Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 1
Episode 1. An Old House for a New House
Whooooosh!
A violent sandstorm swept in.
Sand clung to my goggles; no matter how many times I wiped it away, it kept rising back up.
“Haah…!”
Beyond the Gate lay the Tower World.
A world of towers that vanished into clouds, their summits invisible, and wastelands choked in yellow dust that blinded everything before my eyes.
“Spirit, oh spirit. Give me a new house and I’ll give you the old.”
I wandered that vast wasteland, searching for Spirits.
* * *
Three hours earlier.
[You have Awakened.]
A window materialized before my eyes, and I found myself muttering at it.
“What’s this now?”
As I stared at the window, my friend approached and asked.
“Yong. What’s wrong?”
“Sorry. I can’t enter the tower.”
Everything froze.
The bustling movements of those preparing for the tower climb came to an abrupt halt at my words.
All eyes turned toward me—and my friend’s expression darkened rapidly. It was the look of someone thinking, ‘If you of all people bail on me, who’s going to clean up this mess?’
“Just now?”
“I just Awakened a skill.”
“…Just now?”
“I’m surprised too.”
My friend blinked several times, apparently caught off-guard, then spoke.
“Congratulations?”
“I’m not sure if I should be grateful. Either way, I’m sorry.”
“Well, there’s nothing to apologize for…right?”
“Don’t end it with a question mark like that—what am I supposed to say?”
“This is my first time too. Can’t help it.”
Under normal circumstances, it would have been something to celebrate. If only I hadn’t been preparing for a tower climb as a civilian Porter.
Once my friend told the Hunter team about my Awakening, several Hunters came over to look at me.
Choi, the team leader, studied me quietly before his expression shifted to surprise.
“You’ve really Awakened.”
He’d apparently sensed what people call ‘Mana’ emanating from me. My friend asked in astonishment.
“Team Leader. Does this happen often?”
“Not often. But Awakenings do tend to come at unexpected moments, so…”
The Hunters conferred among themselves for a moment, then decided to sit me out for today’s climb.
“Don’t take it the wrong way. If anything, we’ve just lost a member anyway.”
“Understood.”
On your way out, we’ll have a Guild member help you register. We’ll get you set up.”
“Register with the Guild?”
Now that you’ve Awakened, you’ll need training and to climb with us properly.”
Unlike day-labor Porters, Awakened could join a Guild formally.
“Congratulations. Let me buy you a meal next time.”
“Congrats. You worked hard, and it paid off.”
“Once you’re doing well, you have to bring us on as your dedicated Porter team!”
The Porters congratulated me with one voice.
“Haha. Thank you so much.”
I removed my gear and stepped out of the climbing waiting area.
Guild members hurried past without so much as a glance at why I’d left. I slipped quietly through them and headed outside.
‘And now I’ve gone and Awakened.’
I let out a small sigh.
Wasn’t Awakening a good thing?
Well. It depends on the person, I suppose.
‘I wanted to keep working as a Porter.’
Once you Awaken, you can’t work as a Porter anymore—the tower adjusts its difficulty based on the number of Awakened who enter.
So why not just become a Hunter now that you’ve Awakened?
Well. That’s something only people suited for it can do, don’t you think?
‘Having to face monsters directly.’
The monsters were uniformly grotesque, hideous, and repulsive. If you so much as glimpsed an insect-type monster, you could write off the next two days of meals.
Besides, monsters had poor hygiene. You were supposed to fight them while standing just a few feet away, breathing in their saliva, their rotten breath, their body odor, their sweat?
“Ugh. No way.”
The mere thought was nauseating. There was a reason Hunters ranked at the very top of the 3D job charts.
No wonder there was a common refrain among Awakened: “Unless you have a skill that could make you at least a B-rank Hunter, you’d better find work outside the Gate.”
In reality, Hunters who’d eagerly signed contracts with Guilds right after Awakening, only to quit within a fortnight drowning in penalty fees, could line up for a full marathon course and still have surplus.
– On your way out, mention it to one of our Guild members and we’ll help you with registration.
That was why I’d ignored what Choi had said earlier and walked out.
But…
‘A Guild.’
I couldn’t deny that I’d wavered at those words.
It wasn’t that I thought this particular Guild was special or that I’d grown attached to the people.
It was just that, having lived alone since childhood, I’d always envied the feeling of belonging to something.
Yet at the same time, the thought of registering with the Guild immediately made me feel bound, trapped—and I hated that just as much.
Ambivalent? Contradictory? What kind of irresponsible, immature nonsense is that?
Everything you said would be right, so I won’t bother arguing.
‘What can I do? This is who I am.’
So what I wanted was a home.
A home. A space that was mine alone.
A place where I could belong without being bound.
That was the only dream and goal I had at this moment.
‘How long would I have to work outside the Gate to afford a home? If I’d just done Porter work another year, I could’ve bought an officetel.’
Even among day laborers, a Porter’s wages were several times higher than work outside the Gate. After all, whether you were a Hunter or a Porter, you were risking your life either way.
I’d been sitting on a bench, staring blankly up at the ceiling, when I suddenly lowered my head.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t even checked my skill yet.’
It seemed I wasn’t as out of it as I’d thought.
That’s right. Just because you Awaken doesn’t mean you have to work as a Hunter on the front lines.
There were magic-type Awakened who fought from the rear, and alchemists who operated entirely outside the Tower.
‘If I Awaken something like an Inventory skill, who knows—maybe they’d hire me as a top-tier Porter.’
Thinking such thoughts, I silently called up my ‘Skill Window.’
Then a translucent window really did materialize before my eyes.
“Oh. That’s neat.”
So this was what a Skill Window looked like. My admiration lasted only a moment. I couldn’t help but let out a bewildered voice.
[Skill: Spirit Exclusive Zone Formation]
“…Huh?”
A skill with a name I’d never heard of in my life was written there.
* * *
Two hours later.
After finishing various preparations and heading toward the exit beyond the Bastion that circled the Tower, I received a message from Jeong Jin—the friend I’d been with earlier—asking where I was.
“Yong. Where are you?”
“You finished climbing already?”
“I was in good form. So where are you?”
“East exit of the Arcade.”
“Wait a moment.”
After I’d suited up completely and waited about five minutes, Jeong Jin arrived.
“You didn’t register with a Guild?”
“No. I wanted to test out my skill first.”
“You have to test it in the Wastelands?”
When I nodded, Jeong Jin began putting on protective gear, as if he’d expected this.
“Are you planning to go with me?”
“What, am I supposed to let you go out there alone?”
“You just showered. Once you’re out there, you’ll be caked in dust.”
“Better that than having to collect your body. Just show me the way.”
A lump in my throat.
Is this what friendship is?
“You know I’ve always thought of you like family, right?”
“Shut up and let’s go, you idiot.”
We laughed and headed out together.
Between us, there was no need for thanks. We were twenty-year-old friends from the same hometown, and there were only the two of us in this Bastion.
Whoooosh—
The moment I stepped outside the Bastion, a torrential wall of sand came barreling toward me.
This was no ordinary dust storm.
It was the wind known as the Sakhoon—the merciless gale that kept any base camp from taking root in this barren wasteland.
The protective gear I wore over my clothes, fashioned from monster hides found in the Tower, existed solely because of that wind.
‘Skill window.’
Spirit Exclusive Zone Formation
┼ Formation Conditions (2/3)
└ Any Spirit (0/1)
└ Inside Tower World (1/1)
└ Artificial-object-free 100-pyeong Space (1/1)
My skill, the Spirit Exclusive Zone, appeared to be exactly what its name suggested—a skill that formed a space of some kind.
Inside the Bastion, only the first condition could be met, but stepping outside revealed that the second condition was now satisfied as well.
‘Now I need to find a spirit.’
I decided to scout the places where spirits were most likely to be—though I kept my search as close to the Bastion as possible.
“Yong. But why did we come out here anyway?”
“I need to find a spirit.”
“A spirit? Are you sure that skill is worth it?”
Jeong Jin’s doubt was fair.
The spirits that emerged from the Tower were all ferocious and violent monsters.
As a Porter, I always remained in the rear, so I’d never seen one firsthand, but I’d come across photos and videos of them before.
Creatures wreathed in black wind, wielding scythes, or colossal beasts with lava flowing across their entire bodies.
Monsters that required someone to be at least an A-rank Awakened, like Jeong Jin, to face directly. That was what a spirit was.
“If things go south, you run straight toward the Bastion without hesitation. Protecting you while fighting would put us at too much of a disadvantage.”
“Understood!”
“Ugh. At least you listen.”
We spent roughly two hours wandering the wasteland.
A desiccated lake, towering rock formations, canyons carved deep into the earth—and then we arrived at the Abandoned Mine.
“Ah!”
Spirit Exclusive Zone Formation
╋ Formation Conditions (3/3)
└ Any Spirit (1/1)
└ Inside Tower World (1/1)
└ Artificial-object-free 100-pyeong Space (1/1)
The skill window, which I’d kept displayed nearby, had changed.
The third condition—the spirit condition—now showed the count was full.
I scanned my surroundings quickly. But I couldn’t see the spirit.
Something that size shouldn’t be easy to hide, so it must have been inside the mine.
‘Even better, then!’
“Jin!”
“Are you going to activate the skill?”
“Yeah! Right now!”
Jeong Jin moved quickly to my side and stood watchful. Despite his caution, I felt only joy.
‘Spirit Exclusive Zone Formation.’
Regardless, it was a skill that created a space of some kind. Perhaps this would become my own space—a sanctuary of my own.
[Will you use the skill ‘Spirit Exclusive Zone Formation’?]
I answered without hesitation, calling out silently.
‘Yes.’
Then stars began to fall from the sky.
* * *
Poom—
A massive yet gentle explosion engulfed me. By instinct alone, I knew it had fallen from above.
When I looked up, the sky was filled with countless stars, twinkling.
‘There are stars in Tower World too, then.’
In a way, it was only natural. Yet why did something so obvious feel so startling?
Because this was the first time I’d ever looked up at such a clear night sky in this world.
“The Sakhoon…”
The sand wind no longer blew.
I wondered if the explosion from moments before had temporarily pushed back the sand wind, but no matter how long I waited, it never returned.
As though entranced, I removed my gloves.
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
Jeong Jin flinched and tried to grab my arm, but I raised my hand to the goggles instead.
When exposed to Sakhoon, there should be that distinctive stinging weathering sensation—but I felt nothing. Even with my naked eye, my hand showed no signs of damage.
I pulled off the goggles and the kerchief.
“Hhhhh… ahhh….”
The air that filled my lungs was strikingly pure. Not a trace of Sakhoon, not even a speck of dust.
Jeong Jin unwound his own kerchief and looked around with wide, startled eyes.
“What in the…?”
Then, slowly, his expression transformed into a delighted smile.
“Yong! Can you use this skill back-to-back? Or—can you expand this zone?”
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down.”
“If you can use this freely, it’s an incredible skill! You know how much that wind costs us in gathering and mining…!”
That was when it happened.
Crunch.
Something rustled through the dirt.
Jeong Jin’s expression hardened as he stepped in front of me, his hand already halfway drawing his sword from his hip.
But what emerged from the mine was something small and utterly insignificant.
[Huh?]
A clay figure no larger than a palm—a dirt golem.
Except this one moved on its own, as if it were alive.
The moment I saw it, a sudden realization struck me.
“It’s a Spirit.”
“What?”
“That thing—it’s a Spirit of the earth.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Spirits are supposed to be monsters the size of buildings.”
“Yeah. But that one’s still a Spirit.”
That being in front of me—it was the very Spirit I’d needed to activate my skill.
I couldn’t quite explain how I knew.
Whether it was the skill’s nature or some instinct born from my Awakening, I couldn’t say. But something inside me screamed that this was a Spirit, and the sensation was staggering, intoxicating….
Glimmer.
My eyes narrowed as I noticed something gleaming in the Spirit’s hand.
‘Wait. Is that a gem? Could it be… a diamond?’
“Yong, be careful. It might be dangerous, so don’t get too close….”
Before Jeong Jin could finish, I was already crouched down beside the Spirit.
“Come here, little one. Come on over.”
In my hand was a Chocolate Cracker I’d packed as an emergency ration.
“I’ll give you this. In exchange, how about you hand over that useless pebble?”
[Ohhh….]
The Spirit’s eyes swayed to follow the Chocolate Cracker.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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