Critical Point (3)
Lithua-Centrius.
A dark space underground of the lordship ruled by the Meyer Count.
There, many convicts dragged from the city were tied up.
The convicts had their eyes completely covered and thick gags in their mouths.
And under them, there was a huge magic circle drawn with the blood of beasts.
It was a precious thing that the convicts were not allowed to see, made with a thick smell of blood.
“Whew… I’m nervous.”
The convicts and the magic circle.
They were all prepared materials to create the philosopher’s stone.
As if to prove it, there was a holy relic emitting a sinister aura in the middle of the magic circle.
It was the core of the process of creating the philosopher’s stone.
Enia lifted a jeweled staff in front of the glowing holy relic.
She was Enia Claude, the disciple of Elbon Claude, and the one in charge of this ritual.
“Anyway, it’s my first time doing something like this…”
Elbon was currently making a vessel of God in the sanctuary.
So this ritual was entirely up to Enia.
Fortunately, Elbon had verified it once before the ritual.
Now all that was left was for Enia to activate the magic circle and create the philosopher’s stone herself.
It was a fairly simple task compared to the preparation of the ritual.
“But for our safety… we have no choice.”
Enia calmed her mind and glared at the sacrifices in front of her.
She aimed her staff at the holy relic and thought of her master who was trapped in the sanctuary.
It was her first time to use living beings as a medium to create the philosopher’s stone.
But even if it was her first time, she couldn’t mess up the ritual.
If she failed, there was a high chance that something would happen to her and Elbon Claude’s lives.
She had to finish this ritual successfully no matter what.
She poured magic into the magic circle that surrounded her and began to adjust the magic in the surrounding space.
“—-Life, build a staircase.”
The first thing that came out of Enia’s mouth was a prayer for the offering ritual to the heavenly God.
This ritual used a holy relic and combined offering ritual and alchemy’s shaping magic.
It was to make a handful of soul into an entity and then condense it into a crystal.
It was truly an extreme of alchemy that was not shameful to call it so.
Enia had witnessed the cult’s offering ritual several times to finish this ritual successfully.
Now it was time to see the result with her own eyes.
“—-One path leads to glory.”
With a solemn voice, the staff and the magic circle emitted a resonant light.
The red bloodstains were covered with light and the magic circle vibrated violently.
The holy relic in the center of the magic circle created a brilliant pillar of light.
It was such a bright light that it would have exposed the ritual site if it wasn’t for the barrier that swallowed the light.
“—-One path leads to death.”
The light of death spewed out and covered the bodies of the convicts who were to be sacrificed.
The convicts who had gags in their mouths screamed in agony as they collapsed.
But Enia ignored them and proceeded with the ritual.
They were convicts who deserved to die anyway.
The cult must have cared for Enia in their own way, but for her, it was a story that could ease her guilt a little bit.
“—-Reverse. Coalesce.”
The twisted prayer interfered with the ongoing ritual.
The bodies of the convicts faded and the waves of souls spread throughout the underground space.
A thick life force was transmitted through the staff she held.
The life force she felt at her fingertips was very powerful.
She swung her staff and soon led it to the center of the magic circle.
“—-Life, reject the cycle.”
The holy relic that handled life gathered the human life force that was scattered.
The dispersed entities coalesced and formed something.
The magic circle was creating the philosopher’s stone around the holy relic.
The reason why the holy relic was essential for the ritual of creating the philosopher’s stone.
It was because something was needed to hold on to the dispersing life force.
It was impossible to capture the essence of life completely with a simple magical device.
Something that matched its caliber was needed.
“—-Despair. Wail.”
Enia sweated and put more strength into her hand holding the staff.
The ritual that reached its end was revealing its result now.
Cracks appeared on the holy relic that was creating the philosopher’s stone, and the convicts who were tied to the altar were faintly changing.
All she had to do now was to stabilize the philosopher’s stone that revealed its appearance.
She swung her staff with a bright light and glared at the philosopher’s stone with a clear gaze.
There was only one word left for the prayer.
“—-Play the requiem of death.”
As soon as the last word came out of Enia’s mouth.
Paaah!
The whole altar was engulfed in a dazzling light.
Blinded by the intense light, Enia raised her arm to cover her eyes.
The colorful light wrapped around the altar for a while.
After she counted dozens in her mind, only holy relics and jewels remained on the altar where the light subsided, and all the convicts were gone.
Clatter.
On top of the shattered holy relic, there was a philosopher’s stone emitting a rainbow light.
Enia gasped as she looked at the philosopher’s stone.
“Ah…”
The jewel that shone brightly was the result of countless hours of work by Enia and her master.
It was the existence of an item that was only considered a legend by alchemists.
The ritual was over, and Enia’s heart pounded at the sight of it.
For the magicians who pursued the truth, handling life was a taboo.
But even so, the light of the jewel in front of her was so dazzling.
It was enough to blind the eyes of an alchemist with just a brief glance.
“Finally…! I finally completed the philosopher’s stone!”
Enia’s trembling hand grabbed the philosopher’s stone.
Thump. Thump.
She felt a pleasant pulse from her fingers touching the stone.
At that moment when she touched the item she had longed for, Enia realized.
Even if she chased the light and followed the truth, she was still nothing but an alchemist.
At least for today, she felt that her passion would not subside easily.
***
“Is the research on creating a character almost done?”
A silent room where only the TV made noise.
I was looking at my smartphone there.
Beyond the screen that reflected in my sight, I could see Elbon handling blood.
He was diligently shaping a human form under Utenia’s watch.
Compared to him, it was only about the size of a child.
-“It’s my first time dealing with blood.”
Maybe it was because he had prepared for a long time.
Elbon started working quickly after clearing the hidden quest and getting the blood.
From his state, it seemed that his outline would appear soon if it was only about his appearance.
-“You have to make a handsome face that suits His Majesty.”
Next to him, Utenia was nagging Elbon as she watched him.
Of course, I could sympathize with Utenia’s words as well.
My character had to be good-looking.
He had to have a dignified appearance as a god.
That way, he could walk around the town proudly with shining items on him.
“Yeah. The face is the completion of the outfit.”
Was it not the first time that he was bothered by the same thing from Utenia?
Elbon looked at Utenia with a bored face.
His palm that handled blood was trembling slightly.
Elbon looked at Utenia with an uneasy expression and said.
-“······You don’t have to repeat it. I’ll take care of it myself.”
-“If you make a mistake… you might end up being sacrificed.”
-“If you keep pushing me, I might make a mistake because of my shaking hands.”
I felt a chill when I heard that.
It was someone’s character creation, but it would be very troublesome if something went wrong.
My gaze naturally moved to the icon above Utenia’s head as I looked at the screen.
As he said, it might be a mistake if he interfered too much.
I wondered if I should have a conversation with Utenia now that things had turned out this way.
“Let’s chat through the device instead of <Voice> for a change.”
It wouldn’t be bad to have an intimate conversation with her after a long time.
As I decided to press the button.
Messages started popping up at the bottom of the screen.
I naturally looked at the message box at the sudden messages.
“What’s going on?”
The scroll that was pushed up to the top contained overwhelming information.
What had happened that so many messages were printed?
I cautiously scrolled down and started checking the contents of the messages.
The first thing I saw was a familiar item name.
-You acquired [Philosopher’s Stone].
-The progress of <Descent> is updated.
[Philosopher’s Stone].
It was the material needed for the quest of <Descent> skill.
It seemed that I had finally cleared it after waiting for a long time with Elbon.
I heard that he was almost done with the preparation, but I didn’t expect it to be today.
“So [Philosopher’s Stone] quest is finally over.”
As I scrolled down a little more, the list of ongoing quests was also displayed.
Maybe it was because I had received the quest for a long time.
By now, the progress of <Descent> quest showed a big difference from before.
-Every time you meet one of the following conditions, the progress of <Descent> increases by one step.
-Available Karma: 4014 / 999999 (Incomplete)
-[Holy Relic: Ergus’ Stake]: 1 / 1 (Complete)
-[Philosopher’s Stone]: 1 / 1 (Complete)
-???: 0 / 1 (Incomplete)
-Making a body for Descent (Incomplete)
I secured [Holy Relic: Ergus’ Stake] when Pluto joined, and now I even got [Philosopher’s Stone].
And the quest to create a character was also close to completion.
Except for the quests that were not unlocked yet and those that were difficult to clear right away, I had practically cleared almost all the possible quests.
Now all I had to do was wait for Elbon to finish making the character and unlock the last quest.
“I’m almost done.”
I remembered how I was shocked when I first found this quest.
Back then, I was worried about how to get a million karma and felt helpless.
But now it’s different.
If I use the double karma coupon and wage a full-scale war, it seemed possible to achieve it somehow.
“A million karma…”
A lot of time had passed since I started the game.
A lot of things had changed since then.
The cult that started in a rural area had grown to threaten the continent and surpass the empire.
I felt like something would reach my hand if I moved forward a little more.
“Well, I guess I need to spend a little more money to clear it.”
Of course, it wasn’t possible to clear it right now, so it was half-joking.
The rest of the tasks were problems that money and time could solve.
I was only faithful to the goal given in front of me.
Swoosh.
I put away my funny thoughts in my head and scrolled down further.
At the bottom of the scroll that still had some room left, there was a message that I was familiar with by now.
-Warning: Excessively biased karma in one direction may trigger <Causality Adjustment>.
-<Karma’s Balance> has tilted.
-<Causality Adjustment> has occurred.
The causality adjustment message by <Karma’s Balance>.
It was a warning message that came to me whenever I forgot.
Even as I stayed still, the causality rate kept rising.
Now it was blatantly increasing the difficulty as if it was urging me to spend money.
Naturally, the content below was a message that informed me of the boss’s growth.
-Due to <Causality Adjustment>, [Artifact: Ascalon] has been freed by one level.
-Due to <Causality Adjustment>, [Artifact: Hieroglyph] has been freed by one level.
-Due to <Causality Adjustment>, [Artifact: Astra] has been freed by one level.
-Due to <Causality Adjustment>, [Artifact: S■■■] has been freed by one level.
-Due to <Hero Selection>, [Artifact: Dainsleif] has been freed by one level.
-Causality Adjustment Progress: 30%
Ascalon and Hieroglyph.
They were the weapons of the heroes that I had seen many times.
Below them, there was still Peter’s artifact that was out of place.
But among them, there was also something that bothered me, an artifact whose name was partially hidden.
Unlike before, this time one letter was revealed.
“S… What is this? Snowman?”
I tried to guess the empty letters, but there was no plausible word in my mind.
All the words that came to mind were ones that I couldn’t understand why they were called artifacts.
As I pondered over various words in my head, something happened to the screen I was focusing on.
“Huh…?”
Crackle. Crackle.
The screen distorted with noise.
The letters and images shook and blurred, then turned into something unrecognizable and scattered.
But that was only for a moment.
The screen that seemed to have a problem stopped shaking and returned to normal.
After the screen returned to normal, I looked at it again where the problem had occurred.
-Due to <Causality Adjustment>, [Artifact: Astra] has been freed by one level.
-Due to <Hero Selection>, [Artifact: Dainsleif] has been freed by one level.
-Causality Adjustment Progress: 30%
The message that had broken letters was completely gone from the screen that returned.
Yet the game’s message box displayed information as if nothing had happened.
A sense of strangeness rose in my mind as I looked at the screen.
For some reason, I felt like I was facing a familiar scene.
“I think it was like this back then too.”
I recalled a similar moment from my vague memory.
When was that?
I remembered it as the time when I unknowingly bought an item worth 2 million won.
Back then, an unidentified magic sword disappeared and I acquired [Contract of Regression] that could revive my character.
The name of the magic sword I faced then was also broken like this.
I thought it was just a bug when I got [Contract of Regression], but I felt uneasy as I encountered it often like this.
“It’s too weird to dismiss it as a simple bug.”
Right after I doubted the game.
Crackle. Crackle.
The screen started shaking again.
The whole view that I was looking at distorted and a sharp pain came from my eyes.
I felt my consciousness sinking as my head shook.
“This is…”
I remembered.
It was the same as now, when I suddenly lost consciousness…
“What is… this…!”
I tried to resist the sudden sleepiness that came over me.
I opened my eyes wide and put strength into my fingers.
I tried my best to feel the sensation from the end of my body clearly.
But the sensation from my fingertips was gradually fading away.
A severe headache spread in my head in the distorted view.
“Ugh…!”
-“The karma needed for interference has increased too much.”
Thud.
My body lost its balance and collapsed to one side.
The sleepiness swept over me and swallowed my clear consciousness in an instant.
My eyes were closing gradually.
An irresistible urge pressed me down.
I reached out my hand toward the screen and unconsciously called out the name of the character I saw in my eyes.
“Eute…”
-“In a little more time… it will be hard to maintain interference like this.”
The strength left my hand that was reaching out for something.
The last thing I saw in my blurry sight was black hair that reached down to her waist.
-“Sweet dreams.”
