Chapter 277
Chapter 277
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 277
Chapter Title: 89. Partner (5)
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...
"Get up."
Yeoreum's eyes fluttered open at Yoo Ji-tae's call.
"......"
Her red eyes were unfocused.
"You need to eat."
"...Huh?"
"Food."
"Oh... Food..."
Yeoreum pushed herself up.
Her body, covered in wounds, had mostly healed thanks to the dragon's power.
Hook-shaped water particles still lingered deep in her legs, refusing to fully dislodge, but even those were being purified by "dragon mana."
A crushed fracture mixed with filthy grime. If she were human, even the world's top healing facilities would take a full week to treat it.
And yet, she healed it all in just a few hours while lying down. What an efficient body.
"Here."
Yoo Ji-tae held out a disposable plate.
"...What's this?"
"Meat and stuff. Eat up."
"Ahh... Meat..."
"You did great."
"Yeah."
Yeoreum probably had no appetite.
He thought she might refuse, but she took the plate with trembling hands. Then she grabbed the meat bare-handed and started shoving it into her mouth.
Her eyes were still heavy with fatigue.
That's when Winter approached the tent. She squatted down, munching on meat while watching Yeoreum.
Yeoreum kept choking, unable to swallow properly. Her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's, but she kept stuffing more in.
Winter laughed. It was the kind of laugh that said, What's up with her?
"What're you laughing at, you punk?"
"...Not you."
"Don't laugh. Or else."
Pork belly. Chicken skewers. King oyster mushrooms. Button mushrooms. Even sausages. The meat, beautifully grilled to a golden brown, carried a rich smoky flavor.
Yeoreum shoved it all into her mouth without a word.
"...How was it?"
"What?"
"...Was it tough?"
"It was manageable."
"...What, did your foot get hooked?"
"No, I bumped into something while swimming, I told you."
Yoo Ji-tae decided to ask as well.
"You okay?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be? It's not a big deal."
Yeoreum laughed lightly. Then she went back to eating.
By the time she finished her meal, Yoo Ji-tae held out a tracksuit and a cigarette pack.
Yeoreum, dressed haphazardly, glared at him for a moment. Then she snatched the entire pack from his hand, pulled out a cigarette, stuck it in her mouth, and lit it.
Winter scrunched up her face and fled from the smoke.
"You gonna hog them all?"
"Yeah. I'm smoking alone."
She exhaled. Smoke filled the tent thickly.
"But hey, I've got something I'm curious about."
"What?"
"Going down and coming back up wasn't particularly hard or anything. But it sure tested my patience."
"I bet."
"Did you see? What I was doing?"
"Only when it looked dangerous."
"Yeah. It wasn't tough or anything. But there was this agonizing feeling I'd never felt before. That's why I get it now—why you said not to run away. But..."
"So. Was it tough?"
"No? I told you it wasn't tough. Look, I'm not complaining about the training being hard or whatever."
Yeoreum furrowed her brow.
"It was just painful, and I got nothing out of it. The whole time, I was questioning it. Is this even training?"
"......"
"Is it because it's only 200 meters, so no changes yet? Or what? Did I do something wrong?"
Her gaze was full of doubt.
"No changes?"
"Yeah. Nothing improved. Diving down. Coming up. Honestly, it just felt like torture."
"Ah... Really?"
Yoo Ji-tae felt a slight amusement bubbling up.
Yeoreum must have really suffered.
How bad was it for her mind to be this scattered?
Even now, after resting a bit and waking up, she seemed oblivious to the changes in herself.
Should he explain it in detail? He reconsidered. Words were no match for seeing it once.
"Finish those and come out."
Mana resides in the mana hall (danjeon).
Depending on the race, this "danjeon" is divided in complex ways.
Humans have one.
Dragons have three.
Among a dragon's three danjeons, the uppermost one is called the "Dragon Heart." And for hatchlings out on a lark, a "Fragment of Origin" attaches beside their Dragon Heart.
Hatchlings are still too young to handle their "Dragon Heart" properly.
Mana and living beings are complementary.
Mana can seek out the organism's danjeon first.
Or the organism can draw in the mana.
The easiest way to check mana status is simply to feel it.
But if the mind isn't clear for some reason, external methods exist.
Yoo Ji-tae pulled a small lens from Shallowest Abyss (S).
This was the level 2 artifact, Wizard's Monocle.
For a level 2 artifact, it was incredibly rare. Only two existed worldwide.
This monocle let you visually inspect a person's mana quantity and form.
It was a consumable with limited uses, so he didn't use it lightly.
Days like this were what it was for.
"Use it."
"Use it? How? It's just a lens?"
"Hold it up to your eye."
When Yeoreum brought the lens to her eye, it automatically fixed itself 1cm in front of her, floating in midair.
"It's set? Now channel mana into it and look at your hand."
Yeoreum skeptically infused mana into the lens.
Then something magical happened.
"Huh?"
Her hand looked strange inside the lens.
A translucent red bodysuit-like layer appeared over her body. Yeoreum pondered it. Then she realized. This was the baseline Hardened Body blessing all dragons had.
Lowering her gaze, a glowing gem shone at her heart. The Dragon Heart.
"Whoa. What the... This is insane..."
"Looks like the mana inside your body that you normally sense, right?"
Legs. Hands. Arms. The translucent red layer was thicker around her neck and abdomen, where Hardened Body focused protection.
"Yeah. Exactly like it."
Mana has no form, but sentient beings interpret it through their own common sense.
They think it's moving even if unseen, so it moves.
Once familiar, they start seeing the movement. They visually perceive the abilities and blessings always wrapping their body through "feeling."
When what she vaguely sensed as "this" was confirmed visually, Yeoreum felt wonder.
"Now, look around you."
"Huh? Oh...!"
Yeoreum gasped at the sight.
Blue energies from distant parts of her body mingled with the red, orbiting her like planets around the sun.
This was an enormous amount of mana—about 20% of what her Dragon Heart held.
"What is all this?"
"Mana drawn to your will from the sea. You haven't absorbed it yet."
Even in her near-death struggle underwater, Yeoreum had clung to survival.
She could have dodged but didn't—that showed iron will.
That fierce survival instinct became gravitational pull, drawing in surrounding mana.
But it wasn't fully absorbed yet. If her will wavered now, it would slowly drift away.
She had to hold onto it first.
"Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Relax your mind and body. Now, take it in."
"Huh? Oh. Got it."
Yeoreum sat cross-legged and closed her eyes.
She began pulsing her heart with a Pulsation.
The faintly rippling red energies started seeping into her body.
Three hours later.
Yeoreum opened her eyes from meditation and muttered.
"This is crazy..."
From diving in and out, passing out, to meditating.
Total time: 9 hours.
In just 9 hours, her total mana had increased 1.2 times.
"......"
Yeoreum was dumbfounded.
The next day, while Yoo Ji-tae and Winter dipped their feet in the water, chatting about business expansion...
Well, school life.
Yeoreum continued meditating alone for hours.
Even superhumans, without specific blessings, don't think much faster than normals.
But a dragon's brain has different volume from a human's. Even for hatchlings.
Yeoreum used image training to master ways to utilize her new mana.
She recalled monsters she'd encountered before—ones she understood 90% or more—and reconstructed them. Then pitted her changed self against them. In her mind.
Once adapted to the new mana.
Yeoreum smiled, feeling her newfound strength.
Her meditation spot was by the water. As she stood, her reflection appeared in the clear water. Red hair. Red eyes.
Damn, she's pretty...
Then she noticed the dark bruise near her nape.
Yeoreum unzipped her tracksuit and checked her body in the water. Scars everywhere. Red feet still marred by unhealed wounds.
Prettier than her face.
Yeoreum smiled again.
She had grown stronger.
She worked hard, and she grew stronger.
Even when she wanted to flee, she endured, and she grew stronger.
The fact felt good. Yeoreum kept grinning like a madwoman.
Night passed.
The next dawn, before this dimension's sun rose. When Winter slept deepest. A light mist hung over the sea.
Yoo Ji-tae called Yeoreum. Before the inertia of desperation faded, he needed to push her back underwater.
"It'll be a bit more dangerous from today."
"Yeah."
"So let's go together."
"Huh?"
Yoo Ji-tae started unbuttoning his dress shirt.
"What're you doing? Showing off your bod?"
"......"
"Might as well take off your pants then."
This was the shirt the girls had picked for him.
He didn't want to soak it in filthy water.
"Yoo Yeoreum. You could afford to fail at 200 meters."
"Huh?"
"You could just drop polymorph if needed."
"Right."
"But you can't fail now. If you fail in the 500-meter section, your presence will be too big—it'll reach the bottom. Things'll get messy."
"So dropping polymorph causes problems? Still, I won't fail."
"No. You can't be so sure this time."
"What's there to fail at? I won't. I'm way more motivated than when I grabbed the 200-meter flag."
"Still, I'm coming with."
"No, no. It's fine. You don't need to help that much."
Then Yeoreum approached and started buttoning his loosened shirt.
"Stay here. You didn't tell me details about the sea so I'd be more desperate, right?"
"To a point. 500 meters will be way harder than you think."
"Ugh, I said it's fine."
Her fingers fumbled awkwardly—she'd never buttoned someone else's shirt before. Yeoreum slowly did it up, muttering, "Who'd hate this...?" before stepping back.
"Tch. If you didn't see, no harm done."
"......"
"Anyway, listen. That 200-meter dive? I could've gone way faster."
"Then?"
"But I went slow to scout the sea floor. I had margin. So the 500-meter flag'll be easier."
Why was Yeoreum rejecting his help?
Yoo Ji-tae knew.
Yeoreum fought to survive.
Before her outing, she'd been tossed around by others' whims forever. A late-bloomer talent's misfortune. Elder sisters wielding her life. Fate wielding her existence...
So on her outing, she wanted to achieve things herself.
To her, Yoo Ji-tae's kindness wasn't kindness.
It was pity tossed by the strong like charity.
It bordered on invading her pride.
That wasn't his intent. She probably knew. But sometimes, emotional lines trump reason. And Yoo Ji-tae found himself stopped before hers.
"It'll really be dangerous. Steel yourself."
"Aigoo, yes sir."
"Your body'll hurt. Your mind too."
"Got it. Yes."
"......"
"If you're that worried, how'd you plant flags deeper?"
Yeoreum laughed. Yoo Ji-tae fell silent.
Then she stripped off her tracksuit and tossed it aside.
"I can do it alone."
With those final words, Yeoreum dove into the water naked.
You haven't absorbed it yet.
This time, it really won't be easy.
Yet exactly 8 hours later.
Yeoreum crawled onto land.
Her body was a wreck.
Limbs broken. Her side torn open, ribs visible. Blood streamed from one eye down her cheek. She'd clawed her way up, staunching all wounds with mana. Even missing a finger.
She was literally covered in blood, utterly battered.
"Yeoreu... water... monster..."
Unable to finish, her body swayed.
Yoo Ji-tae rushed out and caught her as she collapsed.
Her whole body trembled violently. Skin ice-cold. Shallow breaths, eyelids fluttering.
"Hng... Ugh... Fuck..."
"Breathe, Yeoreum. Breathe."
"Ugh... Heuk..."
"Breathe!"
Only then did Yeoreum struggle to steady her shallow breaths.
He'd watched her in real-time. He'd nearly gone down countless times. The 500-meter stretch was riddled with dangers, yet Yeoreum endured them all.
It was astonishing. Even to a regressor.
Yoo Ji-tae looked around her.
Three times more mana clumps orbited her than at 200 meters.
"You did great."
"Did I... do good...?"
"Yeah. Really well. Amazing."
Amid shallow breaths, Yeoreum's lips curved up.
"Told you..."
She mustered her strength to raise her hand.
"I could... do it alone..."
A rag made of transparent cloth—once a flag.
It dangled from her hand. "Okay, got it. Don't move." As Yoo Ji-tae reached for it, her fingers were rigidly clenched, unyielding.
"Ha, but fuck... Black ones weren't enough... Transparent flag too... Not even human... Heh, heh heh..."
Yeoreum laughed weakly.
"Yoo Ji-tae, you devil bastard..."
Then she passed out.