I Miss My House.
The government is doing what exactly?
The whole world is pitch black, damn it.
How many days since the blackout?
Saying the power plant is fine?
Is it really true that the Gate sucks up electricity?
Do you know anyone?
No one knows lolol
Government, explain already
Computers aren't even working and I'm going insane
***
Agjjak!
It cracked and popped right inside my mouth.
A completely different taste from a battery. Just like an ice candy melting in your mouth—cool and refreshing, but at the very end a tingle of electricity danced along the tip of my tongue.
“…This is delicious.”
Different from when I absorbed it directly from the tree.
Because there wasn't much electricity inside the crystal, it dissolved smoothly and quickly in my mouth.
Ding!
[Quest arrived!]
[Complete the Lightning Essence!]
[Lightning Essence 1% achieved]
Lightning Essence.
The shape of lightning inside the tree.
It must be the power source inside the Gate, right?
The sensation filling my mouth.
Overload potential? Don't know about that.
A special taste.
Whatever, electricity is good!
But I'm a little disappointed.
“Tree, is there more?”
Uung.
I placed another crystal on my palm.
The blue light faded.
The amount of energy I felt inside was decreasing.
Uung?
“No, it’s delicious. It’s a completely different taste from a battery.”
“But how was this made?”
The crystal grows from the root, pulling out the electricity inside my body?
U… uung. Uuuung. Uung!
Hmm… I don’t really get what it’s saying.
I held the crystal in my hand.
It was smaller than before.
It probably means I can’t extract it freely.
“Then if I bring more maseok, I can make more, right?”
Uung!
The tree reacted strongly.
“Okay. If I bring more, I can make it.”
I looked around.
The inside of the ancient tree was wider than I thought.
Five people could lie down in there.
The ceiling was tangled with vines and moss, and the floor was covered with dense roots.
The floor was thickly laid with tree roots.
It was hard, but better than the jungle floor.
“Am I allowed to live here?”
Uung.
“Sleeping inside the tree is fine, huh?”
The roots slowly moved as if tidying the floor.
They were making a bed.
“Thanks.”
When I stepped outside, the sun was already setting. The cool breeze blowing from the river and the splashing sounds of otters made me feel like I could live here after all.
It would have been nice if this wasn’t just the inside of the Gate.
I set my bag down and sat on a root. I took out a battery.
Now that I can get electricity from the tree, I don’t need to save the battery anymore, right?
Crack.
Delicious.
Uung—
A faint response came from the tree.
It seemed like it was wondering about something.
“Battery. Think of it as my food.”
U—uung?
“If I eat it, the electricity gets filled up.”
U… uung.
I don’t know if the tree understood or not, but there was no more reaction.
I lay down on the spot and looked at the stars hanging in the sky. Countless stars were scattered across the night sky, each one shining with its own presence. Was the world inside the Gate a real other world, or some perfect fake created by someone?
This place wasn’t just a dungeon full of monsters. Otters swam to survive, lizardmen hunted in packs. The inside of the Gate was a single, fiercely churning ecosystem in itself.
I checked my status window.
[Shin Ara]
Level: 9
Unique Ability: Electricity Manipulation / ???
Power: 100%/100%
Skills: Thought Acceleration, Transistor
What the hell is the unique ability shown with question marks?
It said I got skills from this.
I don’t quite understand, but I think it’s something related to electricity too. I’ll figure it out someday.
I felt hard tree roots behind my back.
Will I be okay tomorrow morning… or is sleeping impossible without a bed…
When I opened my eyes, the roots were draped over my shoulders like a blanket.
“…Thanks.”
The roots slowly withdrew.
I looked outside.
Light was coming in through the branches.
It was morning.
My whole body felt stiff.
Because I slept on the hard ground, my back ached.
I packed my bag.
“I’ll be back.”
Uung.
“I’ll bring a lot of maseok.”
The roots twitched slightly as if waving goodbye.
They meant good luck.
I stepped out of the ancient tree.
Pushing through the bushes, I went toward the sound of water. Otters were floating on the river surface near the bank.
The little otter that was splashing around spotted me and rushed over.
Just like last time, it lightly tapped my back of the hand.
“Hello.”
It circled around my body as if inviting play. Since it was a kid, it seemed full of mischief.
Right now, though…
“Can’t do it now, I’ll play with you later.”
Nod.
It really didn’t look back and jumped into the river.
I thought it would grab on.
“…Good listener?”
I moved deeper into the Gate. Today’s goal was to gather maseok. And gather maseok to heal the tree.
Then I can get delicious crystals!
To do that, I had to hunt monsters.
I didn’t know how long it would take, but I had to try.
I used a giant lotus as a stepping stone to cross the river. I thought the even larger otters lying on the other side might be a problem, but I didn’t know they could actually cross.
As I entered the forest on the other side of the river, birds flew high overhead, riding the wind. The giant bird I saw when I first entered the Gate probably lived around here.
The deeper I went, the more branches blocked the sky and cut out the light. The forest gradually turned dark, and instead of light there were only strange symbols I couldn’t identify. And between the trees I saw totems that looked like lizardmen, and at the ends, skulls hung.
I went deeper to confirm.
This darkness… I don’t like it…
I walked carefully, stepping on the wide leaves that covered the ground so I couldn’t see the earth.
I peeled back the leaves and stepped forward one by one.
The humid air pressed down heavily on my whole body.
My lungs felt full when I breathed in.
My shirt was soon soaked from the dripping sweat.
How long had I been walking?
It definitely felt like the same place I came from.
Similar trees.
Similar vines.
Similar scenery.
…
I was lost.
If I turned back, could I find the way?
I swallowed hard.
I slowly moved while leaving markers.
Then my foot sank in.
“Ouch.”
My body was sucked in up to my knee.
A swamp.
Wide leaves covered it completely, so nothing was visible.
The swamp pulled my foot even more as I tried to pull it out.
“Ah, damn.”
Stay calm.
If I panicked, I’d sink faster.
I stabbed the spear I was holding into solid ground. I tilted my body as much as possible toward the spear and put all my strength into the hand gripping it.
“Uwaaa!”
I grabbed around with the nearby grass and vines with all my might to hold onto the swamp that refused to let me go.
Huk—
Thanks to that, I got covered in mud, but I barely pulled my body up.
“This place is never coming again.”
This kind of adventure is really the worst.
While moving to turn back, dark clouds covered the sky. The wind strengthened and branches shook.
Swoooosh—
I got drenched in the pouring rain in an instant.
“Mountain after mountain, huh.”
Thud thud thud—
A rabbit quickly passed by and hid under the grass leaves to avoid the rain.
The heavy rain obscured my vision and all around was filled with the sound of rain. Even if something passed nearby, the sound was so loud I could barely hear it.
I had to get back to shelter from the rain somehow.
Kwaa—!
I lowered my body as much as possible.
Between the rain sounds, something came in.
No, it sounded like it. With a sound like something exploding, the sky flashed. Was lightning striking?
Blue lightning flickered at my fingertips.
In the dark vision, blue light flashed.
I concentrated on controlling the electricity to check if there were any conductors moving around.
Water, wet soil, trees. One familiar aura nearby.
And some faintly flickering movements.
Over there.
Many of them.
And huge.
They were moving regularly.
With my body lowered, I slowly moved.
Through the trees I saw a light. Even in the rain, a huge bonfire burning inside glowed far beyond the leaf canopy.
I hid behind a tree and looked down.
I saw a human-shaped figure lying on the altar and a group surrounding the central bonfire. Long, familiar-looking tails extended from behind my back. This was probably the monsters’ village.
A large lizardman stood in front of the altar, slowly raising his knife. His body had skeleton decorations and tattoos engraved all over, looking like a shaman’s mark.
Looking closely at the motionless figure that seemed to be in a trance, long ears stretched toward the sky caught my eye.
Elf?
Thwack!
The shaman’s arm fell straight down and stabbed the elf’s body with the knife. Then he scooped up the flowing blood into a bowl.
Ugh, is he really offering elf blood as a sacrifice?
Then he scattered red powder from the other hand.
When I swallowed the strangely spreading powder between the falling raindrops, the lizardmen began to go wild.
“Crooaaak!”
“Kiiaayaak!”
The shaman was chanting something.
It seemed like that was the signal; a staff was being handed over from the side.
I raised the staff I received.
Boom!
At the same time I raised the staff, lightning struck the huge bonfire.
The flames of the bonfire and the blue waves surrounding them glowed purple. Where the fire had been, the shape of the ancient tree overlapped.
That’s it.
The ones who attacked the ancient tree.
I couldn’t confirm for sure, but it probably had a similar feeling to the aura inside the tree.
I scanned the surroundings.
Bone piles and totems set up here and there.
The bodies of animals hunted by the monsters, their blood scent reaching even this far in the rain.
It seemed they were holding some kind of festival through the ritual.
Around the shaman, four others who looked like shamans each held staffs made of wood. And the surrounding lizardman group was dozens strong.
It was too much for me now.
I slowly backed away while promising to do it later.
The rain gradually subsided. As my vision widened, the marked trees started to become visible. I found the way back to the ancient tree.
I heard the sound of the river.
The ancient tree visible behind it felt welcoming. From afar, its size stood out clearly from the other trees.
While walking along the riverbank, I suddenly smelled a foul odor. The wet clothes were drying and a rancid smell was rising from the clothes.
The soil was roughly washed away by the torrential rain, but the stale smell from the wet clothes and the bloody scent of the monster blood from hunting hadn’t been erased.
And now, how long had it been since I showered and washed? Uugh.
I looked at my blurry reflection on the water surface.
And then I realized it was a woman’s body.
I roughly washed my face.
The skin was surprisingly very soft.
“…It’s nice.”
No.
That wasn’t important right now.
Has this much time already passed?
In the dark night, I saw the tree was full of cracks. Dense wavy patterns of blue light ran all over the tree.
Uung.
The tree conveyed its concern.
“We’re finally here!”
The roots slowly moved to guide me inside.
I entered and sat down.
“There was a lizardman village over there. It was huge.”
Uung.
The roots trembled slightly. In the conveyed will, deep fear was hidden.
“I knew it. Those shamans holding staffs dropped lightning on you, right?”
Uuuuung!!
The air vibrated as if the tree’s will was shaking, and the roots I placed on my hand pressed down on my palm. It was a vibration mixed with grievance and anger.
I firmly grabbed the roots.
“I understand.”
“I’ll burn them all.”
Uung!
The tree’s will felt warm.
I took out a battery.
Crack.
There was only one maseok today. The little otter got bored of playing with it and gave it to me on the way here. Apparently it caught a lizardman yesterday and brought the maseok.
“Here, even this.”
I took one maseok from the bag and placed it on the root.
The tree conveyed a bright will, as if it was okay.
I think I know how to clear this Gate. Eliminate that village and heal the tree to get the crystals.
[Shin Ara]
Level: 10
Unique Ability: Electricity Manipulation / ???
Power: 26%/100%
Skills: Thought Acceleration, Transistor
[Level-up benefits available.]
[Select a skill.]
1. Sense Amplification
2. Overcurrent
3. Capacitor
4. Resistance
The skill selection window I hadn’t seen in a while.
Should I prepare a bit?
Transistor
Converts electricity to mana and vice versa. Allows interaction with magical systems.