The Powerless Hero's 101st Regression Diary

Chapter 10 - A Foothold (2)

The fragrance of the Evening Primroses that filled the warehouse tickled my nose.

In just two and a half days, 10 gold had transformed into enough Evening Primroses to fill a warehouse of about eight pyeong.

Well, this much was something I had done in my past lives; I didn't feel much emotion about the increase in wealth.

The only thing that excited me now was this.

That I would be using the special Evening Primrose elixir, which I had only ever made for others until now, for myself.

‘When I drank it in my previous life, it just felt a little cool and that was it.’

That was only natural.

Back then, I couldn't feel mana.

But it was different now.

The Mana Heart was firmly situated in my right chest.

How long does it usually take for a Mana Beginner who has just created a Mana Heart to become a Single Core Mana User?

If one has talent, it takes a year; if average, three years; and if dull-witted, one can never reach the level of a Mana User at all.

I could reduce that time to a single day.

‘Through the Evening Primrose elixir!’

An elixir, by its nature, refers to something that has been concentrated and refined within a living creature over a long period, like a Dragon Heart or the inner core of a spiritual beast.

There had never been a single case in history of a human artificially creating an elixir.

But I, after immersing myself for the countless hours given to me, had painstakingly developed a method to create an elixir.

The method was to refine Evening Primroses, which are filled with the moon's mana, using a tool with a special structure.

But that was easier said than done; I was the only one who had ever developed that method.

The Evening Primrose, as its name suggests, is a flower that is drawn to the mana emitted by the moon, blooming to face it and absorbing that mana aplenty.

There had been countless experiments using it, but because the mana contained in each petal was so small, no one had ever thought of making an elixir from it.

Because an enormous amount was needed to refine the mana concentrated in the Evening Primrose to a level usable by humans.

They couldn't find the value in undertaking the laborious tasks of concentration and refinement just to obtain a mouse-dropping's worth of mana.

‘But I did it.’

Moving my hands busily, I used the alchemy kit to create a mold that would be used to produce the elixir.

A tool modeled after the organ structure of the lowest-grade demon, the Imp, named the Mana Cone.

It was a method known only to me, never revealed anywhere after I developed it.

I placed the separated petals into the laboriously made Mana Cone mold.

The blue petals melted inside the Mana Cone mold and became small water droplets.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Translucent droplets began to form and fall from under the funnel-shaped cone.

As I continued to put the Evening Primrose petals into the cone, the flask placed underneath was soon filled with a translucent liquid.

It was a liquid in which the mana extracted from the Evening Primroses was concentrated, the Evening Primrose Mana Elixir.

“The thought of drinking it myself is thrilling.”

My mouth watered.

Without hesitation, I immediately poured the liquid down my throat.

[You have consumed the Evening Primrose Mana Concentrate.]

[Absorbing the moon's mana dwelling within the Evening Primrose.]

[The mana amount of the Clossi-style Mana Heart (F) increases.

Mana amount reached 100.00]

[Proficiency increases rapidly due to the rise in mana amount.

Proficiency reached 100.00]

[The mana amount that can be accommodated by F-grade has been exceeded.]

[Expanding the Mana Heart to accommodate additional mana.]

“Ugh!”

A hot energy surged from my chest.

It was a different sensation from when I created the Mana Heart.

The place where the cold, damp mana headed was none other than my Mana Heart.

As too much of it rushed in at once, a bottleneck phenomenon occurred in the circuit leading to the Mana Heart.

The flow of mana clamored at the entrance of the Mana Heart like water blocked by a dam.

“Ugh… ugh.”

A pain like my raw flesh was being torn was felt in my right chest.

I squeezed the Mana Heart, compressing the flowing mana.

‘When a certain amount of mana accumulates in the body, it must be compressed. To do so, one must directly control the Mana Heart to compress the mana.In this process, the Mana Heart begins to beat for the first time.’

The contents of the technique manual flashed through my head.

The first beat.

The Mana Heart, which had only been used as a storage for mana until now, began to beat for the first time.

Just like a real heart.

Thump thump.

It pushed the back of the mana that couldn't enter the mana circuit due to the bottleneck.

The pressure was too strong, and a wound formed on the circuit.

Mana immediately stuck to that wound and healed it.

A thicker and tougher mana circuit was created.

The more I compressed the mana with the Mana Heart, the greater the pain became.

As the pain grew, I squeezed the Mana Heart even more forcefully.

It felt like the Mana Heart would burst.

But I didn't stop.

How many times had I repeated that arduous process?

Finally, I succeeded in compressing and compressing the mana again to form a single nucleus.

It was the completion of the Single Core.

[The Clossi-style Mana Heart is upgraded to (E-Single Core) grade.]

[The Mana Heart becomes larger and harder.]

[The mana circuits become thicker and stronger.]

[The speed of mana movement within the body increases.]

[You can now control the mana in your body at will.]

Pant, pant.

Breathing heavily, I looked at the words floating before my eyes.

[Mana Heart]

Clossi-style Mana Heart (E-Single Core): Proficiency 0.00

“I did it.”

My right chest was hot.

A tingling pain was felt in my right chest and the mana circuits that passed through my entire body.

A smile bloomed again.

But naturally, this was the beginning, not the end.

My goal was to become a D-rank mercenary within a month.

The time remaining until the month I promised Dorn was three weeks and four days.

I told Dorn to bet her life on me.

To not be ashamed of those words, I had to move diligently.

“In that case, what's left is…….”

Stamina training and sword and shield technique training.

“Let's think simply. Ten thousand times until the mercenary test.”

Just repeating it foolishly.

Because that was the only way I could become stronger.

“Equivalent Exchange of Effort and Talent.”

I recited the name of the Trait once more.

What did it matter if my understanding of swordsmanship was poor, or if I had no talent for combat.

I just had to repeat it.

I just had to not give up.

Then I would become stronger.

It was a simple and certain fact.

If I repeated the basic sword forms of the sword and shield technique about ten thousand times, my proficiency in my physical abilities would rise as well.

I picked up the buckler and shortsword that Eric had given me.

My body was still as heavy as a thousand pounds and extremely tired, but my heart was pounding so much that I couldn't bear not to grip the sword.

Inside the now-empty warehouse, having used all of the once-full Evening Primroses.

Swish.

Swish.

I swung the sword.

My body was tired, but as the sword forms were repeated, I could feel the sword path stabilizing and the movements becoming clearer.

And so, nearly a month passed.

***

“Aish, should I not have said I'd lend him the warehouse.”

An unfrequented hay warehouse in the north of Shupel.

At the entrance of that hay warehouse, an old man who appeared to be the owner was anxiously tapping his feet.

It was because a clamorous noise was coming from inside the warehouse.

“Today's the day he's supposed to leave……. Let's just bear it a little longer. Just a little.”

A month ago, the old man had rented the warehouse to a young man.

A young man who looked neat and pretty, whose eyes were sharp, and who, above all, had bought all the dead-stock hay.

On top of that, he had even offered extra money to rent the warehouse, so I had gladly told him to use it for a month, but…….

Hah!

Thwack!

Hearing that loud kiai and the sound of something breaking, I grew anxious that my bread and butter, the warehouse, might be destroyed.

“Goodness, I can't even kick him out for fear he'll ask me to spit back the gold. This is driving me crazy.”

It was at that moment.

“Finally, ten thousand times! I'm done!”

‘He’s done? Is he finally leaving?’

The old man stealthily moved his steps toward the warehouse entrance.

And he pressed his ear against the warehouse wall, which was clumsily erected with wooden planks.

Creeak.

At that moment, the warehouse's old door opened, and the young man walked out.

A young man, shabby from being covered in sweat and dust.

“Oh? Hello? This is great. I was just about to come see you before I left. You were right here.”

The young man, Savior, politely bowed his head to the old man.

In his hands were a bunch of alchemy tools like flasks.

“Thank you for letting me use the warehouse for a month.”

“Ah… of course.”

What on earth had happened over the past month?

Such a question was all that was contained in the old man's surprised eyes.

And for good reason, as Savior had become a completely different person from before he went in.

His once-scrawny body now had a decent amount of muscle, and following up his straightened back, his wide shoulders made Savior's small face look even smaller.

Through the shirt that was drenched in sweat and stuck to his body, his finely cut muscles were clearly visible.

“Well… you've gotten into great shape while I haven't seen you.”

“Yes, I worked hard.”

Savior replied with a bright smile.

At that smile, the old man asked without thinking.

“Where are you off to now?”

The old man was extremely curious about the future path of a person who had changed so much in just one month.

It was because of his eyes, which seemed like he could accomplish anything he set his mind to.

The old man, unable to hold back, ended up being nosy.

“I'm going to save the world.”

The old man watched Savior, who replied with a cheerful smile before walking away.

The world was peaceful, and the forces of evil that threatened that peace had long since vanished.

It was clearly a joke.

But for some reason, the old man felt as if that young man really would save the world.

It was an intuition that came from the long experience of a long-lived person.

‘Yes, please do save it.’

Thinking so, the old man entered his warehouse.

“Good heavens…….”

Deeply carved footprints on the warehouse floor.

The traces of countless repeated hardships were etched into the dirt floor.

***

“He's not going to ask for repair costs later, is he?”

I felt a little anxious and quickly left the place, but actually, if you thought about it, I had already paid the full price.

The 1 gold and 80 silver I paid as a rental fee was a large sum of money that could build two more warehouses like that.

Besides, it's not like the warehouse couldn't be used just because there were some footprints on the floor.

There would be no problem storing hay.

With those thoughts, I headed straight for the Mercenary Office.

The Mercenary Office.

A place that manages all mercenary-related requests and expeditions, and controls clans and guilds.

All requests must be received and placed through the Mercenary Office, and all expedition parties intending to go on an exploration must receive permission from the Mercenary Office.

‘They control the mercenaries and explorers by having a monopoly.’

By methods such as preventing them from receiving requests if they commit crimes.

Well, as the mercenary ranks were divided, the survival rate of mercenaries and the success rate of expeditions also rose exponentially.

As an institution that had been around for over 20 years, it was now completely established.

“I've come to take the mercenary qualification test.”

As I walked straight to the reception desk and spoke, the woman sitting at the desk spoke drily.

“Do you have an existing rank?”

“No?”

“For unranked participants, you can take the test up to D-rank. Which test would you like to apply for?”

“D-rank.”

I said without hesitation.