Damned Transmigration - Chapter 11

WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 11: Rutlan (3)

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Yuri had been forcibly moved from the rural city of Oldor to the great city of Rutlan.

He could probably afford a cheap inn room with orphan Yuri's savings, but Elena would make a fuss if he did.

‘She seemed really happy about it.’

Elena tried to hide it, but Yuri couldn’t call her acting convincing even as empty praise. No matter how he thought about it, he would have to stay at Elena's house for the time being.

It was absolutely not because of the clean bathroom and kitchen.

First, he needed to find out just how much freedom he had in this mansion.

Yuri quickly looked over the living room. He was wary of the possibility of surveillance magic.

He could read the flow of mana. As Elena had said, the mansion contained basic everyday magic, including security magic. Reading the mana flow was not enough to determine what kind of magic it was, but he first needed to confirm whether magic was present at all.

Naturally, this world had no CCTV, but that did not mean it lacked magic that could replace it. Magic in this world replaced modern technology.

‘Wait.’

Yuri paused and turned his head.

The study on the first floor. Its door was protected by security magic, but Elena had given him permission to enter.

The study was fairly large, but its bookshelves held surprisingly few books. There were more empty spaces than books.

It was understandable. Elena could not have lived in this mansion for very long, and truly important books would be kept at the mage tower.

‘She said there were shared magic books.’

Among the few books, Yuri pulled out fifteen thick grimoires.

‘So this old man wrote them.’

The master of the Lucionell Mage Tower, Polar Point Arsen Lucionell.

Unlike other mage towers, this one did not delve into a single magical discipline. Its defining trait was taking what could be called “shared” magic to its limits, then reconstructing it.

That was precisely why Arsen had been more troublesome to face in the game than other tower masters. If a tower master specialised in one discipline, Yuri could prepare for and counter that discipline. Against Arsen Lucionell, that was impossible.

An old man who had turned his lack of distinctive traits into a strength. The ideal point of ordinary magic. Among the tower masters, Arsen Lucionell was the most versatile and had no weaknesses.

Heavenly Thunder Orca Dersia was level 81, while Polar Point Arsen Lucionell was level 87.

‘The trouble I went through trying to kill that old geezer...’

The fifteen books compiled by that Fucking Point Arsen Lucionell.

‘A third-tier mage should know how to cast most shared magic.’

Did he have to memorise fifteen of these horribly thick books? Were all mages memorisation prodigies? Yuri did not know whether he could really learn them easily and quickly, but he opened the book for now.

<First, perfectly memorise the formula, then guide your mana as the formula requires...>

Yuri roughly skimmed the preface. Fortunately, it was followed by a table of contents.

‘Security... warding... guarding...’

Thinking of similar words, Yuri scanned down the contents.

He only found the relevant section in the third volume.

‘This guy talks too fucking much.’

Even in the game, the character had gone on and on with endless dialogue.

‘Where is it... Here.’

Security magic installed in places like houses. Alarms that rang when an unauthorised person intruded, detection, traps, interception...

‘Observation. Surveillance.’

‘Will you fucking shut up already.’

Perhaps <Easy and Quick Guide to Shared Magic> had fifteen volumes because old man Arsen simply talked too much.

‘...Huh...’

As Yuri stared intently at the formula, his head began to spin.

‘Could this be the mental overload I never even felt during my exam years?’

No, this was different. The dizzying, incomprehensible formulas were being forcibly engraved into his mind. His eyes stung as though they were burning, and his head throbbed.

‘Understanding.’

A soul from another world. Something special. A blessing.

‘Wasn’t it limited to mana alone?’

This was completely different from when he had looked at a cookbook. His brain was accepting the magical formula on its own. Yuri stared at it for a long while, then his legs gave out and he collapsed where he stood.

‘This isn’t easy.’

The mental fatigue was no joke.

‘It does live up to its title.’

Arsen Lucionell had added explanations to every complex formula. That, combined with the transmigrator's blessing, had done this.

Yuri took a deep breath and rose to his feet.

‘I can’t cast it myself right away.’

What he had just done was closer to intuitive memorisation than perfect understanding. To cast it himself, he would have to study it more deeply and become proficient.

Yuri returned the grimoires to the shelf.

When he entered the living room, it looked different. The formulas whose presence he had confirmed earlier without knowing what they were now felt vaguely comprehensible.

‘If someone enters the mansion without permission, the magic activates immediately.’

That meant Yuri no longer needed to be wary of surveillance or observation. Of course, that did not mean he intended to do anything suspicious in the middle of the living room.

He went up to the second floor.

There was no magic on the doors to his assigned room or the storage room. Yuri briefly opened the storage room, but it did not contain enough odds and ends to truly be called a storage room. Unused furniture and various tools were neatly arranged on the shelves.

“Is she a clean freak?”

The pure white dress Elena had worn on the day she came to Oldor flickered through his mind. Yuri shook his head and entered his room.

‘Observation. Surveillance...’

He moved his still-strained eyes over the room, but he could not sense magic like that.

‘Well, she wouldn’t have installed security magic even in a room she didn’t use.’

Once he finished checking, the tension drained from him. Yuri stood blankly in the empty room and let out a foolish laugh.

‘This room is fine for now.’

Just in case, he drew the curtains. Only then did Yuri plop down in the middle of the room.

His head throbbed and his eyes felt strained. He wanted to lie down and sleep his ass off, but he could not.

The Veil of Deception perfectly concealed the existence of his internal energy from the outside. That remained true even during qi regulation.

Still, Yuri had not performed qi regulation once during the week he spent riding in a carriage with Elena. After doing it every day for a month in Oldor, going without it for a week made his body feel stifled.

‘Veil of Deception, okay.’

He touched his neck, which did not feel strange at all. The Veil of Deception remained hidden inside Yuri's neck.

Elena and Haryeong had not noticed Yuri's internal energy at all.

‘It was a difficult item to obtain even in the game.’

It was impossible to obtain before the late game, and its drop rate was low even then. The fact that Lorelia and the Sect of Order had sent him an item like this as a gift made it clear that they treated Yuri specially.

Yuri steadied his breathing and began qi regulation. As the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil circulated, the internal energy in his dantian stirred.

Perhaps because he had done it every day for a month, the internal energy in his dantian had grown considerably. At first, it had been the size of a fingernail. Now, it seemed to be roughly the size of a fist.

‘Be grateful, Lee Su-hyeok-nim. I, Lorelia, have never passed the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil on to another person. This martial art belongs to me, Lorelia, alone.’

‘Like most cultivation techniques, the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil does not raise your tier simply by increasing your internal energy. So do not mindlessly increase your internal energy. Meditate diligently and seek enlightenment.’

‘What is enlightenment?’

‘If there were someone who could perfectly explain what enlightenment is, that person would be the Martial God. I, Lorelia, am not the Martial God, so I cannot explain what enlightenment is!’

‘How am I supposed to seek something you do not even know?’

‘Qi regulation is not merely sitting down and breathing in internal energy! Its essence is filling in the gaps in your knowledge, contemplating what you have filled, understanding it, and adding to it! If you do that, you will naturally realise what you do not know, what is new, and what makes you more complete. That is enlightenment.’

‘It sounds like you just explained enlightenment, Lorelia-nim. Does that mean you have become the Martial God?’

‘I, Lorelia, truly did not wish to do this. But Lee Su-hyeok-nim keeps mouthing off, so I feel it has become necessary to do something I do not wish to do. From now on, every time Lee Su-hyeok-nim says bull... nonsense, I will raise my fist.’

‘Hey, I was just asking...’

‘I was explaining how to seek enlightenment! Enlightenment comes to everyone, so what each person gains is different!’

Lorelia, the Priestess of the Goddess of Order who had taught him the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, had taught him many things besides martial arts.

The reason for his transmigration. The precautions after transmigrating. How to fight...

‘What tier is Lorelia?’

From the way Lorelia spoke, her tier could not be low. Yuri had asked before, but he had not received an answer.

‘My tier is a secret, but I will tell you this. If Lee Su-hyeok-nim diligently studies the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil and steadily accumulates enlightenment, you will be able to reach a very high tier.’

Tier classifications were not assigned by anyone. People determined their own tier.

For mages, being recognised as a mage marked the second tier.

Mastering all shared magic marked the third tier.

Being able to combine multiple spells and abbreviate formulas marked the fourth tier...

For martial artists, accumulating internal energy in the dantian and surpassing the body's limits through it marked the second tier.

Being able to release internal energy outside the body rather than confining it within marked the third tier.

Being able to give attributes to released internal energy marked the fourth tier.

‘Am I barely at the second tier?’

He had accumulated internal energy in his dantian and could use it to strengthen his body. Still, it did not feel satisfactory. He needed more training...

Amid those complicated thoughts, Yuri's consciousness gradually sank. The verses of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, which he had heard until his ears bled, the various spells from the shared magic grimoires he had skimmed, and the warding magic he had properly read all mixed together and drifted through his mind.

‘Hah!’

From deep within his fading consciousness, Yuri heard Lorelia's shout. The memory of the violence disguised as education that he had endured from Lorelia in the waiting room before transmigrating tangled with his thoughts.

ㅡHe opened his eyes.

Startled, Yuri pulled back the curtain. The sun was still up. When he checked the clock, two hours had passed. His head no longer throbbed, and his eyes no longer felt strained. He had only meditated through two hours of qi regulation, yet his body felt as refreshed as if he had slept soundly all day.

“Sniff...”

He had wondered where the foul smell was coming from, but his body was drenched in sweat. It was not ordinary sweat either, but black and yellow sweat like when he had first performed qi regulation in Oldor. The impurities accumulated in his acupoints had been expelled again.

“Fuck.”

The problem was that this was not Oldor.

Fortunately, the floor was not dirty. Yuri immediately jumped to his feet, opened the window to air out the room, and pulled out a spare set of clothes he had thrown into the corner.

At first, he had been horrified, but there was no reason to panic. Elena had not returned yet. He could wash the dirty clothes and wash himself. He had more than enough excuses.

‘Something got on me while I was cooking.’

Elena would probably scold him for washing clothes that were going to be thrown away anyway. That would be the end of it.

“Wow...”

Swoooosh...

There was even hot water in the bathroom on the second floor. For Yuri, who had spent a month washing with ice-cold well water, the steaming hot water was moving enough to make his eyes water. There were even bathing products besides soap in the bathroom, and the towels were soft and fluffy.

“Thank you.”

After thanking Elena, who was likely at the mage tower, Yuri picked up the shower head.

Ding-dong.

After washing himself and his clothes, Yuri was hanging the wet clothes on the washing line in the garden when the doorbell rang.

‘What is that?’

The homeowner would have no reason to ring the bell, so it could not be Elena. Was it Haryeong?

‘She said she would come tomorrow morning.’

That realisation made Yuri pause as he was about to head to the gate.

Ding-dong.

The bell rang again. Yuri remained still and stared blankly at the gate.

“Who is there?”

When Yuri stayed silent, a voice came from the other side of the gate.

“I can sense someone there. Who are you to stand there without even answering?”

It was a man's voice.

Ding-dong.

The doorbell rang once more.

“A thief? No, that cannot be. Could it be you, Haryeong?”

If Yuri kept his mouth shut, perhaps he would leave on his own.

Ding-dong.

The repeated ringing made it seem that he had no intention of leaving.

“Answer me. Are you Haryeong? Why are you not saying anything?”

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

The doorbell rang in succession.

‘She said no visitors were coming...’

“Pretending not to be here is useless. I can sense your presence. What are you hiding that you keep your mouth shut? You do not seem to be Haryeong. I do not know who you are, but if you continue like this, I will not stand idly by.”

“Who are you?”

Yuri did not know what the visitor intended to do by not standing idly by, but he did not want to make things unnecessarily complicated.

“A man?”

Surprise entered the visitor's voice.

“Who in the world are you? Why is there a man inside?”

“I am a guest of the homeowner.”

“A guest...? Call Lady Elena. I will hear it from her directly.”

“Elena is not home right now.”

“Not home? Then why are you inside?”

“Because she went out and left me here.”

“First... First, open the door. Should we not see each other's faces when introducing ourselves?”

The man spoke with a stammer. Yuri frowned and glared at the door.

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

The doorbell rang again.

“What are you doing? Open it.”

“I do not know who you are, this is not my house, and what exactly am I supposed to trust before opening the door for you?”

“I am... Jin of the Namgung Family. I swear on my family's honour that I am not suspicious. And this is the residence of Lady Elena, the prized favorite of the Dersia Mage Tower, Marigold Elena, is it not? If I were truly suspicious, I would not come here in broad daylight, announce my name, and ask for the door to be opened.”

Yuri let out a deep sigh at what followed.

“I understand what you mean, but Elena is not home. Please come back another time.”

“No! There is a chance that you subdued Lady Elena and are lying, so I must confirm it with my own eyes.”

“Is the Dersia Mage Tower's prized favorite, Marigold, someone who could be subdued by me?”

“The more stubbornly you refuse to open the door, the more suspicious you seem to me.”

The visitor did not seem likely to understand and leave. Yuri let out another deep sigh and turned around.

“Elena told me not to open the door if anyone came while she was gone, and only to tell them the homeowner was absent. So if you really have business with her, wait there.”

“You would turn me away, a member of the Namgung Family, at the gate?”

“Does being from the Namgung Family mean you can come to a house without its owner and insist on forcing your way in? When the owner is not even here?”

“You...”

“There is nothing I can do, no matter what you say. I am only doing as I was told.”

Whether Namgung Jin gave up and left or waited at the gate was none of Yuri's concern. As he had told Namgung Jin, Yuri was only doing as he had been told.

“How dare you...!”

As Yuri was about to return to the mansion, a voice seethed from beyond the gate.

“You bastard!”

Yuri turned at the furious shout.

A man stood atop the wall. Dressed in a deep blue robe like something out of a Chinese wuxia film, Namgung Jin glared at Yuri.

“...!”

When Namgung Jin saw Yuri's still-damp hair, his eyes widened.

“You son of a bitch!”

Namgung Jin shouted and leapt at Yuri, swinging a hand at Yuri's face.

‘What the fuck?’

Yuri thought he could not avoid it, but his body reacted on its own.

Tap, tap!