Chapter 398: Symbiotic Mystic Eye (2)

Whoosh!!

A magnificent resonant sound, like dozens of harps ringing together.

Lennok, standing in the space where the unique melody lingered, frowned slightly.

“Quite a bit of noise pollution.”

[Bear with it.]

As Olivera replied in a bored tone and gestured, a grand, inverted gate appeared from the far end of the floor.

Koo-goo-goo-goong!!

As she nodded her head in front of the strange, inverted gate, her veil faintly swayed with the movement.

Clunk!!

Inside the inwardly inverted gate, a long corridor sloped gently downwards.

The tranquil scenery, adorned with luxurious carpets and framed paintings of unknown forms, was striking.

Walking down the corridor, which somehow had a warm air about it, Olivera said:

[It’s been ten years since I’ve allowed an outsider into my lab. Consider it an honor.]

“An honor?”

Immediately after Lennok showed her his Mystic Eye, Olivera left the bar without another word.

Near the underground of a vast factory complex, located beneath the street behind the Cartel’s headquarters.

Olivera was taking Lennok to her secret laboratory, which she had kept hidden for decades.

“The location is quite different from the chairman’s office I visited before.”

Lennok, walking down the corridor behind her, said.

A huge corridor extended inside the gate. At its end, another inverted gate appeared. And within that, yet another corridor’s landscape unfolded.

Amidst the mirror-like repeating scenery, one could only realize they were descending endlessly deeper underground.

[This is a place I only use for official business. I try not to bother with the Cartel’s affairs much, but there are exceptions, like when someone troublesome like you brings a problem.]

Olivera, who replied nonchalantly, drew forth her mana.

[Sometimes, things happen that even the Chairman’s name isn’t enough for.]

Thuu-thud-thud-thud!!

As Olivera, now at the end of the last gate, waved her hand, the entire corridor they had traversed began to curve, forming a gigantic circular loop.

As the head and tail of the long corridor met to form a loop, the diagonally connected corridor loop rotated like a screw.

It then rotated and sank hundreds of meters deeper underground.

Lennok let out a faint gasp of admiration at the utterly unique entry method.

“So all the gates and corridors we passed through were just means to get to the lab. Do high-level sorcerers usually hide their labs like this?”

[…That’s a strange question. Are you saying you leave your work lying around?]

“No, but…”

Only someone like the Chairman of the Cartel could utilize space in such diverse ways to protect their lab to this extent.

Lennok didn’t leave his research and work lying around, but he wasn’t well-off enough to hide everything as thoroughly as she did.

Instead of explaining his circumstances to her, he shifted the topic to the utterly meticulous security visible before them.

“It’s hard to believe someone built a facility of this scale alone.”

With every tens of meters descended underground, a distinctively powerful barrier array could be felt.

Even Lennok, who had directly inherited Jindun’s barrier magic, could clearly discern its formidable strength.

There was no need to mention how much effort she put into securing this place.

Leaning against the corridor wall, Lennok muttered, rubbing his ears, which felt pressurized by the altitude change.

“I can tell how much wealth the Cartel Chairman has. Did you buy out an entire street to privatize it?”

[To hide a tree, you must create a forest. I merely adhered faithfully to the law of scale.]

“Is that so?”

Lennok glanced up, met Olivera’s gaze, and chuckled.

“If that’s the case, then the Cartel must be the most extensive forest you own.”

[…]

The reason why she, who seemed to have no great interest in the city’s affairs, still remained the head of this massive organization.

What kind of tree did she hide within the forest of the Cartel, that she still fulfilled her duties as Chairman, at least to this extent?

Both Lennok and Olivera knew they were thinking the same thing, but they said nothing more.

Showing him this lab now was, for Olivera, granting Lennok a great price and a favor.

It would not be a wise choice to spoil the moment by trying to pry into her secrets here.

Thud!!

[We’ve arrived. Let’s go down.]

“It feels like we’ve descended thousands of meters. If you set up a lab in a place like this, it must be bothersome to come out…”

As soon as he stepped out of the wide-open gate, Lennok stopped speaking.

Inside a colossal crystal, likely hundreds of meters in radius.

Inside it, a gigantic book, occupying nearly half the space, lay wide open, replacing the ground within the crystal.

Upon this massive book, hundreds of times the size of a normal human, countless living animals and plants moved about on the paper-made ground.

Various creatures frolicked in the small garden created on the page.

As Lennok stood speechless, overwhelmed by the extraordinary sight,

[This is an environment arbitrarily created to preserve specimens in their pristine state.]

Olivera calmly walked ahead of Lennok, sending a mental message.

[Unlike the initial configuration, I’ve added various elements, but it was unavoidable to satisfy both security and performance simultaneously.]

“So you built an artificial garden deep underground like this… It’s certainly a very unique method.”

Lennok couldn’t hide his admiration at her words, but Olivera continued walking without waiting for his reply.

[Nothing to see here. Let’s move on.]

“Next?”

In the middle of the massive book. As Olivera, standing inside the joint where the two pages met, gestured, an entire page of the book turned over, centered around the two of them.

Pallaak!!

Simultaneously, the grassland scenery around them vanished completely, and an entirely different space appeared.

Discarded equipment from finished experiments, broken pieces of various flasks and glass tubes, and unidentifiable discarded specimens among them.

A ruin piled with the waste of failed experiments. As Olivera gestured again, before Lennok could react, several more pages turned, revealing different scenes.

A snow-covered plain, mountains of scrap metal piled with pipes, a warehouse filled with animal carcasses.

Each time a page turned, the space manifested upon it completely switched, changing the lab’s scenery.

Only then did Lennok, understanding how Olivera’s lab worked, let out a faint gasp of admiration.

“So you’re memorizing the spaces themselves as bookmarks and assigning them to pages to call them up… It’s an incredibly sophisticated method, almost surreal.”

Arbitrarily limiting space through a circular crystal, then assigning different spaces to each page based on the form of a gigantic book within it.

It’s a method of switching between different spaces by turning the bookmark, creating diverse environments.

“If an Archmage dedicates this much effort to a single spatial coordinate for so long, it seems possible to achieve a distinctiveness akin to a Domain.”

[Oh, you noticed already?]

Although different in scale and level, it was not significantly different from other sorcerers’ Domains or Jindun’s Hanghasa Labyrinth.

Olivera Ron Maize had completely melted her Mind Imprint and obsessions into this vast laboratory.

[This space is like a second Domain I’ve newly created for myself. For a sorcerer, the act of constructing their own lab, which naturally infuses with their dedication, can project their Mind Imprint to the extreme, creating the space’s own distinct isolation.]

“So you designed and implemented such a complex process with the concept of storing it on book pages.”

[It was unavoidable to experience diverse environments within a limited space. Ah, this way.]

Wooong!!

As the next page turned, a dark laboratory appeared.

Countless lab benches, glass columns, and artifacts and plants floating in unknown liquids captivated the eye.

Lennok looked around the interior of the lab and began to speak.

“They say you created various byproducts while researching Property Transformation of mana, but there’s no trace of that here.”

They said Mad Manson’s multi-body suitability, Iola’s Mystic Eye, or Girad’s twisted Property Transformation of mana, who was part of the executive staff, were Olivera’s creations.

Naturally, he had imagined the lab of a research fanatic who freely conducted human experiments, but it looked much more normal than he expected.

[Decades ago, I felt a limit and shifted my research direction. I realized that no matter how many lives I used as specimens, it would be difficult to extract the results I desired.]

She answered, gesturing to float a piece of equipment resembling a giant telescope near the lab.

[The more a superhuman begins to build up their Hierarchy, the more they start to transform into something different from conventional human beings. Unless I delved into forbidden arts of human sacrifice, there were many aspects that didn’t align with my intended research.]

“…”

[Enough idle talk, let’s get back to the Mystic Eye. This equipment can observe the human eye, record its movements at a particle level, and analyze its condition.]

“For something like that, its appearance is very… unique.”

Something resembling a living eyeball writhed between the telescope’s lenses, emitting an unknown shriek.

[Kieek! Kieek!!]

“What did you catch and make this equipment out of…?”

[Put your eye to it and activate your Mystic Eye.]

“…Alright.”

Lennok put his eye to the lens of the long telescope she had floated and slowly activated his Mystic Eye again.

As he activated his Mystic Eye through the lens, the eyeball began to glow and thrash wildly. He felt the mana waves emanating from it delicately sweep over his eye.

[I mostly understand.]

Olivera, who had been deep in thought with her eyes closed and arms crossed, nodded.

“Do you know what the problem is?”

[When did you start noticing the cracks in your Mystic Eye?]

“A month ago. I was aware of cracks forming in my retina, but due to personal circumstances, I had no choice but to keep using it. During that time, the cracks spread deeper and transformed into this form.”

Lennok said, retracting his Mystic Eye.

“I know it’s not just breaking, but transforming into something. The problem is that my vision deteriorates every time I activate the Mystic Eye during this process.”

Separately from Lennok’s Mystic Eye, which visualizes the realm of possibilities, functioning without issue, his left eye becomes completely unable to see well when the Mystic Eye is activated.

The cracks covering his retina are deepening, narrowing his field of vision itself.

Lennok understood that this was a precursor to a change that occurred after encountering something he hadn’t seen within the labyrinth, but he didn’t know when it would end.

It was a point where he had to choose between the cracks breaking apart and the Mystic Eye transforming into a new form, or mending the current cracks to heal the Mystic Eye.

That’s why Lennok sought help from the wizard he knew who understood the Mystic Eye best.

If it was Olivera, who possessed ‘The Seven Debts Jewels Mystic Eye,’ hailed as an undeniable treasure among countless Mystic Eyes, she might be able to solve the problem Lennok was facing.

Olivera gazed intently at Lennok through her veil and asked.

[How much do you know about Mystic Eyes?]

“I’ve done some personal research. I think I understand it as much as anyone else.”

[Then do you know that your Mystic Eye was improperly designed from its very awakening?]

“…What?”

[Originally, a Mystic Eye isn’t merely a power that manifests in the eyeball and shares abilities.]

Olivera, seated in a luxurious armchair nearby, puffed on her pipe and spoke.

[It’s a type of supernatural power that arises from a twisted series of mana circuits connecting the retina, optic nerve, and extending inwards to the pituitary and pineal glands. That’s why the abilities of a Mystic Eye are often unrelated to one’s original powers or magical lineage.]

“I know there are many such cases in the manifestation of typical Mystic Eyes.”

[However, it’s different for a sorcerer who awakens a Mystic Eye so powerful it could consume them, not just a trivial ability. Whether they will maintain their original magical system and use the Mystic Eye only as a supplementary ability, or reform their powers to match the manifested Mystic Eye.]

Which path did Olivera Ron Maize, who possessed The Seven Debts Jewels Mystic Eye, choose?

As Lennok pondered for a moment, she continued.

[Usually, one realizes which path to take as soon as the Mystic Eye awakens, but your case is different. Your eye is overloading because the power of your Mystic Eye has grown abnormally fast, becoming equivalent to your Hierarchy.]

“…”

[Normally, you would have been consumed by the grown Mystic Eye before even having such worries, but the fact that it only resulted in eye overload is proof that you are perfectly controlling its power.]

Olivera chuckled, puffing smoke through her veil.

[It’s rare for a Mystic Eye’s ability to grow to be equal to its possessor, and it’s even stranger that you weren’t consumed by it but ended up in this state. Considering that single-eye awakened users are more fragile than dual-eye awakened users, it must be due to the possessor’s own skill. This is the first time I’ve personally seen such a case.]

“Hmm…”

[When exactly did you awaken your Mystic Eye? Can you tell me when you realized its abilities or specific powers?]

Perhaps because they were discussing a common interest, Olivera began to ask Lennok various questions about his Mystic Eye with a noticeably different attitude than before.

Lennok also agreed that some information disclosure was necessary to solve the problem.

“I awakened the Mystic Eye a few years ago. After observing the mana flow of a possessor whose left eye had transformed into a Mystic Eye by chance, I was able to imitate it to some extent.”

[…Are you saying you didn’t awaken a Mystic Eye, but rather stole another possessor’s flow and opened your eye?]

“There’s a woman named Eolara among the Cartel’s deputy-level executives. To be precise, I imitated her mana flow.”

[Eolara…? You imitated that child’s awakened Mystic Eye and developed it to this extent?]

Lennok nodded at Olivera’s incredulous question.

“At first, it was just interfering with mana flow like hers. I used it as it seemed helpful during battles, and then I realized a slightly different way of using it.”

The Mystic Eye’s ability to visualize the realm of possibilities, though simple in words, is undoubtedly a powerful force whose potential is difficult to estimate.

Moreover, the Mystic Eye’s ability itself acts like a mirror, directly projecting Lennok’s Mind Imprint, so speaking rashly could provide Olivera with clues.

Lennok needed to appropriately manage his relationship with her, balancing cooperation and caution.

“It seems you, Chairman, are aware of the cause and solution to this problem. Let’s consider Ayoon’s matter settled by exchanging information on this. Do you agree?”

[…Though a truly arrogant statement for a young wizard, fine. You’ve easily handled a troublesome matter, so I’ll answer.]

Olivera replied.

[The cracks in your retina are impurities formed because your Mystic Eye cannot handle its own output. To solve this, diverting the excessive output elsewhere is the most efficient method.]

“Divert it?”

[Unless you intend to adjust your entire magical system to fit your Mystic Eye, yes. If you were unable to control the Mystic Eye’s power itself, the situation would be very different, but since you seem to be controlling its power with unusual thoroughness, there’s no need for that. Among those methods, the best is…]

As she stood up and snapped her fingers, a massive hologram appeared in the middle of the vast lab as if on cue.

[To awaken a Mystic Eye in your other eye as well, thereby dividing the Mystic Eye’s output itself.]