SBC 74

Chapter 74

“Hmm…”

I stared hard at the vial sitting on the table.

The liquid inside shimmered with a faint violet glow—almost like wine at first glance.

“But that’s not the problem, is it?”

This was the elixir I’d obtained after all the hardship in the Endello Mine.
In the novel, the only person who ever got to taste it—once and only once—was Count Benner.

‘So…’

Count Benner had discovered the Ancient’s Treasury purely by accident.

According to the story, it happened about ten years from now.
When the mine’s output began to decline, Count Benner sent miners deep into the very heart of the mine.

Of course, without a Giant Worm to guide them, the ordinary workers inevitably disturbed dragon’s blood—triggering a catastrophic disaster.

But even then, Benner didn’t stop.

He kept sending people in.
And when they refused, he enslaved or blackmailed them into submission.

That’s when, amid the wreckage, he found it—the Ancient’s Treasury.

But how did he even manage to open it?

‘Well, how else? He probably just threw people at it until it broke.’

He’d forced his way in, treating the ancient vault like any other door to be smashed down.
Naturally, the defense golems had seen him as an intruder and attacked.

Unlike me, Benner didn’t know the proper method to subdue them.

He’d lost most of his personal soldiers before he finally forced his way inside.

And after all that—after all that hellish sacrifice—the only thing he obtained was this single elixir.

The incident had started when he’d dragged out the being that slept within the containment chamber and tortured it.

‘And that’s when he finally drank the elixir.’

Since it was so precious, he didn’t dare test it on anyone else.

In the end, he diluted a single drop of it in wine and drank it himself.

The result?

‘He suffered abdominal pain for an entire day…’

He later declared the potion spoiled and burned it.

But knowing the whole story, I saw it differently.

First, the purpose of that buried treasury in Endello Mine—why had the ancients made it in the first place?
To prevent a catastrophe?

If so, why include a chest of relics?
It was as if they’d prepared a “starter kit” for someone newly arrived in a strange world—
a weapon, two accessories, and one potion.

Once you thought about it that way, the rest became clear.

The items inside were all part of a single set.
A beginner’s kit prepared for someone dropped into an unfamiliar world.

The weapon and accessories were self-explanatory, but the inclusion of an elixir raised questions.

What was its use? A healing potion?
No—that role was already covered by Marcella’s Ring, the one I’d given to Isbart.

Then what?

‘A strengthening potion, of course.’

Exactly. This violet elixir was a beginner’s enhancement potion—
one that caused excruciating abdominal pain when consumed.

But why the pain, if it was supposed to strengthen the user?

That required another piece of knowledge—
something basic to me, but utterly foreign to this world.

‘The ancients didn’t have a rank system.’

In the novel, the ancients were never described as having rank marks on their hands.
If anything, they resembled the people of my old, ruined world more than they did this one.

They had dantians and mana hearts, and drew magic and aura not from ranks, but from the power of their core.

“Phew…”

I picked up the vial with trembling hands.

Count Benner had only drunk a drop—but that wouldn’t do.
If I was going to do this, I had to drink it all in one go.

I’d already told Islyn not to come in for three days no matter what, so I’d be alone for a while.

No need to worry about anyone seeing me writhing in pain.

Gulp.

I swallowed dryly, then poured the entire elixir into my mouth.

It wasn’t exactly bitter—just pungent, almost foul.
The thick, sticky liquid slid down my throat.

—Thunk!

Suddenly, my heart seized with pain.

It was as if I’d swallowed a red-hot needle—
my insides churned, my organs twisted, my lungs compressed.

But I had to endure it. And I could.
The pain was familiar—something I’d felt once before.

Just as I suspected—this elixir was meant to create a danjeon.

“GAAAAAAHHHHH!”

The agony escalated—no longer needles, but fire scorching my belly from the inside out.

I nearly blacked out, but clung to consciousness by sheer willpower.

Then, crossing my legs, I focused every ounce of my spirit into a single point—
deep within, where something should have been all along.

The place that once held my danjeon.

Rumble…!

My body shook as if struck by an earthquake.

At the same time, I felt the massive wall that had long sealed that place begin to crumble.

‘Urgh… It wasn’t this bad before…!’

It wasn’t my first time forming a danjeon.

Back in the Valhalla System days, when I fought monsters, sensing my core had been easy.
All I’d needed then was to expand what was already there.

But this time was different.
The “rank system” itself was a massive wall—one that everyone in this world possessed.

The elixir’s purpose was to pierce that wall.
Once inside, it turned into a blade of mana, hacking furiously at the barrier.

Rumble!

“Hhhhaaa—!”

I nearly fainted again and again, but I held on.
Time became meaningless.

The only thing that mattered was the sharp, burning sensation of mana slicing through the wall.

I didn’t run from the pain—I faced it.

I had to become stronger.
To survive this cursed world.
To avoid dying miserably again, as I had in the last.

“Hhrrk…!”

Even a single breath seared my throat like fire.

Sweat—or something thicker—poured from every pore, every opening of my body.
The stench was nauseating, but compared to the pain, it was nothing.

Finally—

Crack!

A sound like collapsing sand echoed inside me, and the pain vanished.

Relief washed over me—and I blacked out.

“Ugh…”

“Count!”

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a cascade of silver hair so bright it made me squint.

“Ugh…”

“What in the world happened, my lord?! You told me not to disturb you for three days, but you’ve been unconscious for five!”

“…Five?”

I pushed myself up, blinking.

I was lying neatly in a soft bed—Islyn must have carried me here.

“So it’s been five days.”

“Honestly, I was terrified! You always survive these strange experiments somehow, but this time…”

“Hm.”

Her choice of words irked me, but her puffy, tear-stained eyes silenced any retort.

Truth be told, even I hadn’t expected it to take five days.
The novel had mentioned just half a day of pain—three at most.

‘Well, no matter.’

Whether five days or ten—it didn’t matter.

What mattered was whether it had worked.

I sat cross-legged on the bed and steadied my breathing.

As cool air filled my lungs, I felt it—
a long-forgotten sensation deep within my belly.

“…It’s there!”

Tiny, but undeniable.

If it had been my old body, I would’ve scoffed at how small it was—
a danjeon no bigger than a bean.

But it was there.

After so many years… I had one again.

“Damn… it’s really there…”

“Haa…”

Islyn sighed, shaking her head. But I didn’t care.

Because I had a danjeon again.

“Ha… ha ha!”

The ancients had created these treasuries for a reason.

If their plan to transfer their souls had succeeded, even survivors would’ve struggled to adapt to a new world.

So they’d prepared artifacts for those who would awaken in unfamiliar bodies—
a weapon to fight enemies,
a relic to heal wounds,
a shield to defend,
and an elixir to forge a new danjeon.

If Count Benner had only known what this potion really did,
the entire fate of Isoterre might have changed.

After all, he wasn’t the only one to use it.

‘The Eternal Knights.’

Back in the Kazan Empire, every one of the Eternal Knights was a Rank 6 monster.

Some, like Krod, had broken through by sheer will.
But the truth was that many of them weren’t natural prodigies—

They’d used the same kind of elixir, hidden within other Ancient Treasuries.
With it, the empire had built the strongest knight order on the continent.

And where had they gotten more of it? Simple. They’d copied it.

‘I thought about trying that myself… but that’s probably impossible now.’

The same artifact that mass-produced golems in the treasury wasn’t limited to just that.
It could replicate almost anything—
not perfect, but close.

The Emperor of Kazan had used it to replicate the elixir and create the Eternal Knights.

‘No wonder they were so damn strong. Maniacs.’

Of course, that was possible only for an empire.
If I tried something like that, the entire continent’s power balance would collapse.

Too much of anything is dangerous.
I’d settle for using it myself.

“Phew…”

Now that I had a danjeon, there was one more thing to check.
With a trembling hand, I opened my status.

Having a danjeon didn’t erase my ranks.

It simply meant that, unlike others who relied solely on the rank system,
I could now grow stronger through both rank and danjeon cultivation.

Like adding a second horse to a carriage—
doubling its speed and strength.

[Name: Ian Imfera]
Rank: 5 (Swordsmanship), 5 (Magic)

“Ha ha ha ha! Success! Finally!”

With the addition of my danjeon, I’d broken through the second wall.

If I trained both systems together, the next breakthrough would come easily.

“What’s going on this time…?”

“What do you mean? I broke my second wall! Of course I’m excited!”

“W–what? Really?”

“Ha ha! Yes! I’m going straight to the training grounds—”

Thud!

The moment my feet hit the floor, I faceplanted.

“Count! You’ve been unconscious for five days! You can’t just jump up like that!”

“Ghh… No, I’m fine. I just need to adjust to this new body.”

The instant my feet touched the ground, I could feel it—
my body was completely different.

The heaviness that had once weighed me down like chains was gone.
Now, I felt light—almost weightless.

All the impurities in my body had been purged when the danjeon formed.

‘Feels like I could sprout wings and fly.’

I wobbled to my feet, walking like a newborn calf, while Islyn looked on anxiously.

“Hm… Going straight to the training yard might be too much.”

“Then…”

“Let’s eat first.”

Five days unconscious meant I hadn’t eaten a thing.
My mouth still tasted faintly of salt.

“Of course. I’ll prepare something light, perhaps porridge—”

“No. Not porridge.”

“Ah… then some sugar water, maybe—”

“Meat. When you’re weak, you eat meat.”

Islyn opened her mouth to protest, but I turned my head away before she could speak.
Resigned, she closed her mouth again.

I grinned, excitement bubbling up as I tottered toward the kitchen—
walking like a toddler, still unsteady,
but eager for my first real meal in days.