unity with the bone's original owner, to the point that he felt one with them!
'Gerrit's here too.'
Seeing the owner of a bone he'd absorbed right before him was quite a strange sight. Moreover, it looked like Gerrit was heavily injured, causing his feelings to abate. The perpetrator was... the one whose consciousness he was inhabiting: Celon Von Betadorn.
”Take it easy... Senior, you don't understand the true nature of your research!”
”You're the one who doesn't understand, Gerrit.”
Celon sighed, and drew his mana. He felt the immense mana saturating Celon's body whirl around him, increase in power, and focus into one hand. Eventually, what manifested in his hand was a high ranking magic, one which Lee s.h.i.+n Woo couldn't understand at all!
”That, kuhahk!”
The moment light radiated from his fingertips, Gerrit wasn't even able to resist and fell to the floor, as if he had been bound. Perhaps it restricted both one's body and mana, as Gerrit's mana peculiarly didn't respond thereafter.
”Senior! In the end... do you really have to go this far!?”
”I hoped that I wouldn't have to kill one of my precious juniors... I'll ask you one last time.”
Celon's voice was ice cold. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo could feel the torrent of mana that ama.s.sed in his palm so well that he trembled. He had felt this from Kratia as well, but his mana couldn't compare with that of a level 6 magician's.
”Tell me what you know about the Anti-Skull organization in detail. Who's in charge?”
”Urgh, don't you already have an idea as to who... ugh!”
A portion of his mana extended like an arrow and severed one of Gerrit's arms. Celon's eyes were tinged with spite.
”You're missing the point, Gerrit. You're a magician.”
”You're the one who's missing the point, Senior.”
”...Is that really what you think?”
”Then can you really say you're not!?”
”You fool...! You only think about yourself!”
It was only for a mere moment, but he felt Celon's eyes look upon Gerrit with an unbearable amount of loathing and contempt. Even whilst groaning in pain, he suddenly yelled at him.
”I'm not the only one! You'll kill not just me, but the entire Empire itself! Everyone's crazy! Eternal life? That's just an illusion!”
”We know that already! If it were that easy to attain, it wouldn't be eternal life!”
”Then why!?”
”...Hoo.”
Gerrit's throat was congested with blood. However, Celon wouldn't speak on Gerrit's terms any longer. Was it because he'd decided that there was nothing he could gain from speaking to Gerrit? Once more, mana was concentrated within his hand.
Unfortunately, the pattern he used to control his mana wasn't very different; however, experiencing his smooth and skilled technique of handling mana would help Lee s.h.i.+n Woo for a long time to come.
”I didn't really need to get any information from you. I was just trying to give you an opportunity, as we were once alumni... You have only yourself to blame, Gerrit.”
”You're making the wrong choice...”
Celon's magic shot in a straight line. The focus of such magic was to burn away the opponent's magic, and said magic would overpower the opponent with solely mana quant.i.ty. Obviously, Gerrit wasn't able to resist the spell and vanished; ultimately, only two bones that radiated light remained.
”This is... a keepsake of his teacher, huh. ...He sacrificed himself for the Empire. You respected him so much, yet you joined an organization like Anti-Skull...”
Celon mulled over whether he should incinerate the two bones, and ultimately, he decided against it and placed them within his breast pocket. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo recollected that Gerrit had collected his teacher's bone, and had now realized something.
'I might've already absorbed Gerrit's teacher's bone.'
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's consciousness became dim after that final realization. Even till the very end, Celon was gripped by anger and a bitter regret.
What exactly caused Celon to be so angry, and why did he agree to cooperate with the Emperor when he didn't think that eternal life was possible? Unfortunately, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo couldn't find the answers to these questions and was dragged back to the present. Since it wasn't something he could know just yet.
[You have become skilled in drawing your mana without any waste. The Intermediate Mana Bone skill has become Lv5, and mana has increased by 20. You have become able to more adeptly absorb the mana around you.]