Chapter 22
Gwiwolrang and the wolf pack vanished as quietly as ghosts, just as they had first appeared.
Even after they were gone, no one let down their guard right away.
But soon enough, they understood.
The shadow of the wolves had disappeared, and only one word remained beside everyone else: victory.
The goblins looked around and murmured among themselves, their eyes still bright with excitement.
Kuooooo!
Someone shouted.
At that cry, the other goblins threw up their hands and screamed as well.
Kiieeek!
Then they crowded around the victorious goblin.
All of them together.
They hoisted their victorious leader goblin into the air and spun him around and around.
He was covered in wounds and bleeding heavily, but the goblin stood firm and accepted their cheers.
Even Dohyun, watching the scene, worried that the injuries would worsen.
He still had plenty of use left, so he needed to recover.
“Get treated first.”
Only after Dohyun spoke did the goblin finally head into the Dungeon with the goblin warrior he had accepted as his leader to receive treatment.
Watching him go, Dohyun turned his head.
Geoung was already standing there with a blank expression, as if nothing had happened, his club resting over one shoulder.
Dohyun looked at him quietly and said, “I’ll reward you with meat.”
“Geoung! Geoung likes eating.”
His eyes widened, and he ran off toward the meat storage.
Thud! Bang! Thud! Bang!
He pounded away noisily, and the goblins ran after him, delighted.
Dohyun could tell their morale had clearly risen.
The intangible wealth of pride was visible in the goblins’ eyes.
And beyond that, a definite leader goblin had been born.
That was a variable he had never seen in the game.
This was the first time he had watched them choose their own leader.
Now the goblins had someone they revered within the Dungeon.
A center had formed inside the goblin pack at last.
He would have to calculate what happened next.
Whether that goblin would prove useful, or not.
Dohyun narrowed his eyes.
Then Heok-o flew over and whispered in his ear, “What a shame, dragon.”
I got everything I came for.
He had no lingering attachment.
“Kuhuhu.”
Heok-o narrowed his eyes slyly.
“Looks like the lord of the forest really likes you.”
Would such a being be the one to test me?
“Did the lord of the forest really test you, I wonder?”
Heok-o went on with his usual strange chatter.
I’ll find out next time anyway.
Dohyun remembered it clearly.
The message that had been delivered to him in that quiet voice.
- Dragon, you have not yet passed my test.
It had been Gwiwolrang’s voice.
He had acknowledged his subordinate, but he had said he could not acknowledge Dohyun yet.
It meant he would come again.
Still, if we meet again...
Seeing someone who had reached that level, Dohyun understood with certainty how far and how harsh the road ahead would be.
A cold wind blew.
The leaves in the forest fell.
Winter will deepen soon.
Several days passed.
The forest froze solid under winter’s cold.
The snow lay thin across the woods, and everything was silent.
There were no animals to be seen, and no insect yokai either, as if they too were sleeping.
Hunting often came back empty-handed.
There were many days when Geoung returned with nothing as well.
Dohyun made a decision.
He would prepare through the winter from within.
More than hunting, internal growth was what mattered.
So the goblin hunters and herbalists no longer went outside.
With no external expeditions, the Dungeon itself became a little busier.
Using their talents, the goblin hunters studied animal habits and raised fast-breeding creatures like rabbits and squirrels in the Dungeon forest.
Even though winter had come outside, the forest inside the Dungeon, where dungeon energy flowed, remained somewhere between spring and summer.
Spring, the season of reproduction.
Animals that bred quickly increased in number at a rapid pace.
The ones that multiplied most were mice and rabbits.
The goblin hunters skinned the overabundant mice and rabbit pelts and turned them into clothing, while the meat was cut into strips and hung from branches to dry.
Sometimes they even burned wood gathered from outside and turned it into charcoal for smoking.
Watching the meat preserved in a variety of ways, Dohyun estimated the time.
Not enough.
He could feel the rough preservation period.
A few months, huh...
Even smoked, it would only barely last long enough to get through winter.
Since hunting prey would become scarce and outside activity would shrink over the winter, he had begun researching long-term food storage.
Of course, a few months was not bad.
But for the Dungeon, it needed to last longer.
One day, if he left the Dungeon and went on an expedition, they would need food that could endure far more than this.
The goblins added mushrooms and all sorts of herbs from the Dungeon forest and ground them in together.
They were researching any method they could to extend the shelf life.
Because he had prepared food in advance, enough to spend on experimentation, the situation was not bad.
If anything, the urgent matter was elsewhere.
Looking at the stepped area built up in tiers, Dohyun asked, “Still not enough?”
“Dragon, you’re looking at it too urgently.”
The more food, the better.
Goblins worked in the stepped area.
Those who had awakened a second-class profession, Herb Farmer, cultivated poisonous herbs and food crops used for martial artists’ medicinal pills.
They were constantly needed for pill refinement.
They were also planting emergency food that looked like sweet potatoes.
Are those really suited to spring and summer?
“That’s right. But they taste awful, dragon.”
That’s fine.
Hunger made everything sweet.
After finishing his inspection, Dohyun turned to leave.
Then he heard the sounds.
Tap.
Tap.
It came from the training grounds inside the cave.
They’re working hard today too.
Just from the sound, he could picture what was happening there.
On his way to the alchemy room to make additional medicinal pills, he heard a familiar voice.
“Geoung! Eats.”
Geoung’s body had grown a little more, as if he were still in a growth phase.
He was grinning as he chewed on meat.
The leader goblin warrior, his body still not even dry with blood, was swinging a stone spear.
Other goblin warriors nearby were brandishing their own weapons just as fiercely, unwilling to be outdone.
Everyone was growing stronger in his or her own way.
Dohyun’s eyes narrowed slightly.
I can’t stop either.
Gwiwolrang’s face came to mind.
That Great Yokai.
That being who had reached such a realm.
Before winter ended, he had to be at a level worthy of recognition.
Inside the secluded training chamber with its square, blocky walls, Dohyun swallowed a dumpling made from the meat of spider yokai that the goblins had prepared.
He did not even chew it.
He sent it straight down his throat.
A moment later, a hot current began to spread through his belly.
The flesh of the yokai meat.
Qi and blood were contained within it.
Dohyun closed his eyes.
He drew a slow breath.
Air entered his lungs.
And in that air, energy mingled in with it.
Spiritual energy seeped into him as well.
But the spiritual energy could not flow properly inside his body.
It moved only by force, struggling from one place to another.
Most of it merely circled around the area near his dantian and the place where his qi and blood gathered.
Thump.
His heart beat heavily.
The qi and blood released from the dumpling spread through his entire body.
The hot force started in his chest and rushed out into his limbs.
Claws.
Tail.
Spine.
He felt vitality surging through his whole body.
It was the sensation of qi and blood.
Spiritual energy took root around it.
Dohyun exhaled slowly.
He moved the qi and blood that had spread through his body.
His heart beat.
Thump.
Again.
Thump.
The qi and blood within him gradually unraveled like thread.
Little by little.
Little by little.
And then.
Those threads began to connect.
A line.
A very thin line took shape.
The path of qi and blood.
It was not complete.
But spiritual energy began to flow.
As Dohyun breathed, the path thickened little by little.
With every inhale, spiritual energy moved slightly along that route.
It was still thin. Still far from finished.
But the first path had definitely been made.
Dohyun slowly opened his eyes.
A faint white mist rose from his body.
As spiritual energy flowed along his qi and blood, the mysterious power contained within a dragon naturally welled up.
Dohyun’s body moved.
Into the air.
His feet did not touch the floor.
His body slid forward as though carried by a current.
Dragon Flowing Movement.
White mist streamed along his body.
Like a dragon wrapped in cloud.
His body twisted in the air, changing direction.
He moved toward the wall as if gliding.
As he skimmed past it, spiritual energy surged into his five fingers.
He struck with his claws.
Crack.
The solid stone wall split into five deep lines.
Fragments of stone scattered across the floor.
But Dohyun’s body did not stop.
Once more.
White mist streamed along his body.
Once more, Dragon Flowing Movement.
His body twisted subtly in midair.
His feet never touched the ground.
He moved as if riding the air itself.
He veered left.
Then rose again.
And then.
His direction flipped in an instant.
He came to a halt in the air as if suspended there, then slid forward again.
Inside the secluded chamber, the white mist trailed behind him and scattered.
It was as if a small dragon were swimming through a narrow space.
Dohyun’s eyes narrowed slowly.
His body felt light.
Qi and blood moved.
His heart beat again.
Thump.
Spiritual energy flowed along the path of qi and blood.
It was still not perfect.
But it was undeniably different.
Stronger than before.
Dohyun exhaled slowly.
The white mist gradually settled.
Silence returned to the secluded chamber.
But he had not stopped.
Deep inside his body.
The qi and blood had not stopped either.
Little by little.
Little by little.
The threadlike path.
Was growing a little longer.
With every breath he took, spiritual energy flowed along it.
It was still faint.
But it existed.
Dohyun’s eyes slowly began to shine.
Before winter ends.
He would complete the path of qi and blood.
Then spiritual energy would no longer have to be dragged in by force.
It would flow naturally, like breath.
That was the realm of yokai.
Gwiwolrang.
He remembered the wolf’s eyes.
That look that had refused to recognize him.
Dohyun quietly closed his eyes.
Then he drew in another breath.
Thump.
His heart beat.
His growth was not over yet.
The secluded chamber remained silent.
And in that silence, before winter ended, Dohyun would not stop.
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