The Factory of Heat and Frost

The pain crushing his aura made his hands tremble.

Raon clenched his fists and forced his eyes shut.

This energy is viciously strong.

The Ocean Spirit Flower, said to bloom from the gathered life force of the sea, and the inner core of the Ghost Jellyfish that had grown by devouring that flower's energy—both held an immense concentration of power. If the Ocean Spirit Flower's leaf hadn't cushioned the clash between those two forces, a considerable number of his mana circuits might well have ruptured.

Was this a bit too much?

Absorbing the Ocean Spirit Flower alone would have been overwhelming. Swallowing the Ghost Jellyfish's inner core on top of it might have been overdoing things.

No.

This was the right way. The Ghost Jellyfish's inner core was poison itself. Eating that alone could be dangerous even for him as he was now. He had to use the Ocean Spirit Flower and its leaf to purge the toxins and take in only the pure mana.

A deep hum rolled through him. While he was still settling his thoughts, the Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom collided once more inside his mana circuits.

A detonation like a cannon going off erupted at the center of his body—right at the solar plexus, where every mana circuit in him converged. The pain of a sledgehammer slamming into the region around his heart shattered his concentration.

I should have eaten one more leaf.

A single leaf had not been enough of a buffer. Even if he had taken another, though, it probably would not have made much difference. What was done was done. He had to resolve this as he was.

He drove the Ring of Fire to its extreme. The seven rings whirling around his heart rang with a clear, crystalline resonance, dulling the agony in both body and mind as they crushed down on the Ocean Spirit Flower's tremendous power and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom.

I have to move now.

Even the Ring of Fire could not keep suppressing energies this vast forever. The elixir and the inner core had gone still. This was the moment to proceed as planned.

Raon bit down on his lip and drew up the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia at the same time. Heat and frost burst from his aura core and raced along his mana circuits.

Ghh—

His circuits were already inflamed, and the pain was savage, but he clenched his teeth and endured it. This was not the time to stop for something as trivial as pain. This was the time to push forward.

He used the heat of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames to pin down the venom in the inner core. Poison had always been weak to fire. The Ghost Jellyfish's venom began to flee, trying to escape the flames.

And on this side…

The Ocean Spirit Flower was composed mostly of high-purity natural mana, and of that, the water attribute made up the greatest share. He used Glacia's frost to draw the flower's energy along.

Kh…

The two energies began to travel his mana circuits, following the currents of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia. They were so immense that every time they shifted, a dizzying spike of pain lanced through his skull.

Raon swallowed dryly.

This might actually kill me.

Running the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia together was already a strain. Guiding the Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom on top of that was worse. He had no choice. This was the best method he had for absorbing both.

He seized every scrap of the mana-control the Ring of Fire afforded him and hauled the Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom toward his aura core.

The two forces stopped in the circuit just short of the core and thrashed like children refusing to listen. The path clogged. His mana circuits swelled as if they were about to burst.

Kh!

Rough as this was, it was still manageable. Raon wrenched up every last drop of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia. His circuits ballooned until they seemed ready to tear, but he trusted the hardness of his body and mind and kept his aura moving.

Cold sweat ran down his spine under a pain that crushed both flesh and spirit. He bit through his lip and spun his aura to its limit, shoving the Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom into his aura core.

A roar like a cliff face collapsing exploded inside him. It was not imagination. Shock after shock slammed through his entire body, as if stone shards were raining down on him from within.

Filthy, stubborn things…

His head was still ringing from the surge a moment ago. He had never encountered an energy that drained his strength and stamina this thoroughly.

But I'm holding.

He would not lose to an elixir. He had taken his revenge on Matio, Cosini, and Lisbon. He had torn himself free of Derus Robert's grip. He was not about to drop to his knees for a pair of spiritual medicines.

Raon clenched his fists until the knuckles went white and dragged his shattered focus back together. He wrung the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia down to the last grain of aura and drove the Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom into his aura core.

A majestic sound, as if thousands of drums had been struck at once, rolled through him—and the two energies plunged into the core.

Got them.

At last both forces were inside. They had not followed a proper current, though, so neither had become the heat of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames nor the frost of Glacia.

The moment those two interfering currents vanished, the Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom bared their teeth and lunged at each other.

They collided, and his aura core swelled as if it would split. The pain was enough to tear a scream from him—yet a smile rose to his lips.

Because I can make all of this mana mine.

The Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom were nearly equal in strength. When two forces like that collided, a great deal of aura was naturally lost and dissipated.

Except…

The place they were fighting was his aura core. Because they were colliding inside it, the mana that should have vanished was becoming his own energy instead. In other words, if he could simply endure the pain, the two forces would crash together and manufacture pure mana for him all on their own.

All I have to do is turn that into the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia.

It was no different from building a high-purity aura generator inside his own core. A laugh slipped out of him unbidden.

"You're a madman. This King knew your skull was stuffed with pasta noodles instead of a brain, but even This King did not expect this…"

Wrath's cracked voice scraped through his mind.

"Most people, even if they knew this method, would never actually do it."

"Why not?"

"Because it hurts like hell! You're going to sit there and keep taking pain that's no different from torture?"

"I can handle this much."

Perhaps it was because of the previous life in which he had been tortured for days on end. Pain of this degree was bearable.

The Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom slammed together again and shook him to his bones. The energies had diminished, so the pain was less than before.

"Hah…"

Wrath let out a breath of pure disbelief and muttered that he could not understand it.

Raon left him there and sank his attention into the motion of his aura core. The Ocean Spirit Flower's energy and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom hurled themselves at each other with everything they had, and vast mana bloomed from the impact. He guided that mana along the currents of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia, forging it into heat and frost of the highest purity.

The strengthened auras of flame and frost pressed in again, forcing the two original energies to collide once more. They crashed. Pure mana bloomed. That mana was transmuted into heat and frost. The factory that produced the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia was complete.

That's it.

Raon orchestrated the enormous currents running through his entire body and slipped into a deep visualization.

"Again? You're going in again?"

Wrath shrieked at the sight of Raon falling into a state of hyper-focus.

"Is the State of Self-Absorption the master bedroom of your house?! You just waltz in whenever you're bored, is that it?!"

Dorian looked back at Raon sitting with his eyes closed and clicked his tongue.

I-is he all right?

Patches of Raon's body swelled like balloons and then subsided, over and over. It was uncomfortably like watching a frog's or a toad's belly inflate.

And yet…

Every time his body ballooned, the energy Raon possessed grew stronger. He looked like he was suffering, but there was no question he was absorbing the elixirs.

What a strange person.

He had said he was just going off to play for a while, and then he had come back with an Ocean Spirit Flower that not even one of the Five Great Merchant Guilds could obtain—and on top of that, the inner core of a spiritual beast whose scent alone seemed poisonous enough to kill a man. The vessel itself was enormous.

The strangest part was that he gave me a leaf of the Ocean Spirit Flower.

Raon had handed him a leaf of the Ocean Spirit Flower, something that could not be bought for a fortune in gold. And not for any special reason—simply because Dorian had trained hard, and that had pleased him.

I still can't understand him.

Dorian had known him since they were twelve, and even now Raon was an unknown box he could not quite open. The more layers he peeled back, the more different faces appeared. There was no getting used to it.

At first I thought we were the same.

When he had heard Raon Zieghart's background, he had thought they were alike. Both of them had been ignored and mistreated by their own families.

But the paths we took were different.

Unlike Dorian, who had fled his merchant guild, Raon had not backed down. He had met his house head-on. He had stacked up his skill piece by piece until everyone acknowledged him. The only people in the family who still disliked Raon now were the direct-line heirs.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

That's why I found the courage.

Having watched that Raon from closer than anyone, Dorian had been able to find the courage to return to his guild. In a way, the man was the benefactor who had changed his life.

Thank you.

Dorian bowed his head with grave courtesy toward Raon, who sat with his eyes closed in cultivation. He adjusted his grip on his sword and smiled.

Even if the Vice Leader thinks of me as nothing but a wallet…

I will protect him to the end.

Dorian made the vow and turned around. High above his head, a flying squirrel watched Raon in silence.

The sun set. The sun rose. The sun set again, and night returned.

Raon's shoulder, which had been still as a statue, gave a single shudder—and his body lifted into the air by about the height of a fist.

"Uh…?"

Dorian's mouth fell open.

"R-Raon, sir!"

He started toward him in a panic. A flying squirrel shot out of nowhere and bit his hand.

"Aaaagh! What is this?!"

Dorian shook his hand, trying to fling it off, but the flying squirrel clamped down and would not let go.

"Kiiik!"

It did not flee. It planted itself desperately in Dorian's path and barred the way.

"Ugh!"

Giving up, Dorian approached Raon with the flying squirrel still perched on his hand. The instant he reached out, the surrounding mana whipped into a storm and poured into Raon's body.

A deep, rolling hum filled the air. Auspicious red light and blue light flickered over Raon's entire frame, and only then did he settle back to the ground.

His eyes opened. A dense golden radiance exploded from his pupils.

"Y-Young Master?"

Startled into the old form of address, Dorian hurried closer. He was so shaken he did not even notice that the flying squirrel had vanished.

"A-are you all right?"

"I am. I'm in the best condition of my life."

Raon lifted his head and smiled.

"Um…"

"What is it?"

"A moment ago you were floating in the air…"

"Hm?"

He tilted his head as if he had no idea what Dorian was talking about.

"You were floating about this high, I swear."

Dorian held his hand up to show how far off the ground Raon had been.

"The first thing out of your mouth after I wake up is nonsense."

"It's true!"

"Hah. Jokes are—wait."

Raon frowned at him.

"You still haven't washed?"

"Washed?"

"Waste products came pouring out of your body. What have you been doing instead of washing?"

"What? You told me to stand guard!"

Dorian's mouth dropped open. Raon had asked him to protect him, and now this?

"You should have had the sense to wash in between."

"Th-that doesn't even—hah."

Here we go again.

The moment he woke up he started talking nonsense. That settled it. This was definitely Raon.

"I'll be right back."

Dorian shook his head and started toward Motrun City, where the inn was.

"No need to go to the inn. There's a valley over there."

Raon pointed west, into the forest.

"There's a valley over there?"

"There is."

"I can't see anything. I can't hear anything, either…"

"Keep going. You'll find clear water."

"How would you know that?"

Raon smiled and shrugged.

"I just do."

Raon sent Dorian off toward the valley and looked down at his own hands.

Upper Master.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠martial arts he had stacked up until now had been ordered and refined through his cultivation, and he had risen to Upper Master. He had not merely scraped over the wall. He had taken a long, solid stride beyond it.

The fact that he had known the valley's location without even spreading his perception wide was because every one of his senses had climbed dramatically.

Stranger still, energy from the Ocean Spirit Flower and the Ghost Jellyfish's venom remained in his body, not yet fully absorbed. Those remnants would be taken in slowly while he slept, through the power of Sloth.

Now then…

He clenched his fist, about to draw up his aura—and a message rose before his eyes.

The first messages announced that the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames had reached 5-star. True to the words, the heat inside his body felt a notch hotter than before.

This time it was Glacia's rank that had risen. Attribute affinity and resistance had climbed along with it. And still the messages were not finished.

The feast of messages rising without end left him barely able to collect his thoughts.

"W-what is this?"

Wrath's mouth fell open as he stared at the messages packed from head to toe.

"You're giving him too much! Why would you raise that many stats and traits?!"

He raked at the messages with his round little hands, insisting it made no sense.

"It all just burst at once. There haven't been any messages for a while."

Aside from recently earning the Sensory Veil of Frost Flowers by his own power, there had been no increases in stats or trait ranks. The experience that had piled up and piled up had fused with this high-purity mana and detonated all at once.

"The thing detonating is This King's patience!"

Wrath ground his teeth and told him to stop talking nonsense.

"How much more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠does This King have to be sucked dry before this hell ends?! Twenty stat points! That is not a ladle—they are scooping it out with a whole basin!"

He wailed that at this rate he would be left with nothing but bones and hide.

"Hrm…"

Raon pushed aside the cotton-candy ball that was growling like a puppy and called up his status window for the first time in a long while.

The moment he saw it, his mouth fell open on its own.

Every stat is over three hundred?

Even accounting for the twenty points he had just gained, that meant he had already been over three hundred before this. No wonder he had overwhelmed the Beast Alliance—the strongest physique among the Six Kings—with raw power.

Strength and agility are astonishing, but Energy is even more absurd.

Perhaps because he had swallowed two elixirs, the Energy stat had grown enough to catch the Perception stat that had been sitting well above it.

Is that only natural?

Considering the aura that now packed an aura core expanded once more upon reaching Upper Master, it was not that strange.

I feel like I could do anything right now.

He did not think he would lose even against a martial artist who had reached Master - Peak. No—so long as it was not a Grandmaster, he was confident he could win against anyone.

"What is it?!"

Wrath lunged in and pounded on his shoulder like a drum.

"What is so shocking?! Spit it out!"

He ground his teeth and demanded an answer at once.

"Every stat broke three hundred."

It was true that the higher a stat climbed, the less efficient each additional point became—but once they passed three hundred, they had left the physical capabilities a human being could display far behind. He felt as if he could beat a Low-rank Master without using aura at all.

"Th-three hundred…"

Wrath dropped to the ground like a balloon with the air let out of it.

"This King's stats, three hundred of them. Three hundred… three…"

He mumbled the word three over and over, then foamed at the mouth and let his head loll.

"Hrm…"

The actual numbers were in the mid-three-hundreds, but Raon said nothing further, afraid Wrath might not wake up at all.

The best possible result.

He had taken his revenge on Matio, Cosini, and Lisbon. He had claimed the elixirs Derus Robert would never be allowed to have. And his martial power had grown by a massive margin. It was the finest outcome, far beyond the original plan.

Raon was smiling in satisfaction when Dorian came up, toweling off his hair.

"There really was a valley. The undergrowth was so thick I couldn't even hear the water."

He grinned, saying the water had been wonderfully clear.

All that's left now is that one's business.

The only thing remaining was to go to the Sepia Merchant Guild, Dorian's family, and sweep away everyone who had looked down on him.

"You're packed and ready to leave?"

"Of course. I finished everything in advance, since I didn't know when you'd wake up."

Dorian nodded, looking sure of himself.

"Then let's go devour the Sepia Merchant Guild."

"…Excuse me? D-devour what?"

"Ah. Poor choice of words. Let's go to the Sepia Merchant Guild."

Raon gave an awkward laugh and shook his head.

"No, just now you said you were going to eat the Sepia Merchant Guild…"

"You're imagining it. Imagining it. Let's go."

He waved a hand, saying they would sleep at the inn tonight and set out tomorrow.

"Uh…"

Dorian stared at Raon's back and swallowed dryly.

Is it really all right to bring him along?

He looks like he's going to smash the whole place…