The Forest's Favor
Seeing the red light, Dohyun was momentarily at a loss for words.
By now, the sight of that crimson glow no longer brought fear. Instead, it stirred something else.
Acceptance...?
The tingling sensation it left behind was not unpleasant.
He let out a short breath.
Then he forced himself back to reality.
...Not now.
“Lord of the forest, let’s talk about the reward.”
“Wait a moment, child.”
Thud.
A small fruit dropped from above.
It was a spiritual fruit shaped like a red apple.
It looked exactly like the fruit they had seen during the forest meeting.
“It is not good to overuse your body like that.”
Along with the sweet scent of apples, Gwiyeongmabok’s voice drifted through the air.
The imposing pressure unique to a great yokai spread outward like gravity, but strangely, it did not feel oppressive.
Dohyun turned his head and focused on the fragrance.
He bit into the enticing, bright-red spiritual fruit.
Crunch-
The sweetness and juice burst across his mouth.
“You have one, but I don’t?”
Heok-o complained toward Gwiyeongmabok in a sulky voice as he watched Dohyun eating with obvious satisfaction.
As if stirred by a breeze, the branches swayed, and another apple-shaped spiritual fruit fell.
With a sly, eye-smiling grin, Heok-o said, “Thanks.”
Then he pecked at the fallen apple, taking a bite.
For a while, the two of them said nothing and simply ate the spiritual fruit.
It had only been a small apple, but it was clearly no ordinary spiritual fruit. With the same rising sensation he had felt before, Dohyun could sense the vital energy flowing through his heart growing stronger.
On top of that, the heaviness in his head from when he had first awakened seemed to be dispersing.
It felt like something thick and stagnant had been driven out of him.
This is a different effect from last time.
Same taste, same apple.
Different result.
It was a mysterious spiritual fruit.
When he raised his head, he met Gwiyeongmabok’s eerie red gaze.
“You still do not know yourself.”
Gwiyeongmabok’s voice rang out coldly.
Do not know myself.
A human had become a dragon.
There was no way to understand everything in an instant.
He would have to keep observing himself and calculating his own limits.
“Child of the dragon.”
That gaze was chilling no matter how often he saw it, and that voice alone was enough to make the hairs on his neck stand up. It was certainly frightening, and just being near it was uncomfortable, but...
Strange.
It was a little different.
...
“So what do you want?”
Yet the voice still sounded cold as ever.
Hearing it, Dohyun stopped his train of thought and considered what would benefit him most before answering.
“What can you give me?”
At his words, Gwiyeongmabok asked in return, “Is there something you desire?”
Annoying.
Being asked first always made him think harder.
Gwiyeongmabok’s red eyes questioned him precisely, waiting for the thing he wanted most.
It doesn’t matter.
He needed a condition that would not burden the other side too heavily.
Dohyun laid out his true intention without hiding it.
“I want safety in the forest.”
For a moment, Gwiyeongmabok’s red eyes seemed to soften.
“Create an emblem. Then the beings of the forest will not harm your clan.”
The beings of the forest...?
From Dohyun’s perspective, Gwiyeongmabok’s presence seemed to blanket the entire forest.
And yet it was saying it could not guarantee safety?
For a brief instant, he considered the possibility that another great yokai might have taken up residence somewhere in the forest, but...
No, that’s unlikely.
It had said the beings of the forest.
At the very least, it was not referring to something that belonged to the forest itself.
Once he eliminated that possibility, one answer came to mind.
Humans.
External intruders, not part of the forest.
Humans who entered only briefly and caused trouble were not beings who would fear Gwiyeongmabok’s gaze in the slightest.
...So it’s saying it can’t guarantee safety in the forest itself...
As Dohyun had wandered the forest, he had barely seen any humans.
And yet the fact that this was being discussed at all meant some sort of change was probably underway.
There wasn’t enough information.
Carefully, Dohyun spoke. “Has something... happened in the forest?”
At once, the air around them grew heavy.
It felt sluggish, almost sticky.
Then Gwiyeongmabok’s dry voice reached him.
“The hands that protect it... have grown fewer.”
Hands?
It was talking about labor.
Dohyun searched his memory for recent events.
Gwiwolrang?
He had seemed fine before.
But after engaging in that kind of close-quarters battle, it would have been strange if he had escaped without internal injuries.
“That child—”
Child?
In that instant, a wolf was erased from Dohyun’s mind.
Gwiwolrang’s body was far too massive to be called a child.
He was the leader of the wolves.
A great yokai.
But is there anyone who calls such a being a child?
He could not be sure.
A child...?
And yet, if Gwiyeongmabok was referring to Gwiwolrang, it simply did not fit.
“...It is a little painful.”
As he listened to Gwiyeongmabok’s voice, which sounded almost like a distant wail, Dohyun decided he must have misheard.
The more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed that it was Gwiwolrang.
Yes.
It won’t be him.
He let the thought go.
What mattered now was something else.
There was a vacancy in the forest’s defenses.
That might be...
an opportunity.
Scout work.
If he could secure it, everything would be to his advantage.
Resources, techniques, growth.
Everything.
Even what he had obtained in a single Spatial Bag had already led to the creation of an entire soldier caste: the warriors.
Geoung and the others need systematic training too. And...
Dohyun looked at himself.
As he strengthened his vital energy, he had been told that he would naturally become a great yokai according to the blood veins engraved within him.
Did he even have blood veins?
That was where the questions began.
But if there was a cultivation method, couldn’t he grow more systematically, or even create techniques of his own?
Simply pouring in spiritual energy was not a technique.
Humans left records.
Somewhere in those records, there had to be something useful for studying techniques.
I need to get stronger.
The strong did not wait for anyone.
He had already learned that much.
At the very least, I need to become a great yokai.
He reached his conclusion.
If not now, I won’t get another chance.
So, unwilling to let the opportunity slip away, Dohyun spoke up.
“If the forest is busy, I’d like to lend a hand too.”
He said it while outwardly showing the responsibility of someone who belonged to the forest.
“Young dragon...”
Gwiyeongmabok’s voice trembled faintly.
Good. This is how it’s done.
His calculating side gleamed quietly within, but on the outside he kept his expression cool and composed.
“Don’t worry. Mostly my own clan will be the ones to step in.”
Dohyun met Gwiyeongmabok’s eyes, his own gaze bright.
“...Very well.”
The tree branches swayed, and a single leaf drifted down.
Strangely, it floated in midair, pointing in a fixed direction.
“Investigate the region this leaf guides you to.”
“Understood. I’ll carry out my duties proudly as a member of the forest.”
So do not interfere.
Dohyun swallowed the words he wanted to say, and as the red light slowly faded, he could see that the presence was withdrawing.
When the red glow finally vanished completely, Dohyun turned around.
I’ve got plenty to do back in the dungeon.
His steps were light on the way back.
When he surrendered himself to the mysterious force guiding him through the forest, the return journey itself seemed to shorten.
And when he arrived, just as he was entering the Core Room, he spotted a goblin laborer passing by.
He was not exactly a craftsman, but he belonged to the goblin rank that handled forging, the ones who constantly spat out equipment through the conversion altar.
From what Dohyun had seen before, he also had decent manual skill.
Looking at the goblin, Dohyun recalled something he needed to do.
“He said to make an emblem.”
Muttering to himself, he sent the order to the passing goblin.
An emblem.
That was...
A flag?
That was the modern instinct.
If he filled it with detailed information, a clear shape, and the knowledge behind its origin, it would be well made.
After issuing the command to the goblin, Dohyun went straight into the Core Room.
And in that brief interval...
!
Above the goblin laborer’s head, an expression of sudden realization appeared for just a moment.
Dohyun passed it off as nothing special, but the goblin’s face reddened with excitement.
“Kyaaaek!”
At the cry, other goblins gathered around him.
“Kiek-!”
“Kikikik-!”
“Kik!”
The goblin who had received the task spoke with the others, gesturing wildly with his hands and feet.
Then the faces of the surrounding goblins also turned red.
“Kiek-!”
With another shout, they all got to work.
Some stretched hides into cloth.
Others boiled the fabric they had taken from human captives, or beat it flat.
They carved wood.
Sometimes they even used the conversion altar to make materials.
They were clumsy and tried many different methods, but little by little, a shape began to emerge.
It was the first time.
The first time they had made something to represent themselves.
This was not something anyone had ordered them to do.
Nor was it something anyone had taught them.
It had begun with a single craftsman’s cry.
Even so, they did not stop.
They ground grass with stone to make green pigment.
When they decided the hide needed color, they even rubbed it with urine.
And when they disliked the pole, they smashed it and started over.
And so...
one.
flag.
was erected.
For a moment, every goblin froze as they looked at the crude green flag that had been completed.
All eyes gathered on it.
Even the leader goblin and the goblin warriors, who had been training until just moments before and were soaked in sweat, came over.
The shabby green flag.
Looking at that flag for the first time, something in their chests felt strangely hot.
So they struck their chests.
Tap-
The small sound rang out.
Thump-
As the deeper sound answered, the great orc came striding over, his footsteps heavy.
“Geoung... this.”
He stopped speaking.
It was hard to express with such a small mind.
“Geoung, that’s amazing.”
“It is a flag. Do you not know?”
“Geoung, does not know.”
His face clearly said he had no idea, and yet he still looked oddly proud.
“Geoung, but Geoung likes it.”
Inside the Core Room, Dohyun was calculating the dungeon’s current condition, the patrol routes ahead, and the future.
Then he watched as a cluster of goblins, Geoung, and the leader goblin gathered together.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he turned his head away.
...Inefficient.
He muttered it, but then his gaze went back once more to the shabby flag.
Really... inefficient.