I clenched the sheets and lay on the bed. Without Dalbi, the pain was unbearable. It felt as though my intestines had burst. Unfortunately, Wooshas was nowhere to be found, and the medical ward was of no help. That night, I cried and finally managed to fall asleep with Dalbi in my arms.
Even afterwards, I had to endure days of abdominal pain, holding onto Dalbi in bed.
Fortunately, the pain gradually subsided each time I adopted the fresh posture of absorbing natural energy. However, there was something strange. Normally, I wouldn’t feel the natural energy after a few hours of adopting a posture, but after swallowing the Archmage Maje ghost, I could now accept it for much longer.
It wasn’t just the abdominal pain.
I definitely noticed one change that had occurred in my body.
For days, I pondered intensely in my room what this strange sensation could be.
Suddenly, it felt like my toes had grown an extra one. I could move the toe, but it felt strange and awkward. I couldn’t even understand why I could move this sixth toe.
The sensation in my body.
A new something that had never been there before had been added.
I continued to move to find out what this sensation was.
Like rehabilitation therapy, I focused on the faint sensation, trying to become accustomed to it.
After days of training, I finally realized what was causing the sensation.
And I witnessed something extraordinary, incomparable to the sixth toe.
—
It was ten days later when Melissa found my room.
I inferred positively from the fact that all nine of Melissa’s tails were erect.
“The power of the relic Gain is very strange.”
Melissa began to explain as soon as she saw me.
“Tike is an ancient deity worshipped as the goddess of luck.”
I listened to the explanation absentmindedly. It seemed like it wouldn’t be wise to interrupt Melissa, whose cheeks turned red at the slightest hint.
“I compiled the documents from Maje’s Archive. The power of Gain is considered a blessing from ‘Tike’. The power of Gain is the power to gain what you want. In simple terms, luck. Even in the oldest records, the possessor of relics was called ‘Fortuna,’ meaning ‘one followed by luck.’ The possessors of recorded relics all enjoyed positions and wealth that exceeded their abilities. The juggler became a ruler, the assassin ascended to the sultanate, and Archmage Maje was nothing more than a librarian of the tower before she got the Relic.”
“Luck is power? I should go to the gamblers’ island right away.”
“It’s not just simple luck, you fool.”
I frowned.
What comes to mind when you think of luck?
Making a profit from a gambling game, winning the lottery, hitting the jackpot in gambling.
Isn’t it obvious?
“The power of Gain is not just about making your luck good. It’s the power that allows you to gain what you want too easily or gives you gains in any situation.”
“I don’t quite understand.”
“It’s the luck that gives you gains even in situations where you don’t gain anything. Luck and fate are different concepts. You should be clear about that. It’s a power you shouldn’t be arrogant about. The power of Gain is not about gaining something even in bad situations, it’s not the power of a god adjusting fate.”
“It’s not as big a deal as I thought?”
At that moment, Melissa suddenly burst into anger.
“You fool! Do you not know how powerful it is to always gain something even if you do something stupid?”
“Um, was that something you wanted?”
Melissa remained silent.
Her face was full of mischief. She seemed to want to say something but struggled to hold it in.
“Anyway, it’s an amazing power. Besides, the existence of a deity named Tike is very interesting. There are three deities in the Azhibita religion, the belief in the Trinity. However, the relic of Gain’s belief is on Tike, the goddess of luck. Azhibita religion has the nature of a polytheistic religion…”
In my past life in Korea, there was an appropriate word to call Melissa.
Melissa was definitely a Wisdom Bearer.
As soon as Melissa came, she was about to speak, but I interrupted her.
I looked at Melissa, who was lecturing about the history of this world.
“What the hell is this Maje doing?”
And I reached out and displayed the ‘new sensation’ I had been practicing.
Swish!
Something came out.
Something vaguely transparent emanated from my palm.
It was stronger than when I first used it, now enough to shatter a glass window.
“It’s like magic.”
I gently touched Melissa’s face.
“Try again.”
There was no reason to break the room. I raised my hand towards the broken glass window. The sensation of using it was like pushing out stagnant feces or expelling mucus from my throat. Disgusting but true. Of course, instead of feces and mucus, I expelled the natural energy embedded in my body.
Thud!
That was it.
When Dalbi suddenly rushed in.
When she touched my body, an explosive force, no, power, overflowed.
I expelled this power with all my might.
Crash!
This was unexpected.
I hadn’t experienced anything like this before.
Thud! Crash!
Thud!
It began to collapse.
I looked calmly at Melissa.
Something that had come out of my hand completely smashed the wall of my room, but it was a familiar sight to me. The problem was why it came out of ‘my hand’ rather than the ‘sky’?
A cool breeze blew in.
When I accepted Dalbi’s power and expelled it, ‘Meteor’ flew out of my hand.
No, this wasn’t a meteor. It wasn’t a meteorite either.
But the power was tremendous. The ‘magic’ that completely destroyed the wall was not something even a blue magician could easily do.
“What’s this!”
Fortunately, my room was close to the garden, so there were no passersby.
But the sound of the collapsed wall echoed throughout the Quilz Castle, and the watchmen who heard the commotion screamed. Soon after, not only the guards and knights but also my father rushed in.
Quite naturally, the gathered people looked at Melissa with suspicion. It seemed that they thought Melissa was responsible for the collapsed wall just because she was in my room. While I didn’t know how the other noble families would react, the commotion caused by the collapsed wall just ended as a happening because Melissa was in my room.
My father just warned to be careful and dispersed the people.
To the people of Rainberg who had experienced the power of the Quadruplets of the Rainbers, this was just a common occurrence.
“Oh my, what’s this. Miss Melissa, oh dear. I can’t live, really.”
Only Girly shed tears.
“…Come to my garden at this time tomorrow.”
Melissa left with just one word left.
Due to the nine tails, it was easier to understand her emotions compared to my other siblings.
But this time, it was a bit confusing. Was it because my sister’s tail shot up high that she had found a subject for her research?
“Daa! Daa!”
Excited Dalbi trotted around the room, then approached me, nudging my calf as if asking for praise. I held Dalbi and looked at the spot on the wall that was once the favorite of my room, now empty.
“You did well, Dalbi.”
I’ll have to stay in a different room for a while.
***
“Archmage Maje’s magic has few remaining clues.”
The next day, I visited Melissa’s cabin.
Her desk was cluttered with loose sheets of paper.
“I’ve searched through all the books. I found one thing.”
Melissa sat with crossed legs on the chair. Her tail sticking out made it hard to read her emotions.
“Soul Transplantation Magic.”
“Soul Transplantation?”
“Archmage Maje apparently created the Soul Transplantation Magic by mixing demon’s power into her magic. But it was a complete failure. Stupid girl, did she really think soul transplantation would be easy? She paid the price for crossing the domain of the gods. Foolish, ignorant, despicable…”
Melissa cursed Archmage Maje for a while.
I waited for her to calm down, but the swearing didn’t easily stop.
“So why did I end up using magic?”
Melissa, who had been swearing, suddenly started giggling. It was slightly unnerving.
“It seems she didn’t transplant a soul, hehe. It seems like she transplanted her magic, haha! Stupid girl!”
“Transplanted magic?”
“Hahaha! After being trapped in the attic for centuries, she ended up giving you her power. What a masterpiece! I’ve seen many fools in the demon realm, but this girl is the best. Hahaha.”
Her laughter, tinged with madness, was no different from that of a lunatic.
I waited for her to calm down. The scariest time for a mad person is now. After a while of having a drink, Melissa wiped her tears and spoke.
“Archmage Maje’s magic is ‘Emission’.”
“Emission. Somehow, it makes sense.”
“It’s a simple magic. It’s just a matter of emitting the energy one possesses. But when that power reaches the 7th circle, things change. Soul Transplantation Magic seems to have used the emission magic. Emitting one’s own soul along with the magic.”
“What does that mean?”
“Anyway, she failed, and you ended up getting the essence of her magic. Haha, maybe it’s the first gift of the relic of ‘Gain’.”
Melissa got up from her chair.
Her tail was still raised.
“Congratulations, you’ve become a magician.”
“…Thank you.”
I was promoted to a magician.
***
I immediately continued the real fight with Ranista.
As expected, in a real fight, I used all the power I had.
When Dalbi’s power was emitted, Ranista, or rather ‘Gurukdugum’ (someone from Ranista’s previous life), died.
“This bastard.”
Lanista, covered in dust, crawled out of the pit and shouted with a furious face.
“You’ve learned another weird thing. Even the Elder of Revelation (Someone from Ranista’s previous life) will cry. Where do you keep picking up strange powers? What do you want to be? Are you making a mess because you don’t have enough money? ”
Seeing Rnista angry seemed like a success for me.
***
The area where the Quilz Territory and the land of the Ain touch was a dangerous place, but it was also a hunting ground overflowing with leather and meat. Under the management of Lord Reinberg, there were many large and small hunter villages. Among them, rumors spread from the oldest hunter village deep in the forest, ‘Calbain’.
Lord Reinberg had an obligation to listen to their grievances and immediately recruited a dispatch team.
“Are you telling me to be the leader?”
Father recruited me too. It was because I was to be his heir.
He entrusted me with the role of leading the expedition team.
“Suspicious movements have been witnessed in Calbain. At a time when animals are abundant and hunting is plentiful, they claim there’s no prey. Could it be that the hunters of Calbain are going to complain? Something must have happened.”
“Are you sure about me? I have no connection with the people of Calbain.”
“It has to be you.”
Father chuckled.
“I heard there’s a girl in Calbain who could feel the Spirits. The village has been so closed off that there hasn’t been a chance to investigate. We can’t miss this opportunity, can we? You can easily find the aura practitioner, so trust me.”
