GWTM 07
After Renok had completely disappeared, the old man tidied up Taylor Evans’ body that he had left behind. He took photos, collected the genetic information, sealed it, and then arranged to send it separately to Achilles’ intermediary. A fee arose from that process, of course. In this business, it was impossible to talk about costs without including the fees.
Jenny, who had been resting her chin on her hand and watching the old man’s movements, said, “A client looking for narcotic-type tobacco and health supplements at the same time—isn’t that strange?”
“Are you talking about that mage?”
“Yeah. If I were a business owner, I’d wonder if he was crazy. I can never understand what mages are thinking. But then again, that’s how all geniuses are.”
Jenny seemed ready to laugh it off, but the old man, Jorden, thought differently. He silently organized the counter and slowly opened his mouth.
“I bypassed the Scavengers’ network and found out something interesting.”
At Jorden’s words, Jenny immediately frowned.
“Old man, are you still watching that gutter network? The cost of paying a Mirror Diver to eavesdrop on their network is a waste of money.”
Mirror Diver was one of the criminal organizations in Valcan, a group of hackers who had control over part of the city’s network and sold the byproducts from it. They possessed a large number of Mado-Engineering engineers and programmers, and their technology was considerable, making it relatively convenient to use their services to access the network in this area, even if that network belonged to another organization.
But Jorden replied without losing his composure.
“It seems they secured a photo from the moment Taylor Evans died. Would you like to check the magic that friend used? I think he’s going to be a much better client than you think.”
“What?”
She immediately turned on the computer beneath the counter and accessed the data Jorden had mentioned. The criminal organization Scavengers overwhelmingly surpassed other groups and clans in size, but the level of their members was quite low, so their actual power was relatively weak. Most of them, excluding the core leadership, could simply be called a gang of street thugs. But the one thing they were good for was—
“Found it. Here it is. Those bastards are everywhere.”
They were scattered all over the city like garbage, so they could report most incidents occurring in the area.
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A New Drug
Of course, the quality of their eyewitness accounts was no different from any ordinary person, but they were occasionally useful. Because of this, Jorden had set up a backdoor into the network the Scavengers used.
“……Wow.”
It was a short video, only 3 seconds long, but the content was extraordinary. The sight of a blue lightning bolt tearing through the dry sky and scorching the ground was not something one could easily witness.
Jenny, who was speechless and replaying the video, let out a hollow laugh and said, “So, that’s what that guy did?”
“Didn’t he say himself he was an Electric-type mage? It’s almost certain.”
Even if they couldn’t actually use magic, having knowledge about it was essential in this business. Both of them knew very well how difficult it was to conjure a bolt of lightning from a clear sky.
Elemental Magic Unique Systems were famous for their high difficulty, as they involved manipulating pure intent and Mana without a specific catalyst. It was closer to the orthodox magic used long ago than the modern magic modified for user convenience, requiring a long time to become practical.
It took a long time just to manifest a specific element around oneself. How much time and talent would it take to deploy Mana in an empty sky and draw in the will to manifest the phenomenon?
Jenny continued to replay the video and muttered, “At the very least, he seems to be around Level 4.”
A Level 4 Orthodoxy Magic User. This referred to mages who had gone beyond learning and using magic to achieving complete mastery through full understanding. Mages of this rank could hold their own in modern firepower battles and were recognized as researchers, having surpassed the stage of just doing their part as a mage. It was the minimum rank necessary to gain the potential to research and advance the magic system they had learned and mastered themselves. Mages of Level 4 or higher, under the management of the Valcan City Hall, could collect a city pension anytime they wished and received bonuses simply for submitting their research findings.
“He might be Level 5 or higher.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would a genius like that be working here for a bounty? He could just show off his magic anywhere and immediately get a position.”
Jorden shook his head at Jenny’s remark.
“If it were any other element, maybe, but I have an idea which faction he belongs to among the Electric-type schools.”
“……That gentleman belongs to the ‘Thorburn’ faction?”
While denying it, she recalled what Renok had casually muttered. Didn’t he say he hadn’t been in the city for long?
“Maybe. But if he truly is a member of those war profiteers…. he could be a very good partner for us.”
Jorden said this as he put Taylor Evans’ corpse back into the sack and slung it over his shoulder. His eyes, as he headed for the underground incinerator, gleamed faintly.
Renok immediately left Jenny’s bar and headed for the Orchard she had told him about.
The story she told him along the way had piqued Renok’s interest. Valcan, the megalopolis, had over a dozen areas, but the atmosphere differed significantly depending on the order in which the districts were created as the city expanded.
Districts 0-9, which housed the administrative area responsible for the city’s core operations and economy.
District 10, a forest of buildings for various businesses, including corporate giants.
District 20, where most of the busy areas where Valcan citizens lived and worked were located.
District 30, where city facilities that required large spaces, like amusement parks and ports, were gathered.
District 40, where unauthorized organizations nestled in the chaos of new development, and District 50, filled with undeveloped areas where vagrants and all sorts of criminals wandered.
The Orchard Jenny mentioned was located in District 31.
It was Plumber’s Botanical Garden, the largest botanical garden operating in Valcan. Areas with lower numbers in District 30 hosted facilities frequently visited by families, and the botanical garden was one such facility placed in District 31.
Renok bought a ticket at the booth of the botanical garden, built like a massive stadium, and went inside. The ticket cost 10,000 Cell, but with his pockets full from the bounty, it wasn’t a burden.
Inside the botanical garden, a massive jungle composed only of plants was formed under the artificial sun. Plants with colossal peaks that could shelter four or five people, or flowers with hundreds of colors simultaneously, were unusual and beautiful enough to make Renok pause and admire them. Trees that walked across the field like living animals, and umbrella-like seeds that floated in the air on thin membranes, also caught his eye.
But Renok quickly collected himself and began walking in the direction Jenny had indicated. He was already feeling a deep fatigue pressing heavily on his entire body from the long walk.
The souvenir shop was located on the way out after circling the huge botanical garden. A massive shop selling dolls, keychains for children, and glass crystals preserving lucky petals.
Behind the display cases filled with various plant models, Renok opened a small side door marked ‘No Admittance Except for Staff’ and crossed a long staircase to the lower floor. A different, pungent odor than the fragrance of the shop began to sting his nose.
After descending the stairs and turning his head, he saw a faint purple smoke filling the space. Instead of pushing through the smoke and walking further, Renok stopped right in front of the stairs and spoke.
“I was referred by Jenny.”
“Jenny?”
A reply came, and the smoke quickly cleared, revealing the sight beyond.
A wall of wooden drawers filled one side of a large room. The number of drawers seemed to be in the thousands. An old man with a pipe in his mouth was staring intently at him, his back to the giant drawers.
“Are you talking about the woman who runs a bar in Sector 49?”
When Renok nodded, the old man frowned sharply.
“I don’t recall giving that youngster the authority to recommend customers.”
“…….”
While Renok paused at the difficult-to-respond reaction, the old man grinned and shook his head.
“Well, never mind. I’m not rich enough to pick and choose customers. All I have to do is take money from those who want the goods. So, what are you looking for in my Orchard?”
Renok momentarily considered whether to use honorifics but decided to stick with his current tone.
“…..Why is the Orchard inside the Botanical Garden?”
It was ironic that the shop’s name was ‘Orchard’ when it sold things close to narcotics, and that it was inside the city’s largest botanical garden.
The old man grinned, showing his yellowed teeth, at Renok’s question.
“The fruits that grow when I cook those plants are right here. They are the fruits that will send us to heaven.”
It was an irrelevant question, met with a fitting answer. Renok immediately took out the rest of his tobacco and placed it in front of the old man.
“I’m looking for items with similar effects to this. Can I get them here?”
“Let’s see….”
“I’d prefer something with fewer side effects, even if it’s a bit more expensive.”
The old man slowly took out and put on his reading glasses and began to examine the tobacco Renok had presented.
“It’s an inhalation method. It’s naturally faster than swallowing pills and slower than an injection. But it’s the most common, and the taste makes it hard to quit.”
He muttered to himself like this, took out a knife, and sliced the tobacco lengthwise. The wrapper peeled away, revealing the contents. The old man used tweezers to examine it with his eyes and nodded.
“Hmm…. Whoever made this, it’s complete garbage.”
“……”
“From the ingredients inside, to the refining, drying, and packaging—I don’t like anything about it. Why on earth were you smoking this?”
Renok, having heard the same thing from Jenny and the old man, replied glumly.
“…Due to unavoidable circumstances.”
“It’s a defective product deliberately mixed with impurities to lower the price and increase the addiction. The anti-psychotic effect seems decent, but that’s just to give the illusion that the drug is working well. It’s definitely not a product I’d recommend long-term.”
The old man said this and immediately tossed the finely dissected tobacco into the trash can next to him.
“You said you want something with fewer side effects, even if it costs more. What’s your budget?”
Renok pondered for a moment. The drug he was buying now was a minimum investment for his future plan. To move his weak body like a normal person, he needed a drug that would make him reliably forget pain and fatigue, at least while he was working.
But minimizing the side effects while using such an item was crucial for Renok. If severe side effects accompanied every use of the drug, his body would not last long. This was no time to save money.
“….2 million Cell.”
The 2.7 million Cell he received as a bounty. He would invest all of it, only leaving enough for living expenses.
“Hmm.”
The old man nodded, got up, and began rummaging through the shelves in the back. After a long time, he returned with several sealed packs in his hand. When he opened one, something long and thin spilled out. It was a tobacco-like form, slightly thicker and longer than what Renok used to smoke.
He weighed each one and spoke.
“If you only wanted a narcotic, that small amount of money wouldn’t be enough.”
“……”
“But what you want seems to be a product pumped with pharmaceuticals rather than narcotics. You can find such things just barely within the category of indulgences.”
The old man gathered the approximately thirty cigarettes on the scale and placed them in front of Renok.
“Cashburn-C107. 6 hours of powerful pain relief, doping, and awakening effect. Mild mental uplift. Side effects include pain paralysis and dizziness immediately after consumption. Headaches, convulsions, vomiting, and a low chance of coughing up blood after the effect wears off. A very clean product.”
To Renok, those side effects didn’t sound clean at all, but the old man continued his explanation.
“The toxicity is not weak, but the addiction is low, and the amount that accumulates in the body long-term is not much. That’s only possible because it’s a product modified from pharmaceuticals at a reasonable level.”
“Are those small side effects?”
“They are the minimum side effects you can buy with the money you have.” The old man stated flatly. “The price skyrockets the more you reduce the drug’s recoil. If you want something better, that money won’t even buy you twenty sticks, and you should know that I never sell less than a 10-pack.”
In other words, there were separate products that cost hundreds of thousands to millions per stick.
Renok shook his head with complex feelings and picked up the tobacco called Cashburn that the old man handed him. A simple calculation showed it cost slightly less than 70,000 Cell per stick. In terms of price alone, this was also considerable. It was certainly a price that made Renok’s hands tremble, as he had never even bought a pack of cigarettes on Earth.
But he had no choice. This was an investment he had to make to earn money in the future.
Renok finally paid the money and took the tobacco the old man handed over.
“Come again. All those who use my Orchard do.”
The old man, sitting askew and nodding, quickly disappeared in the smoke.
Renok immediately left the botanical garden and headed to his hotel.
Thirty sticks of tobacco bought for 2 million Cell. He couldn’t use it in a real situation without testing its effects firsthand.
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Rest
“Hmm…..”
Back at the hotel, Renok sat in the middle of the bed and focused on silently smoking the tobacco. As the old man said, the inhalation method was naturally less effective than an injection. There would be no method more efficient than directly injecting the drug into the bloodstream.
But carrying disposable syringes every time he went out to work was cumbersome, and smoking tobacco was less conspicuous. Furthermore, the sensation of inhaling the smoke was actually not bad.
“It’s definitely….. different.”
If the old tobacco stolen from the factory was about a dull pounding at the back of his head and forcibly waking up his body, the newly purchased item was more effective at boosting vitality throughout his body without the feeling of fatigue. This was a much-needed effect for Renok, who needed to alleviate the fatigue of his weak body rather than seeking mental pleasure.
His body felt much more energetic and stronger than before. Although it was just his body being forcibly elevated rather than actually gaining strength, this should be enough to move around without major issues while the drug was effective.
Renok knew he had already reached a respectable level as a mage, but engaging in combat in a real situation was a different matter entirely. He couldn’t afford for his weak body and stamina to become a handicap when faced with a sudden gunfire, like when he caught Taylor Evans.
Somewhat satisfied with the effect, Renok lay down on the bed, exhaled the smoke, and began to think about what he needed to do next.
‘Come to think of it, I need to replenish my bullets.’
He had no complaints about the gun stolen from the foreman so far, but he only had four bullets left. Since awakening his magic, Renok had never doubted his magical ability, but he felt that he should not neglect his physical armament regardless. Despite his formidable talent, his body was weak and precarious, easily breakable with a single blow.
He couldn’t avoid starting work in Sector 49 to earn money, but it was essential to prepare for all kinds of possible dangers.
‘Once I earn some money, I should also think about getting forged identification. I can’t live as an outlaw with no identity forever….’
Renok, looking longingly at the tobacco in his hand, painfully stubbed it out in the ashtray.
70,000 Cell per stick. In terms of price alone, this single cigarette was more expensive than his hotel room. He felt like he should chew and swallow even the filter, but for now, he needed to sleep.
With practiced movements, Renok shook out and swallowed the sleeping pills on his bedside table and lay down. Come to think of it, his supply of these was also running out, as he had taken them continuously during the week he was researching Common Magic. It seemed he had already decided how to spend the remaining 700,000 Cell.
Soon after, Renok fell into a deep, unconscious sleep. The uncorrected insomnia. The physically exhausting body every day. The sleeping pills and tobacco he took daily would eventually build up a tolerance, and Renok would ultimately have to keep seeking stronger drugs, but at least at this moment, his expression looked supremely peaceful.
Another day passed like this. It was the first day Renok started earning money in the megalopolis of Valcan.
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