WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: WeTried
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Made a Tier List the Transcendents Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 26: Adoption
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“I knew he wasn't merely stubborn.”
Clicking his tongue, Clinton looked down at the young man whose entire body had turned to charcoal.
It was not as though no mages had ever forced themselves to endure the heat and been sent to the ward before.
But they had lost consciousness at some point and merely been roasted golden brown by the lingering heat around them.
This young mage named Jin, however.
It seemed he had continued absorbing the Winter Tree’s mana until the very end, taking in that heat with his whole body.
It meant he had endured the pain of having his limbs roasted through sheer willpower.
There was a reason burning pain was considered the worst kind of pain.
As the person responsible for managing the Winter Tree, Clinton knew better than anyone how vicious its heat could be.
Could he endure that pain himself?
Without question, the answer was no.
“Well, that’s probably why he’s 4-Star at this age...”
He shook his head at the sight of Jin, wrapped head to toe in bandages like a mummy.
There wasn't a normal one among mages, anyway.
Tsk, tsk, tsk...
Clinton turned away, clicking his tongue.
The moment the door shut, a sound came from the bandaged lump.
“Ugh... uuuuugh...”
Roughly translated, it meant, “I didn’t plan for this either, you bastard.”
* * *
“...Wow. It’s worse than I thought.”
“Ow...”
Damn it, I could barely move my mouth.
Wendy looked at me, wrapped in bandages, and let out a sound of admiration.
She sat on the edge of the bed and asked in a baffled tone.
“What happened? You said you were going to pick up some kid.”
“Thah’s why I... Ah, damn it.”
I activated my mana and wrote glowing letters in the air. It was an enormous waste, but I had no choice if I wanted to communicate.
[ I put myself through this to bring that kid home, you brat. ]
“Oh, so I’m a kid too?”
At Wendy’s nonsense, I just sighed and turned over.
Without caring, Wendy came around to the other side and grinned at me.
“Ack. Heh heh. I gotta take pictures~”
Wendy kept taking photos of me with the flash on her wristwatch. She seemed immensely pleased with herself, her face full of smiles.
Was this supposed to be a hospital visit?
“But seriously, how did this happen?”
Only after teasing me for a good while did she show even a little concern.
Like before, I wrote in the air.
[ Look behind you. ]
“Behind...?”
Roooaaar!
“Waaaaah!”
Wendy demonstrated National Sports Festival-level high jump skills as she leaped far away.
She stared at the lion, three times her size, as though she could not believe it, then fell to the floor.
“Ugh... Wha...? Why is there a lion...?”
[ I ended up like this to get this guy. ]
As I wrote that, I called it back in.
The lion turned into a cluster of golden light and entered my body.
Wendy still looked dazed.
She seemed to be thinking hard about whether what she had just seen was real.
...That was understandable.
This guy should not have been in the Lower Realm in the first place.
If I raised it well, it might grow even stronger than it had in the original work.
Originally, the protagonist would have raised it, but it did not matter much if I absorbed it instead.
The protagonist was strong enough even without a Divine Soul Spirit Beast like this.
Besides, I needed this guy’s help if I wanted to achieve my original goal of finding the protagonist.
Of course, it would need training before that.
“That lion from before... You can control it completely, right?”
[ Who do you think you’re doubting? ]
“No, that’s not it! I mean... Could you show me again? Just once?”
Wendy’s blue eyes sparkled. They were filled with curiosity.
“Hehe, just once.”
Holding up one finger, Wendy leaned close.
With a sigh, I brought it out again.
The enormous lion with the flowing golden mane filled the empty space in the ward.
“Woooow...”
Wendy cautiously took one step at a time toward it.
She was still scared, swallowing hard as she stroked its mane with a trembling hand.
“Ooooh...”
Her expression softened as though she were touched by how calmly it accepted her touch.
...Maybe I really should get her a cat.
* * *
[ Our kitty’s cute, right? T_T ] - Oz
(Photo of a golden lion with a flowing mane)
No downvotes plz
Upvotes 1541 Downvotes 5
Comments (233)
- MoonlitWalk) What part of that looks like a cat lol
- Sun Gatherer) What is this? It looks like a spirit beast, but I’ve never seen one before.
- WriggleWriggle) Wriggle wriggle?
- EatManaWhenBored) It does look cool lol
- TalentedOne) Oh, where did you get it? Are there others?
↳ Oz) Nope, unique specimen.
↳ TalentedOne) That’s a shame...
- So, did you get the tattoo?
↳ Oz) Yeah.
↳ Where?
↳ Oz) On my neck.
↳ Holy shit, you got a Soul Imprint on your neck?
↳ My horns hurt so much, Oz...
↳ He put it right on a vital spot lol
↳ Guess it doesn’t matter much... Who’d dare mess with you?
After even Wendy had gone back to train, there was not much to do while my body recovered except browse the forum.
Some people looked at the photo I had posted and tried to guess what kind of creature the lion was, but naturally, they could not find an answer.
It was the only Divine Soul Spirit Beast in existence.
In the original work, it would later be called the Calamity-Ending Golden Lion, but for now, it was no different from an ordinary spirit beast.
So I named it whatever I wanted.
“Geumbi.”
Roaaar!
With a body much smaller than its original size, it ran toward me.
It had not grown yet, but it still possessed its divinity even now.
“You got me into this state. You’ll do what I tell you, right?”
Grrrr...
It lay flat on the floor and rumbled.
It probably meant it was sorry.
Of course, I was already nearly healed.
I was not really a 4-Star mage, and even at my current level, I could easily defeat someone like the 7-Star Tower Master of the Winter Tree Mage Tower.
After resting for another half day or so, I would be able to move as I had before.
“Now, we need to find someone. A person with the brightest potential around here. Their current strength doesn’t matter.”
Roaaar...
Naturally, there was no one in Hyeondeok City with greater talent than the protagonist from the original work.
No, at least in the current Great Heavenly World depicted in the story, no one had greater talent than the protagonist.
Of course, they would have to go through several difficult stages to become that way, but... I could make that process easier and faster.
“It doesn’t matter if their presence is faint. They have to be under fifteen. Can you do it?”
Grrrr...
Geumbi answered confidently.
Apart from its imposing appearance, its greatest quality as a spirit beast was tracking and searching.
Once it remembered a form, it could track it without fail even without a restriction on the soul, a tracking spell, or a curse.
...Of course, it could not do that much yet.
Still, based on my expectations, it should be able to find the protagonist at their current stage.
Incidentally, even I did not know what the protagonist looked like at this point.
To confirm that clearly, I would have to wait around seventy years from now.
That would be when the protagonist first awakened during their many reincarnations, and when the original story began.
Roaaar...
Geumbi jumped off the bed and ran out.
It would probably find them before long.
“...I’m looking forward to this.”
You could call me an avid reader of the original work. The protagonist was probably my favorite character.
The day I would finally meet the person I had truly sympathized with and cheered for throughout those dozens of repetitions was not far off.
My heart couldn't help but race.
They might even feel more familiar to me than anyone I had seen in my past life.
I eagerly awaited that meeting.
* * *
Even after thinking it over and over, Judy could not find anything she had done wrong.
So she had no reason to endure this suffering.
“You little rat bitch. What do you think you’ll get out of tattling?”
Thud!
“Huh? What are you going to do if you glare at me like that?”
Rohal, the youngest young master of the household, grew angry as Judy looked at him with clear, unwavering eyes.
A little girl two heads shorter than him was not afraid.
The way she met his eyes as though daring him to keep beating her until he felt better twisted his guts.
“Ha, fuck. You’re driving me crazy.”
Things had turned out this way because Judy had reported Rohal’s theft.
She had spoken the truth when he took money from his father’s wallet and tried to frame a servant for it.
Of course, she had known it would come to this.
But she still could not stay silent.
If she covered up the truth in that moment, all she would have left was the loss of her own integrity.
Smack!
His swinging arm knocked her down.
The inside of her mouth had split open. Blood flowing from her lips drew a line across the floor.
“You know, you fucking bitch? There are two kinds of people I hate most. Uppity bitches and lowborn trash. Got it?”
Rohal took off the watch on his wrist and approached her.
Nothing would happen to him if he beat up a servant.
His family had been mages for generations.
And Rohal himself was a Grade 4 System Mage. Even if he killed her rather than merely beat her, the city would not even investigate.
At worst, his father would scold him and make him reflect for a few months.
“Let's make a day of this.”
His eyes gleamed with sick pleasure.
He had never liked the strange look in her eyes anyway.
In fact, this was almost better.
‘...Mom. Dad.’
Rohal’s approaching footsteps echoed in her ears.
Judy repeated those names in her heart, names that had become blurry even in her memories.
If she died like this, would she be able to see their faces again? She did not know.
Death.
It felt as though that moment, which she had witnessed over and over throughout her life, had finally come for her.
She was still too young to remain calm in that moment.
“Help...”
Please help me.
Anyone, please.
It seemed like a wish that would never come true.
Rohal’s face filled with mockery when he heard her.
Then, just as his boot was about to stomp on Judy...
“Huh...?”
Lurch...
Rohal’s body suddenly tilted.
It was not that he had lost his balance. It felt as though his body had come apart.
Crash!
“Ugh!”
His lower body would not obey him.
Driven by inertia, Rohal smashed his face into the floor and reflexively tried to move.
“What, what is this? Fuck! What’s happening?!”
But his upper body had already slipped out of his control as well.
The only part of him he could move was above his neck.
As he lay there unable even to struggle, spewing curses, a voice came from the other end of the corridor.
“...You worthless insect.”
It was a low voice.
The quiet mutter was filled with fury.
“Do you know who you’re touching right now?”
Ash-gray hair and red eyes.
His attire made it obvious at a glance that he was a mage. The man crossed the length of the corridor in an instant.
“W-Who...?”
Just from that, Rohal could tell the man was a mage of a higher rank than his father.
This strange condition affecting his body must have been that man’s work as well.
Rohal suppressed his fear as much as possible and opened his mouth.
But even that was a mistake.
Crrrraaaack!
...!
The joints in his limbs twisted on their own.
Unable to bear the agony, Rohal’s face showed pain more grotesque than his contorted body.
But he could no longer even scream.
Rohal trembled, his twisted limbs twitching as fluids seeped from all over his body.
As though that pathetic sight was not worth looking at, the man turned away.
“Ah...”
The little girl watched the entire scene as though she were dreaming.
The man looked at her and twisted his face once.
“You bastard, worse than a dog... She’s so young...”
Then he reached out and touched her cheek.
The throbbing pain disappeared in an instant. Judy’s eyes widened at the change.
“Are you... a Mage?”
“You could say that. Are you all right?”
“...Thanks to you.”
Her answer seemed to amuse him. A smile appeared at the corner of the man’s mouth, which had been twisted into a vicious expression.
“...I should have come to find you sooner.”
“You came looking for me?”
“Yeah. More accurately, I came to take you away.”
“Can you do that? I was sold here.”
“You’re not an object. Who sells or buys people?”
Hup!
The man picked up Judy, whose legs had given out.
In his arms, Judy could not hold back the question that had come to mind.
“Why are you taking me away? I’m not even very good at work, and there are lots of kids cuter than me.”
“I have no intention of making you work, and you’re cute enough. I’m taking you because you’re someone precious to me. You don’t know that, though.”
After finishing those words, the man met Judy’s eyes as though something had just occurred to him.
“Ah, I didn’t ask you this. Your name must be different too... What’s your name?”
It seemed a little strange for him to ask that after telling her she was precious to him, but Judy obediently gave her name.
“Judy...”
It had been so long since she had said it aloud that she had to think for a moment before remembering it again.
“Judy Dorothy Murphy.”
“...That’s a pretty name.”
She had never thought so, but she simply nodded.
Everything felt like a dream.
“...”
For a long while, she silently looked at the man who had saved her.
Footnotes:
“Jasik” can mean “child,” but it can also be used as an insult, prompting Wendy’s joke.
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