LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 67
Ella frowned whenever she passed by the fortune teller’s house after having a rather unpleasant experience there.
However, every time, Iarin would stop Ella from storming in to confront the fortune teller.
“Don’t worry~ It’s just a street fortune teller, after all.”
Each time, Ella found herself dragged away by Iarin’s insistence, and even while being pulled along, she would repeatedly glare back at the fortune teller like it was a personal grudge.
Days passed.
One day.
Two days.
Three days.
In the same spot and at a similar time, this scenario repeated itself, with Ella hurling insults like “scam artist” and “punk” every time she was led away by Iarin. Yet, the fortune teller showed no special reaction, as if she either couldn’t hear or didn’t care about the ruckus behind her.
Rather, she would greet passersby cheerfully if they bumped into her on the street, treating Iarin with unmistakable friendliness.
And amidst all this, the materials that Jinseong needed steadily came together, and at some point, Jinseong arrived in Russia.
* * *
“What a pity. Such a pity.”
Jinseong muttered as he disembarked from the bus, seemingly missing Japan.
‘With countless divine objects created and even more available to make.’
Japan was undeniably the best place to practice magic.
Moreover, it provided an ideal environment for those sorts of black magic that could harm people. The split hun and baek lingered in the air, human grudges from endless wars scattered everywhere, and even in remote villages, he could encounter evil spirits and ghosts.
Additionally, with the island nation’s isolated environment and the unique conditions created by the Energy Dome, one could see how magic developed in strange forms.
For Jinseong, it was like being surrounded by a treasure trove filled with his favorite things.
Plus, he had taken control of certain politicians and made Iserin, his loyal supporter, immensely powerful. Having acquired a huge sum of money, he was in a situation where he could do anything in Japan – whether it was playing around with beautiful women thanks to political power or using money as capital to grow a company and inflate his influence dozens or hundreds of times over.
‘Tsk. The garden has been set up, and there are people to manage it. I can just go back and harvest whenever I want.’
Jinseong closed his eyes to shake off the deep-seated regret within him.
Slowly, he calmed his mind.
‘No matter how many imperial pearls you have, you can only turn into a dragon by holding just one. Similarly, if greed grows excessive, it will become a stumbling block. Regret lingering for long can turn into yearning, and yearning can lead to delusion.’
His sole purpose was transcendence.
Transcending through magic.
He didn’t crave riches, fame, or pleasure.
If he had desired such things, he would not have acted as a mercenary before returning to this life.
He would have enjoyed life fully, simply waiting around for a major corporation or powerful individual to notice him.
Instead, he wandered the world, suffering from all sorts of side effects.
All of it was solely for the sake of magic.
And since his past life was like that, so too should this life be.
To walk forward, never forgetting his goal.
To transcend in this wretched human body, with unpredictable powers, he needed to endure that much, didn’t he?
Journeys are inherently long, but one must not lose direction.
As long as you don’t forget your destination, you can reach your goal someday.
Jinseong opened his eyes after calming his mind.
And from his pocket, he pulled out a cylindrical object.
A tube engraved with a bluish eye shape.
It was the first divine object he made after returning to the past, a thing that possessed the power to guide him to what he sought. Just like before, he brought his mouth close to the tube and spoke.
“Tell me, tell me, where in Russia can I conduct a ritual?”
Immediately, the eye-shaped design on the tube glowed, changing from bluish to red. It heated up, as if molten metal would flow away, bulging out and glaring at him with bulging, bloodshot eyes. Then, it rolled its eyeball around before extending countless long, thin tentacles that pierced into Jinseong’s arms.
Like a leech, it eagerly sucked the blood flowing through him, continuing until Jinseong’s complexion changed.
After a while, satisfied, the tube withdrew its tentacles and pulled back the eye that had popped out, instead creating a multicolored smoke visible only to Jinseong. The smoke twisted, forming the shape of a map.
The map depicted the landscape of Russia and gleamed at a specific location, indicating it with a point of light.
‘Hmm.’
Jinseong carefully examined the place the map pointed to.
‘This is the Shaman Stone. It’s a dwelling place and holy site for shamans in Russia, so it would surely work- but…’
Where there are many people, naturally, there will be friction.
Especially since Russians can be a bit rough around the edges; disputes over territory would inevitably arise.
Bringing mercenaries would ensure they wouldn’t lose, but…
There was no need to insist on that location when he could perform the ritual elsewhere without causing a headache.
‘Let’s see. Ah, the Kasykulakskaya Cave. Right, there’s such a place. Good for conducting rituals, but not particularly suitable for the ritual I plan to do this time.’
Jinseong examined other locations one by one.
‘Amur River. This isn’t bad… Hmm. And… there are two spots nearby.’
Determined to check the two spots mentioned on the map first, Jinseong figured if neither were suitable, he could just conduct the ritual at Amur River.
Having roughly identified possible locations, Jinseong activated teleportation towards a hotel visible in the distance.
Squeak.
With the sound accompanying each teleportation, Jinseong reached the hotel in an instant and saw Iserin and Iarin waiting to greet him.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Big brother, it’s been a while! You look well!”
Jinseong entered the hotel, following the two who welcomed him warmly.
* * *
“What’s this? Big brother, with no contact, I thought you were dead! You should at least check in occasionally to let us know you’re alive. That… umm.”
The first thing Jinseong heard as he entered the room was Iarin’s pouting.
She was upset about how often he hadn’t contacted them.
With one finger, she twirled her hair while avoiding eye contact, her gaze fixed somewhere beside Jinseong instead. Clearly, she was shy about looking at him directly, and yet didn’t want to seem like she was ignoring him altogether.
“I had no choice; I was wandering around various places. But now that I’ve returned, isn’t that enough?”
“Well, that’s true, but it’s just lucky that you came back before my study abroad ends.”
Although she grumbled continually, she appeared happy that Jinseong had come, making him smile to himself.
He turned his attention to Iserin, who was sulking in the corner with an expression that screamed, ‘I have no particular objections!’
Unlike Iarin, who was on the verge of curling up in a corner, Iserin didn’t even glance toward Jinseong and Iarin while they chatted.
However, this wasn’t merely sulking; it was more like hiding due to some guilty conscience.
“Iserin.”
“Y-yes?”
As her name was called, Iserin broke out in a cold sweat and slowly turned to meet Jinseong’s eyes, forcing an awkward smile.
“Uh… what is it?”
An awkward smile.
An awkward demeanor.
Her body language screamed that she dreaded this conversation.
Jinseong couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
“Are you really this bothered just because Spirit Vision was discovered?”
“N-no! Not at all!”
Her response was immediate and panicked upon hearing the mention of “Spirit Vision” from Jinseong.
She glanced toward Iarin with an anxious expression, desperately hoping Jinseong would drop the topic. Noticing how earnest she looked, he nodded slightly, signaling his agreement to drop it.
“Well then, did you gather the materials?”
He swiftly changed the subject to meet Iserin’s request, and she breathed a sigh of relief before answering.
“Y-yes… almost. Nearly all of them are gathered.”
Iserin pulled out her smartphone, intending to show him proof, and opened her photo album, selecting a picture of the warehouse before presenting it to Jinseong.
“I rented a quite… secluded frozen warehouse. The blood of a fierce beast and five blood packs are here… and one kilogram of 30-year-old eyes… they’re inside this tube….”
As she flipped through the photos, showing off the collected materials, Jinseong could roughly gauge their quality.
“Let’s see. The blood is clear and clean, marking it as premium quality. The eyes also seem well-preserved from what I can see in the photos, so likewise premium. The birch wood is top-notch, and the first harvest grains are in decent condition as well… Very good.”
There were seven materials captured in the photos:
30 kg of birch firewood.
300 mL of wild beast’s blood.
1 kg of eyes over 20 years old.
5 blood packs.
5 L of alcohol over 80-proof.
500 g of fish scales.
500 g of bird feathers.
Fortunately, everything looked to be in good condition.
Moreover, the place they stored the items wasn’t a magically or mystically frozen warehouse, but rather one that used pure machines for freezing. This enabled the materials to remain unaltered without any risk of symbolic change.
“Well done. The quality of the materials is high and your choice of warehouse is excellent.”
Jinseong praised Iserin.
She seemed bashful by the compliment but nonetheless wore a pleased smile.
“What about the remaining materials?”
“Ah, um, the Robur Oak is right here….”
At Jinseong’s question, Iserin retrieved a long stick from beneath the bed and handed it over to him.
Jinseong examined the stick, feeling its sturdiness and even bringing it close to his nose to sniff it before nodding in satisfaction.
“This too is premium quality. Well done.”
He complimented Iserin again, and meanwhile, Iarin poked Jinseong’s arm with her finger, clearly wanting some attention as well.
Jinseong turned to her.
“Big brother, I’ve prepared a goat and a guinea pig too.”
“A goat and a guinea pig. Good job.”
Jinseong similarly praised Iarin.
Then, he remarked.
“Let’s check out the goat and guinea pig you’ve gathered. I’m curious; where did you keep them?”