Chapter 102: Confirming Abilities and Preparation

Chapter 102: Confirming Abilities and Preparation

Suddenly.

Sizzle.

I slowly poured the liquid from the flask in my hand into the potion bottle.

The place I'm currently in is Dianne's private research laboratory.

Since my last visit to Modras' Tower, her research had been relocated to this place.

As expected, beside me were Lucia and Dianne.

They were both watching me intently, holding their breaths, and their expressions were quite serious.

My own expression was no different from theirs.

What I was doing now wasn't experimentation or research, but the actual production of a healing potion.

'The ingredients should be enough for about two more batches.'

Contrary to my expectations, the materials I received at the gathering were more plentiful than I thought.

Enough for about three attempts, I'd say.

And now, I was on my first attempt.

"Dianne."

"Here."

I needed to continuously mix precise amounts of the mixture at the exact moments.

Luckily, I had a prodigious talent for potion-making, so I could make decisions with freedom akin to taking a breath.

Dianne handed me the mixture she prepared, and I poured it back into the potion bottle and mixed it again.

The mixing methods varied depending on the situation, and sometimes heating was required, making it quite a hectic process.

"Lucia, raise the temperature."

"Alright."

With the mechanics of my hands working in a well-oiled manner and the instructions given, Dianne and Lucia were busy moving about.

And finally, the time of waiting arrived.

"We've done all we can."

"Thank you, both of you."

"Yeah, well done."

Following my words, Lucia and Dianne spoke in turn.

I placed the potion bottle into a refrigeration unit installed on one side of the laboratory and took a deep breath.

In three days, it would be the two months Salem had mentioned.

'Maybe Salem has forgotten about the promise and is engrossed in the scriptures.'

He might still be searching for the scriptures even now.

Even if I revealed the location, the area was vast.

"You said we'd have to wait for a few hours, right?"

"Three hours?"

"In that case, let's step out and grab a bite to eat while we wait."

Dianne's words prompted Lucia to nod in agreement and she looked up at me.

"Go ahead, you two. I'll rest a bit."

Lucia sent me a disappointed gaze, but soon enough, perceptive Dianne held Lucia's hand and left. It seemed she sensed that Lucia wanted to be alone.

Once I confirmed that they were gone, I immediately retrieved Galakshur from my waist.

[Sealed Sword - Galakshur]

[Mana Conductivity 73%]

[Sealed.]

[Enhancement possible.]

A sentence I hadn't seen before was added.

I examined the sentence that said enhancement was possible.

[Enhancement possible.]

Requires 240g of gold.

I read the additional information and fell into thought for a moment.

This new unique ability I obtained as an achievement reward, "Enhancement," was something I hadn't encountered before. However, unlike evolution, it wasn't complicated.

Literally, it involved spending money to enhance.

From what I've checked so far, the phrase "possible for items and my undead" came up.

"But the gold is the issue."

Initially, I didn't know how much 1g of gold was worth.

It was due to my lack of common knowledge about gold.

However, trying enhancement by buying gold and attempting it gave me a rough idea of how much it was worth.

'Roughly 100,000 will per 1g of gold here.'

The cost of enhancing Galakshur once was around 24 million will.

24 million will was equivalent to my annual tuition.

'This is insane.' Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

Of course, the enhancement cost varied depending on the item.

Galakshur felt particularly expensive because it was a named item, and my undead companions' enhancements were a bit cheaper.

As an experiment, I tried enhancing Nickel once, and the description of Nickel displayed a "+1" phrase, indicating that its stats had increased. Along with that, I could see that the enhancement cost had slightly risen.

'The funny thing is that enhancement doesn't always succeed. There's a chance of failure, and the gold could simply evaporate.'

I don't know where I picked up this bad habit of doing things like this.

Wouldn't it be so nice if it always succeeded?

Anyway, thanks to this new ability, I now had a reason to earn more money.

It's not like I can just ignore it when it's about becoming stronger by spending money.

I'm already making a fair amount of money through the patent, and I can't give up potion making in the future.

At the moment, the only corner where I could earn money was the potion patent.

'It's fortunate. Since I evolved my talent to genius level while researching Lucia's antidote.'

In hindsight, deciding to make Lucia's antidote turned out to be beneficial for me. Without it, I wouldn't have even thought of making potions and would have lived like a beggar.

As I thought about Lucia's antidote, my gaze naturally drifted toward the refrigeration device.

'It would be great if I succeeded in one go with this.'

The probability I calculated was over 90%.

Initially, the odds were expected to be that high, which was one reason I decided to try.

Lucia might not show it, but I'm sure she's quite nervous inside.

'I haven't made any mistakes. Everything went in as I calculated, and the timing was within the margin of error.'

But for some reason

As I thought about making the antidote, a sense of relief washed over me, and drowsiness began to creep in.

Even though I hadn't confirmed the results yet, my eyes were starting to close.

I've been running nonstop lately, and it was natural to feel exhausted.

Since before entering Modras's Tower until now, I haven't rested once.

'I'll just rest a bit.'

Before I knew it, I closed my eyes slowly in a corner of the research room.

Mirenea's body seemed to tremble.

Then, the shadows that emerged from the magic circle began to engulf Mirenea.

'Now, I should start addressing the episodes related to Charon as well. Reinforcing my strength is essential.'

To be honest, I thought that Mirenea alone was insufficient, so I had planned during this vacation to solve the episodes related to Charon and strengthen myself further. Considering her as my foundation, I hoped that she would succeed.

Schwoosh!

A sound like fabric tearing emanated from the shadows covering Mirenea.

'Is it a failure?'

The sound that faintly reached my ears wasn't very pleasant.

However, an unexpected notification followed.

["Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 0 - Original Sin" is growing stronger.]

Dark energy started to emanate from my magic power, as if the aura of the Original Sin was manifesting.

Paruk.

Whoaah!

With robes fluttering, the aura burst out, though dark, it was pure in nature, sweeping through the research lab.

'I didn't anticipate this.'

The surging energy of the Original Sin began to affect not only the Banshee summoning spell but also the magic circle.

Thunk. Thud.

Crackling.

[Intermediate Necromancer: Banshee Summoning (Shadow Magic) Successful]

[A Shadow Banshee (Legendary) has been summoned.]

[The summoned ghost's level is exceptional. Stat bonuses are applied.]

[The summoned ghost's level is significantly exceptional. It's ascending tiers. It becomes a Shadow Fairy Banshee.]

[The summoned ghost's level approaches transcendence. Regains a bit of its former self.]

From the disappearing magic circle, it was as if a new life were being born. The majestic figure of a Shadow Fairy Queen emerged. Her appearance was nothing like an undead.

"Mirenea."

As I called her name, the Shadow Banshee, Mirenea, radiating black light, opened her eyes and looked at me.

-----------------------------------

As promised before, here are the stats and categorizations.

The categorization of Talents and Traits are as follows.

Talents: Average (D) < General (C) < Expert (B) < Prodigy (A) < Genius (S)

Traits: Normal < Rare < Epic < Unique

The rarity of the talents also depends on the number of words (Korean) or letters (for A and S class). The lower the better. So, if Dark Magic Commanding Series is a D class (Average) Talent then Dark Magic is a B class (Expert) Talent.

The stats of the MC are as follow.

[Adrias Cromwell]

-Species: Human

-Mana: 1620 (This is from the very beginning of the web novel. The current amount is unknown)

-Traits: Vessel (Unique), Evolution (Unique), Enlightenment (Epic), Enhancement (Unique), Original Sin (???)

-Talent: Dark Magic (Expert), Elemental Magic (Expert), Potion Brewing (Prodigy), Athletics (Prodigy), Combat (Prodigy), Mana (Prodigy)

-Skills:

Details of Dark Magic:

-Intermediate Necromancer>> Skeleton Summoning, Ghoul Summoning, Revenant Summoning, Banshee Summoning, Bone Armor, Corpse Explosion, Blood Curse, Death Fury;

-Shadow Magic

Details of Elemental Magic:

-Beginner Earth>> Grease, Rock Spear, Earth Shield

Traits:

[Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 0, Pure Original Sin

- Mana regeneration increased by 222%- Sloth, Greed

- Mana sensitivity increased by 77%- Sloth, Greed

- Special Technique usable once every 6 days (currently stored technique: Sloth, Greed)

- The quality of mana increases over time

- The nature of mana becomes darker over time]

[Dual Core (later evolved into Vessel):

- Epic

- There are two mana storages

- The potential of a magic swordsman opens]

[Evolution:

- Unique

- Transforms a subject from lower to higher level with sufficient experience

- Applicable to all non-hostile targets]

[Enlightenment:

- Epic

- The more deeply you contemplate and explore something, the higher the probability of understanding or discovering it]

[Vessel:

- Unique

- Turns the entire body into a vessel capable of containing mana

- No boundaries between the Dantian and the Heart (Swordsman's mana and Mage's Mana)

- The potential of a magic swordsman increases]

[Enhancement:

- Unique

- Spend money to enhance items and entities]

Special Abilities

[Sloth:

- Magic Power increased by 666%

- Magic Sensitivity increased by 666%

- Spell casting speed increased by 666%

- Magic Recovery rate increased by 666%

- Temporary Talent "Magic (Prodigy)" acquired

- Temporary immunity to all mental magic

- Entered a transcendent state of emotion called "Sloth"

- Lasts for 66 seconds]

[Greed (not yet demonstrated in the novel)]

Weapons

[Sealed Sword- Galakshur:

Mana conductivity rate: 73%]

Summons: Nickel, Timur, Ludo, Mirenea