Hermit Wizard

Savior or Destroyer (5)

The journey to find the soul of the Dragon, the Earth’s Truth-Seeker, wasn’t smooth.

The search magic spread by the spores of Ii-Mere gave me a milestone. The traces left by the Dragon’s soul were cut off right in front of the Shanghai Channel, and it was obvious that the soul had passed beyond that.

When I entered the Shanghai Channel for the first time, I only brought Mrs. Pearl and Garam. Mrs. Pearl was a backup to protect me when an unexpected situation occurred, and Garam was brought since I needed someone to see the soul.

If it were up to me, I wanted Yusu to come instead of Garam, but the priest seemed unreasonable for taking the journey to another dimension. Besides, Seol, one of the residents I asked for, had a job in the village, so he didn’t accompany me since he couldn’t go a long way.

As soon as we crossed the Channel, Parvache accessed Akashic Records. It was precisely traced back to the fragments of the record that stretched out in that world. Through it, I got a rough knowledge of that world. It was the same protocol as when I first visited the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker.

After getting some information, Parvache spoke to me.

[In this world, you can’t spread the search magic the same way you did on Earth.]

It was said that it was impossible to put magic into Ii-Mere and the spore, then spray it in the stratosphere.

I asked the reason, and he replied to me,

[There was no wizard on Earth to detect the search magic you sprayed. It was a plan that was implemented under the calculation that even the ascetics would not notice. However, now this dimension is different. If you cast magic in the same way, many beings will quickly notice it and be offended. They are the species that will not be hesitant to express their displeasure as direct acts of violence… And, looking at this world, I now understand why the Truth-Seeker chose the Channel in Shanghai.]

I didn’t dare to expect how troublesome his answer would lead to.

Eventually, I had to make a new plan, return to Earth, make Hwang Soo-rim join in, and then enter the Shanghai Channel again.

***

I looked at the body of the fallen dragon and said, “Looks like these guys are sensitive to Mana. This time, the distance to the nest is quite long, but as soon as I exhaled, it turned right here. There was almost no time difference.”

Parvache nodded.

[Yeah. It has no choice but to be more sensitive to Mana than any other race. It’s a rare race that relies on Mana for its survival.]

For that reason, I couldn’t use the method of spraying the enchanted spores. The magic that could spread that way was a pretty simple kind. It was almost impossible to plant tricks that hid the Mana. If I had spread the magic to the whole planet like on Earth, many of the dragons living in that world would quickly realize it, and they would dare to find a rebellious wizard who observed them and set off a counterattack composing of many dragons nested in that world at the same time.

So, instead of scanning the entire planet all at once, we had no choice but to navigate sequentially by refining the search scope.

Still, there was one achievement. It was the answer to how the Truth-Seeker’s soul would be hiding in that world. As soon as we learned that countless dragons lived in that world, we wanted to find out why the Truth-Seeker chose that dimension.

I asked Garam.

“Look closely again. Is it only one? It said he would be hiding behind the soul of the original body owner.”

Garam frowned.

“You don’t believe my eyes? Did you ask if there is only one?”

“You may not be able to see it because he hides it thoroughly. Last time, you almost stepped on Parvache at night, even when it was right in front of you! You said you couldn’t see its soul well or say it was faint or something!”

“Do you think that’s comparable now? We now know what the Truth-Seeker means. What I’m looking for now is a soul that has crossed the wall twice. As soon as the host dragon’s mental barrier weakens, it must be dazzling like the sun. Even if he is hiding, there is no way I can’t see it. I was confused that night because the light of the Elder’s soul was weaker than that of fireflies.”

Garam stopped talking, and Parvache poured out its self-help will.

[Yes, I understand. It must be a weak soul that is not easy to discern. Even in dark nights, it’s hardly noticeable by your race, which clearly distinguishes the soul.]

“… I’m sorry, Elder.” Garam coughed, clearing his throat, and spoke.

“Anyway, there is only one soul in that dragon’s body.”

“Is there any chance that the original soul was driven out and only the Truth-Seeker’s soul remained?”

“It can’t be. It’s quite a powerful soul because of its race, but it can’t be considered a Truth-Seeker. No, it’s not even worth talking about in the first place. That soul hasn’t crossed the wall yet.”

I squeezed my hair once again. “Ah, shit!”

Looking at me, Garam frowned.

“Isn’t that why we need to make the technique more elaborate? All dragons within a radius of 2,000 miles from here are the targets? Could that be called a searching technique? Try narrowing the radius a little bit more.”

I shook my head. “It’s impossible. This is the limit to avoid being spotted by dragons.”

Moreover, that magic to find the Black Hermit was created using the information left in his body fragments, and the Black Hermit was a creature that evolved from a dragon in the first place. Since the soul of such a being was hiding in the dragon’s body, the search had become more difficult. It wasn’t easy to distinguish.

In the end, there was only one way to find his soul. Find all dragons in the area indicated by the search magic, and find a body containing two souls. That dragon was living in a hiding place where the soul of the Black Hermit was hidden.

Hwang Soo-rim, who had kept her mouth shut, suddenly asked.

“Can’t we wait for the soul to wake up from sleep? When he wakes up, he will come out of the body and move, and then we can find him right away, can’t we? I think that’s better than this madness.”

Parvache shook its head.

[We can only touch him somehow when the soul is asleep. We have to finish everything before he wakes up.]

Hwang Soo-rim let out a deep sigh.

“Eraser. Can’t you do me a favor? Do I have to find that soul for one of my tasks? Can’t we do it part-time? I think I can understand the conditions of helping with this search for about half a year. I sincerely think that it is ‘reasonable,’ so I think it’s possible to renew the contract.”

Hwang Soo-rim kept calling me Eraser even after she knew that I was a human. I didn’t give her any other names to call, after all. The other party was also careful not to call my real name.

I bluntly answered her.

“We’re done talking about that.”

I muttered inside. ‘If I can’t find the Dragon’s soul within a few years anyway… that’s all. It was said that that time was enough for the Dragon to wake up. It was a calculated time considering the completion of the new body.’

At that time, we all heard a strange sound.

-Quarrrrrrrrrrkkkk

The sound of a rough stream pouring down into the ground. I had never been there, but it was similar to the sound of waterfalls I heard on TV.

Hwang Soo-rim frowned. Garam’s expression got worse, and Mrs. Pearl closed her eyes.

Only Maru alone shouted with excitement.

“… Poop! That dragon… pooping…! Khehe… Khehehe!”

I tried not to see the origin of the sound. I thought I did the calculations correctly, but that time, the dragon’s Mana seemed to have been taken to a quite fatal level. I overlooked the fact that it was a young dragon.

[Let’s get this over with and move on.]

I looked through the backpack with a weak nod.

“Isn’t it dead already? I heard when a person dies, everything in his stomach will flow out… Didn’t you say that we should never kill a dragon?”

Hwang Soo-rim asked. However, Parvache quickly corrected her misunderstanding.

[It isn’t dead. Too much Mana was taken away, and even the Mana to contract certain muscles were exhausted.]

She raised her eyebrows.

“… Wow. What species need magic to tighten the sphincter? It’s a high-level anus.”

“No, that mouth! Control that mouth, man!”

Garam cut in with a disapproving look, but Hwang Soo-rim didn’t pretend to hear it.

[Dragons rely on Mana for almost every function to survive. This time, there’s too much Mana stolen, so that happens.]

“No, how is it possible to live and breathe that much?”

[The Mana consumed by other parts of the body may be focused on essential functions of survival, such as breathing, heartbeat, and bone maintenance. In the meantime, it can’t afford to leave the Mana used for relatively less important functions such as the control of the excretory organs.]

“Hah… What an absurd race.”

[But it hasn’t died, so if we let it go, it’ll recover its Mana and get better again. let’s get this over with and move on.]

I picked up a fist of a palm leaf-like object from my backpack. They were all Yodmo’s ears that glowed with metal-like colors. Small branches ripped from the long, big ears.

When I took them out, Mrs. Pearl looked disturbed. She was very wary of the effects this object had.

“Now, everyone, step away.”

It was Mrs. Pearl again that moved as if she were running away to the farthest place. I heard her whispering.

“Elder, just in case, should I make a barrier?”

[There is no need to worry about that. This much is enough.]

Not long ago, I did a small favor for Yodmo. It was a request to take measures to prevent a human being from ever dying. I had accepted its request and had taken magical measures so that the human would never ‘die.’ He was still repeating nerve damage and regeneration due to extreme pain in the next room of the tank in the basement.

It took quite a bit of elixir to set it up like that. It was out of the give-and-take level set in the original contract. In return, Yodmo offered me to present as many branches of its ears as I wanted.

Just as a few branches of a large tree were torn off and given away, there seemed to be no great burden on Yodmo. It would be useful for me too, so I gladly accepted.

I enchanted some Mana to Yodmo’s ears that were piled up in my palms. It then lost its original form and began to collapse. Eventually, it turned into a hazy smoke, and it continued to the dragon’s nostrils according to my guidance.

-Hweeeiiiingg

The Dragon was desperately breathing. The smoke made by Yodmo’s ears was sucked into it. The same way I used to erase the memories of a girl in the Heart Fish hunt. However, compared to then, the number of earpieces was much larger, and the smoke increased. It also took longer to be absorbed.

“Even if it faints and weakens, it is still the dragon’s mental barrier, after all.”

We couldn’t leave a memory that we hit the dragon. It would devote his life to pursue us when he thought of his pride to pierce that sky. So, every time I checked the dragon’s soul, I erased its memory like that.

Also, just in case, I was using a lot more ears when erasing human memories. It seemed that it took several times as much smoke to erase the same amount of memory.

“Wouldn’t this be enough?”

[Yeah. It is enough to erase a day’s worth’s memory anyway.]

With breathing in that smoke, memories disappeared in reverse order from the last one. I expect that it would end with the effect of about last half a day.

“Indeed… it’s large.”

I muttered, looking at the body of a dragon lying on the ground and breathing heavily.

“I can’t believe such a huge body can’t even function without Mana.”

Parvache replied.

[Do you remember what Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker said? It was said that their race raised the dragon race for a long time. And it’s been improved over a long period.]

I nodded.

[In fact, it isn’t easy to find a race that relies on magic power for survival. If Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker’s words are true… it’s possible to speculate that these dragon characteristics are not natural.]

“… Is it that the races that owned the Dragons have modified them like this?”

[It should be said to improve.]

Yes, it wasn’t uncommon in the human world. I looked at the body of a dragon who had become paralyzed and unconscious just because it had lost its magic. The huge body looked so weak and defenseless that it was overshadowed.

The sight reminded me of something. I had seen a program about a dog breed called bulldog on TV before. People said that the bulldog’s legs were improved to be too short since they were cute, and as a result, normal mating became almost impossible because the male couldn’t ride the female’s body. Even for the time being, bulldog breeding was mostly carried out in a state where a human raised a male.

Bulldogs couldn’t reproduce without borrowing human hands, and dragons couldn’t even cover their urine without Mana.

The scale was different, but I thought it was somewhat similar.