The Cursed Wizard: A Game Made Real

Dray burst into laughter at Kidel's words without realizing it. It seemed like she still hadn't given up hope. 

"Kidel, were you still thinking the same thing after seeing that lightning just now?" 

Surely Dray had had similar thoughts before he climbed up to the roof, but all those hopes were dashed the moment Leo dropped lightning from the air to capture the Scavenger branch chief. 

pharmaceutical company 

A wizard who can freely summon lightning from the empty sky. 

Considering his magical abilities that are hard to believe for someone so young, it wouldn't be strange for him to be the centre of attention in the Lightning Series Magic Tower right now. 

The fact that such a genius has turned down all the wealth and fame to live in a place like this makes me think that there must be circumstances that cannot be explained by money or fame alone. 

Someone might be able to hire him, but at least here, he clearly had a talent that no one could monopolize. 

"But it's such a waste… Where else can you find a wizard like me?" 

As she nodded, the muzzle of the rifle she was carrying behind her back flashed. 

"How can we guarantee that we won't meet enemies while working here?" 

"… … .." 

Only then did the smile disappear from Dray's face. 

Because what Kidel said wasn't entirely impossible. 

Dray's mercenaries and Leo are by no means good or kind people. They are simply underworld workers who live off the lubricants of the city by pursuing lucrative jobs. 

No one knows when they will meet as allies and help each other, and when they will meet as enemies and risk their lives. 

Dray hesitated for a moment and then answered. 

"That's why you always have to make a good impression on the people you work with." 

The other mercenaries also turned their heads at the heavy voice that was completely different from before. 

"If I had been obsessed with his ability, I might have been able to shake off my regret for a moment, but it would have been difficult to give him the impression that I was a neat worker. No one knows how such a trivial action will come back to haunt him." 

"… … " 

"I just did the best I could under the circumstances. Now all we can do is….hope for luck." 

What would it be like to roam the streets at night with guns and knives in this city where tens of millions of people live together? 

It's natural to hope that no one stronger than me appears while I'm working, and that no one comes to kill me for more money. 

I live another day praying that the vague probability of bad luck will not show up in front of me today. 

That was all Dray Cream could do. 

He shook off his complicated thoughts and calmly patted his colleagues on the shoulder. 

"Let's go. After we're done, let's have a drink for the guys who collapsed." 

# 

Two days after successfully resolving the matter that came in from the Cream Gall Mercenary Office. 

Dray took blood from the man's body and gave it to Leo through Jenny. 

Jenny, who was handing over the Styrofoam box, had a disgusted expression on her face at the pungent smell of blood, but Leo didn't fall for her poor acting and calmly accepted the box. 

It's ridiculous that a woman with the nerve to open a bar in the middle of District 49 would be offended by the smell of blood. 

I had to buy an extra small refrigerator to store the blood separately, but it wasn't a huge expense. 

We may not be able to find out anything right now by analysing the blood mixed with black magic, but later, when he becomes more magically mature, we may be able to figure out the principle of his strange doping ability. 

"I heard that the consulting firm that was in that building has moved to another location." 

Leo was quietly listening to Jenny's account of the events that followed while drinking the drink Jordan had handed him. 

At some point, the two stopped charging Leo for drinks. This was possible because the commission he had brought them during that time alone was well over ten million cells. 

"In a way, it was natural. No matter how much you want to save on rent and taxes, there's a limit. It's not common for someone to go through something like that and still be fine." 

Tata Tang!! 

Her words are not convincing, considering that her expression does not change even when gunshots are faintly heard outside the bar. 

Since this wasn't the first or second time something like this had happened in District 49, all three of them didn't even think about moving and just sat there drinking. 

It was an unremarkable day, except that one customer, complaining about the noise, stormed out and came back covered in blood. 

"Ban, how was it working with the Kreamgal office this time?" 

Leo answered Jenny's question nonchalantly. 

"Nothing special. Compared to my experience with Kroken, it was incomparably smooth. I did have to deal with the Scavenger executives, but… it wasn't that difficult." 

"Did you say he was a retired soldier? If he was an officer at Area 51, I would know his level." 

She was giggling and muttered while biting a long stick of vinegar in her mouth. 

"But not all scavengers are weak or sloppy. I'll tell you in advance, there are quite a few who worked together a few times and then got caught up in it and got killed while they let their guard down." 

"Are you saying that the key leaders are different?" 

"There is a considerable amount of disparity between the executives and even the branch managers. If you get involved with the scavenger branch managers in the 20th district, you'd better be careful. There must be a good reason why they can gather all kinds of trash and create such a large organization." 

Leo didn't answer, but he tried to remember her words. 

The scavengers I had encountered so far were nothing more or less than simple thugs or bandits, but if she could say that, it was reasonable to assume that she had more power than she seemed. 

She smirked at Leo's indifferent expression, blowing out a puff of smoke. 

"Do you know that this incident is pretty well known around here? It's been a while since the scavengers tried something this determined, so everyone's been paying attention." 

"so?" 

"There are more and more customers looking for a magician who can strike down lightning from the sky. This is very exciting news for freelancers like us." 

"hmm…." 

That's definitely a good thing. Rather than just giving it to anyone, requests that specifically target that person will be treated better and will pay more. 

"So, I also went through some hardships for our wizard." 

As Jenny said that, she brought a file made of paper from behind the bar and handed it to Leo. 

"I've collected all the requests that came in during the past week. Take them, read them, and choose the one you like." 

"Is this the extent of the request for a place name?" 

The paper I could hold in my hand was easily more than a dozen sheets thick. 

"That's proof that there are many people thirsting for skilled magicians. To be honest, I'm surprised too. Among my clients, there aren't many who receive this many requests." 

Jenny said, glaring at Leo with greedy eyes. 

"So let's continue to work together. I'll even take a small commission." 

"Haha." 

Leo smiled dryly but didn't answer, and Jenny didn't say anything else. 

He nodded as he stood up, holding the file, and said as if he remembered her. 

"Oh, and those requests. Since they all overlap, if you choose one, you'll have to decline the others. If you respond quickly, the clients will be able to find someone else. You have to be considerate of those things." 

"I get it." 

Leo went straight back into the house, threw the file and the box of blood into the corner of the room, and headed to the bathroom. 

It's about throwing up all the alcohol you drank at Jenny's bar. After realizing that this could help reduce the side effects of smoking drugs, I've been trying it often. 

It was inevitable that he would feel sick, but from Leo's perspective, it was more detrimental to be sick in bed all day. 

After flushing the water and washing up, I stood in front of the kitchen. 

Cut the pre-thawed meat and grill it. Wash the vegetables briefly and stir-fry them with the sauce purchased at the supermarket. 

Chewy! 

I take out the leftover rice from yesterday from the rice cooker and eat it with a simple side dish. 

The important thing is not to eat a lot, but to try to consume a variety of nutrients. 

Slowly and consciously chew the contents of your mouth, digest them, and send them down into your stomach. 

This damned weak body was born with a terrible digestive system, so Leo always had to be very careful whenever he ate something. 

After the meal, I do a quick wash and do some stretching. 

It was important to take care of myself before I developed the bad habit of washing dishes before eating. 

Leo, who had been faithfully taking the vitamin supplements that arrived two weeks after ordering, finally took a deep breath and sat up straight in a corner of the living room. 

The walls of the studio apartment are filled with torn notebooks and memos that he has pasted up, so there is no place to lean against, but there is nothing he can do. 

In the process of studying how to apply public magic, I wrote down inspirations and methods that came to mind and stuck them on the wall. 

The public magic that Leo uses is magic that he developed from beginning to end solely based on his own memories and talents. 

If he had learned other unique magic, it might have been different, but in order to raise the common magic to a higher level than it was now, Leo had no choice but to put in effort, even if it was just a little. 

Fortunately, the magical talent he had developed by putting on all sorts of penalties was not in vain, and Leo had been developing his own magic without stopping even once with just a little bit of salt and inspiration. 

It goes beyond simply using a given magic for its intended purpose, and goes through a process of redefining and re-evaluating the magic consumption, range, power, and limitations to create new magic. 

Adjusting the range of [Thunder Calling] used against Scavengers this time was also part of such research. 

Leo put the Styrofoam box containing the blood in the small refrigerator he had purchased in advance. Since the blood had been touched by black magic, it was natural to take measures with small-scale barrier magic. 

He sat up straight in a corner of the room, then picked up the file Jenny had handed him and began to look through the documents inside one by one. 

There were also requests from mercenary offices such as Kreamgal, and cases where individuals placed requests for escort purposes. 

There were some unusual requests, such as requests for cooperation in experiments at research institutes, and many requests from companies, like last time. 

Leo, who was leafing through the documents, paused for a moment and then burst into laughter. 

"Hehehe… These guys are pretty crazy." 

There was even a request from the Scavengers to hire him. 

To be exact, it seems that the Scavenger Branch Chief of District 38 was keeping an eye on his activities. 

Leo couldn't help but be surprised by the request, which blatantly revealed the nuance of not caring even though it was an operation carried out by the same organization. 

There's no way Jenny didn't know this, so she probably didn't tell him on purpose. 

As we worked together, I felt that she was quite playful. 

"Let's see. Let's take this out first, and this out too… ." 

All requests with very tight deadlines are filtered out. Requests from the mercenary office are also put on hold for now. 

All requests coming in under unknown personal names are also removed. 

The only thing that was clean about it was that many of the requests came in under the company name. 

Leo didn't think too negatively about working with a gang, but trust was an issue. He was thinking of holding off on working with a dangerous organization until he had the ability to gain trust through force. 

After going through all the difficult conditions and weeding out the various requests, Leo ended up with only one request that he liked. 

First of all, among the requests gathered here, this one has the longest remaining time until acceptance, and the conditions aren't too strict. The compensation isn't that expensive, but there was a keyword that caught Leo's eye. 

"It's a pharmaceutical company… ." 

Strange guest 

Pharmaceutical company. 

It is a word that strongly captures Leo's interest as he becomes more and more interested in medicine. 

As soon as Leo remembered, he turned on his cell phone screen and connected to the Internet network. 

He used to only watch the news occasionally, but recently, there is a site that he has been visiting more and more frequently. 

Auction, the official online auction house run by the city government. 

In this city's largest network market, where it is faster to count the number of items that are not for sale, there are many rare items and relics of unknown origin that come up. 

Consumables such as elixirs that maintain the user's stamina or health were also occasionally posted here. 

Among them, the one that Leo is currently keeping an eye on is the first-class manufacturing elixir 'Stemonia' from the Stania Pharmaceutical Group, priced at around 100 million cells. 

It is said that by combining regenerative magic, qigong, and primitive magic in various ways, it achieves the most efficient increase in vitality for the human body. 

Among elixirs, it is relatively close to a commercial product, and its actual efficacy is focused on increasing stamina and preventing energy from dissipating, but it is a rare item that is not even listed on popular auctions. 

Leo was in no position to be picky about anything at the moment. 

Rather than just earning money to improve our standard of living, we must strive to live a better life than we do now. 

The money I had saved by saving money here and there was also for this time. 

"One more request from now on… no, at least two." 

Just 100 million cells is not enough to secure a bid for Stemonia at auction. 

This time, Leo was going to empty his pockets to find out one important fact. 

Can this weak body be improved with just the effects of elixir? 

Unless this question is resolved, Leo cannot move forward any further. 

He needed hope. 

Even if it wasn't necessarily a time-related magic, there was hope that taking these elixirs would alleviate the penalties that filled his body. 

Unique magic, relics, and potions. 

Among these, the ones that are most accessible to Leo and have the highest chance of being procured with capital are elixirs. 

Even if we don't see a huge effect right away, it's very important to see if similar elixirs can have a positive effect on Leo. 

Even if it means spending some of the money you've worked so hard to save up until now. 

Leo calmly turned the page, suppressing his rising excitement. 

"It's Amnak Pharmaceutical Company…." 

It wasn't a well-known dinosaur company like Stania, and was more of a venture company founded in the 30s, but the important thing was that it was manufacturing medicine. 

You won't get anything special out of taking on a commission once, but it'll help you learn something about the industry. 

Even if it's not exactly an elixir, it might provide a hint to solve the problem of sleeping pills gradually losing their effectiveness. 

"I'm a bit reluctant to just change to a stronger drug… ." 

However, if I take more than the recommended dose of cheap sleeping pills, I might not be able to wake up from sleep again, so I guess I have no choice but to endure it like this for the time being. 

I decided. 

Our next client will be Amnak Pharmaceuticals. 

Leo, who had made up his mind, read the brief outline of the request, but it only contained the secret story of a pharmaceutical company related to new drug development. 

It appears that there was friction with the local political circles over the expected benefits of this new drug development, but it was difficult to find out because the specific circumstances were not written down. 

After contacting Jenny, I can meet the client later. It's almost time to sleep.