Let's Go Get a Mountain!

Spiritual power training was the kind of grind that literally ate time, and it was mind-numbingly dull. Especially since I had zero talent for anything spiritual-power-related, even after throwing every exploit I had at it—Status Window, Double Speed Mod, items, the works—it still took forever.

Seriously, couldn't a Heavenly Tribulation just drop somewhere already?

If I touched a taboo, I'd get chewed out by Elder Togo long before the heavens got angry. Even if he was recuperating at the base, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator who'd once reached Deity Transformation was no joke.

During the invasion event, an unlucky event had spat out a powerful raid boss—and holographic Elder Togo had pulverized it with nothing but a look.

Not like a robot firing beams from its eyes. Literally just with his gaze, the raid boss shredded apart like straw. Watching that, you couldn't help but behave yourself.

If only Elder Togo would come out on the map with me! But he was stuck recuperating at the base, only stepping out for short walks, and he was classified as a decoration anyway, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I couldn't take him along.

What the hell was this now.

True to the "free" in the name, it looked like an event secret realm you could enter whenever you wanted—but the reward quality had clearly tanked. Yeah, no. I wasn't going. If I went in now and started stacking slaughter energy and experience, spiritual power accumulation would become a complete nightmare.

And the rewards didn't even look that good!

I closed the Quest Window and went back to focusing on spiritual power training. On paper it was simple—just feed spiritual power into the Golden Core and grow it—but the problem was that my Golden Core sat inside my Mental World.

It was the sun at the center of that world, pouring out spiritual light that held down the Seas of Slaughter. Even when I poured spiritual power in, stacking it onto the Golden Core was anything but easy.

Yeah. I needed a massive amount of spiritual energy.

"Normally a closed space like a secret realm has denser spiritual energy than the outside. This place is just abnormally useless. At least since that mountain appeared, spiritual energy's been accumulating here too—but not enough to matter for you or me, Hee-a."

"Got it! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠So what should we do?"

"Hmm. Maybe just rip out a good spiritual vein or a mountain thick with spiritual energy?"

"Wait, we're allowed to do that?"

"If you've got the power for it, why not? Only a sky-splitting maniac like you, Hee-a—someone who doesn't give a damn about other sects—could pull a stunt like that!"

What the hell. Why did that feel like she was baiting me.

"A fine idea. Even if a newborn pays no mind to such things, environment still matters."

"Ah—Elder Togo."

"And with the Law our little newborn possesses, there's another approach. If you refine an entire mountain dense with spiritual energy using your spiritual power, you'll train that power and grow more familiar with using the Law at the same time."

Ahh. So I could use the Law to rip a decent spiritual-energy mountain clean out of the map and bring it home!

I'd only ever thought tiles were usable if you made them through mods!

But now that reality was patched in, I could physically tear tiles off the map and haul them back?

"Let's go, Cheon Nan-cho! We're getting a mountain!"

"Why me?"

"I don't know what counts as a good mountain!"

If I didn't tear it out and itemize it first, the info window wouldn't even pop up. Bringing the walking help text along was the smart move. Cheon Nan-cho drooped in resignation while Elder Togo waved us off like he was seeing us out for a nice trip. I greeted him and left the base to go find a mountain.

"...Too weak!"

I used Transformation to giant-size myself, grabbed a whole mountain in both hands, and tried to apply the Law—only for the mountain in my grip to shatter completely.

"No, Hee-a, you're just ridiculously overpowered, okay?"

A catastrophe born of body stats that were way too high.

"I think if I figure out how to pull them properly, I can shrink them without wasting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Law. Do I have to practice force control again? I thought I was gripping softer than a bird's egg."

"Not a bird's egg—more like a Golden Core."

That's how it felt to me. From the mountain's perspective, apparently not.

"No, maybe it's because this was a dirt mountain. Let's find a harder stone mountain!"

"We're doomed."

I used the Transformation skill to turn several stone mountains into a handful of metal lumps before I finally settled down and started practicing force control the way Cheon Nan-cho told me to.

The Transformation skill boosted physical ability far more when I actually turned into a giant than when it was merely active, so force control took a while.

Specifically, long enough that I had to wander through about a dozen maps just to get the hang of it.

"Finally!"

It was close, but I managed to pull one free, shrink it with the Law until it fit snugly in my palm, then flood it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with spiritual power and refine it. When the tile item popped out, I threw my arms up in triumph.

"I did it!"

"Excuse me? If I hadn't held it together with my roots midway through, this one would've snapped at the waist and shattered into pieces too."

As Cheon Nan-cho so mercilessly pointed out, the item window itself had slapped a big fat Half-Destroyed prefix on it, so calling this a success was generous. It was basically a failure.

Cheon Nan-cho, unable to watch any longer, had used her own power to barely keep the dying mountain in my hands alive long enough for me to itemize it.

Still—after nothing but total failures until now, at least I was getting regular failures. That had to count as progress, right?!

Of course, wandering the maps committing this kind of environmental destruction was the sort of thing that normally drew hostility from neutral NPCs and sent monsters swarming in a mob. The problem was that I was mid-Transformation, practicing force control.

"A giant! It's a giant!"

"Run!"

"Why is there a giant—KYAAAAA!"

Background characters, cultivators, monsters—every last one of them fled. In the worst cases, people spotted me from a distance, hyperventilated, gurgled, and dropped dead on the spot.

Slaughter energy and experience poured in out of nowhere, so of course I knew what was happening—but no! I still hadn't filled my spiritual power. Stacking slaughter energy now would tank my experience gain rate!

So I dialed the slaughter energy and killing intent down as far as I could. After that, fearless little gnats swarmed me like they were having the time of their lives.

Cheon Nan-cho caught them all, drained their spiritual power, and tossed the husks.

"Thanks to you, Hee-a, I get to feast properly for the first time in ages!"

Come to think of it, Cheon Nan-cho had originally been a field boss that ate cultivators. I'd completely forgotten. Probably from watching her do nothing but gobble spirit stones for so long.

"Never thought the day would come when you'd hand me prey, Hee-a!"

"Well, right now spiritual power comes before slaughter energy or experience."

I'd thought two legs were enough. Turns out I'd had three from the start.

"Anyway, I should grab a few more tiles. Ah—"

With a clean snap, a mountain broke in half, one side crumbling into a heap of dirt as every spiritual vein and scrap of spiritual energy inside it evaporated into nothing. I sighed.

Properly collecting tiles was going to take forever!

I swatted away the event messages that kept popping up at random and went back to roaming the maps with Cheon Nan-cho, mining mountains for harvest.

"Uh, Hee-a, are you seriously taking this one?"

"Yep!"

"That's not a mountain—that's a mountain range."

"Which means even if I pull with full power, it should stay intact, right?"

"Every single word of that was a question?!"

"Hiyah!"

In my transformed state, I spread spiritual power through the mountain range to 'protect' it, then lifted the entire massive range with both hands. It was, quite literally, tearing the earth's crust free with bare hands.

No matter how many ages that range had endured, it was still helpless before a giant's strength—newborn or not. The colossal spine of the mountain range began to come free.

Maybe because it was a proper range instead of a little mountain, it was holding together in my hands without snapping. I was just thinking how smoothly this was going when Cheon Nan-cho swatted aside every beam of light flying at me—and a gray dot slammed into her.

"KYAAAA?!"

Cheon Nan-cho screamed and bounced off. The gray dot—a neutral NPC—came charging at me, radiating murderous killing intent. I paused for a second to think.

Finish pulling the mountain range, or kill this neutral NPC?

No matter how I looked at it, the neutral NPC was aiming at me. Whether that was because I was a demonic cultivator or because I was ripping out a mountain range, I couldn't say. But they hadn't really attacked Cheon Nan-cho—just brushed her aside—so I gave them a tiny bit of credit, ignored them, and finished yanking the entire range free.

Attacks flew through the neutral NPC's dharma treasure, targeting the mountain range I'd just pulled. I tanked them with my Law-enlarged body, regenerating as I went, poured the Law into the massive range until I could grip it in one hand, then canceled the Transformation. A golden radiance bloomed in my palm—visible through the item filter. I turned my gaze.

"What are you."