CHAPTER 118: WHERE THE DRAGON HAS FALLEN ASLEEP (1)

“Hic!” Vega stared in shock at Song Ha-Eun, who just barged in.

“You always act all high and mighty like some noble, but what? Mama?” Song Ha-Eun scoffed.

“Th-That’s not what I meant!”

“That’s exactly what you meant! I heard you loud and clear!”

“W-What I meant was...” Vega's golden irises darted around the room. “Y-You said my child grew up without parents, did you not? He may pretend to be fine, but deep down, he must be starving for a mother’s love!”

“So you decided to force that kind of perverted roleplay onto him?”

“P-Perverted?! How impertinent!”

Kwon Oh-Jin stared at the bickering women blankly. “How long were you there, just listening, Ha-Eun?”

It would be bad if she heard about the future changing and stuff.

“Huh? I heard Vega saying something about always watching over you.”

“Oh, I see.”

That meant she hadn’t heard anything about him being a Regressor.

“I figured it was a serious conversation, so I stayed outside, but...” Song Ha-Eun crossed her arms and glared at Vega. “I never imagined hearing some nonsense about wanting him to call you 'mama.'”

Vega awkwardly cleared her throat, twisting a strand of her long silver hair around her finger. “N-Now that I think about it, I don’t have much time left in my manifested form today!”

For the record, it hadn’t even been ten minutes since she appeared.

“I shall take my leave now!” Vega shouted, fleeing into the pendant.

“Seriously...” Song Ha-Eun sighed and let her arms fall, then stepped closer to him. “Uh... so, Oh-Jin.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not... actually starving for a mother’s love or anything, right?”

Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled and shook his head. “Of course not.”

It’s not like he'd ever received it in the first place.

How can I miss something I never had? That shit doesn’t matter anyway.

He'd never once thought he needed parents or family. He had things far more precious to him.

“By the way, where did you go?” he asked.

“Oh, just... for some light training.” She averted her gaze with a grim expression.

“I thought you’ve been making progress lately. Is it not going well?”

She sighed heavily and scratched her head. “Mm... I feel like I’m so close, but I just can’t get it. It’s like the finish line's right there, but I run out of stamina before I can cross it.”

It must be her lack of mana, he discerned. Guess it’s about time I made an elixir.

The eight-star Starstone he got from Lee Woo-Hyuk could be used to help alleviate her mana shortage to some extent.

“Just wait a bit," he said. "I’ll give you a gift later.”

“A gift? All of a sudden?”

“Pfft

. Let’s leave it as a surprise for later.”

“Aww, what is it?” Song Ha-Eun frowned and pinched his cheek. “You’ve got me curious, you jerk.”

“That’s the whole point.”

“You little shit!”

“Hahaha! Just wait and see. It’ll be a good one.” He smirked and turned away.“I’ll be in the storage room for a bit.”

“Alright. I’m gonna go take a shower.” She fanned herself with the hem of her sweat-soaked shirt. Each time the shirt fluttered, her pale skin and cleavage peeked through, naturally drawing his attention.

“Quit staring, you perv.”

“It’s not like I'm going to bore a hole into you,” he replied.

“Well, yeah. My boobs are a bit too big for that.”

Oh, come on.

“Hehe. If you really wanna see 'em, wanna come in with me?” She smirked, pointing to the shower.

“No, thanks.”

He already knew she'd panic and turn red if he said yes, which didn't sound too bad either, but making the elixir came first. His heart raced just imagining how happy she'd be once he gave it to her.

***

Brewing the elixir didn’t require much preparation. All he had to do was submerge the Starstone in a bottle of distilled water, then use the Stigma of Aquarius to extract the mana within the stone and dissolve it into the water.

Of course, I can’t expect to dissolve a hundred percent of it. From what I've heard, even ten percent is considered a success.

“Highly skilled alchemists are said to manage up to twenty to thirty percent.” He skimmed through the information available online and hummed faintly. “Well, let’s give it a shot.”

Activating the Stigma of Aquarius, he poured his mana into the distilled water. The soft, blue glow spread into the Starstone.

Woong!

The mana contained within the Starstone slowly began dissolving.

Ring!

[Kwon Oh-Jin has successfully extracted the mana within the Starstone.]

[Due to Kwon Oh-Jin’s exceptional control of mana, no mana has been lost!]

“... Huh? No way.”

No mana’s been lost?

He held back a chuckle. “What the hell?”

Even he couldn’t believe what he'd accomplished.

This is my very first attempt, you know?

He vaguely recalled what Vega had told him when he first triggered Exceed.

“It’s as if you were born to dominate every Stigma out there.”

The same talent that astonished the Celestial of the North Star had surfaced once again.

Talent, huh...? Can this really be explained with such a simple word? Is it because of the Black Heaven?

He had no way of knowing since he'd never handled mana before awakening the Black Heaven.

In any case... I did it.

The elixir he had prepared as a gift for Song Ha-Eun was complete, and it was beyond anything he'd expected.

Right on cue, she stepped into the room after finishing her shower. “What are you doing in here?”

Her wet hair and the slight flush on her cheeks made her look even more stunning.

“Here, drink this, Ha-Eun.”

He held out the bottle, having already taken out the Starstone. The liquid inside shimmered faintly with a soft blue glow.

“What is this?”

“I told you I had a gift for you, remember?”

“This is the gift?”

“Yeah.”

“Hm.” Her eyes gleamed curiously as she took the bottle. “What kind of drink is this? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything glow like this.”

“It’s an elixir.”

She was stunned.

“Huh? An elixir? As in the one that boosts your mana? W-Wait a minute, that elixir? Are you serious?!” Her jaw dropped in disbelief. “Th-This stuff is crazy expensive, isn’t it?!”

“Pfft, yeah.”

An elixir is probably just as valuable as the Demonic Dragon Eye I got her before, and that’s assuming it has ten percent of mana dissolved in it.

This one, however, had a hundred percent of a Starstone's mana in it. At this point, it wasn’t even something that could be bought with money. Every Awakener in the world desired a potent elixir that elevated their mana.

“W-Where did you even get this?” she stammered.

He came up with a reasonable excuse. “I got a few high-quality Starstones from the Valhalla Guild for helping them out before. I just asked an Aquarius Awakener I know to turn one into an elixir.”

“Then shouldn’t you be the one drinking—”

“Ha-Eun, you know how elixirs work. The more mana you have, the less effective they are.”

With his current mana reserve, even drinking a truckload of elixirs wouldn’t make the slightest difference.

“That’s true, but...” She gripped the bottle tightly. “This is... way too precious.”

As if anything in this world could be more precious than you.

He replied, “Didn’t you say before that everything I have belongs to you?”

“That’s...” She trailed off, flustered.

Cute. She's so cocky most of the time, but the moment something like this happens, she doesn't know what to do with herself.

“Anyway, it’s pretty much useless to me, so just drink it," he urged. "You’ve been struggling with mana shortage lately, haven’t you?”

Her eyes trembled. “Then... you had this made just for me?”

“Who else would I use an expensive Starstone on?”

She hugged the elixir bottle tightly, stomping her feet as she made strange noises. “Ahhh! Ha, s-seriously... what am I going to do with you?! I’m really going to drink it, okay?”

“Hurry up already.”

He was also curious to see how effective a hundred-percent elixir would be.

She carefully opened the bottle and drank the glowing elixir.

Gulp.

Instantly, flames erupted around her.

Fwoosh!

They flickered for a moment before gradually flowing back into her.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Ah. This is...”

“Well? Is it effective?”

“I-It’s not just effective. What is this? I-Is it supposed to be like this?”

She gasped again, overwhelmed by the sheer force of mana filling her. This was nothing like whatever she'd heard about elixirs before.

It feels like my mana doubled—no, tripled.

Of course, she'd always had relatively lower mana, but the amount infused into this elixir was massive.

“Hold on a second.” She took off her eyepatch and took a slow breath as she focused. The veins around her left eye bulged, and a fierce glow flickered within the Draconic Eye. Red flames gushed out of her.

Fwoosh!

She slowly raised her hand, and flames started to gather on top of her palm.

Now...

She began condensing the wild flames, which shrank into a tight, glowing sphere.

“Haa, haaa.”

Cold sweat trickled down her forehead, dripping onto the floor. Normally, this was where she would fail due to a lack of mana.

But now...!

Her eyes sparkled as she produced fiercer flames, further compressing the fireball in her palm.

Fwoosh!

The flames continued to condense until a small red marble was formed. A bright smile spread across her lips, followed by a thrilling shiver down her spine.

“Ha.”

Dragon Pearl, a crystallized embodiment of fire, created through the power of her Draconic Eye.

Kwon Oh-Jin couldn’t help but marvel. "Is this the new technique you were creating?”

The Dragon Pearl was only about the size of a coin, but the sheer oppressive energy packed into it was terrifying. Even just looking at it gave him goosebumps.

Holy shit.

The moment someone got struck by that Dragon Pearl, they wouldn’t just be injured. They would disappear from this world without a trace.

Her eyes welled up with tears. “Finally... I did it!”

She bounced up and down triumphantly, having finally broken through the barrier she'd been faced with.

“Congrats, Ha-Eun.”

“Oh-Jiiiin!” She dissipated the Dragon Pearl and tightly hugged him. “I did it! I fucking did it!”

“Hehe, yeah, I saw.”

“Haaaahhh! Seriously! Seriously!” Overcome with joy, she showered him with rapid-fire kisses on his cheeks. “Oh, my adorable little Oh-Jin! What should I do for you, huh?”

“I’m good, thanks.” He hadn't given her the elixir expecting anything in return.

“The hell you are!” She grabbed his shoulders, her eyes appearing to have lost all reason. “Take it off!”

What the hell?

“And spread ‘em!”

Spread what?