Chapter 12
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 12
“They’ve completely hardened.”
Gio picked up a Mangdung Fruit he had left to dry in the cabin’s yard.
“…And they’re not even yellow anymore…”
The glossy, metallic sheen shimmered exactly like real gold. In size, weight, and shape, it looked just like a rough, ugly gold nugget.
“Since when did I start walking the path of an alchemist?”
It was fascinating how a plump, juicy red fruit had transformed like this.
“Is the color from the sunlight?”
The fruit, now hard enough to be ground into powder, no longer looked like food. Still, knowing it could be made into medicine, Gio tilted his head in thought but gathered all the dried fruits into a glass jar anyway.
Stepping inside the cabin, Gio sought the System’s help for the first time in a while.
“Looking for a knowledgeable friend to teach me how to make Blood Dumplings.”
[Alchemy Method: Grind the thoroughly dried fruit into powder, mix with Lulupu Juice to form a dough, shape into dumplings, and dry in a dark place for at least a week. This produces a medicine highly effective for treating bleeding and aiding recovery.]
“Ah, so there really was a knowledgeable friend right here. Guess I was right to be confident.”
Today’s project: making Blood Dumplings for bleeding recovery.
“Ta-da.”
Wasting time on productive work was incredibly enjoyable. For Gio, who loved making and growing things, tasks like this were no trouble at all.
Kneading dumplings in a sunlit cabin, living a life of leisure.
This was right up his alley. Gio headed to his studio with the ingredients.
“I’m not going to paint, but there’s no better place to work than here.”
The studio was so spacious that he could easily use the workbench as long as he avoided the paint. Gio placed all the ingredients on the workbench, which he had cleaned beforehand.
“…”
Having washed his hands, Gio hesitated.
“…Should I start by grinding it into powder, just like I do with pigments? Is that just the narrow-minded thinking of an art teacher who’s only ever handled art supplies? But even though it’s called a ‘dried fruit,’ it’s almost as hard as a mineral…”
A flicker of panic went through him, and Gio unconsciously toyed with the dried fruit. Surprisingly, a sense of peace washed over his mind and body.
“It’s warm.”
The forest, blessed with consecutive clear days, was always bathed in sunlight. Just as its cozy color suggested, the well-dried Mangdung Fruit radiated the warmth of the sun.
It wasn’t just a superficial heat on the skin; a subtle warmth seeped deep into his veins.
“So this is the power of sun-dried fruit… Incredible.”
Infused with that energy, his heart began to beat in a relaxed yet distinct rhythm, like taking a nap on a lazy afternoon. He felt a gentle, cozy sensation, like rolling around in blankets that smelled of fresh sunshine.
Bam—!!
Gio brought down a hammer.
“It’s harder than I thought.”
Crash, crack!
“Next time, instead of drying them whole like this…”
Crunch…
“Maybe I should grind them first and then dry them.”
Snap, pop.
“But then, it would be hard to lock in all the juice.”
With a dull thud, the fruit, which had been as hard as a mineral, finally shattered.
“…”
This should be enough.
Let’s put it in a mortar and grind it.
Gio nodded.
Gio was someone who made pigments out of all kinds of hard materials, from gems to shells. Naturally, his mortars often got scratched or broken, so he had prepared several spare ones.
Bringing over an exceptionally clean glass mortar, Gio began to grind the fruit.
Grind, grind.
“What on earth is this hardness…?”
Even though he had already broken it into small pieces, the sound it made as he ground it was unnerving. Am I really doing this right? No matter how he looked at it, it seemed he truly had Awakened as an alchemist.
Should I make a millstone later?
Judging by this insane hardness, perhaps he had dried them for too long.
“Maybe I let my guard down because ingredients in the forest don’t spoil.”
One of the characteristics of this forest was that no ingredients or crops ever withered or spoiled. The same went for cooking. A world where food never grew mold—it was practically every chef’s dream.
However, this fruit made him realize that this perfect state didn’t last forever. While the Mangdung Fruits left unattended for a long time didn’t spoil, they had continued to dry out, becoming excessively hard.
“…”
Did that actually make them hold onto more warmth?
…I’ll have to think about this some more. I won’t know what kind of results I’ll get from a specific method until I try it myself.
A cozy warmth, unfelt in ordinary fruits, radiated from the dried fruit. Recalling that they were just normally dried fruits about a week ago, there was definitely something unique about them.
Anyway, it was funny and pleasant. Now Gio could go around claiming he had transmuted gold.
“This should do.”
Rustle…
It was a moist powder.
“It looks just like snow.”
Specifically, the kind of snow that packs together well. It had clearly been dried to the absolute limit, so where was this subtle moisture coming from? Perhaps there was no moisture at all, and Gio was simply mistaken due to its strangely dense, powdery texture.
“…Hmm.”
Taking a tiny taste of the powder, a refreshing sensation spread through his body as a deep sweetness coated his tongue.
“…”
Gio blinked twice.
“…This would taste great in baked goods.”
In the past, when sugar was scarce, commoners reportedly ground wild chestnuts into powder to use instead of expensive sugar or strong-smelling honey. They said its nutty flavor and subtle sweetness paired well with various dishes, even being used to make crepes.
“No reason I can’t do it too.”
The powder of the Mangdung Fruit, fully ripened under the sun, had lost almost all of its original tartness, leaving only the rich, concentrated sweetness unique to dried fruit. Though the sweetness was intense, it also carried a clean, mild flavor reminiscent of grains or eggs. Since he hadn’t tasted this when eating the freshly picked Mangdung Fruits, he couldn’t help but wonder, Is this the taste of sunshine?
“The distinct fruit flavor might be too strong for savory meals, but it would go perfectly with sweet pastries like crepes topped with whipped cream or ricotta cheese, or even madeleines. It would also pair well with the refreshing lemon scent of Mangdung Fruits.”
They say a true glutton—or a "pig"—thinks about food while washing, eating, and sleeping. In that sense, Gio was definitely a pig.
“I should dry these in advance.”
The Mangdung Fruit, packed with pulp, was incredibly juicy. Drying it felt like trying to dry a piece of jelly the size of a large grape.
If I want to use this powder for cooking too…
It would be wise to dry them in large batches beforehand.
Since it will take quite some time.
Having turned all the fruits into powder, Gio lifted the glass jar.
“Since I might fail, I’ll store most of it away before trying. A person should always live with failure in mind. That’s the secret to longevity.”
He set aside only enough powder to make a sphere smaller than a marble from a stationery store. After putting away the rest of the Mangdung Fruit powder, Gio picked up the bottle next to it. Inside, something sloshed with the depth of a transparent milky way.
“…”
It was Lulupu Juice, made from the flowers of spring, which he had prepared a while ago.
“…Of course, it hasn’t spoiled…”
The Lulupu Juice inside the glass bottle resembled the spring water where its flowers had grown. Should he say it looked like water holding sunlight? Or perhaps like water infused with warm moonlight?
The Lulupu Juice, which had seemingly materialized the light it carried its entire life into its very essence, was far too profound to be described as mere glittery water.
…It really looks like the Milky Way. Is this what it would look like if the Milky Way were reflected on the shallow waters of the White Tree Spring?
Perhaps because it was so visually captivating, Gio stared at it for a long time before murmuring, “Beautiful.”
Gio dripped the Lulupu Juice onto the mortar filled with the finely ground powder. With just a few drops, the powder quickly became soaked, taking on a deep golden hue. Blending with the cool, refreshing blue of the Lulupu Juice, the powder took on a strangely chilly quality.
“…It looks like wet gold dust.”
After a moment’s thought, Gio kneaded the powder, then rolled it gently between his hands. Because his first attempt was cautious, it was very small, but a dumpling was formed nonetheless.
“…”
It looked just like a bead made of real gold.
“……?”
At this rate, shouldn’t it be called a Gold Dumpling instead of a Blood Dumpling?
“Well, whatever.”
Having gotten a feel for the powder’s moisture and the juice’s wetness, Gio began shaping the dumplings one by one. Thanks to his experience making hand-pulled dough soup and honey rice cakes at home, the dumplings turned out quite well. He managed to make fifteen dumplings in total.
“…”
Gio felt a brief sense of emptiness upon realizing that all the Mangdung Fruit powder he had painstakingly ground was gone. Life was bitter. There was a profound truth of existence hidden in this.
“…At least I have some juice left.”
Since the powder itself was already quite moist, he couldn’t use up all of the Lulupu Juice, which spread with absurd efficiency. In the end, he hadn’t even used half a bottle, consuming only about a third of it.
“What should I do with this?”
Just as he was pondering this…
“…”
“…”
“Uh…”
Gio locked eyes with a Water Bird perched on the studio windowsill.
“Uh, wait.”
Clack, clack, clack!!
“No!”
Splat—!!
The Lulupu Juice was stolen.
“…”
What was this?
The Water Bird had puffed up its body to the limit, wrapping itself entirely around the large glass bottle.
“……??”
Gio was dumbfounded by its greedy appearance, which looked just like a slime straight out of a video game.
“What are you going to do with that?”
It was amusing to see its stubby body trying to swallow a bottle three times its size, but he was genuinely curious about why it was doing this.
“You can’t even swallow the whole thing, so why are you being so aggressive?”
Clatter…
“It’s not a matter of being stubborn. I’m telling you, the glass bottle is bigger than your body.”
Clatter!
“See the bottle sticking out? Do you? I declare that you have the makings of a pig.”
Click!! Clack!!
“Such a clear click. What a novel piece of performance art. You really are my child.”
Mostly in the way it was so casually mind-boggling. Apparently, genetics could be passed down through paint these days.
“How do you plan to use that?”
He wondered what use a Water Bird could possibly have for it, but the bird squeezed itself right into the glass bottle as if to show off. In the blink of an eye, the Water Bird crumpled into the shape of the bottle.
“Huh?”
Just like that, the Water Bird fused with the Lulupu Juice.
“What in the…”
“Gurgle.”
“Did you just speak?”
“Kuruk.”
“You’re making sounds?”
Did you evolve?
“…”
Yep, you really are my child.
Nothing ever goes as expected.
When Gio held the bottle upside down and shook it, the Water Bird, which had been stubbornly clinging inside—perhaps out of pride—finally slid out.
Slurp, pop!
Splat—!
“…”
“…”
Having fallen with a cute sound like toy slime from a stationery store, the creature was sparkling, having fully absorbed the Lulupu Juice.
“…”
“Kuruk.”
It could make sounds, and above all…
“…It’s warm.”
He could feel warmth from it.
“How did this happen?”
“Kuru-ruk.”
“It’s absurd and amusing, but I have no idea what kind of magic this is. Life really is just a continuous stream of content.”
“Kurung.”
“Does drinking Lulupu Juice make animals evolve? Nothing happened when I took a sip. Is this discrimination?”
Perhaps the change was only possible because the Water Bird was a species born from Gio’s own hands. Logically, it should have been impossible for a creature whose entire body was made of water to make sounds as if it possessed vocal cords.
“Growing suddenly like this might not be good. I hope it’s not a harmful change.”
“Kuru-ru-ru-ru.”
“Well, if you say so, that’s a relief…”
Pondering life’s many absurdities, Gio soon accepted the situation.
It’s fun, so whatever.
Indeed. In truth, Gio didn’t have any deep thoughts about it. He successfully brought all his worrying to an end.
“Talking, flying water. Truly amazing.”
“Kuruk?”
“Your body color seems to have changed a bit too…”
Its once-transparent body had turned a pale yellow, like water mixed with gold dust. Perhaps because this Water Bird was one that frequently carried gems, its sparkling body was now filled with yellow, transparent jewels. They paired beautifully with the Lulupu Juice’s signature shimmer, which resembled sunlight and moonlight.
“Hmm.”
“With visibility like a yellow traffic sign, you’d be able to spot this even from a passing bullet train.”
Filled with brilliant, warm colors, this creature would definitely stand out from the others.
“Since you’re this eye-catching, I can give you a name.”
“Kuru-ru-rul?”
“Do you like that? Good.”
Gio spoke a moment later.
“Goldie…”
“…”
“Yeah, the moment I said it, I knew it was a bad idea. Your dad misspoke.”
It was the first time Gio had ever seen water look so dead serious. Even as a parent, there were things you should and shouldn’t say to your child. Naming him "Goldie" definitely fell into the latter category.
“…”
The Seo family had no talent for naming, a trait passed down through generations. He strained his brain, giving it some serious thought.
“Then… how about Honey?”
“Kuruk?”
“Because you’re a sweet color.”
The bird, bathed in a warm golden light, resembled sunlight or moonlight, but it also looked like rich, fragrant honey.
Gio stroked the golden bird, which had become slightly squishy yet firm, and said, “That’s the absolute limit of my naming skills.”
“Kuru-ruk.”
“You’re incredibly merciful for not hating it.”
Honestly, he thought the bird would hate being named Honey.
Maybe he doesn’t understand the meaning and doesn’t know what honey is.
The thought crossed his mind briefly, but if the bird liked it, who was he to complain? Gio watched Honey wriggle back into the glass bottle.
“Cute.”
Just watching him was healing.
“Like a cat squeezed into a box…”
“Grrrr.”
“Does your voice get crumpled along with your body? Even cuter.”
“Kyurung.”
“This is the epitome of cuteness.”
As Honey finally managed to squeeze his entire body into the glass bottle, Gio picked it up. The strangely lukewarm glass bottle was just the right size, feeling exactly like a hand warmer.
It smells sweet, too.
His mind grew blank, as if he were staring into a crackling campfire.
“Hmm.”
Staring quietly at the warm, pretty glass bottle that gave off a sweet aroma, a wave of drowsiness washed over him, reminiscent of sitting through a class after lunch on a spring day.
Eating and sleeping were a pig’s duties. And Honey seemed to agree.
“…”
Gio slipped the glass bottle inside his coat, leaving the opening uncovered.
“I’ll take that as agreement.”
“Kurung.”
The two of them fell asleep right then and there, slumped over like a pile of laundry.