Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Hatching
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Puppet materials were needed, so Seoran and Yi Agum visited the underground world, only to suddenly become mole love counselors.
The two safely returned to the Black Bamboo Sect.
But Stone Lotus was not unscathed.
The dharma tool craftsman, inspecting the magic artifact, asked,
“How did it end up breaking?”
Seoran replied,
“It got hit by Heavenly Tribulation.”
The dharma tool craftsman said with a puzzled look,
“That’s still strange. Stone Lotus was carved entirely from a boulder struck by lightning. Its performance is one thing, but nothing can match its resistance to thunder spiritual energy. Even if it was struck by Heavenly Tribulation...”
“It got hit quite a lot.”
“Hmm...”
At that moment, the craftsman was about halfway convinced.
She probably couldn’t remember, but she’d definitely done something foolish.
People who broke dharma tools were all like that anyway.
Dharma tools were basically meant to last for centuries.
It didn’t make sense for Stone Lotus, used for a mere thirty years, to break from a bit of Heavenly Tribulation.
Either she’d done something she shouldn’t have, or she’d neglected the maintenance she should have done—one or the other.
For reference, Seoran qualified on both counts.
First, she’d soaked the flying dharma tool in fresh water and saltwater.
You shouldn’t do that even to an airplane, let alone a car.
It would flood the engine.
But the E-grade dharma tool Stone Lotus endured it.
Then later, she plunged it into the ocean depths.
Even ships built to sail the seas would essentially be sunk after going that deep and coming back up.
Even after the Dragon Palace tour, Stone Lotus still worked fine.
If the creator were still alive, they’d have felt immensely proud.
Look at this sturdy dharma tool I made.
And so, it finally reached the end of its lifespan as a dharma tool.
It was because it stayed by its foolish owner’s side and got struck by lightning.
Thus ended the tumultuous journey of Stone Lotus.
Reality like this exceeded the dharma tool craftsman’s imagination.
At most, he could imagine poor maintenance.
That was the limit of common sense for a dharma tool craftsman.
The dharma tool craftsman replied,
“I’m afraid repairs won’t be possible. The exterior is fine, but the interior is a mess. And for some reason, even the core is dented. If only the core had been intact, it would’ve been easy to restore... What a shame.”
Of course, the culprit who dented the core was also Seoran.
She’d tried repairing it herself, but it hadn’t gone as planned.
She learned that the Red Earth Transmission Scripture wasn’t omnipotent.
Seoran replied,
“If it can’t be fixed, oh well.”
In the end, Stone Lotus went into a souvenir box.
Fortunately, even though most functions were unresponsive, the shrinking feature still worked perfectly.
Seoran closed the box and turned away without a hint of regret.
Just in time, too—she’d been planning to make a puppet anyway.
If there was no flying dharma tool, she could just ride a puppet.
It was a simple matter for a genius puppet master.
The theme for this puppet was “bird.”
*****
Before crafting the puppet, something was needed.
A consulting committee.
Sharing opinions was important.
Ideas she might never think of alone could emerge when pooling heads together.
Above all, making puppets while chatting idly with friends left no room for boredom.
Seoran rummaged through her mental list of friends.
Yi Agum: on vacation and working.
Ho Hye-mun: still a ways off from summer break.
Geum Yeongyeong: no news on where she was or what she was doing.
In an instant, her human friends were depleted.
An extremely narrow social circle.
But friends included other races, so that was fine.
Toto-seo: in the underground world.
Ji-am-seo: same, underground world.
Straight Stem: in the Great Forest of the Eastern Continent.
Damcheong Lady: very likely idle.
Seoran immediately headed to the central pond.
“Damcheong Lady, want to make a puppet together?!”
No reply came.
Seoran peered into the pond.
Only plump carp were swimming about.
It was because Damcheong fed them so much.
A maid happened to pass by, so Seoran asked,
“Do you happen to know where Damcheong Lady went?”
The maid politely replied,
“Ah, the Dragon Maiden? She went to the Grand Training Grounds.”
“The Grand Training Grounds? Why there all of a sudden?”
“To play ball with the kids.”
Seoran couldn’t comprehend it at all.
A dragon suddenly playing ball?
With little kids, no less?
Not with her usual school of carp?
She was too curious not to go.
Seoran headed straight for the Grand Training Grounds.
The E-grade dharma tool Stone Lotus was gone now, but it was fine.
She had sturdy legs instead of wings.
Seoran dashed off like a streak of wind.
She wrapped herself in a streamlined barrier to minimize air resistance.
The Earth Shrinking Technique was no big deal.
She arrived at the destination in no time.
Children’s voices came from beyond the Grand Training Grounds wall.
Seoran cautiously peeked over the top of the wall.
Two butterfly nets stood propped up as goals, while ten-year-olds ran about playing.
Paper balls made of colored tissue paper soared through the air repeatedly.
She even spotted a girl with deer antlers poking up from her head.
Damcheong was indeed playing ball.
“Dragon Maiden!”
One child passed to Damcheong.
Damcheong’s clean chest trap and flashy dribble.
Then a straight shot toward the goal.
The colorful paper ball sailed into the butterfly net, positioned higher than most adults’ heads.
Like kicking a soccer ball into a basketball hoop.
It seemed a bit challenging for kids’ play.
Maybe because they were children of cultivators, their athleticism was impressive.
Watching the cheering kids, Seoran was deeply moved.
Damcheong—that Damcheong—was running on her own two feet.
In the past, she’d been so clumsy at walking alone that someone had to hold her hand.
Yet now she was good even at ball games.
Seoran murmured blankly,
“Damcheong Lady... you’ve grown...”
She’d seen some fierce tussling earlier, too.
A dragon couldn’t possibly lose to a little kid, so she must have been controlling her strength even while busy kicking the ball.
Was this really the same Damcheong who used to get her antlers stuck in rock crevices?
As Seoran felt proud, another pass flew toward Damcheong.
“Dragon Maiden!”
“Leave it to me!”
Damcheong leaped for a header.
Her deer antlers pierced straight through the paper ball.
The mood suddenly turned icy.
Seoran reconsidered her recent assessment of Damcheong.
Fortunately, one child shouted,
“Dragon Maiden, don’t worry! We have another ball!”
Laughter bloomed once more in the Grand Training Grounds.
Seoran quietly slipped away.
She couldn’t interrupt Damcheong when she was enjoying herself so much.
Still, a corner of her heart felt empty.
Seoran gazed at the sky and murmured inwardly,
Is there no one to appreciate puppets with me?
Then, as she lowered her head, her eyes met those of a girl.
The face seemed somehow familiar.
The girl recognized her first.
“Gasp, Ryu Investigator!”
Hearing the voice jogged Seoran’s memory.
“You’re the puppetry prodigy I met at the script hall?”
The eleven-year-old puppetry prodigy, Jang Seonhwa, replied,
“Yes, that’s right! I didn’t get to introduce myself last time, but I’m Jang Seonhwa! Oh, and... I’m still reading those books! I don’t really get love yet... And also... Ah, I have a spirit root!”
“What?!”
Seoran activated her spirit eye technique.
For inspecting spirit roots, pulse diagnosis was essential for the mediocre.
But at Original Spirit level, she could tell just by looking.
“A Single Spirit Root!”
Jang Seonhwa replied excitedly,
“That’s right, Wood Spirit Root! But can Wood Spirit Root Holders do puppetry too? It wasn’t in the beginner’s manual.”
Seoran asked as calmly as she could,
“Hey, um. Want to come make puppets with me?”
Jang Seonhwa beamed and replied,
“Yes, sounds fun!”
It was a fateful encounter.
*****
Jang Seonhwa first headed to the Grand Training Grounds.
She called out her younger sibling’s name loudly.
Among son-daughter-daughter-daughter-son-son-daughter, the second daughter answered.
“Sis, why’d you call me?”
“Here, your lunch bento.”
The sibling asked,
“No bugs inside, right?”
Of course there were.
“Eat it all, no pickiness!”
Jang Seonhwa smacked her sibling on the head and left.
To the wonderland, Seoran’s puppet workshop.
Seoran piggybacked Jang Seonhwa home.
Jang Seonhwa felt like she was flying.
In a sense, she was.
Seoran ran straight to her destination.
When she encountered a cliff, she leaped vigorously.
The two soared into the sky like a hawk in flight.
Soon, without wings, they plummeted like arrows.
The ground rushed up at tremendous speed.
But Seoran had a plan.
The surging Pure Earth Spiritual Power resonated with the land.
The earth softly caught the two.
The impact of the fall didn’t even reach Jang Seonhwa.
It absorbed the shock and slowed them, but no problem.
This time, the earth hurled them upward with all its might.
A single leap cleared a mountaintop—a wondrous technique.
Jang Seonhwa shouted,
“This is so much fun!”
The pure laughter unique to children.
The faster Seoran went, the louder Jang Seonhwa laughed.
The inside of the barrier filled with the sound of childish glee.
The two arrived at the estate.
Seoran had a maid contact Jang Seonhwa’s home.
So her family wouldn’t worry about their suddenly vanished daughter.
Finally, the door to the puppet workshop opened.
Minerals piled up like mountains.
All puppet materials ordered from the underground world.
She’d paid a fortune in shipping, and they’d delivered in a flash.
Jang Seonhwa said dreamily,
“It’s like a dream...”
Seoran felt the same.
“Yeah, me too.”
The door to the puppet workshop closed tight.