Even a Mountain Range Can Be Looted

My defense is seriously paper-thin.

While I was busy yanking out a whole mountain range to turn it into an item, I ate a hit from someone lower-level than me — leg severed clean off, more than half my waist sliced through — and I just casually poured slaughter energy into the wounds to regenerate while trying interaction first instead of attacking.

After all, Cheon Nan-cho, who'd been sent flying off into the distance, was frantically crossing both arms in an X to stop me, like she was screaming don't attack!

What, is she planning to kill him herself? I was still turning that over when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the neutral NPC bellowed at me in a hoarse, gravel-scraped voice thick with the rasp of metal, spitting blood with every word.

"You could have just taken my cave dwelling and the fortune I cherished — so what kind of grudge drove you to smash the ancestral burial mountain where my forefathers rest to absolute rubble?!"

Ah. Okay. That one actually made me feel a little bad.

"I tried to write it off as a natural disaster and move on, but the more I thought about it the more wronged I felt — and I'm not long for this world anyway! So I'm going to dump every last drop of this injustice on you, senior, and then die with a clear heart!!!"

Looking at the old man who seemed ready to clutch the back of his neck and keel over the second I told him I'd just thought the mountain looked nice and failed to control my strength while pulling it out, I scratched the back of my head for no good reason.

If he'd been a monster I would have killed him without listening to a word. But the minimap still labeled him a neutral NPC even after he'd thrown the first punch at me, so I'd tried interacting — and I was already regretting it.

"What are you just standing around for?"

"Huh? Weren't you telling me not to kill him?"

"I meant I'd kill him myself."

The neutral NPC died under Cheon Nan-cho's merciless ambush from behind. I felt a twinge of unease for all of half a second, then checked the mountain range still glowing gold in my hand — successfully itemized.

True to being a mountain range, it was a 6×2 tile — but my base had plenty of empty space, so equipping it was no problem. A legendary-grade tile, no less!

I took that one legendary tile plus five ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mountain tiles that were only Magic and Rare grade and slammed every last one of them onto the base. Spiritual energy recovery seemed to stack additively, though — rather than feeling truly abundant, it mostly just started generating at a rate comparable to the outside world.

Should I go rip out a few more?

"If you're going to bring them in, little one, you ought to be selective and take only fine spiritual mountains. Ordinary peaks will only drag down the value of a true spiritual mountain."

At Elder Togo's advice that equipping low-grade tiles halved the effects of high-grade ones, I nodded and flew up over the newly acquired mountain range for a closer look.

It definitely said there was a secret realm in here somewhere.

"It wouldn't be a secret realm with an owner the way the one you carry is, newborn, would it? Ah — here it is."

In the end I couldn't find it and had to tell Elder Togo, who casually rapped the empty air with spiritual energy and cracked open the secret realm entrance hidden inside the mountain range like it was nothing.

"Hmm. The owner appears to be a cultivator at the early Nascent Soul stage, and still alive at that. How on earth did you spirit this away unnoticed, newborn?"

"I never even saw an owner! Cheon Nan-cho just said this one had the densest spiritual energy and told me to grab it!"

"You truly are fortunate, newborn. It seems the owner is stuck in some other secret realm entirely and never got the chance to lift a finger."

"Ack—?!"

I nodded along to Elder Togo's words and was about to stroll naturally into the opened entrance when his drones snagged me and dragged me bodily back out.

"I cannot fathom how you charge in so fearlessly without knowing what lies within. Did I not just tell you, newborn, that the secret realm's owner is still alive?"

"Is there some kind of restriction on it?"

"There is. But now that it has been torn free of its master's hands and brought whole into your own secret realm, I can work on it for you, newborn."

"You really don't have to push yourself, Elder Togo!"

"Heh heh. Something of this level is simple enough."

The true body hidden behind Elder Togo's hologram revealed itself. A mechanical apparatus of pure metal that had gained a Nascent Soul as its self, channeling spiritual energy as fuel to wield the unprecedented power of a star-eater.

The air warped. An invisible, overwhelming wave of spiritual energy erupted and poured straight into the forcibly opened secret realm entrance, vanishing inside in a single gulp.

After a brief silence, Elder Togo reclaimed his spiritual energy from beyond the secret realm, cloaked his true body in the hologram once more, and spoke.

"There… it is done. I've crushed everything inside that could threaten you, newborn. Go in and claim what remains."

"Uh, Elder Togo, if you've already cleared out all the threats, couldn't I just send the decorations in instead of going myself?"

If he'd already handled it, did I really need to go in?

"A secret realm is originally a place thick with spiritual energy, newborn. That one is likely where the densest spiritual energy of this entire vast mountain range has gathered — and its original master, who had reached the Nascent Soul realm, would have stockpiled spiritual energy inside it for his own cultivation. Are you not short on spiritual energy? This is your chance to monopolize and swallow whole every last drop that an early Nascent Soul cultivator so carefully hoarded."

I had completely failed to grasp Elder Togo's grand design!

"Then I'll be right back!"

"Heh heh… go carefully. I shall guard the entrance."

I folded at the waist in a natural ninety-degree bow, activating [Bow] toward the softly smiling Elder Togo, then hopped straight into the secret realm entrance.

As expected of Elder Togo — the place had clearly been crawling with monsters and defensive measures, but a single pulse-beam of spiritual energy had pulverized the lot of them. Only wreckage rolled underfoot.

Being the cave dwelling of a senior at the early Nascent Soul stage, it had definitely been rich in spiritual energy, packed with defenses and all sorts of cultivated things… and now nothing but debris remained!

"No item drops registering, but there's still spiritual energy left… wonder if I can just eat that…"

I hesitated a moment, then set about surveying the secret realm. Spiritual energy was overflowing, no question. How many years had this place been left to steep? As a training ground for a Nascent Soul cultivator, it was an outstanding environment for driving spiritual energy through my slaughter energy and into my Golden Core!

In the middle of the densest concentration of spiritual energy — amid a heap of strange bone wreckage — I slowly exhaled, settled down, and closed my eyes.

My Natal Dharma Treasure, the Wheel, rose above my head like a halo and wrenched open the entrance to my Mental World.

The Sea of Slaughter heaved, trying to break free of its cycle to kill living things — but this secret realm had been the abode of a cultivator who had touched the Nascent Soul, and the spiritual energy here was truly abundant.

Abundant enough that it punched straight through the slaughter energy pouring from the Sea of Slaughter and reached the Golden Core shining brilliantly in my Mental World.

Compared to other cultivators, my Golden Core was conspicuously small and fragile. I knew that for a fact — I'd pulled other cultivators' Golden Cores out with my bare hands and compared them.

Even the spiritual root anchoring the core's center had been built on a foundation of slaughter energy. I'd forcibly condensed and absorbed the spiritual power gained from Heavenly Tribulation by burning slaughter energy to form the Golden Core in the first place.

I'd used consumables that forced limit breaks to call down Heavenly Tribulation, permanently burned slaughter energy as fuel, and half-assed the whole thing into existence — so of course it was small and fragile next to the Golden Cores of cultivators who had properly trained their spiritual power.

The Wheel turned.

My Natal Dharma Treasure — a Wheel forged of slaughter energy, clad and refined in spiritual power into a personal weapon bound to my soul — forcibly dragged in the vast spiritual energy of the secret realm rather than slaughter energy.

Whether Elder Togo had pulverized the place that thoroughly, or whether the secret realm environment itself was that significant, spiritual energy began condensing and pouring into my Golden Core at a speed and volume on a completely different level from simply pulling power off the map with the Wheel.

I have no talent for handling spiritual energy. Slaughter energy, sure — but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not this.

Which meant what I was doing now was lighting a flame that permanently consumed slaughter energy drawn up from the Sea of Slaughter.

A power little short of a miracle — burning the lives and deaths of countless glittering beings in a single instant — heated the Golden Core. The vast spiritual energy absorbed through the core passed through the flame of slaughter and gradually grafted itself on, growing the Golden Core piece by piece.

A shortcut only possible because my Golden Core had been built on slaughter energy to begin with, and because I possessed a vast Sea of Slaughter.

Of course, rolling the Golden Core through spiritual energy like a piece of hard candy while burning slaughter energy to force it larger was a catastrophically dangerous act — the core grew more fragile, control of spiritual ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠energy more unstable, until even handling arts or Dharma tools rooted in spiritual power could make the Golden Core shudder.

But then, isn't the basic literacy of a gamer to cram in every penalty that barely applies to you and squeeze out the maximum benefit on the other side?