WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 226: 226

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I set a teacup down before Professor Irian. The rich aroma of the tea rose and filled the room. Then I slowly stepped back.

“Today’s dessert is tea and cookies made using mana-stone mushrooms.”

I glanced at the teacup. As its name suggested, a mana-stone mushroom was a mushroom that consumed nothing but magical power. To grow one, I had to sprinkle it every day with powder made by refining and grinding mana stones.

After being cultivated for many years and reaching full maturity, the mushroom held deep magical power and produced an excellent flavor. Its nature also seeped into the tea, leaving it so clean it could absorb even the lingering taste of anything one had eaten beforehand.

I smiled with satisfaction. Professor Irian had probably never heard of this before. After all, I had created this mushroom myself.

While studying Professor On’s tree branch, I had spent much time contemplating life force. What was the world? What was life? Those thoughts had not remained mere thoughts. They had extended to ingredients as well.

Cooking could be called an act of handling life. So if one only used existing ingredients and repeated the same methods, they could not be called an excellent cook. Cooking was like magic. It always required challenges.

So rather than merely handling existing ingredients, I wanted to touch life itself. I crossbred different species and sometimes designed them from the roots up with magical power.

Of course, there had been many failures. Still, after pressing onward through those failures, I had managed to produce several finished creations. This mana-stone mushroom was one of them.

I nodded to myself in satisfaction.

Yet Professor Irian did not touch her teacup for a long while. Wondering why, I looked at her and found her wearing a slightly sulky expression.

I had no choice but to study her carefully.

Could she have disliked this meal?

I soon realized that thought was wrong when I noticed her swollen stomach.

Along with the tea, I had prepared a magical beast that I had selectively bred myself. It was based on a buffalo and designed to improve the quality of its meat. Since it looked somewhat like a cloud, I had named it a cloud buffalo.

To celebrate the end of the lecture, I had cooked an entire cloud buffalo for lunch. Every part had been prepared differently, and all of it had ended up in Professor Irian’s stomach.

She had looked extremely satisfied as she devoured the entire magical beast. There was even sauce around her mouth now, so there was no way she had been dissatisfied with the meal.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

I took out a handkerchief and carefully brought it to Professor Irian’s mouth. She naturally raised her chin. I slowly wiped her mouth, purified the handkerchief with magical power, and tucked it away.

Then was it the tea she disliked?

Its rich fragrance was still spreading through the room. Hmm. I had made it specifically to suit Professor Irian’s tastes.

She looked down at the teacup and spoke.

“So you’re leaving again.”

Professor Irian crossed her arms and showed her displeasure.

Ah. That was it.

So the meal had not been the problem. I gave her a slight bow.

“Yes. This time, I plan to head to another city. An opportunity came up to expand my shop.”

I smiled faintly.

The city I would be visiting this time was called Icewall City. Apparently, it had been built inside ice.

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since I had traveled so far. I did not often have reason to leave the area around Stalactite City.

I could do everything near the city anyway, so there was no reason to travel far. The last distant trip I had taken was to Canyon City with Cassian.

I had also gone beneath the sea to meet the president, but that needed to be considered an exception. It could hardly be called a city.

That was why I was looking forward to seeing a new city. Perhaps Professor Irian read that on my face, because she narrowed her eyes and puffed out her cheeks slightly.

“Lately, you seem to do nothing but wander outside. You even left your lectures to the Fog Heart. It’s fine to pursue your desires, but don’t forget that you need to focus on this tower.”

Professor Irian clicked her tongue.

I could only lower my head slightly. There was not a single thing wrong with what she had said.

As she pointed out, I had frequently gone into the city over the past five years. Mira had taken over the lectures for me, so I had almost nothing to worry about there.

That allowed me to focus heavily on stabilizing the shop I had established in the city. The great conflict with the People’s Council had been resolved, but problems continued to arise regardless.

Just last month, someone had stolen puppets in bulk. Apparently, they had intended to smuggle my puppets. Fortunately, Isabella’s efforts had allowed us to catch the culprits quickly.

As problems arose and were resolved, the shop became firmly established. It seemed that Professor Irian had been quite dissatisfied with how frequently I traveled outside.

I glanced at my wrist.

There, I could see the contract text giving off faint magical power. The magical power flowing through it entered my tree and tightened around it slightly.

A dull ache spread from my tree, and I gave a bitter smile. A contract reflected the feelings of those involved. Seeing it react this way, Professor Irian truly seemed uncomfortable with my actions.

I quietly nodded.

As she said, I needed to fulfill my duty. Her side was where I belonged.

It was not as though I had forgotten that. In truth, since I had entrusted so much to Isabella, there had been no real need for me to visit the shop myself.

She could handle most matters alone, and the People’s Council had also helped us according to the contract.

Even so, the reason I continued to visit the city and manage my shop could be called one of a mage’s instincts.

I smacked my lips softly.

The shop was my own place. Watching it expand made my chest swell.

It was not merely satisfaction. There was realization in it, and a kind of spiritual pleasure as well. I had become half addicted to the process of expansion.

I bowed to Professor Irian.

“I have been very busy over the past five years, but once I finish this trip, there should not be much reason for me to leave the tower again. The stabilization is complete.”

I put my sincerity into the words along with magical power.

Professor Irian stared at me, then lifted her teacup. She took a sip and shook her head slightly.

“I don’t believe you at all. It’s not like I’ve only seen you cause trouble once or twice.”

When had I ever caused trouble?

I blinked both eyes in protest. Professor Irian narrowed her eyes at me, and her magical power began to ripple slightly.

I rolled my eyes and searched through my memories.

What had I done in the tower over the past five years? I had used spare time to experiment on treasures and held festivals among the students.

There was nothing I could call an accident, aside from the minor matter of treasures nearly escaping during the process.

...Hmm. Maybe I had caused a little trouble.

Still, I had resolved it well afterward.

As I rolled my eyes, Professor Irian clicked her tongue softly.

“But you’ve become somewhat useful now, so perhaps I’ll trust you. At least you won’t go outside and get taken down without even knowing why. So I don’t mind if you leave. Just don’t drag any troublesome matters back to me.”

She was permitting me to go out.

The contract began to settle down, and I bent at the waist in gratitude. Professor Irian watched me with half-lidded eyes before her gaze settled on my chest.

“You still haven’t consumed what I gave you, have you?”

I felt the magical power in her eyes penetrate the tree inside my chest. She seemed to be gauging the amount of my magical power.

I lightly touched my chest and nodded. She frowned slightly.

“I gave it to you as a gift, but you keep using it in strange ways. Just like the last one, and this one too.”

I scratched my head as Professor Irian clicked her tongue.

I immediately knew what she meant. She was surely referring to the gift she had given me three years ago, after I resolved the conflict with the People’s Council.

Professor Irian had given me a total of three gifts so far.

The first had been the golden key. It was given to me alongside my role as storehouse keeper.

Even now, the key melted within my body protected me from treasures. The second was this.

I touched the carving knife inside my clothes.

Professor Irian’s distinctive golden magical power began to flow through it. It allowed me to handle things beyond my own ability. In that sense, both were excellent items.

The third gift had been the same.

I smiled faintly as I recalled the gift of hers I had carefully enshrined in one corner of my workshop.

Professor Irian had given me a huge egg.

I had been astonished when I first saw it. It was nearly as large as my torso. The egg contained strange magical power, somewhat similar to Professor Irian’s but also different.

She had not explained much about where the egg came from. Still, it was clear that it belonged to something powerful. The magical power within it was greater than my own.

Yet it was dead at the same time.

No, rather than dead, it would be more accurate to say that it had never contained life to begin with. That form was somewhat familiar to me.

It was common among creatures that laid eggs. It was a kind of unfertilized egg, perhaps. Cooking had made me accustomed to such forms of magical power.

That made Professor Irian’s reason for giving it to me clear as well.

An egg was a vessel for life, which meant it could also be called an elixir. She must have intended for me to absorb it all.

If I could absorb it, my tree would surely grow further. Even if I only absorbed a small portion of it.

And if I ever succeeded in digesting it all, it might even help me reach the Complete Tree realm. It was an opportunity for my tree to stand tall.

Professor Irian’s gift was that enormous.

But when I faced it, I could not help feeling that it was too precious to simply devour.

Was eating it truly the right choice? Was that the only way?

As I continued thinking about it, I soon found a more efficient way to use the egg.

The magical power within it was extremely strong. Therefore, the shell containing it was so hard that I could not pierce it with my own power.

Then what if I used it to contain my magic?

When I created soul Saplings in the past, I had used my own body as their vessel. It was what I could handle most delicately, and even if my body burst apart, I could simply make another.

But conversely, that also meant I always had to endure severe damage. After creating one, I had to rest and recuperate for a long time. Naturally, that made the work of creating the next one take longer as well.

The reason that situation had continued was because I had been unable to secure a vessel that surpassed my own body.

But now, a suitable replacement was right before me.

The magical power within the egg was superior to mine, and its strength could not be compared to a human body. If I used it as a vessel, I would surely be able to create soul Saplings more easily.

What a perfect plan.

So I turned the egg into an incubator, a vessel that could conceive new life through my unique magic.

Of course, there had been much trial and error in using it. It was different from placing something in a puppet body.

Still, I had perfected it not long ago.

I smiled softly as I recalled the incubator I had made. Within it, many things were mixing together and taking the form of Fake Life.

It had become a crucible of life.

Of course, it would have been fine to use it as an elixir. That would clearly benefit me too. From a mage’s perspective, building myself up meant advancement. In this world, advancement was always right.

But what meaning would that have?

My method of growth did not involve stacking one thing higher and higher.

Rather, I needed to take from myself and share it with other small things.

I placed a hand lightly over my chest and sent out my will.

Sensing it, a translucent little girl poked her head out from my chest.

It was Myoil, a child who looked exactly like Isabella.

Considerable magical power could be felt from Myoil. It was roughly comparable to the magical power I had possessed when I first entered the university. Myoil could be said to have reached the realm of a fully matured Sapling.

The fact that Myoil had already grown this much also meant I had shared that much with her.

Myoil puffed out her cheeks and poked my chest repeatedly with a finger.

A grumbling will came from her, asking why I had called when she was busy managing the forest.

I smiled softly and stroked her head.

The soul Saplings dwelling in my chest and drawing in my foundation were thoroughly managed by Myoil. Once they had grown enough, each would head to its own puppet body.

Life could only arise when soul, body, and mind harmonized perfectly. As the flow of the body mixed with the soul, and the flow of the soul intertwined with the body, they gradually became life.

Most of them then left for the city.

They would see and learn about the world beside new owners who wanted them. Then they would grow even further.

That was how I was slowly raising the Saplings. Rather than growing a single tree, I wanted to create a vast forest.

That was also why I devoted more effort to my shop.

I glanced down at sulky-looking Myoil. She already had a body of her own. Yet rather than spending time outside, she spent far more time dwelling in my chest in the form of a soul.

That was because she served as the manager of the soul Saplings. With many soul Saplings recently being created through the egg, she was surely working even harder.

I patted Myoil and sent over magical power.

The magical power flowed into Myoil along with soul fragments. She happily devoured them, patted her now-round belly, and slipped back into my chest.

She was returning to work.

I watched Myoil off and quietly nodded.

Creating a forest like this was my method of growth. And the egg Professor Irian had gifted me was the perfect item for creating such soul Saplings.

Perhaps because it was a primordial form that held life, its magical power continued to replenish itself. Even without life inside, it had a structure that absorbed magical power from its surroundings.

Based on that property, I was currently conducting an interesting experiment.

I smiled faintly as I recalled Jegang’s tree branch, which should be completely broken down and mixing inside the egg by now.

A tree branch from a completed tree was an extremely rare item. It was useful for handling magical power and could also be used as material for puppets.

Of course, it had already existed in the form of a corpse puppet, so there had been no problem controlling it. But I had many other useful puppets besides that one. So I had dismantled it and extracted only the tree branch.

I had conducted much research with that tree branch. My primary focus had been how to fulfill Tiena’s request.

If I succeeded in creating a soul using Jegang’s tree branch, I would surely be able to apply that to Professor On’s as well. That was why I was experimenting with acquiring other tree branches and mixing them together.

I looked forward to the tree branches intertwining within the egg according to the flow of my innate magic.

The tree branch I had added this time belonged to a fourth-floor mage. It would surely succeed.

Of course, even if this experiment succeeded, I did not believe the egg could bear Professor On’s tree branch. The egg might be strong, but it was not strong enough to withstand Professor On’s magical power.

I had once pushed the tree branch in out of curiosity and nearly fainted when I immediately saw a crack form in the egg.

The egg was merely a stepping stone toward fulfilling Tiena’s request.

Still, by repeating these experiments, the day would surely come when I could fulfill that request. If I completed Fake Life from a tree branch, I would be able to find my direction more easily.

And to do that, I needed more tree branches.

I smacked my lips softly.

Tree branches were difficult to acquire anywhere. Ones of high quality like Jegang’s were even more so.

Hmm... If I had a tree branch from a completed tree, the experiments would go more smoothly.

It seemed I would need to ask Hwaryeong about it while I was away this time.

“Honestly, what are you thinking about all by yourself again? Fine. If you’re not going to consume it, do as you please.”

Professor Irian clicked her tongue and began sipping her tea. Then a small smile formed on her lips.

It seemed she liked the tea I had prepared.

I gave her a slight bow.

I was planning to leave today. I would likely remain in that city for more than a month, which meant I could not attend to Professor Irian during that time.

Still, she surely would not be too bored after I left.

I looked around.

Several puppets were rolling around Professor Irian’s room. They all had faces resembling hers.

They were puppets made from my inner demons. More accurately, they were spirit objects rather than puppets.

One of those spirit objects suddenly sat upright. It was Rabbit, with rabbit ears perked up. She looked toward us, apparently drawn by the scent of tea.

“Slaughter?”

Rabbit approached Professor Irian and stared at the bowl placed before her.

Professor Irian snickered and handed Rabbit one of the cookies in the bowl.

“Slaughter!”

Rabbit stuffed it into her mouth and beamed. Satisfaction overflowed from her as both hands shot into the air.

Professor Irian pushed another cookie into Rabbit’s mouth, then glanced at me.

“Go on, leave now. Once you’re gone, I think I’ll seal the tower and sleep.”

Professor Irian muttered this with a small yawn.

She was going to sleep again?

I had become quite accustomed to her pattern of falling into a deep sleep every five years.

My inner demons would keep her company until she woke. Professor Irian also cherished those beings, who were practically seeds of treasure, as much as she appeared to now.

I bowed slightly and left.

Then I headed for the workshop. It was time to prepare to leave the tower.

The moment I opened the workshop door and entered, I saw two women seated before a table and talking.

They both strongly resembled Professor Irian. One had silver hair instead of golden hair, while the other wore nun’s robes.

The woman in nun’s robes noticed me and stopped speaking. Then she smiled softly and bowed toward me.

“Oh my, Father’s here.”

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