Hermit Wizard
Chapter 60

The Soul Flows High (5)

It was believed that the majority of the apprentices who were sent to retrieve the False God entered Korea as a bunch. He collected information independently for two months via the United States. Still, the traces had been cut off like there was nothing from the start. If he didn’t know the alien’s abilities, he would be suspicious that they were caught and imprisoned by an organization like the CIA.

Presumably, the CIA was only mistaken for controlling the species. The alien must have been entrusting his body to get information. Moreover, now that information had been acquired, there would be no more reason to be deliberately caught by humans.

“Is there any clue about what happened after entering the country? Still? It’s already been two months.”

Grace nodded.

“Yeah. He is presumed to have eaten a whole cult and then discarded them away.”

Hundreds of dead bodies were found in a religious organization building in Seoul without any signs of resistance, which caused the Korean society to turn upside down about two months ago. According to the information obtained, the body had similarities to some U.S. intelligence agents found near El Paso. Rapid aging, as if they had aged decades at once.

It was sure that they were somehow related to the Fake God. It was still unclear whether the body naturally aged when brainwashed or whether something else had been applied. Eugene stumbled on his memories.

“The purpose that he has gone so far…is it because of the unidentified flying creatures discovered last spring? That was the information the last interviewer found out.”

“That’s most likely. Anyway, would those disgusting things come from Korean channels?”

“Yeah. It’s probably just that people haven’t seen them coming over. Because they can turn invisible.”

When the giant was consumed and disappeared, the creatures were seen transparently melting into the atmosphere.

“I can’t help but wonder if someone in this world has done it.”

“It’s an overwhelming idea.” Eugene shook his head.

“It’s not something that those who have crossed the wall can do. Isn’t the response so immediate at what happened in the human city? Moreover, the timing was right after the channel opened. Well…no way humans could have synthesized such living things, right? No matter how much you look at them, they’re magical beings.

“That’s true, but…”

“If a human wizard of that level hadn’t been recovered, and we didn’t know until now…our necks would be blown away because of neglecting duty…well, even though the one who can directly cut off our heads is no longer here right now.”

“You’re pretty confident.”

Eugene jumped to his feet with a long sigh, “When we tried to retrieve that alien, we should have sent an executive.”

That’s what Grace agreed with. Eugene turned the blame to the CIA.

“Those stupid guys, they couldn’t properly grasp the ability of the creatures they were holding, and they made a report on it.”

“We should retrieve the bodies of the apprentices who disappeared together with that alien. I want to sweep that country’s CCTVs, but our voice isn’t reaching them.”

“Hmm.”

Eugene was worried for a moment.

“Either way, it’s right to retrieve that alien. We don’t know when we will see another race that has a way to contact the Truth-Seeker in their world. And the apprentices and artifacts that disappeared together should also be retrieved.”

“Yes.”

“Just, we aren’t ready yet.”

Compared to two months ago, the conclusions hadn’t changed.

“If we send additional apprentices to Seoul now, and they are brainwashed again, we will only pour water in the bottomless pit. After the artifact reinforcement work is finished, let’s put it in with the executive.”

After groping for a moment, he asked what he was thinking of.

“Well, it’s a different mission, but we have an apprentice in Seoul, right? How is the progress?”

“It’s been a while since they started training, but the level is still sloppy. It can’t even compare to the school in Washington. Since the number that was collected is also less than 200…it seems that it is too early for us to intervene.”

“Yeah. If there are 200 people, all the wizards of that country haven’t been gathered yet. There is no such thing as a dangerous wizard that needs immediate disposal. We have to wait for it to get bigger and level up. With it in our sight.”

After the withdrawal, the plan was to disguise it as a violent assault of a mad wizard. Still, if the overall level were too low, it would just garner suspicion. For example, it was strange that the Earth melted, and hundreds of people were wiped out only because a wizard who was barely burning fire ran out. If people notice a group was targeting wizards, they would be frightened and dig deeper into the shadows.

“Ah, in the past, if we asked the king, we could control the country at our will. Why is it so complicated in human society these days?” He frowned.

“Moreover, in the past, the country heads weren’t tested for blood as often as they are now. All of them weren’t recorded as government records, and photographs weren’t taken in the media several times a day. Many things cannot be arbitrarily decided!”

“Stop making it obvious.”

“Ah…I miss the absolute monarchy. Everything is a mess in the New World.”

“…I don’t think the New World is a problem anymore. Hmm…anyway, let’s go back to the main point. However, it cannot be helped to delay the timing. What if the aliens collide with other people in the meantime? Like the Korean government.”

“It might be better. No, it certainly will. When people with power find something unknown, they are supposed to be greedy first. Traces and clues will be revealed.”

“Because the Korean government…would pretend to covet something that they couldn’t get without some measures.”

“Yes, even the external guests. Magic, too. Those with power shouldn’t be greedy. But they will never give up. We have to make them give up on their own. Humans have always been.”

“It once said…human greed is an incurable disease, and you deserve to be wary of it.’”

“Is it from Ptahhotep?”

Recognizing who she was quoting, Eugene shook his hand.

“It’s bold of you to say that. You can’t even guess…how damn greedy he was.”

Reminiscent of an Egyptian dignitary who lived in the 25th century B.C., the man laughed, baring his teeth.

***

I checked my wristwatch in the dark. It was 3 a.m. It was the time that everyone would have fallen asleep, even more so if you had to wake up at 6:00 every morning. I concentrated my mind while hiding in the concealment barrier. A parking lot near Hun-neung marked as a hill on the map app. There were low buildings lined up in front of my eyes.

My magic target was a five-story building located 300 meters away. No, to be precise, all the people…and non-human species were asleep in that building. As the magic unfolded, one by one, mental energy began to fly to be—a different sight than when Garam used magic. The size of each energy cluster was literally the same as a piece of grain. The number of light points that broke through the building walls and flocked toward me gradually increased.

After a while, it seemed as if over a hundred fireflies were flying to me.

[Good. At this point, even if someone is awake, they won’t be able to notice it.]

Parvache sent telepathy as if he was satisfied. I continued to use the magic while being careful not to break my concentration.

Actually, this was the part where Parvache and I had the most trouble. Even if I used Garam’s magic without improvement, there was no way that ordinary people would notice their dreams being extracted. The problem was that many of the people there weren’t ordinary people. It was estimated that at least 4 to 5 months had passed since the wizards’ training started in that building. That was enough time to activate the Mana circuit of the eyes. It was even considering the fact that the level of the magic of the instructors wasn’t comparable to that of Gramperi.

Because of that, I was unable to extract the dream as it was, as Garam did. Eventually, Parvache and I improved this magic.

-Wooong!

It detected the dreams of those sleeping inside and compressed them to make them easy to conceal. Only then did we draw out the dream with a cover-up to avoid the eyes of the wizards. As a result, the flight of those tiny light sources shining like starlight was now visible to no one but me. Even if the instructors who were nurturing those wizards were awake, they wouldn’t be able to see these dream fragments floating away. The clusters of dreams that flocked to me were absorbed into the dark yellow metal in my hand.

‘Um…there are 103 dreams collected this time. It is better than the one at 1:00 a.m. It means that two-thirds of the people out there are dreaming presently.’

I decided to stop there for today. It was said that ordinary people dream about 4-5 dreams when they sleep, so it would be possible to extract them using magic once more around 5 o’clock. The problem was that the storage capacity of the Maek’s Copper I was holding seemed to be limited. After I put it in my backpack, I quietly left, hiding in the dark.

***

When I got home, I took out a fist-sized piece of Maek’s Copper in my backpack and placed it on my desk in the studio. It was a heavy object, so you wouldn’t know how hard it was for me to reduce the weight to make it easy to carry. This was one of the two metals I received as a gift from Yusu. After studying it, I found that Maek’s Iron had the property of amplifying Mana. Maek’s Copper had the property of absorbing Mana.

Besides Mana, Maek’s Copper had the power to absorb something other than just Mana, and that was dreams. Maeks don’t use Maek’s Copper because they can attach the dream to their body after collecting it, but I couldn’t. As an alternative, the dream-collecting magic was transformed to be stored in this Maek’s Cooper when I used it. I felt like I was going to die from fatigue, but I had to do my job.

“Now, let’s take a look at them one by one.”

I started working. All 87 dreams I collected at 1 a.m. and the 103 dreams I collected at 3 a.m. were stored in the Maek’s Copper. It wasn’t normal to go through them one by one. I was angry at Garam, who collected my dreams without my permission, so I modified the contract with White Deer and got more for it. The fact that I was secretly spying on a hundred or so people’s dreams seemed to be a childish acquisition.

But it couldn’t be helped. While I have already decided not to do this, I couldn’t even feel remorse for this. Now that I felt guilty, whining was just a luxury. Tsk, if they want to swear at me, just do it. Of course, they would have no way of knowing that I had stolen their dreams, so they wouldn’t have a chance to swear. Moreover, seeing dreams was just the beginning.

“Well…is everyone dissatisfied with their needs? Why are there so many erotic dreams?”

[…]

Well, since they were only training with almost no contact with the outside, could we regard it as an environment similar to the army? Instead of erasing useless dreams, they were transferred and stored in a larger Maek’s Copper. There was no place to use it right now because I hadn’t yet reached the stage of enchanting and absorbing dreams. The realization of dreams was still impossible, but it was unnecessary to realize something like…well, an erotic dream.

Anyway, now I had no ability, no time, no reason. I erased the useless thoughts from my mind and quickly continued sorting. In the meantime, I checked a dream that stood out.

“Oh, this is one of the instructors’ dreams.”

It was a view of another dimension in the dream. I shared my senses and showed Parvache what I was seeing.

[Typical Kaifu race.]

Perhaps it was a memory; it had a warm color of longing. I could see the scene where the alien I saw for the first time communicating with each other. The level of technological civilization seemed to be very low. As a result of my observation of the curriculum for a few days, the magic theory had clear limits. When I saw this, I realized again how abnormal Earth was.

At first glance, the degree of magic that adjusted gravity wasn’t uncommon globally, which didn’t even reach civilization’s level comparable to the Middle Ages on Earth. However, it was crude but not unusual. On the other hand, the concept of magic hadn’t been established until recently on Earth, where civilization had developed to the point that it couldn’t be compared to anything else.

Anyway, which country channel did this Kaifu come from? It was a race that had never been reported in the media. What was the price that had been paid for going all the way over here? And which route did they take to get there? I felt like I would have to dig in more detail when I got the chance, but I didn’t have time to keep looking at this. I threw the instructor’s dream into the Maek’s Copper and then picked up dreams one after another to check them out.

Then I discovered something that stood out again.

“This guy.”

This dream showed extreme anxiety. The protagonist in the dream was found secretly hiding behind the scenes. He was always running away and being chased. The pursuers gradually narrowed the distance, and he gasped in fear that his heart was about to explode.

“Hmm…there isn’t much of use here.”

It was a pretty big nightmare. I watched the dreams until the end, but only feelings of anxiety and fear were transmitted, and I couldn’t find any relevant information. In fact, most dreams were shaped like this, no matter who the dreamer was. It was rare to list your story logically in a dream. In most cases, the suppressed desires or combinations of everyday memories just appeared without any probability or cause.

“Let’s keep it for now.”

I kept this dream well. Although it was a dream that didn’t have much value as information, I thought I could use it after mastering the implementation stage. And I kept searching again…

“Wow, Parvache. Look at this jackpot!”

Yes, this was the kind of dream I was looking for. Should I call it the narrator of the dream? The main character was a boy who is just over twenty years old—the same age as me. In the dream, this guy was playing…a genius wizard. Parvache, who saw this dream together through my senses, mumbled as if it were absurd.

[…How many Ashpim giants is he trying to catch with that many lightning strikes? And, why is the lightning black in color?]

It seemed that the Ashpim Giant had become synonymous with hostile alien species among Koreans because of the past incident on Mapo Bridge. The protagonist of the dream was beating the Ashpim Giant with magic. That too…with hundreds of dragon-shaped black thunderbolts protruding from his fingertips!

“Wow… the name of the spell is Draconic Dark Lightning Storm!”

Initially, I couldn’t read the detailed conversations and thoughts in the dreams. Still, the media in my dreams aired a special program that analyzed his magic, and I, after reading the broadcast subtitles, got to know the name unwillingly. Anyway, the boy in the dream became the hero of the country after annihilating the Ashpim Giants.

The development of the dream was incredibly fast. Our protagonist, who had achieved magical achievement at a speed that other wizards couldn’t dare to achieve, soon surpassed even his mentor’s magic level, the Kaifu, and became the best wizard on Earth. He then swept and killed the monsters (mostly Ashpim Giants with a little imagination) that were continually pouring out of the Mapo Bridge Channel and sold the corpses to gain enormous wealth.

And then…

“Huh? Isn’t that Lee Seo-rin?”

Among the women surrounding him, our customer’s face was stuck. The guy in the dream was now enjoying his joyful life by marrying six beauties. Then again, the scene changed sharply, and the dream ended while the U.S., who was wary of his powers, was caught trying to kidnap his family and was backtracked by him. It seemed that I collected this dream at that critical moment.

Looking at the still image of the “Gigantic Fire Blast” spell pouring into a U.S. military fighter named Rapper or Raptor, I spoke to Parvache.

“If he dreams like this, he has a clear sense of purpose to spread your horizons with magic, right?”

[…It can’t be denied.]

“He seems to have a narcissistic tendency.”

[Seeing the dreams makes it clear, his mental barrier is also low.]

And…most of all, although detailed surface consciousness cannot be read, the concepts and attributes of emotions felt in dreams could be recognized. What I felt in this dream was a very intense desire related to magic. A certain degree of selfishness to make something different from others, and never share it with others.

I nodded.

“Okay, let’s target this guy.”