Chapter 436: New Crossroads (1)

“Like this?”

“No. Not like that.”

Lennok said, slightly adjusting the shape of his raised hand.

“It’s this feeling.”

After spending a full day checking on Davi’s health now that she was a fox spirit, and examining her abilities and growth,

Lennok finally visited the headquarters of the distribution company he established with Jenny.

It was the cozy courtyard space where the company’s security personnel, led by Dray Krimgal, usually devoted themselves to sparring or group activities.

About a dozen people, who rarely gathered together, were crouched down, groaning.

Mila, who had come with Dylan, also sat quietly with her hands together, trying to recall something as Lennok instructed—a peculiar sight.

“Mmm…”

Mila, who had her head tilted, deep in thought, said,

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“…I didn’t expect it to go well from the start either.”

Lennok said, subtly turning his head.

“But wouldn’t it be much better than ending up like that?”

“Ugh…!!”

In the corner where the two turned their heads, a woman with a robot head was kneeling, her head buried in the ground.

Along with a terrible sound like retching, oil dripped from her mechanical head.

“I, I can’t… I can never do this…”

Pointing at Mad Manson, who was muttering mournfully and digging into the ground, Lennok said,

“At least you, who primarily deal with pure psychic abilities, have a higher chance of success than Manson. Have confidence.”

“…Can’t I just not do it…?”

What did it mean that Mad Manson, who had worked as a freelancer in the shadows for a long time, couldn’t endure the pain transmitted during training and was rolling on the floor?

Didn’t it mean that the technique Lennok was trying to impart was either dangerous or painful, or both?

But Lennok looked at Mila and shook his head firmly.

“You’re the one who eagerly rushed over when I said I’d teach magic. You can’t give up now. Let’s go again.”

“Ugh…!!”

As Mila exerted strength in both hands and focused her mind, Lennok transmitted his mana to her fingertips.

At the same time, a faint light emerged from her hands, rotating in concentric circles.

It slowly began to connect, head to tail.

“Oooohh!!”

Mila’s expression brightened at the noticeably different sight from before, and at that moment, the others who were sitting nearby, groaning, whipped their heads around.

With a strange sensation as if her mind was completely entangled, Mila immediately bent her head and began to vomit.

“Guh-weeeh!!”

“I knew it.”

“What do you expect from a mercenary whose head is only filled with thoughts of drinking.”

“If she had succeeded first, I would have given up without hesitation.”

Dylan, who was meekly squatting next to her with his hands clasped, let out a bizarre laugh from behind his mask.

“Khehehehe! You’re no different, Mila!”

“Shut up…!! Ugh, what kind of head…!!”

A sensation more potent and strange than any hangover. Her stomach churned from the bizarre feeling as if her mind had shattered into pieces and was dancing separately.

Even lying still on the ground, Mila felt her head spinning and collapsed dizzily.

Lennok looked down at Mila and clicked his tongue slightly.

“This test subject failed too, I see… Next.”

“Um, Van? We all gathered here to learn magic, right?”

Weian, standing before Lennok, asked with a slightly trembling voice.

His complexion was already utterly pale, as if he had already thrown up once.

Lennok sighed softly and nodded.

“I must have explained it several times. Until now, my understanding of magic wasn’t sufficient to teach anyone, but now the story is a bit different.”

“No, then what about the ‘test subject’ part…?”

“I can’t perfectly impart magic, but I can teach you the fundamental techniques.”

Lennok, cutting off Weian’s words decisively, smoothly changed the subject.

“They say there’s something you learn by teaching others. I also hope this opportunity will be a good turning point for both of us.”

Weian tilted his head with a puzzled expression, looking at Lennok, whose tone had somehow turned solemn.

“No, something feels off…”

“If you still have doubts, I’ll show you again. A demonstration by a seasoned assistant. Step forward.”

“Um, Van. This is really embarrassing, you know…”

Evelyn Marcia, the short-haired woman who walked out from behind Lennok, grumbled and extended both hands forward.

With her hands open and thumbs and forefingers forming a triangle, a faint green ring formed within Evelyn Marcia’s hands and rotated.

Woo-woo-woo…!!

A low hum, like a car engine running. Simultaneously, Evelyn Marcia’s hair subtly fluttered.

As the others stared blankly, Lennok drew a single current of electricity between Evelyn Marcia’s fingers and flicked it.

Crackle!!

The thick crackling electrode was sucked into the ring and, instead of touching Evelyn Marcia’s body, vanished.

A phenomenon utterly bizarre, as if another space existed inside the ring.

But as Evelyn Marcia frowned slightly, unclenched her hands, and gestured, the ring collapsed, and Lennok’s lightning burst out from within, smashing the floor.

Boom!!

The well-laid cement on the floor was shattered, and a sizable crater was formed.

Lennok turned his head.

“See?”

“No…”

“That’s only possible because of Divine Bow.”

“Don’t ask me to have that level of mana control in the first place.”

“…”

Evelyn Marcia patted Lennok’s shoulder, leaving him speechless.

“How about you give up already?”

“Hmm, I expected it wouldn’t be easy, but…”

“Actually, I wouldn’t have been able to follow if you hadn’t pointed out the techniques from the start. Honestly, I still don’t really know what the principle is.”

Evelyn Marcia shrugged and gave an awkward laugh.

“In the first place, if they had talent for magic, they would have learned it through observation a long time ago. Me too, for that matter.”

These were people Lennok had known since he first set foot in this city, and they had saved each other’s lives at least three times.

Evelyn Marcia understood Lennok’s idea of teaching magic, but she thought the chances of success were low.

Because achieving outstanding accomplishments oneself and creating an excellent magic system were entirely different talents.

Hadn’t even ‘Ban-gung,’ who was called the most powerful Ascendant in history, failed to pass on any distinct magic system to future generations, letting it vanish without transmission?

The more complex and intricate the power one wields, the harder it is to fully pass it on to future generations.

Evelyn Marcia believed that the ability to explain what one understood simply, clearly, and concisely, leading others to truth, was also an innate talent.

But Lennok shook his head, even after hearing Evelyn Marcia’s words.

“I don’t expect to finish this in just one day either.”

What Lennok was trying to teach them was not the entire newly completed Ouroboros magic system, but only a tiny fraction—a mere terminal.

Among those, it was the simplest fundamental technique, the basis for application: Swallowing Tail [탄미(呑尾)]. Strictly speaking, it was the act of drawing a magic circle itself.

How could he expect others to perfectly handle this power, which he himself had only recently acquired?

“Memorizing the mana array I taught you and manifesting it at the right time and place will be enough. That alone will be sufficiently helpful during combat.”

The Ouroboros magic system was the result of a desire for perfection, forged with transcendent cognitive ability and sympathetic resonance.

Naturally, it was a perpetual motion machine that no one other than Lennok himself could fully master and acquire.

Nevertheless, the reason he tried to transmit the foundation of the magic system he obtained upon reaching the 8th-level turning point was simple.

Because the very fact that others could learn and practice it, even a little, was the most clear and certain proof that it had been perfected as a magic system.

‘I didn’t just gather people who had no affinity with mana like Mila or Dray for no reason.’

The principle of Ouroboros was unique and strange, distinct from any magic Lennok had used before.

But precisely because of that, there was a possibility that it might suit those who had no talent for magic at all.

If it was just a very basic principle composing the magic system, they could memorize and master it to use in urgent situations.

“If they can handle it properly, it might just save their lives once.”

It was not only beneficial for those learning but also a stepping stone for Lennok’s own growth.

Teaching the magic system itself, strictly speaking, was the act of transmitting and resonating the terminal of Ouroboros to others.

As it was highly likely to be a good opportunity to study the convergence and divergence of mindscape and magical power and to improve the magic system, he had no intention of giving up easily.

“It’s hard… It took me a full week just to memorize and reproduce the mana array you taught me.”

Only then did Evelyn Marcia understand that Lennok was truly serious about this, and she fell into thought.

“And that was after excluding the time I spent agonizing over finding a way for it not to clash with my inherent mana.”

Even with Evelyn Marcia’s level of mana manipulation, memorization, judgment, and reflexes, it took her a week just to memorize Lennok’s magic system instead of understanding it.

It seemed a remote possibility that others would memorize and succeed in the technique faster than her.

Lennok, too, shrugged with an expression that didn’t expect much immediate harvest.

“I’m hoping it will get better with time. Considering the trouble you went through, perhaps it might even work better for those who are completely uninitiated in magic.”

“That’s easy to say, but it’s practically impossible. Can you even call that a magic system?”

“…That’s why we’re helping each other like this, to verify it. I intend to give it to you as homework until I return.”

Lennok said, subtly changing the subject.

He had called Evelyn Marcia here today not just to use her as an assistant.

“How are things going with the City Government?”

“…After Madrich Onnion’s death, all new projects have been completely halted. It was decided that the matter with Achilles would be handled by other special agencies.”

Evelyn Marcia nodded.

“Thanks to that, some of the administrative authority that the Agents had lost has been returned.”

“And the Agents, short-staffed, will reinstate the aces who were suspended.”

“No, that’s not yet…”

“Not yet?”

As Lennok turned his gaze, Evelyn Marcia’s eyes trembled slightly.

“I can be reinstated, right…?”

“…Deputy Director Pallard O’Con will handle it well. What could possibly go wrong?”

It seemed Evelyn Marcia’s unintended unemployment would last a bit longer, but she also shook her head dismissively, as if she didn’t want to worry about it for too long.

“It’s really strange how the City Council finished things this way. Something must have happened.”

“They are never ones to act without reason. Just like when they suddenly lifted the Prohibition Edict, they definitely have their own plans.”

After all, didn’t the new project they had been working on this time also have a clear and crucial reason behind it?

Lennok had keenly realized this time just how much the City Council had been manipulating things in the shadows to cover up the catastrophe caused by the failure of the Black Consumer Project.

He had delved deeply into the secrets of the veiled project, but with Madrich Onnion’s funeral bringing the situation to a close, Lennok couldn’t act rashly.

Cases like this, where justification and responsibility were delicately balanced and the repercussions were not great, were extremely rare.

Because Madrich Onnion himself had entered Achilles, confronted Dyke, and successively committed shady acts of terrorism, the City Council had merely buried the matter by holding a funeral without making a big deal out of it.

If he were to get agitated now and stir up the city’s secrets, the losses would likely outweigh the gains.

“Struman said he’d buy me a drink sometime.”

“That navy guy?”

“He apparently didn’t like that Madrich Onnion used the naval base as his private retreat. He asked me to contact him.”

Lennok let out a small, involuntary laugh.

As it was, there were many people he needed to meet separately, like Panua from Dyke Corp., and Meyer and Sebastian, who had helped him with this matter.

“Tell him if he comes to District 49, I’ll treat him to a whiskey.”

“I’ll pass that on. Should I have a drink here too after a long time?”

Evelyn Marcia said, mimicking tilting a glass with one hand.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t done that separately since I came back from the labyrinth.”

“Do as you please. But I think Jenny said she’d close the bar and come to watch…”

Oooohh!!!

Suddenly, a cheer erupted from a corner of the open space, and Lennok and Evelyn Marcia simultaneously turned their heads.

All the others gathered in the courtyard were gaping in astonishment.

Following their gaze, the two also involuntarily opened their mouths.

“…Am I seeing that correctly right now?”

“I didn’t expect this either. Could the second person to succeed be…”

Hair that looked wet, the broker who usually buried herself in the bar and rarely came out.

Jenny, who looked like she had come out to watch whatever shenanigans were happening in the courtyard, was sweating profusely with her hands clasped together.

“Um, Van…? Is this really working?”

Between her fingers, a faint blue ring of light floated and rotated.

A week after giving the task of mastering the magic circle drawing technique to those gathered in the courtyard.

Lennok handled his overdue schedules and tasks, met the people he needed to meet, and neatly organized his affairs.

When he stayed outside the city and returned, a pile of work usually accumulated, but since this matter was concluded near the city, the burden was relatively lighter.

Perhaps the only thing bothering him was that the after-effects of the injuries sustained in the battle with Madrich Onnion had not yet completely faded.

It would be good to rest thoroughly and manage his condition, but Lennok had no intention of continuing this daily life for long.

“Let’s see, the remaining work is…”

He confirmed that he would send a proxy to the Dyke Corp. shareholders’ meeting, then stopped by Palmer’s workshop to drop off his broken equipment for repair.

He visited the Antares Mercenary Group, heard that Antares had not yet returned to the city, and exchanged brief greetings with Dylan and Mila.

Under the identity of Evan Vylun, he contacted Rebatenon university to check his remaining vacation days, then called Bailla, who was serving as an interim professor, to clear his schedule.

[Since you have three identities, you have three times the schedules to worry about.]

“Exactly. Sometimes I regret it. Even though I’m just alternating between three identities, there’s so much to take care of.”

Lennok laughed, responding to Davi’s words.

[But do you still think you have to do this?]

“…”

Davi’s words passed by as if nonchalant.

But Lennok noticed the worry in the spirit’s words and fell silent.

“…Yes. Strictly speaking, this matter means creating a fourth identity.”

Lennok forced a smile and reached into his coat to stroke Davi’s head.

“The destruction of the central city and the failure of the project. The secrets the Ascendants haven’t yet revealed… There are still those who can answer all these questions.”

[But…]

“I told you it might be the last offer, didn’t I? I need to confirm how much of that was true.”

The hand that stroked Davi’s head withdrew from inside his coat.

Between Lennok’s long, slender fingers was not a cyber-spirit, but a mask resembling dark black obsidian.

On the train returning from the Hanghasa Labyrinth to the mega-city.

The item he had received from Myeong, the King of the Underworld of Pandemonium, as a final offer.

Lennok stared at it for a long time, then slowly placed the mask over his face.

There had been a long period of contemplation and patience, and an unexpected encounter with the Pontiff had finally solidified his resolve.

There was still so much Lennok didn’t know, yet there were truths to unearth and failed answers.

Amidst the Pontiff’s transcendent existence and the conversation that surpassed cognition, Lennok had strongly realized it.

Perhaps, as Myeong said, this very moment might be Lennok’s last chance to choose another turning point.

The hesitation was brief.

The voice resonating through the mask had changed completely, differing entirely from Lennok’s own.

“Let’s go meet Pandemonium.”