Treasure Hunting
A few days after I had beaten down the spirit beast in the form of a fire dragon, my body felt recovered enough that I marked today as an auspicious day.
In the afternoon I gathered every guild member in the training hall and gave them firm instructions.
"I will be using the training room alone this afternoon. I must consume the spirit beast's inner core and make its energy my own, so the Left Protector and her older brother will stand guard at the back and front doors."
"…Her older brother?"
"What about me?"
"Hmph. Someone who has no intention of joining the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult? Go outside and kill some time."
"Heh heh, understood."
I watched Kim Jin-seong disappear out of the training hall with both hands raised, then stroked Lee Da-yeon's head.
"Don't feel too left out. Once I complete the Rebirth of Bone and Muscle, I'll make sure our Young Cult Leader gets her proper share as well."
"Mm, it's okay. I just want Ji-yeon to get stronger quickly."
"Heh heh. Truly worthy of being the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
Lee Da-yeon narrowed her eyes in pleasure under my hand. A fine child who even knew how to yield to others.
Kim Na-yeon looked at me with worry.
"How long do you think it'll take? It won't be dangerous, right?"
"A Level Upper taken from an Ancient Species. An item without precedent until now."
I understood the siblings' concern. Elixirs or inner cores that held such mighty energy demanded extreme caution and thorough preparation to consume.
The fire dragon's inner core was unmistakably extreme yang energy. Ordinarily one would take it together with something of extreme yin, like a ten-thousand-year snow ginseng, to neutralize the two, but—
"No need for useless fretting. Have I ever failed at something I set out to do?"
"Eating bean rice?"
"Ugh."
Na-yeon had struck a vital point. I folded my arms as though offended.
"Hmph. I know my own body best. Even food that's good for you can become poison to someone else."
"Beans don't contain any poison, though."
"Quiet! Anyway, I'm starting now, so clear out!"
The Left Protector talked too much. Yet it did seem this body truly rejected many foods. Starting with beans, even vegetables like broccoli and bell peppers tasted like deadly poison. In my previous life I had eaten fairly well, but had my palate changed along with my body?
It was an inconvenient body in many ways. The one redeeming feature was that sweet things went down easily. Eating sweets improved my mood.
Woom.
I raised my true energy and finished preparing to consume the inner core. Inner cores required no processing. Usually you simply swallowed them whole. Fortunately the fire dragon's core was a size even my small mouth could manage.
Gulp.
I swallowed it in one go and drew up my internal energy to protect my meridians.
"…!"
The signal came at once. Explosive fire energy began boiling over from my dantian. I immediately applied the subtle principles of the Natural Realm and drew yin energy from the atmosphere, neutralizing the yang energy until a growing body could endure it, carefully guiding the true energy so it would not shock my vital points.
A crystal condensed from decades of internal energy. An explosion of pure power. It soon united with the force already present in my body and began racing fiercely through my meridians.
First breath: Conception Vessel, Zhongji, Guanyuan, Shimen, Tanzhong.
Second breath: it seeped heavily along the Xinshu point.
Third breath: straight through Mingmen to Naohu and Baihui.
How long had I remained lost in that state of selflessness?
"Hoo."
I exhaled lightly. Residual fire energy that had not yet melted flowed out with the breath. As expected, the fire dragon's inner core contained terrifying power. Anyone else who ate it would be in clear danger; even if they succeeded in consuming it, they would absorb less than half.
I checked the state of my dantian at once.
"…Tsk."
I clicked my tongue. The quantity of internal energy itself had increased enormously. My dantian now surged with energy on the level of a peak expert. By hunter ranking, the mana volume alone would place me at A-class on the spot.
Even so.
"Only this much?"
I had no choice but to call a peerless inner core that could raise a second-rate martial artist to peak-expert level "only this much." Of course the fire dragon's core was a treasure rare even in the Central Plains, yet for me it was insufficient. To achieve Rebirth of Bone and Muscle I would need to consume at least one more core or elixir of this caliber.
I had anticipated as much to some degree. If simply consuming precious cores or elixirs produced transcendent masters by the handful, the Central Plains would have drowned in bloodbaths. Even if one gathered that much internal energy by gobbling spirit pills like meals, piercing the wall of the transcendent still required the process of gaining "enlightenment."
But I had no need to pierce that wall. I had already walked the path once. So I had thought internal energy alone would suffice—yet it was still lacking.
I had achieved explosive growth that would stagger the people of this era, yet I could only smack my lips in dissatisfaction.
"Got any more inner cores lying around?"
After the consumption was finished, three adults and I gathered in the office. Everyone was in the mood to celebrate my growth.
"How was it? Do you feel a lot stronger?"
"Mmm… I definitely got stronger, but."
"How much stronger have you become?"
"By hunter ranking, maybe A-class level."
"Hah…"
Kim Do-yoon's eyes went wide; Kim Jin-seong swallowed hard.
"A Level Upper that turns the lowest-grade hunter into an A-class in one go? So Ancient Species give those out? How much would that be worth?"
"The real problem is whether anyone can even kill an Ancient Species."
Na-yeon, who had been racking her brains over something, asked,
"Does Ji-yeon even need to build up mana in the first place? You can already handle the mana in the air."
"The body that forms the foundation has to grow stronger before I can use that power without strain."
This time Kim Jin-seong asked,
"Then once Heavenly Demon-nim has accumulated mana on the level of an S-class hunter, how strong will you become?"
"That technique I used to kill the Ancient Species? I could fire it off dozens of times in a row without getting tired."
Kim Jin-seong broke out in a cold sweat, then gave a wry laugh and shook his head.
"Hoo. I've decided to stop thinking about it."
"What? Giving up on being wary of my abilities?"
"…You noticed?"
"Of course I knew. You've been watching me with gleaming eyes since day one. It'd be stranger not to notice."
"At this point I can only hope Heavenly Demon-nim stays quiet and well-behaved."
"Hmm. But Kim Jin-seong Hunter, you're one of the Five Great Guild Masters of this country, aren't you? Is it all right to just leave a dangerous child like me alone?"
I smiled sweetly and probed his intentions. He merely smiled quietly back.
"By the way, this thing you brought me is really delicious."
Chomp chomp chomp.
I diligently spooned up the "strawberry parfait" Kim Jin-seong had bought.
"Mmm…"
I cupped my cheeks and savored the sweetness. It felt as though the sugar was striking my brain directly. My expression must have melted into pure bliss. Truly, one could call it the crystallized flavor this newly reborn little body demanded.
Kim Na-yeon grinned and said,
"I think I know why."
"Right? Heh heh."
"…?"
I tilted my head with the spoon still in my mouth. The three adults were wearing strangely fond smiles.
The parfait was gone in no time. Licking the spoon that had held strawberry parfait to soothe my regret, I began thinking about what to do next.
"I need more elixirs or inner cores."
Having tasted growth through elixirs, further training felt nothing but tedious. In my previous life I had trained to survive, but now I possessed the strength to obtain elixirs. There was no need to endure the harsh training of the days before I became Cult Leader.
High-grade information was always best known by those in high places. And right here sat the master of a prestigious guild.
I asked Kim Jin-seong at once.
"Are there any more things like Ancient Species in this country?"
"Now that Brontanis of the North has fallen, four species in total are still known to be dormant in the Republic of Korea."
"Oh. So there are four more similar ones?"
"…What are you planning to do?"
"Catch them and extract the cores to eat, of course."
"Absolutely not!"
Kim Jin-seong's eyes flew wide and he shook his head hard.
"Why?"
"To begin with, the conditions for reviving an Ancient Species aren't even known, and each one possesses different abilities. If something like that wakes up, it's dangerous."
"What about that red one?"
"Still under investigation, but it was a special case. At least it wasn't the sort of creature that would wake just because the neighborhood got a little noisy. I'm grateful that Heavenly Demon-nim defeated it, but…"
"I'll catch the rest too. I'm super strong."
"E-even so, no. As Guild Master of Suryong, I cannot permit anything that might endanger the citizens, even in the slightest."
"Is that so."
I understood his position. No matter how easily I could fell an Ancient Species, if I slipped while hunting one, the people of this country could be put at risk.
"Then instead, Kim Jin-seong, you go find me some of those Level Uppers. You've got tons of money, right? Master of one of the Five Great Guilds?"
"Ha, haha. …Our guild is large, but even a guild master can't just throw the guild's finances around however he likes."
"Stingy."
I grumbled. The so-called Nine Great Sects of the murim had been full of misers too; the Five Great Guilds of this world seemed no different.
"It's all because the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult has no money."
"Sorry about that."
Kim Do-yoon snickered with an expression that was not sorry in the least. I glared at him once, then began to think hard.
"Isn't there some way to gather enough money to buy Level Uppers? Or a way to obtain them myself."
"Well, I'm not sure how helpful this will be," Kim Jin-seong began.
"These days gate-detection systems are highly advanced, so hunter guilds run twenty-four-hour searches centered on the major cities. When a gate is found they either clear it themselves or sell the raid rights to other guilds."
"Mm. I heard the gate Unnie Na-yeon cleared last time was one of those."
"However, gates that appear deep in the mountains or remote regions are still difficult to detect. Stable gates mostly vanish naturally or stay dormant, which is fortunate, but unstable gates can break and spew monsters, so they're dangerous."
"Oh?"
I was starting to get the idea. Kim Do-yoon clapped his hands and chimed in.
"So you're saying we go look for gates ourselves?"
"Back when I was young, plenty of people searched that way, relying solely on a hunter's detection ability. Of course, decades ago manuals on gates were sorely lacking, so the casualties from lack of information were just as large. Even now the risks of clearing undetected gates remain the same."
"I've heard of it. They call it 'treasure hunting,' don't they?"
"Even now, parties formed by unaffiliated hunters are quite active. It's dangerous, but complete monopoly means the rewards are guaranteed."
Listening to Kim Do-yoon and Kim Jin-seong, I stood up.
"Good. We leave first thing tomorrow."
"…To where?"
Na-yeon asked with a blank look.
"To make money—to find gates!"