LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 47
After finishing a fruitful outing and returning to Polaris, I soon received a delivery.
[This is the item that Oppaya asked for~ Should I praise him when he returns?]
Accompanied by a light letter.
“…Has he decided to deny reality?”
Robel, having just realized that I’m much younger, was—
– “Ah… no way! It can’t be! Oppaya is strong, capable, and… mature!”
She was tugging at her hair and groaning.
And then she came to this conclusion.
– “Aha! He must be lurking in Polaris!”
– “No way….”
– “Of course. Oppaya can’t possibly be seventeen. Hmm~.”
Seeing her mental state wobble, I decided to make a getaway.
I never expected she’d still believe that.
“Is it because of this face?”
I pinched my cheek with my finger.
Sure, ‘Ran Black’ does look much more mature than ‘Alben’ but if that could fool someone by over a decade—
“That’s just not possible.”
Then again, Robel herself looks significantly younger than her actual age, so she might be judging others by the same standard.
Beastfolk generally have a longer lifespan compared to humans.
I casually shoved Robel’s letter aside and began to check the contents.
Carefully removing the packaging, worried I might cut myself.
“Wow…!”
Inside the massive box were materials packed in tightly.
Maybe Robel was considerate, as the condition of the materials was quite good.
[Shard of Earth Dragon’s Heart]
[Banshee’s Soul] x666
[Dark Extract]
[Binding Thread]
[Processed Shadow Matter]
[High-grade Nightmare Horn]
“See, money is the best!”
Farming all of these would take forever.
While getting 666 pieces of [Banshee’s Soul] was just mindless hunting, [Dark Extract] and [Binding Thread] had atrocious drop rates.
“I can’t even face a dragon unless I’m set up completely.”
At that point, there would be no meaning in unlocking this hidden piece.
[Shadow Matter] was at least somewhat easier to obtain.
‘Success rate of processing is 0.001%’
At this rate, they might as well be telling me to just die.
“…At least the most ethical material seems to be this one?”
In a transparent bottle on the edge of the box were two tiny horns, firmly sealed with a talisman.
[High-grade Nightmare Horn]
A black horn that only nightmares that have drained the vigor of over 1,000 people can possess.
It looked quite powerful at a glance, but the Nightmare race wasn’t really known for their combat prowess.
They only visit when they’re asleep, after all.
“By the way, why is this so expensive? It wasn’t this pricey in the game.”
Checking the included receipt, a significant amount was spent on [High-grade Nightmare Horn].
It couldn’t be that Robel embezzled money, as the other materials ended up costing even less.
‘What gives?’
After a brief thought, I came to one conclusion.
“There’s a shortage of guys with good vigor….”
In a world where women outnumber men, especially in the department of libido!
Plus, since women are much more vigorous than men, the conditions for filling high-quality vigor weren’t favorable at all.
“Sorry about that.”
But hey.
The men drained of their vigor would just wither away, so that’s their fault.
Clink—
I took just one horn from the bottle.
“One’s enough, really.”
The other one… well, might come in handy later.
Since I paid a hefty price for it, I didn’t want to waste it unnecessarily.
*
After gathering all the materials, I ventured out to Building C in the dead of night.
From here on out, it would be smooth sailing.
“Should be around here?”
In the alley between buildings 3 and 4 at C block.
All I had to do was perform ‘some interaction’ on this brick road.
“It’s definitely going to smell…”
I pulled out the [Shard of Earth Dragon’s Heart] I’d prepared from my pocket.
It was still vividly red, as if it was the meat of a spirit.
‘I can’t cook it, can I?’
In the game system, even if it was dragon meat, cooking it would just treat it as [Grilled Meat].
I had to consume it raw, whether I liked it or not.
Chomp!
As I bit into the shard, blood squirted out and tormented my mouth.
It was so tough that it wouldn’t even go down my throat.
“Wugh…!”
I felt like I was going to throw up any second, but every time I felt queasy, I recalled the numbers on the receipt.
With all the patience I could muster, I barely managed to chew and swallow.
Gulp!
“Ughhhh….”
I thought my insides might flip over,
But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
I had to squeeze out whatever ‘dragon’s magic’ remained in the heart I just swallowed.
‘Qi goes to the lower dantian. Magic is in the heart.’
I tightly shut my eyes and struggled to extract whatever little magic remained in the heart.
‘If wizards saw this, they’d probably foam at the mouth and rush me.’
Originally, a dragon’s heart is an ultra-rare research material.
The master of magic, the Dragon.
They say over 20% of the mysteries and structures, and remnants of magic contained within their hearts remain undiscovered to this day.
Not to mention, after the war, you can no longer acquire dragon hearts, so the occasional stock that sometimes appears is regarded as an ultra-rare item that can’t even be bought with money.
‘Unless you have ties to this side, like me.’
Eating something like that without a second thought.
If a wizard witnessed this, they would likely kill me and retrieve the undigested heart from my stomach.
Grrrr…!
I extracted the faint ‘Dragon’s Magic’ left in the heart and brought it up to my vocal cords.
“Hoo…!”
As I exhaled, a mystical aura mixed with my breath.
This is one of the powers of the Dragon.
[Dragon Speech]
Of course, since it was a rudimentary implementation with the power left in a heart shard, it would probably fall short compared to real dragon speech.
But even now, it should be sufficiently close to a miracle power.
“Ignite.”
I shouted into the air for a test.
As the wave of my voice echoed, the moment it collided with my field of vision—
Woosh!
A fierce blaze erupted.
‘What a cheat.’
To manifest magic without any special formula or chant, just by ‘speaking’—that’s some true master-level capability.
If it were up to me, I’d love to play around with it more.
‘But this is a one-time deal.’
The amount of dragon magic contained in the heart shard isn’t much.
There would only be enough for one more command after this.
With that thought, I concentrated and spoke to the ground.
“Open.”
As my words reached it, the gap between the bricks parted like waves.
Clatter! Clunk!
And there appeared long stairs.
The brown staircase stretched endlessly downwards.
“Cough! Hek!”
I felt a metallic taste in my throat.
“My throat is wrecked….”
I could barely say two sentences and my vocal cords were in this state.
It’s less backlash than expected considering I’d used dragon power though.
“Cough! Coughhh!”
Coughing blood is not an appealing sight, that’s for sure.
I’ll probably be dealing with this for a few days.
“Still… I finally unlocked the place!”
After shaking off the blood, I headed down the stairs.
How long did I walk?
At some point, shining stars began to dot the darkness.
Slowly, increasingly empty spaces filled with primitive structures came into view.
[‘Hidden Piece #3’ discovered.]
[You have opened the ‘Constellation Workshop’!]
A place that looks like the remnants of an ancient civilization.
This is precisely the ‘workshop’ created by the headmaster of Polaris.
“Truly an unreal space.”
Of course, there’s no way such a night sky would spread beneath an academy.
This is a magically constructed space made with the dragon’s power.
A thoroughly separated space from the outside, truly a new realm.
‘The headmaster has been missing for over a decade.’
Yet this space still remains.
However, since its very existence was not known and it couldn’t be opened without invoking the Dragon Speech, it simply gathered dust and was forgotten.
“I’ll use it a bit now.”
I chuckled and walked into the center of the workshop.
A synthesis of ultra-ancient civilizations.
Various intricate facilities were intertwined, but all I needed to focus on was the ‘altar’ in the middle.
At the very top of the pyramid-like structure.
The closest place to the night sky.
“This must be the furnace.”
Recalling what I had seen in the game as best as I could, I dumped all the materials onto the altar.
Whirrwhirrwhirr…!
As the molten metal quickly rose, flames ignited in the pipes scattered around this workshop.
[Activating the Constellation Workshop.]
[Here, you can create equipment imbued with the power of constellations.]
The messages I’d been eagerly waiting for appeared.
[Checking the input materials…]
[Confirmed that you can create (1) piece of equipment with the materials used.]
[Do you wish to create the equipment?]
What was there to hesitate over?
“Let’s make it.”
As I nodded, various parts of the workshop moved in an orderly manner, starting to create something.
Clink! Tink! Clank! Bang!
This massive space was operating to create just one weapon.
I was so captivated by the scene, it almost felt surreal.
[Final Stage.]
[Please select the constellation power to be added.]
The stars in the night sky twinkled.
‘This power of the constellations.’
I decided that from the very beginning.
“I choose the power of ‘Serpent Master’.”
[Confirmed.]
[Compatibility between the created equipment and Serpent Master… very good.]
[The quality of the equipment is rising!]
Brilliant starlight descended upon the altar.
[Creation complete.]
[You have crafted extraordinary equipment!]
[A magnificent ‘masterpiece’ has been born!]
[The creation record of this equipment will be logged in the history of the ‘Constellation Workshop’!]
[‘Shadow’ is attributed to the creator!]