Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage
Chapter 250: Refining War Tactics (3)

The child had jade-colored eyes and long, turquoise hair. Though he had never seen this boy before, Henry knew instinctively that this was Elagon.

After building up his courage, Henry nervously swallowed and tentatively called out, “Elagon?”

- Khu!

Elagon had pale white skin. However, like in the case of half-dragons, the turquoise scales on his body revealed that he was a polymorphed spirit, not an actual human being.

After giving a cheerful response to Henry’s call, Elagon quickly rushed over and embraced him, just like he had used to do in the good old days.

“You really are Elagon.”

- Khu!

Although Elagon clearly looked like a human, it seemed that he could still only say ‘Khu,’ most probably because he hadn’t yet developed the intelligence to use language. However, that wasn’t a big issue because Henry could always teach him how to speak, and Elagon could understand Henry anyway.

“It’s good to see you again, Elagon. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

- Khu!

Henry was genuinely happy, and Elagon could feel the affection in his voice. He, too, was happy to see Henry; his affection for him hadn’t waned at all.

Henry then snapped his fingers, summoning a strip of cloth that wrapped around Elagon, turning into a set of neat clothes.

“Do you feel any kind of discomfort?”

- Khu!

Elagon felt especially energetic because he had never absorbed as much mana before as he had done that day; he had never been in a better mood.

Having been in an egg for so long, Elagon felt a sweet sense of freedom after his evolution; he felt liberated and anew. The best part of it all was that Elagon didn’t seem to remember the time Henry had forcibly awakened him during the Fief War to use him as a strategic weapon.

Elagon hugged Henry like a child embracing its father. He then pulled away and extended his hands, releasing mana.

Slosh.

A sphere of water formed above Elagon’s palm, floating. The sphere froze and thawed repeatedly until the clear water shifted to a violet color.

‘Poison?’

It was indeed poison, and a very potent one at that. This was one of Elagon’s four attributes, which had been brought about by the influence of Henry’s poisonous blood.

However, the violet poison quickly turned back into clear water.

“...!”

Henry suddenly realized that this clear water wasn’t just ordinary water; it actually had healing properties, similar to the holy water of any religion.

“Ah…!”

The water sphere soon vanished. Elagon then put his arms behind his back as if he was embarrassed, rocking back and forth.

‘I’m proud of you.’

Elagon was definitely endearing; he was like a child that was showing off something he had learned to his parents, and sure enough, Henry was very pleased with Elagon, so he patted him on the head.

“You’re getting pretty good at using your abilities now.”

- Khu khu khu!

Elagon understood that Henry was praising him and nodded emphatically.

Next up, Henry tested a few more things before he felt completely relieved.

‘I haven’t tested his strength yet, but I have a good feeling. He’s evolved well.’

It was already great progress that Elagon could use his healing powers at will. By managing to get Elagon to finally evolve, Henry had succeeded in one of his goals in coming here. He picked up the two concentrated Black Tears from the desk and waved them in front of Elagon.

“Elagon.”

- Khu?

“Do you remember what this is?”

- Khu…

Elagon carefully looked at the Black Tear, and after sniffing it, he frowned.

He had to recognize the Black Tear as it had played a huge role in his rapid growth. Moreover, Elagon had saved Henry from dying because of it when he had attempted to awaken the 7th-Circle in his previous life.

Elagon raised his right hand, irritated.

- Khu! Khu khu! Khu khu khu!

Henry didn’t know what Elagon was saying, but judging by his tone, it couldn’t be anything good.

Henry smiled and said, “I’m glad you recognize it. I’m going to drink this, but if I fall into a critical state, will you help me like you did last time, Elagon?”

- Khu?

Elagon raised his eyebrows and held out both of his hands as if to say that he didn’t understand why Henry would attempt to drink something so dangerous.

Henry pat Elagon’s head again and said, “There’s no point in trying to stop me. Anyway, if I get really sick, I’ll count on you… W-wait a minute. I actually don’t need to wait for you to save me.”

As Henry was asking Elagon to help him in case things went south, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed through his mind. He figured he could use the healing water Elagon had shown him earlier.

“Elagon, can you create the healing water again?”

- Khu?

Along with his answer, Elagon held out his index finger, and a water sphere the size of a fist formed at its tip, and Henry quickly collected the water in a flask.

Elagon found this interesting, so he continued making the healing water, but Henry quickly tried to stop him.

“Stop! Stop! That’s enough. You can stop making it now!”

- Khu!

Elagon had created enough healing water to fill an entire wooden tub used for bathing, and seeing how many flasks Henry had filled, he actually summoned a wooden tub and poured all the healing water into it.

‘Let’s give it a try.’

At first glance, it just looked like a tub filled with regular water. However, the water was strangely warm even though it hadn’t been heated, and it seemed like Henry could heal any of his wounds just by touching this water.

The preparations were complete. Henry grabbed the two Black Tears from his desk and slipped into the tub with his clothes still on.

Splash!

Since Henry had made the wooden tub bigger than the volume of water, it didn’t overflow. Seeing Henry enter the tub, Elagon also jumped in with an excited look.

Splash!

- Khu khu khu!

Elagon splashed around in the water, enjoying himself, and Henry couldn’t help but laugh at this sight.

‘Well, it might be better for us to stay close anyway.’

Henry took a deep breath. He held the two bottles of Black Tear in each hand and proceeded to combine them into a single Black Tear using magic.

Znggg…!

The two glass bottles started shaking as they slowly rose in the air, then stuck together like magnets and continued to shake until they turned into a single glass bottle.

Pop!

There was a small explosion followed by some black smoke. Henry blew away the smoke and looked at the final bottle, which was small as a thumb. It contained a highly concentrated form of the Black Tear, two thousand units to be precise.

Gulp.

Henry knew how painful it was to ingest five hundred concentrated units of Black Tear, so he couldn't even imagine how agonizing it would be to consume four times that amount. However, he had to drink it. He knew that not even this would be enough to reach the 8th-Circle, which was precisely why he was determined to drink it.

Even though he knew he had to do this, he was still reluctant, scared even…

Below him, Elagon watched Henry with sparkling eyes.

Henry laughed and asked Elagon, “What are you looking at? Do you want to drink it instead?”

Elagon shook his head, and pushed the Black Tear toward Henry with both hands.

“You know what this is…”

Technically, Elagon didn’t know what this was, but because he remembered this being flavorless and painful, he gave it to Henry. After all, nobody in this world would want to drink something that would cause them excruciating pain.

‘Okay.’

Henry gathered his courage and grabbed the glass bottle. Without hesitation, he quickly opened the lid and poured the Black Tear into his mouth. It was merely a sip, but that was more than enough.

The Black Tear slid down his esophagus.

Crack!

Henry threw the empty glass bottle on the floor. He couldn’t taste anything.

Before anything bad happened, Henry quickly cupped his hands together and preemptively drank healing water from the tub

“Agh!”

Just then, Henry felt an excruciating pain in his stomach as though something had exploded inside him. Despite having drunk handfuls of healing water, the Black Tear wreaked havoc in his stomach; he felt like a volcano had just erupted inside his stomach.

Henry almost threw up the Black Tear. He quickly put his hands over his mouth and did his absolute best to hold it down.

“Agh…!”

He felt as if he had swallowed pure evil. The Black Tear was moving frantically inside his stomach like a dragon trying to escape from a cave.

- Khu khu khu!

Seeing Henry like this, Elagon splashed the water. He found Henry's exaggerated expressions to be funny, thinking he was playing a prank on him.

However, Henry felt like dying.

‘Arghh!’

Veins popped out on his forehead, and hot steam seemed to come out of every orifice in his body. His eyes had turned bloodshot as the tiny veins in them had popped. He also shivered as if he were bathing in icy water.

‘K-kghhh!’

The pain was so intense that his eyes were about to roll into his head. He wanted to take his hands away from his mouth and swallow the healing water right away, but he couldn’t because he knew that if he did, he would vomit the Black Tear.

His heart threatened to burst out of his chest; it felt like someone had sprinkled coarse salt on it. His whole body was overwhelmed by burning sensations that surged and went away every second.

Henry felt like he couldn’t breathe, as if he were drowning in the depths of the ocean. He felt more and more like he would faint due to the mind-numbing pain; he had never experienced something like this in his entire life.

- Khu…?

As Henry’s agony reached its peak, Elagon finally realized that he wasn’t joking. Seeing Henry in so much pain, Elagon started to panic, not knowing what to do. He wrapped his arms around Henry, who was shaking violently due to the pain.

Suddenly, a turquoise light emanated from Elagon’s body, which expanded like a puddle of ink just after it was spilt. The tub also glowed the same color, and soon, the entire lab was illuminated by Elagon’s strange light.

The light slowly faded away until it eventually revealed the wooden tub. The healing water was still there, but Henry and Elagon were nowhere to be found.