Taboo (4)

Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : But without the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony, you can't keep soldiers stationed permanently, you know? ^^

Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : The Spiritblood Tea Ceremony only needs to be performed once! If you carefully infuse it with magic power when you brew it for the first time, unlike other forms of necromancy, its form remains intact until the spirit corpse is completely destroyed, without consuming magic power every hour. ^^

So there's no maintenance cost.

It's practically a perpetual-motion machine.

At a glance, it was clearly a cheat skill.

I couldn't say for certain, but it clearly looked like a cheat skill.

Whether it was difficult or not, I had to learn it.

If I could station a guard who was active twenty-four hours a day on the lower floors, I would have nothing more to wish for.

Whether it was difficult or not, I absolutely had to learn it.

“If I just had a guard, I wouldn't want for anything…”

If I could know in advance that an intruder had arrived, I might be able to sleep lightly.

Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Could you check my post? ^^

If I could station a sentry to keep watch over the lower floors twenty-four hours a day, my quality of life would change completely.

Just thinking that I might be able to receive an alarm made my heart begin to flutter.

I would actually be able to sleep, after all.

ㄴㅇㅇ(60F): But can it stay maintained even if I get far away from that spirit corpse(?)? I think I'll keep climbing the tower.

ㄴKnows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea(Author) : Of course it can. ^^

So distance wasn't a problem?

After that, I asked more questions about the things I was curious about.

What happened to the experience gained when a spirit corpse killed a monster.

Whether it could properly carry out commands from a distance, and so on.

All the answers I received were positive. Though they all assumed that I could learn the necromancy called ‘Spiritblood Tea Ceremony.’

In any case, it seemed all the experiments related to what I was curious about had already been completed.

That made sense, considering the gallery had a history spanning several hundred years.

Through the many trials and errors of the seniors, including the current gallery users…

“Hmm…”

As I was thinking that, another question occurred to me.

ㄴㅇㅇ(60F) : Then, on the floors where the seniors left spirit corpses behind in the past… did the monsters respawn?

If I could know the condition of the spirit corpse, I should also be able to tell whether there were monsters around it.

I wondered whether a situation arose where a respawned monster fought with the spirit corpse.

An answer soon came back.

ㄴ Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea(Author) : Yes, that's right! That's how we figured out that monsters respawn! ^^

ㄴ Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea(Author) : However, on a floor with a Spiritblood Tea Ceremony spirit corpse, the corpse is recognized as a fully-fledged monster, so monsters cannot respawn there. You don't need to worry!

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(60F) : So it really is certain that monsters respawn…

“Then I really am the weird one…”

Why were only the tower monsters I killed not respawning?

As Floor 574 had said, it was a mystery.

ㄴ Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea(Author) : That's why the situation you're experiencing right now, Newbie, is such a strange and bizarre occurrence, even after searching through the records of the past. ^^;

*

Afterward, the conclusion once again came down to the same thing.

I had to learn the necromancy called ‘Spiritblood Tea Ceremony.’

I left for the gallery homepage and checked the post she had uploaded.

______

Title: The Basics of the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony ^^

Author: Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea

The first is the process of emptying the cup.

………

……

…

..

.

______

I finished reading it thoroughly.

I had a rough understanding of it.

I also understood why this necromancy was compared to the process of making tea.

Once I knew, it sent a chill down my spine.

Every step was bizarre, but things became especially unsettling from Stage 3 onward.

But I had already made up my mind—twice over.

I got started immediately.

Vrrrroooom-

First, I opened my inventory window and took out the corpse that had remained in the most intact condition, placing it on the floor.

Though I called it the most intact condition… it was a headless corpse.

The female mage I had attacked first and killed last—the one whose head I had sent flying after breaking through the barrier.

I had ambushed her while she was drinking coffee and cut through her arm and torso, but the healing magic she used inside the barrier had joined them back together.

“The first step… was emptying the cup, right?”

I had to drain the blood from the corpse and gather it.

“Hup.”

I grabbed both ankles and lifted the body upside down.

Her skirt, flipped upward.

I placed a pot where that direction pointed.

Trickle-

Blood began pouring from the cross-section of the severed neck.

“I wonder if I can use this pot again later.”

They say the human body contains roughly five liters of blood.

Since quite a lot had spilled onto the floor when I cut her throat, about half of that should come out.

Trickle… plop. Plop.

Before long, it began falling in drops.

I had been told that the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony could be performed using this physical method as well.

Using black magic called ‘Blood Drain’ would make it much easier to extract the blood, and the cup would remain cleaner, improving the quality of the spirit corpse produced, but…

Learning that magic would require additional time, so I was using this crude method instead.

Still, I decided to try it once.

Keeping my right arm, which was gripping the ankles, raised, I extended my other arm toward the cut neck and held out my left hand.

“Blood Drain.”

The principle was to resonate with the blood in my own body and forcibly draw in another person's blood.

Honestly, I couldn't get a feel for it at all just by thinking about it.

But then.

“…!”

Whiiiiir-

The First Circle in my lower abdomen seemed to have gotten the hang of it.

Ssssss-

Red blood began to rise from the severed cross-section of the corpse's neck.

The blood that had been dripping downward defied gravity and floated up into the air, condensing into a round sphere over my left hand.

It had worked.

“Oh….”

But it soon felt as though it would slip out of my control.

Its violent trembling made me uneasy.

I quickly lowered my hand toward the pot.

Splaash-!

I poured the blood extracted with Drain into the pot.

“I don't need to keep holding it now.”

I laid the corpse down on the floor.

“Blood Drain.”

I gathered up every last drop of blood remaining inside the corpse and drained it into the pot.

“This is more like it. I'm not running a butcher shop…”

I looked away from the corpse, now pale, and focused on the pot filled with blood.

“Now for Stage 2.”

The beginning of Stage 2 was infusing this blood with my magic power.

Dip-

I stuck my index finger into the pot.

Then I stirred it around and infused it with magic power.

I already knew what it felt like to infuse something with magic power.

I had needed to pour my magic power into the Great Stone Tablet when searching for my name in the Reaper realm.

Vrrrroooom-

I continued pouring in magic power while rotating the circle in my lower abdomen once more.

Swirl, swirl.

Soon, it reached its limit.

It felt as though the finger I had inserted had merged with the blood inside the pot.

It was the sensation of my magic power melting into it as far as it could go.

Now.

This blood infused with my magic power.

I had to put it back inside the corpse.

After circulating it through the corpse once.

I was supposed to drain all the blood out again, drawing the soul out along with my magic power.

Once that happened, the blood would become spirit blood (靈血), and its color would grow lighter.

If its color did not change, I had to return to Stage 1.

In other words…

The main process of the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony was repeatedly putting blood into and taking it back out of the corpse.

My teacher had compared it to ‘brewing tea,’ but hemodialysis was the first thing that came to mind.

In many ways, I felt like I had become a doctor.

“Shall I try it now…”

I prepared to put the blood back into the corpse.

Using the tip of my scythe, I made a small hole near the corpse's heart.

After lowering the pressure inside, I cut the large blood vessels near the neck so they would protrude.

“This isn't exactly surgery…”

I inserted the opposite ends of those blood vessels into the pot and used the siphon effect to let the blood flow back into the corpse.

Whatever amount I couldn't force into the blood vessels, I simply poured in.

That made the corpse absorb the blood again.

Whoooosh-!

The blood containing my magic power began circulating through the corpse.

Afterward, I used Blood Drain on the severed cross-section of the neck again.

…

..

.

First check.

The liquid in the pot was still dark red.

“Was it a failure…”

“They did say it was normal for it not to work on the first try…”

…

..

.

Second check.

“Another failure…”

The color hadn't changed.

…

..

.

The third, fourth… and then the fifth attempt.

The color of the blood remained exactly the same.

The longer I continued the process, the more blood covered my body, and the more numb I became to it.

“……Hmm. I got stuck at Stage 2.”

I sat down on the floor and brought up the gallery window.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : It isn't working well. I've repeated the process only five times, but the blood's color hasn't changed.

ㄴㅇㅇ(350F) : Um.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : LOL, it doesn't work, huh? I told you the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony was difficult. If you're stuck at Stage 2, you're done. GG.

ㄴㅇㅇ(651F) : Why does this person sound like they're relieved? ;;

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : I'll just teach you ordinary necromancy, so let's do that lol.

ㄴㅇㅇ(431F) : What's with dragging him in just to turn him into an ordinary mortal?;;;

ㄴㅇㅇ(240F) : Not buying it, shoo shoo.

ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : I'm from the 700s, you lunatics. Ordinary necromancy is plenty good enough…!

ㄴㅇㅇ(279F) : But I heard that one costs maintenance…

I still had no intention of giving up on the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony.

I had come to the gallery to get feedback.

.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : I even tried adjusting the amount of magic power I infused… Where did I go wrong?

ㄴ Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Oh my, you did well, though?

ㄴㅇㅇ(350F) : He did well, so why isn't it working, mommy?

ㄴ Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : It seems the corpse's soul has a strong attachment to its body…!

ㄴ Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Be patient, Newbie! If it's too difficult, how about starting by learning a spell called Blood Drain, which can extract the blood perfectly? ^^

Hmm…

But I had already learned that.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : Ah… well… I tried that Drain when I first extracted the blood earlier, and it worked right away on the first try.

Silence.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : ???

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : Huh.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : You succeeded with Drain in one go?

Question marks began appearing.

ㄴㅇㅇ(546F) : Wait, is it possible to learn a spell this easily?;;;

ㄴㅇㅇ(421F) : This is ridiculous lolololol

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(345F) : Not just easily… If it worked on the first try, we have to assume you knew it from birth lol

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : But then… you used Blood Drain five times and the soul still didn't come out? That's fucking weird…

The anonymous necromancer was confused.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : Why is a talent monster like this stuck at Stage 2??? The difficult part comes later.

Then the registered teacher's comment continued.

ㄴ Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Oh my… You succeeded with Drain on your first try? How amazing! In that case, we might be able to try a broken cup too!

‘Broken cup’.

I knew what kind of corpse she meant.