< Handover (12) >
The evening after Evelyn returned to the mansion after running away in embarrassment.
Lennok was thinking about the story he and Evelyn had told each other about Lapis.
‘The news that Lapis completed the hierarchy was heard in Pandemonium, but…’ I
remember that during the Pandemonium meeting, Damus directly mentioned that fact and said that Lapis had reached level 7.
It wouldn’t be strange for Evelyn to personally tell Lennok that fact now.
It is also the case that Lapis completed the hierarchy at a very rapid rate through the supernormal ability of Heavenly View and the support of lighthouses built throughout the continent.
However, the fact that Lapis, who had completed the hierarchy in that way, attempted to visit the Balkan City Council in person was surprising.
Moreover, Lapis is one of the very few officials who knows where Evan, a member of Blue Eyes, originated from.
“I’m tired…”
Lennok muttered inadvertently as concerns about his status surfaced again.
I had been talking to Evelyn all morning, so I was quite tired even after sleeping for half a day.
Moreover, in the end, the answer that Lennoc gave in words was–
“Haa…”
Lennok, who was sitting on the sofa with a wet towel covering his face, tilted his head back as if he was lying down.
After the decisive battle with Dorae and being shattered by Kroken, my confidence was strengthened.
Still, this is the first time I’ve spoken to someone in person.
A declaration that one would become qualified to challenge for ascension beyond level 8, which had been stagnant for a long time.
The determination to reach level 9 and provide an answer that goes beyond the ending of this world.
Only after completing Yorta’s journey was Lennoc able to accept the fact that he should become an Ascendant.
“…I don’t know if it was a good thing.”
It was as if he had actually given an answer to Evelyn’s guess through the battle with the magician.
Evelyn probably also had a firm belief about who was in Yorta.
But what did Evelyn mean by Lennok’s words?
At first glance, it seemed like I understood, but on the other hand, it seemed like I didn’t understand.
Just as Lennoc cannot fully sympathize with the way Evelyn Marcia lives, perhaps Evelyn also thinks the same way when she looks at Lennok.
However, if it were not for that level of response, Lennok would not have been able to convince Evelyn in the end.
If I hadn’t explained that the whole journey of wandering around the continent and crossing between good and evil was for one unchanging purpose.
If I had to show Lennok that what he wanted had not changed between when we first met and now, that would have been the only way.
He is a person you can trust and someone you should not turn into an enemy.
It was undesirable to be hostile to a collaborator who possessed that level of talent, skill, and character… No, this was not the case.
I tried to convince him with excuses and reasons, but the reason Lennok moved was simple.
I wanted to be honest and didn’t want to betray.
I knew I should if it was necessary, but I didn’t because it wasn’t necessary.
How can someone who cannot honestly convey a single word get an honest answer to his or her wishes?
Even though he had to force such contradictory logic and answers, Lennok wanted to tell Evelyn.
That Lennok believed in her.
“…………”
I’m still not sure if it was conveyed properly.
Because I tried to convey something that cannot be conveyed through words, it is formless and leaves a feeling of regret.
Even indulging in such sentiments was ultimately Lennok’s choice and regret.
I just hope Evelyn thinks about this fact and thinks about it as much as Lennok.
[Weeing weeing.]
While Lennok was rubbing his face with a towel, lost in such trivial sentiments, Dabi let out a strange sound in his arms.
[Drurling.]
“…….?”
Whiing drur.
While he was looking down at Dabi with an expression of confusion, the printer in the corner of the living room started working on its own and spit out several sheets of paper.
The report was sent with only the conclusions, leaving the main content aside, as if 95% of the previous content was omitted.
It was only after briefly reading the context that Lennok realized that this was the result of a medical examination report sent by Murphy.
[This is a summary of the medical examination report sent by e-mail by the vampire who dealt with the Master.]
“Summary?”
[If I transfer the entire file of medical examination records onto paper, there will be approximately 552 pages. Should I print them here?]
“……No, that’s okay.”
If Dabi had just drawn a conclusion and printed it, most of it would have been graphs and numerical notation-related material.
I didn’t think there would be any problem even if I opened the email and glanced through it before going to bed.
Lennok immediately tried to look at the medical examination report sent by Murphy, but felt something strange in Dabi’s words and turned his head.
“Dabi, come to think of it, do you ever call a vampire that way?”
[Me?]
It seems that it was a title that Dabi himself was not very conscious of.
Dabi asked back, tilting his head and fluttering his six tails.
[But that skinny thing… isn’t an organism, is it?]
Even Lennok doesn’t know exactly what nutrients and substances a vampire’s body is made of.
In the first place, most of the vampires Lennok met were annoying partners worse than mosquitoes or partners who were difficult to become friends with.
Although I knew a blood mage named Rayan Eiter who turned from a human to a vampire, I never had any contact with him after leaving him in Madam’s care.
“I guess we should do some research on vampires…”
Among vampires, the Jinhyeol species are treated specially and are treated as longevity species even in Kundara, a city of abyss.
Among them, people outside the project, such as ‘Bok Hyeol-gong’, who wrote the story of Blood, are also affiliated.
If Lennok had to find traces of Kaise in Kundara, he would have to be familiar with the long-lived species to some extent.
[Shall we look for some related data on the central network?]
“Data that can be accessed through literature or historical materials will not have much value. “It would be quicker to ask Madam for a deal than that.”
The oldest broker in the city known to Lennok, and the one who witnessed the failure of the project.
And among vampires, he is a person with considerable insight and is in charge of mediating the situation.
“Last time, I asked for the blood of the highest-ranking person, but ended up handing over the blood of the clown. “I’ll probably ask for the same thing this time too.”
Although they didn’t show it openly, there was no doubt that they also wanted Lennok’s blood.
If that prickly Murphy was so distracted by Lennok’s blood, it was obvious how valuable the blood of a high-ranking superhuman was to a vampire.
Lennok, who thought for a moment, nodded as if he had decided.
“Even in preparation for dealing with Madame, when fighting as a member of the class, the blood of the opponent should be collected separately.”
[……Hmm, shouldn’t the Master be upset about such rumors?]
“What did you say?”
[Bbbbbb.]
Lennok, who was covering Dabi’s mouth with both hands, pretended not to hear and turned his attention to the report.
Ignore any specific numbers or data and only check the doctor’s opinion written by Murphy at the bottom.
In any case, since most of the equipment used by Murphy is different from the research equipment used by Lennok, it would be difficult to find out anything even if you know the result.
It would be more effective to collect only Murphy’s own views and opinions and hear the conclusion.
As expected, Murphy’s written opinion was written in particularly small letters and continued closely to the back of the report.
= I will not look at specific numbers or graphs in detail, so I will write them here.
= Just tell the main point. Your genetic information is changing little by little.
“………….”
= Basic metabolism and physical ability organ functions themselves are still at a low level, but areas involving magical power are completely different.
= Recoil adjustment values, including body magic transfer rate and mana contamination rate, exceeded the upper limit. It’s not at a level the human body can withstand.
= If this was a medical examination record from a complete stranger, I would have thought that this was a patient of a very noble sub-race or longevity species. Or maybe they thought it had gone through some equivalent ‘reconstruction’.
“Reconstruction…”
Lennok muttered, casually turning the paper to the back of the report.
= You only take on a human form on the surface, but for some reason, your body is deteriorating from the cellular level. The over-recovery done to your body can also be explained through the same conclusion.
= The reason you can survive even though your blood pressure and blood flow rate varies depending on each part of your body is because the forced recovery imposed on your body was achieved through surgery. To be precise, your body has changed so that you can coexist in that way.
“………….”
Apart from the fact that Lennok’s own magic power has been endlessly modified and modified, does this mean that even Lennok’s body is going along with the changes?
A reconstruction that is so subtle that even Lennok would find it difficult to recognize it just by observing and looking into the body, but its meaning is by no means small.
The reason I hadn’t noticed it until now was probably because Lennok’s talent was focused on his abilities as a wizard.
= Because I am not a high-ranking archmage, I cannot accurately determine the cause. It just gives you a rough idea of what the overall changes have been to your body.
= However, it seems clear that the changes in your body are closer to optimization as a magician than as a human being. A superhuman who has reached that level of hierarchy and level may literally be reinventing himself without being conscious of it.
= And after uploading this excessive recovery and changes in your body to the Arsnova medical examination record database, I found that there was only one case.
Turn the paper over again.
The final chapter of the lengthy explanation of findings and examination records written by Murphy.
= An experiment that was conducted in utmost secrecy even within Arsnova and was not even assessed as a risk level. It seems that among the patients who participated there was one case like yours.
“………….”
= Only the rate of change of biometric information recorded in the database matches to some extent, so it can be found out. I don’t have any more information than that. If you want to know information about related experiments, you will have to go to someone else.
We know that Arsnova is a place that enjoys the benefits of advanced civilization and technology more than any other city on the continent.
As was the case in many city-states across the continent, Arsnova must have been repeatedly conducting all kinds of experiments and research for cities.
And Lennok, who had looked directly into the well of the handbook, knew that the famous name of the central city was not a lie.
‘Central City created artificial ascendants like Gyebaek and intentionally made them fail.’
An experiment to force tens of thousands of Geass into human bodies and transform them into transcendental beings who challenge ascension.
Wasn’t even Lennok shaken by those crazy ideas and methods?
Whatever experiments and failures had occurred in that now-destructed city, it was highly likely that they were already beyond what humans could judge.
This would be even more so if the experiment was not even assessed as dangerous in Arsnova.
Perhaps the patient that Murphy mentioned may also have been a victim during the Gyebaek Incident.
“Aurel Silford……..”
Aurel Silford, the fallen ascendant.
However, its true identity was nothing more than a monster created by someone else’s will to become an ascendant and forcibly challenge for ascension.
If you think about it, Lennok still didn’t know anything at that time.
Entrusting my consciousness to Gyebaek’s body, I face the open sea that exists beyond the well of the handbook.
Even the moment when I looked into the eyes of a shark-headed dragon, facing the figures of foreigners floating dreamily in the dark sea.
Although he knew that he had foreseen the world’s most dangerous and dark secret, he did not realize its true story.
At that time, why was Gyebaek recklessly moving towards the well of the handbook, gnawing away at the continent?
How did Pandemonium find out about this and arrive at the well in advance to deal with Gyebaek?
And why was the leader able to reconstruct the Geass in Gyebaek’s body so that he could challenge for ascension again?
“…………”
A secret that could only be understood after meeting foreign correspondents at the Far East branch, crossing the well of the handbook, and opening the Ascension Gate in Machina.
One thing that I could only vaguely guess after returning from seeing the Demon Musketeer’s memory of trying to save the world by shooting God.
The leader of Pandemonium is related to the central city of Arsnova.
Although we do not know when, where, or for what reason it began, its actions and motivations clearly originated in the central city.
[Ah, Master.]
The moment Lennok was sipping his coffee in silence, thinking about the Arsnova Ascension Ceremony extending to Pandemonium and the leader.
Dabi, who was curled up lazily on Lennok’s lap, suddenly raised his gaze as if he remembered something.
[The vampire wrote a separate postscript in the email while sending the medical examination report. I’ll open it right away.]
Paaa!!
As soon as he said those words, a hologram screen appeared before Lennok’s eyes.
Lennok said with a nervous expression as he touched the screen and opened the mailbox.
“Murphy is not so loose-minded that he omits the opinions to be written in the report and passes them on as a postscript. If it was an important story, the entire report would have been rewritten. There is a possibility that it has little to do with the main topic—”
Lennok, who had been saying that, fell silent when he saw the contents written in the postscript.
= This is not the story in the report, but written here. The city council tried to recruit me.
= I usually ignore it, but the name of the organization that scouted me seemed familiar.
= I’m asking if you’d like to join some research institute. Isn’t this the name of a researcher working at your magic tower?
Lennok’s eyes became cold for a moment.
“………….”
Bylon Research Institute.
I never thought that the name, which I had already remembered, would be mentioned again through Murphy’s mouth.
“Ha… That’s really annoying.”
Lennok, who was sitting on the sofa fiddling with his phone, thought for a moment and then stood up with an annoyed look on his face.
It’s not my business to know whether or not a research center will be established, but since Evan’s name has been brought in, we need to figure out what they’re aiming for in scouting talented people from all over the world.
If the information is of this much concern, it could volatilize and disappear even tomorrow.
I guess I should check out what’s going on there right now.
After pushing away the sleeping pills that were lying nearby, I covered my face with one hand.
As soon as he wiped his cheek, Lennok, whose face changed to half in an instant, glared at the phone again.
A photo file of the Bylan Institute business card enclosed with Murphy’s postscript. The route to the laboratory was clearly marked.
“Dabi, scan the map and connect it directly to the satellite.”
Lennok, who had taken off his coat and had gloves on both hands, nodded.
“If you make a mistake, you might have to turn everything over, so be prepared to jam.”
[Let’s start right away!]
The moment Lennok lifted up the Thunder Spirit, who was unable to use his own hands when it came to Buntang, and raised his magic power,
the wizard’s shadow disappeared as if disappearing from within the mansion.
