Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 186

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 186

Tick-tick-tick-tick.
A vast, alien power that enveloped the Magic Tower raked across it as if to tear the structure apart, then dissipated like mist.
‘He’s already recovered so much strength.’
Mercedes, the Tower Master and master of the barrier, remained motionless as she stared through the trembling ward at the ‘something’ beyond it.
【See you next time, Master.】
Mercedes’s doll-like face, which rarely showed expression, twisted slightly.
Watching him tempt Star-rank Mages away before her eyes, practically seducing them into abduction, she wanted to step forward immediately—but Mercedes held her ground.
Likely because stepping in was exactly what Chaeyen hoped for.
‘Chaeyen…….’
A seal so thorough it would be strange if it never broke. One she had directly administered herself.

“Master, what on earth did you make me into?”

The Grand Mage closed her eyes as she recalled an old memory, one so distant it had even worn away in the mind of an Immortal who could not die.
Halbern’s secret keeper had damaged the Infinite Library and departed, but she hadn’t expected to face Chaeyen in quick succession.
‘……That child, too.’
The view on the barrier’s external screen shifted to show the interior of the Magic Tower.
A single child, surrounded by mages, unaware of what unfolded outside.
“Arelin, wasn’t it?”
Even before learning her identity, the child had struck her as peculiar. Barely wrapped in human form, she harbored an incomplete ‘something’ whose nature even the Grand Mage herself could not fathom.
The daughter of that Grand Duke of Halbern, and…….
“A Singularity.”
Arelin bore the aura of the ‘former disciple’ once again.
‘I was certain I had erased it.’
She had even used a Word of Command to ensure they would never entangle again.
What was her disciple doing?
“I swore never to meddle in worldly affairs again…….”
Mercedes’s gaze as she regarded Arelin deepened with melancholy.

* * *

After the Star’s Choice, the mages’ attention had shifted to Arelin’s health.
This began after Hila, who had collapsed from overwork, belatedly joined the effort.
“To think such an opportunity would come to me!”
Hali had even given a briefing before the Grand Duke of Halbern as the linchpin of the Arelin Recovery Support Alliance, but Valere’s sudden insistence on entering the Infinite Library had caused such a commotion that no further details could be discussed.
To write a proper report, one really needed to examine Arelin in person and test Scan Magic and various Magical Artifacts, but since Valere had destroyed only part of the Infinite Library’s barrier before vanishing, she was half-resigned to giving up on that front.
But then!
Here she was, in person!
“Hehe, would you place your hand on this Magical Artifact? You might feel a slight tingling.”
Arelin frowned with suspicion but obediently followed Hila’s instructions.
As a result, she learned several new facts that records and blood samples alone could never have revealed.
“You should have seen it. When all the stars chose her, the entire Magic Tower was ablaze with light. Probably visible from outside, too?”
“Truly top-tier talent—it seems like whatever she touches would flourish. Couldn’t she solve the research we’ve been stuck on for decades?”
“Ahem, didn’t you see the notice that just went up? Watch your tongue!”
“Can’t help being disappointed.”
But Hila’s attention remained singular.
Hila removed the Artifact Glasses and took on a serious expression. Arelin tilted her head in confusion, watching Hila carefully assess her pain responses.
“Is something wrong?”
“Is there anywhere that hurts?”
“Not particularly?”
Hila studied the cute child’s face intently, choosing her next words with care.
“Do you know why you’re in pain, Arelin?”
“Yes.”
“……?”
“My body can’t withstand my own power and is dying, right?”
Hila’s eyes widened in shock.
“Did the Duke tell you?”
No—it’s my status window.
When Arelin smiled brightly, Hila’s expression grew troubled.
“Your Star Affinity is at one hundred percent.”
“?!”
The mages eavesdropping nearby stirred.
“One hundred percent affinity means using Star power without Corruption, doesn’t it?”
“A realm of dreams…….”
“Is that even possible in a human body?”
“Magic, magic—we must teach her Magic!”
Now the mages understood why all the stars had seemed to wait for Arelin.
“But she shouldn’t learn Magic right now.”
“Why?”
Hila’s diagnosis prompted protests from all sides. Hila ignored the commotion and focused only on Arelin.
“She’s been exposed to the Power of Sloth for so long that her body has become desperately frail. At this level, even lifting a spoon would be difficult.”
“……!”
Finally, a mage who truly understood her! Arelin felt moved.
“Ah, so all this time I’ve been living as a useless, pathetic wreck because of some power or other?”
“Probably. Immortal powers typically follow their names. Why ‘slumber,’ why ‘sloth?'”
“To make things sleep and lazy?”
“Haha, something like that. I don’t know the exact mechanism, but it’s likely similar. The power probably creates a state of being ‘slow,’ ‘rigid,’ ‘aged,’ and ‘unchanging.'”
Arelin fell silent for a moment, processing this.
‘Could my mental decline be connected to this as well? And the apathy, the complete lack of will that consumed me unless I was conscious of resisting it?’
“The Power of Sloth was suppressing the Special Ability within you, and that suppression was slowing the rate at which your body was breaking down. However……”
However?
“Now that the awakened Special Ability is active, the collapse of your body has accelerated sharply.”
“…….”
Arelin exhaled quietly.
Now she understood why her condition had deteriorated so badly of late.
‘It was because I actually got stronger.’
The mages nearby had their own commentary.
“Still, Sloth is relatively human-friendly compared to other Immortals, isn’t it?”
“Compared to the Dragon race, certainly.”
“It’s neutral. True to its nature, ‘Sloth’ doesn’t even pay attention unless you encroach on its domain.”
“Makes the research easier, at least.”
“But an Immortal is an Immortal—a beneficial blessing that comes with such side effects.”
“No wonder Immortals are called ‘gods without divinity.'”
Hila delivered her final diagnosis.
“For now, you shouldn’t use your Special Ability.”
Arelin tilted her head.
“Don’t you mages need my Special Ability?”
“Not at the cost of tormenting you.”
It was a response that contradicted everything she’d said before.
The mages voiced their agreement.
“That’s right. We conduct all our research within the strict ethical standards of the Magic Tower.”
“And since everyone’s already been Purified once or twice, Corruption levels have reset—we’ve bought ourselves about fifty more years……!”
“Even without breakthrough results in Purification research, we always have contingencies for runaway reactions and temporary measures against Corruption.”
Besides, Arelin had now received the Star’s Choice alongside them.
“See that?”
One white-bearded mage smiled, stroking his whiskers. The Magic Tower’s motto was inscribed large above them.

《PER ARDUA AD ASTRA》
Through hardship to the stars.

“We mages are seekers of truth and way-finders—our purpose isn’t merely to live long, but ultimately to reach toward the stars.”
“Mm.”
“Living long is nice, of course?”
Watching the laughing mages, Arelin saw, for the first time, what it meant to be a true mage.
“We’ll find a way to treat you, Arelin. So please don’t give up either.”
Give up? I never did.
“Yes.”

* * *

Many things had happened at the Magic Tower, but my attention was fixed on one thing alone.
A spoil of war acquired even faster thanks to my visit to the Magic Tower.
My car!
“Mehren, look at this! It’s an automobile prototype!”
Even with a Magitech Engine, the evolution from magical carriage to automobile seemed to follow a similar trajectory.
“Only five in the entire world! Premium high-end automobile—Helios!”
A car built by consuming Star-rank Mages wholesale and cramming every convenience spell currently in existence into it.
“Oh…….”
“Wow…….”
The Childcare Unit, who’d said it sounded ‘strange’ when I mentioned a wordless carriage, seemed rather tempted by the actual sight.
I understand. A sleek, milky-white streamlined car standing at the entrance made Halbern Manor’s carriage look a bit……shabby.
Strange? Considering our stables house pegasus-blooded horses, the costs probably aren’t that different.
“Is that the ‘automobile’?”
The design was appealing enough that even Mehren, utterly free of material desire, showed interest.
Ha—so I get to say this line.
I got a car.
“Want to take it for a ride?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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