Chapter 255

The treatment solution created by the Archmage was a miracle liquid that even supplied oxygen, but it tasted absolutely horrid. It was no wonder his throat rejected it the second he swallowed.

Inside the glass chamber, Do-Jin coughed and hacked like he was dying, and Sion, who had been completely absorbed in her work, finally frowned and turned around.

“What are you doing? Your body is perfectly fine now, yet you refuse to come out. At this rate you are going to make yourself sick in there.” She clicked her tongue and flicked her finger.

The chamber opened under her Psychokinesis, and Do-Jin got yanked out like someone had pulled the drain on a bathtub. Sion then gathered the treatment liquid with some more Psychokinesis and transferred it into a separate processing device, shaking her head in annoyance.

Not once did she react to the loud golden light that had burst from Do-Jin’s body moments ago. The golden glow hadn’t belonged solely to the Grimoire of Truth, and the Light of the World had mixed into it as well.

“Right now I am busy preparing to move Anne into a new body. If you require my attention, you’ll have to wait.”

Do-Jin, finally breathing normal air again, crouched on the floor coughing up the bitter liquid he had swallowed, shooting her a resentful look. Anyone listening would have thought he had faked an illness just to get attention.

However, there was a more pressing matter at hand. Do-Jin carefully checked the stream of messages that had poured down once again. He read every single line written there, one letter at a time, and he didn’t misread a single thing.

How the hell am I supposed to describe this shit?

It was a bonus tied directly to his Elemental Affinity. When a spell was fully analyzed, its overall specs increased, and at the same time the casting requirement was removed. Even more insane was the fact that once he completed the analysis of one spell, that benefit would apply to other spells as well. That was the part that really messed with his head.

For now, only a few low-tier spells qualified, but someday he would be able to fire off far more spells without casting. Compared to that, the overall increase in a spell’s power and mana efficiency from individual Elemental Affinity analysis felt almost trivial.

When top-tier players casually burn hundreds of millions of won just to squeeze out one extra line of attack power or shave off one line of mana consumption, calling this trivial sounds fucking absurd...

But what could he do? The world had always been about relative value anyway, and this was simply on another level.

And this is nothing compared to that last thing.

The ability to use spells one star higher was enough on its own to place Do-Jin in an entirely different realm as a mage. He had cleared multiple large-scale quests and gained a ridiculous amount of experience this time, bringing him into the one-hundred-nineties. Even so, Tier 7 had still been the upper limit of the spells he could use.

Even that had been insanely fast compared to other mage players, thanks to his various traits, his absurdly high Intelligence stat, and the strengthened Grimoire of Truth. But the single trait Seeker of Truth now let him step directly into the Tier 8 domain. He had only just started learning Tier 7 spells, so the jump was absurd.

Do-Jin abruptly pushed himself to his feet. He didn’t have time to sit around right now. He needed to get his hands on a Tier 8 spellbook, record it into the Grimoire of Truth, and test it out for himself immediately.

“Master, then I will take my leave now.” He spoke in a rush, but the moment he saw Sion’s back, he stopped.

Why does she look so damn pitiful?

Sion was currently devoted entirely to transferring Anne into a new body. Her soul had remained in the spear all this time to survive the Void, but right now, she couldn’t even stay active for two full hours a day.

On top of that brutal limitation, after returning to Lostania, Anne’s soul had once again fallen under the constraints of the reincarnation system, and it was now trying to separate itself from the spear. Because it wasn’t a proper vessel, the reincarnation system had activated in order to move her into a more suitable “container”, whether she liked it or not.

They finally got the reunion they had been waiting for, and now they are about to be torn apart again the moment they meet. That’s pretty cruel...

Anne would eventually be reborn again as a reincarnator, so it wasn’t a permanent farewell. Even so, from Sion’s perspective, it was only natural that she wouldn’t want to be separated from her for even a single day.

Do-Jin walked over to Sion, who was frowning and immersed in her work as if she hadn’t heard a word Do-Jin said.

“Do you think it will work?”

At the question, Sion slowly rubbed a finger over her lips before answering, “It’s more than possible. Until now, I have never been able to overcome the forced nature of the reincarnation cycle that bound Anne. The moment her soul separated from the fragile body of a reincarnator, the system immediately initiated the reincarnation procedure, and I couldn’t do a thing about it.”

Despite the troubled look on Do-Jin’s face, Sion remained hopeful.

“And what about now?”

“It is the same even now. However, I have found a way to trick the reincarnation system.”

Sion lightly tapped the diagram she had drawn. It was a gesture telling Do-Jin to take a look. If another mage had seen this sight, he probably would have coughed up blood out of pure jealousy. Do-Jin, however, simply lowered his gaze without much reaction. He had witnessed enough crazy scenes already.

“Hmm... what is this?” he mumbled.

The drawing itself wasn’t complicated. There was a large circle, a rune inscribed at its center, and a smaller circle intersecting with the larger one.

“What does it look like to you?” Sion looked at Do-Jin like a proper master for once.

With the question turned back on him, he sank into thought.

The circle, given the context, has to be related to reincarnation. Let’s say it represents the cycle itself. Then that rune is a person. No... a soul.

He had lived long enough as a mage that a lot of runes came naturally to him now. The pieces started clicking together fast. The two runes drawn there were unmistakable: one meant circle, and the other meant soul.

Yeah, the big circle represents reincarnation, and the soul is Anne. Then the overlapping circle must be...

It was the space that Anne had stayed in until recently. He finally understood what Sion was getting at.

“Come to think of it, when she was in the Void, her soul could exist without a body and still stay anchored to the spear. That probably means the fate or binding tied to reincarnation stops applying once someone leaves this world. So if that’s the case...”

“Exactly. We create an artificial body strong enough to withstand a reincarnator’s soul, then transfer it under conditions similar to the environment where her soul was able to move into the spear.”

“You are not seriously planning to go back into the Void again, are you?” Do-Jin frowned, already bracing for some new disaster.

Sion clicked her tongue and shook her head. “I have already gone through that once. Do you truly think I would repeat something that reckless? Honestly, I don’t know what you take me for.”

What do I take you for? A walking disaster with an Archmage title slapped on top.

He swallowed the comment before it slipped out.

“What matters is not the place itself but the environment. If I isolate a space from this world and recreate conditions as if we were in another dimension, that will be enough.”

“That sounds like an absolute nightmare to pull off.”

“It will be difficult, yes, but far from impossible.” Sion’s gaze lingered on the spear where her friend slept. “I can already hold a soul that is trying to slip away.”

Back when Anne fell into the Void, Sion had thrown herself into mastering space and dimensional magic just to save her. Now those same spells held her friend’s soul together and offered a fragile hope that they might avoid another separation. For a brief moment, Sion felt grateful that she was a mage.

“Anyway, your body is fully restored, so you should leave now. Your presence is distracting, and I cannot focus properly.”

He had literally said goodbye earlier and she hadn’t even listened. Do-Jin let out a silent, irritated breath. “I was already on my way out.”

Seriously, was this how someone treated their disciple? How can she tell me to get lost like I’m a piece of clutter?

Just as that thought settled in, the real reason slipped out of her mouth. “You run around stirring up trouble everywhere you go. If you happen to find something capable of holding a large soul, bring it back to me. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it looks like it might work.”

So that was it! She was asking for help without saying it outright.

A quest window appeared the moment her words settled.

An Archmage’s Request

Grade: Hidden

Objective: Assist with the soul transfer

Reward: ???

Sion Grace wishes to transfer her friend’s soul into a vessel strong enough to endure it. If anything that could assist with that process is discovered, no matter what it is, bring it to her.

Do-Jin read through the window and lifted his gaze toward Sion. “It feels like this will be solved before anything even turns up on my end.”

“That would be fortunate. In any case, leave now. From this moment forward, this space will be reshaped into an environment capable of stabilizing Anne’s soul within the spear. If someone gets caught inside while the dimensional layers are forming, not even a smear of blood would remain.”

“Yeah, that definitely sounds like my cue to leave.”

He gave her one last glance and turned away, swearing to bring back anything that looked even remotely useful.

Alright. First step is getting a Tier 8 spellbook.

Then reality hit like a brick. How the hell was he supposed to obtain a Tier 8 spellbook at this stage? Even after grinding monsters well beyond Level 200, not a single Tier 8 book had dropped. Expecting another player to have one up for sale right now would be pure fantasy.

Purchasing one from an NPC shop wasn’t an option either. To every Magic Tower, Tier 8 spellbooks were technically a strategic resource, the kind that was locked away tighter than a national secret. Exporting them outside tower authority was strictly forbidden, and throwing money around didn’t change that.

Getting the proper qualification required clinging to a tower like a workhorse, stacking contribution through endless quests until limited purchase rights became available.

Sure, once levels climb higher, getting one becomes less of a nightmare...

Trying to farm anything at the right level ahead of everyone else had always been a pain in the ass. Grabbing something way before the game even expected it to exist was on a whole different level of unfair.

Do-Jin kept running that thought through his head, then suddenly stopped dead. Right as Sion lifted her hand to flick him into another space, he snapped awake like someone had poured cold water down his back.

“Wait. Hold on, Master. Wait a second!”

Sion blinked, eyes widening. Even she looked genuinely surprised. Do-Jin rarely lost his composure, so hearing him shout like that was offputting.

“What are you fussing about?”

He stared at her, realization slamming into him hard enough to make him feel stupid. Why had this even felt like a problem? His brain must have short-circuited after landing such a massive jackpot. All of the Magic Towers and contribution grinding suddenly felt pointless.

“Master, is there any chance I could get a Tier 8 spellbook?”

The words came out almost too casually. After all, he was Sion Grace’s disciple. The greatest Archmage in the most prestigious Magic Tower stood right in front of him. Stressing over scarcity now felt like worrying about pocket change while sitting on a mountain of gold.

“Tier 8 spellbooks?”

Sion tilted her head like she was trying to remember what level that even belonged to. Her expression carried the faintest hint of boredom, as if she were being asked about something painfully ordinary.

“If that’s all, there is no need to travel to the Library of All Truths. Here. Show this to anyone, and they will hand over whatever spellbook is desired.”

A magical document formed in the air with nothing more than her gaze. The translucent scroll drifted down and settled into Do-Jin’s hands.

“Thank you. Taking more than one is fine, right?”

Even a Tier 8 spellbook was basically priceless at this point in the game. Asking felt stupid, but the part of him that used to count coins before buying food still twitched whenever something expensive showed up.

Sion waved it off like he had asked about scrap paper. “Why ask such pointless questions? It is only a spellbook. Take as many as you want.”

Seeing the richest person in the magical world give permission without a shred of hesitation, Do-Jin let out a small, satisfied chuckle. Yeah. This life turned out pretty damn well.

Compared to the flashy luxury gifts Ju Kang-Hee had sent, the spellbooks Sion offered felt infinitely more valuable. Designer bags and shiny watches were nice, but this was the kind of thing that actually changed the game.