Genius Wizard Takes Medicine Chapter 8
Library
Watching the man hurry away down the alley, Lenoch pulled his weary expression back under control.
He had considered killing him to keep him quiet, but no matter how cold Lenoch had become, he was not cruel enough to murder an innocent person.
When it came to the supervisors who had mercilessly abused him in the factory, he had killed them without hesitation. This, however, was different.
He had taken the man’s business card, so if this incident caused any unnecessary trouble later, he could always track him down then.
As for the thugs’ anger when they woke up, that was none of Lenoch’s concern.
As he left the damp alley, he took out the money he had stolen and counted it.
“…Not bad.”
They had said they were trying to make up the money needed for an installment payment, so it seemed they had been carrying quite a large sum.
Combining the money the two men had on them, roughly 700,000 Cel had ended up in Lenoch’s hands.
With this much, even after various extra expenses, he should be able to stay at the hotel for about four more days.
For shaking down a couple of back-alley thugs once, it was quite a decent haul.
With that money in hand, Lenoch immediately left the entertainment district and bought a new set of clothes at a nearby clothing store.
The clothes he was wearing now did not fit his build at all, and only made him stand out unnecessarily.
A simple shirt and jeans.
That should be enough to keep him from standing out because of his appearance.
After returning to Zone 49, Lenoch wandered the street until he found a shabby pharmacy with a sign barely hanging in place.
When he entered, a scruffy pharmacist weakly lifted his head to check the customer.
“Sleeping pills. How much for a week’s worth?”
The pharmacist answered slowly.
“150,000 Cel.”
The price was higher than expected, making Lenoch’s brow twitch, but he quietly handed over the money and received seven packets of pills.
They were essential for dealing with the insomnia that had tormented him through the night.
Having already experienced the agony of sleepless nights in the factory, Lenoch had no intention of enduring that suffering again.
He had confirmed that chain-smoking cigarettes could knock him unconscious, but relying on cigarettes to sleep was beyond foolish.
Although he was repeatedly doping himself out of necessity, he still had to avoid anything that would place even more strain on his already fragile body.
Now that he had secured the money he needed and obtained a way to sleep properly, he felt somewhat more at ease.
Lenoch left Zone 49 and headed straight for the crowded city center, where the largest number of people gathered.
After asking for directions from passersby, he arrived at a large library located at the end of the bustling district. The ten-story building was entirely dedicated to storing books and data.
After shaking off the smell of cigarettes clinging to him, Lenoch settled down inside the library.
The first thing he needed to search for was not general information about this world, but knowledge about magic.
‘The important thing is to maximize the growth of my magical abilities. Everything else can wait.’
Since waking up in this world, Lenoch had gone through all sorts of events, but he still clearly remembered the penalties engraved into this body.
They were the negative traits he had taken through the Karma System in order to pour extra points into his magical talent.
Among them, the most fatal was the trait called “Short-lived.”
It was an extreme trait that consumed his lifespan in exchange for talent, turning him into someone terminally ill.
‘Looking back, it was strange that such a trait existed in the first place.’
A lifespan-related trait applied to a game character who had no actual lifespan.
If he had noticed something odd at that point, would anything have changed?
There was no meaning in regretting it now.
In the end, it had reduced Lenoch’s goal to one thing.
Survival.
He needed to find a way to extend the time that was melting away like a candle.
And the talent closest to that answer was already in his hands.
‘Time-related magic… There might be a method among the highest-level unique magic series.’
When he had played as a gun mage, he had been unable to learn unique magic, Sinister, due to the nature of the class, even if he had wanted to.
Lenoch knew very well how powerful and extraordinary his magical talent was, and he had a rough understanding of the process needed to use it properly.
Fortunately, the entire eighth floor was dedicated to magic-related materials, with all kinds of books and data neatly organized.
Lenoch started by pulling out every book that seemed introductory and began devouring them.
‘How to sense magic, the principles of storing it within the body, the dangers of magic control, the fifteen essentials of spellcasting…’
Since waking up in this world, Lenoch had gone through all sorts of events, but he still clearly remembered the penalties engraved into this body.
They were the negative traits he had taken through the Karma System in order to pour extra points into his magical talent.
Among them, the most fatal was the trait called “Short-lived.”
It was an extreme trait that consumed his lifespan in exchange for talent, turning him into someone terminally ill.
‘Looking back, it was strange that such a trait existed in the first place.’
A lifespan-related trait applied to a game character who had no actual lifespan.
If he had noticed something odd at that point, would anything have changed?
There was no meaning in regretting it now.
In the end, it had reduced Lenoch’s goal to one thing.
Survival.
He needed to find a way to extend the time that was melting away like a candle.
And the talent closest to that answer was already in his hands.
‘Time-related magic… There might be a method among the highest-level unique magic series.’
When he had played as a gun mage, he had been unable to learn unique magic, Sinister, due to the nature of the class, even if he had wanted to.
Lenoch knew very well how powerful and extraordinary his magical talent was, and he had a rough understanding of the process needed to use it properly.
Fortunately, the entire eighth floor was dedicated to magic-related materials, with all kinds of books and data neatly organized.
Lenoch started by pulling out every book that seemed introductory and began devouring them.
‘How to sense magic, the principles of storing it within the body, the dangers of magic control, the fifteen essentials of spellcasting…’
In WORLD 2.0, where Lenoch had played as a gun mage, a magician’s rank was determined by the grade of Sinister they could use, not by levels.
Because of that, it was difficult for him to understand exactly what Level 8 meant in this world.
In any case, this was unfamiliar knowledge he had never encountered in the game, so he needed to examine his own magic pattern.
‘Extend your palm, place the index finger of your other hand at the center, and let your magic flow.’
Following the instructions in the book, Lenoch moved his magic. It flowed along his finger and spread across his palm, forming a distinct pattern.
Three spirals intersected and swam across his palm.
Lenoch watched them with curiosity, but soon his expression turned strange.
When he moved his magic slightly, the spirals on his palm flipped completely and transformed into dozens of rhombus shapes.
“……”
He shifted the magic sideways again, and countless concentric circles emerged, spreading across his palm.
It did not take long for Lenoch to realize that he could freely alter his magic pattern however he imagined.
He did not know exactly how extraordinary this was, but this state alone proved that he possessed magic control on the level of a grand magician.
Considering that not even three days had passed since he had awakened his magic, it was an absurd achievement.
‘The talent is definitely there.’
Yes. With a body this weak, his talent ought to be sky-high.
Finding a strange kind of comfort in that fact, Lenoch tossed the introductory books he had brought over into the library’s return bin.
He had only read one book, but he could already guess what the rest of the introductory material would contain.
Lenoch’s excellent memory had captured most of the contents perfectly, as if photographing them in his mind.
From now on, he intended to focus only on books about common magic and unique magic.
As the library’s closing time drew near, only a handful of people remained inside, Lenoch among them.
He stared out the window at the setting sun, lost in thought.
How long had it been since he had last had time entirely to himself?
Compared to the days he had spent being worked to the brink of death in the factory, this was a world apart. Even so, Lenoch’s expression remained stiff and grim.
“This is a little different from what I expected.”
After spending the entire day buried in the library, devouring books on magic, he had reached a single conclusion.
Surprisingly, aside from the concept of magic patterns he had learned from the introductory texts, there was almost nothing that proved useful to him.
“The concept of common magic has completely vanished.”
The classification of magic revolved entirely around the unique magic system, Sinister, which each mage could learn only one branch of.
There was no mention anywhere of Dexter, the common magic system used by all mages.
Had common magic been erased when the worldview shifted to version 3.0?
If that was the case, it could not explain all the common magic Lenoch had used so far.
No matter how extraordinary his talent was, it should have been impossible to draw out and use a concept that did not exist.
“Considering how convenient common magic is, it makes no logical sense for it to have been forgotten or rendered obsolete.”
Compared to unique magic, common magic lacked specialization and depth, and its raw power was negligible. Its true strength, however, lay in its overwhelming versatility, allowing it to be applied regardless of attribute or target.
A mage who had mastered lightning-type unique magic could summon a thunderstorm thousands of times stronger than bolt magic, but they would not necessarily be able to conjure a cool breeze between their fingers.
Common magic acted as a lubricant, preventing magic from becoming too rigidly fixed while smoothly filling the gaps between different spells.
At least, that had been the case in WORLD 2.0.
“There must be a reason it isn’t mentioned at all… I’ll have to investigate it later.”
Lost in thought, Lenoch flipped through the pages of the books scattered across the desk.
The books that classified unique magic systems contained all kinds of information on attributes, black magic, necromancy, shamanism, and barrier techniques, but Lenoch no longer paid them much attention.
To obtain a unique magic system, he would need to find a genuine grimoire or a master capable of passing down a Sinister. It was not something he could acquire by reading catalog-like books in a library.
For Lenoch, who did not know a single person, let alone have access to a grimoire or a master, this information was meaningless.
In the end, just as Lenoch resigned himself to that fact and began gathering up the books, someone suddenly spoke from behind him.
“If you want to become a mage, you’d be better off giving up.”
“……?”
At the clear yet icy voice, Lenoch instinctively turned his head.
A woman wearing a white blouse and blue skirt was organizing the books others had left behind.
Her flowing blonde hair was swept neatly to one side, giving her a refined air. Her cold expression and composed eyes matched her elegant appearance perfectly.
Without properly looking at Lenoch, she continued speaking.
“You’ve been sitting here reading books all day, but that isn’t how one becomes a mage. At your age, it’s already far too late. You would be better off studying theoretical magic engineering instead.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I simply don’t want to see you clinging to a futile hope.”
Thud.
Only then did she set down the book in her hand and look directly at Lenoch.
Her ocean-blue eyes gazed at him calmly.
“If you haven’t joined a school or found a master, the only path left is to study magic at a university. But without a proper foundation, you won’t even be able to get into one. And even if you somehow do, you won’t gain anything from the lectures.”
“……”
“You can’t do this alone. This is a field where talent and luck decide almost everything. Curiosity, passion, and the desire to explore come second.”
Lenoch silently stared at her face.
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