Genius Wizard Takes Medicine Chapter 3

Lenoch quietly listened to the supervisors’ conversation a little longer before slipping away unnoticed and returning to the parts room.

The supervisor there noticed his absence and flew into a rage, but fortunately, Lenoch escaped with only a few blows as punishment.

From the whispers exchanged among the workers, it seemed ominous rumors were already spreading that he had gone off to look for his own grave.

Lenoch quickly finished his thin porridge and lay down, sinking deep into thought.

‘Three days until the union comes to collect the products.’

The supervisors had continued chatting for quite some time after lighting their cigarettes, and Lenoch had managed to gather several useful pieces of information from their conversation.

‘When the union members come to the factory, the supervisors’ attention will naturally be divided. That’s my only chance.’

If he waited any longer, his frail body would not hold out.

Even under these harsh conditions, Lenoch had only managed to preserve his sanity thanks to the mental traits he had invested in.

But no one could say whether he would be able to maintain the same level of judgment and reason once his body was completely broken.

Time was not on his side.

Still, he was not entirely out of options.

Lenoch carefully pulled the blanket over his head, turned toward the wall, and curled up.

Just as he had done before, he brought two fingers together.

The moment he pictured a blue flame in his mind, a small light began to glow softly inside the blanket.

“……”

Perhaps because he had already succeeded once, he no longer needed an incantation to use magic.

Lenoch quietly observed the magical light, trying to bridge the gap between the magical knowledge he possessed and the reality before him.

In truth, Lenoch knew nothing about the sensation of controlling mana or the practical technique behind using magic.

The Gun Mage he had played in the game had merely chanted spells and formed hand signs according to the commands Lenoch gave from beyond the monitor. He had used a gun to designate points of impact and cast magic through them.

But the magic Lenoch had just conjured without an incantation or hand signs was completely different from anything he had experienced before.

Only one possibility came to mind.

Could it be because of the magic-related stats he had raised to their absolute limit when creating his character?

If his guess was correct, then Lenoch was using talent alone to manifest the vague remnants of magic inside his head into reality.

A talent that allowed him to use magic even without knowing incantations or hand signs.

Lenoch understood just how absurd and extraordinary that was.

If he could properly combine this talent with the various pieces of game knowledge he possessed, then rapid growth in a short period of time would not be impossible.

However, there was one problem.

Even if this world’s magic system matched the magic system of WORLD, Lenoch’s knowledge of magic was only incomplete.

The character he had played in version 2.0 had run into the limitations of the magic gunner class, and among the different forms of magic, he had only been able to use the common magic system known as Dexter.

As for Sinister, the unique magic system used by true mages, he had only heard rumors about it at roughly the same level as other players.

But for now, that was enough.

The character he played in version 2.0 was limited by the Gun Mage profession, allowing him to use only the common magic system known as ‘Dexter.’

As for the unique magic system ‘Sinister’ used by real wizards, he had only heard rumors similar to other players.

But for now, that was enough. There were plenty of useful spells within the common magic ‘Dexter.’

‘The true value of magic isn’t in its grandeur or destructive power.’

If he hadn’t awakened his mana, he would have needed to think more strategically, but the moment he could use even the smallest magic, the difference was clear.

All that remained was to diligently carry out the preparations he had thought of, starting tomorrow.

Clenching his fist to extinguish the flame, Lenoch straightened his body and closed his eyes.

The severe insomnia continued to torment him, and he had been drifting in and out of light sleep for four days.

He had already given up on achieving restful sleep without escaping this room, filled with low snores and foul odors.

Lenoch, who spent the night almost entirely awake, continued to practice moving his mana and using magic until it was time for the other workers to wake up.

If he didn’t become accustomed to this sensation, Lenoch had no future.

He had only one runway available to him, and he couldn’t even consider other possibilities.

And it was Lenoch himself who had brought him to this point.

***

For the next two days, Lenoch’s routine remained monotonously unchanged.

During the day, he avoided the supervisor’s gaze and explored the factory’s layout. At night, he devoted himself entirely to practicing magic.

The magical talent he had given himself during character creation did not seem to be a lie. Lenoch quickly grew accustomed to gathering and controlling mana.

It was not that he could perform difficult feats with ease.

Rather, the threshold itself felt absurdly low.

But that was enough.

After only three days of handling mana and practicing magic, Lenoch had gone from being a mere worker trapped in a dim room to a proper magic user.

He had already succeeded in using several simple spells beyond the basic light-producing magic.

At the same time, thanks to his efforts to understand the factory’s layout by wandering through its corridors, Lenoch managed to find several routes that led outside the old building.

He occasionally ran into other supervisors, but when they saw his pale complexion, as if he might faint at the slightest touch, they ignored him, assuming he was running an errand for one of their colleagues.

Of course, Lenoch’s body, forced to work by day and practice magic by night, was already on the verge of collapse.

But expecting consideration in a place like this was a luxury.

In fact, he was lucky that his subtle attempts to skip work during the day had not been discovered by the supervisor in charge of him.

That was only possible because the other supervisors were also tied to their own assigned areas during working hours.

If another supervisor had caught him, it would not have been strange if Lenoch had been beaten so badly he never opened his eyes again.

Finally, the day arrived when the union members were scheduled to visit the factory.

After spending the entire night awake, Lenoch slowly gathered his mana around the time the other workers would begin to rise.

Although he had never handled mana before coming to this world, the small amount of mana inside him now moved smoothly according to his will.

He gathered that faint mana and focused it neatly around his forehead, then immediately cast a spell.

It was a simple spell that raised the surface temperature of the skin.

So simple that it required neither incantation nor hand signs, it was normally used just to keep body temperature from dropping in cold weather.

But in the current situation, it was bound to be extremely effective.

The result appeared almost immediately.

With heat concentrated around his face, Lenoch’s skin turned red, and sweat began pouring from him.

Naturally, the workers who were waking up and waiting for work to begin noticed Lenoch’s condition and began to murmur.

“Hey, that guy…”

“Looks like his time has come.”

“Still, he lasted longer than I thought. This isn’t the kind of place someone that weak can survive for long.”

“It’s just his fate.”

The workers muttered among themselves, but none of them approached Lenoch.

Lenoch deliberately let out a groan, making it obvious that he was seriously ill.

“What are you doing, not jumping out of bed the moment you wake up?!”

Bang!

The supervisor kicked the door open roughly, then frowned deeply when he saw all the workers staring at Lenoch, who was still lying in bed.

He approached Lenoch and checked his complexion. After confirming that his forehead was burning hot, he clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Tch… I’ll give you three minutes. Get to the parts room immediately!”

Even though he knew Lenoch had not opened his eyes, the supervisor left the room without touching him.

He had judged that Lenoch was no longer useful as labor.

Besides, today was the day the union members were coming to the factory to collect the products. There was no reason to create unnecessary trouble on a day like this.

The workers glanced at Lenoch while putting on their work clothes.

“What should we do with him?”

“Judging by the state he’s in, he might be dead by the time we get back. Wouldn’t it be easier to deal with him afterward?”

“Ugh… That’s a little unsettling.”

“Still, it’s cleaner to deal with him after he dies. If we bury him while he’s still alive, he might crawl back out, and then we’d have to bury him all over again.”

 

They spoke as if Lenoch were already dead, as if only his corpse remained.

In this old factory, it was not uncommon for workers to die without leaving even a trace behind.

The death of a frail worker from exhaustion was not something that stirred anyone’s emotions.

Just then, one of the workers stepped toward Lenoch.

Lying still, Lenoch tensed at the unexpected situation.

“Van, what are you doing?”

“We don’t have time. Let’s deal with him later!”

At the other workers’ rebukes, the man waved his hand in annoyance and replied.

“Shut up. Let him have a cigarette before he dies.”

With that, he pulled a rolled cigarette from his pocket.

“If you were hiding that, you should’ve told us.”

“Yeah, you bastard. You know how badly we’re craving a smoke right now…”

“I stole a few while cleaning the supervisor’s bed. I don’t have any to spare.”

The man called Van struck a match he had taken from beneath his bed, lit the cigarette, and placed it in Lenoch’s mouth.

As Lenoch involuntarily inhaled the smoke, his eyes widened slightly.

Van chuckled.

“Good, isn’t it?”

“……”

“They say it’s mixed with psychoactive leaves and cheap drugs. Smoke one of those, and the pain goes away. Not a bad guide for the road ahead.”

Van patted Lenoch on the shoulder, then left with the other workers.

A breeze blew through the slightly open window, rustling the stained curtains.

Left alone in the empty room, Lenoch slowly sat up, still holding the cigarette.

Normally, he would have moved immediately, but he focused on smoking without saying a word.

Ironically, the single cigarette Van had given him was turning Lenoch’s entire plan upside down.

The acrid smoke filling his lungs was, absurdly, revitalizing Lenoch’s body.

To be precise, the smoke, mixed with all sorts of harmful substances, was forcibly making Lenoch forget the accumulated fatigue in his body and dulling his nerves to pain.

But just being desensitized to the fatigue covering his body made Lenoch feel a refreshing sensation he hadn’t experienced since coming to this world.

It was as if he had returned to the days when he played games without any worries.

Lenoch stood up and swung his arms a couple of times, convinced.

Whether it was made with drugs or strange plants, it didn’t matter.

No matter what side effects it brought, Lenoch desperately needed such a doping agent right now.

“….Did he say the supervisor’s bed?”

Muttering to himself, Lenoch changed into his work clothes and immediately left the dormitory.