Ch.65Rebirth of the Flesh (2)

“With the Titan Alan’s cooperation secured, I immediately prepared to go up.

This meant I had finished all my business in the deep level. And that signaled the end of the long and treacherous deep level breakthrough.

‘Though escaping the mine itself still remains.’

In any case, leaving this place was a settled matter, and Kitsune expressed one question about it.

“Aren’t you going to consume the spirit medicine here?”

At Kitsune’s question, I looked around the interior of the forge.

The forge was a place where we didn’t need to worry about outside intrusion. The magical energy concentration in the air wasn’t bad either, making it a good place for absorbing spirit medicine.

In reality, the other three could absorb theirs here without any issues.

But that wasn’t the case for me. The level of my spirit medicine was too high to absorb alone without preparation and assistance.

“My spirit medicine is a bit too much for me to absorb alone. I need preparation and help. So I want to go to a place I’ve had in mind.”

“Then where are you planning to do it?”

Instead of answering Kitsune’s question, I shifted my gaze from our surroundings to the sky.

Although all I could see was the ceiling, my gaze was directed beyond it, toward Cecilia’s lair in the lower level.

“I needed to go pay my debt anyway, so it’s killing two birds with one stone.”

* * *

The path to Cecilia’s lair wasn’t particularly difficult.

Since Lilly no longer needed to conserve her strength, we could receive more direct and indirect help than before.

Upon arriving at the lair, I noticed something strange. Actually, “strange” might not be the right word—perhaps “surprising” would be more accurate.

“Huh, the security magic isn’t activating.”

“Is there something wrong with this lair?”

“I don’t think so. I can see the protective magic is properly in place.”

There weren’t many possibilities for why an alarm wouldn’t sound when the security magic was functioning properly.

And in the current situation, there was only one explanation for why it wasn’t sounding.

“I didn’t expect to be registered as a guest…”

As I mentioned before, Cecilia doesn’t have a pleasant personality. She’s an extreme sadist.

As such, being treated as a guest by her was no easy feat.

Basically, you needed enough power to not be ignored and a gift offensive to win her heart.

‘Was the True Word that interesting to her…’

Recalling Cecilia’s final expression before we parted, I entered the lair with somewhat mixed feelings.

After walking in a bit, I could see Cecilia waiting for us in the distance.

“Hello.”

“You’ve returned later than I expected. And it seems you’ve brought the promised treasure… unfortunately.”

Cecilia seemed to have been looking forward to our previous agreement.

The problem was that she wasn’t expecting the god-touched item I’d promised, but rather the penalty I’d have to pay if I failed to keep my promise.

“I wouldn’t make promises I couldn’t keep. Here’s a shield made by Vulcan. It’s more of a crafted piece than a weapon, but that’s better, right?”

“Yes… I like it…”

Cecilia took the shield from me and while she was satisfied with the item itself, she couldn’t hide her disappointment toward me.

To her, I pulled out a sword that could be considered the shield’s match and spoke.

“May I ask for one favor? I’ve brought proper payment.”

“Hmm? At first glance, this appears to be a matching piece to the shield. You prepared this with a purpose from the beginning. Very well, let me hear it.”

“I want to use this place. You can absorb all the energy I can’t absorb myself. I’m not after that part anyway.”

I set the sword aside casually as if it wasn’t the main focus, and pulled out an item that could catch Cecilia’s attention.

I could easily see how her previously disinterested gaze changed.

It would have been strange if it hadn’t changed, given that this was the Essence of Flame, which could be called the finest fire-attribute spirit medicine in this world.

“My… was this really beneath me…? Where on earth did you find it? I look quite foolish for not having noticed it.”

“There’s no need to blame yourself. It was in a place where no one else would have noticed it either.”

“My pride is somewhat salvaged. Since you’ve already found it, I have no desire to make excuses. So, what do you want to do with this?”

Before answering Cecilia’s question, I began using the Heavenly Ascension Technique.

My aura, which had been focused on physical enhancement until now, gradually began to diminish, and eventually, all my aura was converted into ice-attribute magical energy.

“Phew… I’m planning to break my limits. But my magical energy is far too insufficient, so I was hoping to get some support with an ice-attribute spirit medicine.”

With the Essence of Flame alone, the cost-benefit analysis would work out, but without Cecilia, the risk would be too great, so I offered additional payment.

“On the condition that you don’t dissect me, I’ll let you examine my body as you wish.”

“I wonder what plan you’re formulating. Just hearing about it doesn’t give me a clear picture.”

“So what’s your answer?”

I urged Cecilia for an answer, though I already knew what she would say.

“For me, there’s plenty to gain and nothing to lose, so refusing would be foolish.”

Her answer to my proposal was, naturally, acceptance.

* * *

“I doubt anyone else in this world would come up with such a plan.

Using opposing attributes to break the body’s limits. Anyone with a bit of common sense would call this suicidal.”

“But the greater the risk, the more there is to gain if successful. I can also aim for physical enhancement itself.”

“But if you fail, best case scenario is instant death. Worst case, your body will be ruined by the two polar energies, leaving you crippled.”

Before absorbing the Essence of Flame, Cecilia and I were talking alone.

Actually, it was less of a conversation and more of Cecilia’s one-sided criticism.

Although she had been enthusiastic when accepting my proposal, after hearing the specifics, she seemed to think it was madness and tried to stop me.

Now that preparations were truly complete, I brought up a previous incident to end her persuasion.

“But don’t you usually like this kind of thing? When we first met, you enjoyed watching things break.”

“I won’t deny that’s my preference, but I have no desire to do that to a hatchling.”

“A hatchling?”

However, this unexpected comment made it impossible for me to end the conversation.

“Isn’t a hatchling a term for a newly born dragon? I’m not a dragon.”

“After seeing you use what you call the True Word, I came to this conclusion after much deliberation.

Since you use the same language as us, I can’t simply dismiss you as a mortal.

Yet you’re too weak to be treated as equal to us dragons or gods, so hatchling is the perfect position for you.”

I had wondered why I was being treated as a guest, and it seems it was because I was being regarded as a hatchling.

But with the conversation taking this turn, I had a few questions about Cecilia’s behavior.

“Then why did you look disappointed when I brought the treasure earlier? And why were you pleased when I said you could examine my body?”

“Hatchlings are typically forbidden from going out until they become adults or pass a test. And examining your body was just a regular check-up to see if there was anything wrong with you.”

I never expected to actually be treated as a hatchling.

Since I had hardly ever rolled dragon as a race when playing games, being treated as a hatchling felt very unfamiliar.

And while I was marveling at this treatment, Cecilia seemed to have given up on persuading me further.

“Sigh, very well. Since you seem unwilling to yield, it would be more beneficial to focus on increasing your chances of success.”

Cecilia gave up and made an assessment of my character. It was an assessment that Lilly would have agreed with, saying I was quick-witted, had she been listening.

“You could just absorb it normally. I could even teach you the magic I know.”

“I’m a swordsman. I don’t think I could handle magic better than a sword.”

“We’ll start soon, so let’s end the small talk.”

With those words, Cecilia placed her hand on my back and fell silent, and I closed my eyes and began absorbing the ice-attribute spirit medicine around me.

In terms of quality, nothing could compare to the Essence of Flame, but as the number of these increased, the story changed.

The energy of the spirit medicines, combined with my existing magical energy, began circulating through my body, and in sync with this, Cecilia began to flow the energy of the Essence of Flame into me.

Bang. Crack. Crackle. Boom-

As the fire-attribute energy invaded my body filled with ice-attribute energy, the two opposing energies collided and began to explode.

And along with the sound of these explosions, I heard something breaking.

Perhaps this was the sound of walls breaking.

“Urgh…!”

No, it wasn’t.

It wasn’t the walls breaking, but my body.

“Focus. If you faint here, it’s instant death. And don’t open your mouth because energy is escaping, no matter how painful it is.”