Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Discord
The strongest magical device of Turan, the Mimic Holy Relic.
The primary functions of this object were to observe the flow of magical power in the surroundings, and to absorb and store the magical power of the dead, allowing the user to temporarily use that power.
Because of this, the inside was originally empty with magical power in liquid form filling it in multiple layers of different colors, but now its form had completely changed.
The space that should have been empty was mostly filled with something like precisely crafted gears, and in the center, five circular rings overlapped in a staggered pattern.
Inside each of the five circles, liquids of golden, brown, purple, gray, and turquoise colors swirled.
“This is…”
According to his memory, the golden color was the Sun Bloodline, brown was the Earth Guardian Bloodline, purple was the Light Warrior Bloodline, gray was the Ruler-Tamer Bloodline absorbed from Lenode and other Nagin nobles, and the final turquoise was the Karmain’s Rapids-Frost Bloodline absorbed from Bisen.
The remaining half of other bloodlines like Barrier Mage, Pyromancer, and Illusion had disappeared without a trace.
Seeing this, Solif asked with curiosity.
“What’s this? Weren’t there more than five originally? Did they all disappear?”
“Probably.”
After consuming magical power, instead of improving, did the functionality actually get worse?
While clicking his tongue at the absurd situation, Meisa suddenly reached out toward the Holy Relic and said.
“Let me try to appraise it.”
“Will that be possible?”
“Unlike creation, appraisal is a basic skill. I might not be as good as Asiz, but I should be able to see something.”
After receiving the Holy Relic, Meisa sat down on the sandy beach and furrowed her brow, seemingly to concentrate.
Perhaps even for a powerful enchanter like her, appraising a top-tier Holy Relic wasn’t easy.
A few minutes later, Meisa wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and said.
“It’s definitely completely different from before. But I don’t think it’s a loss. No, it’s actually worth having shared the sea serpent’s magic…”
“Can you tell me specifically?”
“First, the magical power it can store is now limited to five types. To store more, you’d have to release what’s already being stored.”
“That’s a disadvantage.”
When Solif grumbled, Meisa clicked her tongue lightly as if telling him to be more patient.
“But now the magic inside is no longer consumable.”
Turan and Solif looked at each other for a moment, speechless.
If that was true—
“You mean we can use other bloodlines’ powers permanently?”
“Yes. Specifically, the bloodline ability positioned in the topmost circle among these five will always be applied to the owner. You can change the position by turning the spring here.”
“This is… truly an object even gods would covet. Unbelievable.”
“It’s an object created by the combined magic of a god and a sea serpent.”
It was certainly as Meisa said.
An object created by the mixed magic of a god and a magical beast that rivaled it—what Holy Relic in the world was ever created so luxuriously?
But even considering that, it was an excessively powerful and useful item.
Truly, even treasures from mythology would pale in comparison.
If this function became widely known, the Mimic Holy Relic would certainly become the most coveted item by treasure hunters in the future.
Shortly after, Turan received the Holy Relic from Meisa, learned how to operate it, designated the Sun Bloodline, and hung it around his neck.
The change was immediately felt.
“It’s real.”
He could naturally feel the application of one of the abilities within the Sun Bloodline—superior vision and the ability to observe various forms of light.
When he drew up magical power to create light and fire and mixed them, the Light of Judgment naturally formed a halo behind his back.
“So there’s no consumption at all?”
“Well, my own magical power is consumed.”
“That’s obvious. You said there are five now? Let’s test them all.”
Shortly after, Turan switched to the Light Warrior Bloodline and arm-wrestled with Solif again.
Before, he had been like a child overpowered by an adult, but now Turan had the slight advantage.
Perhaps the Light Warrior Bloodline provided greater strength enhancement per unit of magical power than the Guardian Bloodline.
“Ugh—this is crazy!”
“I feel a sense of excitement when using strength forcefully. It would be dangerous to use carelessly during battle.”
“That’s why it’s called the Light Warrior Bloodline.”
After testing all three other bloodlines, Turan’s group acknowledged that the Sea Serpent’s magic absorbed by the Mimic Holy Relic was not wasted at all.
A magical device that unconditionally guaranteed the abilities of one bloodline, or possibly two if from a great family?
Considering that the Guardian magical device became a top-tier magical device just by consuming large amounts of magic to grant Guardian Bloodline abilities, specifically defensive abilities, this was mind-boggling.
After confirming all functions, Turan bowed respectfully to the two.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“We caught it together, but I’m the only one unfairly benefiting. I’ll make sure to compensate for your loss later.”
Since the Mimic Holy Relic was bound to Turan, the other two couldn’t even use it.
To think that part of that mythical creature’s power was consumed for this—hadn’t the two made a great sacrifice?
Considering that Bije was also soul-bound to Turan, he had monopolized three out of five shares.
This was not fair at all.
Meisa had been cut in half, and Solif could have been injured just as badly or worse if things had gone wrong.
Hearing this, Solif laughed loudly and suddenly slapped Turan’s back.
Having set the Holy Relic to the Karmain Bloodline during the final test, Turan helplessly fell forward and planted his face in the sand.
“Keck.”
“Oh my, that was too strong. I’m still not used to being stronger… Anyway, cut out that nonsense. It makes my skin crawl.”
“Well done. If my back wasn’t hurting, I would have hit him too.”
Meisa, who would normally glare at Solif for hitting Turan, actually supported him this time.
“Sharing our magic was our decision. A friend who we can risk our lives with is getting stronger. Conversely, would you prevent my Holy Relic from getting stronger if such an opportunity arose, prioritizing your magic?”
“Well… no, I wouldn’t.”
As Turan smiled wryly and brushed the sand off his face, Meisa carefully stood up and added supportively.
“Besides, it was Turan who delivered the finishing blow in this fight. In terms of contribution, he deserves an extra share.”
“That’s not right. We all risked our lives, and getting more just because you seized an opportunity—”
“Oh, stop being so stubborn!”
* * *
After chatting for a long time on the beach, the three first used the recovery potion magical device to heal Bije’s wings.
They fed him the potion over and over for half a day, so much that if it had been real liquid, he might have died from a burst stomach.
Finally, when the recovered Bije crowed loudly and flew into the sky, Solif looked up and asked.
“Come to think of it, you said the magic Bije uses borrows your power? Don’t tell me she can use lightning now?”
“Probably.”
As if he heard the words even from a distance, Bije dropped a bolt of lightning right in front of Solif and struck a proud pose.
Seeing this, Solif sighed deeply and muttered.
“That devilish bird has finally gained attack abilities. Oh, world!”
Turan restrained Bije, who was trying to drop lightning on Solif’s head, and took out a metal swing from his large pocket and attached it to his leg.
Shortly after, Bije, carrying the three people, soared into the sky.
Although Bije had become stronger, the speed at which he flew while pulling the swing didn’t increase significantly—not because of insufficient strength or speed, but because the swing couldn’t withstand flying too fast.
Of course, the passengers could reinforce it with magic, but there was no need to go that far when there was no urgency.
“The ship was quite fast, but flying is still the best. It feels familiar too.”
Meisa spoke in a somewhat excited tone as she looked down at the vast sea.
Turan deliberately averted his gaze from her dangling legs, which bothered him greatly.
“So, where are we headed?”
“We should be close. After passing Miguel Island and flying for about ten minutes… Ah, I think it’s over there. Bije, just a little to the left from our current trajectory.”
Their destination was none other than the small island where the original owner of the Mimic Holy Relic resided.
Originally, Solif wanted to see him, but there was also an expectation that if they returned with the enhanced Holy Relic or its paired mask, something might happen.
Shortly after landing on the island, they immediately found the pond inside and entered the water.
Of course, there was no need to dive in like before.
“Well, traveling with a Karmain noble sure is convenient.”
“You flatter me.”
Turan’s fluid manipulation ability, with the Holy Relic set to the Karmain Bloodline, had become incomparably stronger and more precise than before.
He could part the water inside the pond, create a passage, and freeze the parts where their feet touched to make stairs going down.
Thanks to this, they easily descended without getting a drop of water on their bodies.
Except for Bije, who got soaked after stretching out his wings in fascination at being able to see through the water.
“Hmm…”
“Is this the place?”
“Yes.”
The place where the sea serpent had been was easily recognizable due to the deeply dented sand and rocks, but the god’s corpse that should have remained there had disappeared without a trace.
Even when activating tracking magic to find a human corpse, nothing could be felt within dozens of kilometers.
“Armani definitely said the god’s corpse would remain in place.”
“Was it a lie?”
“No, it probably wasn’t a lie.”
Passing by the two puzzled people, Turan walked toward a small soul fragment that he could sense through the Holy Relic.
The Holy Relic hanging at his chest resonated with a “zing” as if recognizing its master.
“Elder.”
After taking out the jewel box and opening the lid to summon the librarian, he opened his drowsy eyes and spoke while looking at the soul fragment.
“Oh, have you found another one?”
“Yes. It seems so.”
“Found it… Huh?”
“Can you see him?”
Turning around at the voice from behind, Turan saw Solif and Meisa looking at the librarian with surprised faces.
“You two, can you see me?”
“Yes…”
“So this is what you look like, Elder. Nice to meet you for the first time.”
“This isn’t the first time for me, so skip the greetings. It seems you’ve hunted the sea serpent?”
“Yes, we did. Is that why?”
“Probably.”
It seemed that Solif and Meisa could now interact with the librarian, perhaps because they had awakened the third bloodline.
Surprised by this unexpected fact, Turan decided to address his original purpose for summoning him.
“Could you possibly store and analyze this person’s soul fragment?”
“This person? Who is it?”
“The god who perished together with the sea serpent I mentioned before.”
“Hmm… Well, put it in. I’ll take a look.”
After injecting magic into the jewel box to absorb the fragment, Turan informed the two that only the drowned god’s soul fragment remained.
“It seems the god’s command was the source maintaining the corpse. We absorbed it, leaving only the remnants.”
After explaining what they had just seen, the two nodded and said, “Ah.”
“It feels uncomfortable to carry around the soul fragment of someone who did such a thing.”
“We can’t just leave it. There could be more victims like Bisen if we’re not careful. I’m sure that person wouldn’t want that to happen either.”
When Meisa raised the exact same concern Turan had thought of and refuted it, Solif didn’t say anything more.
“Maybe we can find a way to give him peace later.”
With Turan’s words, the three paid their respects to the place where the soul fragment had been, each in their own way.
It was a tribute to a hero who had fought and lost his life without anyone knowing.
* * *
After completing their final task in the Northern Sea, Turan’s group decided to move toward their priority goal—Meisa’s treatment.
The problem was that now that she had power closer to that of the heads of any great family, an ordinary level healer would not be sufficient for her treatment.
They needed help from at least a high-noble level healer, such as the head of an ordinary healing family.
“It would have been convenient if we had kept a healer bloodline in the Holy Relic.”
“We should try to get one when we have the chance. But what would we have to remove?”
“If I had to choose, the Nagin bloodline seems the least useful.”
The Ruler and Tamer abilities were both bloodline powers that wouldn’t be used under normal circumstances.
Chatting like this, the three continued flying southwest on Bije.
At sunset, the vast coastline of the continent welcomed them.
“So we find ourselves in the Enril Desert again.”
“My mother once said that people here all had horns on their heads and red faces.”
Solif, who had already wandered the desert for months, wore a tired expression, while Meisa looked at the vast desert area with an expression half wary, half curious.
It might be quite fun to leisurely travel the desert to satisfy her curiosity, but treatment was the priority to prepare for any possible situation.
Turan’s group landed on a dune in the desert, had a meal with a skinny desert fox and dried provisions, then continued straight down, avoiding villages and cities.
After two days of observing occasional merchants and bandits below them, they saw a familiar swamp area as they came down from the northwest to the southwest of the Enril Desert.
It was the Siraf Wetlands, the territory of Ravitas.
“Somehow I feel like we often flee here whenever something happens.”
“It’s the safest place since it’s a great family not entangled with gods. It’s also home to the world’s finest healers.”
Instead of heading to the hot spring area where Aikul stayed, as they had before, Turan’s group immediately inquired about the direction of Ravitas’s capital.
Last time, they had met Rida by chance while lingering at the hot springs for months, but in an urgent situation, they needed to go directly to where she lived.
“I hope we meet her soon…”
Meisa said with an anxious face, touching the scar on her waist.
Although she had initially boasted that she was fine since she could walk with flying magic, she had become increasingly uncomfortable with it as time passed.
From bathroom issues to various inconveniences of not being able to use her lower body, she was realizing it day by day.
Fortunately, thanks to Bije’s fast flight, who sympathized with her problems, Turan’s group was soon able to arrive at Merem, the capital of Ravitas.
“Wow, it’s spacious.”
“Don’t ever take off the mask, Sol.”
“Don’t worry.”
Merem, the capital of Ravitas, was a much smaller and more modest city compared to Morgen, the capital of Arabion.
This was because the Siraf Wetlands itself lacked the capacity to support a large population, making it difficult to build a large city.
Of course, it was still a metropolis with a population exceeding 150,000, easily overwhelming ordinary cities.
Before entering the city, Turan removed his mask and handed it to Solif, knowing that wanted posters for Solif were circulating within the Ravitas family.
Fortunately, at that time, neither of the Ravitas nobles had seen his portrait, so they didn’t recognize Solif’s identity, but if they visited the main house directly, someone would surely recognize him.
Although he couldn’t freely change his appearance without the Mimic Holy Relic and its pair, the function of copying a corpse’s face still worked, so he was now wearing the face of a hunter’s corpse they had found passing by.
Wearing this, Solif stood behind Turan’s group like a porter, carrying various fake luggage, with Bije sitting on top, mockingly stepping on Solif’s head.
“Hey, won’t you stop that?”
Listening to Bije and Solif bickering, Turan’s group entered Merem City.
Instead of moving with flying magic, Meisa was being carried by Turan, as her technique wasn’t yet natural enough to look like she was walking normally.
It wouldn’t matter in a deserted place, but showing such an appearance in the middle of the city would be like advertising that she was a noble from Arabion.
Shortly after, Turan called over a passing police officer and asked him to summon a knight.
After projecting magic at the level of a top-tier noble and revealing that he was an acquaintance of Rida, the meeting was arranged at lightning speed.
“You may enter.”
Fortunately, the residences of Ravitas members were not as isolated as those in Arabion, making them easy to find.
Due to the soft ground, the mansion had no tall buildings and wasn’t grand or magnificent, but it had a unique style with an antique dignity.
Heading straight to the reception room, Rida, the elderly lady of Ravitas, greeted Turan while sitting with her legs crossed, smoking what appeared to be a water pipe.
“Nice to see you, young Turan. And Miss Misha too… Oh my, you said you were just friends then, but has your relationship developed since? Youth is wonderful. I can see you don’t want to be apart even for a moment.”
Rida joked with an interested expression at the sight of Turan carrying Meisa.
Turan smiled bitterly, seated Meisa in the chair beside him, sat down himself, and asked quietly.
“It’s not what you’re thinking… More importantly, could I be introduced to the person next to you?”
The man sitting opposite Rida appeared to be in his mid-forties, with a notably tired impression and striking long silver hair.
Judging by his appearance, he didn’t seem to be one of the handsome husbands she had boasted about.
Glancing at him, Rida said with a somewhat annoyed expression.
“Ah, didn’t I tell you last time? That Baraha’s successor had fled. This is his father, Mr. Godis Baraha. He came looking after hearing that I had seen someone who resembled his son.”