Limit Breaking Genius Mage Chapter 104

Episode 104 Spirit (3)

A small crystal left behind where the spirit had disappeared.

Verden lifted him up with his telekinesis and pulled him closer. Green light reflected in his blue eyes.

'What is this?'

Its appearance was similar to that of a magic stone, but it had none of its unique magical power.

All that could be felt was the magic power that existed in nature. And that was only a handful. As Verden tilted his head at the object he had never seen before, Vermin clapped his hands as if he had been reminded of it.

“Ah, this is a spirit stone!”

Spirit stone?

It was the first time I heard of it. However, since it seemed to have magical powers, it might be some kind of magic stone. Verden was excited, thinking that it might be a rare item, as much as the unfamiliar name.

But Vermin's next words were extremely disappointing.

“It’s a stone that contains natural magical powers, but it’s not particularly useful. Unlike magic stones, it can’t be crafted, so it can’t be used as a material for magical items. Since it comes from spirits, the supply is extremely short, and there’s no demand for it. I’m not sure if it would be valuable as a decoration.”

“……You’ve been really knowledgeable since earlier? Have you studied about spirits?”

“When I first started out as an adventurer, I read a lot of recommended books for adventurers. There was a story about spirits among them. I don’t know much about it either. I just skimmed through it.”

Vermin shrugged.

“But let me add that there is a story that the spirit stone absorbs the magic of nature and is resurrected.”

Kedian asked.

“Are you talking about resurrection?”

“Oh, but not right away. It would take several decades, right? You have to gather natural magic power, but that’s impossible to do artificially. What magician in the world would have such clean magic power? That’s why I heard that a certain magic tower experimented with it in the past and quickly abandoned it.”

Vermin continued.

“But if it really has a use… I heard that elves buy it at a high price.”

“If you’re an elf… you mean the infamous elf?”

Elves, inhabitants of nature.

One of the human races, similar to dwarves, characterized by long ears and a beautiful appearance. Verden was also a race that I had encountered in books during my time at the Magic Tower.

Obviously.

“I heard that humans are the species that should be left the least messed with.”

“That’s right, those elves. They’re a scary race that everyone knows about.”

Elves are a race with an absolute collectivist ideology rather than an individualistic one.

The moment an individual senses that they are in danger, the elves will take on any danger to save their kind. This is possible because some elves have a special ability to locate their kind.

The case of such elves is very famous.

Because they are beautiful regardless of gender, humans in the past tried to enslave elves and actually did so.

An ignorant slave trader kidnapped an elf and sold it to a noble. For a very high price. The greedy ones who saw the value with their own eyes immediately started hunting the elf.

And the results were dire.

Those who went to hunt elves never returned, and soon after, the merchant who had kidnapped the slaves was destroyed. Even the guests who visited there did not survive.

The noble families were also wiped out. The nobles, the knights, the servants – everything.

Their corpses were brutally mutilated and hung in the forest. As this was repeated several times, the fear of elves spread among the people.

“So the country stepped up and decided to subjugate the elves. They had a justification for it since their own nobles had died. That’s how the war broke out…….”

“The country has dried up and died.”

All supplies heading to the city were destroyed by the elves, who were more secretive and specialized in hunting than any other race.

No matter how strong the guards were, it was useless. The enemy was the entire elven race. It was an enemy that could not be dealt with by an individual.

“It was a small country in terms of national scale, but… the repercussions were quite large. A lot of people died. Either directly or indirectly.”

Elves in the Great Forest in the southern part of the continent.

Since that incident, no human has been able to harm them unless they get hit in the head with a fireball.

Rubina asked Vermin.

“So why do elves buy spirit stones so expensively?”

“I don’t know either. I heard it at a drinking party when I was an adventurer of the same rank. I’m not sure, so I can’t believe it. But if I were to force a connection, wouldn’t it be something like this? Elves are inhabitants of nature, and spirits are also similar in kind, so to speak…….”

“Are you saying that the two have a symbiotic relationship?”

“That’s right. Maybe the reason there’s a spirit here is because of the elves. When I think about it, it’s a bit strange. The spirit came to us out of nowhere and got angry. If it doesn’t hate humans, someone must have done something to harm it. Either the spirit itself or the elves.”

“Are you saying… that someone in the kingdom kidnapped an elf?”

A moment of silence fell.

After a while, the adventurers laughed loudly.

“Hahaha! I’m joking. Of course not. You wouldn’t kidnap an elf unless you were crazy.”

“Besides, the Great Forest is so far away. Even if it were true, he would have definitely been killed by the elves before he got there.”

Verden also agreed with that opinion.

It's strange that there are spirits, but even so, it was a bit of a leap to associate them with elves.

“Then let’s stop small talk. Asher, take the spirit stone. After all, you are the one who subdued the spirit. Of course, that won’t be included in the rewards you’ll receive, so don’t worry.”

"thank you."

“We should be the ones to thank them. By the way, there’s no reason to come to the Deep Forest of Sloan for the time being. Those who were summoned by the angry spirits are all dead. In the meantime, we’re very lucky that none of us lost a single limb, much less died.”

The adventurers nodded their heads involuntarily.

It was literally a blessing in disguise. It was all thanks to Verden.

The skald looked up at the sky.

Then he let out a sigh full of fatigue.

“I want to go back to Aserne and rest.”

* * *

They manipulated the terrain to bury or disperse the bodies.

If so many corpses were left to rot in the deep forest, there's a chance that the undead could emerge. It's unlikely to happen, but just in case.

After returning to Acern, we immediately talked about compensation.

The total amount received as a result was 380 million elk. It was the compensation that Verden and Skald had mutually agreed upon.

It was more than nine times the basic salary, but it was by no means excessive. Even if it was ten times that much for the spirit subjugation, it was nothing compared to the life value of a Mithril-grade party.

Fortunately, the Adventurer's Guild reported the loss and gave additional compensation, so the adventurers did not suffer a deficit.

And at the same time, the fee paid to Fernet was naturally increased.

“Hehehe, how much is this?”

Ferné died with a genuine fondness for him.

It was just one person. It had been less than a month since that one person showed up to help her, but her information was slowly regaining its former form.

Of course, there's still a long way to go, but it was a great start.

Asher. If only there was one more wizard that Pale introduced me to… … maybe things would be even better than before.

Originally, for information brokers, the presence of one person with outstanding skills was more important than hundreds of idiots who hung around and made a quick buck.

'So now is the time to invest.'

Fernet has poured most of the money he has received so far into building an information network.

It's good to pay off debt. At least you don't have to live in fear.

But Fernet was far from that kind of life.

If that was the intention in the first place, you wouldn't have borrowed the money. The debt is sufficient to pay off part of the interest and principal.

'Right now I have to look good to my biggest customer, Asher.'

In Fernet's view, he was subjective and active.

Although he doesn't say anything, it seems that he makes decisions based on his own calculations, weighing the risks and rewards.

That is, the reason he is helping Fernet by handling all the requests that come his way right now is not simply because of the reward, but because the value of the information he needs is even greater.

'If you feel like you're being used by someone like that? Then you're finished.'

The moment the scales tip against you, you're likely to abandon Fernet right away.

So, just as he showed his sincerity, it is time for Pernet to show her ability as well. She must add weight to the scales so that they do not tip over.

“You can’t miss it.”

Fernet, his eyes sparkling, moved busily.

* * *

To study something is to investigate it deeply and seek the truth.

The world today is filled with the results of research. Equipment made by hammering and tempering steel, magical items with magical effects, and even the basic property of steel being hard are products of research.

What to do with the spirit stone.

After completing his training as usual, Verden pondered over it. No matter how useless it was, it was a rare item that contained the magic of nature, so as a researcher, he couldn't turn his head away.

So I decided to do some research in my spare time.

Of course, I didn't plan on starting from scratch. That would have taken a very long time. That's why, in order to conduct research as efficiently as possible, my priority was to gain knowledge about spirits.

Verden, who had made up his mind, went straight to visit the bookstores in Aserne.

[Collection of scary alien species]

[40 Monsters Adventurers Should Avoid]

[The forest is dangerous]

…I found books that seemed to be related to spirits and bought them all.

Even so, it wasn't that many volumes. If I read quickly, I could probably read them all before dawn.

'Is this the last bookstore?'

I went inside and looked through the bookshelf.

It was full of titles of books I had already purchased. Then I found an old book in the corner of the bookshelf. It was covered in dust as if it had not been touched for a long time.

[Friend of the Forest]

A title that sounds like a children's fairy tale.

I opened the book and lightly glanced through the table of contents. The content was similar to other books, but my eyes were drawn to the last table of contents.

'Elf and spirit.'

This is content that is not found in other books.

I wanted to read it right away, but the bookstore owner was watching. It was not basic manners to read the book on the spot and leave without buying it.

“Please give me this.”

Verden's space bag, which he carried as he left the bookstore, was filled with old books.

* * *

After having dinner outside, Verden entered a luxury inn.

After a quick wash, Verden changed into light clothes and sat down at his desk. He piled up the books he had bought at the bookstore and read them one by one.

Sarak. Sarak.

Verden's hands and eyes moved quickly. He didn't need to read every single sentence. All he needed was information about the spirits.

One volume, two volumes… … .

The books I had read were piled up on the floor.

However, there was still no knowledge that had reached Verden.

Superficial information such as the ecology and types of spirits. It's just a repetition of such content. Check The title is different, but the content about spirits contained within is almost the same.

'This can't even be used as firewood.'

I threw away that piece of trash, full of subjective asides instead of objective knowledge, and looked for the next book. It was the last and oldest book.

I dusted it off and started reading. It covered more in-depth content than other books, but there was little about spirits.

Let's quickly flip through it, we soon reached the last table of contents and turned the first page.

[Spirit has intelligence.]

The phrase was enough to catch Verden's attention.

Verden read the book slowly.

'Spirit beings are capable of expressing their thoughts and have emotions like humans.' It was quite credible as it was explained with several objective examples, such as angry spirits.

However, it is written that they actually managed to capture the spirits with great difficulty and experiment with them, but they were unable to obtain convincing results. They said that the resistance was so severe that they could not proceed at all, and in the end, the entire experiment was abandoned.

It was a similar case to what Vermin had said.

'It's a bit disappointing that there is no solid evidence.'

I turned the page with that thought in mind.

The story about elves and spirits written in the table of contents.

The book was about the relationship between the elves, a race of nature, and the spirits who possessed the magic of nature, and was full of unverified claims from real cases mixed with the author's own opinions.

[Elf heals wounds in nature, and spirits are resurrected through the magic of nature.]

[There are eyewitness accounts that some elves have abilities similar to spirits.]

[Elfs also have magical powers, but unlike humans, they may have natural magical powers.]

[Elfs are the longest-lived of all known races. Their culture believes that death is a return to nature, much like spirits.]

…and the conclusion was this.

[It is likely that elves are 'friends' with spirits, and the powers elves possess may come from spirits.]

When Verden saw that, he threw the book back.

“I thought it was okay, but this was also trash.”

Although similarities between spirits and elves were discussed, there was no concrete evidence that the two were related.

There were just a lot of speculations and conclusions based on speculations. It's obvious that they're trying to connect elves and spirits in some way.

Even if this were true, the book could not be said to contain knowledge. It was merely a personal opinion.

Verden took out the spirit stone from his space bag.

There is still the magic of nature in it. Looking at it again, it seems to have more magic than before. Even so, it is only a little bit.

'The spirit is resurrected… … .'

Then suddenly a thought crossed Verden's mind.

The magic of nature means infinitely pure magic. And the spirits absorb it and are resurrected. It was understandable since the spirits were made of the magic of nature in the first place.

'Then what happens if I put my magic power in?'

Magic power gained through reversal.

If we look at purity only, it is objectively similar to the magic that exists in nature. Maybe even more so.

That means… … .

This is worth a try.

Verden held the spirit stone in his hand.

I didn't hesitate. It was not only out of curiosity as a researcher, but also because I could deal with anything that happened right away. Even if the spirit was resurrected, I could just suppress it with my magical power.

Soon, Verden injected magic power.

The spirit stone begins to turn blue.

A burst of blue light soon filled the room.