Chapter 150

Three days later, I was still in the hospital. My injuries had already recovered but there remained surgery to be done.

‘No, wait… can this physique be fixed if it is due to ‘her’?’

Of course, it seemed possible since this physique wasn’t a curse deliberately inflicted by ‘her’, but rather a side effect. What if it couldn’t be fixed though?

‘Nope. If that were really the case, the game master would’ve mentioned it.’

But what if they just brushed it off as not their concern…

“Sigh.”

Shaking away these nagging thoughts, I patted Cheeda’s belly instead. Despite not leaving my hospital room for three straight days, I’d been incredibly busy.

[Wow! Sponsor M-4 has donated 8 million dragon stones!]

I continued serializing ‘The Scripture of Light’ and secured sponsorships. Despite concerns about blending Christianity, Catholicism, and Islam, it has been quite successful.

[M-4: Haven’t seen you in a while.]

As usual, I calculated based on the lackluster sponsorship messages compared to the amounts received.

“Receiving 2.5 billion from Taesuk, plus adding all the sponsorships… approximately 3.5 billion.”

It’s an enormous sum. In my previous life, even working till death wouldn’t have earned me this much money.

However…

“Ah… It’s uncertain. Should I be satisfied with legendary instead of mythical?”

Since becoming an apostle, I haven’t logged in once. I’m aware that as time passes in Ardenia, the Human Empire’s losses accumulate.

“The cost for mythical castles isn’t a problem. Even when added together, it’s just 1.4 billion.”

The problem was the attached buildings.

‘If I give up on production buildings and only install defense towers and siege objects, it will cost 340 million.’

To equip seven castles with minimal defensive capabilities as mythological castles, it would be 540 million multiplied by 7, resulting in a total need of 3.8 billion. In other words, I didn’t have enough money.

“Ah… maybe I should opt for fully furnished legendary castles instead?”

However, this would complicate matters later. If I upgraded the castles while citizens were living there, their cargo arrangements and placements would become chaotic. One might think that avoiding upgrades altogether could solve the issue, but…

‘There will inevitably come a time when even legendary castles won’t suffice. Moreover, giving up gigas production seems too wasteful.’

I pondered deeply over my options, sitting lost in thought.

“A hole where money comes from…”

“Patient Han Jae-yeon, we will move to the surgical suite.”

“Oh, yes.”

I patted Cheeda’s belly, emptied the character’s inventory, and set up automatic hunting.

“Wait here.”

“Miaow!”

Leaving behind Cheeda who nodded, I exited the hospital room. A nurse was waiting at the door.

“Then let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Feeling slightly nervous, I followed the nurse. The beautiful nurse glanced at me and asked, “It is lucky to meet the famous apostle directly. According to the news, you caught two Transcendents?”

“I was just lucky.”

It wasn’t humility; it was truly luck. Especially in the case of Dark Messiah, the result wouldn’t have been possible without overlapping luck.

‘For Dark Messiah, it must be unbelievably unlucky.’

Well, considering that one of them was a chromatic dragon, the outcome of the battle was decided from the beginning. It was quite a fierce fight but could only occur because they wanted to hide their identities.

“Patient Han Jae-yeon? The watch should be pushed…”

“Oh.”

In front of the surgical suite, I looked at the sleek design watch on my left wrist. With its subtle black shine, it had analog hands and appeared luxurious yet unidentifiable.

‘This is a transcendent weapon…a treasure worth a giant ship…’

I glanced at the watch.

[Zerosum]

The sum of gains and losses is zero.

[Drop Adjustment Lv. 1: When acquiring an item above Mythical rarity, instead of it appearing, store its drop probability.]

Stored probabilities can be activated at any desired time.

1,000 points needed to upgrade to stage 2.

[Event Adjustment Lv. 1]

[1 million points required for Open.]

‘The sum of gains and losses isn’t zero…it’s unilaterally beneficial.’

If I could store drop probabilities, it would be possible to farm only the necessary items by considering the drop table. Alternatively, I could use it to prevent drops like the card incident, which were unusable for me.

‘The problem is that I need to make it grow… According to Daha, feeding it drop items should work.’

I released Zerosum and put it into my inventory. Fortunately, there were no problems putting it inside, meaning it could be used in Ardenia as well.

“Then I hope you get good results! Fighting!”

“Ah, yes.”

With the nurse’s encouragement, I entered the surgical suite. It was called a surgical suite but looked like an old-fashioned study.

“Oh, you’ve come.”

A green-haired woman raised her head from reading a book in front of the fireplace. She was a familiar face.

“Flower-ssi?”

Green Dragon Flower, the main vocalist of F.D. While I couldn’t call her an acquaintance, we had met during the recent monster crisis.

“I volunteered because I heard you were performing surgery on Jae-yeon-nim. Besides, I was currently on break.”

“Ah…thank you very much.”

She was truly the best card to have. The reason being, she wasn’t just any ordinary dragon but a chromatic dragon! Even as one of its five heads, her capabilities far surpassed those of a typical Transcendent.

Click!

At that moment, the door opened, revealing another familiar face.

“Huh? Flower? Didn’t expect to see you here amidst your busy schedule.”

“Hello, Shining-nim.”

Surprisingly, it was Shining, the CEO of Sky Soft. He frowned upon seeing me.

“Agh… This is precisely why I need to make more money!”

It seemed like he was still suffering from the aftermath of losing the stock battle. He had likely invested all his money and suffered massive losses.

“Hello everyone…”

The door opened again, revealing a beautiful elf with dull blonde hair.

“Oh, it’s the headmistress of Destiny Magic Tower.”

Indeed, she was Lucky Strike, the owner of Destiny Magic Tower, who incurred significant debt due to her failed investment. Her story was infamous; believing too much in her divination ability, she treated the stock market as her playground, resulting in a staggering loss of 300 trillion won. Nobody remained unaware of this tale.

As expected, Shining waved cheerfully with a bright smile.

“Oh, Debtor! I knew you’d show up. Paying off your debts?”

“Almost.”

“Well, ‘almost’ seems to be your go-to answer.”

The door opened again, admitting a middle-aged man with gray hair. He wore a black cloak made not of fabric but souls.

“…Is this everyone? The aptitude change surgery may be challenging, but isn’t this excessive? Deploying four great mages for one person?”

This was none other than Heindel, the headmaster of the Necromancy Magic Tower and a grand necromancer.

What is going on here?

Jinwoo couldn’t wrap his mind around the caliber of individuals present. Four transcendent beings, all at the level of great mage—this was unheard of. Considering that the cost of raw materials outweighed labor costs in aptitude change surgeries, it highlighted just how extraordinary this situation was.

“Ms. Han Jae-yeon, please come here and lie down.”

“Oh, yes.” At Flower’s gentle words, she lay on a carpet with hundreds of magic circles drawn on it. The soft, unknown fibers tickled her neck.

“Excuse me…”

“Time Stop.”

The moment she was about to ask something, time stopped.

‘I’ve experienced this quite often lately.’

Having gone through it once before, I immediately switched my perspective using ‘Viewpoint’. In this state, I could speak, but I remained silent as revealing such abilities wasn’t necessary for these great mages who I might not encounter again.

“Now! Let’s start by assessing your condition!”

“The government is covering all material costs, so let’s go all out. I’m feeling really strained these days.”

“Even if you are the apostle of the game master, show some minimum sincerity.”

“Don’t produce shameful results for the game master.”

In stopped time, the four great mages wielded their magic power.

Wooong!

Space fluctuated as magic power swept through it.

‘Something is amazing.’

They said they were wielding magic power, but I couldn’t feel it. Was it because my mana affinity was at a low level? However…in the world of ‘Perspective’, I could clearly understand what they were doing with Al. It was like reading a book. Even if it was a specialized text that I didn’t fully comprehend, I could read it if it was written in hangul. In fact, now I could accurately perceive both the shape and texture of Heindel’s cloak, which wasn’t visible before!

Thanks to this, I could understand despite knowing nothing about magic that four great mages were assessing my condition in different ways.

Woo-woo…

Vwoom!

After a moment passed, their bored expressions turned astonished at being dragged out for such trivial matters.

“No… What is this?”

“His physical body is completely fine. No, isn’t it on par with a complete transformation? Yet…”

“The veins are normal, and there are clear traces of mana flowing within his body. How can this be?”

“The mana… It’s detached from this world. He possesses Inner Force but…it isn’t originating externally. This isn’t like drawing mana through a living Dimensional Gate; instead, it seems…”

As the four great mages focused intently on their work, hundreds of magic circles continuously appeared and disappeared around me.

“It’s the soul. This is a problem related to the soul, so simply feeding it spiritual pills won’t solve it.”

“Could this be an avatar? However, if it were an avatar, it should have a stronger connection with this world rather than being distinctly separated like this…”

“Funnily enough, the body itself isn’t immune to magic since it exists in reality. Ah, except for spiritual or curse-based spells; they wouldn’t affect even if you died. It seems impossible to cast them on someone residing in another dimension…”

They continued sharing opinions while casting various spells.

“Injecting Mana Amplifier.”

“What is the concentration?”

“0.55.”

“Activating Spell Enhancement.”

They inject needles into my body or make strange tattoos. Fortunately, there is no pain. In the world of ‘Perspective’, everything is perceived as information. Isn’t it similar to how I don’t feel pain when seeing torture scenes in a novel?

“Failure! It’s frustrating. Can’t we kill him once and revive him? Or extract his spiritual body? Then we might be able to understand more clearly.”

“Do you want to get caught by the Game Master?”

“That aside, what nonsense…we only have one specimen…”

I observed the surgical process while in Perspective mode. One hour, two hours, three hours passed. One day, two days, three days, four days… Time flowed like water.

‘Wow.’

I couldn’t help but groan at the sight of the great mages continuing their work without any hesitation.

‘They didn’t stop time for nothing.’

Despite using various equipment, herbs, mana stones, etc., like water, the operation time exceeded imagination. Considering that each person present was so valuable that their right to share a meal could be auctioned off, it showed the value of this surgery.

‘Including the cost of materials…it is truly astronomical. It would buy several gigas.’

And this astronomical investment finally bore fruit. One week after the surgery began…

Shining spoke with labored breathing, “It is complete.”

Ba-dump, ba-dump!

The heart floating in mid-air was beating fiercely. Surrounded by dozens of ultimate spells, it naturally belonged to me.

“Can I give it a name?” At Flower’s words, the three great mages looked at each other.

They nodded in agreement.

“Fine. No matter how we think about it, your share seems to be the highest.”

“But isn’t he just newly grown as a dragon? His magic power seems too high.”

“And his understanding of magic is excessively advanced…even worm-grade dragons can’t match this.”

“I am indeed newly grown. I’m 1,002 years old.”

The great mages murmured at Flower’s narrowed eyes.

“No, that’s somewhat…could he be a late-born child of the golden dragon?”

“Well, considering him as a green dragon…”

“Surely not all F.Ds are at this level?”

“Ahh! Enough nonsense! The name for this composite spell will be Dimensional Awl Heart!”

With this declaration…

Ba-dump!

The heart that had been outside entered my body again. Then…

Flash!

The scene of the surgical suite with four great mages instantly changed to a vast plain stretching as far as the eye could see.

”…Huh?”

I was startled by the sudden change in background after anxiously awaiting the end of the surgery.

“Uwah! Where is this place?”

”…So suddenly?”

I knew where we were—it was my inner world, which I often visited. The problem was that there were other people present.

“What? Where is this?”

“Ah, it isn’t a physical relocation. A sort of spiritual realm perhaps. But pulling me here so abruptly… Is this also her mischief?”

There were two uninvited guests—a boy who appeared to be in his late teens and a man seemingly in his early twenties.

‘In total, there are three of us.’

I suddenly had a guess and raised my hand first. Then I calmly explained to the two people watching me:

“Hmm. Maybe this happened due to my circumstances. Let’s start by understanding the situation. My name is Killian. I am playing Revenge.”

“Ah…! Could it be…?!”

”…”

The boy was surprised, while the man nodded as if he understood. The boy spoke first: “M-My name is Crushed Handle. I’m playing Blade & Magic.”

’…Indeed.’

After confirming my speculation, I looked at the man. He seemed to grasp the situation, responding with interest:

“I’m playing Dark Star. My name is…” The man in the red robe grinned.

“Call me Merlin.”