Chapter 437. Don’t Adjust Your Shoes in a Melon Field, Don’t Fix Your Hat Under a Plum Tree (8)

Chapter 437. Don’t Adjust Your Shoes in a Melon Field, Don’t Fix Your Hat Under a Plum Tree (8)

‘No matter where you go in the universe, overwork in the research field is the same.’

At that moment, the alien standing before the hospital bed slowly closed his eyes, as if accepting the law of nature.

“Wait a second. What did you just say? So you’re saying... your illness is cured? No, no—no matter how much you want to reassure someone, that’s not the kind of lie you should ever tell...!”

By now, thanks to all the modifications, his eyes no longer dried out easily. But the reason the blond awakener closed his eyelids in such a moment was quite simple.

***

‘I need to organize my thoughts.’

Noisy.

-No matter… even so, that kind of lie is something you should never…

While Jung Haseong was busy talking beside me, I quietly gathered my thoughts with my eyes lightly closed.

‘Why did I heal my lungs? Well, that part is actually easy to explain.’

If I stay quiet like this, that black-haired S-rank will probably make a whole scene—maybe even give a 365-minute lecture about the sanctity of life. How on earth am I supposed to stay silent through that?

‘But how I solved this problem is something difficult to mention to an Earthling.’

When I opened my eyes, I could see the inside of the hospital room. I then glanced once out the window. Beyond the clear glass, I saw the streets of South Korea—now so familiar that they had become almost boring.

Come to think of it, just yesterday I’d set foot on Western soil while approaching the [Elixir] Gate. Yet somehow, seeing this familiar view stirred me more than the emerald-colored coasts of that foreign land. It struck me, suddenly, that perhaps my settlement on this planet had gone better than I thought.

‘Hmm, still, I did prefer the palm trees over there a bit more. They really gave off that otherworldly vibe, so it was unique.’

Then, I decided to quickly put the jet-lag from my overseas trip behind me.

First of all, as I just thought, the reason I removed the lung tumor could be shared with anyone.

○ (From a mage’s perspective) the available fuel was always in short supply.
○ Thanks to pain immunity, I can ignore it, but this body is still sick and in pain.
○ There’s hope that, with gradual upgrades, even the primitive creature’s characteristic glass body will improve.

Disease treatment. Originally, this action had been triggered by these three causes, but to Earthlings, it would ultimately be interpreted this way.

○ To stay healthy!

Much better phrasing. Of course, since I had previously brushed things off and avoided taking action, it’s only natural that someone might ask why I suddenly changed my approach…

‘It’s up to the patient to decide whether to treat their illness.’

So what. I could just as easily explain things like the timing of the treatment.

-No, I mean, how on earth did the cancer disappear before awakening? I’m sorry for questioning you like this, but up until now, there hasn’t been a single case like that…

And while that black-haired human was still in shock, there had actually been plenty of evidence all along that my lungs were fine. For example, let’s recall what happened when I actually obtained the [Elixir].

‘Come to think of it, how did they set up the environment like that to make mammals awaken?’

Certain gates were, quite literally, completely underwater. Yet I had managed to make it through that otherworld filled to the brim with water—all on my own.

Ah. Additionally, the monster that appeared in that gate was indeed a genuine B-rank [Black Trumpet Snail] from historical records.

‘On the contrary, it was such a water-adapted creature that I can’t even imagine how it could have functioned on land.’

But this isn’t the important part.

‘Ah, right. Come to think of it, that’s true too. Their ranks were completely different—so why on earth were the Earthlings fooled by a mimic creature…?’

Since there wasn’t really anyone to share it with, I’d kept it to myself until now. But in truth, I’d recently undergone this kind of modification.

=================

[Changes in 3.4.111]
The Third Breakthrough
: I gained the ability to influence the vertebrate-specific airways connecting the lungs and the back of the throat using spatial magic.
=================

Is it just my imagination, or does revealing an Alphauri’s research log always make things sound unnecessarily long? To put it simply, it goes something like this.

‘It means I no longer have to rely solely on the throat passage to live.’

This is something that can be easily understood even from the way the [Inevitable Malice] was hunted. Most terrestrial creatures living on Earth have extremely fragile necks. Simply put, once the airway is breached, life is over… Yet sorcerers all have lungs as a fundamental weak point. So is there really any need to add more areas to protect here?

‘I thought there was no need for that.’

That’s why I was fine even after spending several hours underwater alone. Now, even if organs in the face, like the nasal passages, were attacked, I could continue breathing without issue. Of course, by utilizing the Alphauri’s characteristic precise spatial awareness, it’s also entirely possible to equip air pockets and engage in extended underwater dives.

‘All of this is ultimately proof that I’ve consistently paid attention to my “respiratory system.”’

Study, study, study.

Since I never let go of Earth’s anatomy books, the results were good. After all, through constant effort, I did achieve the current results, though…

‘The problem lies in the method I used to cure this disease, the lung tumor.’

Sorry to say, but Alphauri-born mages were never particularly skilled at manipulating genes. Without the proper experimental environment, there was truly nothing they could do. Mages, by nature, made their living by borrowing from mana—but wishing for it to “rearrange genome sequences this way or that” in their natural state? Well, that never really worked.

‘Unless you meticulously adjust the spell, it won’t function properly.’

To put it simply, the result was this. I meticulously searched through every abnormal cell in my body and removed them one by one. Then, I went through a manual cleanup process to restore the vacant spots…

‘Brutal manual labor.’

Besides, in Earth’s slang, there was an even simpler way to put it.

‘Damn it, if I’d known it’d come to this, I should’ve just reincarnated as a whale. Those guys don’t seem to find tumors nearly as deadly—kind of like Alphaurians.’

The more terrifying part is that even after suffering through this for two whole months, I still haven’t managed to deal with the metastasized cells. But… let’s put that aside for now.

‘Reincarnated as a primitive person, what on earth is all this suffering for?’

I finished my contemplation. Then, spreading my arms lightly, I began to speak as humanly as possible.

“If you want, we can just run a CT scan to check!”

“Yes?”

“You can check my lungs if you want. We’re at a hospital anyway.”

“R, really?”

“Honestly, Jung Haseong, you act like you respect people, but you’re the most suspicious of them all, aren’t you?”

“Gasp! I’m so sorry if it made you feel that way!”

As you can probably tell from the introduction so far, the fact that Alphaurin technology was used to restore my lungs to their original state has been kept under wraps.

“But it’s just that my humble knowledge couldn’t comprehend it.”

“‘Humble,’ you say.”

“Medicine has advanced so much, and yet treating a pre-existing disease before awakening has always been a major challenge. I—I’ve never once heard of a successful case like that before!”

Jung Haseong then asked a series of questions. Had I perhaps gone to the United States for surgery? Or maybe met some extraordinary doctor over there, someone capable of miracles?

‘Uhm.’

I listened to his questions and thought to myself. Perhaps somewhere on Earth, there really could be medicine that advanced. But when it came to [Magic Addiction]—that was a disease no one could ever promise to cure.

‘Why do you think I kept quiet all this time, even though I knew all about Jung Haseong’s situation?’

You could say, “What can’t an alien who crossed the universe do?”—but this one really was an exception. To put it in terms that mammals could understand… it was like an obligate anaerobic microbe born on low-oxygen Earth saying, “Let me breathe oxygen too.”

‘Just hearing it gives me a headache.’

Even at the moment I was born, Alphauri was already a planet that had long completed its adaptation to magic. So problems this outdated were something no scholar had ever even bothered to ponder in the first place.

‘I couldn’t even imagine it. This is the first time I’ve seen a case of Mana Evolution failure since coming to Earth. Seriously.’

Of course, since I’m a bit of a genius, even something like this could probably be worked out—given enough time, that is.

‘It’s just not efficient.’

As time went on, this fleeting illness would rapidly dwindle in occurrence—there was no way I could stake my lifespan on it. No matter how I thought about it, it would only ever be a waste of valuable effort. In the end, the only thing I could do was to pass along this one bottle of panacea I had obtained.

‘Hmm.’

But well—it’s not as if that’s a bad thing. Human lives are short. I’ve experienced that truth firsthand, living in a mammalian body and feeling it in countless ways. So now, at the very least, I just want the few people within my sight to live their present days in happiness.

“Gasp!”

All the better if I can achieve that goal by simply handing over an item.

Ssshk.

It happened right after that. I finally took out the high-grade loot I’d been keeping carefully stored in my item box.

Elixir. Elixsir. Or perhaps—the panacea.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder—just what kind of extraordinary substance could cure every illness without exception?

‘Well, if something feels strange, nine times out of ten it turns out to be magic-related anyway.’

The liquid in this vial could be described in another way—a literal wish potion.

To put it simply, it’s a potion that grants the drinker’s deepest wish—in the broadest possible sense.

‘When you put it that way, it does sound pretty impressive.’

But come to think of it, is that really the only thing in this world that does that?

Magic. Those particles scattered throughout the air, in the end, aren’t all that different—they, too, listen to the mage’s words.

So, when you really break it down, the Elixir isn’t exactly some impossibly rare treasure—it simply turned out to be an item with a few distinctive advantages.

=============
ⓐ A liquid that allows even a novice mage with little knowledge—or an animal with very low intelligence—to wield the same kind of magic equally.
ⓑ However, it should be noted that most animals harbor an unconscious fear of illness and aging. Unless a proper spell has been prepared in advance, the potion ultimately exerts its power to make the drinker’s body as healthy as possible.
=============

If Earth’s emotion specialists were to write it out in prose, the instructions would roughly read like this.

‘Anyway, for an archmage who knows how to handle magic in a modern way, this isn’t really a necessary item.’

A potion made by intricately mixing otherworldly substances to concentrate mystical power to the utmost. I stared at the pearly liquid for about three seconds. I ran a component analysis, of course—the ingredient makeup wasn’t something that could be mass-produced. With such a small amount, even if used offensively it wouldn’t be particularly effective. Besides, unless someone—like that one case—had a pre‑awakening disease such as lung cancer, most Awakeners aren’t likely to suffer a major illness over the next sixty years, so the calculation’s done.

‘In a place like Earth, where bodily restoration magic hasn’t advanced, this is the best we can do.’

I approached the pristine white hospital bed to hand over the potion.

“Wait a minute!”

But then, suddenly, the Earthling shouted from beside me.

“B, but still. Are you really saying you’ll give something like this to my family?”

The black-haired mammal broke out in a cold sweat as he cautioned. Soon after, he shouted, straining his conscience, warning not to make an irreversible decision rashly.

“Yeah.”

But no matter how the other party reacted, I wasn’t going to change the decision I had already made.

“Anyway, it’s a divine punishment I received without doing anything wrong, so if things happen to work out by chance, there’s nothing strange about that.”

Tak!

First, I removed the oxygen respirator of the mammal. Next, I poured the [Elixir] completely into the exposed mouth before me.

“H, huh?”

Giving the potion indiscriminately to an unconscious patient seemed to leave the Earthling quite bewildered.

‘Is he worried she might choke?’

But this alien mixture had the characteristic of evaporating very quickly.

-Whoosh.

Suddenly, a blue smoke began to rise. I lightly spread my hand to prevent the potion’s components from dispersing too widely. Then, holding over the patient’s mouth to buy a moment, the hidden final advantage of the [Elixir] gradually revealed itself.

‘The effect is fast.’

Flutter. Flutter.

The first thing observed was a few twitches of the eyelids. Next, the patient’s breathing gradually became clearer. And little by little, the things that had been off balance began returning…

‘Is it all done?’

The treatment was quicker than expected. The middle-aged woman lying in the hospital bed opened her eyes in less than a minute. It wasn’t immediately obvious from her appearance, but the potion had likely improved her overall physical health as well.

‘It’s fascinating, even for me, since I’ve never seen this phenomenon before.’

I witnessed with my own eyes a rare case of [magic addiction] treatment.

But at that moment…

“M…”

Naturally, a man who had been standing vaguely in one corner of the room rushed forward.

“Mo…?”

Jung Haseong first muttered the family title in a tone that suggested he couldn’t quite believe it. After that, he knelt to meet the patient’s gaze, as she still hadn’t fully sat up. Struggling to align his eyes with his family’s, he finally seemed to grasp reality and reacted profoundly.

“Mom!”

The nation’s hero shed clear, transparent tears. By the time his fully conscious mother began calling his name, Jung Haseong was observed to lose control in the opposite way, crying out loudly. Like a child just awakened from a terrible nightmare. Who would have thought that the composed pyromancer would so helplessly pour out all his emotions?