The Taste of Spirit Flesh
I don’t know when I lost consciousness.
Han Yujin opened his eyes at the sudden damp, tickling sensation brushing against his cheek. For several seconds, he couldn’t properly process the situation.
His mind felt as heavy as if a boulder had settled inside it, and his body was as sluggish as waterlogged cotton. He wanted to close his eyes again and sink back into sleep, but the persistent feeling against his cheek was too irritating to ignore.
When his hand moved reflexively and touched its body, the creature’s startled reaction jolted him fully awake. He sat up with a start.
A weasel-like animal with long rabbit ears was staring at him from a safe distance, having scampered away in a hurry.
“……What the hell are you?”
It flinched at the sound of his voice but didn’t run. Instead, it only twitched its nose.
The darkness that had hung over everything like a curtain had lifted considerably. Without even needing his spiritual sight, the faint light was enough to make out the surrounding objects. A thick fog clung to the air, making everything unusually quiet and damp.
The traces of last night’s battle were still vivid. The reason he couldn’t smell the blood was probably because his nose had already gone numb.
And there, on the corpses of those monkey monsters, three more rabbit-weasels were busily feasting away.
“You little bastard. Were you seriously trying to eat me?”
When Han Yujin deliberately growled, the one staring at him flinched again. After a few seconds of tense standoff, it seemed to conclude he wasn’t edible and trotted off toward another corpse.
“Ugh……”
Only then did the slight tension leave Han Yujin, replaced by a groan as pain flooded every part of his body. His head was ringing, both ear canals throbbed, his back itched, his limbs ached, his joints creaked—it was complete chaos.
He desperately wanted to use healing arts, but having just overexerted his spiritual power, he was reluctant to cast unfamiliar spells. He might end up making his condition worse.
He sat still for a long time, gathering himself, before finally staggering to his feet. The rabbit-weasels that had been eating in unison all turned to look at him at once. The sight was strangely cute, yet also slightly creepy.
If I had died, these things would have eaten me.
Come to think of it, they were openly stealing and devouring what should have been his prey right in front of him.
Of course, that was just a passing thought. Han Yujin didn’t bother chasing them off. Right now, the more important fact was that he himself was hungry.
With slightly unsteady steps, he entered the makeshift shelter beneath a nearby tree root and picked up the spiritual liquid bottle he had carefully set aside.
He opened the stopper and gulped it down without even savoring the fragrant aroma. Fortunately, when he had restored it by spending additional Karma, the contents had been completely replenished.
Normally, a single sip of this spiritual liquid was enough to keep him from feeling hungry for an entire day. After drinking four or five mouthfuls, he set the bottle down with satisfaction. Roughly half the contents were gone.
“Burp……”
A sudden belch escaped him, and some of his fatigue seemed to fade. He wanted nothing more than to collapse and sleep, but he forced himself to focus and began practicing the Hoe-won Gong.
Cultivating his body and soul through this method would allow him to recover faster than simply sleeping. It would also naturally increase his training progress.
With each breath, rich spiritual energy rushed in, permeating every corner of his body. The more he repeated the process, the more vitality surged through him, and the better he felt.
Quite some time later.
After at least two or three hours had passed, Han Yujin opened his eyes and let out a deep breath.
For now, he had prevented his body and soul from deteriorating further. He wasn’t completely recovered, but he was in good enough shape to test a few spells without issue.
The first spell he tried was, naturally, healing. The pain in his ears had grown steadily worse, to the point he could no longer endure it.
It wasn’t an easy technique, so he failed twice before succeeding. A turquoise glow swept over his entire body and seeped in, causing his injuries to vanish at a visible rate.
“Whoa……”
It felt as refreshing and cooling as alternating between hot and cold baths. The sensation was almost addictive.
Once his wounds had improved, the grimy feeling on his body became unbearable. He immediately cast the purification art included in Hoe-won Gong. This time he succeeded without failure. Instead of visible light, a transparent haze rose and evaporated all the filth.
There was no other way to describe it—it literally evaporated. The blood crusts clinging to his skin crumbled into black dirt and sand before vanishing completely.
In mere moments, he was impeccably clean, including the clothes he wore.
I’m not sure if the impurities inside my body are gone……
He would probably need to use it consistently to find out.
Next, he decided to test the remaining spells he had never used before. The frustrating situation of possessing techniques but being unable to use them ended today.
He stepped outside, glanced at the rabbit-weasels that still hadn’t left and were watching him warily, then settled in a suitable spot.
The first technique he unfolded was Flame Bullet Art. It was the foundational offensive spell for all investigators.
He succeeded on his second attempt. The brilliant red sphere of flame shot toward a tree ahead and collided with it, erupting in a flash.
Flame Bullet Art
BOOM—!!
A deafening explosion tore through the air. Scorching heat spread outward as more than half the massive tree’s trunk turned to ash and scattered. A crater large enough for four or five people to lie in had been carved into the ground behind it.
Crack……!
“Whoa……?!”
As expected, the giant tree that had taken the sudden blow began to topple sideways.
Han Yujin scrambled backward in a panic. The sound of the massive tree crashing into others thundered through the forest like continuous peals of lightning.
THUD—!!
With a final ground-shaking shockwave, the tree finally collapsed completely.
Leaves that had been shaken loose fluttered down everywhere, and broken branches that had been floating in the air finally rained down, prolonging the commotion for a little longer.
“……”
This was the destructive power of the most basic offensive spell used by investigators—Flame Bullet Art.
It’s this strong?
If he had been able to use this technique freely last night, the battle would have been far easier.
Intimidation? There would have been no need for shouting. One Flame Bullet Art would likely have sent those primitive monkey beasts into immediate terror.
Though maybe not.
Worried that the noise might have attracted some dangerous predator, he briefly scanned the area with his spiritual sight. After confirming there were no unusual signs, he moved on to practicing Jade Skin Art.
The fact that all the rabbit-weasels had fled in fright was of little importance.
Surprisingly, Jade Skin Art proved quite difficult. It took him more than six attempts before he barely succeeded.
His entire skin began to glow with a lustrous white-jade light. When he experimentally punched a nearby tree, he felt no pain at all.
The tree, however, now bore a mark as if it had been struck by a steel mace.
Could this have blocked the attacks from those Planet of the Apes bastards?
He considered it for a moment but soon shook his head. Even if it prevented damage, his relatively light body would have been sent flying in all directions, putting him at a severe disadvantage.
Besides, vital points like his eyes that weren’t covered by skin wouldn’t be protected by this technique. It was something to keep in mind when using it.
Next, he attempted Concealing Shadow Art and succeeded on his second try.
One might dismiss it as merely a spell that hides spiritual energy, but he had heard that against weaker opponents, it could make the user completely imperceptible.
In other words, he could stand right in front of someone and remain undetected.
He was repeatedly canceling and recasting Concealing Shadow Art to grow familiar with it when he narrowed his eyes at one of the rabbit-weasels that had once again stealthily appeared.
It’s the same bastard that tried to eat me.
Unforgivable.
He immediately cast Object Manipulation Art on it. To his satisfaction, it succeeded on the first try, lifting the small creature into the air.
Squeak—Squeeeak—!
Of course, the creature went into a complete panic. No matter how much it struggled, it couldn’t shake off the intangible force created by the spell.
When he grabbed it by its long ears after it flew over to him, the creature that met his eyes quickly stopped thrashing and simply kept twitching its nose.
“Hey.”
“……”
“You tried to eat me, didn’t you? Should I roast and eat you instead?”
Its round, pitch-black eyes darted around. The way it kept twitching its nose while clearly terrified was rather adorable.
“I’ll let you off this time, you little shit.”
He released its ears and canceled the spell. The creature landed nimbly on the ground, glanced at Han Yujin once, then scampered away as fast as it could.
Watching it disappear into the underbrush, he let out a small chuckle and turned his attention to the last remaining technique—Wind Cloud Art.
A short while later.
THUD—!
Han Yujin, who had been sprinting through the forest at tremendous speed, failed to change direction in time and slammed straight into a tree trunk. Fortunately, he had Jade Skin Art active, so he wasn’t injured, but the sight was utterly ridiculous.
“Tsk……”
Successfully casting a spell and being able to wield it properly were two entirely different matters. Success rate, efficiency, power output, and control all needed work.
The speed granted by Wind Cloud Art was simply too fast for a beginner like him. He didn’t even dare attempt flight through the air.
In truth, the same applied to all the other techniques.
He had only just entered the Initiation Stage, much like his current cultivation realm. He needed to take his time and practice steadily until they became completely his own.
Still, I’ve gotten a rough feel for all of them.
Now he truly felt like a proper Initiation Stage investigator.
He trudged back to the shabby shelter beneath the tree roots and sat down. Just as he was about to begin Hoe-won Gong training to soothe his weary mind and body, he paused at something he noticed.
It was the piece of mushroom he had collected on the first day to test for poison.
I don’t need it now.
He had expected entering the path of cultivation to take at least several days. But since he had already stepped into the Initiation Stage, there was no need to eat something like a mushroom as long as he had the spiritual liquid bottle.
With that thought, he casually activated his spiritual sight.
“Hmm……?”
What he saw surprised him slightly. For an ordinary-looking mushroom, it contained quite a lot of spiritual energy.
This was a spirit plant?
As the name suggested, a spirit plant—often called a spirit herb—referred to a plant imbued with spiritual energy.
As an aside, according to Earth’s scientific classification, mushrooms were fungi rather than plants, but in the cultivation world, they seemed to be conveniently categorized as plants.
Regardless.
If it contained more spiritual energy than an ordinary plant, no matter how shabby it looked, it was a spirit plant. And it was common knowledge that all spirit plants, provided they weren’t poisonous, were beneficial for cultivation when consumed.
Han Yujin stuffed the entire mushroom into his mouth and left the shelter to gather more.
But at that very moment, he suddenly realized that the still-untouched corpses of the monkey monsters contained even more spiritual energy.
……How could I have been this stupid!
Because he had simply labeled them as monsters in his mind, he hadn’t even considered that their flesh might be spirit meat beneficial for cultivation.
It was truly foolish behavior—having treasure right in front of him and failing to recognize it.
……I should have roasted and eaten those rabbit-weasel bastards!
The realization that he had simply watched like an idiot while his spirit meat was stolen from him left him so dumbfounded that a hollow laugh escaped him.