novelraw Chapter 235: Fixing Core!
Chapter 235: Fixing Core!
I sat on the wooden floorboards, aggressively rubbing the bridge of my nose where the heavy, leather-bound ledger had just hit me square in the face.
A few feet away, Tessa was sitting on her heels, completely failing to cover her mouth as a fit of bright, uncontained giggling escaped her.
She looked back and forth between me and her grandfather, thoroughly enjoying the sheer absurdity of the situation.
Zen let out a long, exhausted sigh, rubbing his weathered temples with thick, calloused fingers.
"Really, Tessa? With the way you phrased that, you were just about to make me kill this brat right in my own study."
"Like if you can," I mumbled into my hands, my voice muffled but dripping with defensive snark.
Zen’s sharp, predatory eyes instantly snapped to me. The sheer, suffocating pressure of a seasoned warrior leaked into the small room for a fraction of a second.
"You wanna find out, boy?"
I immediately dropped my hands, sitting up perfectly straight and looking strictly at the wooden wall to my left.
"No thanks. I’m good."
Not that I was scared of him, just basic courtesy for this warrior.
Zen stared at me for another second before letting out a gruff huff that might have been a laugh.
He leaned back against the wall, crossing his thick arms over his chest. The intimidating aura vanished, replaced by the calculating gaze of the village chief.
"So," Zen said, his tone shifting to business. "You had something important to tell me, right? Let’s hear it."
I nodded, rolling my shoulders to shake off the lingering sting of the ledger.
Then I launched into the full pitch, telling him about my plan to establish Oakmere as the central hub for mass-producing high-grade potions.
I explained the logistics of selling them wholesale through the Thornhaven guild, effectively turning the quiet border village into a highly lucrative, economically independent powerhouse.
"And to make sure nobody from the capital or the other sellers gets any funny ideas about raiding a wealthy border village," I added, gesturing vaguely toward the door.
"I brought two ex-adventurers with us. An archer and a high-tier mage. They’re retiring here, but they’ll serve as the deterrent against beast waves or bandits."
Zen stroked his beard, genuinely impressed.
He gave a slow, approving nod.
"It’s a solid plan, Jin. Bringing in veterans guarantees the village’s safety better than any stone wall could. But there’s a glaring hole in your logistics. Who is going to oversee this mass production? From what I understand, you’re the only one with the... unique alchemy skills required to make these specific compounds."
I shook my head and confidently gestured to the girl sitting across from me.
"She knows how to create them, too."
Tessa immediately straightened up, puffing her chest out with a bright, profoundly proud smile.
"I’ve been teaching her the exact formulas and compound structures during our travels," I explained.
"And I’m sure there are more people here in Oakmere who are willing to learn. Even when I leave to return to the Academy, Tessa will take full charge of the production with the other villagers."
Tessa nodded emphatically. "I can do it, Grandpa. Jin showed me everything."
Zen looked at his granddaughter, his stern eyes softening completely. He let out a quiet, incredibly fond hum.
"Alright. If you two are serious about this, I’ll allocate the old lumber storehouse for your workshop. We can start moving the equipment in tomorrow."
We talked for a few more minutes, ironing out the basic details of the supply lines and the guild contracts. But my mind was already racing toward the final, most crucial objective of this meeting. My internal timer had hit zero. The severe cooling period was over.
"One more thing," I said, my voice dropping its casual tone.
Then I swiped my storage ring, pulling out a small, intricately carved glass vial filled with a shimmering, deep-gold liquid and slid it across the wooden floorboards until it stopped right in front of Zen’s crossed legs.
"I made this for you," I said.
Zen raised a thick, graying eyebrow, picking up the vial and holding it up to the candlelight. He looked at the golden liquid, then back at me, letting out a heavy, nostalgic sigh.
"Jin, I appreciate the thought," Zen said quietly, the resignation clear in his voice.
"But you’re wasting your high-grade materials. Even the kingdom’s greatest healers, the high priests in the capital... they all tried. None of them could do anything. The damage is permanent."
"Just drink it," I insisted, my eyes locking onto his.
Zen stared at me for a long moment.
Then sighed.
"If you say so."
He popped the cork and downed the golden potion in a single, smooth gulp.
Now.
"Debug Vision," I whispered.
The world instantly washed out into a wireframe of blue data. But I didn’t stop there.
[Administrator Mode: Activating...]
[Root Access: UNLOCKED]
The blue wireframes violently shattered, replaced by a blinding, piercing cyan code that aggressively overwrote my vision.
The physical room faded away entirely, leaving only the complex, metaphysical structure of the man sitting in front of me.
My eyes widened in sheer shock.
Gods.
My heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t just a simple injury.
Zen’s mana core looked like a shattered glass orb held together by a few frayed, desperate threads. His mana veins, which should have been glowing pathways, were violently severed, leaking volatile energy into his physical tissue. It was an absolute, catastrophic mess.
Can I even fix this?
I hesitated for a fraction of a second. This wasn’t destroying a demon’s armor; this was performing microscopic, metaphysical surgery on a living human soul. One wrong line of code, and I could detonate him.
Focus. You’re the Debugger.
I raised my hands, my fingers flying across the invisible, cyan interface hovering in my vision. I didn’t just edit properties; I began actively coding, stringing together complex commands to rebuild the very foundation of his magic.
I raised my hands, fingers cutting through the air with mechanical precision as the cyan interface snapped into focus and pushed past the surface layer entirely and went straight for the core’s base structure.
[Target Entity= Zen]
ManaCore *core = entity_get_mana_core(zen);
AnomalyList *fractures = core_scan(core, FILTER_STRUCTURAL_ANOMALIES);
for (int i = 0; i < fractures->count; i++) {
StructNode *node = fractures->nodes[i];
node->integrity = recompile_node(
core,
node,
TARGET_INTEGRITY, // 1.0f — no compromises
METHOD_LATTICE_STITCH
);
if (node->integrity < TARGET_INTEGRITY) {
force_patch(node); // brute force the stubborn ones
}
}
core_validate(core);
free(fractures);
Sweat instantly poured down my face. My brain felt like it was being submerged in boiling water. The sheer processing power required to rewrite another human’s localized reality was infinitely more taxing. I gritted my teeth, forcing the cyan code to forcibly stitch the glowing, shattered pieces of Zen’s core back together.
Line by line. Vein by vein.
...
ManaVeinNetwork *veins = entity_get_vein_network(zen);
NodeList *severed = vein_scan(veins, FILTER_DEAD_NODES);
PathwayRoute *reroute = vein_create_bypass(
veins,
severed,
METHOD_SPLICE_AND_SOLDER,
TENSION_HIGH
);
if (vein_execute_reroute(reroute) != STATUS_OK) {
vein_force_flush(veins); // clear the blockage, then retry
vein_execute_reroute(reroute);
}
vein_flush_blockages(veins);
free(severed);
free(reroute);
...
"Almost... there," I choked out, blood beginning to drip steadily from my nose.
With one final, desperate mental push, I locked the newly repaired code into place. The cyan wireframe of Zen’s body flared brilliantly, the shattered core suddenly glowing with a steady, roaring, perfectly contained energy.
[Target: Zen -> Status: Repaired]
I violently severed the connection, entirely shutting down the Administrator Mode.
The cyan code shattered.
The real world snapped back into focus with the force of a physical blow. The sudden backlash of using Root Access overwhelmed my nervous system.
My vision instantly blacked out, replaced by a roaring static. A thick, hot mouthful of blood erupted from my lips, splattering against the wooden floorboards.
"Jin?!" Tessa screamed, her voice sounding like it was underwater.
I didn’t even feel myself hit the floor. I just dropped like a stone into the absolute, suffocating dark.