A Sanctuary Won
Tenacious bastard.
Dang Sobaek muttered to himself as he looked down at the fallen Ink-scaled Blood Python.
The Ink-scaled Blood Python was practically a spiritual beast.
Perhaps because of that, its life force was stubbornly persistent compared to ordinary beasts. Even with its innards ruptured and blood pouring from its wounds, it had fought back tenaciously for a long time. Because of this, there had been several perilous moments, but...
Still, this outcome is highly encouraging.
Fortunately, they had concluded the battle without anyone suffering major injuries.
At last, they had become the masters of this sanctuary.
Dang Sobaek averted his gaze from the python. Jim-i was panting, slumped on the ground in exhaustion, while Jim-sam stared at the carcasses of the python and the bat beast, drooling.
Dang Sobaek fell into thought.
The flesh of a beast contains spiritual energy. Ancient texts referred to this as "spiritual flesh." It meant that simply consuming it allowed one to absorb its energy.
Though he hadn't checked yet, beasts of the bat's or the python's caliber were bound to have an inner core within their bodies.
How should I divide this?
Dang Sobaek had no intention of monopolizing the spoils. There was no need to alienate his siblings, and gorging on too many cores at once carried a heavy risk even for him.
Controlling a tidal wave of incoming beast energy was no simple task.
Furthermore, the bat beast and the python were clearly higher-ranking beasts than Sobaek.
Greed would easily lead to qi deviation. Excess in anything always invited disaster.
Sobaek first used his beak to tear into the area where the bat's inner core was likely located. Fortunately, it didn't spray as much blood as he had feared.
Since the bat's body wasn't particularly large, the task was finished quickly. Near the lower abdomen, his beak caught on a round, black sphere.
It contains more energy than I expected. It isn't pure, but consuming it will certainly be of help.
Dang Sobaek signaled Jim-i and Jim-sam, who were rushing forward with wide, eager eyes, to wait a moment. Then, he began rummaging through the python's carcass.
Digging into the python was difficult due to its tough scales. He pried off several scales by force and spent a long time tearing at the area where the energy felt strongest.
With every tear, blood splattered across his body, staining Sobaek's feathers a dark crimson. The blood itself was laced with virulent poison.
He circulated his energy to block the poison from penetrating his body as he continued his work.
Because the python was massive and its flesh was incredibly tough compared to the bat, the process took a considerable amount of time.
Is there no core?
That was entirely possible.
Though slightly lower in rank than a Jimjo, the Ink-scaled Blood Python was still a spiritual beast.
Perhaps it had only fought on par with the bat beast because it hadn't grown enough to form a proper inner core yet.
Just as he was about to sigh.
His beak struck something hard. Dang Sobaek did not hesitate to pull it out.
Hmm...
A low hum escaped him. It was a blood-red sphere, no larger than a fingernail. The beast energy within was faint, but it thrummed with a potent toxicity.
This is closer to a poison core than an inner core.
It would be better for him to consume this one and split the bat's inner core in half for his siblings.
Sobaek's reasoning was simple.
Jimjo controlled poison by instinct, but that instinct was not infallible.
On the very day Sobaek had first opened his eyes, hadn't one of his siblings died after swallowing a poisonous centipede?
Though they had grown significantly, the python's venom could still pose a lethal threat to them.
"Pyahhh?!"
Just then, Jim-i, who had been lingering by Sobaek's side, flinched and took a step back.
Then, her eyes slowly filled with a wild frenzy. She seemed to have sensed the python's lingering aura within the core.
Dang Sobaek paid her no mind. Instead, he split the bat's inner core precisely in half and offered the pieces to Jim-i and Jim-sam.
"Pyak?"
Greed flared in their eyes. Yet, even in their hunger, they remained cautious and did not immediately swallow them.
The two paced in frantic circles. Then, Jim-sam was the first to gulp down his half of the bat's core.
A moment later, his expression shifted.
As if plunged into ecstasy, he fluttered his wings and shuddered, scattering a few feathers. Only then did Jim-i feel safe enough to swallow hers.
There shouldn't be any issues. Since it was split in half, they won't be overwhelmed by the beast energy.
Meanwhile, Dang Sobaek swallowed the python's poison core.
A searing pain tore down his esophagus. No, it was more accurate to say it felt as if his entire body had been cast into a roaring furnace.
A scream threatened to burst from his throat. Dang Sobaek barely held it back, desperately fighting to control the wild energy rampaging inside him.
I cannot afford even the slightest mistake.
To falter now meant instant death.
Closing his eyes, he circulated the Mandok-gwigong, guiding the volatile energy toward his poison sac.
While Sobaek was lost in a state of deep meditation...
Jim-i and Jim-sam, who had already finished absorbing their cores, watched him with anxious eyes.
Cold sweat poured from Sobaek, and the color of his skin shifted constantly.
It turned pitch black, then a dark crimson, and finally a deep violet. It was an alarming sight.
"Pyak!!! Pyahhh!!!!"
Jim-i shrieked in worry, pacing frantically around Sobaek. But there was nothing she could do.
Perhaps because they had spent so much time together, Jim-sam also watched Sobaek with a trace of concern in his eyes.
However, he was different from Jim-i.
Jim-sam waited calmly, believing Sobaek would overcome this.
Having absorbed the inner core, his intelligence had grown, allowing him to reflect on the past.
To Jim-sam, Sobaek had always been different from the rest of their siblings.
From the day they first faced the poisonous frog to their recent hunt of the giant python...
He finally realized that all of it had been achieved not through their own strength, but through Sobaek's strategy.
Thus, while Jim-sam watched with concern, he also held a quiet trust that Sobaek would prevail, and waited patiently.
A long time passed.
Sobaek's constantly shifting skin tone slowly returned to its original color.
The eyes of a massive bird with deep green feathers slowly cracked open.
This was Mother Jimjo, the ruler of the eastern forest of Gwisu Island and Sobaek's mother.
She withdrew the threads of consciousness she had spun across her entire territory.
This was the power known as Divine Sense (Sinsik).
When a beast forms an inner core and awakens, even faintly, to the seven emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred, and desire—a true spiritual nature is forged. Along with this process comes consciousness and the Yo-language (Yojok-eo) used for communication.
Of course, Mother Jimjo did not know exactly when she had acquired this power.
She had simply devoured countless beasts, gathered endless experiences, and contemplated life and death as she watched them, until she awakened to it in an instant.
She did not even know there were specific terms for these abilities.
Terms like "Divine Sense" and "Yo-language" were words used only among human cultivators. Since she had never been taught by anyone, it was only natural that she was ignorant of such terminology.
Yet, through experience, she knew one thing for certain.
Spreading these threads of consciousness allowed her to observe her entire domain. And if she focused her mind, she could examine things in even greater detail.
Using her consciousness, Mother Jimjo quietly observed her offspring, who had recently left the nest to live independently.
Since she could not maintain her Divine Sense all day, there were moments she missed, but it was of little consequence.
First, her eldest had nested in a massive old tree in the northern part of her territory. It was a land abundant with prey, but being an open space, it was far from safe.
Yet, that was the eldest's own choice. Mother Jimjo had no intention of interfering and telling him to move.
Although she had awakened to various emotions, they were not deeply ingrained. It had not been long since her awakening; her feelings were as faint as ink dissolved in a vast lake.
Yet, separate from her emotions, there was one value she held above all else: free will.
Perhaps this was because she had realized the truth of this island. This place was a cage from which escape was impossible.
Mother Jimjo felt a suffocating discomfort, as if her entire body were bound in shackles.
She wanted to fly through vaster skies and see more of the world. Her consciousness had already grown too immense to remain confined to such a narrow space.
For that reason, she forced nothing upon her children. She had only given them the bare minimum of training required to survive.
The child she watched most closely was her fourth—Dang Sobaek.
Strangely, the fourth showed no physical changes. While her other chicks developed their unique traits as they matured, the fourth remained completely unchanged as time passed.
He was always exactly the same.
That was why he drew her attention.
He was akin to a mutation.
Even his behavior was entirely different from the others.
Rather than awakening to things through instinct, he seemed to "learn" everything through high-level cognitive reasoning.
Of course, this was merely her conjecture, born of intuition rather than certainty.
Nevertheless, Mother Jimjo had delivered a warning to her fourth, even though it was highly likely he wouldn't understand the Yo-language.
Yet, if there was even a sliver of hope that he might understand, it was her duty to tell him.
The reason was simple.
She still remembered the terrible nightmare that had visited this island back when she had not yet awakened her spiritual nature.
The scenes were hazy and opaque; she had almost no concrete memories of it.
Except for one thing.
The screams that shook the entire island, and the sight of her own mother dying—those remained vivid.
Yes, the memory of that day was like a dark, deep blue sea.
An abyss so vast and deep that nothing could be discerned.
Surprisingly, the fourth seemed to have understood her Yo-language, as he exercised extreme caution in finding a nest.
He had spent a long time exploring her territory, searching for a suitable place to call home.
Eventually, he had entered a cave nestled within a cliffside crevice that even she had not known existed.
It was a region where the river met the sea. It seemed ideal for finding food, and since even she hadn't known of it, it was near-perfect as a hiding place.
If there was one drawback, it was that the place already had a master.
Mother Jimjo could have cleared it out for them, but she chose only to watch.
Whether they fought the master or sought another place, that too would be the fourth's choice and his own will.
She had watched the second (Jim-i) get injured, and she had watched the fourth heal her in a bizarre manner. In the process, she had also discovered the third's (Jim-sam's) nest.
He was a strange creature in many ways.
Her children had cooperated. Led by the fourth, they fought the python. They acted with great intelligence.
They waited for the python and another beast to exhaust each other. Then, the moment the python emerged victorious, they struck. The python, master of that domain, was already battered and on the verge of collapse.
Mother Jimjo had found herself cheering for her children without realizing it.
No matter how wounded, the python was still a formidable beast.
Perhaps because he knew this...
The fourth had been cautious to an extreme, so much so that it made the watching mother feel impatient.
Yet, his judgment was flawless.
For the python had deflected the feather Sobaek aimed at its eye with its tail.
A tedious battle of attrition ensued.
They seemed to be waiting for its strength to drain even further.
As time passed, the effects of the poison mist deployed by the third began to take hold. The python's movements grew increasingly sluggish.
Finally, judging that it was sufficiently weakened, they pounced all at once. It was less of a battle and more of a hunt.
And at last, the moment the python fell...
Thuuuum—!
Mother Jimjo let out a silent cry of triumph.
Her children had finally finished off the python and claimed their new sanctuary.
Just as she was about to withdraw her Divine Sense with a sense of pride...
FLASH—!
The sky was suddenly painted pitch black with storm clouds, and the world flickered.