Summer Getaway - 2
"So... you're saying each of these pools has a Hwa-ri living in it?"
"That's right."
Time was tight, so I needed to hurry. I undid my pack, dumped various grain flours into a bowl, and started mixing. A familiar ochre lump began to take shape—something any angler would recognize at a glance.
"Wow... so Hwa-ri live in every single one of these hundred-plus pools... By the way, Senior, what is this?"
"Bait made by kneading grain flour. Ever heard of dough bait?"
"Dough bait?"
Apparently Heukmyo knew little about fishing, or else the concept simply didn't exist in Murim Cheonha.
Fair enough. Fishing here was strictly for food. You stuck a worm you dug out of the dirt on the hook if you stuck anything at all; there was no reason to invest expensive grain flour just to catch a fish.
"Mash some of this onto the hook at the end of the rod I packed. The flour slowly dissolves in the water and lures the fish."
"Oh... I see. But I've never fished before."
"It's fine."
Heukmyo gave the dough a dubious look, then packed it onto the hook. Less than a minute later came the strike. The tip of the rod began diving straight into the water.
"Ah! Senior, it's biting! What do I do?!"
"Just yank the rod!"
I'd prepared a sturdy iron rod and the toughest line I could find, so brute force was all that was required. Heukmyo gave a sharp pull, and the Hwa-ri came flopping helplessly onto the bank.
Slap! Slap!
"Waaah! What! Ah!"
A thrashing carp on dry land, and Heukmyo flinching in perfect time with every flip of its body.
"Heukmyo, keep it from getting back in the water. Or just knock it out with a tap to the forehead."
"R-right! Hiyah!"
Whoosh!
First time fishing or not, Heukmyo was a master near the Super-Peak Realm. She struck the Hwa-ri's forehead with the rod tip with perfect precision.
The fish went limp at once.
"Oh... so this is a Hwa-ri?"
Heukmyo lifted it by the line to eye level and studied it. In overall shape it resembled an ornamental silk carp, white and red blended together. The difference was size—this one was far larger.
I took out a measuring stick and checked the length.
"Let's see... about a seven-jja."
In ordinary freshwater, landing a seventy-centimeter carp would be a lifetime achievement for any angler. But this was Murim Cheonha, a place where ten-thousand-year fish still swam. Here a seven-jja was barely a hatchling.
"Seven-jja...?"
"It's a size unit. Anyway, put this one back and only net the ones that measure three cheok or more."
"Hmm. Even if it's relatively small, it's still a Hwa-ri. Do we really need to release it?"
"Hwa-ri under three cheok haven't properly formed an inner core yet. Cutting them open would just be wasted labor."
"Got it!"
Heukmyo began reeling them in one after another. Watching her lick her lips and sparkle with excitement, I could tell she'd already fallen for the thrill of the catch.
These Hwa-ri had spent their entire lives eating nothing but the seaweed and moss that grew in their isolated pools. Suddenly a fragrant ball of grain dough appeared?
Of course they went crazy for it. Raised in a closed environment, they had never learned the danger of a hook either.
Chewy fight on the line, yet ridiculously easy to land—naturally it was fun.
"Oh! Senior! This one's heavy!"
Whether she'd watched someone fish before or not, Heukmyo had started savoring the pull. She seemed to have it under control, so I decided to enjoy myself as well.
I unwound a thread from the Qi Thread Bracelet I'd taken from Hyeoncheonja's Grotto—an item that had never once gotten a chance to shine—and tied a hook to it.
Then I dropped the needle and thread into the natural tank in front of me.
Thud!
A strike the instant it hit the water. The force was strong enough to rock my upper body for a second. I regulated the internal energy in my arms and hauled the Hwa-ri up.
The Qi Thread Bracelet was useful in all sorts of situations; I intended to get a solid feel for it through this fishing session.
And damn, the hand-feel was good.
With the thrashing transmitted straight into my forearm instead of through a rod, the sensation was even more vivid. I still wasn't skilled enough with the threads to land a fish gracefully—it felt more like pure hauling—but you can't fill your belly on the first spoonful.
Once I had the thrashing Hwa-ri on the bank, I knocked it out and measured it: over a meter long.
I set a large net in the natural tank it had come from and put the stunned fish back inside.
"Senior! How many do we need to catch?"
"Hmm. At least twenty, I think. More is fine."
"Understood!"
Heukmyo and I worked steadily, hauling Hwa-ri one after another. Even taking our time and savoring the fight, filling the target of twenty didn't take long.
"The ones over three cheok definitely have a different presence. The strength is completely different too! But... hmm..."
Heukmyo trailed off as she netted another fish.
"Not quite the aura of a proper inner core, right?"
"You could say that."
She was correct. Among the supreme spiritual medicines of the Murim, the ten-thousand-year Hwa-ri ranked near the top—which conversely meant a Hwa-ri needed roughly ten thousand years to become the highest-grade elixir. To even earn the name "spiritual medicine," a hundred years would be the bare minimum, never mind a thousand.
"These ones have lived ten years at most. Feels about like a one-year-old wild ginseng."
People grow ginseng for six years; how much efficacy could a ten-year carp really have?
"Mmm... if we mashed a bunch of these together, could you still use them, Senior?"
"Well... mashing them together isn't wrong, exactly. But I'm going to use a slightly different method."
Heukmyo tilted her head.
The reason I had caught dozens of Hwa-ri:
"I'm going to grow one of these into a hundred-year Hwa-ri."
It was common knowledge that lower-tier materials could be synthesized into higher-tier ones, right?
Fish generally adjust their size to their environment. These caves that served as natural tanks were both protective fences that kept the Hwa-ri safe and iron cages that suppressed their growth.
Whoooosh!!
Water erupted from the tanks. The spray was the aftermath of Heukmyo using palm techniques underwater.
"All done!"
"Good work."
We placed the largest Hwa-ri into a massive combined tank formed by linking ten of the original ones.
By merging the natural tanks and expanding the space, the Hwa-ri would conclude that the surrounding environment could support further growth and begin putting on size.
Fish might not be geniuses, but they don't forget survival-related memories either. Having nearly died on a hook for the first time in its life, this one would actively try to bulk up.
"Heeh... so this is an inner core."
"First time I've seen one extracted myself, too."
Back when I was desperately trying to break past the Second-rate limit, I'd hunted all sorts of fortuitous encounters, but I had never faced a true Spiritual Beast head-on. A Second-rate nobody meeting a genuine Spiritual Beast would just become a light snack.
So I had been limited to claiming things someone else had already prepared, like the treasures in Hyeoncheonja's Grotto. Cutting open a living creature that could actually be called a Spiritual Beast and pulling out its inner core was a first.
The core we took from the Hwa-ri's belly... how to put it? It felt like a pill. Soft, about the size of a pinky nail, reddish-brown—exactly that impression. I embedded the core into one of the dough balls I'd kneaded to roughly the size of an ordinary elixir pill, then dropped it into the tank where our evolution candidate lived.
The dough we could see with our own eyes was snatched up by the Hwa-ri almost immediately.
After that I dumped in the entire remaining bowl of dough. Growth required nutrients; until the ten-year Hwa-ri evolved into a hundred-year one, I intended to keep the feed generous.
"Mmm... artificially creating a Spiritual Beast... I've never heard of a method like this, but then again, it's you, Senior. So when can we catch this Hwa-ri?"
"Maximum one week. We could theoretically combine the cores of every Hwa-ri in the cave this way, but we also have to think about getting home."
"True. That's why you packed so much food, isn't it?"
"Right. We just play in this cool cave for a week. We'll need to go outside now and then to restock firewood."
"It's a sealed cave—will lighting a fire be okay?"
"We'll start small and check."
Well... in the game version of Murim Cheonha, people had piled alchemy furnaces in here and refined spiritual medicines by the batch, so there was probably airflow to the outside. Still, better safe than sorry—light a small fire and watch the reaction.
"Senior, then I'm going for a swim! Suddenly I really want to catch a Hwa-ri bare-handed!"
"Go ahead."
I watched the campfire for about half a shichen and concluded a larger blaze would be fine. Some of the damp wood had produced quite a bit of smoke, yet none of it pooled anywhere; it vanished almost at once. Clear proof the air was circulating.
I took a pot from the luggage and set it over the fire.
My cooking skill was thoroughly average.
I knew methods to raise cooking proficiency, of course, but living at an inn I couldn't exactly cook for myself every day, so my skill level had stayed perfectly ordinary.
Eyeball the ingredients, toss them in roughly, cook roughly, and you get roughly edible food. Today's ingredients, however, were special.
Spiritual Beasts taste good. Assuming you know a proper cooking method, a Spiritual Beast always produces delicious flavor.
"Kyaaa, this is killer."
So the ten-year Hwa-ri spicy stew I made was a masterpiece. Just a taste and it clung to the tongue—the kind of flavor that made you automatically reach for liquor. The only regret was that I'd already packed so much luggage I hadn't brought any alcohol.
"I caught one!!"
Right on cue, Heukmyo burst out of the water holding a Hwa-ri. Had she really caught it bare-handed? Even in a confined space, a person beating a fish in the water... Heukmyo must have had high water affinity, like a cat.
"What is that smell?!"
She flung aside the Hwa-ri she had worked so hard to catch and crouched in front of the pot in an instant. I snorted a laugh and ladled stew into a bowl for her.
"Worlds! This spicy-cool-sweet-salty taste!"
Leaving that extremely intuitive review, Heukmyo inhaled the Hwa-ri stew in seconds. When I handed her a rice ball from the packed lunch, she alternated one bite of rice, one spoon of stew, and emptied the bowl just as fast.
"Ahh~ so happy..."
Heukmyo patted her belly and smiled.
"Ahem."
Only then did I realize how scantily she was dressed. Unlike her usual head-to-toe coverage, this was a completely open outfit. Parts normally wrapped tight in cloth were now fully visible.
"Hwaaahm."
"Ahem. If you're sleepy, take a nap."
"Yeees~ just a little."
Apparently all the playing and fun had drained her; Heukmyo lay down and closed her eyes. I deliberately tore my gaze away and finished the dishes.
Soft breathing. Soft breathing.
But what else was there for me to do in this space? My eyes drifted back of their own accord to Heukmyo, sleeping with even breaths.
Gulp.
After her enthusiastic swim, Heukmyo's clothes were soaked through, and the wet fabric outlined every curve without mercy. Especially the top... being white, it might even be a little translucent.
Even when I forced my eyes off the two rising-and-falling pouches that matched her steady breathing, the lower half pulled my gaze right back.
A slender waist and a cute navel were exposed; past the short bottoms, pale thighs I never normally saw were fully on display. Long, smooth legs leading down to neat little toes. Skin like white jade, lit by the flickering flames, held a moist sheen from the water.
Damp hair, and pink lips that looked just as moist as they exhaled soft breaths.
I had already thought her beautiful when she showed her face, but... how to put it? Right now she was several times more captivating. The completely unguarded way she displayed her body was somehow... more stimulating.
Would it be all right to move a little closer and look?
I lifted my hips and approached her side. An impulse rose to rub her skin. If I touched her with my hand, would the light currently on her skin come off on my fingers? I knew it wouldn't, yet the thought still came.
The breath escaping her slightly parted lips felt sweetly fragrant.
Suddenly I remembered Elder Dok-ui's words. Heukmyo probably wouldn't refuse me. Even if I caressed those softer-looking lips, stroked that silk-like hair, or went further still, she would likely accept it.
Heukmyo's lips moved.
"Mmm... Hwa-ri so yummy..."
I couldn't help snorting a laugh. Carefully I brushed the hair stuck to her cheek aside and draped a blanket over her. Once the blanket hid that striking figure, my heart settled.
"Aigoo."
I didn't know what thoughts I might have later, but right now I had no desire to claim Heukmyo simply because I was the only one beside her.
To me she still felt like a child. A kid who startled every time she confronted the emotions she had kept tightly sealed because of her environment.
Those occasional pure, innocent moments were probably what made her look more like a child than a woman. She needed to run around more, enjoy herself more, collide with people, worry, grieve, get angry, and be happy...
Just like that, Heukmyo still needed to grow further.
I wasn't ignorant of what Elder Dok-ui had hoped for when he pushed me forward that day. Realistically, the wall of the Transformation Realm was dizzyingly high. The number of martial artists who died without ever reaching it was beyond counting.
He must have thought it important that even one person stay by Heukmyo's side.
But my thinking differed a little from the Elder's.
For this Murim Cheonha veteran Ho Cheon-an, raising a companion to the Transformation Realm was nothing more than the routine work I repeated every playthrough. Elder Dok-ui might have considered Heukmyo reaching the Transformation Realm like plucking a star from the sky, but from my perspective it was simply something I could do if I decided to.
More than anything... I had a reason I wanted to pull Heukmyo's realm up to the Transformation Realm.
Heukmyo had potential.
The potential to be loved by anyone.
Just watching her cause trouble like a real cat was enough to make me laugh. She was lively, overflowing with curiosity, bursting with energy.
Monopolizing a kid like that for myself alone felt a little wasteful.
So for a while, I would be content with the role of stray-cat guardian.
I fed the Hwa-ri more of the core-mixed bait and added more firewood. A Peak Realm expert wouldn't catch a cold from this much, but warmth never hurt.
Somehow the breaths Heukmyo exhaled seemed a little more peaceful.