## Chapter 1468 – Dark Moon
I entered the operating room, feeling tense as I looked around.
It was definitely not a typical operating room. There was none of the equipment you’d usually associate with one. No scalpels either.
“No need to be nervous. It’s called an operating room, but… it’s not the kind of surgery where we cut open flesh and poke around inside.”
“…How do you restore mana rods? I’m not asking you to teach me the secret arts. I just want to know the general method of restoration.”
“A mage’s mana rods aren’t like organs or nerves in the body. Black mages have a special organ called a dark hole, but ordinary mages don’t. It’s more like an extension of the mind… you create mana rods, which are like virtual nerves, centered around the astral. You know this better than I do.”
“Some people claim that mana rods are mental nerves.”
“That’s not exactly wrong. Mana rods are closely related to the mind.”
Opening the astral and using mana rods are all acts of will. It wouldn’t be strange to call them mental nerves.
“Restoring broken mana rods… doesn’t that mean you can also create them?”
“It’s different. Your mana rods are broken, not gone. What I’m doing is restoration. I’m not creating something from nothing, but rather using the traces of the original mana rods as a blueprint to create a path. It’s like the foundation of a building is already there.”
“I get the gist. Restoring mana rods… does that mean you’re messing with my mind?”
“I’m not messing with your mind itself. It’s more like working on the branches that extend from your mind. Why are you getting scared? You can stop if you don’t want to.”
It was unsettling, that was true.
In the original game, it was over in a flash, but… this wasn’t a game.
But I had to restore my mana rods to become stronger than I am now.
“I’ll do it.”
“Lie down on the operating table.”
I lay down on the operating table. I stared at the lights on the ceiling.
That familiar, shitty feeling crept up on me. I remembered the time I received the mana essence. I clenched my fists without realizing it.
Lana Gomez operated the machines next to the operating table. The machines quietly whirred to life. She attached two electrodes to my forehead and temples.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s a machine to stabilize your mind. In short, it’s anesthesia. If your will interferes with the mana rods during the restoration, it’ll be difficult. Take a nap. Then all sixteen of your mana rods will be restored.”
“……”
I closed my eyes. But it didn’t feel like I was being anesthetized.
“Your mind is excessively tense. I know your mental barrier is excellent, so relax. Open your mental barrier and accept the waves. And sleep. You must be tired, you came straight after finishing your work.”
I relaxed my body.
I decided to calm my mind. I closed my eyes and prepared to accept the mental waves or whatever she called it.
Then, I felt something trying to enter my head through the electrodes. I knew this was the mental wave she was talking about.
‘I can finally feel it. Are the mental waves weak? Can this really anesthetize me?’
I wondered.
Wouldn’t it be more reliable to use drugs for anesthesia?
“This is troublesome. Usually, they’d be out in ten seconds… Don’t think complicated thoughts. Slowly. Focus on your breathing. Accept the mental waves.”
Lana Gomez’s flat, monotonous voice began to sound comforting. I started to feel sleepy. This was probably normal. I focused on my breathing as she said and drifted off to sleep.
My consciousness sank into the water. It was calm, warm water. It felt as comfortable as being in a swimming pool. But being in the water didn’t completely cut me off from the outside. I could faintly hear voices from outside.
“You’re here. You’re late. Hurry…”
“Mom. This is… real…”
“…Believe… bozhap…”
“The mage is… Cavallia…”
“Start…”
Scattered words.
Among them, there was a word that grated on my nerves.
Cavallia.
Cavallia Industries.
That damned company that conducts bio-experiments like it’s nothing. One of the companies I least wanted to be involved with in this world was Cavallia Industries.
‘…Why is the name Cavallia coming up?’
I felt my sunken consciousness rise to the surface. I didn’t open my eyes. My consciousness became clearer, and I remembered that I was in the middle of restoring my mana rods. If I fully awakened here, the restoration might fail.
Instead, I listened to the sounds from outside. Their voices were clearer than before.
“Ugh, seriously. Sixteen mana rods broken? What a pain in the ass!”
“Mila, focus on assisting.”
“It doesn’t really matter. It looks like this guy’s mana rods broke because of overload… This is a common customer for you, Mom.”
“He’s not a common customer. I’ve been running this shop for decades, and I’ve never seen a mage like this. His mana affinity potential is at least level 9, and his mana sensitivity is also at least level 8.”
“What’s that? Just empty words, right? There’s no way a monster with that kind of talent exists.”
“He’s right in front of you. I’ve already contacted Cavallia. We’ll sell him to Cavallia and go to the Freesel Kingdom.”
“You know, right? I’m selling my entire career to follow you, Mom. You have to keep your promise.”
“It’s not me who has to keep the promise, it’s Cavallia. And Cavallia will keep their promise. For them, 10 billion credits and a noble title in the Freesel Kingdom are nothing.”
“This guy’s pretty pitiful too. How did he end up with a woman like you… Is this the tragedy of a magical genius? Mom, you killed a future archmage.”
“Stop talking nonsense and focus on your work. We need to fully restore his mana rods to get the full price.”
“Okay, okay. Stop nagging. The blue distortion gas I injected into the 8th mana rod has stabilized.”
“The 8th mana rod just needs calibration then. You can do that, right?”
“I may have taken a break from this work, but I’ve been assisting under you for over a decade. This is a piece of cake.”
“How’s his mental state?”
“Why? Are you scared he’ll wake up?”
“His mental strength is not ordinary compared to other mages. It took him over two minutes to fall asleep after being hit by the mental waves.”
“Huh. So his mental talent is as good as his magical talent? His mind is stable. We’ve set the mental waves to maximum output, what are you so worried about?”
“We need to take every precaution. I’m starting the restoration of the 10th mana rod.”
I barely managed to suppress my rising anger.
I understood what this mother and daughter were trying to do from the context of their conversation.
They were trying to sell me to Cavallia Industries.
‘Shit. This is fucked up.’
I trusted Lana Gomez.
I trusted her, who had been working here for decades.
‘No, actually, I trusted Lana Gomez, the NPC in the game. She never betrayed a player. I didn’t even know she was connected to those Cavallia bastards.’
I had been using my game knowledge to gain various advantages, and I mistakenly thought I knew everything. It was arrogance.
I shouldn’t have done that.
The information I knew was only a small part of this world.
‘I want to kill these bitches right now, but…’
These women were restoring my mana rods to sell me for a good price.
‘…I’ll wait until all my mana rods are restored.’
Fortunately, these women had no idea that I was half-conscious.
‘I can feel the waves, but I can shake them off anytime I want. This is the maximum output of mental waves? Mental waves are nothing special.’
I quietly waited for the restoration of my mana rods to finish. It was a task that required a lot of patience.
The news that one broken mana rod after another was being restored was the only thing that made me happy.
***
“It ended faster than I thought?”
“His high mana affinity and mana sensitivity made it easy to restore his mana rods. I didn’t expect there to be no backlash at all.”
“I was surprised too. Usually, there are about five backlashes when restoring one mana rod…”
“Mila, you watch this guy here. Someone from Cavallia is supposed to come in three hours…”
I quietly got up. Lana Gomez had her back turned, taking off her gloves, and Mila Gomez, with her blue-dyed hair, stared at me with wide eyes, stepping back.
“Uh, Mom…!”
The existing 34 mana rods and the restored 16 mana rods. A total of 50 mana rods were activated. Magic was instantly constructed and activated.
[Microwave]
“Mila?”
Lana Gomez turned to look at her daughter. Mila opened her mouth as if to say something, but then her body swelled up and exploded with a pop.
Thud.
Blood and guts splattered everywhere. Mila’s small intestine hit Lana Gomez’s shoulder and slid down. Lana Gomez’s eyes, covered in her daughter’s blood and guts, trembled.
“You, you, you bastard!!”
Lana Gomez screamed at me. She took something out of her pants pocket and pointed it at me. At the same time, both of her arms exploded with a pop.
“Aaaaargh!”
I looked at the object that had fallen to the floor with her hand. It was a golden rod. Runes were drawn on its surface.
“An artifact containing Blaze magic? It’s a compressed firing type. It would have been quite threatening if it had been activated.”
“You, you ungrateful bastard!”
“Ungrateful? Don’t give me that crap. This was a fair trade. You told me to trust you, and I trusted you. But what I got in return was a fancy betrayal. You’re going to sell me to Cavallia? You bitch. I almost had to go through that shitty experiment life again. Lana Gomez. I won’t let you die peacefully.”
“You knew everything…?”
I walked towards Lana Gomez. Lana Gomez gritted her teeth. She ran towards the door. She kicked the door open with her shoulder and shouted as she came out.
“Security! Emergency! Kill this guy right now… Aaaaargh!”
Lana Gomez’s right foot exploded. Her body tilted downwards. I exploded her left arm as well. I lifted her body with telekinesis.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it…!”
I briefly admired Lana Gomez’s distorted face, and then security guards appeared from the upper and lower floors. They started firing as soon as they saw me. Magic bullets poured down. But they couldn’t penetrate my barrier. It was a barrier that I had carefully created using 50 mana rods. It wasn’t a barrier that could be penetrated by low-level magic bullets.
“Everyone in this building dies today.”
I slightly lifted my right foot and then stepped on the floor again. A magic circle glowed and disappeared around my foot.
[Electric Field]
Immediately after, electricity began to spread in all directions from my feet. The electricity spread throughout the building, along the floors, walls, and ceilings. The guys who were firing at me were electrocuted and fell down.
“Stop…! I was wrong! I admit it! I was going to sell you to Cavallia! I’ll apologize formally. Let’s stop here. What you want is money, right? I’ll give you all the money I’ve saved up. It’s about 3 billion credits. You need money too, don’t you?!”
“I can earn that much money anytime. Right now, I need to get rid of this shitty feeling first.”
“You killed my precious daughter! You killed the security guards here too! You damn murderer! Let’s end it here! I’m saying this for your own good!”
“Just beg for your life, you bitch.”
“……Will you spare me?”
“No.”
I hung Lana Gomez on the second floor of the building. Her armless torso swayed back and forth whenever the wind blew. Her face, with a rope around her neck, was twisted in pain.
I walked openly among the onlookers. They whispered as they looked at me. Lana Gomez’s customers were saying they would kill me. I ignored them all. This incident would eventually spread.
‘I want to kill the Cavallia bastards who were supposed to come buy me too, but… there’s no way they’ll come after this mess.’
Anyway, I walked forward with a refreshed feeling. No one blocked my path. The whole story of this incident would spread, and eventually, Lana Gomez would be the one getting cursed. Lana Gomez, who sells her customers.
I walked out of Aira Street.
Five police cars with flashing lights blocked my way. Armed police, London Guards, surrounded me threateningly.
“Hands up and kneel down. You murderer.”
A large man said to me, shaking a sword in one hand.
I lifted the bag I was holding. It was a bag a little bigger than a guitar case. The police flinched.
“What the hell are you doing? Do you want to die here?”
“Get out of the way. I have something to deliver to Countess Freewood.”
“…What?”
“I said get lost, cop.”
“You little shit…”
“It’s a very important item for Countess Freewood.”
“……”
He gritted his teeth and looked around. All the other police officers shook their heads.
“Damn it…”
He stepped aside.
I confidently walked past him.
This was the power of the nobility.
Just mentioning a name, and the London Guards, who protect the peace of Neo London, couldn’t do anything. They didn’t even think about subduing me and taking the item.
‘Amazing.’
The power that the rulers of this city possessed.
Power.
It was a power I really coveted.
