Chapter 163 – #35_Friendship(2)
#161
1.
Sharon immediately treated Siwoo.
In many myths, just as humans are made from earth, in the elemental system, the element of earth is responsible for the healing and recovery of the human body.
Sharon generously used six jade beads, each the size of a millet grain, which were sacrifices of the earth element she had saved for important moments.
“Balance.”
As soon as Sharon swung her staff, the jade beads placed all over Siwoo’s body melted like ointment into his wounds.
The reddish-blotched areas, like out-of-season maple leaves, and the areas where blisters were about to form, subsided, and new flesh immediately grew.
Siwoo watched the scene with a look of wonder.
“Wow, it’s healing really fast?”
“Of course, it’s magic.”
Judging by the extent of the injuries, it was fortunate that Della had used a light touch, and they were mostly first-degree burns.
Siwoo’s body is an ethereal form.
With this degree of minor injury, he would recover within a week, but Sharon couldn’t bear to watch him like that.
He was injured fighting Della because of her, and she couldn’t just leave him like that, thinking a few measly pieces of jewelry were too precious.
“By the way, you’re really amazing. How did you defeat that Della? She’s a real piece of work, and she’s ugly, but her skills are definitely top-notch.”
“There’s a way. Who do you think I learned from?”
Siwoo grinned confidently.
Seeing that, Sharon felt something surge up in her chest.
Pushing it down, Sharon glanced at the clock and said,
“Ah, it’s already time for my part-time job. What about skipping class today?”
“It’s okay, I think I need a day off too. Let’s have a good meal later.”
“Then I’ll go wash up and get ready for work. Get some rest.”
“Okay.”
Sharon, barely holding back the smile she had seen on Siwoo’s face, quickly headed to the bathroom.
She quickly took off her clothes and turned on the shower.
Then, she crouched down in the bathtub and covered her mouth.
-Swoosh!
“Hic…hic…”
She had almost cried several times while treating his wounds, but the tears she had barely held back now burst out like a dam had broken.
In front of Siwoo, she had enthusiastically agreed with his claim of defeating Della, but in truth, Sharon didn’t believe his words at all.
She couldn’t believe it.
Who was Della Redcliffe?
A great witch of the 20th tier, and an unrivaled solo practitioner in the field of fire elements.
Siwoo’s tier was far below even Sharon’s, let alone Della’s.
In general, in duels between witches, if there is a difference of more than two tiers, a fight cannot even be established.
The talk of compatibility or combat experience is only relevant when the tier difference is about one level.
Even Sharon, who was well-versed in elemental magic at the 17th tier, had been easily subdued, hadn’t she?
And that was after fighting while offering a specially treated cigarette with mana and volcanic ash as a sacrifice.
“Sob…sob…”
But Siwoo had defeated Della.
There was only one reason for such an absurd lie.
It was for Sharon’s sake.
The various burn marks and the battered mana circuits on his body clearly proved that there had been a battle.
Considering Della’s personality, he had probably been toyed with like a plaything and defeated miserably.
There were some differences in this world that could not be overcome no matter how hard one fought.
How helpless must he have felt?
How difficult must the battle have been?
How painful must it be?
Sharon dared to say that she could empathize with his feelings.
She knew from experience that not being able to achieve what one wanted and facing a wall was an extremely cruel thing.
Even in such pain, Siwoo had told an obvious lie.
Knowing that Siwoo’s injuries were her fault, he knew she would blame herself.
At the very least, he was trying to ease Sharon’s guilt by saying he had defeated Della.
Siwoo, who was kind and gentle by nature, was likely trying to comfort Sharon with an obvious lie.
A kind lie.
Knowing its meaning, Sharon also pretended to firmly believe Siwoo.
Without showing any sign of doubt, she accepted his consideration and played along.
Thinking about it, Siwoo had always been like that.
Knowing that his identity would be in danger if he was seen by other exiles, he had still gone out to hunt homunculi.
Although it was a bit presumptuous, as soon as he heard that Sharon was in trouble with debt, he had offered to pay it off for her.
He had taken in and comforted Sharon, who had nowhere to go.
For Sharon, who wanted to eat something delicious, he never insisted on his own opinion and always waited for her to choose the menu.
And today, he had faced a dangerous witch for Sharon’s sake.
Even after being miserably defeated, he had worried about Sharon rather than showing his own sadness and had lied to her.
“Ah…”
Was it because she had cried so much?
Her heart suddenly pounded as if she had an arrhythmia.
After that, a clear, unambiguous impulse arose.
She felt an urge to run to him and hug him right away.
“Sniff…”
It was strange.
Sharon shook her head and finished her shower haphazardly with magic.
When she came back from her part-time job, she would treat him well.
She would never show any sign of doubt or disbelief and would play along with his consideration.
And she would make sure not to bring up this topic so that he wouldn’t have to tell unnecessary lies.
With that resolve, Sharon left the bathroom.
2.
Sharon’s magic was amazing.
Perhaps it was because he was an ethereal being and recovered quickly, but his injuries, muscle pain, and the tattered mana circuits had recovered in an instant.
“Hmm…”
As soon as Sharon left for her part-time job, Siwoo sat down at his desk.
It was to review the battle with Della that had taken place in the underpass.
Today’s events had made it clear.
In this harsh world where anything could happen, it was essential to have the means to protect oneself.
What would have happened if Siwoo had lost to Della then?
First of all, Sharon would have been captured.
She would have suffered whatever Della did to her.
Also, the information that Siwoo could use magic might have spread like wildfire, or even if it didn’t, Della, who had taken notice of his existence, might have tried to kidnap Siwoo.
Today, several conditions had aligned favorably for him to win, but no one knew what would happen next.
In fact, Siwoo’s battles often relied on luck and improvisation.
He realized that it had been a careless act not to even think about honing his powers in advance.
“Okay, let’s organize.”
First, an overview of the magic he possessed.
Not just a simple overview, but data extraction on how it could be used tactically.
‘Coordinate Shift.’
Based on today’s experience, Coordinate Shift could not be applied in battle right away.
Magical battles with witches were fought at a tense and rapid pace, with each second counting.
If Siwoo had been leisurely calculating a Coordinate Shift in the middle of a fight, intending to escape, one of his limbs would have been charred black.
“So, this is on hold…”
It was a means of escape that could be tried as a last resort when there was no other option, but it seemed difficult to apply it directly in battle right now.
‘Maiden’s Loom.’
One of the top contributors to today’s battle.
The ribbons woven from the loom were powerful jokers that could be used for offense, defense, and support without any hindrance to arm movements.
If he could use them as he did now, even with an increased number, the speed of dispelling would increase, and they could be used as useful offensive tools.
Siwoo, who had clashed with Aea, knew the terror of the ribbons best.
The way Aea had twisted the ribbons to use rebound force was also worth noting.
“Training to move them freely even with an increased number… and practicing shape transformation too…”
‘Law of Shadows.’
This magic had a very large share in the foundation that allowed Siwoo to fight witches.
Without the Law of Shadows, he wouldn’t have dared to engage in a magical battle.
It provided minimal protection for Siwoo, who didn’t have autonomous defense.
It supported his strength like a powered suit and created direct offensive tools.
In other words, the Law of Shadows was laying the foundation for Siwoo, who lacked basic skills, to step into the ring.
Additionally, the unique ability to interfere with magic formulas and partially disrupt the opponent’s magic, and the versatility of being able to transform into any shape, were already being used well in combination with the Maiden’s Loom.
“The ability to disrupt magic circles is really good, but…”
However, there were also shortcomings.
The clear limitation was that, due to the nature of being a combination of micro-magic circles, it was useless against dense mana.
To become stronger, he needed to fundamentally improve this.
“This is it.”
Siwoo set the direction of his goal.
Just as the Law of Shadows had been applied to the Maiden’s Loom after he had fallen and risen, he planned to tweak the characteristics of his magic a little.
Today, he would focus on drawing up the blueprint for that as his self-study task.
But in what way?
Should he weave the micro-magic circles into a net shape to reduce the extent to which they were affected by mana pressure?
No.
If he did that, the current free operation would be ruined, and there would be problems with the hardness of the armor or shield.
“Hmm…”
Siwoo’s worries deepened.
3.
Sharon, having finished her part-time job, burst through the front door and entered the house.
“I’m home.”
“You’re a bit late today? What were you doing?”
Siwoo, who had been in his room and came out when he heard the door lock, saw Sharon holding plastic bags in both hands.
Sharon gave a slightly awkward smile at Siwoo’s surprised expression.
“I thought I’ve always been receiving from you, so I wanted to buy you a meal.”
“What is it?”
“Crab. I just steamed it.”
As soon as her part-time job was over, Sharon had gone straight to the crab restaurant in front of her house.
There, she had spent a whopping 400,000 won to buy a lot of crab.
She remembered that Siwoo enjoyed eating all sorts of things, but he was especially satisfied when eating crustaceans or seafood.
It was the first time she had spent so much money on food since arriving in the present world 10 years ago.
Her hands had trembled when she paid, but she didn’t feel any regret at all.
“Ah, what is it? I was supposed to buy you a meal in exchange for you teaching me magic. How much do I owe you?”
As expected, Siwoo looked embarrassed and took out his wallet, but Sharon firmly refused.
If she didn’t express her gratitude in this way, Sharon felt like she wouldn’t be able to stand it.
“Don’t. I’ll really get angry if you don’t accept this.”
“Even so, isn’t this too much? I think you used jewels for healing magic today too…”
“It’s okay.”
“No…”
“I said it’s okay!”
There was a brief argument, but seeing that Sharon showed no sign of backing down, Siwoo smiled wryly.
In fact, when Sharon had been stubborn, Siwoo had never been stubborn himself.
“Even so, it’s too much of a burden…”
“It’s okay, it’s more of a burden for me if we just let this go. Let’s eat before it gets cold.”
Sharon and Siwoo spread the crab out on the table.
Siwoo said thank you, thank you repeatedly almost every time he ate.
It made her feel relieved that he seemed to be enjoying it and feeling proud.
It was also a relief that he seemed to think Sharon believed his lie about defeating Della, as she hadn’t shown any awkwardness.
To be honest, she wasn’t very confident in her acting.
After eating the last crab and three bowls of ramen, the two of them went to the living room, feeling full.
“Do you want to watch a movie right away?”
“Sure.”
In fact, today, she didn’t have the homunculus crystal she had hunted, and she had spent a lot of money, so she had to do something, but Sharon acted as usual.
She didn’t want to pass on the anxiety caused by her own circumstances to Siwoo.
Let him rest today.
“Then I’ll go change.”
“Should I pick the movie?”
“Yeah, you pick it today.”
After their usual conversation, Sharon went into her room.
