Lord of Rot

After listening to Quickblade sing.

After finishing lunch, Leech threw on his fox-fur coat and rode out from the castle alone.

The snow inside the castle walls had been cleared, but the path leading away was just a narrow track trampled through the drifts. The horse’s hooves made a crunching sound as they trod upon the snow.

It was only the first snow of the year, but it was coming down hard.

The weather had brought most work to a halt. Construction at the docks was suspended, and even old Captain Piri’s rowing practice with his men was affected.

The clay had frozen solid, so the brickyard couldn’t mold any new bricks and had to shut down as well.

Beekeeping Village had already shut down for the season; the bees had to overwinter, after all.

The only place still bustling with activity was the forge. Outside, people hunched their shoulders against the biting cold, but the forge was so sweltering you had to strip off layers as soon as you stepped inside.

It didn’t take long to be drenched in sweat.

Other tasks, like the distillation of Porcupine Wine and the boiling of soap—jobs that could be done indoors and were unaffected by the weather—were also still underway.

A single snowfall had brought Porcupine Territory to a standstill.

Leech tugged on the reins, guiding his horse toward the dense woods.

The horse carried him across the snowy landscape, leaving a trail of hoofprints behind. But the snow continued to fall, and it wasn’t long before the prints were covered, completely erasing any trace of Leech’s passage.

Upon reaching the area where the Griffin Grass grew, Leech swung himself down from his horse.

Looking at the Extraordinary Magic Potions bent low under the weight of the snow, Leech thought to himself, ’Just as I thought!’

The Griffin Grass had clearly reached its limit; it was on the verge of withering away.

’There are still two left. If I let them go to waste, that’s two potential Transcendents lost. Two Corpse Ghosts, too.’

’I’ve already used the ointment once. Can I use it again?’

The thought was very tempting to Leech.

He dug up the Extraordinary Magic Potions. Whether he could use them himself or not, he absolutely couldn’t let them go to waste, buried under the snow.

After carefully digging up the potions, roots, soil, and all, Leech mounted his horse and spurred it back toward the castle.

"What are you doing?"

Just as Leech was preparing to grind the herb, the Brass Dragon flew over, flapping its wings. It saw the Griffin Grass in his hands and exclaimed, "You have one of those!"

"Oh? You know how to use this?" Leech asked.

"Of course not," the Brass Dragon said. "But I can feel the immense power within it. This is the sort of thing that grows where a Griffin’s power has bled into the earth."

"What else?" Leech asked. "You didn’t come all the way here just to show off that little tidbit of knowledge, did you?"

The Brass Dragon was susceptible to being goaded. Or perhaps it simply loved to show off. In any case, Leech’s words hit their mark, and the dragon became agitated.

"I never show off! This is the wisdom of the Dragon Race! A testament to my vast knowledge!"

"I also know that after using an Extraordinary Magic Potion, the power settles within the body. One must use a specific technique to control that power if they wish for their body to become stronger."

"Stronger?"

"To become something beyond Extraordinary, of course!" the Brass Dragon said, as if it were obvious. "What else would you think? That becoming Extraordinary is just about raw power, about endlessly getting stronger?"

"Yes, that’s what I thought," Leech nodded. He kept one thought to himself: ’Giant Dragons get stronger just by sleeping. They don’t seem like the type to learn special techniques for controlling power, yet they’re legendary beings. That must mean the tiers are, in fact, all about how much raw power you have.’

"You!" The Brass Dragon sputtered, infuriated. "Ignorant! Utterly ignorant!"

"So, do you know the technique to control that power and help me ascend beyond the Extraordinary?" Leech asked.

"Ahem."

The Brass Dragon cleared its throat. "At present... I do not."

"However, I *do* know a technique that can help you store the excess power in your body."

"And what method is that?" Leech asked.

"You must embed the power deep within your flesh and bone. Otherwise, the excess will simply dissipate. Later, once you’ve obtained the proper cultivation technique, you can draw the power from the Extraordinary Magic Potion back out from your body."

Leech said, "I’ve already done that."

"What? You’ve done that already?!" Now it was the Brass Dragon’s turn to be stunned.

It wasn’t easy getting this information out of the Brass Dragon. Having confirmed that a person could use multiple Extraordinary Magic Potions, Leech steeled himself and decided to use both on himself at once.

’Maybe I really can reach a state beyond Extraordinary just by chugging potions.’

’If I can get my hands on some Giant Dragon hearts, Demon Cores, or Dragon Balls later on, I might actually have a shot at this.’

Pitchfork was called in to smear the ointment on Leech, then left once he was done.

The effect of the double dose was terrifying.

As the potion took effect, Leech’s body began to swell uncontrollably. He immediately began channeling the power, circulating it rapidly.

In the Brass Dragon’s eyes, Leech’s muscles had transformed into terrifying, sentient masses of flesh. They writhed ceaselessly, as if trying to tear themselves away from his bones.

One area would bulge, only to be brought under control as Leech redirected the energy.

But then another area would swell in its place.

This process repeated over and over. After a long while, the swelling power finally subsided.

Leech felt the changes in his body. His strength had increased somewhat, but most of the power had settled deep within him, stored away rather than erupting all at once.

He suspected that if he were to unleash all that power at once, he would transform into a giant of pure flesh, his muscles overwhelming the rest of his body.

This level of Extraordinary power was far more than an ordinary person could handle. If Leech hadn’t already learned how to wield such power from Aina, he never would have succeeded. Aina’s own Extraordinary power was focused on self-healing and regeneration, which required incredibly fine control over her own body. Without her teachings, Leech would have been unable to master this force and become a Transcendent.

All told, Leech had now used three stalks of the Extraordinary Magic Potion on his body.

"Now I should be... Power of Potions! Third Dan!" Leech glanced down at himself and suddenly remarked, "I hope this doesn’t make people mistake me for having one-third Leopold blood."

’Good thing my hair isn’t turning red.’

’I can always shave it off, so it’s fine.’

After using up the Extraordinary Magic Potions, Leech’s life returned to a lazy-paced routine.

Eating ice cream by the roaring fireplace.

Experimenting with new recipes.

And reading.

To others, reading might be boring, but for Leech, this world’s history books read like a series of poorly written web novels. They were full of mindless power fantasies and characters who boasted without a second thought.

Still, he had to admit, they were a pretty satisfying way to kill time.

Who doesn’t love a story about a hero who slays a Giant Dragon at age three, conquers a country by five, and then, at the ripe old age of ten, goes off to school in another country to engage in campus power struggles?

Well, maybe not the campus power struggles part, but the rest was close enough.

One book told of a hero who could slay a Giant Dragon at age three, yet he ended up in some backwater village trying to act tough in front of a local bully carrying a hoe. He argued with a rabbit-pelt merchant and finally used powerful Magic to make the village chief kowtow and hail him as a great expert. It was exactly like a peasant imagining the King must plow his fields with a golden hoe.

Besides reading, Leech would also stop by Betty’s alchemy workshop to check on her results and drop in on the scholar Toma to see his progress with Magic research.

Research required all sorts of experiments, flashes of inspiration, and a great deal of luck, so Leech never rushed them. He only offered small suggestions when they came to him with questions.

It wasn’t so bad, having life slow down for a bit.

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