The Dragon Heart's Aura
Han Yujin opened his eyes the instant he woke in bed and immediately scanned his surroundings with sharp focus.
He thrust his hand like lightning toward the Dragon Heart lying right beside him. At some point it had appeared there, its concealment completely undone unlike in the waiting area, radiating an overwhelming presence. He attempted to establish a connection.
His practice in the waiting space had not been in vain. He succeeded in linking with it right away and instantly suppressed its presence.
The brilliant radiance dimmed sharply, its size shrinking as the surging waves of spiritual energy fell utterly silent, as though they had never existed.
Holding the now-quiet Dragon Heart in his hand, Han Yujin sank into a deep, lingering aftertaste.
It was a treasure of incomparable beauty. Was there anything else in the world that could inspire such awe and greed in people?
A dreamy violet base flowed with clusters of light resembling galactic nebulae. Clouds that seemed to embody dreams drifted within it, while Dharma inscriptions containing every color in existence appeared and faded on their own like countless meteor showers.
Jjik! Jjijik—!
The sound that pulled Han Yujin from his near-entranced state was Mu-yong, who had woken with a start at the Dragon Heart's overwhelming presence. The little beast clung tightly to his side, staring at the Dragon Heart with clear wariness.
At the same time, there was also a subtle hint of... gluttony in her posture. Even though she must know it was something she could never eat.
"Hey now."
With a tone that clearly meant absolutely not, he reprimanded her and placed the Dragon Heart into his storage belt. Since it was suppressing its own presence, there was no risk of the belt bursting.
"Hmm?"
At that moment, Han Yujin suddenly sensed a commotion outside his quarters. Seconds later, someone knocked on the door.
It was Park Seryong's voice. He happened to be staying at this base fortress.
"...This is inconvenient."
He had thought the illusion formation would keep things contained for a while, but it seemed the Dragon Heart's presence had leaked out clearly just now.
Most defensive formations naturally included effects to mask internal activity. Still, it was obvious that a formation of this level could not fully contain the presence of a Void Refinement-stage Dragon Heart.
Han Yujin withdrew the illusion formation's energy, opened the door, and greeted Park Seryong.
The man's expression made it clear he was forcefully suppressing a look of extreme shock. He seemed to have tried his best to control it, but he could not fool Han Yujin, who possessed divine sense.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. It was a bit noisy just now, wasn't it? I was experimenting with something for a moment..."
"It wasn't... noisy at all."
He answered with a slight stutter, then bowed deeply in an even more respectful manner than before.
"I'm sorry for disturbing your rest. Now that I've confirmed you're fine, I'll take my leave."
It wasn't difficult to guess what misunderstanding he had formed.
He had likely concluded that Han Yujin's hidden power far surpassed S-class. That the clash at the safe house had only been the tip of the iceberg.
No need to explain. In fact, this is better.
If he kept misunderstanding, it would prevent any potential friction that might arise later.
As Park Seryong withdrew, several other hunters witnessed the scene. The rumor would likely spread in some form within a few days.
A short while later.
After finishing his preparations to head out, Han Yujin left his quarters with Mu-yong cradled in his arms, just as he always did.
He now possessed the Dragon Heart, but his Karma was completely depleted. Before returning to the Primordial Forest for training, he needed to accumulate enough Karma to materialize the results of that training into reality.
It shouldn't take more than a few days.
Hunting was one thing, but he had strongly insisted on receiving compensation in mana stones. It was about time for results to appear. If this unintended incident motivated Park Seryong to work even harder, that would be all the better.
If it comes down to a decisive moment... it wouldn't be impossible for me to head directly into China and search Beijing from top to bottom.
Especially if he obtained abilities related to mental laws.
In solving every problem, strength was the surest key. With an increasingly clear sense of purpose, he left the base fortress.
It had been two days since the aftermath of the wave inside the Great Rift had been cleaned up.
After handling all urgent business, Park Seryong left the Great Rift briefly for another urgent matter—the "Wonhee investigation" Han Yujin had assigned him.
With his wide network of connections, locating addresses of people of a specific gender and age named Wonhee was easy. Obtaining photos of the residents at those addresses was just as simple.
Even so, he needed to personally verify elements that documents and photos alone could not reveal.
That was why Park Seryong had come to a shantytown on the outskirts of Hwaseong City. According to the photo, this was where the child who felt most similar to the "Wonhee" he knew lived.
Even though Korea suffered from relatively few slum areas, they were not completely nonexistent. He knew that intellectually, but he had never seen one in person, so stepping out of the car gave him a strange, unfamiliar feeling.
It was as if time had simply stopped in this neighborhood thirty years ago.
Yet the subtly uncomfortable sensation he felt now did not come from the unfamiliar scenery alone.
Even he found it difficult to explain precisely.
Was it discomfort at the fact that the terrifying entity known as Wonhee might truly exist? Or at the possibility that the horrific scene he had witnessed could be from ten years in the future? Or perhaps discomfort toward Han Yujin himself, who could foresee the future while wielding such immense power?
Or maybe it's something more fundamental—the discomfort of watching the world I knew shatter and expand.
Suddenly a famous line from the novel Demian came to mind: the egg is the world, and one who would be born must first destroy a world.
Still immersed in that uncomfortable yet strange feeling, he walked deeper into the shantytown. It was past lunchtime, around the hour when lower-grade elementary students finished classes and headed home.
The house of the nine-year-old child named Wonhee was indeed terribly run-down. There was only one presence inside, which his investigation suggested would be Wonhee's grandmother.
Father deceased. Mother essentially a wreck due to gambling addiction.
It was far from a normal household. Even if it had been somewhat functional, an environment like this would make it difficult for a child to grow up bright and energetic.
As he waited with those thoughts, he soon spotted a small child trudging wearily down the path. The moment Park Seryong saw her, goosebumps rose across his skin. He could not help recalling the future Wonhee.
A moment later.
The child, who carried herself with the weary air of someone who had already seen the whole world despite her young age, suddenly tilted her head at the sight of Park Seryong in his formal suit—an outfit that looked completely out of place in the shantytown.
At the same time, Park Seryong observed her closely, doing his best to suppress any negative reactions.
"Kid."
To the child who had stopped completely, sensing something strange, Park Seryong spoke.
"You've already awakened an ability at your age."
"......"
"Have you heard of the Hunter Specialized School? It's a place where many kids who awaken abilities like yours go."
A brief silence followed.
"Mister."
Her name was Lee Won-hee. She was nine years old.
The small child spoke in a tone and manner not much different from any other child, yet her voice had lowered slightly.
"Mister, can you see this?"
At the same time, the shadow stretching from beneath the child's feet—and every shadow cast around them—rippled in unison, releasing a chorus of countless whispers.
He had finally received it.
When Han Yujin opened the door to the small warehouse he had been guided to—where his share was supposedly stored—he saw a considerable quantity of mana stones.
Most were level 6 or below, meaning low-grade spirit stones, but there were also quite a few mid-grade spirit stones of level 7 or higher. It was a very satisfying sight.
"Thank you. You may go now."
"Yes, yes."
After sending the guiding hunter away, he closed the door and began converting every mana stone in the warehouse into Karma without hesitation.
Crackle...
All the mana stones crumbled into nothing more than a handful of dust and vanished. In exchange, Han Yujin felt his depleted Karma rising and could not suppress his smile.
The Karma provided by a low-grade spirit stone was roughly half of what he gained from subduing an ordinary monster here. A mid-grade stone seemed to provide slightly less than a hundred times that amount.
Considering that one mid-grade spirit stone was commonly exchanged for a hundred low-grade stones in the cultivation world, the ratio matched surprisingly well.
Well, in a cultivation world with such a long history, the exchange rate would not have been set arbitrarily.
There had to be a reason, and now that reason had been proven once again in Han Yujin's own way.
After converting just under a thousand mana stones into Karma while lost in idle thoughts, the total amount felt roughly equivalent to the yield from hunting four thousand monsters. It was slightly less than what he had gained after exposing the drug crimes of the Eternal Goddess Cult.
When he factored in the amount he had already accumulated beforehand, it did not feel insufficient for bringing his training results into reality.
Surely selecting and materializing the results of Decisive Stage training won't cost four or five times more than it did at the Dharma Soul stage?
Although the Decisive Stage was superior to the Dharma Soul stage by at least ten times in various aspects, Karma calculations did not work that way.
He began estimating based on his accumulated experience and intuition. Thanks to the enhanced intelligence of the Dharma Soul stage, it was not a difficult task.
"Hmm."
He worried it might still be a little short.
Well... there's no need to bring the full Decisive Stage results all at once.
It would not be a bad idea to train until just before the decisive point, stably materialize those results, accumulate enough Karma over a generous half-month, and then challenge the Decisive Stage again through his awakening ability.
Humming a nameless tune as he pleased, he returned to his quarters.
It was still early to sleep, and with nothing urgent at hand, taking a nap would be perfectly fine.
He continued humming randomly while preparing for bed—setting up the illusion formation and so on—when he suddenly noticed Mu-yong in his arms bobbing her head in time with the rhythm.
"What are you doing?"
Jjik—!
"Was my singing that good? You've got real taste!"
It was such an unbearably cute sight that he could not resist giving her a thorough rub.
Indulging his mood, he generously shared both spiritual wine and jade dew wine with her, then lay down on the bed with the little beast resting on his chest. No matter how many times he looked at her, she was useless except for being cute. Slightly tipsy now, she sprawled out languidly.
"This time we'll go together—to your hometown."
Stroking her head, he closed his eyes and activated his awakening ability.
At last, the training for the decisive stage was beginning.