01. In Search of the Elixir of Growth
A snow country with snowstorms throughout the year .
It is also called the White Labyrinth because everyone gets lost in a blinding snowstorm. There is a legend that there were countless ancient civilizations that shone brilliantly in the distant past.
It is said that even stepping into the snow country is an act of suicide.
But there are 15 people who want to commit suicide who are looking for the remains of an ancient civilization…
Gambling addicts risking their lives to find a legend whose reality is uncertain.
I was among the madmen with various stories of all ages.
Speaking of being stuck, the problem is a bit strange.
Because I am the captain of the Snow Country Expedition Corps that gathered these madmen, and I am Seo Ji-hoon, possessed by the villain ‘Atlas Titan’ in a novel who kills people for teasing Ki.
I believed in the journal of a person who claimed to have returned alive after being shipwrecked in the snow country 50 years ago. .
The remains of ancient civilizations did exist.
Breaking through various devices to drive out intruders and moving forward… In the end, they succeeded in finding the treasures of an ancient civilization that had been passed down as legends.
The pale light emitted by the wizard into the air was reflected by the numerous golds in the treasure chest, and the faces of the explorers were illuminated yellow.
“Grandpa’s journal was real… “
After seeing the tremendous sight, a woman with brown hair braided from the expedition team said with a trembling voice.
In her hand was an old leather notebook, which was the journal written by the ‘survivor’ of the snow country who brought these madmen into the snow country.
From the moment she entered the ruins, she was thrilled that her grandfather had proven that everything she said was true, and her spirits continued to rise.
“Do you have time to sit down? I’m going to check if the rest is true.”
“Yes, that’s right.
She was ridiculed by the Crab Society for writing a thesis on an ancient civilization in the snowy country, so she was sharpening her sword.
Now that the real ruins have been discovered, submitting a thesis based on these data will be able to break their noses.
“Uhahahaha!! Cracked! The gold is piled up like a mountain!!”
“This fucking ephemera is over!! We are rich!!”
How much would a person who came here for the purpose of research do?
Everyone was sweeping away the gold and jewels piled up like a mountain, and in between, I looked between the treasures that were stored separately in the exhibition hall, not the piled gold.
I picked up a small bottle that was treasured among the armor and sword, which were made in a style I had never seen before, and many splendid treasures.
In a transparent bottle made of crystals and coated with gold leaf, red and green liquids were mixed in strange patterns, making it look very mysterious.
“Yes, this is it..!!”
It’s the same as what I know.
This is the “Elixir of Growth,” Which is said to make you grow taller as soon as you drink it.
It was the only treasure I wanted in the snow country.
It certainly has the characteristics of the legend, but we don’t know if it’s actually safe.
But I didn’t have enough time to argue about that.
As I look forward, I see the back of a colleague who is taking treasure.
Even if they turned their heads, everyone could see the back or chest, but not a single person could see the face or back of the head.
Well, it’s not a scary situation where other people’s heads are cut.
It’s just that I have the height of a dwarf, so I can’t even see the face of a normal adult man unless I look up with a sore throat.
After possessing it, my height is not even over 150.
Excluding me, the shortest person in this expedition is 165 years old, so no matter what, no one can make eye contact when looking straight ahead.
I can’t stand this low vision anymore.
I opened the lid of the elixir and drank an ominous mixture of green and red liquids.
– Boom!
As soon as I drank it, white smoke rose everywhere along with the sound of steam draining.
“Wow, what is this?!”
“Captain?! Good big breasts??”
My colleagues who were packing up their treasure looked at the smoke rising in surprise.
“Became… Is it?”
It was really instant, but it feels like something has changed.
A completely different world unfolded after I got out of the smoke that I couldn’t see an inch in front of me.
I can no longer see my chest.
Even though I haven’t raised my head yet, I can see the surprised eyes of the expedition members.
Everybody can see the top of the head is shiny because it hasn’t been washed for a long time.
My vision has increased.
Short limbs, waist lengthened.
“Ha… Ha ha ha ha ha!!”
Laughter comes out.
Finally… I finally returned to my previous height.
Sixteen years have passed since I possessed the body of Atlas Titan, a villain in a web novel who kills people for making fun of his short height.
This world is never nice to short men with physical defects.
Especially if it was the eldest son of a family.
It has already been 16 years since I was persecuted just for being short.
Now I can see people’s faces without lifting my head.
Before being possessed, it was a familiar sight that I had seen often.
It is the view that I have wanted to return to every day for 16 years.
Now everything will be resolved.
Being taller means more to me than simply growing taller.
My fate, which was decided in the novel, and my relationship with my parents, everything will get better.
“Oh… !! Captain, did your wish finally come true?”
“That was the leap of growth.. The legend was real!! Congratulations Atlas!”
Everyone around me congratulates me.
I am genuinely congratulating you because I saw how hard I worked with just one wish of growing taller.
Looking curiously at his elongated limbs while receiving congratulations from everyone, someone who was observing them closely said.
“…..But if you are suddenly that tall, shouldn’t the clothes fit you?”
Is that what I heard?
Looking closely, I’m dressed just as well as before I grew up.
I grew more than 30 cm tall, but it was as if my clothes had grown the same as my body.
An ominous thought occurred to me.
“Is this… Maybe…?”
– Boom!
An explosion depressing to the point of laughter and white smoke rose again.
As soon as the smoke cleared, I walked out, as I was short from before drinking the elixir.
“Uh… uhh… Leader..?”
The members of the expedition team couldn’t say anything when they saw me shrinking like a dwarf again.
I quietly captured the energy of the elixir that seemed to swirl inside my body, and threw the empty bottle at random and said.
“Haa…… This is rubbish.”
What I found was definitely the Elixir from the legend.
But it is not the elixir of growth, but the elixir of polymorph.
Polymorph is a dragon’s magic that enables real ‘transformation’.
And the treasure of a real, real dragon is right, I gave up studying magic and can polymorph like I breathe. It’s a really great treasure.
But this isn’t tall.
“This… Something else… I was looking for…”
I can transform into a tall figure, but inside of that, my essence, which is as tall as a dwarf, remains.
When the magic wears off, it just returns to its original form, just like before.
This is not about growing up.
It’s just deceiving yourself as if you’ve grown up,
As he sat down, the things he had been through so far passed by like a kaleidoscope.
I was possessed by Atlas Titan, my parents abused me because I couldn’t grow taller no matter how old I got, I ran away from home and joined the Knights because they said I would grow taller when I joined the Knights, and when there was no improvement in the Knights, I deserted and lost my growth. The day I started looking for the elixir,
And now, this unchanging and full-bodied appearance has not changed.
“Why do you think I’m the only one with this haircut!!!! You foolish life!!!!!!”
The suppressed anger burst out.
I picked up the gold I saw around me and threw it.
“Hey Yayaya!! The captain is crazy, everyone run away!!”
“I thought I was quiet these days!!!”
“This… like this dog!!!!!”
After running wild for 20 minutes, my seizures finally stopped.
—————————————————–
After recording everything to be recorded in the ruins and packing everything to take care of, the snow country exploration team left the snow country again and headed for a nearby village.
Everyone expected to pack a lot and brought a large amount of ‘magic bag’, so they came out with a staggering amount of gold, but their steps were light.
Generally speaking, snow country is a pure white labyrinth that you can enter but cannot come out of.
For that reason, Snow Country was designated as a demonic land, and even though it was a place that no country was reluctant to go near, the Snow Country Expedition Team was able to get out of there without incident.
If it’s natural, it’s natural.
Because I, Atlas Titan, are the captain of the Snow Country Expedition.
I was possessed while reading a web novel about this world, and I know a lot of backstories that people here don’t know, and I haven’t forgotten them yet.
Among them, there was a strategy to attack the snow country.
In the original novel, the main character also broke through the snow country, and I just followed the method.
In the novel, the main character who arrived at the ruins of the snow country was tall enough to be satisfied, so I didn’t pay attention to his growth leap.
If I had known that the elixir was Polymorph’s elixir, I wouldn’t have drank it. It would have been more useful to him than the elixir of growth.
To rest their tired bodies before returning to the empire, the expedition arrived at the village, the last supply point near the snow country. Was making an expression as if he had seen
Since it was a village we visited before entering the snowy country, they all thought we were dead, but they seemed surprised when we returned intact.
Not paying attention to such villagers, the Snow Country Exploration Team entered the only tavern in the village and started drinking binge.
Bella, the female explorer who provided the journal of the snow country, sat in front of me sipping her drink at the fireplace in the corner of the tavern alone.
“Atlas… Are you still mad?”
“I hope you… You got what you wanted.”
“You’re still mad…”
Bella looks at me at the thorny words. She
She got what she wanted, but she seemed to notice that I, who played the most important role in the expedition, wasn’t getting anything.
“I must have expected too much from the elixir. Not even thinking that it might not be… Stupid,”
I said it like self-help, but I couldn’t help but think that there must be a leap of growth in that ruin.
First of all, the premise was that the leap in growth would exist.
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This is because it was an item that the author asserted existed as a background setting for the novel.
It’s an elixir that was said to exist, although I haven’t been able to figure out exactly where it is.
So, when I heard the legend about the snow country, I naturally assumed that it was real.
Well, it wasn’t.
“I’m not stupid… Others don’t, but I know… Atlas is bigger than anyone else… Everyone is smaller than you and can’t see properly…”
“Thank you for comforting me. I don’t like my heart to be big, I like my body to grow.”
“I’m fine as it is.”
“That’s because I don’t like myself at this rate”
It was admirable that she was trying to cheer her up somehow, so I wanted to stroke her hair, but with her short limbs, trying to reach Bella’s head facing the table made it funny, so I gave up.
As soon as I raised my glass again, a luxurious envelope fell from the ceiling.
I looked up and saw what appeared to be a human form dissolving into the darkness.
“Huh? What is this??”
“Don’t be alarmed, it’s just a letter from home.”
I wasn’t surprised by the letter falling out of thin air.
Because the sentence imprinted on the wax firmly attached to the envelope was a sentence I knew very well.
As soon as I removed the seal and read the letter, I jumped up, packed my things, and left the tavern.
“Where is Atlas going?”
I suddenly got up and Bella followed me in surprise.
“Sorry!! I’ll ask you to clean up!! I have to go home first because something urgent happened.”
This was written in the letter.
This is the content of the parents asking you to come back because they ended up dying suddenly.