Chapter 200: Overcoming
< Chapter 200: Overcoming (2) >
The next morning.
I woke up due to the pain.
My body hasn't changed much from yesterday. Could it mean the effects of the painkillers have worn off?
I tried to ask someone for help, but my limbs still wouldn't move.
This is bad. The pain is gradually intensifying.'
It was while I was biting my lip.
"Seo-yul? You're awake."
Ai entered the room holding what looked like a medical bag in her right hand.
"Is that medicine?"
"Yes. It seems like the effect of the painkiller is wearing off, so I brought another painkiller and a new medicine."
Ai walked up right beside my bed and took out a syringe and a uniquely preserved powdered medicine from the bag.
"Excuse me for a moment."
Ai rolled up my sleeve.
He seemed to be preparing to give me an injection.
"Please go ahead."
"I'll make it as painless as possible."
Jokingly smiling, she injected it into my arm.
It didn't really hurt. I wonder if this injection is normally painless, or if it's because my current state is in so much pain.
"Good job, little Seo-yul."
After the injection, Ai, still with a playful smile, gently patted my head.
"It's time for the medicine. Can you take the powdered medicine, little Seo-yul? It's quite bitter."
"You're teasing again."
She's treating me like a child.
At my reaction, Ai chuckled.
"Open wide."
She then tilted my head and skillfully poured the powdered medicine into my mouth.
"Ack!"
At that moment, an indescribable extreme bitterness struck the tip of my tongue.
I've never tasted something so bitter in my life. Is this really a sensation my tongue is feeling?
The bitterness was beyond comprehension.
"I told you it was bitter."
Ai brought water to my mouth. I gulped it down eagerly.
"Ugh"
Even after swallowing, while it did alleviate the taste a bit, the bitterness lingered. Maybe my pained expression from the bitterness seemed amusing to her.
Ai looked at me, covering her mouth to laugh.
"That's a relief."
"What is?"
What's so relieving? That I suffered from the bitterness?
"You took this medicine yesterday too."
"That was the same one?"
I certainly did have some powdered medicine yesterday.
"Yes. I was a bit worried yesterday, thinking you couldn't taste anything."
"Really?"
"Yes."
I see. I didn't realize.
"If you're tasting again, it's a sign your body is improving. That's fortunate."
"I suppose."
Thinking of it that way, the lingering bitterness in my mouth seemed somewhat neutralized. I guess it's all about perspective.
"Next up is"
"What now?"
Ai started tidying up the remaining items in the medicine bag and stood up. Then, she gave a somewhat unsettling smile.
"You need to go to the bathroom."
"What?"
Her smile grew wider.
"The restroom."
""
I indeed needed to go to the bathroom. But
"Can't you call someone else?"
No matter what, it didn't seem right to ask Ai to assist with physiological matters. The mere thought was embarrassing.
"Why are you embarrassed now?"
"What do you mean, now?"
"Now, after all this time?"
"I've seen you several times over the past 6 days while you were unconscious."
My pupils dilated slightly.
Did Ai take care of my personal matters?
"Why are you embarrassed? There's nothing to be ashamed of just because someone saw"
"Stop."
I cut her off.
It's like she's become a grandmaster of inappropriate remarks, letting them flow like water. She looked at me with an oddly mischievous grin.
"Just so you know, there are only three people who can assist you in my stead."
"Who?"
Surely it isn't the three I'm thinking of.
Ai began to list them, counting on her fingers.
"Heavenly God. Dragon Lord. The Water Spirit King."
"Why are those the options?"
Why are they all women?
"It's obvious, isn't it? Your injury is top secret. Very few people are aware of it. Given the situation, do you think we can risk leaking information by finding someone to assist you?"
"Isn't one person okay?"
If the information about my injury were to leak, it would be a headache. But do we need to be that cautious?
"There's a high risk. There are rumors within Savior that there might be a spy"
"A spy?"
I hadn't heard about this.
"During the battle, it seemed the Demon Gods side mentioned things as if they knew our plans. They even knew about the Aphellateni ring in advance."
"So there's a chance our information was leaked."
"Yes."
It's natural to suspect a spy under these circumstances.
"Anyway, getting back to the point. There are only four people, including me, who can assist you."
Ai smiled as if she found it all amusing.
"What will you do? Shall I call the others?"
""
A choice between a rock and a hard place.
If those are the only options
"I guess there's no choice"
Just as I was about to give in,
"Oh. What's this? They even prepared painkillers in advance?"
Ini entered the room.
"Hm? Why's the atmosphere so tense?"
Ini glanced back and forth between me and Ai, raising an eyebrow.
"It's not a big deal. Uh What is it? Because of my hand injury."
"Hand injury means nursing? Why is that?"
At that moment, Ai smirked slightly. I was wondering why they had such a reaction, so I found myself raising an eyebrow as well.
"Your hand injury is because of this kid"
As Ini raised her right hand, something began to appear out of thin air.
"He's an autonomous nursing doll I made. He's been taking care of everything. Don't you like it?"
"Huh?"
Nursing doll?
"Didn't I tell you? I've had him handling various chores for the past 6 days. It would be embarrassing if others saw you in such a weird state, wouldn't it?"
""
Listening to Ini's natural words, I turned my head slightly to look at Ai.
Ai had turned her gaze away from me a while ago and was pretending not to hear.
"Hey"
Ai did not respond to my call. She just playfully stuck out her tongue and gave a cute smile.
"Ah!"
Realizing something, she stood up from her spot.
"The pharmacist asked to return the medicine bag as soon as possible. I forgot! Well then, see you later!"
"Hey! You, wait"
Ai dashed out of the room like an arrow.
"Ugh, that kid."
Can't let my guard down.
If Ini hadn't been there at the right time, I would have unintentionally added another embarrassing episode. And that would be the most embarrassing one.
"?"
Ini looked at me with eyes full of question marks.
* * *
About 3 days had passed since then.
After the rest during that time, I was finally able to move my body relatively freely.
"It still hurts quite a bit though"
Being able to move surely means my symptoms are improving, and someday the pain will completely disappear.
"I'm here!"
Just then.
Led by Ini, Heavenly God and Aqua entered the room.
"Hello."
I raised my hand casually.
"Oh, you've improved a lot."
"Yeah, you have. It's still a bit stiff, but your rotator cuff is functioning properly."
"That's really a relief."
The words came in order from Ini, Aqua, and Heavenly God.
"How's your magic circuit?"
"That's also gotten much better."
I lightly conjured a fireball.
"I can use light magic like this without a problem now?"
"Oh, you've really improved a lot."
Ini exclaimed in admiration.
"So, are we starting rehabilitation training from today?"
Heavenly God alternated her gaze between me and Aqua as she asked.
"Yes, we're starting right away."
It wasn't me who responded, but Aqua who answered for me.
"I checked your body earlier when I arrived, and it seems like the perfect timing to start rehab."
"That seems right."
Aqua's eyes gleamed.
There was a look in her eyes that suggested the blood of a muscle enthusiast was boiling inside her. It reminded me a bit of Instructor Pi Jin Ho, which was slightly intimidating, but regardless, the results would surely be effective.
"That's really a relief."
Heavenly God let out a sigh of relief.
"By the way, Kang Seo-yul. About the artifact you mentioned 3 days ago."
"Ah, right. What happened with that?"
3 days ago.
Ini had said that if the artifact was under the care of the Savior, it could be borrowed without any issues.
To which I cheekily responded, Then give me all of them. Ini replied, Well, there's no point in giving them to you right now. Let's discuss it once you recover.
It seemed asking for all of them was a bit much.
Of course.
Artifacts are like weaponry, and they're currently on display. It's understandable that she hesitated when I asked for all the weapons.
"I think we can lend most of them to you."
"Really?"
Just like that, so casually?
"Well, to be precise, giving' all of them is a bit hard. However"
"We can lend them to you sequentially."
Heavenly God picked up where Ini left off.
"If no one else can use a particular artifact, we can lend it without hesitation. But there are complications with artifacts that can be used by others."
"That makes sense. You never know when you might need them"
"Right."
Heavenly God gave a wry smile.
"So, what we thought of is a rental system. After all, you can't possibly use all those relics stored in the warehouse all at once. So, we thought of lending them to you one by one, as many as you'd like. How does that sound? Good?"
Ini grinned smugly.
"That sounds good."
"It's not just okay, it's excellent. Regardless of renting or whatever, the most important thing is to get a new artifact in my hands."
"Oh right, Ini, you know that ring you gave me."
I took out the Apellateni Ring' from my space bag.
"You don't really have to give me this."
An artifact that only has an emergency evasion function isn't particularly necessary.
"Really? The moment you put on that ring, you transformed into that Angel Demon? I thought the ring might have some effect, but it wasn't because of the ring, was it?"
The ring was indeed the reason.
This ring, with the usage restriction [Equipping Condition: Angel], had the effect of the Rewrite Ring' placed on it, which limited its unique ability to Demons, causing that unexpected transformation. But now, it's no longer needed.
Without saying anything more, I handed the ring back to its original owner, Heavenly God, on behalf of the lost-in-thought Ini.
"Here."
"Ah, thank you."
The enchanting effect of the Rewrite Ring isn't permanent. Naturally, the Rewrite Ring' effect that had been applied to that ring had already expired.
Therefore, even if I put on the ring again, I wouldn't revert to the Angel Demon' form.
"So, what artifact should be prepared in its place?"
"Hmm. Do you by any chance have a catalog or list of artifacts?"
"Yes, we do. If you ask the warehouse keeper, they can provide it right away. Could you get that for us?"
I was uncertain if they'd have one, but thankfully, they do.
"Alright, please prepare it."
Being unable to see the equipment status, a catalog of equipment is extremely important to me.
"Okay. I'll get it ready. Just one copy is okay?"
"Hmm."
Currently, I have a total of 11 artifacts.
"Yeah, one should be enough for now."
While having a plethora of artifacts is advantageous, having 12 for the time being is sufficient.
Considering the new overloads due to the transformed Mark of Adam, I don't need to hold onto too many artifacts.'
Recalling the information on the Mark of Adam' given to me by the god from the past when he met Adam, there were notes on the side effects and overloads resulting from the rapid growth of the Mark of Adam.
It took a while to understand because of the complex language used. But once I understood, it was quite simple.
The transformed Mark of Adam has a major backlash in the form of an overload when it evolves too rapidly.'
That's why, it's not immediate that you become stronger just by holding artifacts.
Even when activating the Mark of the Dragon Race for the first time, it was painful.'
Time is needed to inscribe new abilities onto one's body.
"Do we need to prepare a list of artifacts by race? Or should we just prepare all of them?"
"Hmm. No."
Now that I know about the overload, it's better to focus on certain artifacts rather than spread them out.
"By any chance, you don't have any artifacts from the Demon Race here, do you?"
"Of course not."
Ini responded with an expression as if asking why I'd even consider such a thing. That makes sense. Why would they gather artifacts from the Demon Race, which is hostile to the Saviors? There's no one to use them anyway.
It's a shame.'
Considering the synergy of the Angel energy and the demonic energy, it would have been optimal to continue evolving both the Angel and Demon Marks. But there's nothing to be done if they don't have artifacts of the Demon Race.
Let's postpone the artifacts of the Dwarf Race for now.'
The initial goal was to retrieve the artifacts I used to own after obtaining the Craftsman's Mini Forge. But that can wait. In this current environment where artifacts can be acquired anytime, evolving the Mark of the Dwarf Race would only increase the risk of overload.
"Then please prepare the list of artifacts for the Dragon and Angel Races."
Hence, my immediate goal is to elevate the Marks of the Dragon and Angel Races to the Transcendent' level.
A fusion of Angel and Dragon.'
Angel Dragon.
A transcendent being surpassing the Dragon and Angel races.
That's my current goal.
< Chapter 200: Overcoming (2) > End.
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