Chapter 144: The Blue Bird Is Nearby

The system window that had appeared the instant the giant of fire, the Fierce God Evil Slayer, was sealed.

Ding!  

<A reward from Morgue Mu Featherback will be given to the Warehouse Keeper who perfectly completed the sealing procedure!>

Soon, black currents began swirling violently.

Rumble rumble—!!

A display stand made of yellowish-brown metal appeared.

Hanging on it was a transparent suit of armor.  

The inside was clearly visible, as if the armor were made of glass.  

The rainbow-tinted plates occasionally twitched, almost as if they were alive.

Flutter—

<Breastplate ‘Symbiart’>  

– Storage Number: MRG-580  

– Storage Rank: Terror

Two hundred and seventy years ago, a massive meteorite fell on the Queens Hills Plain.  

Inside it was an extraterrestrial substance called “Symbiart,” composed of transparent liquid. 

When it came into contact with a human, Symbiart would cling to the body and transform into armor tailored specifically to the wearer.  

Experiments showed that the armor form created by Symbiart was heavily influenced by the host’s temperament.  

Strong humans gained superhuman strength, agile humans gained nimbleness, and clever humans gained advanced intelligence.  

However, humans exposed to Symbiart gradually lost their sense of self and eventually became slaves to Symbiart.

“An alien substance this time, huh.”

A bio-armor that pushed the wearer’s physical strengths to the absolute limit.  

But with side effects added on top.  

And fatal ones at that—loss of ego and theft of the body.

As long as it’s a living human, that is.

There was one optimal person who didn’t have to worry about the side effects.

I handed Symbiart to Jeanne.

“It’s an S-rank armor artifact. Try it on.”

“Master……”

Jeanne looked at me with a deeply moved expression.

“I will never forget Master’s boundless grace. This unworthy disciple will surely repay you.”

Jeanne reached out toward Symbiart.

Then.

Shrrrrrk—

Symbiart turned liquid and clung to Jeanne’s body.

Creak creaaaak—!

It fused with the skull armor Jeanne was wearing and took shape.  

Black bone armor with a flickering black aura.  

Black manes sprouted from the shoulders and neck, and a pitch-black cloak hung down to her waist.  

It had transformed into an appearance that radiated the full dignity of a Death Knight.

At that moment.

Uuuung uuuung— uuuung— uuuung uuuung—

A dark red aura began swirling around Jeanne. 

The Sword of the Night and Symbiart.  

The two S-rank artifacts were resonating with each other.

Artifacts could draw out their true power the stronger their wearer became.

Jeanne’s physical abilities had risen dramatically thanks to the Symbiart breastplate. 

As a result, the full power of the Sword of the Night had been unlocked.

Jeanne spoke.

“Power is surging through my entire body……! With this strength…… I can definitely defeat the Seven Traitors!”

Jeanne’s eyes sparkled.  

But only for a moment.  

She soon wore a bitter expression.

“However, there is no way to find out where the Seven Traitors are hiding……”

“You don’t have to worry about that part. I have this.”

I took out a key from my inventory.

A transparent key with six smaller keys attached in different directions.

Ding!  

<Key of the Six W’s>

A key that twists the six principles of causation.  

If you think of a specific target and open a door with the Key of the Six W’s, you can move to that target’s location.  

However, it cannot be used on targets you have never encountered.

It was the hidden artifact I had obtained in Maslow’s Tower.

If you held this key and thought of a specific person, you could teleport to their location. 

When I tested it on my university classmate Kim Youngjun, it didn’t send me right in front of the target.  

It sent me to a spot within the target’s vicinity where no one could see me—  

a corner of the student cafeteria, the restroom near the lecture hall, the stairs of a pub, and so on.

……I didn’t use it often because I didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention.

There was only one condition:  

It could only target people I had met before.

I looked at Jeanne and said,

“Just hold this key and think of the Seven Traitor you want to defeat.”

Jeanne nodded with a resolute expression.

But at that moment.

Stagger—

Jeanne lost her balance and sat down.  

It seemed her legs had given out. 

Her stamina and mana had bottomed out after confronting the Fierce God Evil Slayer.

I looked at Jeanne and said,

“Let’s make thorough preparations for important matters. Rushing will only make things worse.”

“You are absolutely right. I showed you an unsightly sight.”

Jeanne slowly stood up.

“The armor Master gave me still needs a bit more time to get used to. And…… I also want to test the newly felt power of the Sword of the Night.”

“Let’s do that.”

I looked at the sealing stones and continued.

“Compared to the Fierce God Evil Slayer, how strong are the Seven Traitors?”

“The Fierce God Evil Slayer was certainly an unreasonably powerful magical beast. However……”

Jeanne spoke with a resolute expression.

“The strength of the Seven Traitors far surpasses the realm of comprehension.”

“It won’t be easy.”

The next target was one of the Seven Traitors.  

They were formidable enemies on par with the Death Lord Binsfeld.

I would need to steadily build up my strength until then.

***

Ding!  

<‘Close’ command acknowledged.> 

<Morgue’s Magical Warehouse is being closed.>

I returned to my semi-basement one-room apartment.

Only then did fatigue wash over me like a wave.

I looked around the room.

It was what people called minimalist interior design.  

In the past, there had only been one bed, one low desk, a small refrigerator, a TV I bought for ten thousand won from a second-hand shop, and a clothes rack from a discount store.

But now the walls were lined with shelves and display cases. 

Yellowed history books. 

Small Buddha statues. A bamboo flute split in half. Blue-green rusted old coins.  

All sorts of antiques and relics were neatly stored.

They were Shadow Knight relics I had collected here and there over the past few months. 

I had summoned all the usable Shadow Knights, and the antiques with monetary value were kept in the room.

Then.

Knock knock—

“Young man. Are you home?”

A familiar voice came from outside the door.

When I opened it, the landlady was standing there holding a large pot.

“Oh my! You’re here today. You must be busy lately. I almost forgot what you look like.”

“Have you been well, Grandma?”

“Yes. But you look much healthier. You’ve gotten quite handsome.”

“It’s all thanks to you looking after me, Grandma. What brings you here?”

“Oh no, no. I just came to give you some side dishes. I made some pork kimchi stew.”

A delicious smell of kimchi wafted from the pot the landlady was holding.

Back in the days when I couldn’t even pay rent, let alone utilities, and was struggling.  

The most painful and miserable thing was going hungry.

Whenever I really wanted delivery food, I would splurge and order the cheapest jajangmyeon and jjamppong set from the neighborhood Chinese restaurant.

Jajangmyeon and jjamppong with five fried dumplings. 

That came to ten thousand won.  

I would stretch that into three days of meals.  

Jajangmyeon for lunch, jjamppong for dinner.  

I would peel off the fried coating from the dumplings and eat only that, then put the dumpling filling in a bowl and freeze it.  

When I couldn’t resist the craving for dumplings anymore, I would take just one tiny bite.

After finishing the jajangmyeon and jjamppong, I would transfer the jajang sauce and jjamppong broth into separate bowls and put them in the fridge.

The next day, I would stir-fry the jajang sauce in a pan with the frozen dumpling filling and cold rice.  

The day after that, I would boil the jjamppong broth in a pot and add ramen noodles and rice to make two meals.

Somehow the landlady found out about my situation, and ever since then, whenever she made delicious side dishes, she would bring them in a big pot like this.

It was truly something to be grateful for.

I looked at the landlady and said,

“Have you eaten dinner yet, Grandma?”

“No, I was planning to go upstairs and eat after giving this to you.”

The landlady lived alone upstairs.  

Her husband had passed away four years ago, and all her children were overseas, she had said.

I took the pot and said,

“Grandma, why don’t you eat with me here?”

“Oh my. Wouldn’t that be a bother for you, young man?”

“Not at all. Come in and sit for a bit. I’ll get it ready quickly.”

“It would be nice to eat together. Thank you, young man.”

I washed the rice and put it in the rice cooker, then started boiling a simple soup in a new pot.  

It was egg soup with eggs, chives, and onions.  

After that, I quickly seasoned some cabbage to make geotjeori.

My cooking skills had improved a lot from making various dishes for the people of Hecate Village.

Soon, a savory aroma that stimulated the appetite began to spread.

The landlady, who had been watching me cook, spoke.

“You’re cooking rice at home now? Oh, you’re doing so well, young man. You should eat home-cooked meals. If you get used to eating out all the time, your body will wear out quickly. Oh dear…… I’m nagging again.”

“Nagging only comes from affection.”

“You’re such a good-looking young man and you speak so nicely too. If I had a granddaughter, I would have made you my grandson-in-law.”

The landlady smiled warmly.

“By the way, young man, where did you get all these things? There are so many new ones I haven’t seen before.”

The landlady was looking at the relics on the display case.

“Are you interested?”

“Oh my. I don’t even know how to appraise them. My late husband used to collect things like this too.”

“So Grandpa had that hobby.”

“Hah. My husband didn’t have an eye for them at all. He treated them like sacred treasures. His one hobby was collecting junk and trash his whole life.”

The landlady let out a deep sigh.

“I should have thrown them all away before I got too old…… I need to call a cleaning company and get rid of that mountain of stuff. Sigh, when will I ever clean that up?”

“Grandpa’s antique collection must be quite big?”

The landlady pointed at the display case.

“There are probably hundreds of times more than what’s here. The storage room over there is packed full.”

“Hundreds of times?”

“Yes. There are things from the old Joseon period, Goryeo artifacts, and even antiques from China or Japan or some other countries. It’s a complete mess.”

My eyes suddenly widened.

Not only relics from the Korean peninsula, but also from East Asian countries.

The landlady continued.

“If you’re interested, would you like to take a look? Pick anything you like and take it.”