"Conditions—" Elric was about to tell Mr. chowicz, but the man put his hand over Elric's mouth.
Elric instantly understood why. Mr.chowicz had just told him not to share important stuff. And the conditions for using a Lexecon must be one of those things.
Seeing Elric looked confused, Mr.chowicz calmly explained.
"You remember how Lexecons have an order, right? The ones closer to the top-left come first—second, third, and so on, moving diagonally down. You can't jump ahead when using them. So, even if you meet the conditions for a third, second, fourth, fifth, or any later Lexecon, if the one before it hasn't met its condition, the ones after it can't be used."
Since Elric was sharp, he quickly connected this to things that had happened before. When he saw the guard fighting the guy carrying his poisoned teammate, only one guard fought at first. That must have been because he already met the condition. The others hadn't. It took a while before two more guards joined, meaning they had just met their conditions. As for the fourth guard, who didn't fight at all, it was probably because he hadn't met his condition yet.
Then there was that memory he didn't want to think about—the twin drug dealers. They fought like they wanted to kill each other, but one of them only used part of his Lexecon. It probably wasn't because he was holding back, but because the conditions weren't fully met.
If Lexecon use depends on conditions, then the ones near the top-left—the early ones—must be the ones you can use first. Those probably have easier conditions.
Think about it: if you put a Lexecon with a tough condition first and suddenly have to fight, even if you have ten Lexicons, you won't be able to use any. Even if the second or third have easy conditions, you can't use them because the first one isn't met condition yet.
Sila once said that guns can still kill Lexmancers. No matter what, they're just people with a few special abilities. Compared to typical fantasy, they're like mages who can't do anything without magic.
Without needing Mr.chowicz to tell him what to do, Elric immediately started trying to activate his Lexecon. He couldn't forget—the condition was that the sound around him had to reach 55 decibels. Even normal talking was enough, which made it seem like a really useful Lexecon.
He tried to remember what Lexmancers looked like when they used their power. First, the shape would appear. Even though it was a bit embarrassing, his Lexecon looked like a cockroach. He focused, making sure not to lose concentration, trying to guide it into the Tree of Life.
The strange cockroach—his very first Lexecon—seemed to react. It slowly moved toward the Tree of Life. Once it got close enough, it gave off a bright orange glow, hiding its shape, before shooting straight into the Tree.
Elric closed his eyes, but when he felt something change inside him, he slowly opened them again. It felt like something was entering his mind—something like the way to use the Lexecon he had just put into the Tree of Life.
Realizing what it could do, Elric yelled loudly.
"WAAAAAAAH!"
His voice burst out in a shockwave, sending vibrations ripping through the air around him, though it didn't go far before suddenly stopping.
"Your Lexecon is the sound pathway." Mr. chowicz explained.
Excited, Elric tried again without worrying about his mana. Luckily, even though Mr. chowicz hadn't told him, Elric already knew from books in the library that running out of mana wouldn't cause anything bad—it would just stop him from using it more, not lead to dangerous side effects like in typical fantasy stories.
So he wasn't scared. He kept using it over and over. On the third try, the cockroach Lexecon suddenly popped out of the Tree of Life.
"That's cooldown. A stun phase. Won't take long," Mr. chowicz added.
Elric nodded. It really didn't take long—after about a minute, he could use it again. He met the condition once more, and the same thing happened. As soon as it went into the Tree of Life, he activated it again.
After two more uses, he couldn't use it anymore. His mana must have run out. But he had learned something.
The skill's range was about five meters, while the surrounding sound needed for it to work probably went up to ten meters.
This cockroach Lexecon's ability was just to make sound waves. At first glance, it didn't seem very impressive—and that was true.
He turned to Mr. chowicz, waiting to see if there was anything else to learn.
"5…" Mr. chowicz said.
Elric listened carefully, thinking about the mysterious number.
"4…3…2…"
Huh? Why was he counting?
"1…0."
Suddenly, Elric felt his mind go blurry. Dark red blood flowed from his eyes, nose, mouth, ears—every opening. Countless cockroaches crawled all over him, even though none were actually there. It felt like both his outside and inside organs were being eaten alive, turning into nests.
Pain shot through him. The cockroaches felt like they were inside his heart, inside his brain, slowly gnawing.
He was about to go crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Completely out of his mind.
Mr. chowicz immediately made his Tree of Life appear. His Lexecon activated, letting out a thick black mist that spread across the training square. When Elric touched the mist, he started to get his mind back. The madness began to fade.
It fought back, tried to flare up again, but it was held in check—stopped, pushed down. It couldn't break free. It disappeared, slowly but surely. The pain got less bit by bit. The feeling of cockroaches covering his whole body gradually went away.
The madness that had been building slowly died down.
Elric, full of fear, looked up at Mr. chowicz, only to see him with a serious and honest look on his face, behind the black mist.
"Humans cannot understand the abstract."
Those words hit him hard. Now he understood why this had happened. He had thought becoming a Lexmancer would be easy—but it wasn't. He had to fight against the very power he used.
Lexecons seemed like something from a novel—abstract, almost like a kind of goodness. But "abstract" could mean many things, and people couldn't truly grasp it. Those who used it would probably go crazy—just like Elric almost did. Luckily, Mr. chowicz had stepped in in time.
Elric tried to stand but couldn't. He realized the man in front of him was a serious teacher. He could have explained everything from the start—but he didn't. He let his student experience the abstract directly.
"If you use it too often, you have to pay the price…"
After saying that, Mr.chowicz reached his hand into the black mist. The mist still spread across the training ground but stopped exactly at its edge. People around them complained, annoyed, but Mr.chowicz ignored them.
He pulled his hand back, and something appeared in it—a creature. It looked like a fish, but unbelievably ugly. Its skin was black, slimy, and bumpy like a rotting body, covered in lumps and sharp spikes. Its head was too big, its blind, cloudy eyes full of evil. Its wide mouth showed rows of tiny teeth. Its top fin looked like a ripped membrane, like the wings of a devilish bat. Its long tail swung slowly, hiding a wild nature underneath.
He didn't just pull out one—but two.
Mr. chowicz brought the two fish close together, hooking their top fins with his fingers and nails. Then, without thinking twice, he snapped both of their tails.
The moment their tails broke, the fish thrashed wildly. He threw them onto the ground. They immediately rushed toward each other—and started mating. Their movements were strangely human-like.
Not long after, Mr. chowicz picked up the male and squeezed its semen onto Elric's Lexecon.
Elric couldn't even pull back his Tree of Life—he couldn't move at all.
When the cockroach Lexecon soaked up the strange stuff, it calmed down. Elric could feel it. Soon, he felt normal again, and the madness completely disappeared.
"What… is that?"
Elric stood up and blurted out, confused. He had just gone through a near-death experience, saw disgusting creatures mating, and then had their fluids put on his power.
Mr. chowicz replied simply.
"Price… everything requires a price."