Alchemy of Soul Devouring (2)
A hush fell over the spot where the spirit had been. Seo Tae-yun and Yun Ga-eun stared at each other.
"That wasn't just my imagination, right?"
"Are we hallucinating or something?"
"You saw it too, huh."
Yun Ga-eun let out a sigh of relief.
"It's not a hallucination. We didn't even touch it."
"Then what the hell...?"
The space where the spirit had hovered was now empty. In its place, faint black smoke curled lazily from Do-gyeol's palm.
"Forget that—Do-gyeol! You okay? What the heck did you just do?"
Yun Ga-eun grabbed Do-gyeol's hand in a panic, inspecting it closely. But his hand was perfectly fine.
"I don't really..."
Do-gyeol mumbled evasively. He was just as flustered. It had felt like a puzzle piece clicking perfectly into place, that was all.
'Yun Ga-eun's hand feels soft.'
No, not the time for that.
"Did you dispel it? How? How'd you do it so cleanly? Wait, no—not dispel, you sucked it in, right?"
Yun Ga-eun fired off questions. That spirit wasn't something you could just take down without backlash, yet it had vanished without a trace.
"Questions later. We need to move now."
Seo Tae-yun calmed her down and headed straight for the iron door.
"Yun Ga-eun. Like you said, it's safe to open now, right?"
"...Probably."
Her answer lacked confidence. She couldn't explain what had just happened, so it was understandable. Seo Tae-yun, on the other hand, didn't hesitate.
Creaaak.
The heavy iron door groaned open.
"No resistance at all. Looks like it's definitely gone."
His gaze turned to Do-gyeol.
'That guy... wasn't he supposed to be dead last?'
This was Cheongram for you. Or maybe Je-ryeong Class. No one was a pushover, not even the bottom rung.
'It really ended that quick.'
He'd been planning to bypass it due to the risks himself, but Do-gyeol had solved it with a casual rub of his palms.
'Instead of trusting my teammate, I doubted him first.'
Seo Tae-yun realized he needed to adjust his attitude as he quickened his pace. Yun Ga-eun shook off her daze and hurried after him.
Meanwhile, the chat window was in chaos.
'I didn't mean to absorb it either.'
What could he do? His body had reacted on instinct the moment it clicked perfectly. As Do-gyeol grumbled inwardly, Pi Yu-jun, who had been watching, narrowed his eyes.
'Look at this guy.'
During the entrance exam, he'd absorbed ambient yeong-ryeok. On the first day of school, he'd taken in Pi Yu-jun's own yeong-ryeok. And now... a spirit?
Spirits lacked barriers, making them easy to absorb, but they still carried their own murky wavelengths.
'Swallowed it raw without any refinement and he's fine?'
Was it insane digestive power, or instinctive wavelength synchronization? The latter would be an absurd talent.
'Even among high-rank sorcerers, barely anyone can sync wavelengths...'
No matter that it was just a spirit—this wasn't something you could chalk up to luck. Changing the wavelength of ownerless ambient yeong-ryeok was a whole different league from absorption.
If his guess was right, that was Sigyeong. True alchemy.
But handling it like that changed everything.
'Anyway, Team 1 just slashed their time thanks to Do-gyeol.'
They'd turned the biggest time sink into the shortest route.
No need for detours, trap disarming, or extra fights now.
'Kinda disappointing I didn't get to see Seo Tae-yun in action.'
It would've been a great learning moment for the team to observe him directly. But whatever. There'd be other chances, and in the end, he'd confirmed Do-gyeol's true worth.
Time passed, and all teams finished the test. The students' conditions varied wildly.
"Haaah! Haaah! Haaah!"
"Shut up!"
Kang Hak glared at his teammates, fists trembling. He'd poured everything in, teeth gritted, but the hallucination victim had caused massive delays.
Baek Seo-rin's team, meanwhile, was pristine. They'd bypassed the hallucination barrier entirely, a textbook clear. It took longer due to the detour, but zero casualties.
Still, first place went to Seo Tae-yun's Team 1. Unlike Team 3's detour, they'd charged straight through.
'Seo Tae-yun...'
Kang Hak clenched his fist tight.
Individual exam: Seo Tae-yun. Team exam: Seo Tae-yun again.
'What the hell is that guy's deal?'
He'd tried carrying his team, but got held back. How'd that guy snag first again—with a ticking time bomb no less?
Baek Seo-rin's expression hardened too. She'd been flawless: teamwork, stability, leadership. Zero flaws.
'And I still lost on speed?'
That meant Seo Tae-yun had shouldered the risk and gone straight in.
'No way they touched the barrier spirit. Was that even solvable?'
Both Kang Hak and Baek Seo-rin were dead certain Seo Tae-yun had found some hidden trick.
"Anyway, what about our class rank? Not even second this time? Congrats on third."
Baek Seo-rin's teasing jab got an instant reaction.
"Shut it! Blame the team, blame the team!"
"A competent leader drags even incompetents to victory. An incompetent one drags down even the talented. Perfect match."
Kang Hak's eyebrow twitched violently.
"Forgot the individual rankings already?"
"Oh, that 'intentional second'? Not claiming 'intentional third' today? Thanks if you threw it~"
"You little...!"
As Kang Hak exploded, Pi Yu-jun spoke up.
"Quiet."
He pulled the lollipop from his mouth and added,
"Good work, everyone. Tomorrow, we'll throw you into real combat based on today's rankings, so head to the dorms and rest up. Especially Team 1—don't get cocky."
Pi Yu-jun's gaze lingered on Do-gyeol.
"Don't wreck yourselves with some intense training. Tomorrow's not training—it's the real deal."
Do-gyeol flinched. It felt like he'd been caught taping his nose and mouth when alone.
'Ghostly intuition.'
"Hmm, feels like I ate something... but I'm still starving."
Back in the dorm, Do-gyeol rubbed his belly and flopped onto the bed. He was hungry. Not physically, but spiritually.
'If I hadn't tasted it, I wouldn't notice...'
Now that he'd filled up once, the emptiness deep in his dantian felt sharper. Along with a faint wriggling energy there.
'Couldn't even feel it with just ambient yeong-ryeok.'
Definitely different. Or rather...
"Hey."
Do-gyeol called out to the air.
"You scared me saying wavelength conversion was hard, but it was a breeze."
Do-gyeol grinned.
'Punks, caught bluffing so now they're buttering me up.'
Not bad, though.
"But during the entrance exam, you said ambient yeong-ryeok was fair game, right?"
"Why not?"
"Lv.1 me's grateful for scraps, but high-levels won't touch it, huh?"
Do-gyeol shrugged.
"Anyway, I'm a Sigyeong master now, right?"
"What's left? After wavelength shift is syncing, right? I already nailed that."
Do-gyeol's face hardened.
"Killing...?"
What they meant was simple. If free-floating moisture in the air was ambient yeong-ryeok, then moisture inside a body was internal yeong-ryeok.
"...Do I have to kill?"
Chilling stuff.
'Said bursting a dam was easy before...'
Not sucking alive, but killing first. That was Sigyeong's essence.
"Anagram?"
"How do I tell?"
Do-gyeol scratched his head.
"...Complicated."
Got the gist, though.
"TL;DR: 'Kill to eat easy, pick ones that suit your taste. Even if tasty, gorge and choke.' Right?"
Do-gyeol nodded—
Ding-dong.
The doorbell jolted him up. He opened the door to an unexpected face.
'Seo Tae-yun?'
He cut straight to it.
"Came to ask about what I saw today."
Seo Tae-yun's eyes were dead serious. He couldn't forget that moment—the spirit vanishing into a palm touch.
"Got a sec to talk?"
Do-gyeol blanked for a second, then grinned slyly.
'Perfect guinea pig walks in on his own.'
Guys good at yeong-ryeok control had tricky wavelengths, right? And this was Je-ryeong Class's top dog.
'Prime chance to practice up close.'
His eyes turned sly as he flung the door wide, gesturing inside.
"Come in and chat?"
Seo Tae-yun flinched back a step, face twisting oddly.
"...You into guys or what?"