Published: January 4, 2026
After wiping out the lizards, I checked my status while watching the activation of the dragon veins.
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Name: Noah Alarate
Emperor of the Empire
Gender: Male
Level: 17 plus 1 over infinity
HP: C plus B Fire: e plus ss
MP: D plus C Water: C plus sss
Strength: C plus S Wind: e plus C
Stamina: D plus C Earth: e plus C
Intelligence: D plus A Light: e plus B
Spirit: e plus B Darkness: e plus B
Speed: e plus B
Dexterity: e plus C
Luck: D plus C
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It hadn’t changed at all since before the fight.
There was a chance my level would have gone up after wiping out the monsters, but it didn’t.
Well, I figured that was how it would be.
My level cap is (for some reason) infinity, but most people in the world are below 15.
So even at this stage, I’m at a pretty high level compared to ordinary humans.
It’s no wonder a single battle isn’t enough to level up.
If it doesn’t go up, it doesn’t; wishing for what isn’t there won’t get you anything.
From my status, I looked back at Bahamut and the others who were still activating the dragon veins.
The land—the desert—was beginning to glow faintly.
It started emitting a soft light, about the same as moonlight.
That light flowed like a river merging from tributaries into the main stream, heading towards the center point of activation.
At the same time, I felt a dense pulse of magic power that I usually couldn’t sense.
Just that alone told me it was succeeding.
“Ugh…”
“My head… hurts…”
“Hmph.”
Suddenly, I heard Peiyu and Ivy’s pained voices from behind me.
When I turned around, I saw the two of them crouched down, struggling.
“What’s wrong?”
“…!”
“I-it’s cold…”
Peiyu seemed too out of breath to speak, while Ivy managed to squeeze out the word “cold.”
“Cold?”
“Ahhh, hot… hot!”
Suddenly, Ivy rolled around, complaining about the heat.
What was going on—?
“Ah! This must be it.”
Startled, I quickly turned toward the dragon vein.
A high concentration of magic power was overflowing from it.
Had they been affected by that?
“Jiz, give me a hand here.”
I said that and pulled Jiz, who had been involved in the dragon vein activation, out.
Using Jiz, I created the wings of light.
A pale phosphorescent pair of wings appeared on my back.
I spread them out fully, letting loose the power of flight.
With my wings fully extended, shining with particles of phosphorescence, I shielded the two behind me.
Then—
“…Ah.”
“Not hot…”
“Master!”
Peiyu called out to me with awe.
She seemed to have understood the situation.
A moment after Peiyu—
“They’re so beautiful…”
I was captivated by the wings of light.
“…Ha! M-master, what exactly… are we?”
“You’ve been intoxicated by magic power.”
“Intoxicated… by magic power?”
“Yeah. Don’t leave the area covered by the wings.”
“Y-yes.”
I warned them again and refocused on the dragon vein.
“To think they were struggling just by standing there… and now they can stand calmly.”
“Amazing…”
We waited silently for the dragon vein to activate.
☆
A few hours later, I returned to the inn with the two of them.
I brought Ivy, who had gotten quite good at washing feet lately, to do that while I took a small glass vial out of my pocket.
Inside the vial, a clear liquid swayed gently.
“Magic power… is like water, isn’t it…”
Peiyu admired what I was holding.
“No, magic power is originally invisible. It’s more like air.”
“Eh? But…”
Peiyu was surprised, glancing back and forth between my face and the liquid in the vial.
“This is condensed magic power. The potion I showed you before was also made from this.”
“Is that so?”
“Well, since we’re at it, I’ll show you some other things.”
I said that and first picked up the candlestick on the table in the center of the room—the one with the chair I was sitting on.
I removed the candle from the holder and dropped a single drop—just one drop—of the Magic Power Droplet onto it.