Chapter 26

There's a young wizard who effortlessly conjures lightning bolts out of thin air, a feat that is so extraordinary that it wouldn't surprise anyone if the Lightning School of the Magic Tower were already vying for his attention.

Despite his remarkable magical prowess, he remains humble and uninterested in the trappings of wealth and fame, choosing instead to reside in the back alleys.

Although one might try to lure him away with riches or notoriety, it's evident that his talent cannot be owned or controlled by anyone.

"But it's such a waste... Where else can we find a wizard like him?"

As Kidel nodded her head, the muzzle of the rifle she had been carrying on her back flashed.

"Where's the guarantee that we won't meet as enemies while working here?"

Dray's smile vanished from his face as he realized that Kidel's story was entirely plausible.

Dray's mercenary group or Lennok were not good or righteous people. They were just workers in the underworld, chasing money-making jobs and living off the city's lubricant.

No one knows when they will meet as allies and help, or when they will meet as enemies and risk their lives.Cheêck out latest novels on novel/bin(.)com

After hesitating for a moment, Dray answered.

"That's why you always have to leave a good impression on the people you work with."

At the completely different, heavy voice, the other mercenaries turned their heads.

"If I saw his ability and got attached, I might not have been able to let go of the feeling of regret, and it would have been difficult to give him the impression that the job was handled cleanly. No one knows how such small actions will come back."

"......"

"I just made the best choice I could in that situation. All we can do now is... hope for good luck."

What's it like to wander the city's streets at night, armed with guns and knives, amidst millions of people?

The constant fear of encountering someone more formidable than oneself, who might be willing to kill for a greater sum of money, is a natural concern.

Each day, they hope that the ominous possibility of misfortune won't present itself, so they can live to see another.

That's all Dray Krimgal can do.

After dispelling his troubled thoughts, he calmly pats his colleagues on the back.

"Let's go. After the job is over, let's raise a drink in honor of the fallen ones."

⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩

A couple of days after Krimgal Mercenary Office's mission was accomplished, Dray delivered the blood samples he'd extracted from the deceased man's body to Lennok through Jenny.

Jenny, who handed over the Styrofoam box, had a sickened expression due to the stinging smell of blood, but Lennok calmly received the box without falling for her clumsy act.

It was laughable that a woman bold enough to run a bar in the middle of District 49 would be disgusted by the smell of blood.

It wasn't a big expense to buy another small refrigerator to store the blood separately.

Although Lennok couldn't analyze the blood mixed with dark magic right now, he might be able to understand the principles of that strange doping ability after becoming more magically mature.

"Oh hey, you know that consulting company that used to be in that building? Well, they up and moved to a different spot."

Jenny recounted the incident's aftermath to Lennok while serving him a drink from Jordan.

At some point, Lennok's tab was waived, and he was no longer charged for drinks. This was feasible because he brought in significant commissions, totaling more than ten million cells.

"It kinda makes sense, ya know? I mean, everyone wants to save money on rent and taxes, but there's only so much you can take. After going through something like that, not many folks would stick around."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Although the resulting upset stomach was inevitable, Lennok believed that being sick all day was a greater setback.

After finishing up in the bathroom, he moved to the kitchen.

He grilled the pre-thawed meat, briefly washed the vegetables, and stir-fried them with a store-bought sauce.

As the food sizzled in the pan, he retrieved leftover rice from the rice cooker and served it with simple side dishes to complete his meal.

Lennok understood that consuming a variety of nutrients was more important than consuming a lot, and he made a conscious effort to eat slowly, savoring each bite.

In the process of researching the application methods of common magic, all the inspiration and methods that came to mind were written down and stuck directly onto the wall.

The common magic Lennok uses has been developed from the beginning to the end, relying solely on his own memory and talent.

Although it would be different if he learned other unique magic, there was no other choice but for Lennok to make a little effort to raise the level of common magic even higher than it is now.

Fortunately, the magical talent that he had raised by attaching all sorts of penalties was not in vain, and Lennok had been developing his own magic without stopping even once, with only very small speculations and inspirations.

Rather than simply using the predetermined magic for its intended purpose, he goes through the process of redefining and re-establishing the magic's consumption, range, power, and limits to create new magic.

The adjustment of the range of [Thunder Calling] used against the scavengers this time was also part of such research.

Lennok placed the Styrofoam box containing blood in a small refrigerator he had bought in advance. As the blood had been touched by black magic, it was only natural to take measures with small-scale barrier magic.

Sitting upright in one corner of the room, he finally began to go through the documents in the file folder that Jenny had handed him.

There were requests from mercenary offices like Krimgal, as well as cases where individuals had placed orders for escorts.

There were also unusual requests such as cooperation in laboratory experiments, and numerous requests from companies like last time.

With a blank face, Lennok looked through the documents and paused for a moment before bursting into a hollow laugh.

"Ha... These guys are pretty crazy too."

There was a request from the scavenger side that they wanted to hire him.

To be precise, it seemed that the head of the District 38 Scavenger had been keeping an eye on his actions.

Lennok couldn't help but be surprised by the request, which blatantly revealed an intention to not care even if it meant previously interfering with the operations of the same organization.

Jenny must have known about it, so she probably deliberately didn't tell him.

Working together, he could see that she was quite playful.

"Let's see. First, eliminate this one and this one too..."

He filtered out all the requests with extremely tight deadlines. For now, he put aside the requests coming from the mercenary office.

He also eliminated all the requests from unknown individuals.

Surprisingly, many of the relatively clean requests came from corporate entities.

Lennok didn't think negatively about working with gangs, but trustworthiness was an issue.

He intended to hold off on working with dangerous organizations until he had the power to buy trust with strength.

After filtering through various stringent conditions, there was only one request that appealed to Lennok's heart.

Among the gathered requests, it had the longest remaining deadline to accept, and the conditions weren't too strict. The compensation wasn't very high, but there was a keyword that caught Lennok's eye.

"A pharmaceutical company..."

(TO BE CONTINUED)