Chapter 45
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: A Bond with a Small Root
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As Manager Kim approached the garden patch, he caught his breath.
“Hah… May I dig one up?”
“Go ahead. But be gentle. They should be napping around this time.”
“Hahaha. Napping? You have a fun sense of humor. Well then, I’ll start with the one with the biggest leaves… Ah, but before that.”
Manager Kim took out materials from his bag and spread them on the ground.
An endless stream of supplies poured out of the alchemist’s bag, which was filled with all sorts of components.
“I’ll first craft some defensive gear to prepare for the sonic attack. Hearing a Mandragora’s scream would be disastrous.”
His preparations complete, Manager Kim began to draw up his mana. The leaves in the garden patch twitched in response.
*What is this mana? It’s different from what we usually eat.*
Rustle, rustle. One Mandragora, overcome with curiosity, poked its head out. Manager Kim recoiled in horror.
‘G-Good heavens. It came out of the ground on its own. I’ve never heard of such a thing!’
Artificially cultivated Mandragoras spend their entire lives underground. They’re so severely malnourished that they don’t even have the strength to walk.
Having only seen such specimens, Manager Kim’s jaw dropped at the sight before him.
-Huuung?
-Hung, hung!
All five roots poked their heads out.
They were barely the size of his palm. But to Manager Kim, trapped by prejudice and preconceptions, they looked terrifying.
The Mandragoras hesitated before the mana swirling around them.
*Can we eat this? But something feels off.* The quality was different from the refined demonic energy they usually consumed.
-Huuung…!
*Investigate.* At the large one’s cry, the Mandragoras surrounded Manager Kim.
They spread their leaves in all directions and struck the ground with their fine roots to threaten him, blocking his escape.
The five roots began to circle Manager Kim, starting their inspection.
“Uh, ugh…”
Manager Kim’s face turned deathly pale. He was surrounded by five Mandragoras. If sonic attacks rained down from all sides, his internal organs would be turned to mush.
He looked back at Cheon Doun with pleading eyes. Cheon Doun sat in front of the house, unmoving.
The siblings, who had approached at some point, were also watching his battle from beside him.
‘I-I see. He wants to test my ability to handle this.’
He wasn’t a combat-type Awakened. If so, his only option was to quickly craft defensive gear and escape the sonic attacks.
Manager Kim pushed his mana output to its limit to speed up the crafting process.
That influenced the Mandragoras’ decision.
-Huuung…!
The quality was a bit low, but the quantity was high.
The one who chose quantity over quality was the skinny Mandragora from the human world. Having eaten nothing but junk food its whole life, it was less picky than the wild ones.
The skinny root took a step forward. It leaned its body forward and spread its leaves in all directions.
-Huuu… ung!
Nom, nom. The root began to absorb the mana.
The mana in the air was rapidly sucked in. The alchemical formulas floating in the void distorted and were absorbed by the Mandragora.
“Hup! What in the…!”
He had never seen any data suggesting Mandragoras could attack like this. Manager Kim was flustered, but he clenched his fists.
“I-I won’t lose!”
He had his pride as an A+-rank ability user.
Manager Kim revved up his mana hall, doubling the amount of mana he was putting out.
-Huuu…?
That provoked the metallic Mandragora.
Also from the human world, it too was accustomed to junk-food mana and approached without hesitation.
With this much mana, it was too good to pass up, even if the quality was a bit poor.
-Huuuhhh…!
Nom, nom. The second round of mana absorption began.
“Heuk, my, my strength…”
Thud. One of Manager Kim’s knees hit the ground. He gasped for air, looking at the Mandragoras.
A formidable enemy, the likes of which he had never faced. A life-or-death struggle with a monster, his first ever.
Cold sweat dripped down Manager Kim’s back. The teddy bear pajamas his niece had bought him were now soaked through.
Two of the roots had already started their meal.
The remaining three just circled Manager Kim, still observing.
They were three elite roots, raised on five-star hotel cuisine their entire lives.
They were hesitant to touch what was essentially street-stall food. Yet, they wavered, seeing their kin eating it.
-Huuung!
*Let’s try it and then decide.* The largest one made the call. It spread its thick roots and began a dignified meal.
Nom, nom. The third Mandragora’s mana absorption.
Ah, his strength was fading. Manager Kim’s other knee gave way and hit the ground.
“Hah, hah…!”
*Is this how I lose?* Manager Kim squeezed his eyes shut.
A wave of dizziness washed over him as mana was drained from his entire body.
Seeing the large Mandragora eat gave the smaller ones courage.
*Let’s eat too.* The roots each took their positions and puffed out their bellies.
-Hung, hung!
Nom, nom. The remaining two roots also surrounded Manager Kim and began to eat his mana.
Unable to hold on any longer, Manager Kim’s hands finally touched the ground.
“Keuk…! R-Run, sir. I… couldn’t… make… the shriek-resistant… gear…”
Thump. Manager Kim collapsed. After the fierce battle, his face was gaunt.
When he fell and the mana supply was cut off, the Mandragoras stopped their nom-noming.
-Huuung!
It was a decent snack. The cultivated Mandragoras patted their bellies with their fine roots.
The wild ones were different. The three roots paced around Manager Kim, then tilted their heads.
After a moment, they bent over as if to vomit.
-Bleeegh.
Drip, drip. A plant-like fluid poured from the Mandragoras’ mouths.
The mana from Manager Kim that they had just consumed had clumped together inside them and was now being expelled as a liquid.
-Ptooey.
After spitting out the very last drop, the wild ones wiped their mouths with their fine roots.
Their leaves drooped sullenly, as if they had eaten something unpleasant.
‘What is this… I don’t quite understand… but it’s humiliating.’
On the verge of losing consciousness, Manager Kim saw the vomiting Mandragoras and closed his eyes.
*This is my defeat.* With that final thought, Manager Kim fainted.
* * *
Manager Kim’s life-or-death struggle with the Mandragoras.
The siblings, who had witnessed the brutal clash, clapped and laughed.
“Oh my gosh. I’ve never seen a fight like that before!”
“I know, right? I’ll never forget today’s battle as long as I live.”
The siblings laughed for a long time, looking as though they had just seen something spectacular. As they laughed, a question arose.
“Doun, how did you end up raising those things? Seeing how much they eat, I can’t imagine it’s easy. Is there a story behind it?”
“No. Not really. I was just looking for something to plant in the garden and they came to mind…”
Cheon Doun’s voice trailed off. There was no special reason for planting the Mandragoras.
But as he spoke, an encounter from his childhood flashed through his mind.
“Was that a Mandragora?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“It just came to me. I think I might have run into a Mandragora when I was little.”
Cheon Doun tried to recall his childhood.
He was fourteen years old.
The researchers had begun full-scale experiments to see if the test subjects could survive beyond the Gate.
To live as a Chimera Hunter, one had to be able to survive inside a Gate for a minimum of five days, and up to ten days at most.
Ten days was the length of time A-rank Hunters could last inside a Gate.
Even among the chimeras, infused with monster cells, few could endure for that long.
[The detonation spell engraved on your body has been extended to ten days. Endure as long as you can. If you get a nosebleed or experience any other abnormal symptoms, return immediately.]
The researchers said as they handed each of them a return stone.
*Can they survive beyond the Gate on their own?* This was also part of that experiment, so the test subjects were sent to different locations.
When entering a Gate for the first time, one has no knowledge of the destination.
In other words, a random teleport. A wrong move could land you in the middle of the ocean or a volcanic region.
To prevent that, the coordinates for the first Gate were always set by someone.
[Go on, try and survive.]
The one who set Cheon Doun’s Gate coordinates was an instructor who looked down on him.
The instructor, who was in the middle of testing the Powder of Oblivion on Cheon Doun, reached his hand into the Gate and set the coordinates for his arrival.
The place he arrived at was the side of a mountain.
It was close to a high-altitude area, so the demonic energy was dense. The malice was evident in the choice of such a location.
[Nice view.]
Of course, Cheon Doun didn’t care. He liked the cool mountain breeze and the scenery.
‘Well, since I ended up on a mountain anyway, I might as well hit the summit before heading down.’
Cheon Doun began to climb the mountain as if he were on a stroll.
He entered a zone where even high-ranking Hunters would find it hard to breathe, but his expression remained light. How long had he been walking?
-Huuuhhh…
A faint groan came from nearby. The fallen leaves at his feet rustled and shifted.
As Cheon Doun approached, the movement stopped abruptly.
Something was holding its breath beneath the pile of leaves. Probably a small creature.
Since it wasn’t running away, he presumed it was severely injured.
Cheon Doun lifted the leaves.
[A root…?]
Huddled in the pile of leaves was a root the size of his palm.
It was a young Mandragora, but Cheon Doun didn’t recognize it.
He only began learning about medicinal herbs at the research institute after he turned fifteen.
At fourteen, Cheon Doun simply thought of the Mandragora as a plant-type monster.
[It’s been chewed up quite a bit. Pecked by a bird?]
The root looked like it had been gnawed on by a rat, with chunks missing here and there, as if attacked by another monster.
Its leaves were also torn and shredded, with only two remaining.
Cheon Doun picked up the root. The root freaked out and unleashed an all-out attack.
Tap. A fierce fine-root attack.
Cheon Doun scratched the finger that had been hit by the fine root and infused mana into the root.
-Hu, huuhh?
It let out a sound like air escaping a balloon. Its eyes widened as mana filled its weakened body.
He didn't know what this root was. But seeing it struggle to live, he couldn’t bring himself to leave it behind.
[You and I are in the same boat, left alone in a place like this. I’ll take care of you until it’s time to go back.]
Cheon Doun put the root in his pocket. He continuously infused mana into it with the hand that held it.
The root’s body quivered in response.
It didn’t have human-like intelligence, but it understood that Cheon Doun was being kind to it.
Inside the dark pocket, high-purity demonic energy was transferred into its body.
Feeling as if it were buried underground, the root felt safe and fell asleep.
* * *
Three days passed like that. The root recovered enough strength to walk on its own.
There were still some gouges here and there, but the flesh in those spots was filling in.
-Huuung!
On the fifth day, the root began to walk ahead, as if telling him to follow.
It would occasionally look back at Cheon Doun to make sure he was keeping up.
-Hung, hung!
If Cheon Doun got distracted by the scenery, it would tap its fine roots and make a sound.
*Young helper, what are you doing? Hurry up and follow.* Seeing its behavior, he chuckled and followed along.
[Alright, I’m coming.]
The place they arrived at was a narrow crevice formed by a split in a cliff.
The root went into the crevice. There was no way Cheon Doun could follow into a gap barely ten centimeters wide.
He waited outside, and the root walked back out.
It had something rolled up in its two remaining leaves, which it offered to Cheon Doun.
[Is this for me?]
-Huuung!
With a rustle, the leaves unfurled to reveal a red, fingernail-sized fruit.
[You want me to eat it?]
-Huuung!
[I heard fruits from plant-type monsters are poisonous.]
-Huuung!
They couldn’t communicate. But there was no reason not to accept what was offered.
Since he was immune to poison anyway, Cheon Doun took the fruit and ate it.
A sweet fragrance spread through his mouth. A refreshing sensation, unimaginable from a fingernail-sized fruit, slid down his throat.
[This is good.]
After he swallowed, the root went back into the crevice.
When it came out again and unfurled its leaves, fruits rolled out. This time, there were three.
[You want me to eat more?]
-Huuung!
[What, do you have a stash of fruits in there? Isn’t that your winter supply or something?]
-Huuung!
It didn’t understand what he was saying. They still couldn’t communicate.
Thinking this was the root’s way of showing gratitude, Cheon Doun accepted the fruits and ate them again.
Three fruits. Small, fingernail-sized berries. He tossed them all into his mouth at once, and the root’s eyes widened.
-Hu, huung…!
*Giant helper, you eat a lot.* The root went back into the crevice again.
*Just how much does it have stored away in there?*
Curious, Cheon Doun peeked into the crevice.
Inside was a space about thirty centimeters wide. Contrary to his expectation of a large pile of fruit, it was empty.
A dark, narrow space. The root swayed its body from side to side. Its two leaves also swayed left and right.
-Hu, huuuuhhhng…!
As the root trembled, a vast amount of mana gathered above its leaves. It compressed, and a red fruit grew like an inflating balloon.
Pop. A single fruit appeared.
Pop-pop-pop. Six more fruits grew and ripened in quick succession.
The root pulled them down with its leaves. Plink. It plucked the fruits, wiped them with its fine roots, and placed them on its leaves.
Seven in total. *This should be enough to fill the helper outside.* The root confidently exited the crevice.
Pretending he hadn’t seen anything, Cheon Doun leaned against the cliff. The root offered him the fruits rolled up in its leaves.
-Huuung!
*Giant helper, I shall feed you until you are full.* With that kind of spirit, the root puffed out its chubby belly.