Chapter 170 – How to Become an Alchemist
‘…Anyway, beyond that, why are you only able to communicate with wizards?’
『Oh that? As I said before, the person who made me is a demilich. The one who created it in the first place is a wizard, so the method of communication is magical power.”
‘Hmm… That’s why I can’t communicate with the warriors…?’
『It’s nothing!! A demilich is a demonic monster that transcends a normal lich!! They’re like monsters who use mana even to breathe.”
‘…Isn’t the lich a corpse? Even if it’s a metaphor, what kind of ‘breathing’ is it?’
『That’s stupid.』
‘…What man?’
“They say I’m stupid because I’m stupid. Demilich is undead, but it is not undead, you idiot.”
‘Eh?’
Seong-il is puzzled by the fact that the lich that pops out of nowhere is not undead. He brings out the common sense of fantasy he knows and starts questioning the sword.
‘What bullshit? Isn’t the lich an undead by fixing his soul in a vessel made with magic to achieve immortality?’
“Oh! Do you know me well enough? But Demilich is a bit different from what you know.”
‘…How?’
『Hmm… If you really dig into a specific field endlessly among the rich… Ah! A specific field refers to a school of magic. Something like necromancy, elemental magic, enchantery…』
‘…Without additional explanations, tell me first.’
『It’s not fun… Anyway! When a lich gains tremendous enlightenment in a particular field of magic, the level of the soul rises, overcoming death, and being reborn from an undead to a semi-living being.”
‘What!? Is that possible?!’
“Huh. Is it possible. By the way, I don’t know who created me, but I’m probably half-human? By the way, he was a monster close to a demigod who realized necromancy, enchanting, and alchemy to a transcendent level.”
‘Hey… There was a guy like that…? Why didn’t I know…’
『Imado… He must be completely hiding his true identity and pretending to be a human aristocrat. You wouldn’t know.”
‘…Let’s say yes. Then why were you sealed in Akanis’ dungeon?’
『Akanis? Oh, that grotesque wizard? Come to think of it, what happened to that bastard?”
‘Killed. I.’
“Oh!! Great? He seems like a pretty strong wizard?! You killed him?!”
‘…Exactly me and my colleagues killed it. On top of that, it was a situation where he was able to subdue it easily because he was fighting fiercely with a third enemy and was in a state of friendship. I haven’t done much.’
『Oh~~ But he’s a pretty strong necromancer, so feel proud! Bastard!”
‘…Do you see the talking kid?’
Black giggled at Sungil’s words and continued to explain himself in a playful tone.
“Anyway! I am the sword made by that demilich! He was the one who secretly built dungeons and practiced magic in Solanium’s catacombs overflowing with necessary corpses when practicing necromancy.”
‘Hmm… By the way?’
『Don’t cut me when I say it! Anyway, one day when he gained a strong realization from an ordinary lich and got a clue to becoming a magical demigod, he tried to abandon his body once again and capture his soul as a higher-dimensional being in order to capture his enlightenment.”
‘Ohh…’
『But the problem is, in order to do that, he had to throw away his undead body and summon the ‘vessel of soul’ hidden in the non-material dimension to the material world, and expose it defenselessly. He was afraid of the situation where, after descending the vessel of the soul like that, he would be ambushed by the enemy who aimed for it and die in vain.”
‘…Was it such a dangerous situation?’
“Huh. The lich’s source of immortality is its ‘soul vessel’, and if it is damaged, it becomes immortal. There…』
‘…There?’
『Simply descending the bowl of souls would have been no problem. Even if he abandoned his body once more and only his soul remained, he was a lich, a monster among monsters, and by using powerful magic, he could have played with and killed quite a few enemies and prevented them from even touching the bowl of his soul.”
『However, the problem was that the situation he encountered was not that simple. After descending the vessel of the soul into the material world, he had to transfer his mind to the transcendental dimension to ‘keep up’ his realization. Only then could he become a demilich who truly overcame death. However, the problem was that if you temporarily moved your mind to a higher level like that, you couldn’t even ‘recognize’ the situation in the material world.”
‘…Hmm?’
“Lets think! No matter how strong you are, what will you do? If you don’t know you’re being attacked and get hit like a punching bag, you won’t be able to use your strength and die. Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
‘…Right. But what does that have to do with you?’
『Ah~ Mister, you really have no patience~ You have to listen to people to be popular with women!』
‘Shut up! I have a lot of women?’
『Gill? What about gurgling? Anyway, he wanted to make a guardian who could keep him safe for that short amount of time.”
‘Ah… Is that you?’
“No? Crazy bastard, I don’t have a body, so how do I play Guardian? Think about it. Sick child.”
Seong-il contemplates whether to throw the cursed sword that keeps making him angry at the tone of the sword in his inventory, and responds with superhuman patience.
‘…Okay, anyway, continue explaining.’
“Huh. He intended to create a guardian to protect the vessel of the soul while his mind was absent from the higher planes. It is also very powerful!!』
‘…So what is it?’
『Death Knight!』
‘…A death knight?’
『Ugh! Death knight. He is a mighty undead warrior who made use of a powerful knight during his lifetime.”
‘Hmm… That’s right. But what does that have to do with you…’
『Shut up. Anyway, I thought that if I was going to be able to protect myself in such a critical situation, I would have to make it incredibly strong. That’s why I wanted to make a more powerful death knight than a normal death knight.』
‘Ohh…’
Quite an interesting story behind Ego Sword. Since this kind of story has never appeared in the main part of 『The Throne of the Cursed』, I am very interested and start listening to his story.
『In order to create a mighty death knight, the lich tried to find a knight full of fame during his lifetime, resurrected him, and then forcibly corrupted him into a death knight. The problem is…”
‘The problem is?’
『The problem is that he wasn’t just a knight, he was from the paladin of the sun god, so instead of falling, he violently rebelled against the lich and even brandished a weapon against him!!』
‘Ohh…’
『So it seems that the first attempt failed after all. So Rich tried the second method.』
‘Is that you?’
“What… About half? He didn’t dispose of the powerful death knight he had created, but instead ripped the death knight’s soul to pieces, weakened his rationality and made it easier to handle.”
‘Hmm…’
『The problem is, when I did that, I listened well, but my intelligence was too low, and my ability was terrible. As you are a warrior, you know it well, but being a warrior is not all about being strong. Unexpectedly, the head was important.”
‘…So?’
『So this time, Lich, with the feeling that it was the last time, half of the death knight’s soul was intact… That is, after making only the combat part intact, the rest… In other words, he castrated the thought, etc., And made a sword with a new personality to support it. I gave it to the death knight!”
‘Ah… That’s what…?’
“Yep! That’s it!! This body…!! This is it.”
‘…Something like you? You assisted the death knight?’
“…What is it? Hey man, it’s an existence made up of the souls of pretty good warriors like me!!”
‘…You?’
『Uh… I said that I created a personality by gathering only the strengths of the souls of many warriors! That’s why I have a great understanding of swordsmanship!! Not only that!! Because it is an aggregate of many souls, it is completely immune to mental attacks!!”
‘…I think I just tried to make it easier to handle.’
Seong-il, who unknowingly evaluated the personality of the 『Cursed Sword』. The sword goes into a rage at his evaluation.
『What, man?! Baby!! Last time I defended against mental attacks!! You look like an ungrateful bastard!!”
‘…Oh, thank you for that. But how did you defend it?’
As if the sword was angry at such praise from Seongil, he starts explaining to him in a sloppy tone.
『Ah, my soul is patched up, so being mentally attacked doesn’t cause any big problems.』
‘…What are you talking about?’
“Hmm? It’s hard for you to understand because you’re an idiot. This brother will explain it well. At worst I’m a ragged soul, at best I’m an aggregate of many souls. Do you understand this far?”
‘…Okay.’
『If you receive a mental attack, because it is one of the many souls, the other souls are fine. So I am unaffected by mind attacks. It’s also okay if ‘we’ restores the broken soul later.”
‘Ohh…’
“As well as!! You mean you can take the user’s mental attack instead?! I know you’re lucky man.”
Quite an interesting story behind the cursed sword. However, since the really important story was left out, Seong-il starts to frustrate him and ask questions.
‘Ah, I know what a great guy you are… So why are you stuck in Akanis’ dungeon!! They don’t say anything important…?’
『Ah~ Does every story need a background explanation? If you don’t know, you won’t understand even if you listen to the story! All right? Student?”
‘… It’s fucking. An explanation bug.’
『What is the explanation?』
A cursed sword that spits out replies that seem displeased with Seongil’s words, which at first glance seem like bad words. Seong-il flinched at the sword’s tone, soothed him and continued his conversation.
‘Oh sorry. I was too talkative. Please look at me just once.’
“Joy! If it was normal, I would have cursed at you, but… I also enjoy talking after a long time, so I’ll look at you this time! Anyway, the lich made such a perfect guardian… But paradoxically, that brought anger.』
‘…Suddenly?’
“Huh. Suddenly.”
‘…Why?’
『Ah, did I tell you that the death knight was from Paladin?』
‘…Huh.’
『It seems that the nobleman was from the master paladin of the sun god.』
‘…No way?’
“Huh. The enraged god of the sun confirmed the ruse of the lich while confirming the fact that the souls of believers who were resting by his side were suddenly dragged away to the material world.”
‘There must have been an uproar?’
『A fuss? It just wasn’t over!! The sun god gave a ‘revelation’ to his followers, and the paladins who heard the sun god’s revelation were enraged by the pain of the master paladin they respected, so they turned their eyes on and searched the catacombs!! Thanks to that, the lich, far from safely capturing his enlightenment, was attacked by a group of the mighty Church of the Sun and managed to escape with his life.”
Seong-il is puzzled by the sword’s words and asks the sword a question.
‘Then how does he know that the lich has become a demilich?’
『Ah, among the fragments of my soul, there is a bit of Lich’s soul mixed in. From a distance, I could feel that he had managed to capture his enlightenment and elevate his soul to a higher existence.”
‘Ah… It must have been something like that.’
『By the way, after the lich escaped, his death knight was exterminated by his fellow paladins and was able to rest once more. And I was collected by the Paladins.』
‘…Didn’t you manage to break it?’
『Ah, they must have mistaken me for the sword Master Paladin used during his lifetime. Originally, it should have been purified and destroyed, but since I didn’t have too much evil energy, I just buried it in Master Paladin’s tomb.”
‘Ah… So…’
“Huh. That’s how I ended up in the tomb of the master paladin who believed in the sun god. Then some crazy necromancer found me while digging up a grave, and he, unknowingly feeling the powerful necromancer magic created by the demilich, took a strange interest in me and stole me away!!”
When Seong-il learned why a fairly powerful magic sword was hidden in the beginning dungeon, Seong-il was very interested and thought to himself.
‘…Oh my God, I thought it was just an Easter egg, but this kind of content was hidden. It’s amazing.’
