Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: Episode 48. Haven of Rusty Swords (2)
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“For the next seven days, build a house, forage for food, and play to your heart's content!”
The guide handed a bracelet to everyone.
“What we've distributed is a Level 1 artifact called the 'Arrogant Mage's Tongue' bracelet. It'll immediately sound an alarm if you use mana. And it records everything!”
She then glanced at Myeong Yong-ha and gave an awkward smile.
“Of course, some of you might be able to fool it with ease, but please refrain from using blessings, skills, or abilities as much as possible to fit the field training vibe!”
They received additional supplies. It was just basic military field kits. Even those didn't include tents when checked one by one.
“Well then, Ji-tae. We're heading east.”
“Got it. We'll go south.”
“By the way, wouldn't it be boring to just start like this? How about a little competition while we're at it?”
“What kind of competition?”
“In four days, we'll visit each other's campsites. Then we'll compete on who’s living better!”
“Sounds good. But how do we compare?”
“Guide?”
“Y-yes!”
“Judge it fairly for us!”
Myeong Yong-ha looked confident.
“If I lose, I'll give you some really precious liquor, Ji-tae.”
“Liquor? Deal.”
The bet was on.
*
A lush, beautiful mountain lay ahead. Behind stretched a white sandy beach and a stunning coastline.
It was actually an artificial lake, but so massive it looked just like the sea.
“Whoa―! It's freaking gorgeous!”
Gaeul grabbed Winter's hand and ran splashing into the water. She started frolicking with shrieks of “Kyahaha!” The water was warm, crystal clear, and rich in mana.
Yeoreum sat on the sand without going in. Fine, wet sand tickled between her toes.
“......”
A ticklish sensation she never felt normally. As Yeoreum wiggled her toes, digging into the beach, a massive water droplet flew and splattered her face. “Ah, shit, what the hell!” Yeoreum frantically wiped her face. The droplet was so huge her T-shirt was soaked through. Looking up, Gaeul and Winter were cracking up.
From Winter sticking out her tongue, it was clearly her doing. She didn't have a bracelet.
“......”
Yeoreum swept back her drenched bangs repeatedly.
“These brats have no idea how scary unni can be, crawling under my toes...”
She pulled a hair tie from her pocket and tied her hair into a ponytail.
“My little babies. You started it first?”
Screw the beach.
Yeoreum charged into the lake too. Then she started running across the water's surface.
“Mommy! Th-the red wild boar's coming!”
“......!”
“Huh? Whoa! Winter, when did you learn to swim? Come with unni!”
“......”
“Don't leave me behind...!”
The laughter soon turned to screams.
Meanwhile, Yoo Ji-tae sat at the back of the beach, blankly watching the kids. He'd just given them water, yet they were having the time of their lives.
The kids were playing excitedly.
“H-hey, unni! Mmph... Save me! Glub glub...”
Or not.
While that went on, Yoo Ji-tae surveyed the surroundings.
Myeong Yong-ha's words made sense now. An island for soldiers in field training. Various terrains, seemingly scooped wholesale from dungeons, dotted the place.
They'd get hungry after playing. Time to prep some food.
“Not going in?”
“No.”
“Why not? Go play.”
“Hm...”
Bom shook her head side to side without answering.
Her grass-green hair gleamed like tender sprouts in the sunlight.
“Let's go forage something to eat together.”
“Okay.”
Yoo Ji-tae took Bom into the forest. Lush, untamed woods and trees welcomed them, true to the field training theme.
“What should we get first?”
“Water.”
“Can't we just boil lake water?”
“That's saltwater.”
Dragons or Yoo Ji-tae could drink saltwater fine. They could go a week without eating, even.
But if they had to drink, fresh water was better.
“So where? Any puddles around?”
Yoo Ji-tae looked around. An environment mimicking a tropical rainforest dungeon.
“It's a bit hot.”
“Feels like midsummer. Probably because of that artificial sun overhead,” Bom said, glancing up.
“And the humidity's high too. Vegetation here usually packs poison. When plants die, they sink into the soil, and that moisture slowly flows to low areas.”
“So the lake's poisoned too?”
“It should be, in theory.”
But being an artificial island, they hadn't gone that far. The lake was seawater anyway.
“How about this?”
Bom touched an unidentified conifer. The lord of nature demanded its sap. The trunk split, and sap flowed out.
“Plants grown here have basic poison resistance.”
Bom dipped a finger in the sap briefly, then sealed the trunk. “Yeah...” It was laced with toxin.
“What about this?”
Deeper in the forest, Bom pointed to a stream between rock pools. It looked cleaner.
But Yoo Ji-tae shook his head.
A common mistake for novice suprahumans who got lost.
“Microbes make it no good.”
“Microbes?”
“Even suprahuman bodies can't absorb some germs.”
Recalling a distant memory, Yoo Ji-tae spoke up.
“There was this young suprahuman I knew once. Top of his class at a local training institute, full of confidence. Got stranded by mistake in a B-rank tropical dungeon.”
“Yeah.”
“Rescued after four days, but he was skin and bones.”
“Because of the water?”
“Yep. Thought no poison meant safe, but chugged it anyway. Diarrhea nonstop for four days.”
“Poor guy.”
Bom giggled.
It was actually Yoo Ji-tae from his first timeline.
He didn't remember it, but it was so traumatic it stuck as a vague fact.
“Hm... Oh. What if we extract sap from non-poisonous stem plants?”
Bom pointed to reeds rising from the pool, thick as straws, plump like aloe.
“That could work.”
But in true field conditions, an 8-man squad leader needed rations for eight.
Yoo Ji-tae walked on. He spotted various plants and insects. Heard spirit beasts, birds, small monsters.
Then his steps halted abruptly.
A massive tree, snapped like by lightning. Yoo Ji-tae ducked behind it. Bom cleverly stuck close, whispering.
“Why?”
“Look closely. What do you see?”
Far off, atop tall marsh grass, a fist-sized bird with two heads. Big, flashy beak, and oddly, horns on its heads.
“A bird? First time seeing it...”
“It's a monoceros beak, a spirit beast. In poison-filled environments, bugs eat grass, birds hunt bugs. Some resist no poison—picky eaters.”
Yoo Ji-tae crouched lower.
“Those types have scarce food, so they're always on edge. Stricter territories than omnivores. But even spirit beasts covet others' rice cakes. What happens then?”
“They invade another spirit beast's turf.”
“And if others think the same?”
“......”
Bom's eyes widened.
“They hoard and hide it?”
“Exactly. Spirit beasts have near-human intelligence, so stockpiling's a thing.”
Sure enough, the monoceros beak got attacked by another. They clashed horns midair, bickering. One charged a tree trunk; the other desperately guarded it.
Yoo Ji-tae approached. They fled in surprise.
Prying open the trunk forcefully revealed soccer-ball-sized roots, over a dozen, plus some unrotted fruits.
Rare in rainforests. Spongy insides full of water.
“Whoa, it's really there?”
Bom smiled in wonder.
“But take it all?”
“Yep.”
“Kinda pitiful...”
A new perspective for him. Birds starving? Who cares.
But no need to strip it bare on a fun trip. Yoo Ji-tae took four roots and headed back into the forest with Bom.
True to her wild nature, Bom seemed content just being in the woods.
She'd pause to admire wildflowers.
En route, a snake lunged at Bom's arm. But meeting her eyes, it halted jaws short of biting.
Face stiff. It slinked back cautiously.
“Yikes...”
Bobbing its head like an apology. So it lived.
Soon, a bigger viper struck. Yoo Ji-tae grabbed and snapped its neck. Instant death.
Bom startled, asked.
“Huh? What's that?”
“Tasty snake.”
“No, I mean, how'd a snake try to bite you, ajusshi?”
“Oh. Suppressed my presence.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think?”
Yoo Ji-tae held up the snake.
“It came on its own.”
Bom's grass-green eyes blinked.
Along the way, Yoo Ji-tae crushed rock salt fragments to collect. Gathered twigs and moss.
Ripped into a fallen tree for sawdust-like dry innards—perfect tinder.
What else? After feeding them, build shelter. Smash nearby trees for a makeshift house...
As Yoo Ji-tae planned.
“Ow...”
Bom suddenly winced and plopped into the brush.
“What’s wrong?”
“......”
Bom sitting in the foliage stroked her leg. She showed a finger—smeared red with blood.
“Bug bite.”
Her eyes a bit downcast.
Bug bite? He couldn't wrap his head around it. A dragon bitten by a bug?
Still, he quietly knelt to check her thigh.
“Huh? What're you doing?”
“You said bit. Let me see.”
“It's nothing.”
“What?”
“Just... embarrassed...”
Embarrassed about what? She tried hiding, so he leaned in to check. Inner thigh smeared with blood. Tiny tooth marks. Barely a wound. Healing magic would fix it instantly.
That's when both her arms grabbed his head.
“......”
Their eyes met. Wondering what the heck, he gently pulled back.
Her sullen face broke into a relaxed smile.
Bom chuckled softly.
“...It's real.”
‘What is?’ He asked, but Bom gave no answer.
* * *
Back at camp, Yoo Ji-tae prepped the meat. Removed blood and guts. Used the field kit's detox agent on parasites and toxins.
The kit had a foldable large mess kit too. He squeezed water from roots into it, finely ground rock salt fragments through a sieve, added meat, roots, leaves, fruits, and simmered a stew.
The snake was huge—plenty to eat.
“Whoa, I-I know this! Mountain delicacies...!?”
Gaeul blew on a piece and popped it in. Lean, good texture. Her golden eyes widened.
Yeoreum and Winter must've been starving after romping. They gnawed roots eagerly, devoured veggies too.
“Hey, saw a turtle in the lake earlier?”
“Yeah.”
“Followed it, and there's something weird under the island?”
Yeoreum chattered about the turtle she'd spotted mid-swim.
Then suggested checking it out together. He nodded.
“All done eating? Everyone up. Let's build a house.”