The Flame King's Rejection
That meant becoming a spirit summoner. If she could summon a spirit, its unique energy would surely break the acupoint seal.
Yoo Min-jeong recalled the advice given to her by Jerry the Fire, the world-renowned raider she'd met at Cotopaxi Volcano.
"Fire is alive. Just like you and me. If you think of it as merely a natural phenomenon, you won't ascend to higher realms. Got it? Fire is alive."
Yoo Min-jeong hadn't brushed off that enigmatic statement.
Whenever she had time, she'd pondered it, scoured related materials, and just recently even sought advice from a few raider acquaintances. That's how she'd learned about... spirits.
Living fire!
It was slang for a fire spirit.
Yoo Min-jeong was bewildered.
Those who handled spirits—spirit summoners—were born with innate talent. The general consensus was that it was as impossible for an ordinary raider to become one as it was for a regular person to awaken as a raider.
If anyone else had said it, she'd have ignored them outright. But Jerry the Fire was one of the world's strongest raiders.
And he wasn't even a spirit summoner himself.
She'd tried everything.
Staring at a candle flame until her eyes burned out, just like those born with spirit summoner talent did for their first contract... enduring the pain to touch the flame... even dancing like a madman in front of it.
But nothing worked.
She'd concluded it was a waste of time and shoved it to the back of her mind not long ago.
Could she pull it off now?
No. She had to make it happen!
Yoo Min-jeong closed her eyes. She pictured the candle flame. In the darkness, she focused her mind on the blue core amid the flickering light.
The beautiful, searing heart of the flame.
A stifled groan echoed.
It sounded like Kim Jun. She nearly opened her eyes. That would have shattered her concentration.
'Whew.'
Steadying her mind with deep breaths, Yoo Min-jeong began condensing her mana.
The mana drifting around her body gathered into a mass—a mana orb—and she moved to the next phase: deployment. She shaped her mana into a spherical bead, then, on a whim, tried linking it... but it went no further.
The acupoint seal was blocking her.
No matter how much mana she gathered and deployed, without linking and fusion, the spell would never activate.
Letting out a sigh, Yoo Min-jeong fiercely visualized the orb igniting in her mind. If that earnest desire grew intense enough to pierce dimensions, a being from another realm—a spirit—would emerge through a wormhole-like passage into this world.
Spirit summoners preferred the term "affinity" over "earnest desire." Higher affinity meant summoning higher-grade spirits with less mana for greater power.
Even as sweat drenched her body from the effort... the deployed mana showed no sign of heating up.
'Yeah, I wasn't born a spirit summoner. This is a waste of time.'
When Yoo Min-jeong opened her eyes, she saw Kim Jun gasping for breath. In just minutes, he looked like a completely different person.
Sunken eyes, blood streaming not just from his nose and mouth but his ears and eyes, skin shriveled like a mummy's, hunched shoulders, dragging feet.
In stark contrast, Yoo Gwan-ho was covered head to toe in metal like he'd donned full plate armor. Only patches of skin on his face and elbows were exposed.
Stop!
That's enough!
She screamed internally, but the acupoint seal silenced her voice.
Tears streamed down her face.
Kim Se-wi glanced at her and smirked.
"You really take after your senior. Even the parts you don't need to."
Yoo Min-jeong glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
"Why worry about that bastard? You're a raider. One of the chosen elite. Countless raiders dream of being in your shoes, envy your talent and position. I just don't get why you're ruining yourself for him."
"You probably don't even know why your senior lost his arm that day. He wouldn't have told you the details."
Her wide eyes trembled.
Kim Se-wi was right. She hadn't asked, and her father had clammed up completely.
"He lost it trying to save Jang Won-seop. Korea's strongest raider retired over one measly carrier."
Jang Won-seop had been the carrier on her father Yoo Wan-seop's team. More than just a carrier—he was a friend, a close comrade in the dungeons.
"Pissed off, right? Your dad ended up like that because of a carrier. If it were me... I'd trash Jang Won-seop's funeral myself."
Kim Se-wi flashed a satisfied smile at Yoo Min-jeong's trembling rage.
"Yeah, that's normal. That's family. Think about it. I don't want to kill you. You're an outstanding raider. Once that impure scum dies, it's over. He's in early qi deviation—three minutes tops before he collapses. Gwan-ho will finish him easily. Never forget why your father ended up like that. How sad would I be if you went the same way?"
Kim Se-wi grinned wickedly.
Two words turned Yoo Min-jeong's mind white-hot.
'Impure scum' and 'like that.' A river of fury flooded her. It was a blazing inferno of a river. No one could call Kim Jun impure or a target for elimination! No one could refer to her father as 'like that'!
No one!
The river of fire scorched her heart.
Immense heat filled her body.
A dimensional passage cracked open through the condensed, deployed mana orb, but Yoo Min-jeong, swept in the torrent, didn't even notice.
She just glared at Kim Se-wi, who watched Kim Jun crumbling with a gleeful face.
Tiny flames sparked at the hem of her clothes, the tips of her hair, the cuffs of her sleeves, emitting light.
Choi Muhyun noticed the change first.
Then Yoo Min-jeong heard a deep, resonant voice.
"Didst thou call me?"
Startled, Yoo Min-jeong realized she stood alone in pitch darkness, a massive blaze roaring fiercely ahead.
The Honor Hall... was gone.
The two fighting in the Honor Hall center, the gleeful spectator Kim Se-wi, Go Cheolmin and the others who could only watch—they'd all vanished.
'Huh?'
Her body moved. She could raise her arms, turn and survey her surroundings.
Had the acupoint seal broken?
No. This... wasn't reality.
Maybe her extreme rage had made her lose consciousness.
"To summon me without knowing who I am."
The heavy voice emanated from the mountain-like inferno.
Yoo Min-jeong, who'd pored over every scrap on how, when, and why spirits contacted and contracted, grasped her situation. A being from another realm had finally been summoned.
She'd endured all that hardship awaiting this moment. She was as elated as when her awakening signs first appeared.
What now? First things first: introductions.
"I-I'm Yoo Min-jeong. A fire mage. I seek a contract with you."
"I refuse."
The thunderous reply shook the air and the ground beneath her feet. Yoo Min-jeong panicked.
Refuse? After coming this far?
Absurd. Infuriating. But she looked up at the fire spirit.
"Why?"
"Thou lackest the qualifications."
Bowing her head, Yoo Min-jeong sighed heavily.
'Of course. This is... just a damn dream. No way a spirit that huge would answer my call. Gotta wake up fast. How? Oh, right!'
Yoo Min-jeong slapped her own cheek.
Smack.
It didn't hurt much.
She swung harder.
Crack.
This time it stung enough to bring tears. But she was still trapped in this wretched dream.
"What art thou doing?"
Glare fixed on the fire spirit, Yoo Min-jeong unleashed a Fire Arrow. The flaming projectile flew far, arced, and boomeranged back.
Eyes squeezed shut, she was flung backward by the impact. Agony like death—but still in the dream.
"Why won't I wake up?!"
Her frustration exploded.
"Dost thou truly believe this all a dream?"
"Shut up."
Yoo Min-jeong yelled at the spirit and conjured a Fireball. Hugging that blaze would be fatal.
Die here, wake up—that was the plan.
The moment she lunged at the floating fireball, the fire spirit yanked it in and absorbed it effortlessly.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"I am the Flame King."
"So what?"
The Flame King was one of the titles of the fire spirit king, but it meant nothing to Yoo Min-jeong right now.
"What? I am the king of fire! All who wield mana desire me!"
The voice boomed deafeningly.
"Then go to them. Stop bothering me here."
Yoo Min-jeong began condensing and deploying mana for another fireball.
"Kuhahaha!"
The sheer force in that laugh scattered her carefully built mana.
Glare locked on the fire spirit, Yoo Min-jeong found an easy way out of the dream. She charged full-tilt toward the flames.
To burn to death in them.
"Halt!"
Yoo Min-jeong ignored it completely.