Spirit Master (2)
Step by step.
The footsteps of six people on asphalt carried a lazy, unhurried rhythm.
Outskirts.
They were walking to the place where they would call for Pungjo. Summoning the divine beast waiting back at Eden Camp was simple enough—just send a letter through Park Du-shik of Midas’s Hand and tell Pungjo to fly to their usual meeting point.
After clearing the sixth and seventh floors back-to-back, Hyun Si-woon hadn’t felt the need to drill his members into a tight formation. He simply let them walk as they pleased.
“Hup… huu.”
Hwang Dae-un hummed under his breath, refining the breathing of the Mountain-Splitting Staff Art he’d newly learned, while Baek Yeon-ho shuffled along practicing his shield grip under Kenzo’s endless nagging.
Baek Do-hee and Kang Si-a followed quietly, talking between themselves.
And Jang Cha-yul.
She brought up the rear of the column with a translucent hologram window floating before her face, hammering at empty air with the dead-serious expression of a community forum ghost. Her fingers blurred so fast they nearly vanished—the textbook look of a terminal board-dweller.
A helpless smile tugged at her lips.
Right now the community was in full festival mode.
No—closer to total chaos.
And at the center of that chaos stood two words: spirits and the Pioneer.
Whoa. This is insane.
Among the posts, one had just gone up still steaming hot—straight from the Owl.
They already have intel?
She couldn’t help herself. She clicked it at once.
This interim analysis combines reports from numerous Ascenders with our guild’s independent investigation.
1. Estimated contract success rate: approximately 10%. (Sample: 127 new Ascenders; 13 successful contractors)
2. Hypothesis on contract eligibility: “Spirit Affinity”
The vast majority of those who failed reported no reaction whatsoever even when they approached the altar. This strongly suggests that contracts are not pure chance but require a specific qualification. We have provisionally identified this qualification as an innate talent we call “Spirit Affinity.” Only Ascenders with high affinity appear to receive a contract opportunity.
3. Special case: Dual-Attribute Spirit Master
Among the 13 successes, only one individual successfully contracted two lower-tier spirits of different attributes—fire and wind—at the same time. This is strong evidence that Spirit Affinity itself may possess attributes or grades.
*Additional information will be updated as it is confirmed.*
“Holy crap.”
The Owl was the Owl for a reason. How long had it even been, and they’d already scraped together a sample of a hundred twenty-seven people?
Comments started rolling in one after another.
And more besides. Scenes of every guild scrambling to recruit Spirit Masters with outrageous benefits. Threads dissecting the Pioneer’s identity. Every single post was pure entertainment.
On the Pioneer, three theories led the pack: that it was the foremost party, that it was EndSeeker, and that it was the Wandering Merchant.
Heh.
Jang Cha-yul had to bite down hard on her lip to keep from laughing out loud.
Not a single one of them is wrong.
All three pointed straight at the truth.
EndSeeker.
The Wandering Merchant.
And now, without question, the party at the absolute head of the climb.
Hyun Si-woon.
Their leader.
Pride swelled hot in her chest. No matter how loud the world got, only they knew the real answer. Was this what the Rothschilds had felt, quietly steering the old world economy from behind the curtain?
She had no desire to leave that circle.
From here on out, I just follow Si-woon.
She flicked the community window shut and quickened her pace to catch up.
Kuuuuung!
The massive form of Pungjo settled into the central clearing of Eden Camp.
It had been a long time since their return.
“Whoa…”
Hwang Dae-un was the first off, and a low whistle of awe escaped him.
“What the hell happened while we were gone? This place is a completely different neighborhood.”
He wasn’t wrong. Eden Camp had transformed beyond recognition in a little over a month.
It could still change this much?
The neatly partitioned farmland had expanded even further, and several new greenhouse tunnels stood packed with green crops. The livestock pens had grown into something resembling a proper ranch, and from a workshop that looked freshly built on one side of the yard came the rhythmic sound of pottery being thrown.
“Boss! You’re back!”
Park Du-shik came barreling out of the administrative building, his face full of respect and something close to awe.
“You must be exhausted! We’ve been waiting for you!”
“The camp’s changed a lot.”
At Si-woon’s praise, Park Du-shik’s shoulders rose with pride.
“Haha, right? The residents won’t stop singing the boss’s praises. They’re grateful for the solid foundation you laid down. Same goes for me. If I may give a brief report of our progress so far…”
As if he’d prepared for this exact moment, he opened a sheaf of documents and launched into his briefing—total TC reserves grown, lists of crafting materials bought for a song through market manipulation, new intelligence secured through collaboration with the Owl. A flawless intermediate report.
The rest of the party stood open-mouthed at the scale of the results. Si-woon merely nodded, calm as ever.
“Good work. Everyone rest well, and starting tomorrow we’ll—”
He never finished the sentence.
“Master!”
A clear, ringing voice carried from the training ground in the distance. Every head turned at once.
There, laughing as she played tag with a handful of other children, was a small girl.
Yoon Seo-a.
“Oh my…”
A soft gasp left Baek Do-hee’s lips.
This was not the frail, pale child from before. Healthy color bloomed in both cheeks. Her hair caught the sunlight. And above all, that pure, untroubled smile—flesh had filled out her once-stick-thin frame until she looked like any ordinary girl her age.
“Seo-a!”
Baek Do-hee cried out, voice thick with emotion, and ran to sweep the child into a fierce hug. The others watched with warm smiles of their own.
In a world this hellish, what could possibly be worth more than that child’s laughter?
“Master, welcome home!”
Yoon Seo-a left her game and trotted up to Si-woon, bowing neatly. She was so adorable that even Jang Cha-yul and Kang Si-a found themselves wearing involuntary motherly smiles.
Si-woon lightly ruffled her hair.
“Did you train hard while I was gone?”
“Yes! Every morning and evening without missing a single circulation!”
“Good. Show me how far you’ve come.”
At his words, Seo-a nodded shyly and picked up a small wooden sword resting at the edge of the training ground. Every eye fixed on her.
Just how much had this little girl grown?
She closed her eyes and settled into a full lotus seat.
“Suu… huu.”
She began to breathe in deep, steady measures.
Hwaaaaa…
Silver-white energy rose around her like heat haze. The pulse of power unfurling from that small body was anything but ordinary—pure yin energy without a speck of impurity. Fundamentally different from the rest of them, who had to take in turbid energy and refine it. This was the qi of Heavenly Yin itself.
— Huh.
Watching through the sword, Ha-wol caught her breath without meaning to.
The child’s energy did not stop. Past the first stage of the Moon Spirit Divine Art—Sense Qi—past the second stage of circulating energy through every meridian of the body—Flowing Water—she stepped onto the very threshold Si-woon had barely reached after months of grinding effort.
Heart Lake.
— She’s completely out of her mind.
One month.
In a little over a single month, this child had caught up to Si-woon’s realm. No—if you measured only purity of energy and depth of internal power, she had already left him far behind.
— That girl is a true monster.
“…”
Si-woon, too, found himself without words.
Deprivation? Jealousy?
No. Nothing like that. What he felt was closer to pure awe. And then, suddenly, he understood.
So this is what it feels like.
What Yeon-ho hyung and the others must feel when they looked at him. The wall of talent that no amount of effort seemed able to climb. The dizzying distance an ordinary person felt when facing a genius.
Strangely, it didn’t feel bad. A warm, almost aching pride filled a corner of his chest.
My disciple.
The child he had taken in. The child he was guiding. She was growing into a monster who would shatter the world’s common sense.
That alone was enough.
“You’ve seen the realm of Heart Lake, so it’s about time you started learning footwork and sword forms as well.”
“Really?”
Her round eyes went wide as full moons.
“Does that mean I can use a sword like you now, Master? What about the footwork? Can I fly through the sky and everything?”
She might, at that—if she truly reached the end of the Moon Spirit Divine Art.
“Yes. We’ll start tomorrow.”
“Yes, Master! I’ll work hard!”
Yoon Seo-a bounced on her feet, unable to contain her joy.
Bubble, bubble.
As warm water wrapped his body, muscles steeped in fatigue unspooled with something like a scream of relief. Si-woon leaned back against the tub and let out a long breath.
As expected.
Nothing beat a bath after a hard journey. Completely alone—Ha-wol herself tucked away in the inventory. An hour of half-body soaking later, he stepped out and stood before the liquor cabinet.
Click.
He opened the door, chose a decent bottle of whiskey, and poured. Golden liquid filled the glass with a clean, bright sound. Carry that to a soft sofa and sink into it?
That was pure paradise.
“Huu.”
His gaze settled on a point in empty air. One by one, the weapons he had acquired so far rose in his mind.
Sword. Spear. Shield. And bow.
What remained were blunt weapons and staves. According to plan, the blunt weapon would come on the eleventh floor, the staff on the thirteenth.
He examined their performances carefully. Every one of them had a highly specialized purpose. The Thunder Dragon Spear existed solely for that trump card, the summoning of Noe-je. The World Tree Shield was still a complete unknown beyond the fact that it had been made from a branch of Yggdrasil. And the Spirit King’s Covenant he’d just obtained? That bow, too, had nothing to do with archery skill—it was specialized purely for spirit summoning.
Maybe that’s a blessing.
Being able to pour everything into the sword alone. That was an enormous stroke of luck. He was no genius like Yoon Seo-a. He could not master everything at once to perfection.
The sword really is the best.
Most familiar. Most comfortable. Back in the EndSeeker days, right up through the thirtieth floor, his main character had always been a swordsman. Every other weapon had been nothing more than a tool to support the sword.
Starting tomorrow, I’ll take it slow and learn how to use the spirits too.
Gulp.
He swallowed a mouthful of whiskey. Heat slid down his throat and melted the last of the tension.
“Khh.”
Not bad at all—
Just as the thought formed:
Notice has been updated.
Please check the Community.
Hm?
A notice?
Si-woon’s hand froze. Every Tower system notice so far had pointed to one thing only.
An official event.
The first had been the Elite Ascender’s Weapon distribution event. The second had been the First Ascender Party formation event.
So what was it this time?
Si-woon opened the notice window at once.