Extraction and the Taste of Dragon

I gazed down at the frozen corpse of Ignir and spoke the chant for my exclusive skill—Extraction—now so familiar it felt like second nature.

"Extraction."

Anxiety and massive expectation warred in my chest as I stared at the system messages floating before my eyes.

Please… no probability screwing me over this time…

I could only stare blankly at the system window that had appeared.

What the actual fuck…!?

All five skills were A-rank or higher. True to the name Material King, every single one was an absurdly high-grade skill.

With trembling fingers I tapped each skill and read the descriptions.

Dull Scales is a straight upgrade to the defensive mastery skill I already have, Hardened Skin. Dragon Fear is a debuff that inflicts pressure and terror on anyone weaker than me.

Honestly, I didn’t need Dull Scales or Dragon Fear. The remaining three, though—those were different.

Lesser Dragon’s Mana Heart… upon acquisition, mana recovery rate rises by 200% and every overall stat permanently increases by 3.

For someone like me who already had more skills than any other incarnation except Yoo Joonghyuk, this might be the single most necessary skill I could get.

And the rate isn’t even that bad. I’ll keep this one as a candidate for now…

My eyes dropped lower and locked onto Flame of Destruction.

I never thought this would even show up on the list…

Lesser Dragon Ignir’s wide-area skill, Flame of Destruction.

I didn’t have a single powerful finishing move like Lee Hyunsung’s Mountain Crusher or Lee Gilyoung’s Insect King Swarm. If I could obtain this, it would be the best possible choice.

Calm down… it’s the only S-rank among the five, but the success rate is a pathetic 15%.

Extraction’s skill level had risen, so I now had two extraction attempts. Still, spinning the gacha on the 45% Mana Heart was clearly the smarter play than gambling on 15%.

Haa, but still… an AoE skill—a dragon’s breath, no less—and only 15%? Isn’t that basically free money…?

My head was getting complicated. Two weeks—fourteen straight days—of gacha abstinence had pushed my addiction to the breaking point, and now it was throwing a tantrum.

"Haa… haa…! Haa…!! Haa…!!!"

My chest tightened. Breathing became difficult; hyperventilation felt only moments away. Until now I had been soothing the craving with the proxy satisfaction of skill extraction, but even that had reached its limit.

"C-calm down… hoooo… haaaa… hoooo… haaaa."

I forced myself to remember the days I had done average returns and pity pulls in FGO, Nikke, Blue Archive, Star Rail, Genshin, Reverse: 1999, and Limbus Company, and took slow, deliberate breaths.

"Hoooo… good."

Finally, I was calm again.

With steady eyes and a steady heart I examined the last skill, Fire Dragon’s Blessing.

Immunity to flame attacks of A-rank or lower, and eating fire restores health…?

……Isn’t this just Fairy Tail’s Dragon Slayer Mage?

"Oh…… damn."

I started imagining what would happen if I obtained this skill.

Me pressing my face to a campfire and inhaling the flames through my nose.

Me eating fire instead of rice.

Me deliberately taunting enemies who used fire skills, swallowing their flames whole, and laughing at their horrified faces.

And so on.

"……………."

It was ridiculously stupid, yet somehow incredibly cool. For some reason I suddenly wanted this skill.

You know the feeling, right? The truly brain-dead idea that somehow becomes even more desirable precisely because it’s brain-dead.

That stupid-yet-irresistible desire began to grow.

No, no, no… right now it’s Mana Heart and Flame of Destruction.

I forcibly suppressed the gacha urge boiling inside me and placed my hand on Mana Heart.

"I choose 「Lesser Dragon’s Mana Heart」."

"Yeah."

"Hell yeah!!"

Having won the 45% gamble, I clenched my fist and shouted as dopamine flooded my brain. Startled voices rose from my companions and the two prophets behind me, but I ignored them completely.

"Ohhh, yesss!! This is why we spin the gacha! Skill Extraction—「Flame of Destruction」!"

I surrendered completely to the dopamine and immediately challenged the Flame of Destruction gacha.

I nodded with a grim expression.

I stared blankly at the system messages. Then the dopamine boiling up from deep in my chest made me throw both arms into the air and scream.

"I-IT DROPPEDDDD!!!"

"…Jinwoo-ssi has been like that for a while. Do you think he took a serious head injury while fighting the Material King?"

"Leave that human alone. Let’s keep looking for useful items."

Jung Heewon and Kim Dokja’s voices drifted from behind me, but I had no attention to spare for them right now.

"Kheuheuheu…!"

Ah, this overflowing dopamine. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my whole body; goosebumps raced down my arms. I was so happy I thought tears might actually fall.

"Thank you, my pretty one."

I had thought just securing Mana Heart would already be a win. I never expected to get Flame of Destruction as well…

Today was clearly my lucky day.

The Imuntar Talisman I was about to receive, the dragon meat, bones and scales, the 5th-grade Fire Dragon core, two skills—and most importantly, Kim Dokja’s nude photo.

"Today’s haul is looking great~ ‘Byproduct Extraction’."

"Hm?"

The core, scales, bones, and meat were expected, but the Fire Dragon Eyeball and Ignir’s Skull were first-time byproducts.

Checking the item descriptions, the skull was simply an expensive and rare decorative item, while the eyeball contained the Fire Dragon’s mana—so it probably had some use somewhere.

"Oh… I’ll just decorate both of these in my My Room."

I would put both on display in my My Room.

Originally I should have obtained two Fire Dragon Eyeballs, but during the fight I had burst one of Ignir’s eyes with Gleipnir, so only one dropped.

A little disappointing, but getting even one was still a win. And now came the real highlight.

"Finally, the moment has arrived…."

With a solemn expression I dramatically pulled out the Magic Hearth that had been sitting in a corner of my My Room.

Then I purchased a barbecue skewer from the general store, followed by green onion, pickled radish, bell pepper, water, soap, and a kitchen knife.

Because reward settlement was delayed, the Hidden Scenario still hadn’t been cleared, so I couldn’t enter My Room. I opened the water bottle right here and thoroughly washed my hands.

The foundation of cooking is always cleanliness. Never forget that.

Now it was time to take out a piece of dragon meat.

I pulled out one of the Fire Dragon Meat pieces that had been automatically stored in My Room after extraction. The single chunk was the size of a human torso.

"Wh-whoa…?!"

I frantically caught the dragon meat plummeting from mid-air toward the floor and let out a sigh of relief.

Because the piece was far too large, I used the kitchen knife to cut it down to a reasonable size.

Chop! Chop! Chop!

Next I sliced the green onion, pickled radish, and bell pepper into suitable pieces as well.

Chop! Chop! Chop!

Six people remained at Anguk Station: me, Kim Dokja, Jung Heewon, Lee Hyunsung, Jung Minseob, and Lee Seongguk.

I carefully threaded dragon meat, green onion, dragon meat, pickled radish, dragon meat, and bell pepper onto the barbecue skewer in that order, then lit the Magic Hearth and placed the finished skewer over the flame.

Sizzle—!

"Mmm. That delicious smell is already wafting out."

An incredibly appetizing aroma rose from the dragon meat and other ingredients roasting on the Magic Hearth.

After only ten seconds of cooking, one barbecue skewer was complete.

"As expected of the Magic Hearth—performance you can trust."

If something like the Magic Hearth had existed in the modern world, cooking or grilling meat would never have taken so much time.

Enough idle talk. Time to eat the barbecue.

"Thanks for the meal——!"

A drop of drool escaped at the scent of the perfectly cooked dragon meat, but I ignored it and took a hearty bite.

"Eup—!?"

Th-this taste?!

I-it’s insanely delicious! Absolutely incredible! Ignir’s body had been so massive and muscular that I had worried the meat would be tough, chewy, or reek of game even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠after grilling…

There had been no need to worry at all.

On the contrary, the texture was perfectly tender. There was not a single trace of gamey smell. The more I chewed, the more the juices spread, and perhaps because it was a Fire Dragon species, a faint spicy kick mixed in as well.

"Chew, chew…."

Delicious. Truly delicious…. The fact that I was only now tasting meat like this made me both deeply sad and deeply grateful. I was so glad I could eat it even at this late stage.

Gulp.

I chewed the last piece of dragon meat and swallowed. It went down cleanly, without any greasiness.

This Fire Dragon meat was incomparable to every other meat I had eaten so far—mole crickets, grolls, T-Rex. A single tear rolled from my eye.

I slowly raised my head and spoke with complete sincerity.

"Exquisite…."

"I really wonder what’s going on inside that guy’s head…. Wanting to cook like that in a place this ruined."

Kim Dokja muttered something full of questions behind me, but I ignored her and continued demolishing the barbecue.

"But the smell is so good I’m suddenly getting hungry…?"

"I-I feel the same. Representative, can’t we just go over and ask for one bite?"

"That’s right… it’s been so long since I ate high-grade meat like that that it’s even harder to hold back…."

Jung Heewon, Jung Minseob, and Lee Seongguk all turned sparkling eyes on Kim Dokja. Faced with the three of them, Kim Dokja unconsciously took a step backward.

I was quietly watching my companions’ amusing reactions when Bihyung’s voice suddenly rang inside my head.

I looked up at empty air with eyes full of questions.

Zzzt!

The moment Bihyung’s voice vanished from my head, sparks crackled in the air and a mid-rank dokkaebi popped out.

【There was a bit of friction, so reward settlement was delayed. My apologies.】

The mid-rank dokkaebi looked us over from mid-air and spoke in a blunt voice.

【Though late, I will now distribute the rewards.】

Finally I can go back in.

I smiled inwardly at the message that the penalty had been lifted because we had successfully completed the Hidden Scenario.

Behind me my companions also seemed to have received decent rewards; delighted voices rose.

Then the mid-rank dokkaebi continued speaking.

【However, thanks to all of you working so hard, a small problem has arisen with the scenario.】

While speaking, the mid-rank dokkaebi shot pointed glances at me and Kim Dokja.

【After discussion with the Bureau, it was decided that the average capability of the incarnations in this region is no longer suitable for the scenario difficulty. Therefore, by my own discretionary judgment, I am adjusting the difficulty of this region. This is an official notice.】

The corners of the mid-rank dokkaebi’s mouth, looking down at Kim Dokja and me, curled upward in a peculiar way.

When I turned around, Kim Dokja’s expression had hardened. The rest of the party’s faces had also visibly stiffened.

I looked back up at the empty air where the mid-rank dokkaebi had been, but it had already vanished.

"What a classless bastard. If you’re going to emergency-patch, at least give the minimum compensation. Absolute garbage management."

No business ethics whatsoever.

I stuffed the remaining barbecue into my mouth, stood up, gathered the Magic Hearth and leftover skewers, and moved over beside Kim Dokja.

Kim Dokja briefly surveyed the companions staring blankly at her, then asked Jung Minseob,

"Who did you say currently holds Changshin Station?"

"Th-the Tyrant King."

Hearing Jung Minseob’s answer, Kim Dokja sighed and said,

"Everyone, let’s head back to Chungmuro for now."

"Ah, wait a second, Dokja-ssi."

"Yes?"

I sighed and stopped Kim Dokja, who was already preparing to return to Chungmuro.

Then I pressed a deliciously grilled barbecue skewer into each companion’s hand.

"Jinwoo-ssi, I’m truly grateful for the food, but right now we don’t have time…."

"Dokja-ssi."

I called Kim Dokja’s name with a rare serious expression.

"Actually, I have one request for you, Kim Dokja-ssi."

"A request? What kind of request would make you put on such a rare serious face…."

Kim Dokja looked at me with slightly flustered eyes at my unusually solemn expression.

I met her gaze and slowly opened my mouth.

"I would like you to expel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me from the Chungmuro group."

"……What?"