Chapter 29: Seeds Of Corruption

[New World Quest has appeared!#&#$!]

“A new world quest…?”

I knew the list of world quests in [Arcana Academy] by heart. Because I was someone who had played [Arcana Academy] over 1,000 times.

Because of that, I was bewildered when a world quest suddenly appeared in front of the cherry blossom tree. Such a quest had never appeared in the ‘original work’.

I felt like something was wrong. If the ‘original work’ was broken because of my actions, I could fix it somehow, but if a quest appeared, it meant that the deviation of the ‘original work’ was beyond my ability.

“…This is crazy.”

I ran my hand through my hair with a complicated heart. If I thought about this any further, my head would really explode.

I pushed the status window aside and approached the cherry blossom tree. Regardless of the quest, I needed to find out what that was first.

Whoosh-

I drew mana, gripped my sword hilt tightly, and started to dig the innards out. The 5-star sword, imbued with mana, easily cut through the remains of the cherry blossom tree.

The cherry blossom-colored light revealed its presence after about 5 minutes of digging.

“…A seed?”

It was a seed.

At first glance, it was a cherry blossom-colored crystal with a size that could be mistaken for a jewel, and a transparency that would make it suitable for use as an ornament.

The moment I saw its appearance, I could instinctively feel it. The fact that this seed was a kind of dungeon core that created the cherry blossom tree and turned the natural cave into a dungeon.

“…I guess I should go to Elvenheim as soon as summer vacation starts.”

I had no way of knowing what this was.

The biggest weapon of a transmigrator is knowledge, but this ‘seed’ of the cherry blossom tree was a variable that had never appeared in the original work.

Elves are a long-lived race that basically lives for over a thousand years. Because of that, the amount and quality of knowledge they possess is incomparably higher than that of the human world.

Wouldn’t they know information about this ‘seed’?

“She’ll be happy to see me, too.”

I muttered quietly and looked at the crystal. The seed, which was emitting a faint light while shedding soft mana, didn’t look very dangerous.

In the first place, a dungeon core wasn’t dangerous.

In [Arcana Academy], a dungeon core was one of the rewards for clearing a dungeon. What kind of crazy game would have a reward that attacks the player?

Maybe that was why, despite being a gold-badge adventurer, I forgot the Adventurer’s Guild’s rule of ‘doubt everything’ and reached out to the seed.

The seed was soft and light.

It felt like touching a small cotton ball. Even though it looked like a jewel, it was incredibly light. The texture was also very good, so I couldn’t help but keep touching it.

I don’t know why I’m doing this. It’s a little different from when the cherry blossom tree charmed me, but it’s also similar, a really hard-to-describe feeling.

The ‘charm’ of the cherry blossom tree felt somewhat unnatural and artificial, but this seed had a truly natural charm that captivated people.

Was the ‘charm’ that the cherry blossom tree used earlier related to the ability of this seed? To lure and fascinate something, and take it away. If that’s true…

Wait a minute.

“This…!”

[Status Error]
[Status Error]
[Status Er…]

“Kya?!”

The moment I reached that thought, my legs gave out with a feeling of dizziness. My body collapsed, and dozens of translucent windows appeared before my eyes.

The strange mana spread through my body as the seed in my hand melted. A faint pink scent tickled the tip of my nose. I felt dizzy. My cheeks flushed red with a strange heat rising through my body.

“Ugh…what is this…”

My head, which was already overheated, stopped thinking. My expression loosened, and my words became slurred. My mind became clouded, and I couldn’t calculate magic.

I couldn’t open the hand that held the seed. Because my body wouldn’t listen, I struggled to crawl to the remains of the cherry blossom tree and leaned my body against it.

[Status Recovery…56%]

I don’t know what’s happening to my body. I could only instinctively grip my sword tightly, as if that was the only thing I could do, from the fear of the monsters and the fact my body wouldn’t move.

It felt like walking in a dream. My body wouldn’t follow the commands my head gave. All I could do with my body, which had lost its strength, was to pray that the status window would return soon.

So I sat there blankly for a while.

Suddenly, a searing pain pierced my whole body.

“Ugh…?!”

Mana with a completely different nature from the mana I had been holding until now entered my body, and blood flowed from my nose.

If mana were a water tank, blood vessels were hoses. The blood vessels were too narrow compared to the overwhelming amount of mana that rushed in at once.

I instinctively knew. It was dangerous to let the mana rush in like this.

If the hose bursts, water will splash everywhere. If the blood vessels burst, the uncontrollable mana would explode everywhere. I gritted my teeth and began to circulate the mana in my body to prevent such a situation.

“Hngh…”

A moan close to a cry escaped.

It felt like there was a fire inside my body.

My blood vessels were stretched taut, and pain that made my mind go blank rushed in every second-

With my B-rank mentality, I barely maintained my sanity and slowly circulated the mana in my body. So that the mana wouldn’t be concentrated in one place.

The inflow of mana stopped after the seed I was holding had completely melted, and the status window recovery was complete.

[Absorption complete]
[Absorbs the stat Charm (A) that the ‘Cherry Blossom Seed’ possessed. Stat ‘Charm’ (A) is added]
[Absorbs the mana (D+) that the ‘Cherry Blossom Seed’ possessed. Mana (C-  -> C+)]

“Sigh, haa, hngh, sigh…”

I raised my head, barely calming my heavy breathing. Beyond my tear-filled blurred vision, I could see the status window, which had changed slightly.

[Status Recovery Complete]
[A new world quest has appeared. You can check it on the quest screen.][Check]

[Player ID: Sian]
[Lv:47]
[Strength: D+]
[Agility: C+]
[Stamina: C-]
[Mentality: B]
[Mana: C+]
[Charm: A]
[Owned Stigmata: Blink]
[new!][Owned Stigmata: Cherry Blossom Garden]

“…Huh?”

The first thing that caught my eye, amidst the dizziness, was the new Stigmata that had appeared at the bottom of the status window.

A person with a Stigmata cannot receive a new Stigmata.

That was the basic setting of [Arcana Academy], and even I, who had played this game over 1,000 times, had never seen a character that broke that setting.

Because of that, even after seeing that a new Stigmata had been added to the status window, I could only make a suspicious expression.

“…First, let’s try using it.”

I closed my eyes and focused on the new mana circulating in my body. I pulled up the soft and warm spring-like mana, which was different from the mana I had been using.

[The set Stigmata is changed to ‘Cherry Blossom Garden’]
[Activates Stigmata ‘Cherry Blossom Garden’]

A soft spring breeze blew from somewhere.

With a sweet floral scent, life began to return to the withered land.

The mana particles spread in all directions turned into cherry blossom petals and scattered. A light pink garden full of life unfolded in the ruined cave.

“…Ah”

A breathtakingly beautiful garden that could only be found in a dream.

As I stared blankly at that scene, the cherry blossom petals gently fell around me.

[Stigmata ‘Cherry Blossom Garden’ grants the player ‘Continuous Healing’ effect]
[If you leave the area of ‘Cherry Blossom Garden’, the ‘Continuous Healing’ effect will disappear]

The petals that touched the wounds melted and regenerated the skin. The pain that felt like my whole body was being burned with an iron subsided, and strength gradually returned to my body.

“Ugh, I…feel better now.”

The Stigmata on my left hand had changed.

It was no longer a dark Stigmata in the shape of crossed swords, but a light pink Stigmata in the shape of a cherry blossom.

It wasn’t just the Stigmata that had changed.

My appearance, reflected in the blade, looked somewhat different. A little pink was mixed in my amethyst-like eyes.

Perhaps it was because of the newly added stat, Charm (A). I felt like my impression had changed slightly.

The parts that usually determine the overall impression, such as the corners of the eyes, lips, and neckline, seemed to have changed somehow. The appearance, which was already pretty objectively speaking, had become more attractive, should I say.

“Hmm, this is going to be a bit troublesome.”

Unlike wanting to be a beautiful girl, I only liked seeing beautiful girls. In that sense, the fact that my appearance had become more attractive was not a big deal to me.

On the contrary, a too-conspicuous appearance is even inconvenient. That was why I had been hiding my appearance while working as an adventurer.

Well, anyway, my friends, Yelena and Regina, are both girls, so it probably won’t matter much for now. I’m a girl’s body too, for now.

I muttered lightly and looked at the top of the status window.

[A new world quest has appeared. You can check it on the quest screen.][Check]

“Let’s see what’s changed.”

I, without hesitation, pressed the check button.