Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 20

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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 20
Episode 20. The Power of Purification
Had the Spirit Castle finally grown to the point where it could produce Mana Stones on its own?
Unfortunately, that couldn’t be the case.
Just as Ore emerges from beneath the earth, Mana Stones come from inside monsters’ bodies.
There was no way Mana Stones could spontaneously generate like this.
‘Then this must be that Contaminated Mana Stone from yesterday.’
A Contaminated Mana Stone had suddenly become the highest-purity Mana Stone.
If it came from a Wyvern, it should’ve been a Class B Mana Stone at best—trash rolling across the ground had become worth several million won in a matter of hours.
To make sense of this market manipulation, I sought out Undine and the others who had taken this Mana Stone yesterday.
Suho Ki and Undine were swimming with goldfish in the Pond.
“Hey, you lot.”
I called out to Undine, who wore the delighted expression of someone engaged in the world’s most entertaining game.
[Yes! Yes!]
[What’s up?]
At that, Undine and the others emerged halfway from the Pond, as though talking to me was even more fun than what they’d been doing, their gleaming eyes fixed on me.
Thanks to those eyes and that attitude, my confidence always surged whenever I spoke with Undine.
“This is what I gave you yesterday, right?”
[Yes! That’s it!]
[It was so fun! Hehe!]
The water spirits covered their mouths and giggled.
“Did you two clean this up somehow?”
[Yes!]
“How?”
At my question, Suho Ki and Undine glanced at each other blankly, then answered with bright smiles.
[Just did!]
[Did it well!]
“Ah, I see.”
I nodded.
Dealing with spirits was always faster and better through action than words.
“Jin.”
I called Jeong Jin, whose shift was nearly over.
“It looks like Undine has a Purification ability I didn’t know about. Could you grab some Contaminated Mana Stones somewhere and—”
– What?! Our water sprites have a hidden ability?! Wait! I’ll bring some right now!
And in just fifteen minutes, Jeong Jin pulled off a feat and returned with Contaminated Mana Stones.
“What about your Guild shift?”
“It’s fine.”
“No, aren’t you supposed to match your clock-out time?”
“It’s fine, I’m telling you. More importantly, hurry up and show me this new technique our water sprites have.”
What in the world was Undine to Jeong Jin?
Did he used to be a kraken in his past life or something?
Regardless, that wasn’t what mattered now. I held out the Contaminated Mana Stone to Undine again.
“Can you clean this one up too?”
At my request, Undine’s eyes lit up and they threw their hands up eagerly.
[This’ll be fun!]
[Put it over here!]
I set the Contaminated Mana Stone near the Pond, and Undine stretched their index and thumb out long, as if firing a gun. Then—
[Psssht! Psssht!]
[Spray spray! Bang bang!]
Water jets shot from their fingertips toward the Contaminated Mana Stone.
Whoooosh!
The water sprayed forth with the force of a fire hose.
Being submerged in the water source certainly made a difference—this jet was far more powerful than the feeble trickle from before. It was probably an effect of the Spirit Castle’s Level Up.
As the water poured down, the Mana Stone’s color began to brighten gradually. The contamination was being washed away.
‘Is contamination really that easy to remove?’
That couldn’t be right.
Contamination was called that precisely because even if you pulverized it down to dust, it was worthless—completely rotted through to the core.
Drip drip—
Blackened water flowed down below the Mana Stone. The contamination that had pooled inside was dissolving into the water Undine had poured and streaming away.
Undine possessed a Purification power I had never known about. And it was a Purification power so formidable that no one had ever dared attempt such a thing.
As the grime peeled away and the clean form emerged, I watched with an odd sense of satisfaction—then the Purification ended.
[All done!]
In five minutes, a pristine Mana Stone lay in my hand.
“This can’t be real.”
Jeong Jin stared at the Mana Stone in my palm, his eyes glazed. I felt the same way. But first, there was something I needed to do.
“Well done. You did great—here’s a treat!”
[Yay!]
I held out a small bottle of Cider, and Undine and her sisters eagerly took it, asking delightedly:
[But why are you giving us this?]
[Did we do good?]
[We just played!]
“Exactly. You did very well.”
I reached over and gently stroked their heads in praise. Undine and the others giggled with joy, then hugged each other tightly, their plump cheeks pressing against one another like little puddings.
“Aww, so cute!”
Jeong Jin made a dolphin-like sound and pulled out his phone to snap photos.
Judging by his behavior, Jeong Jin must have been either a kraken or an Undine in his past life.
* * *
After filling their bellies with Cider, Undine and the others went back to playing in the water.
As I watched them, turning something over in my mind, Jeong Jin—satisfied with his photos—asked:
“So, what are you scheming this time?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You always get that serious face whenever you’re plotting something.”
“What are you talking about? I’m always serious.”
“Sure. I’d sooner believe Noum could talk.”
Laughing at my denial, Jeong Jin shrugged, and I answered with a shrug of my own.
“I was thinking about opening a coin laundry.”
“At Boro’s storefront?”
“Yeah. I’d call it the Undine Coin Laundry.”
But this laundry wouldn’t be washing ordinary clothes or equipment.
Every time an Expedition Team ventures out, they slay tens or hundreds of monsters—creatures whose bodies are left to rot because they’re worthless.
‘What if I could purify all of it—the contaminated hides, the Mana Stones, everything?’
With Purification as the service, the business would thrive. Jeong Jin tilted his head in confusion for a moment, then asked:
“Why bother with a laundry? Why not just buy up all the Contaminated Mana Stones at a discount and resell them after purifying them?”
“Wow, you really are garbage.”
“……?”
Jeong Jin looked at me as if he didn’t understand what he’d just heard.
“That’s fraud.”
“And what you’ve been doing all this time isn’t?”
“That’s fair compensation for honest labor. This isn’t.”
What comes from my land, I sell at market price. There’s nothing wrong with that.
The oil-rich sheikhs of the Middle East, with petroleum gushing from their front yards, are objects of envy, not hatred or contempt, are they?
But purifying Mana Stones is a different story altogether. What I’d be doing is essentially polishing a dirty apple and selling it for a premium.
‘It’s not primary production—it’s processing and redistribution. In other words, pure commerce.’
How long have merchants been despised and hated throughout human history? No matter how special the circumstances with Spirits might be, from others’ perspectives, it’s hard not to resent it.
‘I might create enemies among the masses.’
Even after that broadcast, I’d already spotted jealousy and spite burning bright on the internet in countless places. Human malice has no bottom; I had no need to throw more kindling on that fire.
Of course, if the profit were enormous, I’d push ahead anyway. But it isn’t.
‘Even if I could make a profit, it’s only around a thousand to twelve hundred times.’
Do you know what my other businesses generate?
From a thousand-won Cracker, I extract tens of millions of won worth of Magic Ore. That’s profit margins exceeding tens of thousands of times.
Why would I take on risk for profit that doesn’t even reach a tenth of that?
‘Not making enemies. Above all, that’s what matters.’
In the end, it’s about self-preservation.
Better to build up my own faction through small acts of generosity. The way major corporations and celebrities sometimes manage their image through donations.
‘You call that hypocritical image management for tax breaks?’
Exactly my point.
I’ll make allies out of those who believe even hypocrisy is a form of goodness.
“Besides, given how many Undine there are, I can’t operate a massive laundry anyway. So it’s better to take a modest commission and handle it as talent donation—good for my image.”
“But if you’re taking a commission, it’s not donation anymore, is it?”
“The landlord collects enormous rent and still gets praised by the people. Compared to that, this counts as charity.”
“You’re the one making the Talent Donation, but you’re taking the credit?”
“That’s how it works. The bear does the trick, the trainer pockets the money.”
“I can’t believe I have to listen to a con artist like you.”
Jeong Jin shook his head with exasperation. Behind him came Toho Ki, rushing over with a startled expression.
I wondered what the commotion was about until I noticed Noum’s gaze fixed to the ground near the Pond—to earth saturated with the contamination of Mana Stones.
‘Ah.’
I turned and bolted away as fast as I could.
Unfortunately, Jeong Jin was too distracted by the sound of Toho Ki’s footsteps to move with quite the same speed I managed.
“Huh? Noum? What’s wrong?”
[Oh! Ohhh!]
“What? This spot? I….”
[Ohhhhh! Ohhhhhhh!]
“No, that’s not—I swear, it was the dragon who asked, so Undine and the others… Wait, where the hell did that dragon go?”
[Ohhhhhhhh!]
“I’m telling you, that’s not what I meant! This is driving me insane!”
I sacrificed Jeong Jin as a distraction and made my escape.
I’d need to come up with a strategy for dealing with that contamination too.
* * *
I was playing hide-and-seek in the Main Castle, avoiding Jeong Jin—who’d been thoroughly chewed out by Toho Ki and was now seething—when I heard it.
Scratch-scratch-scratch.
The sound of something crawling.
I turned to look and saw a small lizard creeping along the wall.
‘Lizards live in the Wasteland? How did he even survive out there?’
My surprise was brief.
Two pieces of information struck me simultaneously: the visual data that the lizard’s color was red, and the sensory knowledge that this was a Spirit.
[Sssst?]
What was in front of me was a Salamander.
“Wait—a second Salamander!”
I couldn’t help but be astonished.
Though not simply by the fact that there was a second one.
‘It’s so small!’
Compared to Kkul Kkul at the Lighthouse, this one was minuscule. If Kkul Kkul was roughly the size of a medium dog, this Salamander was smaller than my palm.
And besides….
‘It’s kind of… cute?’
This young Salamander, judged by its diminutive size, radiated a childlike innocence that practically oozed from every feature.
[Sssst? Sissst?]
The way it tilted its head with a questioning chirp bore no comparison to Kkul Kkul, who couldn’t even be bothered to roll his eyes and spoke in that irritating monotone.
Beside this little creature, Kkul Kkul wasn’t even a pig. He was a wild boar. One that hadn’t seen water in three years, at that.
‘Just how much has that pig-Salamander been dragging down the Salamander average all by itself?’
I silently rebuked Kkul Kkul before reaching out toward the second Salamander.
Scratch-scratch-scratch.
The Salamander climbed rapidly up my hand. Its warm, delicate little feet tickled as they traversed my palm.
The second Salamander.
With this, we could build a Forge and a Smeltery. Which meant the next expansion of Spirit Castle was within reach.

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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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