Chapter 167 - Walking on Eggshells (7)

“I see…”

“T-that’s right! I’m sure of it!”

Since Syred had just barely managed to keep himself together with one cigarette, he answered Henry quickly as he didn’t want to suffer from withdrawal again.

Syred was telling the truth. As the second son of the best spiritual family, knowing how to use the Egg of Evolution was a piece of cake.

‘It’s simpler than I thought.’

Since the egg was from a different world, Henry assumed that it was going to be difficult to use. However, all he needed to do was to grind the egg like medicinal herbs to extract the juice and mix it with mana to feed it to whomever he wanted.

It was easy to use. Besides…

‘There’s no one else in the empire that has mana more powerful than mine.’

At least this was what Henry thought.

He believed that perhaps Elagon could be reborn as the strongest spirit in the empire.

“Great. This should do.”

He had gotten all he needed from Syred.

Henry smiled and took out a small glass bottle, and when Syred saw what was inside, his face turned pale.

“T-that’s…?”

“You said you wanted to live, didn’t you?”

“I-I did, but that’s…”

“Then stay still because this is the only way for you to live.”

What Henry had taken out was none other than a Narworm, the thing that had been used to keep Kale’s mouth shut.

Henry intended to place the Narworm inside Syred’s heart for security purposes.

“Listen carefully. This guy is a tough eater, so it feeds on the mana of its host. Not only that, but it's also a picky eater, so it doesn’t consume more than two kinds of mana in its entire life.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Be quiet and just listen. This guy also plants its roots in the host’s heart, so if anyone tries to get rid of it forcibly or it consumes a different kind of mana other than the two that it normally takes, it will immediately explode.”

“...!”

“You get what I’m saying, right? Also, this guy has been consuming my mana, so there’s only one other type of mana it can consume right now.”

After he finished talking, Henry opened the glass bottle and placed the Narworm on Syred, who was still wrapped in a chain.

- Shhh…

The Narworm used its sharp mouth to dig into Syred’s skin.

“By the way, the Narworm has a habit of exploding due to stress if it doesn’t periodically consume the mana it has been feeding on. Because of that, you must be supplied with my mana at least once a week at the latest.”

“Argh… F-forever?”

“Of course.”

“Argh…”

“Don’t be so sad. This means that you’ll never run out of the Pink Swamp because you’ll have to see me at least once a week.”

Henry was like the devil, but Syred was worse than that because he was relieved to hear that he could be supplied with the Pink Swamp for the rest of his life.

“So watch your mouth at all times, Syred.”

Snap!

Clank!

After finishing his business, Henry snapped his fingers.

The chain that was wrapped around Syred disappeared and he was free after only half a day.

“You may have all the cigarettes on the floor. Think of it as a reward for providing me with all the information. It would be unfair if you didn’t receive at least this much.”

“Sniff, sniff!”

“Aren’t you going to say ‘thank you’?”

“T-thank you, sniff…!”

Syred weeped.

He felt miserable and shameful, but his hands were already picking up the Pink Swamp cigarettes scattered on the floor.

Henry didn’t care whether Syred picked up the cigarettes or not. He just snapped his fingers and left Momont.

* * *

After leaving Momont, Henry arrived at his private laboratory in Salgaera.

There was no need to delay Elagon’s evolution any further now that he had received all that information from Syred.

“Hold it still!”

“Block it there!”

Before entering his laboratory, Henry took a look inside the Black Tear workshop. He saw the slaves, who had noticeably gained weight, fighting the Cyclone Hydra with better equipment.

‘They’re doing good.’

According to Torian’s report, providing better equipment and improving the slaves' diets had significantly increased their productivity and survival rates. The slaves even felt grateful when they received treatment, unlike anything they had experienced before.

Henry reflected that while they had once been nobles, their present circumstances left their survival hanging by a thread, ultimately forcing them to find contentment in the present. This, he believed, was a fundamental aspect of human nature.

‘How foolish.’

Wealth, food, clothing, shelter, even life itself… In the end, everything was relative.

Henry shook his head and headed toward his laboratory.

“Elagon.”

- Khu khu!

After dealing with Alfred, Elagon was in a good mood. Whenever Henry called, he expected to play a game just like last time.

‘I’m sorry, but not today.’

Henry took the Egg of Evolution from Elagon’s chest. The egg looked like obsidian.

It was said that by finely grinding the egg, extracting its juices, and combining them with strong mana before feeding them to someone, one could witness the effects of evolution.

“Crush.”

Crack!

As soon as Henry cast the spell, the Egg of Evolution, which had been glossy, turned into fine particles.

Henry grabbed a green bottle that contained his concentrated mana from one side of the room and opened the lid.

“Squeezed Rock.”

There was a saying that even water came out of a rock if one squeezed it hard enough. Squeezed Rock was an extraction magic that originated from such sayings.

As Henry cast the Squeezed Rock, a few drops of white liquid flowed down from the fingertips of the hand with which he was holding the powder.

Drip, drip…

It was exactly five drops.

The extract from the Egg of Evolution was five drops in total.

When the five drops fell into Henry’s green mana concentrate, it started boiling.

- Khu?

Elagon looked at it with interest.

However, the boiling concentrate suddenly turned black and released an indescribable odor.

- Khu?

Even the water spirit was frightened by the smell.

Elagon turned his head away from the terrible stench and distanced himself from it.

‘Huh? This shouldn't be happening…’

Henry was a little startled by Elagon’s reaction.

However, the stench wasn’t a problem because he could always remove the smell using magic. Henry paralyzed Elagon’s nose.

“Paralyze.”

The sense of smell was the most sensitive out of the five senses. Therefore, if he paralyzed Elagon’s sense of smell, he wouldn’t be able to smell anything.

Henry had easily solved the odor problem by paralyzing Elagon’s nose.

Bubble, bubble…

Although the odor was no longer a problem, Elagon’s aversion to the black liquid was not something that could be solved.

After thinking for a while, Henry decided to freeze the boiling concentrate, thinking that it could be better off frozen.

“Frozen.”

Crack!

The concentrate froze in an instant and soon turned into a block of black ice.

Henry picked up the ice and called Elagon, his head turned into a corner.

“Elagon?”

- Khu?

Elagon turned his head at Henry’s call.

“Time for you to eat ice.”

- Khu khu?

Since Elagon had ice properties, he would sometimes eat the ice in Salgaera here and there. Therefore, when Henry brought a type of ice he had never seen before, Elagon became curious and also interested in it.

- Khu khu.

Sniff, sniff.

However, the black color still made it unpleasant for some reason. Elagon brought his nose close to the ice and smelled it, but because his sense of smell was already paralyzed, he had no way of smelling the stench.

Elagon licked the ice.

- Khu! Khu khu khu!

‘D-does it taste that bad?’

Elagon reacted violently to the extremely odd taste on his tongue, but he couldn’t refuse to eat it just because it had a nasty taste.

“Elagon, you have to eat it. This is something you can’t even buy with money.”

- Khu! Khu khu!

However, the more Henry insisted, the more violently Elagon denied.

Although Elagon was a spirit that ate all types of ice, it hadn’t been long since he was born, so he was still young. Therefore, it couldn’t be helped that he hated bitter and ill-tasting things.

A tense atmosphere broke out between the two.

‘I guess I have no choice.’

Since Elagon wasn’t listening, Henry had no choice but to feed it to him forcefully.

He cast another spell.

“Sleep.”

- Khu?

Elagon suddenly felt sleepy, and only then did he realize that his nest had played some tricks on him.

- Khu! Khu khu…!

Elagon held on for dear life.

However, no matter how resistant Elagon was to magic, Henry’s mana was still overwhelmingly strong.

- Khu khu…

Elagon struggled to keep his eyes open, forcefully spitting out water streams resembling saliva. It was Water Breath, the last means of resistance that Elagon could take.

“That’s no use!”

Henry wiped the water on the floor using Clean, and put the block of black ice into Elagon’s mouth.

Snap!

As soon as he snapped his finger, the frozen concentrate slowly melted down Elagon’s throat.

- Khu khu…!

It tasted awful.

An indescribable taste struck Elagon’s taste buds like a nightmare. Even though he was in a deep sleep, Elagon couldn't help but frown.

The moment Elagon swallowed the last drop of the concentrate, a white light radiated from his body.

‘It’s starting…!’

Elagon was the first high-level spirit with properties of water, ice, poison, and healing. In addition, he was also a descendant of Elyragon, a rare spirit in the form of a dragon.

Henry was curious. Based solely on natural talent, Elagon could’ve easily been deemed the finest. However, if he were to ascend further from his current state, what kind of spirit would he transform into?

‘The spirit king. He must become the spirit king!’

Among spiritualists, there were not many that had signed contracts with the spirit king

Thus, Henry was even more desperate to have a powerful future, where he would be able to master swords, magic, and even the greatest spirit of all time.

When the light faded, Henry could face Elagon in his evolved form.

* * *

“M-Marquis!”

Upon returning, Marquis Alfred’s appearance shocked the butler. He looked as if he had been beaten by a group of people.

Alfred's expression looked utterly despondent.

Alfred couldn’t blame anyone for what had happened. Aubert had already been dead, and even though he had summoned both of his high-level spirits, he hadn’t been able to defeat Elyragon and had run away.

During his journey back home, Alfred found himself trapped in an unending cycle of self-deprecation brought on by his repeated failures.

‘What a miserable state I’m in…’

His negative thoughts left him constantly feeling lethargic, and because of this, he had even lost confidence in the upcoming battle with Eisen.

The butler carefully said, “Um… Marquis, there’s someone from the palace who is here to see you. They’re waiting for you in the living room.”

“The palace? Who?”

“He’s a wizard named Dracan Rotique…”

‘Dracan?’

He was the owner of a secret group called ‘the Stop Spire, ' and he only acted upon Arthus's commands.

Alfred was wide awake at the news that such a man had come to see him.

“L-let’s go right away! A-actually, let me change first!”

Alfred moved quickly.