Chapter 31

'The Philosopher’s Stone is alive...?'

Woojin stared in disbelief at the stone wriggling in his palm.

“How on earth did this happen?”

“The magic circle drawn here was originally an elven one, modified with dark magic for summoning.”

HUM...

The magic circle began to glow as Ruen’s fingertips touched it.

“Now that its original power has been restored, it can nurture true life instead of performing a half-measure of creation like summoning.”

“Only elves can perform this magic. Humans can’t wield life magic,” Irurin added.

Even without her explanation, Woojin could fully appreciate how incredible elven magic was.

“You’re a completely different person from when you could only cast first-class magic...”

“Pardon?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Woojin shook his head at Ruen.

“But this... what am I supposed to do with it now?”

“Now you have to wait for it to hatch.”

“Hatch?”

“Yes. It isn’t simply a matter of forming a contract and summoning it. This is a living creature, literally.”

“You mean it’s like hatching an egg.”

“That’s right. There’s just one problem.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know what conditions it needs to hatch either.”

Woojin had gotten his hopes up, and he couldn’t hide his disappointment at her words.

“So you’re saying I can’t use it right away.”

“... No. I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for? It was shattered, and we didn’t even know whether it could be repaired. At least now there’s a chance.”

As she bowed her head, Woojin helped her straighten up.

“What are you doing, though?”

Woojin looked at Irurin.

“What does it look like? Since we’re staying here for a while, I need to get ready too. I’m bringing over some things we can use.”

She began moving various tools into the storeroom.

“Why not use magic to move all this?”

“Magic doesn’t work here.”

“... What?”

“My teacher’s workshop in the Red Tower was much like this place. I don’t know how the barrier was made, but no magic worked except the magic circle,” Irurin said, setting down her load.

“Elves are an exception, though.”

“How strange. Elven magic works, but human magic doesn’t.”

Woojin surveyed the storeroom again.

“Perhaps that just shows how superior elven magic is. Even my teacher tried to make use of an elven magic circle.”

“Hmm...”

Irurin let out a quiet sigh as she spread the blankets from the storeroom over the floor.

“Ugh... When will I get to sleep in a soft bed again? Times like this make me miss the Red Tower.”

“Just because of a bed?”

“Yes. I don’t have nightmares then.”

“...”

Her teacher’s atrocities. Her fellow students, sacrificed.

The horrors she must have endured at such a young age denied her even a single peaceful night.

CLICK.

Woojin unclasped his cloak and handed it to her.

“Use this. Even aside from that, you don’t seem to have anything to cover yourself with.”

Her eyes widened at his unexpected kindness as she looked at him.

“It smells.”

“... Just use it.”

Irurin chuckled and set down Woojin’s cloak.

“Then I’ll give you this in return.”

She slipped a silver ring off her finger and handed it to him.

“What is it?”

“A ring my father gave me. He said it belonged to my late grandfather.”

An intricately crafted wolf’s head adorned the ring.

“I’m actually nobility.”

“... Nobility?”

“Yes. I’m not sure you’d know the place. All I know about it comes from books, but apparently it was a very small country.”

She scratched her head awkwardly.

“It had already fallen by the time I was born... but I’m told my grandfather was quite an extraordinary man.”

“Who was your grandfather?”

“Aswell Balan.”

“...!”

Woojin was stunned by her answer.

“Don’t tell me... the Kingdom of Tekan?”

“Oh? You know it?”

Irurin sounded surprised, but Woojin was far more astonished.

“Of course I do.”

The Kingdom of Tekan.

As Irurin had said, it was a small kingdom in the interior of the central continent. Its population fell far short of the five great kingdoms’, amounting at best to that of one of the major cities around them.

Yet no one on the central continent dared look down on Tekan.

'Because the Sword Emperor is there.'

Though an NPC, he was a peerless warrior even players could not hope to rival.

That man was Aswell Balan.

“What a surprise. A child gifted in magic, born into a distinguished family with such a long history of swordsmanship.”

“I don’t think it’s all that unusual. My father wasn’t very good at either swordsmanship or magic.”

“Really?”

“Yes. About that ring—my grandfather supposedly took it from Fenrir’s den after slaying him.”

“Fenrir...”

Like Camilla, it was one of the seven great mystical beasts, but it was a monster shrouded in mystery whose whereabouts remained unknown.

“When my father gave me this, he told me to find Fenrir’s den.”

“What’s there?”

“He said the secret technique my grandfather mastered while slaying Fenrir was left there.”

'The Sword Emperor’s secret technique...'

“So this ring might be a clue?”

“Probably. But no matter how closely I examined it, I couldn’t figure anything out. Besides... I’m not particularly interested.”

“Why not? It’s a keepsake left by the Sword Emperor. It can’t be anything ordinary.”

“Because I don’t use a sword.”

Funny as it was, that single remark made perfect sense to Woojin, and he chuckled.

'Fenrir is still alive in the game. What would happen... if I killed him before the Sword Emperor did?'

Swordsmanship perfected through slaying Fenrir.

He couldn’t help being curious.

“I’ll gladly accept it.”

[GRR...]

It happened then.

“... Huh?”

With a faint sound, the sleeping Camilla opened its eyes and looked at him.

“Finally awake?”

Those eyes seemed capable of drawing him into their depths.

They were breathtakingly beautiful, yet the instant they settled on his face, they seemed to grow wary, as though they had seen something they should never have seen.

[GRR...]

As Woojin approached the Verdure to obtain its blood, it strangely made an odd noise, as though trying to keep him away.

“Please, calm down. He saved both you and me.”

Ruen soothed the tense Camilla.

“Would you be willing to share a little of your blood with him?”

[BWOOOOO!!]

At that moment, the Verdure let out a piercing cry.

“W-wait!”

Ruen threw her arms around the Verdure’s neck, trying to calm Camilla as it suddenly began thrashing.

“Aaaah!”

But an unknown force flung Ruen into the wall.

CRASH!!

She crumpled to the floor and lay utterly still, as though unconscious.

The Verdure did not stop there. Breathing harshly, it began charging at Woojin.

“What in the...!”

Irurin hastily tried to cast Shield, but before she could finish her incantation, the Verdure was already upon them.

“Get out of the way! It knocked Ruen out in a single blow!”

Woojin shouted and hurriedly shoved her aside.

“... Gah!”

He saved Irurin by a hair’s breadth, but the horn plunged into his side instead.

“Urgh!”

A mouthful of blood gushed from his lips.

“Damn it... Didn’t you hear what she just said? I’m the one who saved you!”

Gritting his teeth, he clutched Camilla’s fur tightly as it continued driving him backward.

“... Damn it! Why are you doing this to me?!”

[GRRR...]

But the Verdure only growled low in its throat, pushing on and on as though trying to force him out of this place.

Then Woojin saw the Verdure’s eyes looking down at him.

It was strange.

Despite its attack, he could sense no hostility in its gaze.

“Damn...”

EEEEEEE!!

At that moment, pain stabbed through his head, just as it had the day he was forcibly transported here.

BOOOOM!!

The Verdure violently tossed its head upward, flinging Woojin away.

“... Gah!”

His consciousness faded.

Just...

Why?

* * *

“Gah...!”

Woojin pushed himself up from the floor, gasping for breath.

“Ugh...”

The pain in his chest was so intense he could barely breathe.

“A-are you all right?”

Ruen hurriedly helped support him.

“Where’s the Verdure? What happened to that bastard?”

“... The Verdure?”

As he shouted at Ruen, he realized something was wrong.

There was something inexperienced about her, unlike the Ruen he had been speaking with only moments ago.

“Are you all right, Master?”

Woojin hurriedly looked around.

“... Master? You startled me when you suddenly disappeared... Are you all right?”

'I’m back in the game? Just like that?'

Woojin stared in confusion at Ruen as she questioned him anxiously.

“Uh... No, more importantly, what about you? Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”

“Of course not. You were only gone for a moment.”

“A moment?”

“Yes. It couldn’t have been more than a minute or two.”

'This is...'

Only then did Woojin realize where he was.

The entrance to the [Alchemist’s Laboratory].

'Several days passed in the other world... Does that mean time didn’t pass here?'

Thinking this, he reached for his side. Thankfully, there was no wound.

But the memory of the pain remained vivid in his mind.

'... If I come back like this every time, my mind will give out before my body does.'

He clicked his tongue and let out a quiet sigh.

'Still, I was lucky this time.'

He had made it back, after all.

But there was no guarantee he would next time.

This was the second time now.

'There has to be... something in common.'

He had to find it.

The ability to travel between two worlds was an extraordinary power, but without control, it could do him more harm than good.

[You possess a quest item.]

Just then, a notification sounded before Woojin, interrupting his thoughts.

“... Hmm?”

A quest item?

Woojin found something gleaming in his inventory and took it out.

“This is...”

Name: Phantasmal Spirit Stone

Grade: ??

Description: A stone of life created through elven magic and the blood of Camilla, one of the continent’s seven great mystical beasts.

▶ Unlike an ordinary Primordial Sacred Spirit egg, from which a phantasmal beast is born.

▶ Once it successfully hatches, you can form a contract with the phantasmal spirit.

“A phantasmal spirit...?”

Woojin gazed at the blue stone.

DING.

[You have discovered a quest.]

[Quest Name: Egg of the Phantasmal Spirit]

▶ Grade: SS

▶ Hatch the phantasmal spirit’s egg.

[Required Materials]

1. Fur of Camilla of the Verdure. (Acquisition Difficulty: ★★★★★)

2. Blood of an Uldin elf. (Acquisition Difficulty: ★★★★★)

3. Scales of the Earth. (Acquisition Difficulty: ★★★)

4. Enzyme Carapace. (Acquisition Difficulty: ★★)

5. Black Spider Legs. (Acquisition Difficulty: ★★)

6. Battle Bee Stinger. (Acquisition Difficulty: ★)

▶ Gather the materials and hatch the egg.

▶ Time Limit: 60 days

[Would you like to accept the quest?]

The moment Woojin saw the quest window, he couldn’t help being astonished.

'It lists the materials needed to hatch it!'

When Ruen made the egg, she had clearly said that even she didn’t know the conditions for hatching it.

“Ha, haha... Of course. This is a game.”

Woojin let out an involuntary exclamation.

Quest windows always spelled out the completion requirements, after all.

“Two materials of the highest difficulty. Definitely worthy of an SS-grade quest.”

Even the hardest materials to acquire on the central continent were only rated three stars.

Yet these were a full five stars.

It would be no exaggeration to call this quest utterly impossible at this point.

“The Verdure’s fur?”

But the moment he read the material’s name, something seemed to occur to him, and he hastily opened his hand.

“... This is insane.”

The corners of his mouth twitched.

A fistful of fur remained in his hand.