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Chapter 355: Observers (5)

There exist countless elixirs in the world.

From the fruit of the World Tree that appears in fairy tales to elixirs that can be called products of modern alchemy.

Elixirs possess effects as powerful as their fame suggests.

However, among them, there was an elixir that was impossible to obtain, and that was the Dragon Heart.

‘Because there’s no lunatic who would kill a dragon and rip out its heart to eat it.’

It wasn’t simply a matter of whether one could defeat a single dragon or not.

In fact, long ago, there was a knight who, blinded by greed, killed a hatchling and took its heart.

People praised him as a hero who had defeated a dragon and returned, but that acclaim did not last long.

That very night, dozens of dragons that covered the sky turned the entire kingdom the knight belonged to into a sea of fire.

‘There wasn’t a single survivor. After that, hunting dragons became taboo.’

In effect, the Dragon Heart existed, but had become an elixir that could not be obtained.

And yet she was offering to give it?

Oscar’s gaze grew complicated.

‘Edna, this one….’

Is she saying she would even offer her own heart for the sake of the records?

He could understand just how desperate she was.

But Oscar firmly shook his head.

“Sorry, let’s find another way.”

“Pardon? Why is that?”

“No matter how much you’re a dragon, if you rip out your heart, you die. No matter how precious these records are, I can’t take part in killing you, my friend.”

“Kill me? What are you talking….”

Edna, who had been blinking her wide-open eyes, suddenly recoiled in shock and covered her chest with both arms.

“D-Don’t tell me you were trying to eat my heart?”

“……Wasn’t that what you meant by giving it?”

“That makes no sense!”

Edna shouted sharply and stomped her feet.

“The Dragon Lord’s heart is reflected on the moon after death.”

“Ah. Well… that makes sense.”

The moment he set foot on the moon, what he felt was that there was no mana here.

However, the technology that stores records in this place requires mana.

The same applied to playing the video records they had seen.

“Come to think of it, was the source of that mana coming from the Dragon Lord’s heart?”

“It’s a slightly different concept. First, this way.”

Edna took the lead and walked toward the corridor.

“Isn’t this your first time here? You seem to know the internal structure pretty well.”

“All dragons visit the moon during their hatchling stage to receive basic education. Of course, accompanied by at least one elder dragon.”

“……That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

“The existence of the moon is a secret of the clan.”

The corridor was lit not by luminous pearls, but by mana lamps.

After crossing it, she arrived in front of a certain room and placed her hand on the device at the entrance.

Once the identity verification process was complete, she turned back before opening the door and gave a warning.

“This is the moon’s power chamber. I recommend protecting your entire body with mana.”

“I already did.”

At the same time as the reply, the door opened and the two stepped inside.

The first thing they felt was a heat so intense it felt like their skin would burn away.

As Edna had said, if they had not protected their skin with mana, it would have melted.

‘And just how deep is this?’

The central floor, made up of all kinds of machinery, pipes, and hoses, was so deep that its end could not be seen.

Reading his question, Edna answered.

“About 3.2 kilometers.”

“And the first Dragon Lord made this?”

“Of course, it didn’t start in this form. What he created was the framework, and with each generation, it was developed and improved until it reached its current form.”

As expected.

For a facility made hundreds of millions of years ago, it had seemed excessively modern.

Oscar raised his head and looked at the massive heart floating in the center of the power chamber.

All the heat in this room was flowing out from there.

“……Are Dragon Hearts originally that hot?”

“The baseline temperature itself is similar to a human heart. The source of the heat you are feeling now is the sun.”

She moved closer to the railing as she spoke.

“The replacement of a Dragon Lord takes at least thousands of years. Even if a Dragon Heart contains immense mana, it is impossible to maintain a massive composite structure like the moon for thousands of years.”

“That makes sense.”

Oscar, who had been looking at the floating heart, spoke.

“Then that isn’t the power source itself, but rather exists as a core that converts energy?”

“That is correct. From the time the First Lord designed the moon, it was made to easily reflect and absorb sunlight. However, contrary to expectations, solar thermal energy alone was not enough to sustain the moon’s entire system. Thus, he offered his own heart so that it could be used to convert thermal energy into mana.”

Using the sun to maintain the moon.

The direction itself was so brilliant it was almost admirable.

It felt like looking at the work of a mad scientist.

“So, the heart you told me to eat is that?”

“That is correct. Of course, since the previous Lord passed away 3,427 years ago, the amount of mana it contains will have decreased somewhat, but since the human body cannot absorb it all anyway, it shouldn’t matter.”

“With that much time, it feels like it would’ve gone bad… Would it be fine if I cook it?”

“If you don’t need the mana and only want the meat, then do as you please.”

At Edna’s cold scolding, Oscar smacked his lips and spoke.

“But if that’s gone, won’t the moon’s system fail to function?”

“That is correct. The moment the Dragon Heart is removed, emergency power will activate and it will be maintained for up to one week.”

One week—it was honestly a tight timeframe.

It would take a full two days just to move the records into subspace.

That meant he would have to consume the Dragon Heart within five days, which would not be easy.

‘More importantly, if it lasts up to a week, that means if we’re unlucky, it could end even sooner.’

In the worst case, the power could cut off while they were in the middle of transferring the records.

“Anything else I should know?”

“Oscar, have you ever consumed an elixir?”

At that, Oscar searched his memories.

First, in this life, he had consumed the Heavenly Silkworm’s inner core, an Ice Spirit, and the fruit of the World Tree.

Divinity didn’t seem to fall under the category of elixirs.

And if he included his past life, the number increased significantly.

Back then, there was practically nothing he hadn’t consumed.

As a reward for holding the frontlines well, that old emperor had sent him elixirs almost every month.

“There are too many to list… Anyway, I’ve consumed everything—solid, liquid, gas, no matter the form.”

“I see. The Dragon Heart likely contains more mana than any elixir you have consumed so far. I will give you just one piece of advice.”

Edna spoke firmly.

“Do not try to consume it all. Your mana circuits and body will swell like a balloon and burst, killing you.”

“…….”

A chilling warning that felt like a terrible curse.

But he could understand what she meant.

“Since a human body can’t absorb it all, discard the excess without hesitation?”

“That’s correct. Since you can’t consume it all anyway, there’s no need to be wasteful about it.”

“I’ll try.”

It was easy to say, but it would not be easy to discard it as intended.

Any mage would desire to possess more mana.

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Moreover, in most situations, the amount of mana directly equated to strength.

It meant being able to cast more spells than the opponent, with greater output.

“Are you ready? It will take up to two days for stabilization after consumption.”

“Only that long?”

“The limits of what a human body can accept are clear.” 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

“Is that so? Alright. I’m ready.”

As Oscar nodded, Edna extended her hand without a moment’s hesitation.

The Dragon Heart floating in the air was drawn toward her like a magnet.

“Eat.”

“……I have to eat all of this?”

Seeing it up close, it was entirely different from how it had looked from afar.

Was it about 2 meters in length?

It was roughly the size of his own body.

“Ah—.”

Oscar opened his mouth wide and took a large bite out of the heart.

Perhaps because it had been outside for thousands of years, there was no smell of blood at all, and it had neither scent nor taste.

The texture, rather than being mushy, was dry and crumbly, like chewing on bread that had gathered dust.

After chewing for a while, a reaction began.

‘Mm.’

His pupils dilated, and his heart began to beat rapidly.

The inside of his stomach grew hot, and an enormous amount of mana rampaged within him like unbridled colts.

“…….”

Without stopping his mouth and jaw, Oscar closed his eyes and focused all his senses inward.

It was definitely different.

The Dragon Heart.

An abundance of rich, pure mana surged like a flood, far surpassing any elixir he had consumed before.

‘This… I need to stay sharp.’

The moment he let his guard down even slightly, he would be swept away by that mana, leading to an irreversible outcome.

Focusing all his senses, Oscar began guiding that mana toward his circuits.

“…….”

Edna stared intently at Oscar, who had fallen into meditation.

As expected, someone experienced in consuming elixirs handled it well—his skill in quickly turning external mana into his own was remarkable.

‘At this level, there should be no problem.’

It took exactly two days for her to realize that thought had been naive.

* * *

For two days, Edna did not leave Oscar’s side for even a moment.

Even the slightest external variable could pose a major threat to him in his current state.

‘If, by any chance, the demon race were to appear at this time….’

She was prepared to fight to the death alone if necessary.

But fortunately, no sign of the demon race was detected.

Over the past two days, Oscar had completely consumed the Dragon Heart.

Eating it five times a day without fail, even that massive heart eventually disappeared into his stomach.

‘But it should be about time for him to wake up.’

It had already been quite a while since the raging mana had calmed.

But it would be a problem if he did not open his eyes now.

There was already more mana surging inside Oscar than he could handle.

‘Did he… fail to give up?’

As she wandered anxiously around him for quite some time,

like a clogged drain suddenly clearing, the mana that had seemed ready to make Oscar burst began to disappear.

“?”

If he couldn’t absorb it all, it should have been expelled outside—how could it vanish without a trace inside his body?

While Edna felt relieved that his body hadn’t burst,

inside Oscar’s body, where he could not utter a single word, a war was unfolding.

‘This…!’

Until just now, everything had been going well.

He had successfully replaced his mana with the pure mana of the dragon, up to the limit that his circuits and body could allow.

Even at that level alone, his mana capacity had increased fivefold compared to before.

Moreover, the fact that magic formed from the dragon’s pure mana was stronger hardly needed to be explained.

‘Shall I wrap it up here?’

It was a pity to waste the mana that remained unabsorbed in his body, but anything beyond this would be greed.

As Edna had warned, trying to consume more would likely cause everything he had built up to collapse.

So Oscar decided to give up cleanly.

‘Goodbye.’

The moment he resolved to release the remaining mana outside, back into nature,

every pathway throughout his body that was meant to expel mana became blocked.

‘What?’

At the same time, Oscar’s eyebrow twitched.

It wasn’t his own will that had blocked the mana trying to leave.

And as if to prove that fact, the mana began to seep inward instead of outward.

‘This is….’

In the depths of his consciousness—somewhere deep beyond his awareness—

something was drawing in the remaining mana as if it had been waiting for it.

‘What…?’

As a result, mana forced its way into his already overburdened body, seeping into his circuits.

What he felt in that process was excruciating pain, as if his entire body were being torn apart.

“Cough!”

Blood flowed from between Oscar’s lips as he coughed.

At the same time, an alarm rang in his mind.

‘What… is this?’

There was only one thing he could understand right now.

That thing, lying at the base of his consciousness, was trying to ‘kill’ him.

Even if he tried to forcibly expel the mana, control over his body had already been lost.

It was then, as Oscar struggled desperately to endure—

Flash—!

A sacred light burst from within his body, forcibly erasing the mana that had been seeping in.

KWA-AAAA!

The force that tried to pull it in and the force that annihilated it.

The two forces clashed like a battle of pride, shaking Oscar’s insides violently.

‘What… is… this….’

As powerful shocks exploded within the battlefield that had become his body, his consciousness began to blur.

KWA-AAAAANG!

At the same time as a sensation like a massive bomb detonating within his own body—

Oscar’s consciousness completely sank.

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