Genius Wizard Takes Medicine Chapter 2

By the fourth day, he was worn down by insomnia and exhaustion, and his face had turned sickly and pale.

Now, even the other workers hesitated to come near him.

The supervisor deliberately placed Lenoch in an inconspicuous corner of the parts room and ignored him completely.

It seemed they were trying to keep his frail body from collapsing in the middle of work and disrupting the schedule. At this point, it would not have been strange if Lenoch dropped dead at any moment.

For Lenoch, who had been looking for a chance to create a disturbance and escape, this was actually a golden opportunity.

He pretended to fiddle with a few parts, then quietly rose to his feet and moved toward the hallway.

On the way, his eyes met those of a worker with a gaunt, exhausted face. However, the man merely turned his head away as if he had seen nothing, without saying a word.

While the supervisor was busy swinging his whip around with a flushed face, Lenoch quickly slipped out of the parts room.

The moment he left, the suffocating air cleared, and a faint, refreshing breeze brushed against him. Breathing became much easier.

But if he stayed in one place, it would only be a matter of time before he was discovered.

Leaning against the hallway wall for support, Lenoch dragged his staggering body forward as quietly as he could.

The corridor was lined with old picture frames and broken window sills. A filthy wooden floor stretched beneath his feet, and a noisy fan spun in one corner.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing particularly noteworthy about the place.

And that was precisely what made it strange.

The game Lenoch had played, WORLD, had followed a typical medieval fantasy setting up until version 2.0.

If this world was different from the WORLD he knew, things would become far more complicated.

If he could not make use of his game knowledge, then one of the few hopes Lenoch had would disappear entirely.

The thought alone made him uneasy, but there was no point dwelling on it now.

Lenoch shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued down the dirty hallway, doing his best to memorize the route.

Fortunately, Lenoch’s memory was far beyond average, so retracing his path would not be difficult.

He could do more than simply remember what he saw. He could accurately measure the turns of the hallway, calculate distances, and construct a three-dimensional map of the space inside his head.

By observing where the hallway branched, he could predict directions and estimate the overall size of the factory.

The moment he left, the suffocating air cleared, and a faint, refreshing breeze brushed against him. Breathing became much easier.

But if he stayed in one place, it would only be a matter of time before he was discovered.

Leaning against the hallway wall for support, Lenoch dragged his staggering body forward as quietly as he could.

The corridor was lined with old picture frames and broken window sills. A filthy wooden floor stretched beneath his feet, and a noisy fan spun in one corner.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing particularly noteworthy about the place.

And that was precisely what made it strange.

The game Lenoch had played, WORLD, had followed a typical medieval fantasy setting up until version 2.0.

If this world was different from the WORLD he knew, things would become far more complicated.

If he could not make use of his game knowledge, then one of the few hopes Lenoch had would disappear entirely.

The thought alone made him uneasy, but there was no point dwelling on it now.

Lenoch shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued down the dirty hallway, doing his best to memorize the route.

Fortunately, Lenoch’s memory was far beyond average, so retracing his path would not be difficult.

He could do more than simply remember what he saw. He could accurately measure the turns of the hallway, calculate distances, and construct a three-dimensional map of the space inside his head.

By observing where the hallway branched, he could predict directions and estimate the overall size of the factory.

He had not walked far, yet merely wandering through the corridor outside the parts room had allowed Lenoch to create a rough mental map of the factory.

As he continued onward, a sharp, acrid smell suddenly assaulted his nose.

Unlike the foul stench that filled the factory, this scent stimulated his senses the instant he inhaled it.

The scent of a highly addictive cigarette, or something similar.

If he could not make use of his game knowledge, then one of the few hopes Lenoch had would disappear entirely.

The thought alone made him uneasy, but there was no point dwelling on it now.

Lenoch shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued down the dirty hallway, doing his best to memorize the route.

Fortunately, Lenoch’s memory was far beyond average, so retracing his path would not be difficult.

He could do more than simply remember what he saw. He could accurately measure the turns of the hallway, calculate distances, and construct a three-dimensional map of the space inside his head.

By observing where the hallway branched, he could predict directions and estimate the overall size of the factory.

He had not walked far, yet merely wandering through the corridor outside the parts room had allowed Lenoch to create a rough mental map of the factory.

As he continued onward, a sharp, acrid smell suddenly assaulted his nose.

Unlike the foul stench that filled the factory, this scent stimulated his senses the instant he inhaled it.

The scent of a highly addictive cigarette, or something similar.

Lenoch moved quietly towards it. Soon, the hallway opened up to reveal a small side door that led outside the factory.

Wisps of smoke drifted in through the slightly open door, along with faint voices.

Lenoch positioned himself at an angle where he would not be seen immediately even if the door opened, then focused on the conversation beyond it.

“The new ones work too damn slow. At this rate, I don’t know if we’ll make the delivery on time.”

“What can we do? We’re using the scraps abandoned in the city. Just beat them harder and make them move faster. If we miss the deadline, the chief might burn your forehead with a cigarette again.”

“Shit… I can’t go through that again. Last time it hurt so much I actually cried.”

At the man’s crude curse, a burst of laughter broke out.

Judging from their conversation, the people beyond the door seemed to be supervisors like the burly man in the parts room.

“Why are the union members so damn strict about time? Every time they show up and make a fuss, the chief takes it out on us even harder.”

“Didn’t you hear? The stuff we make here gets sold by the union to dark mages.”

“What? Why would mages need grinders?”

So they were making grinders here.

After spending all day trapped in the parts room, Lenoch had not even known what he was assembling.

‘At least magic exists in this world. That’s a relief.’

If magic did not exist in this unfamiliar world, then Lenoch’s talent would have been meaningless.

He let out a quiet sigh of relief and continued listening to the supervisors’ conversation.

In response to the man’s doubtful question, another voice answered in a low whisper.

“If dark mages are buying grinders, what else would they use them for? They’re probably grinding up corpses.”

“Damn… Now I feel sick. Give me another smoke.”

“Put it in your mouth. I’ll light it.”

Through the crack in the door, Lenoch saw a thick hand appear, holding a lighter.

“Nice lighter. How much did that cost?”

“I picked it up from Calvin & Cups recently. It runs on magic.”

With that, the man flicked his thumb.

A blue flame sparked to life at the tip of the lighter.

And the moment Lenoch witnessed that brief sequence of movements, something inside him underwent a violent change.

It was as if a trigger had been pulled somewhere in his mind.

A sensation he had never known before swept through his body and thoughts in an instant.

A sixth sense beyond the five senses.

A third eye.

A second self.

The moment Lenoch became aware of it, he understood.

This was the fundamental force that made up this world.

The driving power that defined existence itself.

It had always been flowing throughout the world.

He simply had not been able to perceive it until now.

Until recently, Lenoch had never even considered the possibility that he possessed such talent. His spirit, worn down by despair and suffering after waking up in the factory, had suppressed that awakening.

But the Lenoch of now was different.

He was fully aware of the magical and mental talents contained within this body.

All he had needed was a small trigger.

Something as simple as the flame from that lighter.

Overwhelmed by the shock of awakening to magic, Lenoch’s thoughts came to a halt. For a moment, he simply stood there in a daze, savoring the sensation.

The power flowing through his fragile body was his greatest asset.

His weapon.

His hope.

Lenoch brought his thumb and forefinger together, then whispered softly.

“Light.”

Fwoosh!

The magic, shaped by his incantation, overlapped with the flame that had appeared in his mind. It pierced through the realm of thought and concept, manifesting in reality.

It was magic.

Whoosh!

Lenoch trembled slightly as he stared at the blue flame flickering in his hand.

The flame dancing above his fingertips was identical to the one he had seen through the crack in the door.

Everything around him had changed.

But the magic of WORLD, the magic he knew, remained the same.

For some reason, that single fact gave Lenoch a small measure of comfort.