Expanding the Vessel
"Expanding her vessel... It sounds reasonable enough, but... will that really solve the problem? The power's already overflowed out of the body—can it just flow back in by making the vessel bigger...? And doesn't this world have levels...? Isn't leveling up exactly about enlarging the vessel?"
I turned to Yeomje with my questions.
"Hm... Strictly speaking, leveling up is more like filling the existing vessel with more contents, not enlarging the vessel itself. It's just topping off the empty space already there."
"If the vessel's already full, though, you won't get any stronger no matter how much you level up."
...Come to think of it, my level's pretty high now, but my stats are still average. Is that because my vessel's already packed full with dungeon powers...?
"If a regular person levels up a few times, their vessel fills up quick and growth stalls."
"But explorers, knights, and mages keep getting stronger with levels. Do you know why?"
"...Because they keep expanding their own vessels?"
"Exactly. Training themselves widens the vessel, and the contents grow along with it."
But that raised one weird point.
When I level up, I spend points to boost my dungeon powers—that feels like expanding the vessel, right? The total capacity for power increases.
It's like click, and suddenly the vessel holding my power gets bigger, no training required.
"I can see why you'd wonder. Let me ask you this, Dungeon Master: Why do transmigrators like us get strong so much faster than the natives?"
Well...? To increase total power, you need a bigger vessel... So why do transmigrators grow faster without expanding it? How does our power grow without that?
"I get that transmigrator abilities let us level faster than natives... but I don't know why they strengthen without training."
I answered honestly.
"I'll explain. Natives use aura or magic, but we layer our transmigrator superpowers on top."
"In a way, doesn't that mean we have one extra vessel for power compared to them?"
"Hm...? You mean we have multiple vessels for power?"
Yeomje's words implied separate vessels: one for aura or magic, another for transmigrator abilities.
Yeomje pointed to his chest, then lower to his navel, explaining step by step.
"Haha! Precisely! Magic vessels are usually in the heart, aura in the lower dantian. So where do you think our superpowers reside?"
Heart... lower dantian... only one spot left.
"The head... right?"
Yeomje tapped his temple at my answer.
"Yes. Transmigrator abilities manifest through the upper dantian. Unlike the other two, it naturally expands as it fills with power. That's why our abilities grow with levels, no special training needed."
Ah, so the upper dantian's like a balloon—stretches as you pump it full.
The other two are more like iron pots? They don't expand without forging.
...So my current state: power overflowed from the upper dantian as a transmigrator, spilling out and forming Kkomangi externally?
No wonder dungeons felt harder to control as my level rose... Overflow power must've poured into Kkomangi.
Hm... If Kkomangi hadn't split off at awakening, would my head have exploded right then?
Eh, I survived anyway.
"Yeomje, so expanding our own vessel means growing the upper dantian?"
"No. The upper dantian doesn't train easily—great expansion rate, but hard to grow the vessel itself. So we'll use another method."
Yeomje deployed his domain. A colorless wave blanketed the park, hundreds of fireballs floating like lanterns across it.
Magic triggered not from him, but the whole domain.
Impossible to dodge if it manifests right at your position.
Chilling lethality, even on second look.
"Your ability combines transmigrator 'domain' with native 'magic.' Not intentional—you overflowed from the upper dantian, power flowed to the middle dantian naturally, mixed with magic there."
Yeomje's ability overflowed too as it grew, flowing to his magic-training middle dantian and fusing.
"In your case, Dungeon Master, it overflowed so much it filled middle and lower dantians too, spilling externally into a new vessel."
"If we create space in your vessels and reabsorb even some external power, you could interfere with your ticket ability. That's my thought."
Reabsorb overflow by expanding middle and lower dantians...
Sounds brutally tough. Can I even do it...?
"Ugh... So basically, train in swordsmanship or magic to expand the vessel?"
"Pretty much... but I can't think of anything else."
"Is upper dantian growth totally impossible?"
"Mental cultivation works, but it requires monk-level discipline. Not for worldly folks like us. Few have succeeded that way anyway..."
Mental cultivation... With my dopamine-fried modern brain? Impossible. Plus, it'd involve meditation and ascetic trials, right?
Too grueling... And results would be intangible, hard to stick with.
Need visible progress for that sense of achievement.
"...Yeah, fair. So middle and lower dantian training it is?"
"Yes. I recommend magic and middle dantian. For external-manifesting transmigrators like us, it's easier to learn, and natural fusion later expands ability applications hugely."
Dungeon powers fused with magic... No clue what that'd spawn.
...Attribute slimes? Magic orcs...?
Who knows.
Whatever. I wanted to learn magic anyway.
Elise quit the magic class after the motorcycle incident—no teacher left. Why not learn from Yeomje?
Decision made quick.
"I'll learn magic."
"Wise choice. I can help with that."
"Please do."
I'm becoming a mage.
Time to fulfill the Sun Summoner dream again...!
Wait... Learning from Yeomje means Sun Summoner becomes... Fire...?
*
Minutes after declaring I'd learn magic, trouble hit.
"...Dungeon Master, do you have a master already?"
Yeomje asked while pulse-checking my constitution.
"...A master? Nah, just almost learned from a neighbor once... How'd you know?"
"Hm... Your heart shows artificial mana pathways drilled in. You couldn't use magic before, right?"
Spot on—Elise drilled those.
Cost me agony beyond words.
"True... but what's that got to do with a master? I haven't learned a thing from her."
"What...? You don't know? Or hiding it?"
"No idea what you mean..."
"...Sorry, but tell me first: how exactly was the heart pierced?"
I roughly explained Elise's "torture sessions" to Yeomje.
He frowned deep in thought, then spoke.
"Good lord, Dungeon Master. Looks like I can't teach you magic."
"Huh? Why?"
"...The one who fixed your constitution—pulse says their pure mage skill outstrips mine."
But that's no reason to bail suddenly.
"...And?"
"Hm... Debating if I should say, but piercing another's heart for mana paths risks the operator's life too. Backflow could wreck them."
"Insane risk most wouldn't touch. Yet she absorbed the final shock with her own heart... Surviving that's unbelievable."
"......"
...That dangerous? Elise wasn't just a psycho enjoying my pain...?
Well, she did enjoy it, but...
"Anyway, doing all that means she cares deeply. Might see you as her first disciple. Can't steal that ethically."
"I see..."
Chat with Yeomje wrapped there. He left to manage the salt fields.
*
"Hoo..."
I'm at the neighbor's door now.
202.
Elise's place.
- "I recommend learning from her. Her skill's more than enough."
Hm... Yeomje insisted, so here I am...
"What do I even say?"
Racking my brain, still clueless...
How to mend things without pissing her off...?
"Hm..."
Standing blankly at Elise's door, I sense footsteps behind me.
"Oh, Soo-chan? What're you doing there?"
Flinch—
...That familiar voice...
Behind me? Her?
"Uh... uh..."
Caught off-guard, cold sweat pours.
Damn... Dodged her fine till now, but lingered too long on her route.
Heart drops, brain freezes.
"Long time no see...? But feels like you've been avoiding me lately... Am I imagining it?"
Don't turn. Don't turn.
Instinct screams, but can't stay forever.
Gulp—
I swallow, slowly turning toward the voice.
Aisha stares blankly.
Her eerie, dead-fish eyes spike my tension.
...Definitely different from before.
Dangerous.
Wh-what do I do...!?
No "old maid elf countermeasures" from the gallery cover this.
"Huh? Answer me, Soo-chan."
She steps closer.
Panicking, I squeeze my eyes shut, praying inwardly for rescue.
Help me...!! Luna! Elise!! Joodak bro!!!