Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Became the Gallery's Only Reptile
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[This is...]
After eating the Venus Fish, flames suddenly surged up, enveloping my entire body.
It wasn't just flames wrapping around me—it felt like the fire and I had become one.
Yeah, if I had to put it into words, it was like I am the fire, and the fire is me.
Like becoming a flame human instead of a beer bottle.
'Does that mean I'm a donut now?'
I had that silly thought as I casually checked the energy inside me.
I wanted to gauge how much energy it was consuming now that the flames were blazing so fiercely.
'Huh. The consumption isn't that high?'
But strangely enough, the fire energy wasn't depleting much.
If I kept transforming my whole body into flames like this, the energy drain would be no joke.
Whoosh.
'I see. So it's circulating and replenishing the energy?'
I realized the reason when I noticed the flames coming from my body being reabsorbed inside.
That would definitely keep the consumption low.
Reusing the energy I sent out by absorbing it back—probably a talent from the synergies that emerged when I ate the Ojae Mushroom, unconsciously making this possible.
"El's too hot to approach."
-Put out the fire already? It's getting too hot around here.
Cheong and Silpi, who had panicked when fire suddenly burst on my body, reacted with curiosity seeing I wasn't in pain. Now, they were cooling off the sweat beading on their foreheads with the wind Silpi whipped up.
It must be because the temperature had risen from the flames I produced.
[Hmm.]
I wanted to test out my skills in this state.
But the pond where the Venus Fish lived was on my mind, and seeing Cheong and Silpi cooling themselves with wind made me decide to try later. I extinguished the flames.
[Not a bad result.]
"Oh! It's not that hot after all?"
With the flames gone, Cheong rushed over and placed her hand on my body.
She must have thought my scales would be hot from being wreathed in fire until just now, but unfortunately, they weren't.
-What was that just now?
[Seems like a phenomenon from the fire exploding in my body after eating the Venus Fish. Just a guess, but I think the fire's power gets stronger in that state.]
-That's amazing. Cheong and I didn't feel anything like that.
"Yeah, I didn't feel a thing."
Probably because unlike them, I had the pure fire essence—the fire energy—obtained through the Yeouiju.
[Then let's keep moving.]
-You okay?
[No problem at all.]
If anything, I'm looking forward to it.
First the Ojae Mushroom, then the Venus Fish.
If there's a next one, what will it be?
What even is this cave that has such incredible things?
Surrounded by countless curiosities and expectations, I resolved to continue the exploration.
Ssssh...
"Whoa! Look at this!"
-What is this?
[Should post it to the gallery...]
Ssssh...
-This one's a bit too much, isn't it?
"Ptooey!"
[That's valuable. Don't spit it out—eat it all.]
"Sluuurp!"
Ssssh...
"This one's sweet!"
-Tasty!
[Sweet and nice.]
Ssssh...
The exploration was going incredibly smoothly.
Just as I'd predicted, starting with the Ojae Mushroom, rare and unusual spirit herbs kept popping up the further we went. We ate them in real-time, growing stronger to withstand the intensifying mana in the cave as we pressed on.
Ssssh...
And in the process, Cheong and Silpi were now riding on my even larger body.
We'd started with a flyer, a walker, and a crawler—but now it was just the crawler left.
Crunch.
"This one's weirdly addictive."
-When did you snag that one?
"Earlier~ Want some, Silpi?"
-Yeah, give me one.
They were having a total feast.
Hearing their conversation, which sounded like they were on a picnic rather than exploring, made me want to chuckle.
Yeah, if they're having fun, that's great.
If it were a dangerous place, it'd be different, but building memories like this is important too.
Whoosh.
[Hm?]
Even acting as their chauffeur, Cheong fed me a spirit herb she'd grabbed on the way.
I accepted without refusing and kept slithering along until a faint breeze brushed my nose from up ahead.
-Whoa!
Silpi, more sensitive to wind than me, wouldn't miss it.
A normal breeze blowing meant an exit ahead.
[Is the end finally near?]
Feeling that faint breeze from ahead, after about 10 minutes of moving, we finally reached the end of the cave.
"Wow...!"
-Is this the end of the cave?
[Beautiful.]
The cave's end was honestly unexpected.
I'd thought it'd just lead to another place, but who knew a vast paradise would unfold here.
[Whoaaa...]
To be honest.
The place we live in was called paradise by those around us.
Correction.
The true paradise... is right here.
[No lifeforms, yet it's so wondrous.]
-...But doesn't something feel off?
"What's off?"
Whoosh.
-There's barely any mana here. It's weirdly lacking.
"Huh?"
[Hm?]
Come to think of it, Silpi was right—there's no mana.
Well, precisely, mana does exist.
But compared to the steadily increasing mana up until now, it's like a speck of dust.
-It's strange. It feels like this place is cut off from everywhere else.
"It is kinda weird, but is that a problem?"
-Not a problem, just saying. Hehe.
"What? I thought you were warning about danger."
Yeah, not dangerous.
Just not ideal for training.
For pure rest, this place might be even better.
Ssssh...
[Hm?]
As I marveled at how such a place could be at the end of the cave and looked around, I sensed a faint movement of mana.
'What could it be.'
It was so subtle that if I wasn't focused—no, even if I was, I might not notice. Extremely faint motion.
I was certain I'd only spotted it by sheer luck.
'Where's it moving to?'
I tracked the mana without letting my gaze wander.
-El? What're you doing?
[...Hold on, concentrating.]
It brushed past trees, flowed along the riverbank, and finally stopped somewhere.
Once I pinpointed the location, I headed straight there.
Ssssh...
[It's underground.]
The spot I arrived at had nothing.
Yeah, suspiciously nothing.
Grass grew nearby, but the ground in front of me was barren in a perfect 10-meter radius circle, like someone had designed it that way.
[Guess I have to uncover it.]
I couldn't just leave this suspicious patch alone.
To trace that mana flow too, I immediately used earth energy to flip over the ground ahead.
Rumble rumble.
-Wh-what is it?
"What's there?"
Cheong and Silpi, who had been quietly following, questioned my sudden action of upheaving the earth, but upon seeing what emerged from the overturned soil, their faces stiffened and they fell silent.
[......]
'Whoa, I never imagined something like this.'
And I was no different.
I'd just acted on a hunch that something weird was there, but I'd uncovered something way more incredible than expected.
In terms of rarity, this treasure outshone every spirit herb we'd found on the way here.
-Why is there dragon bone here...?
Dragon bone.
Exactly what it sounds like—dragon skeleton.
In the ground I'd dug up, things presumed to be dragon bones lay in perfect formation, dormant.
Ssssh...
Cheong and Silpi poked their heads out, mouths agape in shock.
It was that stunning.
No one could've imagined dragon bones in a place like this.
But unlike them, I stared coldly at the thing below.
[...It's alive.]
-What?
"Alive? Isn't that just bones?"
Yeah, visually, it looks no different from ordinary dragon bones.
But I knew. No, anyone who's played Jijiyong properly would know.
[That's not dragon bone.]
Yeah, that's just an imoogi that looks endlessly like a dragon... just like me.
-But it looks exactly like a dragon no matter how you see it?
"Right. Unlike you, El, it even has leg bones!"
Of course, judging purely by appearance, it's much closer to a dragon than an imoogi.
But per Jijiyong's official lore, it's classified as an imoogi, not a dragon.
No matter how similar it looks, that doesn't change what it is.
'Never thought I'd run into this guy here.'
And the surprising part is that even in this ancient era, only bones remain.
Click.
I couldn't be the only one to know about this moment.
I wondered what the gallery users would say seeing this.
I wanted to post a photo to the gallery right away, but for now, I held back to focus more on it.
'You wouldn't know, but it's been a while.'
You have no idea how much rage you've caused me.
Yeah, if you've read my thoughts so far, you can guess.
This thing revives in a distant future.
In the gallery users' time—the players' active era.
'No wonder the mana here was lacking. It was because of this guy.'
Even as mere remains, it was devouring surrounding mana, bit by bit gathering energy for revival.