Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 23

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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 23
23. DIY Spirit Fortress
Ding-!
A notification chimed, and a window materialized before my eyes.
Flawless Fresnel Lens
S-Rank Material Item
A flawless Fresnel Lens from which all air bubbles and impurities have been removed through the power of spirits.
I blinked for a moment before belatedly grasping what it was.
‘That’s the Item Information Window.’
I’d never imagined it would appear now.
In other words, the system had recognized our work as a legitimate item. Not just that—it had rated it S-Rank.
A remarkably successful first Refinement.
The result was so gratifying it left me dizzy.
“Oh, what’s this?”
I reached into my pocket and rummaged through it. The spirits tilted their heads, watching me with curious eyes.
“Well, would you look at that—snacks in here?”
My hand emerged from the snack pouch full of chocolates and crackers.
[Ooooh!]
Toho-gi and the Gnomes looked up at me with sparkling eyes. I handed the generous handful of snacks to Toho-gi.
[Oh! Ooh!]
Toho-gi snatched up the snacks and bolted outside without even removing his hard hat, thundering along with the Gnomes scurrying happily in his wake.
The Gnomes always stockpiled snacks in their communal snack vault, so those treats would surely end up there.
[Chit?]
Agamander looked up at me with keen interest. I’d prepared special snacks just for her too.
“Go on, try some.”
They were applewood chips I’d gotten from a smoked barbecue restaurant in Boru.
As I handed her a chip no bigger than my fingernail, Agamander accepted it and swallowed in one gulp.
[Chit! Chit-chit-chit!]
Her eyes went round as saucers, and she spun in place several times over. Clearly, she’d loved the taste.
I slipped another wood fragment into her small mouth and whispered,
“This is a secret from the Pig Salamander at the Lighthouse. You understand, don’t you?”
[Chit-chit-chit.]
Agamander let out soft, suppressed giggles as she eagerly gobbled up the wood chips.
Shortly after, much of the heat from the sand mold had dissipated.
I carefully tapped and broke apart the sand mold, revealing the lens nestled inside.
It was a lens that looked as though multiple concentric circles had been layered atop one another.
‘This is the Fresnel Lens.’
Though it hadn’t completely cooled, this temperature posed no real problem.
‘Level 2 Lighthouse construction.’
Beginning construction of the LV. 2 Lighthouse.
The notification appeared, and the Fresnel Lens soared through the air toward the Lighthouse.
As I stepped outside, a blueprint was already affixed to the Lighthouse, and a pig was trotting toward me with an irritable snort.
[Shaaaat!]
“Why so angry? We’re upgrading your home. It’s going to get bigger and better—you should be excited.”
[Shaaaa…!]
The Pig Salamander huffed in protest. But the moment Agamander climbed onto her back, she fell silent as if nothing had happened.
[…Shaat?]
Suddenly the Pig Salamander sniffed the air with a strange sound, her nose twitching.
I quickly pretended not to notice. True to piggy nature, her sense of smell was uncannily sharp.
* * *
While I played with the Salamanders for a while, a notification window appeared.
LV. 2 Lighthouse construction has been completed.
A notification I was always glad to see.
But the message didn’t end there.
Materials created at the Spirit Special Zone facilities were used in the LV. 2 Lighthouse construction.
Materials with special effects were used in the LV. 2 Lighthouse construction.
The LV. 2 Lighthouse construction is being Enhanced.
Enhanced Construction—a term I’d never heard before. It seemed my decision to craft the lens myself had been the right call.
Whoosh!
The nearly complete Lighthouse was enveloped in brilliant light. As it glowed, the Lighthouse gradually expanded in size, and soon a new window opened.
LV. 3 Lighthouse Construction Complete.
The lighthouse that should have been built at level 2 had become level 3 instead. It had skipped an entire level of growth.
‘So using self-crafted materials lets you skip a whole level?’
Considering the resources and time that usually went into leveling, this was undeniably profitable.
The lighthouse was, moreover, indispensable to the development of the Spirit Special Zone. I couldn’t help but praise my past self for deciding to craft the lens directly.
‘Good. From now on, I’ll aim for self-sufficiency on every material I can manage.’
The completed level 3 lighthouse had grown far more massive than it was at level 1.
It had gained at least two full stories in height, and the beacon’s lenses had increased to three. The Flawless Fresnel Lens we’d crafted occupied the center, with the original lenses mounted on either side.
“So? Does it suit your taste?”
[Chirrup.]
Even Pig Salamander, who had been bristling with discontent just moments before, grunted with evident satisfaction.
Pig Salamander settled back into the beacon’s interior, belly pressed flat against the bottom. His generous paunch spilled out over his sides.
Poke, poke.
I was prodding at that irresistible swell of flesh when Jeong Jin asked.
“This one just stays here all day, doesn’t he?”
“That’s right. Chewing on wood shavings so the lens can refract light properly.”
“Hmm.”
While Jeong Jin lost himself in thought, I found my hand drawn back to Agamander’s soft sides.
[Chirrup.]
Agamander twisted away as if bothered, but the addictive warmth of his skin kept my hand where it was.
The salamander’s peculiar touch—warm and silken, impossibly soft. Like the cheek of an infant, so inviting that I could spend hours doing nothing but stroking him.
“Hey, would it be okay if I started a YouTube channel?”
“If you want to, then do it. Why ask me about something like that?”
“I’m thinking of doing content about the Spirit Special Zone and the spirits.”
Jeong Jin’s eyes held surprising gravity.
I withdrew my hand from Pig Salamander and met his gaze.
“You’re thinking of launching a spirit YouTube channel?”
“On the channel you used to broadcast on. I’ve got plenty of time anyway—I’m basically commuting here for work now.”
Jeong Jin had been sent to the Spirit Fortress on an extended assignment by the guild.
– The Guild Master wanted to boost your ranking a bit.
I’d been taken aback at first, but thinking it over, there was nothing in it for me to lose. It wasn’t as though I’d be incurring a debt to the Bangju Guild over this, and Jeong Jin, being an A-rank Awakened One, was valuable simply by his presence.
I’d accepted on the condition that he teach me about Awakened combat techniques and training methods.
“Hmm. And the revenue split?”
“I figured you’d lead with that.”
“So you came prepared with decent terms, I assume?”
“The videos are going up on your account anyway. You’ve got to cut me in.”
“Dream on.”
“Ugh, seriously. How about 30% of the video revenue I generate?”
There was an old rule about negotiation—always open strong. It was clear Jeong Jin was following that playbook.
“Deal.”
“Good, so I was thinking 25%… wait, deal?”
“Deal.”
“Since when are you so free with your money? I fully expected you to haggle me down to the teens.”
Truth was, I had little genuine interest in YouTube revenue.
What mattered was using this opportunity to accelerate Spirit Awareness Improvement.
‘The condition for evolving into the Spirit Fortress was achieving the first stage of Spirit Awareness Improvement, wasn’t it.’
That meant the next evolution would likely demand another round of awareness elevation.
If people became familiar with spirits through YouTube, improving awareness would be far easier.
‘And Jeong Jin would be ideal for creating that kind of content.’
Jeong Jin was a genuine spirit enthusiast who adored and cared for the spirits deeply. He was the perfect person to showcase their charm to a YouTube audience.
Which meant that if I wanted him to keep doing YouTube work even after this assignment ended, I’d need to offer generous terms.
“In exchange, you handle everything—planning, filming, editing, uploading. I’m not lifting a finger.”
“Wow, 30% and all I have to do is take it easy—sounds like a dream job.”
Jeong Jin slipped instantly into fawning mode, rubbing his palms together eagerly, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
“So what kind of videos are you planning to shoot?”
“Just small, everyday moments. I’m thinking V-logs for now.”
“Spirit V-logs?”
“Chubby guy staring into the fire V-log. Don’t you think that’d be great?”
At that, I looked down at Pig Salamander. A chubby salamander gazing into embers. It did sound rather appealing.
* * *
The path to Spirit Fortress Level 2 upgrade. Now only the spire remained.
┼ Constructible List
└ Spire LV. 1
└ Material: Timber (10kg/10kg)
└ Material: Stone (20kg/20kg)
└ Material: Mana Stone (500g/500g)
Construction of LV. 1 Spire begins.
I had Mana Stones left over from the Undine purification incident before.
Timber and stone were things that always overflowed the warehouse, but this time I decided to try something a bit special.
‘An experiment to see if Enhanced Construction can be achieved through a bit of secondary crafting.’
I had Sylph and the Gnomes trim the timber and stone a little, then carve various patterns into them.
I watched the results with a thudding heart.
Construction of LV. 1 Spire has been completed.
No notification appeared about additional Enhanced Construction. I felt a twinge of disappointment, but the spirits didn’t care—they were overjoyed.
[Ohhhhh!]
[Woooow!]
The spirits gazed up at the towering spire with sparkling eyes. They looked like children captivated by a new ride at an amusement park.
‘A spire, they call it—and it’s damned tall.’
The spire was a building roughly the size of a wind turbine.
Its height was about five stories, its meager width perhaps nine feet across, and it tapered narrower and more pointed as it rose, giving it an appearance somewhere between a great candlestick and a needle.
‘I can’t even imagine what kind of building this is supposed to be.’
I gave up guessing and simply checked the skill information.
Spire LV. 1
The reason a spire’s peak is high and pointed is to touch the sky. Or perhaps, to touch someone in the sky.
What was written there was no proper explanation. The spire was the second mysterious building after the Lighthouse.
Did that frustrate me, you ask?
‘Quite the opposite. I like it.’
The corners of my mouth lifted involuntarily.
Because if this riddle matched the Lighthouse’s grandeur, it meant this structure was going to be something equally incredible.
‘The description feels almost religious, though.’
Though that made sense—spires were originally connected to churches, after all. In medieval times, weren’t castles and churches the defining buildings?
I turned to Toho-gi.
“Do you guys happen to believe in gods or anything?”
[Gods?]
“Gods.”
[Shoes? Tee-hee! We don’t wear those kinds of things!]
It seemed that had nothing to do with the spirits. Then could it be related to humans somehow?
“Namo Amitabha? Amen?”
The spire didn’t budge at all, even to words I pulled out—seemingly random incantations like “Open sesame.”
“Hmm….”
I tapped my chin while gazing up at the stark spire before me.
* * *
The next day.
I set up a ritual offering table in front of the spire.
…….
Jeong Jin stared at the pig’s head placed in the center of the offerings, then asked me:
“Hey. Isn’t a spire supposed to be a church building?”
“I’m not religious.”
“Are you genuinely insane?”
I carefully tucked a fifty-thousand-won note between the pig’s teeth.
Yes, I know how strange it looks.
But I thought it was better to offer my sincere regards in the best way I could manage rather than put on airs with a religion that wasn’t mine.
“So you’re saying you went all the way to Yangpyeong to get a talisman from a renowned shaman.”
“I said I’m not religious.”
“A talisman isn’t religion.”
…….
Jeong Jin simply shook his head without a word.

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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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