Wizard: I Add Points and Hunt Monsters

”Heh, I feel like you just insulted yourself with that statement... Ahem.”

Seeing her sour expression, Menor coughed a couple of times and continued, ”Your knowledge of them is only superficial. In fact, from the Third Era until now, they’ve had a hand in many disasters.”

”The most recent was the thirty-year war in Emanuele on the Southern Continent, as well as inciting the conflict over the ’strongest modification’ between the Blood Spirit School and the Mechanical School on the Western Continent in the year 100 of the New Calendar.”

”From this, you can see how terrifying their power is and just how extreme their methods are.”

”Scared?” Clelia taunted him. ”Wei’en just slaughtered four Twilight Secret Cultivators and even took out a Deep Sea Giant Monster for good measure.”

”Don’t try to provoke me.” Menor shook his head with a sigh. ”I wasn’t going to tell you any of this, but since you’ve already clashed with them and brought back a crucial clue, I suppose I can tell you a few things.”

”Oh?”

”The truth is, we’ve secretly clashed with the Dusk Sect many times. It’s just that our most recent encounters have mostly ended in failure.”

”Failure?” Clelia was taken aback. ”You mean *we’re* the ones who failed?”

Menor tugged his hood lower, his face once again becoming a blurry, fragmented image, as if he didn’t want Clelia to see his expression.

”Twilight Secret Cultivators are not to be underestimated. They’re nearly immune to all physical attacks and have considerable defenses against Spirit attacks and Element magic. The most effective way to fight them is a direct confrontation of Origin Power.”

”It’s all because they possess an ability that converts Illusory Power into Origin Power. I originally thought it was a power related to things like the Illusion Realm or dreams, but it seems killing intent is also a source.”

”So my powers are useless against them?” Clelia couldn’t help but ask.

”You?”

Menor chose his words carefully, trying not to use overly demeaning terms, ”Your abilities have no effect on them whatsoever!”

Clelia: ”...”

’That’s harsh. He might as well have just called me too weak.’

”Inside those bodies wrapped in cloth strips, there are dozens of consciousnesses, or even up to a thousand, depending on their power level.”

Menor sighed. ”Based on our past encounters, we speculate they have a way to rapidly increase their power. Even though it drastically shortens their lifespan, the terrifying rate of their improvement is still utterly despairing.”

”To what level?”

”Governor-level, or Hand of the Kingdom-level... Fortunately, we’ve yet to find any at the Legendary level. Or perhaps they do exist, and have simply been hidden away.”

Clelia frowned slightly. ’Are they really that powerful?’

”No wonder we keep failing...”

”We haven’t always failed, you know. We’ve won before,” Menor said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. ”Otherwise, why do you think the leader and the others have been out of sight for so long?”

”Oh? Did they go to fight those Secret Cultivators?”

”No, they went to find a way to deal with them.”

Clelia: ”...”

’That’s it?’

’And here I thought they went off to wage an epic war. Turns out they don’t even know how to fight them.’

”This time, we’ll show them what we’ve got! To dare set up a dreamscape like that across the entire sea, and to hide it so well... they must be planning something big. Now that we’ve discovered it ahead of time, we must make them pay a heavy price, no matter the cost!”

”...I hope so.”

”You don’t believe me?”

”I believe you, I believe you. We’re the great Eternal Life Association!” Clelia quietly rolled her eyes, mentally labeling the perpetually mysterious Menor an idiot.

’Is he that competitive?’

’Or have all their failures just made him wary of the Dusk Sect?’

Besides, compared to the secretive Dusk Sect, the Eternal Life Association’s reputation on the various continents is hardly sterling. From any angle, the other side seems to have more destructive power.

Menor heard the insincerity in her voice and snorted. ”I’ll send you the information on the Dusk Sect later. But remember, the two of you are not strong enough on your own. Do your best not to actively provoke them.”

”As for that maritime taboo—the Slaughter Dreamscape—we’ll decide what to do after I’ve spoken with the leader.”

”Alright.” Clelia nodded, then asked, ”What’s the word on that mission to the Southern Continent? At my current pace, it’ll take me about another year to get there.”

”There’s still some time before it opens. Didn’t you notice I had you all travel there on your own? If it were truly urgent, I would’ve teleported you there already.”

”Fine by me. I’m having a great time at sea and wasn’t looking to start a mission anytime soon anyway.”

”Fun?” Menor’s tone grew teasing. ”A year, you say... I look forward to seeing your little family of three showing up in the Fission Wasteland.”

”You—!?”

”Gotta run! Mehrdad’s calling for me. See you around.”

With that, Menor’s figure vanished.

Clelia looked at her reflection in the mirror, raising a hand to touch her hot cheek. A brilliant smile spread across her face. ”That damn Menor. One of these days, I’m going to sew his mouth shut.”

...

...

CLICK.

While opening the door to Shawa’s workshop, Wei’en glanced back and said encouragingly, ”That was great. Do that a few more times, and I’m sure you’ll be able to start assembling the [Iron Heart Fury].”

Miss Zombie, a wrench in one hand and a finished component in the other, looked directly at him. ”R-Really?”

”Of course, of course! You’re very talented; you’ve just only been around mechanics for a short while. You’ll get it with a little more practice.”