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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I couldn’t feel any of the presence or fear that was typically felt from a specter.
The floating guy even looked kind of cute, so I had said it all.
However, since Kayla was a separate person, she seemed to be slightly affected by the specter’s unique presence and the fear it induced.
At least I thought Kayla would be less affected since she recognized me as an ally…
‘Is the specter being cautious?’
…She would be fine once she got used to it.
At least it wasn’t showing a hostile appearance.
“For now, take this.”
I handed one of Trenelsi’s blue roots to Kayla.
“It’s been processed by soaking it in a reagent. Infuse your mana into it and convert the mana inside into your own.”
“What does that…”
“You’ll know once you try it. Think of it as dyeing the mana possessed by Trenelsi’s blue root with your own mana.”
At my words that she would know once she tried it, Kayla grabbed the blue root and closed her eyes.
Soon, the blue root began to vibrate and emit a faint light.
About ten minutes of concentration had passed.
Kayla opened her eyes, exhaling roughly and drenched in sweat.
“…I understand what you mean. It feels like doing mana breathing with this as the target. But since the mana contained in it is so vast, it seems like it will take quite some time.”
“Of course it will take a long time. I didn’t tell you to do it all at once. Just focus on that for now.”
This wasn’t an ordinary spirit herb.
It was a treasure that even royalty would covet, and even though Kayla was once a knight, she couldn’t dye it all at once.
While Kayla was dyeing Trenelsi’s blue root with her own mana, I started turning the last remaining root into a spirit medicine.
‘This is for Athena.’
I’m not going to feed it to her right away.
The timing to feed it would be decided after consulting with Kayla.
It was just that I was making it in advance while I had time.
‘If a war breaks out… It will be difficult for this place to remain safe.’
I planned to use everything I could before then, take only what I could, and abandon this place.
Two days passed like that.
“Master, I’m done.”
Kayla showed me Trenelsi’s blue root, which had been completely dyed with her own mana.
‘I thought it would take three days…’
I had made it so that the more mana was infused through processing, the faster it would change, but even considering that, it was a day faster.
She had reduced her sleeping time and infused mana into Trenelsi’s blue root, and as a result, she was able to achieve results beyond my expectations.
That’s how desperate she was.
“Well done. Here.”
“…Master? This is…”
“I told you before, right? The two roots are for you.”
“There’s still one left. Finish it. You have two days, right?”
Hearing my words, she looked at my face with a dazed expression.
Although I said it jokingly, the fact that it had to be done remained unchanged.
Kayla accepted the root I gave her with an expression as if she had never felt such a sense of emptiness before, and began to concentrate again.
“Kayla, I was joking. Take a good rest for now and do it slowly. Give it to me within four days.”
“…No. I will do it as much as I can for now.”
Then she glanced at me with a slightly sulky look and said,
“I didn’t know you had such a personality, Master. I’m seeing a new side of you today.”
“Hmm… Being serious is good, but you seem too tense. You also look oddly excited. Let me tell you in advance, I can’t guarantee a 100 percent success rate for this. As I said at first, it could fail.”
“…I know.”
“But you seem to think that it absolutely won’t fail.”
“…Well, I can’t help but have expectations. Among everything you’ve shown so far, Master, there hasn’t been a single failure.”
‘Was that so?’
After regressing, there were times when unexpected things happened.
However, I think I moved in a way that somehow benefited me without showing any signs of being flustered in such situations.
Such an appearance seemed to look like I always succeeded to Kayla.
“I’m human too. I might fail someday. Of course, I’m praying that it won’t be this time.”
If it failed despite this much preparation… It was impossible to predict when the next opportunity would come.
‘At least a wait of years would be necessary.’
And after that much time passed, even Kayla would inevitably become exhausted.
‘Athena and I will continue to grow.’
Relative deprivation.
It could lead to despair.
If consumed by a sense of powerlessness and depression… Even if her leg was fixed then, it might be too late.
Therefore, I planned to do my best in this attempt to maximize the probability, while also making her expect as little as possible in case of any situation.
That’s why I didn’t explain at all how much attention I had paid to this matter, how miraculous it was to have such an opportunity at this time, and how much longer she would have to wait if it didn’t work this time.
Nevertheless, Kayla wasn’t a fool, so based on the preparation period, appearance, and spirit herbs used, she figured out that this was a tremendous opportunity.
That’s why she was cooperating so recklessly, even damaging her own body, and that attitude was a burden to me.
‘Of course, I won’t collapse just because it’s a bit burdensome.’
“And even if it fails, there will be another chance. Don’t stake everything on this. Give yourself some leeway.”
“…I understand. It won’t be easy, but since you say so…”
“For now, get some good rest and start again.”
In the end, I succeeded in convincing her to take a break.
While Kayla was resting, I connected the Trenelsi’s blue root I received from her to the place where Denok’s body was stored.
The surrounding magic circles began to glow faintly, and mana began to flow from the root dyed with Kayla’s mana and permeate Denok’s body.
It was to make Denok’s body completely dyed with Kayla’s mana-filled Trenelsi’s blue root.
‘The one I’m making now is for Kayla to just ingest.’
Dyeing mana like this makes absorption better, but it becomes impossible to make it into a better spirit medicine through a recipe.
Since the spirit herb itself had been transformed, an enhanced spirit medicine couldn’t be made with the existing recipe.
It had to be made exclusively, but originally, the recipe for a spirit medicine wasn’t something that was just created.
It was accompanied by many failures, so making a personal recipe was just time-consuming and caused huge losses.
It would be better to buy a few spirit medicines with that money and feed them.
Some spirit herbs also had strong properties, so dyeing them like that alone could result in significant losses.
But now the situation was a bit different.
Rather than the effect of the spirit medicine, it was necessary to make Denok’s body effectively assimilate with Kayla.
To that end, I intentionally created a situation where they would be affected by the same spirit herb, adding variables to have something in common, even if only a little.
In addition to the previous preparations, adding variables through spirit medicine.
Even doing this, success couldn’t be guaranteed.
The problem didn’t end there.
There could be a rejection reaction physically as well, but I had made preparations for that to be slowly assimilated over time.
‘The first month is the problem.’
During that time, I planned to constantly feed her suppressants so that Denok’s body wouldn’t run rampant.
If a rejection reaction occurred even after taking suppressants… It would be a failure.
Still, since it was a method that applied the way of creating chimeras, if she could get through the first month without any problems, it could be considered a success.
While Kayla was sleeping, I completed Athena’s spirit medicine and started making the suppressants that would be used later.
Kayla, who woke up from sleep, saw me still working and asked,
“You told me to rest… Aren’t you tired?”
“The specter is transferring energy to me, so I’m fine. It’s bearable.”
Of course, that didn’t mean I could go without sleep.
There was a limit to the recovery through Energy Drain.
No matter how much I recovered, if I didn’t sleep, the accumulation of fatigue would increase and I would become mentally exhausted, so I had to take a nap once in a while.
“Since you’re awake… You know, right?”
To prevent unnecessary nagging, I reminded her of what she had to do, and Kayla let it slide even though she knew.
As a result of managing her schedule and immersing myself in work, by the time four days had passed, we succeeded in completely dyeing the second blue root with Kayla’s mana as well.
Denok’s body had also almost absorbed all the mana from the first root.
‘The preparations are… almost done.’
Perhaps it was thanks to rising to 3rd Class. I felt that things that should have taken longer were considerably shortened.
The parts I had to do should have taken longer originally, but the duration was greatly reduced.
I told Kayla to focus on maintaining her condition without doing anything else for the time being, and over the course of a few days, I cut a portion of the second root she had dyed and gradually absorbed it into her body.
This would further reduce the efficacy of the spirit medicine, but as I said before, the efficacy of the spirit medicine was secondary.
The most important thing was to fix her leg.
Thanks to that, her mana amount increased slightly, but more importantly, the medicinal effect of the blue root began to circulate in her body.
‘The preliminary preparations are… done.’
The suppressants were also ready, and in a few days, Denok’s body had also absorbed all the mana from the first root.
On the day we promised to attempt the synthesis, I looked at Kayla lying on the synthesis formation and said,
“It’s going to be extremely painful.”
“I’m prepared for it.”
I wanted to put her to sleep if possible, but I couldn’t control Kayla’s mana for her.
There were things Kayla had to do during the synthesis process, so she had to endure the pain while conscious and perform the tasks I instructed her to do.
“As I said, you will eat the remaining portion of the second root entirely. As you absorb it through mana breathing, the synthesis will begin midway.”
When the synthesis begins, Denok’s body starts being absorbed into Kayla’s body, and that process is extremely painful.
The original body is destroyed, and Denok’s body takes its place.
The appearance may not change, but the inside is being replaced.
This had to succeed.
Even though I had made a lot of preparations, if Kayla’s body rejected it…
‘It would be a failure.’
The problem was that even succeeding in this was difficult, and it didn’t end here.
“If you succeed in this process… Kayla, you have to accept and control the mana inside Denok’s body. …Think of it as taking two spirit medicines at once.”
In fact, taking two spirit medicines at once is dangerous in itself.
Moreover, it’s not just ordinary spirit herbs, but spirit herbs that are so rich in mana that even grand nobles and royalty would covet them, and she’s taking two of them at once.
I informed her of that risk and said,
“So don’t be greedy. It’s okay to let most of it flow out. What’s important is…”
“Fixing my leg… I understand.”
Erase anything additional since that’s the only purpose.
I gave that order.
“Then, let’s begin.”
At my words, Kayla swallowed the second root whole.
And she began to concentrate with her eyes closed.
The scent of refreshing mana flowed from her whole body.
When some time had passed, I also started to move.
“Ugh…”
A groan filled with pain flowed from between Kayla’s tightly closed lips.
I carved a small magic circle on her ankle with a knife.
As magical energy seeped into the wound, it fixed the shape, and as the magical energy permeated her body, her mana repelled it to push it out, causing intense pain.
‘Contamination is not allowed.’
I didn’t infuse that much magical energy.
It was a small amount enough to maintain the magic circle on the skin, so it was okay to this extent.
After carving the magic circle as quickly as possible, I activated the magic circle for chimera synthesis carved on the floor.
The magic circle began to glow with a dark red light, and I grabbed Denok’s body that I had prepared.
“I’m starting.”
Kayla’s brow furrowed.
“Ugh, uuugh!”
Kayla let out a groan filled with pain.
Her body was trembling, seeming to feel pain beyond imagination.
However, I had no time to pay attention to Kayla’s pain.
I had to constantly check if there were any abnormalities in the process, if any variables occurred, and focus on supplying magical energy to the magic circle and checking the progress.
Through the magic circle carved on Kayla’s ankle, Denok’s body slowly melted and was absorbed.
“Kuuugh! Ugh! Kuk!”
‘A little more…’
It was going well so far.
Fortunately, Kayla was enduring well, and her body wasn’t rejecting Denok’s body.
How much time had passed?
Finally, Denok’s body in my hand disappeared, and Kayla’s screams gradually subsided.
‘Up to here… is a success.’
But this was only the first checkpoint.
“Concentrate!”
From now on, it was Kayla’s role.
The fact that the absorption was complete meant that Denok’s body had properly settled in Kayla’s leg.
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