53. Awakened the Spirit Pill Stage
“Spirit Pill Stage?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
Director Seon Ga-hee’s tone carried a strange excitement as she asked.
“It sounds like a good thing from what I’ve heard…… Did you awaken it yourself, Master?”
“That’s right. I awakened it quite a while before joining this company.”
I played dumb as I replied.
“What, is it some secret method to becoming an immortal or something?”
Director Seon Ga-hee jumped in surprise.
“Ah, no way—how did you know that?!”
“Just guessed from the name.”
“Hmm. I see. For a second there, I thought maybe you’d awakened the Spirit Pill Stage.”
I tilted my head.
“Is it that shocking if I awakened the Spirit Pill Stage?”
“Of course. In our Thunder Immortal Clan, anyone who reaches a higher stage first is treated as a senior, regardless of seniority.”
“I see.”
“Why the lukewarm reaction?”
“It’s nothing, Master.”
“Anyway, I’ll teach you now, so memorize it well.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
For now, I decided not to tell her that I had awakened the Spirit Pill Stage. My foundations weren’t solid enough yet—I didn’t want to chase advanced techniques prematurely.
In the end, she taught me a few hand seals and incantations.
“There are all sorts of sorcery spells, but hand seals and incantations often overlap, so you have to memorize them.”
“Got it.”
“Once you’ve got them down, come find me.”
I put on a sulky face.
“Can’t you just teach me now?”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t get cocky. You should memorize what I’ve taught first.”
“I already have.”
“Then show me. You’ve got ten seconds.”
She slipped right back into her strict master mode.
“Alright…… So……”
Truth be told, I hadn’t memorized them all. But while my body was one, my mind had three.
“Lin , Bing, Dou……”
“Dou?”
—Zhe , Jie, Zhen.
“Zhe, Jie, Zhen.”
“And?”
—Lie , Qian , Xing .
“Lie, Qian, Xing. Ahem.”
Nine hand seals. Hearing the names made the shapes easy to visualize.
Director Seon Ga-hee crossed her arms.
“Hmm. Not bad. What about the incantations?”
“Uh…… Bohyeon Sammaye, Da Geumgang Ryeon, Oe Sa-ja…… And……”
—Nae Sa-ja, Oe Paek, Nae Paek.
—Ji Gwon, Il Ryeon, Eun Hyeong Bo-byeong.
Zhuque and Angelica were the only ones for this.
“Hee hee.”
Director Seon Ga-hee patted my head.
“You really are smart, my disciple.”
“Thank you, Master.”
“Then repeat it ten more times.”
“You got it.”
Ten times, a hundred—I’d repeat it as much as needed. After ten, twenty, thirty repetitions,
“Good. Now I’ll teach you. Tracking Spell.”
And that’s how I learned the Tracking Spell.
Heh heh heh.
* * *
Operations Control Room.
Bzzt, crackle!
Ever since learning sorcery from Director Seon Ga-hee, I’d spent the whole day practicing it.
I’d picked up a few miscellaneous techniques besides the Tracking Spell, but I hadn’t tried any yet.
“Il Ryeon!”
I formed the hand seal with the incantation and fired off a bolt of electricity.
Crackle!
Kim Hansu, sprawled asleep on the sofa.
“Mmm……”
Scratch, scratch.
The guy just scratched his cheek where the spark hit and went right back to deep sleep.
No change even after waiting a while.
“Sigh.”
Even Director Seon Ga-hee hadn’t been perfect the first time she cast Tracking Spell on me. Expecting to master it faster than her was unreasonable.
I knew that, but the repeated failures still left a bitter taste.
“Section Chief Kim!!”
That’s when Cherubim, the manager scouting the company via CCTV, called out to me.
“Yes, Manager?”
“An official document came down from upstairs!!”
“What kind?”
“It says the department that cleared the 15th-floor stage gets to occupy it legally and manage it!!”
“Legally manage it, huh.”
The department that cleared the 15th floor was officially the Ministry of Health and Welfare. But there was Lee Gun from HR, Kasumi from Technical Information, and me, Kim Hansu, and Section Chief Lee Jun-yeol from Safety Planning.
So four departments’ contributions had to be weighed to decide the rightful one.
“HR and Technical Information barely did anything, so they’re out. It’s a turf war between us and Health and Welfare!!”
“They did nothing, those two.”
“Compared to your exploits, Section Chief Kim, those two—no, three departments’ achievements are less than the blood on my wing feathers!!”
(For the record, Cherubim’s wings don’t bleed.)
“Even though Health and Welfare saved the villagers’ lives?”
“We’ve got plenty of lives in our company too!!”
He made it sound like the stage’s inhabitants didn’t matter if they died.
But I caught the implication.
“So, one of our employees would have to station there permanently?”
“Exactly!! But if Safety Planning invests resources, we wouldn’t need to!!”
That made sense.
Cherubim’s wings drooped as he said glumly,
“But…… if things stay like this, Health and Welfare will hog all the credit!!”
I thought for a moment and asked,
“As long as we have legal claim, right?”
“Gasp!! Do you have something up your sleeve!!”
“Will this do?”
I pulled a stack of documents from my hand mirror.
Cherubim snatched them and read them over carefully.
“What’s this!! It’s covered in weird drawings!!”
“Land deeds for the area that became the 15th-floor stage.”
“Woooow!!”
Cherubim cheered loudly and flew out of the control room.
“I’ll report it—wait here!!”
With that, we’d snatched the reward that should’ve gone to Health and Welfare.
In my previous life, that’s how it went, but this time Safety Planning would take it.
If we’d ignored the 15th floor like before, fine—but now there was more to do there, so I claimed it.
I sat quietly on the sofa, alternating between Thunder Cloud Heart Knot and Tracking Spell practice.
I recalled what happened before coming to the control room.
First, the artifact suits from the military factory—Health and Welfare employees were wearing them now. Not given, just loaned. One word from me, the factory manager, and they’d have to return them.
If damaged, their department pays compensation.
They were still inside the stage, so I let it be—for now. Debting other departments wasn’t a bad idea.
Health and Welfare had felt the artifacts’ value in the rakshasa battle. Chief Stella was thrilled at the minimal casualties.
Lost in thought—
Bang.
The door flew open. I looked over.
Not Cherubim back already—someone else stood there.
“You’re here, Section Chief Kim.”
“Robert.”
“I heard about earlier. You melted a new hire’s right eye?”
I nodded calmly.
“Self-inflicted.”
“Doesn’t seem like you’re such a good person after all.”
Not a good person, but walking the immortal’s path.
“Get underestimated here, and you’re done. You know that, Robert.”
He shrugged.
“Fair enough.”
“Anyway, you didn’t come just to scold me.”
“Right. Let’s go—14th floor. I want to wrap this up quick too.”
I stood.
* * *
“Oh.”
Arriving on the 14th floor, I couldn’t help but marvel.
No more phantom pain here.
Because of Fire Spirit Divine Crystal? That was the only change, but it was still odd.
The 14th floor’s phantom pain was pure illusion—unrelated to real heat.
I concluded it was my Mental Strength (C) Gift at work. Maybe interacting with my Spirit Pill Stage awakening.
Or I’d just adapted.
Anyway, Robert chanted an incantation and sent a vortex of wind at me.
Like déjà vu, we climbed the volcano peak, and I pulled out the Feather Fan.
I placed a spare hand mirror near the crater—for insurance, in case I couldn’t climb back out.
Heading into the crater got me the expected “you’re insane.”
Explaining the Feather Fan’s power convinced him, barely.
“No helping it.”
I handed Robert the Feather Fan.
He chanted to use it efficiently, like before.
But different from compressing wind into blades.
Whoooosh—!
Atop the crater, he shot a compressed wind orb inside.
It sank into the magma, stirring a fierce vortex from the center.
The vortex swelled, sucking in and evaporating all the magma.
“Let’s go. Barrier, please.”
“Got it.”
Soon after, I caught staggering Robert at the crater bottom.
He sat, meditating to circulate mana.
I went all the way down, rolled up my pant legs, and took off my shoes.
Some magma remained, but to extinguish Fire Mountain on the 15th, I didn’t know how many fan uses it’d take—had to conserve.
No problem. I had a barrier.
Whirr.
Activated it quick and shoved my hand into a small hole in the wall.
Touching something hot, my lips curled naturally.
“Found it.”
—Ooo. Ooooo!
Fire Spirit Divine Crystal!
Finally!
I eyed it greedily for a split second.
—Ah, no. Master!
Inner pills normally……
“I know. Same inner pill builds resistance.”
—Phew.
I climbed back to Robert, still circulating mana. The Feather Fan had taken a toll.
I sat nearby and drew the Sealed Sword.
Shing!
“Come forth.”
Whoosh!
—Piiiik!
I pinched the Fire Spirit Divine Crystal between thumb and forefinger like a ring.
“See this, Pingping?”
—Pik! Pik!
Zhuque thrashed in midair, eyes glued to it.
Twirling my hand, its head followed.
“Pingping. Hand.”
—Piik!
While summoning Zhuque in Parachao Pavilion’s inner chamber, I’d trained it relentlessly. “Hand” meant wing on palm. “Bark” got a head toss and “Piiiik!” Scream “fight,” and it’d spark fire from its butt.
“Good bird.”
I stroked its head and offered the crystal.
“Eat up.”
Not in the inner chamber—I couldn’t dawdle. Who knew when it’d forget its master again.
—Piiiik!
Flames blazed in Zhuque’s eyes. It greedily gulped the crystal with its beak.
—Piik……!
Its eyes flashed intensely.
Whoosh!
Huge flames erupted, wrapping its body in a spherical shell.
Evolving, just like before.
Glancing aside, Robert sat palms together, eyes closed, unmoving.
Zhuque prepped to hatch inside.
“Guess I’ll cultivate Thunder Cloud Heart Knot too.”
Somehow, Robert and Zhuque faced each other directly.
I naturally sat between them.
No real reason—just instinct. Felt like it’d boost my cultivation.
Robert converted gathered mana to yin to shield from volcanic heat.
Zhuque was massive yang.
In clashing attributes, I’d rub the energies to spark thunder qi.
Thundercloud steam vied with ice crystals……
Reciting the Thunder Cloud Heart Knot formula nonstop, changes began.
Crackle, buzz!
Lightning bolts generated around me.
Rumble!
They morphed into thunderbolts like real lightning.
“What the—?”
I ignored it at first, but when my body started stinging, I had to stop.
The bolts magnetically drew to my hands—I instinctively reached out.
Boom!
“Gah!”
Crater wall shattered, rocks tumbling down.
Rumble!
I realized Thunder Cloud Heart Knot hit 5-star, but no time to care.
Robert and Zhuque still out—had to block the rocks alone.
Annoyed, but my mess, my fix.
Rumble!
Feather Fan would’ve been easy, but too precious.
“Black Moon Tyrant Sword it is.”
Overwhelming force to bulldoze—perfect for batting rocks.
“Hya!”
My Black Moon Tyrant Sword even surprised me.
Unconsciously following footwork, I sliced tumbling boulders optimally.
Like fighting multiples, one per strike.
Slash!
Split, flat-blade deflect, repeat.
I channeled strengthened thunder qi from Thunder Cloud Heart Knot into the blade—just in case.
Crackle!
Thunder-infused edge bit deeper.
I recalled a spell from Director Seon Ga-hee.
“Nae Sa-ja!”
Simple incantation, one-handed seal. Hasty, but effective.
Boom boom boom!
Lightning in the rock surged, exploding from inside.
“Whew……”
Last pebbles I whipped away with Blood Impact: Alpha (Chain).
As the commotion ended,
I turned.
Robert and the now-giant Zhuque were watching me.