Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 2

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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 2
Fair Trade
[Oh….]
The spirit’s eyes were fixed on the chocolate.
I waved my hand, and its head bobbed up and down in response. Watching that entranced face, I whispered.
“Listen—you’re going to trade that useless glittering rock in your hand for this delicious thing.”
When I repeated myself, the spirit’s gaze shifted to the gem in its own hand. It looked back and forth between the stone and the chocolate cracker, as if understanding my words.
[Oh?]
Then it held up the gem.
As if asking whether I meant that one.
“That’s right. That thing. The rock that’s completely useless for anything.”
[Oh….]
The spirit fell silent for a moment, staring down at its own gem. I swallowed hard, waiting for its decision.
[Oh.]
At last, the spirit held out the gem to me.
I cheered silently in my head as I exchanged the gem for the chocolate cracker.
The moment the stone touched my hand, an Information Window appeared before my eyes. This too was a function of the Tower World granted only to Awakeners.
Pure Mana Stone (B)
A solid ore infused with pure mana.
The bad news was that it wasn’t a diamond.
The good news was that it was still quite a valuable stone.
‘Mana stones go for way more than mana essence stones.’
I didn’t know the exact market rate, but a B-grade was worth at least tens of millions of won.
I smiled to myself. The Spirit Village was off to a good start.
“Isn’t trading a chocolate cracker for a mana stone a bit unconscionable?”
When I looked up, Jeong Jin was watching me with narrowed eyes.
I knew that look. The look right before he launched into a lecture. Get caught by those eyes and there was no escaping a scolding, so I quickly defended myself.
“No, no. If anything, I’m taking a loss on this deal.”
“You traded a snack worth a thousand won for a mana stone?”
“Come on, all value is relative. Consumer prices are just one standard for judging worth.”
“Hmm.”
“What good is a mana stone in this wasteland anyway? Having tens of millions of won means nothing if you can’t eat it. But this chocolate cracker has enough calories to sustain someone for a day. Since this spirit is so small, it’ll last him a week.”
“If you sell that mana stone, you could buy thousands of those crackers.”
“That’s only if this friend here can actually sell it. Once you reach Boru, if a spirit doesn’t get attacked just for existing, consider yourself lucky. So really, I traded a single rock for a week’s worth of survival. I definitely got the short end of the stick.”
Jeong Jin’s eyes remained narrowed as he looked at me.
“Besides, look at this little one. See how emaciated he is? This cracker’s definitely more valuable to him than a rock. Right?”
[Oh.]
The spirit’s eyes sparkle. It reaches out its hand toward me—looks like it wants more chocolate crackers.
Sure. Since you’re my first customer, I’ll be generous.
I pulled out another cracker and unwrapped it for the spirit.
The spirit sat down with its backside planted on the ground and munched away at the cracker.
What was just a bite for me was an enormous snack, almost as big as its own face, for a palm-sized spirit.
“Huh?”
It does seem to have gained a bit of weight compared to before. Since it’s an earth spirit, I suppose I should say the soil has filled out.
I watched the spirit quietly.
And remarkably, with each bite of the cracker, its sunken cheeks puffed out a little more.
“Ha-ha. Look at that.”
Once the spirit had finished both crackers, it had become quite round and plump.
[Burp.]
After belching, the spirit flopped over with a satisfied expression. Both Jeong Jin and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
“Looks like it really was struggling without food.”
“See? Didn’t I tell you?”
“But this place is supposed to be an abandoned mine. How did it manage to get a mana stone?”
“Being an earth spirit, it must have had a way. It can manipulate the ground however it wants, so maybe it mined ore from places humans couldn’t reach.”
“An earth spirit… then this one’s name would be Naume.”
I left Jeong Jin to observe Naume with apparent fascination, and checked my skill window.
Spirit Village has been formed.
Current Special Zone Level: Spirit Village LV. 1
Spirit Village LV. 1
┼ Construction Available List
└ Main Hall LV. 1
└ Water Source LV. 1
└ Mine LV. 1
┼ LV. 2 Expansion Conditions (0/2)
└ 1. Main Hall LV. 1 (0/1)
└ 2. Water Source LV. 1 (0/1)
Spirit Special Zone was a growth-type skill.
As the level increased, more buildings became available to construct within the zone, and constructing those buildings raised the zone’s own level in turn.
‘Straightforward. I like that.’
It was the sort of skill that grew automatically if you simply followed the given expansion conditions.
‘Let’s see. To expand the skill, I need to build the Main Hall and Water Source?’
Following my thought, the skill window expanded naturally before me.
┼ Construction Availability List
└ Main Hall LV. 1
└ Material: Lumber (0kg / 10kg)
└ Material: Stone (0kg / 10kg)
└ Water Source LV. 1
└ Condition: Earth Spirit (1/1)
└ Condition: Water Spirit (0/1)
└ Mine LV. 1
└ Condition: Earth Spirit (1/1)
Each building required specific conditions or materials to construct.
‘So the only thing I can build right now is the Mine.’
In that instant, something strange appeared in my field of vision.
When I turned my gaze, a faint blueprint overlaid the Abandoned Mine—like a building upgrade screen from a game.
‘Huh… Construction?’
I issued the command, and both the blueprint and skill window vanished from sight.
But I could feel it. Something had changed.
[Ooh?]
Naume, sensing the same thing I did, rose from where he’d been sprawled on the ground and gazed toward the Abandoned Mine. His movement revealed something I suddenly understood.
‘So the Earth Spirit requirement for building the Mine was about labor all along!’
Converting the Abandoned Mine into a working Mine required construction work. And the perfect worker for that job was standing right in front of me.
I crouched down quickly in front of Naume and attempted a second round of persuasion.
“Naume, doesn’t it feel like that Mine over there is calling out to you?”
[Ooh……]
It seemed Naume could only manage the word “Ooh.” But since communication was still possible, that wasn’t a problem.
“Why don’t you go ahead and use Call of Nature right now?”
[Ooh.]
Naume dropped back to the ground with a grunt of reluctance. I leaned in close to his ear and whispered softly.
“Finish it, and you get five Chocolate Crackers.”
[!!!]
Naume shot upright, stretched both arms high in triumph, and bolted toward the Abandoned Mine at full sprint.
To negotiate construction costs below even minimum wage—I was clearly a management prodigy.
“Heh. Those interviewers who rejected me should’ve seen this.”
But I’d already proven my worth, so all that was left for them now was regret, decay, and obsession.
I contentedly imagined a balding interviewer clinging to my trouser leg, and went about putting my protective gear back on piece by piece.
“Heading back to Boru?”
“Figured I’d sell these and buy some materials to grow my skills with.”
A Mana Stone gleamed in my hand.
* * *
The Tower World contained countless branches of magic.
But among them, only one type of magic had “survived.”
“And that’s our Earth Magic, I’m telling you!”
Daeji-su, an Earth Mage, shouted.
“Everything else is dead! Because there’s no way to raise Skill Level!”
For Awakeners, Skill Level was just as crucial as Skill Grade.
And unlike combat-based skills, which required only execution frequency or “experience” to level up, magical skills carried special conditions of their own.
Earth Magic (A) LV. 3
┼ Castable Spells List
┼ LV. 4 Growth Conditions (3/4)
└ Earth Magic Execution (10,000/10,000)
└ Earth Magic Disposal (1,000/1,000)
└ Earth Meditation (100 hours/100 hours)
└ Earth Mana Absorption (3/4)
The “Mana Absorption” that appeared in Daeji-su’s Skill Window was exactly that.
Daeji-su poured a glass brimming with soju with trembling hands, muttering under his breath.
“How the hell am I supposed to find anything with Mana Absorption in this damned Wasteland?”
To perform Mana Absorption, you needed natural elements infused with mana—Mana Stones, Mana Water, things like that.
But the world beyond Boru was nothing but a Wasteland swept by howling winds year-round. The only natural elements remaining there were sand and rocks.
Still, Earth Mages had it better than most. The occasional Mana Stone did surface from the Mines.
The problem was that the Mines close enough to Boru had already been picked clean down to the bedrock. The distant Mines demanded staggering amounts of time and money just to reach.
In other words, from the Guild’s perspective, mages were nothing but money-eating parasites.
“Even so, how dare they expel me from the Guild?!”
The memory still blazed behind his eyes.
The smug face of the Guild Master, strutting about with nothing but a C-rank Skill like Power Strike, as if he’d actually accomplished something, before casting him out.
“After all I did—raised him, gave him a ride, everything!”
The Guild Master’s C-rank Skill had infinite growth potential, while he, with his A-rank Skill, had been left stagnant and shackled.
It hadn’t taken even three years for the man who’d once trailed after him calling him “brother” to start referring to him by his bare name.
“Damn it, the soju tastes so sweet. So damn sweet. What?! Almost as sweet as fruit wine—!”
At that moment.
Ding.
A soft alarm chimed on his phone.
An alarm set to sound only in very particular circumstances.
“?!”
Whoosh.
Daeji-su snatched up his phone with sudden speed, as if the intoxication had never touched him at all.
And there it was.
On the phone’s screen, the alert he’d been waiting for these past months without end.
<An item matching your alert keyword has been posted on the Tower Market.>
<B-rank Mana Stone — Auction closes in 30 minutes>
Daeji-su frantically opened the app and found the post.
There it was.
A luminous Mana Stone the size of his fist.
The very stone he’d been searching for in his dreams these past months.
“Gulp!”
With just this, he could grow into a Level 5 Earth Mage.
He had to buy it immediately. He couldn’t possibly let it slip away.
The problem was that the auction price was climbing steeply by the second.
“Tsk.”
Daeji-su clicked his tongue and pulled up the Earth Mage Group Chat.
Sure enough, a pack of vultures were already tearing into each other.
– You bastards, don’t outbid me on my Mana Stone.
– Come on, seniors, just let me have this one and level up to 2, please.
– I’m an executive at the Matap Guild. If anyone else bids, I’ll hunt you down to the ends of the earth.
– These guys who never say a word in the chat normally—is this auction speed for real?
– Get lost, all of you. If I don’t get this, I’ll die trying.
Anticipating a fierce battle, Daeji-su checked his bank balance.
‘Good. I’ve got plenty of ammunition.’
Daeji-su drew a long breath and gulped down a glass of cold water. The sharp sting cleared his head of the alcohol’s fog.
The buzz he’d worked to cultivate had evaporated entirely, but he didn’t regret it for a second. A battle was unfolding before him that he couldn’t afford to lose.

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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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