117 - Preparation

"I didn’t expect you to be so quick with refurnishing the manor. I remember leaving it in a dreary state,” Korin stated as he tasted the cup of tea Illyan had just placed in front of him.

The one knocking on the door was him. He was here to discuss something with Illyan. Vael, who was always courteous to his colleagues, decided to leave the manor and let them discuss whatever Korin wanted to talk about in private.

Illyan noticed that Vael didn’t look exactly happy, as his face was glum. Maybe the old men weren’t on good terms.

On the other hand, Korin looked grateful to Vael, but Illyan didn’t believe it one bit.

“I wanted to finish it as soon as possible. I don’t like incomplete things,” Illyan answered placidly as he sat down on the chair once he finished preparing the tea.

“Hohoho, I see, I see,” Korin laughed as he looked around with wonder.

“What brings you here, Mr. Korin? You didn’t come here just to compliment me, right?” Illyan already knew that the man was focusing most of his time on studying.

In fact, Illyan felt like Korin was even more diligent than he was in learning.

Whenever he went to visit him, Korin was always reading some book or writing something on parchments.

Such a man wouldn’t just visit him for small talk.

“Haha, I guess I shouldn’t waste your time,” Korin chuckled. Then, his expression turned somber as he stated the reason for his visit.

“The mayor visited the institution,” Korin started brusquely.

This surprised Illyan.

“The mayor? Why?”

“It was decided that in half a year, there would be an expedition into the Iron Troll Mountain Range to cull some trolls. It is probably to quell the anger people felt towards the underground’s troll incident half a month before or something. You will probably be part of the expedition and won’t be able to refuse,” Korin explained, but Illyan just furrowed his brow as he realized what he was talking about.

‘Damn it…’ Illyan cursed under his breath. He probably wouldn’t be able to avoid this trip as he was a physician. Perus was in a bad state, and it was questionable if he would recover in time. And since Illyan still worked under the Academic Institute, he was obligated to help the mayor if requested.

However, if possible, he wanted to avoid going. He didn’t care much about the danger of trolls. They were not intelligent, so he would be able to deal with them.

Unfortunately, there was a different kind of beast in the woods.

‘Ezekiel…’ Thinking about the man who almost finished him made Illyan cautious.

Yes, he won against him, but that was because he was in peak performance while Ezekiel was already injured. And even then, he was losing badly. If not for him using an air slash to incapacitate Ezekiel for a second, he wouldn’t have won.

The air slash became his new trump card that could easily contend with aura masters, but he probably couldn’t use it often as it was difficult to keep [Flow Breathing Technique] going throughout a fight.

And since Ezekiel already knew about it, he would be able to counter it.

‘If only I could hide my life force, then I wouldn’t need to fear him discovering me…’

His thoughts were cut off as he noticed Korin’s look.

That made Illyan wonder. He was a physician, so it made sense why he would need to participate.

But what about Korin? He wasn’t a physician, after all.

“What does that have to do with you?” His question didn’t surprise Korin one bit.

Korin puffed out his chest as if he was proud before saying the rest.

“You see, our archaeologist department has a certain deal with the mayor. There is an ancient miner city in the mountains where residents were mining iron. It is one of the reasons why this academic institute even came to be. To explore the place and learn its mysteries. With the help of soldiers who keep us safe, we enter the place to study it. In return, we must share almost all the information with the mayor.”

It was just now that Illyan realized Korin wasn’t just a mathematician but also a historian and archaeologist. He introduced himself as such, but Illyan forgot about it since he was most interested in math out of the three specializations.

“Is this the thing you wanted to solve?” Illyan asked with a placid face. Korin and he made a deal where he got the manor for ten gold coins while promising to reach a certain level in mathematics to help Korin.

However, he was still far from the requested level.

“Yes, it could be said so. There are more ruins in Vanaras Kingdom that I need to crack open. They are ruins from the kingdom before Vanaras. The civilization in this place back then was highly advanced, with complex mechanisms covering the cities. Only through a high level of mathematics and geometry did we manage to make some of the mechanisms work,” Korin sighed with a wistful expression.

“I understand your intention, Mr. Korin. However, our deal included me reaching the level where I could help you. As of now, there are probably many apprentices that can surpass me when it comes to mathematics.”

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If possible, Illyan wanted to avoid going, but even if he could not, he would rather go as a physician. Who knew what Korin planned to do there?

“Kaoran… I am aware that asking that of you is inappropriate, but I must beseech you. You are one of the most talented people I have come to know in this field. If I show you what we are working on, you will definitely progress much faster!”

Korin said this as he held tightly to the chair he was sitting on. The unrest in his voice made him tremble, which subsequently caused him to cough.

The coughing was so serious that he needed to take a tissue to wipe his mouth, now covered in red foam.

“What is the matter?!” Illyan stood up with feigned concern as he looked at Korin with cold eyes.

‘This is no normal disease or injury.’

“N-no… Nothing. It is just my long-lasting injury from youth… You don’t need to think about it. It isn’t something physicians can solve,” Korin huffed for air as he explained.

‘Did he do it to gain sympathy?’

However, Illyan's distrust in others made him wonder if this was just a sham. He could see the man was really injured, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fake this.

But it didn’t matter for now. What mattered was how Illyan should get out of this mess.

“Even so…” Unfortunately, Illyan knew that he wouldn’t be able to do so without antagonizing Korin.

And that was something Illyan was unwilling to do. It wasn’t because he liked him or didn’t want to lose the opportunity to learn from him.

Rather, he felt that Korin was too big a variable to make an enemy out of him.

He didn’t feel any strength from the man, but he had magic contracts and magic tools. He didn’t know his goals or his allies.

The only reason Illyan knew something was wrong was because of his eyes noticing the contract being magical.

“You don’t need to worry if it is about safety. Actually, it is normal for us to hire some bodyguards whenever we go on such expeditions. You also don’t need to do that much on this trip. There will be others like you that just need to learn. I don’t expect we will make any big progress this time anyway.”

Korin explained patiently.

Illyan sighed after hearing this.

“Alright… I will try.”

Korin brightened up as he heard his answer.

After that, they had small talk before Korin stood up to leave.

“It is still early. It will be half a year later, so we still lack some information. I will keep in touch with you to inform you when needed.”

“Alright. Thank you for sharing the information,” Illyan thanked Korin. He knew that the information would go public much later, and he would be one of the last to be informed.

“Hohoho, no problem.”

With that, Korin turned around to leave. But then he stopped.

“Ah! I almost forgot. I have a small gift for you to show my sincerity. I believe that with your help, we will be able to make a big leap in our project.”

Saying that, Korin left a big bag on the table.

“It is half of my stash of the tea of clarity. You can use it whenever you feel your mind is foggy or when you need to pull an all-nighter.”

*Click*

The doors closed as Korin finally left.

Illyan just sat there staring at the tea bag with a dazed expression, thinking about what to do.

‘This is driving me crazy.’ In the end, he could only sigh in exasperation.

It was annoying that he couldn’t do anything to refuse, but that’s how things were.

If he didn’t want to work under the kingdom’s forces, then he would need to leave the institute. That was something he could not do, as the library was still important in his eyes.

It was also too soon to burn bridges with Korin.

Illyan could only yield for now.

He grabbed the tea bag and went towards his laboratory.

There, he checked with his tools whether the tea leaves were poisonous or harmful.

When he found out they weren’t, he brewed himself a cup of tea.

The aroma was the same as the one that permeated Korin’s office. It was a subtle but lasting aroma that gave a feeling of clarity.

Illyan took a sip and immediately noticed that his taut nerves were starting to calm down.

He took a deep breath and started to ponder what to do next.

He didn’t think that Korin lied to him about this. Nor did he think that this was some kind of trap. Korin probably really needed him, and the contract he created was a foolproof way to control him if needed.

But since Korin needed him, he couldn’t afford for him to die a dog’s death in the mountains…

‘I need to prepare. I have six months to strengthen myself and find a way to hide from that freak…’

The cogwheels in his head spun furiously as he thought about what he should focus on. After his raid last time, he found himself in a dilemma of having too many techniques to train in but not enough time…

‘I definitely need to go outside of the town to forage for the herbs I need for the herb bath… If I do it consistently, then I should be able to strengthen myself a bit even if I won’t condense the flow.’

Illyan decided this was the best step for now.

The herb bath’s nutrients should be absorbed into the user’s body while performing the breathing technique, which would cause high pressure inside and make the nutrients fuse with the body. Flow condensation was only one of the benefits.

He could try to turn his body tougher with it just like he did during baptism years ago.

‘When I visit outside, I could hunt some animals to eat and then perform [Blood Feeding Technique] too.’

Then he remembered the technique he used half a month ago to make himself slimmer. Now, his body had already returned to normal to some extent, but he was still much less muscular.

‘What else? [Nature Breath Technique]? No, that is useless unless…’

Illyan’s eyes brightened.

‘Unless in nature… The expedition would be in the mountain ranges, so it should work properly until we reach the ancient city… Maybe Ezekiel won’t be able to notice me with it.’

So far, he thought of two ways to hide from that guy.

First, use the acupoint technique to seal his body in hopes that it would hide the life force within him.

And second, use [Nature Breath Technique].

Both ways were completely opposite, so it was difficult to decide.

‘The sealing technique is too uncertain for now. Until I understand the body better, I will put my hope on the distillation of presence…’

Illyan’s thoughts went over all the techniques he currently owned.

He decided to make a few amulets but could not make too many as it was too time-consuming.

In the end, the one thing he completely gave up for this trip was the magic practice.

The mana rope, barrier, and other things were desirable, but he knew his limits. He would be happy if he could feel the mana in half a year, let alone be able to use it in a fight.

The last thing was…

‘Mind Strengthening Runes.’

Something he viewed with high regard. He believed that he could, to a certain extent, excel in this.

‘Alright! Let’s do this!’ Illyan’s eyes turned determined as he stood up and headed to the hidden room.

There, the man was sprawled on the table looking pitiful. His body was sewn up several times since Illyan had to close him up every time, and his body was skinny after not getting proper nutrition.

But this time, Illyan wasn’t here to experiment. He had already finished all his experiments, and now any further experiments would come with steeply diminishing results.

So, he took the short sword he had and, with one smooth swing, ended Caleb’s life during his sleep and finally freed him from his suffering.

Then, he took the body to the laboratory and used a certain solution with acidic effects that melted the body into a red liquid, which Illyan promptly collected inside a vial.

After that, all he needed to do was to prepare all kinds of tools and bags before putting a sign on his manor’s house indicating his absence as he left the manor.

His direction was towards the town’s gate…