Chapter 92
Translator: MJK
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Between Giving Up and Awakening (2)
Riu gazed at Kang-hyun with puzzled eyes.
He held out a handful of soil from the veggie patch.
"This seed needed a place to take root. But in this dimension, in this world, there wasn't a single patch of land that could handle its immense power. It would've destroyed anything it touched the moment it tried."
"......"
"Then I found you."
"Because of an S-rank healer's life force?"
"That's not the only reason."
"Then why...?"
Kang-hyun looked at Riu gently and said,
"It's because of that disposition you have. That sacrificial spirit where you'd gladly give up your own life for others."
Riu's disposition.
Behind the flashy title of China's Saintess, it was the noble devotion she took as naturally as breathing. When her mana ran dry, she'd carve away at her own life force to heal others. She valued the life of some nameless stranger more heavily than her own well-being.
"That heart that embraces everything, endures, and supports it all. That's why... it's a heart closest to the earth's attribute."
Kang-hyun gently stroked the soil in his hand and added,
"The silent earth that gets trampled without complaint, nurtures all things, embraces even rotting fallen leaves without rejection, and brings forth new life from them. The seed caught the scent of that one and only soil in your soul—the only place that could fully accept it."
A seed seeking soil to root into is pure survival instinct, the most natural law of nature.
"Though its way of going about it was rough and brutish, nearly breaking you in the process. Probably..."
"?"
"The seed sees you as its mother."
"......Mother?"
Riu asked incredulously.
That curse that had driven her to the brink of death saw her as its mother?
"Yes. This seed was probably a lost child wandering the rifts between dimensions."
Kang-hyun glanced briefly at Muryong, dozing on the porch, then continued.
"In this universe, it seems there are beings born with tremendous power but no vessel to contain it, doomed to wander eternally between dimensions. Lost children adrift in dark, lonely crevices, searching only for a place to take root."
To the seed, Riu's mana core must have been the sole sanctuary at the end of eons of wandering. A land that could bear its vast power, a warm mother's embrace to thaw its frozen form.
"If it had meant to harm or kill you, it would've burst your mana core and escaped long ago. It had more than enough power for that."
Kang-hyun spoke with eyes full of conviction.
"But it didn't. It just clung desperately to the deepest part of your mana core, refusing to let go. Like a frightened child in an unfamiliar place burrowing into its mother's arms."
"......A lost child, and a mother."
Riu rolled the unfamiliar words around in her mouth.
Thump, thump.
The seed reacted.
It was clearly reading her voice and emotions.
"I see... You wanted to live too."
In the instant fear turned to understanding, Riu's eyes softened.
"And you were alone, just like me."
Kang-hyun read the profound loneliness in those words.
Why Riu, awakened after three years, had seemed so detached from life.
Loneliness amid crowds.
A life healing the whole world yet unable to heal her own emptiness. That bitter isolation resonated with the seed's solitude adrift between dimensions.
Hummm—
As Riu opened her heart, the seed's sharp, bristling energy softened like a lie, beginning to resonate with her mana.
Thump. Thump.
Two different heartbeats finally merged into one rhythm.
A peaceful morning in the countryside home.
Lately, sitting on the porch watching Koko's training had become an indispensable part of Riu's routine.
"......Incredible. It's surpassing its limits every single day."
It was pure admiration.
That fierce determination in even the smallest flap of its wings.
But worry clouded Riu's expression.
"Mr. Gorani."
Riu called me with a grave look.
"Yes?"
"That chicken... no, Koko. If this keeps up, its body will explode."
"Explode?"
"Its will is already phoenix-level, but its body is still just a chick's. The flesh can't contain the soul's magnitude. Collapse is only a matter of time."
"I've been worried about its rapid growth lately too."
Of course, Riu's diagnosis wasn't wrong, but my thinking differed slightly.
The crops Koko pecked at daily from the veggie patch weren't ordinary feed.
Its body had already far surpassed the biological limits of common poultry.
'It's already mimicking martial footwork.'
Movements impossible if its body couldn't keep up.
Koko would surely hatch its own shell and find the strength that suited it, just as it had broken free from its egg.
My veggie patch served as the sturdy backbone supporting that reckless challenge.
'But she doesn't know the patch's effects, so it's natural she'd worry.'
By normal logic, Koko's growth would look like living with a ticking time bomb.
"It's tragic. For all that effort to be undone by innate physical limits—nothing sadder than that."
Hearing the expert opinion of a genius S-rank healer like Riu wasn't bad either.
"......Let me help Koko."
"You'll do it yourself, Riu?"
"Yes."
Riu spoke with resolute eyes.
"I can't just watch such noble determination. If my abilities can help, I want to expand its vessel."
"Is that possible?"
"Yes, I think so."
"If it's you, Riu, Koko will trust you completely."
And so began the unprecedented major surgery for a chicken.
We laid Koko on the soft cushion in the main room.
Unaware of what was happening, it blinked in confusion, but as Riu's hands touched it, it instinctively relaxed and grew docile.
"It's a bit different from mana circuits. Similar to the flows in ancient Chinese medical texts... I need to redesign the paths where life force runs."
An emerald glow spilled from Riu's fingertips like unraveling threads.
"My god... A chicken's wing bones can be this beautifully structured."
Riu marveled as she pressed firmly along Koko's wing joints.
Medically, they were just chicken wing articulations, but to her now, they were vital knots holding back explosive potential.
"Kko, kkokkio......"
As Riu's fingers pierced the blockages, Koko went limp with ecstasy.
Twisted muscles loosened, constricted vessels expanded.
It was the sacred process of a common fowl reborn as a martial arts master.
Shwaaa—!
Finally, as I infused internal energy through its beak, golden radiance erupted from its body.
Flash!
Dull feathers gained luster, its comb shining like a vivid red gem.
"Oh, this is......!"
Hwan-gol-tal-tae—bone marrow transformation.
In the countryside home's main room, one chicken shattered its shell and was reborn.
The next dawn.
An ominous aura stirred inside the chicken coop.
Flash.
In the darkness, two eyes gleamed like those of a bird of prey.
It was Koko, awakened after Riu's procedure and my elixir buff.
Its appearance hadn't changed much, but its gaze had sharpened to that of an eagle—no, a phoenix.
"Kkokkok?"
Koko spread its wings experimentally.
Power surged through each feather.
"Kkokkok......!"
It instinctively knew it had changed.
It wanted to test it.
Koko kicked open the coop door and bolted straight to the training ground on the back mountain.
"Huh? Where's Koko off to?"
Riu and Kang-hyun, up early, along with the other family members, followed, drawn by Koko's unusual aura.
They arrived at the sheer cliff face on the back mountain.
The Wall of Wailing, where Koko had failed and tumbled down countless times before.
"No way... It's going to climb that?"
Kang-hyun watched worriedly.
Atop the cliff, Master Gorani looked down sternly.
As if testing its disciple's growth.
"Kkkooo—!"
Koko drew a deep breath.
And then.
Shwaak!
Dust billowed.
The chicken vanished.
"......Huh?"
By the time Riu looked up, Koko was already airborne.
Tap, tap!
It used falling leaves as footholds, treading the empty air.
'A chicken defying gravity?'
Kang-hyun marveled inwardly.
The legendary lightness skill: Stepping on Snow Without a Trace.
Farm Guardian Koko has acquired the skill Air Treading (Lv.1).
The transparent message window floating before his eyes.
Kang-hyun felt a swell of emotion in his chest at the words.
'You did it in the end, buddy.'
The garden's spirit herbs and Riu's treatment were mere aids.
The impossible skill was forged by Koko's blood, sweat, and tears—kicking trees bloody every morning, tumbling down the cliff dozens of times, yet rising again.
From humble native chicken to sky-treader.
Kang-hyun offered heartfelt respect to that foolish yet magnificent tenacity.
Thud!
Koko landed atop the cliff in one leap.
It threw its chest out, gazing down, and unleashed a triumphant roar.
"Kkkoooookkkk—!!!"
Rumble!
The basic stage of sonic attack, mimicking Gorani's roar.
Leaves rained down from the shockwave.
Watching the miraculous sight, Riu clenched her fists.
Something hot surged in her chest.
For a fleeting moment, a massive phoenix phantom seemed to flicker behind the little back scaling the cliff.
'Even that tiny life... overcame its limits like that.'
A chicken, fated never to fly from birth, hadn't given up and took to the skies (sort of).
Yet she'd nearly thrown away her life over a mere seed.
Shame mingled with fierce hope.
'Yeah. I can do it too.'
The seed inside her.
It was just a trial to embrace and surpass.
Like Koko conquering the cliff, hope swelled that she too would rise above this ordeal.
Then Kang-hyun's voice called from below.
"Everyone! Breakfast time! Special menu today!"
"Kko?!"
The lofty martial master chicken posing atop the cliff vanished in an instant.
Dignity be damned, Koko flapped wildly and waddled down the cliff at top speed.
Sprinting faster than anyone toward its food bowl.
"Pfft."
Riu couldn't hold back her laughter.
But tears glistened at the end of that smile.
'Truly living every moment with such intensity.'
Riu watched Koko with its beak buried in the bowl, and the veggie patch family eating alongside.
This wondrous garden embracing and raising all these lives vigorously.
And at its center, the strong yet gentle being encompassing everything.
'I want to live.'
This scene was restarting Riu's frozen heart.
'I... want to live sincerely.'
Not fleeing into death.
But feeling every moment fully, clinging tenaciously to life.