Evan D. Sherden, Training the Core. (4)

It had been a few days since Evan started sparring with Raihan.

He intended to train ChunJoong with Skin Blade until he could pull out a Skin Blade that extended beyond 2 meters, but there was no way for him to develop Skin Blade exponentially. Nevertheless, Raihan’s unbreakable shield and defense skills helped him in his growth.

‘Combat skills, alchemy skills, and all of my other skills, they are missing something… Is it because my skills are diverse and not confined to one specific class…’

Moreover, there was a more practical problem: Raihan and his shield couldn’t last long against Evan. Evan used his potion and holy magic on him, and lent him artifacts that increased the stats and provided protection for the equipment’s durability to extend the sparring duels. But even with all that, Raihan couldn’t endure more than 5 hours a day.

For Raihan, those five hours were a dance with death; as for Evan, he was disappointed he couldn’t train longer.

“Master, it’s already time.”

“Ah, Lua. Alright, let’s head out. Hyeong, thank you for today, as always.”

“Of course—”

“Hyeong?!”

Raihan had collapsed due to exhaustion. After laying him to rest, Evan went to the Brotherhood Potions Store where he used to take Bernard’s alchemy classes… Or more accurately, to the place where he and Bernard were leading a co-study.

Evan left the Marquis’ house and had moved into the Dungeon Knights headquarters, where he spent most of his time. Evan had two instances where he left the building: one was when he had to meet Maybell to discuss the Brotherhood Corporation, and the other was when he had to meet Bernard.

“A few days ago, I heard that the Menaton estate was completely reformed. I think I can go there and check it out within this year. We also received confirmation from Princess Anastasia that she would support the expedition.”

“Hmm… If we can get the Evil Origin and the Grass of Innocence, that would be a great start. Then the ones would be the Tears of Glacier, Hell’s Ruby, and the Holy Water of Ten Thousand Gods.”

Whenever he met Bernard, he went right into the research on Elixir. Elixir research’s top priority was to determine the recipe, which was finalized a while ago after years of joint research and trial and error.

Supplementary materials were mostly available through the Brotherhood Corporation, and finding the core materials just mentioned by Bernard was the biggest goal at the moment.

“The Tears of the Glacier will probably be in the Eternal Glacier, so let’s put it off to the last. One gets a chance to obtain the Holy Water of Ten Thousand Gods after you clear all three dungeons to its upper levels, so let’s put this aside too for now. Then the remaining one would be Hell’s Ruby.”

“At least the other items, if you search through the ancient literature, there was information about some sightings, but Hell’s Ruby, this damn item is not even mentioned except for in the Elixir’s recipe. The biggest reason why the Elixir’s existence was considered bogus was because of Hell’s Ruby and…”

“We have the first material, the feather of the Phoenix.”

“It wasn’t us, but you who got it yourself. I have no intention to take care of it.”

“Why are you being so direct again?”

Evan laughed bitterly at Bernard’s blunt words. The supply and demand of materials was an important issue in the distribution of the completed Elixir… However, Bernard was insisting on taking no part in the complete Elixir as he said, “Just researching it is enough for me.”

“Grandpa, we agreed on taking it half each.”

“My body is beyond human capabilities and limits thanks to Queen Rose. I don’t need the Elixir. You can have it.”

“There is no guarantee that Elixir is for humans only. We won’t know until we make it.”

“For me, it’s enough to have the opportunity to make it.”

That was in line with all alchemists’ fundamental goal.

The goal of alchemy was to forge gold, but that didn’t mean that the ultimate goal was to obtain gold. The principle held that in the process of extracting and transmuting base metals into gold, one would be, in essence, purifying his soul and transmuting it toward enlightenment.

“So, the end product is all yours. End of conversation.”

“…Then let’s just focus on forging the Elixir. We can revisit the distribution later on.”

“Well, didn’t I just tell you to drink it all?”

Bernard addressed the problem Evan had been trying to get by. When Evan bitterly smiled, he returned to the original subject.

“Hell’s Ruby—it all comes down to this. I know I told Leo to send a letter if he finds any clues, but I can’t expect much from that idiot.”

“The gem that was created by compressed hell energy… Are we supposed to go to the demon kingdom to find it?

“There’s this another question whether hell energy should be interpreted as the devil’s energy. And if it is actually in the demon kingdom, I’ve never heard of any human who has returned from there.

“We still have a long way to go.”

“Then, did you think the Elixir was something that could be forged by just doing research?”

With Bernard’s scolding, Evan could do nothing but scratch his head.

The first time he got the feather of the Phoenix, he had been thinking, ‘Oh my God, forging Elixir! Oh my God…’ But to think of it now, he was getting way ahead of himself.

“Did you finish drying off the hallucination grass?”

“Yes, Grandpa. I need to grind this, but in order for me to preserve the energy contained here, we’ll need the ‘Baby Hand Jeolgutgong’.”

“Ah, you mean that? It’s in one of my subspace inventories. I’ll prepare it for you. I won’t be able to find it right away, so let’s call it a day for now.”

“Yes, then next…”

Even though the research on Elixir had ended early, the teacher and apprentice’s joint research didn’t end there. There was still the research on Devil Runes, which was as important as the Elixir.

However, there was one thing to report to Bernard today before starting the research. It was the result of collecting outside information.

“The witch has better control over the rune’s power compared to other wizards, but that is also limited by God, who permitted such control. Also, the degree of control each one has over the runes vary by each witch. So my mother said it would be hard for her to help with the study of Zera Runes or Devil Runes.”

“Are you saying that each individual has different powers of runes?!”

It was Evan, who only heard Belois’ story that his mother, Redine, knew how to handle the power of the runes, and went to visit her with the dark cloud, but the answer he received from her was fruitless.

“Umm… yes, indeed.”

“Damn, that’s going to complicate things more.”

Unsurprisingly, Bernard was going mad hearing Evan’s words. It was because it was no longer related to the realm of alchemy!

“Because the rune is the power from the territory of God. It’s not just magic or alchemy.”

“I knew from the start that this was reckless, but enough is enough. This is just too much. Damn!”

Rune was the power of God. It was a mystery that human magic could neither understand nor grasp. There was no way to figure out what knowledge was needed to form the basis of the study, so it was as if trying to find a needle in a haystack.

“If it is a power that cannot be achieved independently, and it is a power that only extends from God to man… It would mean that the runes are no different from the divine blessing given to humans by the Dungeon itself.”

“Similar to a level or a skill.”

“Yeah, that interpretation is plausible. It was when we cleared the dungeon that the rune got engraved on the dark clouds.”

It could not be achieved independently. It may seem archaic, but the conclusion was pretty simple.

The power of rune was a one-way street, which means that Evan and Bernard’s study of the Devil Rune had absolutely no meaning.

It also meant it would be impossible to steal the Devil Rune’s power from a monster, or to use such power.

“But for that to be true, all rune artifacts must be subordinated to the individual… Hand me the Black Cloud.”

“Here.”

When Evan took off his gloves and gave them to Bernard, he put them on himself.

Actually, he had tried it several times before… Bernard started to mumble as he felt the glove’s rune emitting a faint light.

“See, it’s working properly.”

“If you use an item as a medium, you may pass it on to others.”

“It’s a simple answer to the question, but I don’t really like that answer. God, runes, humans, and artifacts, unless we find the true relationship among these, there’d be no progress on our Devil Rune research.”

After that, Evan and Bernard tried a few more times trying on the gloves. However, the results did not change.

But when Bernard, who had not gotten the result he wanted, tried to reluctantly declare a break time, Belois, who was standing by in the back, suddenly opened her mouth and spoke.

“Mr. Bernard, I learned from the madam that the ‘rune is the will that is passed from God to man.’”

“Huh, right. I heard that leveling up is similar in that it means that God entrusts His will to man.”

“If so, why don’t we find out if the glove still exerts power even when the master’s will is not portrayed to the glove?”

“Hmm. The will…”

Alchemists never liked the word ‘will’ that much because it was such an abstract expression.

However, they couldn’t just ignore the rune controlling the witch’s knowledge of the power of the rune. Finally, while wearing gloves [Black Cloud] on his hand, Bernard turned to Evan and spoke reluctantly.

“Try imagining that you are breaking up the power this glove is giving me.”

“I don’t think it’s a dependent artifact, would that work, though, Grandpa?”

“We’ll find out.”

“Yes.”

Although it was difficult to deliberately cut Bernard off of him since he considered Bernard as his family, Evan tried his best to concentrate, looking at the gloves worn on Bernard’s hands.

‘The power of gloves… Yes, Zera’s power is the will that God gave me. It can’t be relayed to another person. Grandpa cannot handle Zera’s power… That is mine…’

How many times did he mutter words like ‘my Precious’? All of a sudden, Bernard looked surprised.

“It seems I’m losing a little strength from my body.”

“Grandpa, the rune is no longer shining!”

No, that wasn’t the problem. It looked as if the rune was being erased from the glove. Was it that the rune was gone forever?!

However, when Evan became frightened and retrieved the gloves, mysteriously, the runes began to shine again.

“This…”

“Is this for real?”

Bernard moaned.

This was a rune that could be activated and deactivated by human will. This was not magic or anything else. As mentioned before, this was just God’s blessing!

It truly was a one-way street power. Naturally, there would be nothing to be gained by further research.

“So maybe it’s because our forefathers knew this that they couldn’t study the runes. Referring to it as God’s characters is certainly not inaccurate. For sure, there is no potential in runes.”

“Well, I hoped that when I got Zera’s Rune, it would lead to the study of the Devil Rune.”

“It did. It led us to the conclusion that the research is impossible.”

Bernard replied with a rotten expression, tapping the Scimitar, which absorbed the traces of the Devil Rune.

“I don’t even know the will of God, how am I supposed to know the will of the devil?”

“It’s like a rune was given to humans. The devil saw that the Demon King was not going to do it, so he probably picked some monsters to bless them with the Devil Runes.”

It was the least interesting conclusion. The conclusion that made everything, trying to unravel the secret of the Devil Rune so far, go to waste.

Evan’s sullen look completely matched Bernard’s.

“But then, how could the traces have been transferred to the Scimitar? If the will of the devil is with it, wouldn’t it not transfer to human objects?”

“Well, if the Devil Rune’s force becomes active through blood, it may have led to the Scimitar. Since it is the will of the devil, there is no way humans can handle it, of course. It’s also impossible for us to study this and prepare against them since this is the will of the devil.”

“The will of the devil…”

“The only thing that can move with the will of a devil is a demon. Even if humans can accommodate it, they will only become monsters like them. It simply means that this Scimitar has become something that we should throw away,” Bernard declared with a short sigh.

“The research stops here. It’s dangerous to try to get too close to them, whether that be God or demons. Just being able to figure this out, this study was a success.”

Evan listened to Bernard and looked at the Scimitar calmly. Perhaps he is right. He was too excited about it when a few traces of the Devil Rune had moved to the Scimitar.

Whether it be a rune or a Devil Rune, it cannot be interpreted as human power in the first place, and even if interpreted, there is no way to control that power.

Wait.

“… The will of the devil.”

“What’s up?”

“Well, wouldn’t it work if we have the right medium that can control it?”

“What the hell are you talking about… Evan?”

Bernard was about to laugh it off, but suddenly stiffened. He realized where Evan was gazing at.

He was staring under his feet… To be more precise, he was staring at the boots he was wearing.