Chapter 161: Rings of Origin [2]
Chapter 160
───────────
Episode 37 - Rings of Origin [2]
─────────────────────────────────
"Hey, sir, hello, are you there?"
Suddenly, a voice reached my ears.
"Hello, hello... Mhm, hey, Sister Mia, are you sure he’s alive? He looks dead."
"Shh, if he wakes up, my master might beat you up. He threatened me when we first met, so I’m sure he’d hit you."
"What? But he didn’t hit me, he just stole my stuff."
"Stole? As far as I know, you’re a thief."
"But that’s different, Sister Mia."
"Hey, don’t call me by my name, just call me older sister."
"..."
Ah, now I knew what was going on.
I got up from wherever I had been lying and rubbed my temples.
I had a terrible headache.
"Ah, Master, you’re awake."
I turned toward Mia’s voice and asked:
"How long have I been asleep?"
Mia replied:
"Mhm, I think only about three hours."
"I see."
In that case, it was around six or seven in the evening. The Academy gates closed at nine at night.
So, fortunately, I hadn’t been asleep for very long.
As I rubbed my temples, I couldn’t help but think about the memories I had just experienced.
’Those two people...’
It was strange in its own way, but I felt as though I had actually lived through that conversation.
They weren’t simply memories that had appeared in my mind out of nowhere, but something I had truly experienced.
’But most importantly, that wasn’t Earth.’
Skyscrapers, vehicles, people wearing clothes different from those worn in this Empire or anywhere else.
Technology, social media, and so on.
That place was undoubtedly Earth.
But aside from that, there was the conversation in the café, as well as the one in the park.
’News about soldiers and police moving everywhere, elderly people talking about the Apocalypse, and... that was definitely mana.’
The moment both of them felt something strange within their bodies, it was undoubtedly mana.
Mana entering their bodies, similar to the Awakening process every Awakened person goes through.
Mana enters their bodies explosively, and a few days later, you’re already an Awakened.
That was undoubtedly the moment when people awaken in the following days.
’And above all, those final words: Progenitors.’
As if it were a prophecy, the elderly people had told the girl that the two of them would be known as Progenitors in the distant future.
And I wasn’t foolish enough not to realize it. Those two people...
’They were Progenitors.’
I didn’t know which of the eight Progenitors they were, but they were definitely among them.
And now I can also confirm that the Progenitors come from Earth. That means it truly exists and that the Earth from my memories isn’t fake.
’But what do they mean by the Apocalypse and the blood moon?’
From the way they described the blood moon, for some reason it reminded me of the crimson moon of the Infernal Plane.
It was described exactly as it appeared in the game.
’Don’t tell me the Infernal Plane is Earth, but in the future.’
However, I shook my head.
It is said that none of the Planes have existed forever.
At some point, they came into existence, and above all, there is no such thing as a cosmos or outer space, so to speak, within a Plane.
A Plane is like a completely enclosed dimension that you cannot leave, as if it were a planet.
’Then... could this world be Earth in the future?’
But that makes some sense.
I mean, this world is much, much larger than Earth.
Furthermore, the continents and oceans don’t match those of Earth.
’But the elders’ so-called prophecy clearly speaks about the future; it doesn’t say that the Progenitors appear in another world.’
Growing more and more confused, countless ideas and hypotheses emerged in my mind.
Some contradicted others, and so on.
In the end, I couldn’t reach any conclusion or obtain any answers.
Even though I had "seen" those memories from a third-person perspective, they didn’t feel foreign to me.
’I suppose this so-called Apocalypse really did happen. Otherwise, why would soldiers all over the world have been mobilizing...?’
Well, I also noticed there was news about NASA, which I didn’t fully understand.
It was something about a planet being discovered and approaching Earth.
’Could that be the Apocalypse...?’
Shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts aside.
In any case, the memories were far too confusing, and I couldn’t understand what exactly they were trying to show me.
"By the way, Master, why did you send this child to me?"
Mia asked, and only then did I realize Rowan was here.
So in the end, he hadn’t escaped.
"For now, let him be your assistant."
"Great, I needed an assistant, so this helps me a lot with my work. Thank you, Master."
I found myself wondering why Mia was different from every other villain.
Her personality didn’t match that of other villains. Of course, I’m not saying there aren’t villains with a similar personality.
But usually, they’re much worse on the inside than they appear on the outside.
However, Mia doesn’t seem to be like them.
"Alright, whatever. By the way, I want to talk about an elixir."
Shortly afterward, I took out the recipe book of the Legendary Alchemist that I had obtained some time ago.
I remembered how many pages I had to flip through, so after counting a few pages, I stopped at one.
Then I showed it to Mia. She seemed to read it for a while before saying:
"T-This... Master, is it really possible to create this elixir...?"
I nodded and said:
"I already have the three main ingredients: the blood of a Phoenix King and the blood of the Astral Soul Bird. Although I still don’t have the blood of a high-ranking bloodline, I’ll obtain it soon. As for the supplementary ingredients..."
Mia spoke almost instantly, her emotions reflected in her words.
"I’ll try to find the supplementary ingredients at any cost, Master."
"Good. I don’t have much time to look for them myself, so I’ll leave them to you."
What was almost impossible to obtain were the three main ingredients of the elixir.
But after a long investigation, I discovered that it was possible to find the supplementary ingredients.
However, that would take far too much time.
Perhaps one or two years, depending on how quickly the supplementary ingredients could be gathered.
Moreover, since I wanted to create the elixir myself, I needed time to fully make use of my talent in Alchemy.
"Well, I have to go. Ah, that’s right, I need some of your help."
This time, trying to return to the Academy on my own would be a difficult task, so it was better to use someone to guide the way.
***
"Ugh... Ah..."
I lay on my soft bed while stretching my body.
Since the side effects of Eyes of the End would disappear in less than two days, I would remain in my current state until then.
I felt weak and sick, and on top of that, my bones ached and I had a headache.
It was as if I had been beaten several times throughout the day or hadn’t rested after work.
In any case, my body was in terrible condition.
’I had already forgotten what it felt like to get sick or feel ill.’
There are memories where I felt exactly the same way I do now.
It felt strange in its own way, considering I was a Four-Star Awakened only one step away from Five Stars.
At this point, I shouldn’t even consider myself human.
"Ah, that’s right, I got that at the Auction."
I got out of bed. Then I felt someone sit on top of my head.
"Hello, Liora. I brought you a gift."
I sat down at the dining table. The little fairy then flew down from my head and landed on the table.
Shortly afterward, I took a test tube out of my inventory. A faint scent of blood, yet somehow different, reached my nose.
’It’s the blood of a Noble Fairy. With this, Liora should evolve into a Noble Fairy and gain the ability to speak.’
Fairies can evolve to a higher status by drinking the blood of a fairy with a higher status.
Liora was a Semi-Fairy, and the status of Noble Fairy was two ranks above hers.
Liora seemed to notice the blood inside the test tube, and I heard her footsteps on the table.
"You want it, don’t you?"
"..."
Well, I didn’t know whether she nodded or not.
In any case, I removed the cork from the test tube, and just as I was about to give her the blood, my master spoke hurriedly.
〖Wait, wait a moment, disciple〗
"What is it?"
〖I don’t know much about Fairies, but I heard from a Summoner that when a fairy evolves using the blood of a higher-status fairy, it’s also recommended to mix in your own blood. And remember, your blood is special, disciple.〗
"Ah, right, that’s true."
I had almost forgotten.
If I mix my blood with this fairy blood, several things could happen.
But the most well-known effect is a stronger bond between the fairy and its Summoner.
’But since I’m not a Summoner, we don’t really have that kind of bond. Still...’
Even I wonder what kind of results there will be after mixing in my blood.
Without wasting any time, I wounded my finger and let my blood drip into the test tube.
Shortly afterward, I sealed it with the cork and shook it to mix both bloods together.
Finally, I uncorked the test tube and gave the blood to Liora.
She seemed to grab the test tube and drank the blood.
’I wonder what the results will be.’
Excitement began to cloud my mind.
