Seibier's Two Skills
Seibier had two skills: Dragon Fear and Dragon Breath. Han Ji-woo could enhance his pets' skills using Growth Acceleration. It was a sub-skill he'd gained when upgrading Growth Acceleration, but it had a limit of ten uses. Now, only seven remained.
Han Ji-woo had just used one on Seibier's Dragon Fear.
Seibier's skill 'Dragon Fear' has been enhanced by the effects of Growth Acceleration!
The enhancement had succeeded. The real question was whether a single upgrade would produce the desired result.
A description window for the enhanced skill appeared before Han Ji-woo's eyes.
Dragon Fear
Infuses the voice with draconic energy. Lower beings who hear it have their minds overwhelmed by the vast gap in their existences. Can be controlled to affect only desired targets. Consumes no mana.
"Yes!"
Just as Han Ji-woo had hoped, Seibier could now control the range of Dragon Fear.
"Got a good look, Seibie? This is a mandragora."
Han Ji-woo showed Seibier the mandragora that Turkan had received from his subordinates. It was dead.
"Remember it?"
Keuruk!
Seibier nodded, drool dripping from its mouth. It seemed to instinctively know that mandragora was a tasty treat for dragons.
Han Ji-woo tossed the mandragora he'd been holding to Seibier.
Chomp!
Crunch. Crunch.
Gulp!
Kuuu~
Seibier let out a delighted cry of satisfaction, and Han Ji-woo hopped onto its back. He pointed toward the southern sky.
"Fly, Seibie!"
Keuruk!
With its master aboard, Seibier flapped its wings excitedly.
Flap— Flap—!
After a couple of beats from its massive wings, whoosh—!
Seibier shot into the sky at an unbelievable speed, already far removed from the ground.
"Roller coasters got nothin' on this."
Han Ji-woo, spooked, patted his chest in relief.
Seibier flew swiftly southward. When Han Ji-woo figured it was high enough, looking down from above, he shouted.
"Hit 'em with Dragon Fear—only the mandragoras down there!"
Keuruk~!
Seibier let out a cute cry of acknowledgment, then its body suddenly slimmed down into combat-mode Seibier as it unleashed a fierce roar.
Krooooaaaargh!!
"Perfect! Now west!"
Seibier twisted its now-elongated body and veered westward.
A huge pile of mandragoras lay before Han Ji-woo. They were all the ones killed by Seibier's Dragon Fear, collected by the monsters of the Dungeon Prison.
"This should take care of the problem for good, right?"
Han Ji-woo tossed one mandragora to Seibier, who snapped it up happily, beaming with joy.
"That good, huh?"
Keuruk~
"Hmm."
Intrigued by Seibier's reaction, Han Ji-woo cut off a piece of the root and tasted it. It looked disturbingly human-like, complete with a mouth, but after drinking Turkan's tea, his courage was boosted. Nothing could be worse than that, he figured.
Crunch. Crunch.
Gulp.
First time consuming Mandragora. Strength +2.
"Whoa... this!"
Han Ji-woo's eyes went wide after tasting the piece. It didn't taste much different from regular ginseng.
Jackpot!
Excited by the familiar ginseng flavor after so long, he devoured the rest of the root like a man possessed.
Then, astonishing messages followed.
Fully consumed 1 Mandragora for the first time. Magic Power +50. Subsequent consumption will not trigger the same effect.
Acquired 'Magic Power' stat.
Magic Power stat +50 points.
"Magic Power?"
Han Ji-woo had never had a Magic Power stat before. He opened his status window.
Magic Power was indeed there now. By Han Ji-woo's common sense, Magic Power boosted the power of magic attacks.
"But do I even have any magic skills?"
As he pondered, a detailed explanation of the Magic Power skill appeared.
The Magic Power skill enhances all skills that consume mana. The effect scales every time the tens digit of Magic Power increases. The boost isn't huge, but it will definitely help.
Additionally, higher Magic Power reduces mana cost for skill activation. Mana cost decreases by 1 for every tens digit increase in Magic Power.
Han Ji-woo checked his mana-consuming skills.
"Just Dragon Scale and Undead Master."
Dragon Scale consumed 100 mana to cover his body in dragon scales for defense, lasting 5 minutes and boosting defense and magic defense by 300 each. With Magic Power, duration extended to 10 minutes, boosts to 350 each, and mana cost down to 95.
Undead Master consumed 30 mana to dominate 20 mid-grade or lower undead for 20 minutes or summon 10. Now enhanced to 25 minutes for 25 dominated or 15 summoned, mana cost 25.
"This is straight-up honey."
The thought of the dungeon folk immediately popped into his head. Sharing this with them would be amazing. Was there a way?
He got an idea right away. Not sure if it still worked, he accessed the Dungeon Shop.
Fortunately, the 'Dungeon Shop Item Display Status' window opened. He listed 17 mandragoras at 1 Dungeon Coin each, hoping the dwindling dungeon folk would use the shop again before their numbers dropped further.
"Now, what's left..."
Han Ji-woo counted the remaining mandragoras: 53 roots total.
"Ferrofero. Can you plant these and grow more?"
"No, sirree. Dead mandragoras can't be propagated, nosiree."
"Too bad."
He'd hoped to plant them as ginseng substitutes. He smacked his lips.
"Oh yeah. Dragons get a Magic Power boost from them, right?"
"Yes, sirree!"
Suddenly remembering, Han Ji-woo checked Seibier's status. After two roots, Magic Power was added at 20.
When he'd eaten one, he'd gotten 50 once. For dragons, maybe +10 per root?
To test, he tossed another to Seibier.
Chomp! Crunch. Crunch. Gulp~!
"Oh!"
Sure enough, +10 more.
"Lemme think..."
He calculated. How many for Seibier? He decided to leave 10 and feed the rest: Magic Power hit 450.
Seibier's mana skills were its two Dragon Breaths, costing 100 mana with 1-minute cooldown. Now no mana cost, cooldown after 5 uses: 3 minutes.
"Too good."
Should he skip tasting more and feed the rest to Seibier? Then a message appeared.
Dragon Breath skill cannot be further enhanced by Magic Power increases.
"Got it."
A mix of regret and relief washed over him.
With the commotion resolved, Turkan and all the orcs knelt before Han Ji-woo, expressing their gratitude.
"The Master has saved the orcs once more! Thank you! Queeeek!"
The other orcs chorused with queek! queek! cries.
"I'm the one who profited big time thanks to you guys."
The mandragora chaos had turned into massive luck for him. Finally relaxing, Han Ji-woo was about to rest with the orcs when—
"Master! Look at this!"
Myang! Myang myang!
Pao and Brisong returned from the forest, Pao excitedly carrying a bunch of large garlic bulbs.
"Garlic? You found garlic?"
"Yeah! In the forest over there! Garlic field!"
"...!"
Mandragora like ginseng, garlic, and horned chicken? That meant...
Samgyetang!
Han Ji-woo cheered inwardly. Any thought of lingering in the Dungeon Prison vanished.
"Turkan! I'm heading out."
"Why so soon, Master? Queeeek!"
"Gotta eat some samgyetang—er, urgent business came up."
Turkan was disappointed but couldn't block his master's path, so he just nodded.
"Understood. Queeeek!"
"I'll visit whenever I can, so don't be too sad. Say hi to Sasuri for me."
"Will do. Queeeek!"
Leaving Turkan bowing, Han Ji-woo returned to the Hidden Space with Pao. Soon after, Ferrofero, Lucy, Brisong, and Seibier vanished too.
Turkan stared at the spot where his master had disappeared for a long while.
"...?"
Back in the Hidden Space, Han Ji-woo stood blinking in shock at the unbelievable sight before him.
"I'm telling you, I'm not a monster!"
"D-don't mess with me! You think I haven't seen your kind lulling people into complacency before biting their heads off?"
"Nooo! Those are some nasty fellows! But that's not my business~ Yo ho ho ho~"
"Don't mock me!"
"Toryong doesn't mock people, you know? He's a good lil' earthworm~"
While Han Ji-woo had been away, Toryong was arguing with a strange man in the Hidden Space. The man was covered in blood, his sword-holding hand trembling violently. He staggered, eyes drooping—he'd have passed out if not locked in confrontation with Toryong. It was a pitiful sight.
But who is he?
A dungeon folk? Han Ji-woo glanced at Ferrofero, but even he looked clueless.
Unable to just watch, Han Ji-woo stepped forward—armed and tense for any contingency.
"Sorry, but who are you?"
The man, focused only on Toryong, whipped his head toward the voice in surprise. Then...
"...Gah."
Spotting the catfolk, wolf, and hatchling behind Han Ji-woo, he rolled back his eyes and fainted.
Utterly confused, Han Ji-woo's gaze fell on the Logaku house. A faint light leaked from within.
"No way."
He looked at Brisong.
"You used your Dimensional Gate skill?"
Myang! Pant pant pant!
Brisong wagged its tail innocently.