Ch.104104. Mana Disease

As soon as the private jet took off, the meal was served.

“Wow. This steak is nothing like the airplane steaks I’ve seen before!”

“We have a private chef.”

“Wow…”

“He’s researched even how cooking differs at high altitudes.”

“Amazing. It’s delicious.”

Steak, pasta—could I ever have imagined enjoying such a feast in the sky?

Having left at lunchtime without eating, I completely cleared the full spread of food set before me.

While eating dessert, the interpreter gave me a brief briefing.

“Kelin’s father suffers from an unidentified rare disease. We call it mana disease—it’s known to drain life force and cause death if mana isn’t continuously supplied.”

“Such a disease exists?”

“There probably aren’t many known cases. It’s relatively new, and most cases would have been classified as deaths from unknown causes. Typically, once someone contracts mana disease, if they don’t receive regular mana injections, their cells rapidly age when mana is depleted, resulting in death within an hour.”

“Wow…”

“Currently, there’s no known cure, but research shows that life can be maintained by injecting mana through mana stones.”

“How much mana stone does it require?”

“C-grade lasts one day. B-grade lasts three days. A-grade can sustain for up to a week.”

“…”

Mana stones are expensive.

They’re rare items that don’t commonly drop in dungeons. I already knew mana stone rings were popular among mages when I bought mine.

How much did I pay for that A-grade mana stone ring back then?

“Maintaining with C-grade stones would cost several million won per day, but…”

I suppose a hunter of Kelin’s caliber could easily afford that.

For ordinary people, having to pay millions daily just to stay alive would make many choose to stop breathing altogether. But with the 20 billion Kelin promised me alone, her father’s remaining lifetime could be covered.

The problem is that such an existence could hardly be called living.

“When foreign mana enters an ordinary person’s body, it triggers various negative reactions, and complications make normal daily life impossible.”

In other words, it merely keeps them breathing.

Since they’d die without it, they choose to keep them alive even if their condition is poor and they’re in pain.

I don’t know if this is Kelin’s father’s wish or Kelin’s.

I guess it shows how much she loves her father.

“She must be desperate.”

“She is.”

“May I ask something?”

“Yes, of course.”

I’ve heard the touching story, but why is the interpreter speaking instead of Kelin?

I’ve been curious since I first met Kelin.

“What exactly do you do…”

“…”

“This seems like an important secret? Given what you know, you must be close.”

I figured they wouldn’t use just any interpreter.

She definitely looks like a hunter too.

But how often would they visit Korea to have hired such a fluent Korean-speaking hunter as an interpreter?

Moreover, explaining confidential information on Kelin’s behalf suggests they’re quite close.

Family?

But unlike the white Kelin, the interpreter’s skin tone was more like ours.

“I’m Kelin’s sister. Adopted family.”

“Ah.”

So that’s what it was.

My curiosity was satisfied.

As we were about to leave, the interpreter made one request.

“If you can’t show us your skill, could we at least verify it first? From our perspective, we can’t use it on her father without confirming it, so please understand.”

“Sure. How should we do this?”

The interpreter took out a syringe from her bag and injected it into her arm.

Whatever was in the syringe looked murky—the kind of substance that shouldn’t be put into a human body.

The interpreter winced at the foreign sensation entering her arm.

Kelin watched her with a worried expression.

The liquid quickly spread through her veins.

Pressing her lips together, the interpreter said:

“The skill… on me…”

“Ah, yes.”

I was wondering how they’d verify without seeing my skill info, but I never expected such a crude method.

Kim Soo-jung covered her mouth and urged me.

“Oppa. Quickly. Hurry.”

I reached out and placed my hand on the interpreter’s head.

As I used Purification, light flowed from my hand, cleansing her body.

The interpreter’s face, which had been rapidly turning pale, relaxed.

In just a minute or two, she had gone from being drenched in cold sweat with a half-dead expression to looking completely drained but alive.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes… whew… thank you for confirming.”

“Are you alright, Claire?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“No. What if it hadn’t worked…”

The treatment was perfect.

I don’t know what she injected, but not just any purification skill would have worked. The reliability of the word “all” in my skill description increased a bit for me too.

“It’s an extreme poison made of various toxins. Only S-grade or higher purification skills can neutralize it. It’s fatal within five minutes without treatment. Even if your purification hadn’t worked, we had an antidote ready.”

“That’s extreme.”

“We had no choice.”

These people are thoroughly desperate.

They’re willing to risk their lives to verify my purification skill, not knowing if it can cure Kelin’s father.

Instead of insisting I show them the skill when I refused, they took this approach.

I was somewhat moved.

With this level of commitment, I had to help them.

And the source of that emotion was the SS-grade ring.

“I really hope the treatment works.”

Desperation isn’t shown through actions.

It’s shown through compensation.

I sincerely hoped my purification skill would cure Kelin’s father, motivated by that desperate compensation.

After a good nap in the hotel room on the second floor, I came out to see the American land gradually appearing below.

———————-

A penthouse apartment in downtown New York with a clear view of the night streets.

That was Kelin’s home.

The shock I felt when seeing the private jet was reinforced by the sight of her residence—the only penthouse in the building, plus three floors below it all converted into her home, complete with a private elevator.

“Oppa. This must be the standard of an SS-rank hunter.”

“It is impressive.”

Honestly, I didn’t have much attachment to extravagant spending in real life.

Most of my life had been spent in Farming World, and I thought it was enough to decorate and live nicely there.

In Suhyun’s Farming World 1, I built my own medieval-style mansion with modern additions, taking pride in my own world.

When I obtained the Rift Dimension, I set a goal to eventually create my own paradise there, thinking it wouldn’t disappear since it was a real dimension, not just a game.

In a way, since the Rift Dimension is a higher dimension than Earth, introducing Earth’s culture to the beautiful Rift Dimension would make luxury in reality seem insignificant.

But seeing Kelin living with the most expensive luxuries in the most expensive place, I realized that might not be the only path to happiness.

Reality and the Rift Dimension.

If I had to choose just one, it might be difficult, but I don’t need to invest in just one.

If SS-rank hunter Kelin lives like this, couldn’t I do even better?

Moreover, I can draw resources from the nearly unlimited Rift Dimension, not just Earth with its limited resources.

I could build such a life faster than Kelin, who spent years accumulating wealth.

“This way, please. I’ll show you the ring.”

The Sacred Ring was in Kelin’s item collection room.

The room alone was as big as my dad’s house, filled with various items displayed like a museum.

My dad’s house is over 40 pyeong, but this was just used as a display room.

In the center, under the most elaborate lighting, was the Sacred Ring.

[Sacred Ring]

– Grade: SS

– An ancient relic blessed with sacred power. Significantly increases the wearer’s holy power.

– Holy Power +2 grades

– Holy +100

– Holy Magic Effect +20%

The item options were exactly as I remembered, without a single typo.

It grows more beautiful the more I look at it.

With this ring alone, I could switch to being a healer.

The unrestricted +2 grade ability is truly unbelievable.

Add the absolute holy power boost and the 20% holy magic effect, and my healing would exceed 100% effectiveness.

I reached out and grabbed the ring.

The interpreter and Kelin reacted to my sudden move, but I was faster, raising my hand with the ring already on.

“Holy magic effect 20%. I’ll wear this for the treatment.”

“…Ah.”

“…”

I maintained my brazenness despite admiring the chill that filled the room in that brief moment.

The coldness disappeared, and Kelin spoke with anxious eyes.

“I’ll trust you.”

She couldn’t really trust me, but rationally speaking, a 20% increase in purification effectiveness would help treat her father, not hinder it, so she couldn’t ask me to remove it.

I smiled brightly, wearing the ring, and led the way.

“Shall we go?”