Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 27

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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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Chapter 27
27. The 3D Printer
“A toy?”
[Yep!]
“How exactly do you play with this thing?”
[I’ll show you! Watch carefully!]
Pung Ho-gi drew something on the glass cylinder with his finger—a boomerang, sketched with reasonable care.
The next moment.
Whirrrrr.
The cylinder lurched into motion with a sudden mechanical hum, and something began to take shape hazily inside the glass.
‘Could that be… a boomerang?’
The suspicion was correct. A boomerang was forming slowly inside the cylinder.
Only then did I understand where the 3D printer material used in the workshop had come from.
‘A 3D Mana Printer, then.’
The material the glass cylinder consumed was, remarkably, the Mana suspended in the air itself. As an Awakener, I could sense the Mana in the atmosphere being rapidly drawn and collected into the cylinder.
The Mana in the Tower World was virtually infinite. All you needed to do was wait for the depleted reserves to refill and use them again—making this, in practical terms, a 3D printer with infinite power and infinite capacity.
Whirr.
I picked up the finished boomerang in my hand.
Light yet sturdy. The material felt strangely familiar.
‘Plastic?’
I turned the boomerang over, examining it from every angle, even tapping it. No matter how I looked at it, it was identical to plastic.
“What did you call this thing?”
[The toy maker!]
“No, I mean this.”
[The boomerang!]
“No, not that. The material itself. The material that comes out of this… toy maker. What did you call it?”
[It’s just toy material, isn’t it? Do humans really name every single thing?]
It seemed the spirits had never bothered to give this material a specific name of their own.
‘For convenience’s sake, I’ll call it Mana Plastic.’
An endless fountain of plastic flowing from the workshop. The potential applications would be truly boundless.
* * *
After lunch, I gathered the spirits in the empty plaza that had once been nothing but a space before the Main Hall, and spoke.
“From now on, we’ll be implementing a Division of Labor System.”
[Division of labor?]
“More precisely, different work will receive different compensation.”
Here was the plan I’d drawn up.
“From now on, the Gnomes who bring ore from the Mine will receive different kinds of Crackers depending on the ore type. Plain Crackers, without any Chocolate.”
[Ooh?]
“When you harvest from the Herb Field, you’ll get Nuts, and if you work at the Refinery, you’ll get Jam or Chocolate.”
This wasn’t about cutting back on the amount of snacks given to the spirits. If anything, the absolute quantity would increase.
The idea had come to me this morning when I saw the Gnomes eating different kinds of toast at the breakfast table.
Of course, each Gnome had slightly different tastes. So eating whatever they wanted rather than just one snack I’d chosen would surely make the work itself more enjoyable.
I’d also been inspired by the leadership Pung Ho-gi had shown toward his subordinate Gnomes just moments before.
“You’ll be able to eat snacks in whatever ratio and style you prefer. You can spread Jam on your Crackers, pair them with Chocolate, eat however you like.”
[Oh…]
[Ohhh.]
The Gnomes nodded at each other, clearly pleased with the arrangement.
“Same goes for the Undines. When you water the Herb Field, you’ll get Cider, and when you produce Mana Water, you’ll get Chocolate Milk.”
[Wow! This sounds fun!]
[Love it!]
As for the Sylphs, they didn’t consume anything in the first place, so they had to be an exception to this system.
“The Salamander, then…”
[Huh?]
Agamander tilted her head, looking at me with confusion.
Our Salamander in question had made quite clear that she had no intention of working in the Refinery—she’d spend all day shut up in the Lighthouse being lazy instead. I consented to this.
‘Right now, the Lighthouse might be the single most important building in Spirit Castle.’
Of course, there was also the fact that our Salamander was far too round to fit into a refining furnace. I reached out and stroked her neck as I spoke.
“If you help out at the Refinery, I’ll give you whatever pieces of wood you want to eat.”
[Hehehehe!]
Agamander let out a small laugh of delight.
LV. 3 Mine construction has been completed.
The Mine upgrade I’d set in motion just before lunch had finished.
[Huh?]
[Oh.]
The Gnomes, the Mine’s primary laborers, were already gathering around it, eager to see what had changed.
‘A bit disappointing, really.’
The Mine hadn’t received a reinforcement upgrade. To be honest, it was because the quality of the Mining Cart we’d made was abysmal.
‘Making something that actually moves is harder than I thought.’
It was clear I’d need to study far more if I wanted to properly use the Refinery and Workshop.
The silver lining was that our pathetic Mining Cart had transformed into a proper, sturdy one the moment the building was completed.
‘Like something straight out of a movie.’
Rails had been laid inside the Mine, and a small Mining Cart sat upon them. It looked like it could hold a full sack of forty kilos of rice if filled to capacity.
‘With this, we won’t have to haul ore out every single time we extract a piece.’
Until now, whenever the Gnomes had dug something up, they’d grab it in their hands and rush it to the storehouse’s “daily box.”
But with the Mining Cart, there was no need to make that trip every time.
[Huh?]
[Oh?]
The Gnomes didn’t seem to understand the Mining Cart’s purpose yet. They were simply playing with it, touching it, climbing aboard it in fascination.
I explained its usefulness in a single sentence.
“Listen, Gnomes. From now on, this is your ‘daily box.'”
[Huh?]
“Fill it to the brim, and it’ll turn into the same amount of Crackers.”
At the thought of a cart full of sweets, the Gnomes’ eyes instantly gleamed.
[Ohhhhh!]
[Ohhhhh, oh!]
In a heartbeat, they pushed the cart and vanished into the Mine.
Wheeeee!
The cheerful sound of their descent along the Spirit Mine’s distinctive spiral path grew distant. It seemed the Mine’s interior had evolved to level 3 as well, making it considerably deeper.
LV. 2 Wind Generator construction has been completed.
The completed Wind Generator showed no visible change. Its size, shape, and material all remained the same.
However, a small Wind Generator had been added beside it. It was perhaps one story tall—not even reaching the waist of the original Wind Generator.
When its blades turned, instead of the original’s heavy “whoosh,” they made a light “whirring” sound.
[It’s adorable!]
[Ahaha! So tiny!]
The spirits, not quite grasping their own perspective, couldn’t even reach the waist of the tiniest generator.
‘At least I won’t have to worry about power when running the mini Vikings.’
I nodded with satisfaction and turned my gaze to the next building.
LV. 3 Water Source construction has been completed.
The Water Source, which had been a well at level 1 and a pond at level 2, had grown one step further and was now finally a proper “Water Source” in size.
‘Still a bit small, though.’
It had transformed into a massive pond thirty feet in diameter.
Splash.
A fish leaped out of the pond. It was nearly the size of a forearm—fishing seemed entirely possible.
Croak-croak.
A frog that had puffed out its cheeks locked eyes with me and quickly dove back into the pond.
[Hehehe! It’s gotten so much bigger!]
Su Ho-gi couldn’t stop smiling at the Water Source’s growth. I was delighted as well.
‘Water is always necessary.’
Water was always needed in the Herb Field, the Refinery, and in my own Main Hall.
┼ LV. 3 Expansion Conditions (2/3)
└ 1. Workshop LV. 1 (1/1)
└ 2. Water Source LV. 3 (1/1)
└ 3. Village Residents (21/25)
With this, all the buildings available at level 2 Spirit Castle had been constructed.
Now I just had to wait for new village residents to arrive.
‘It shouldn’t take long.’
After all, Spirit Castle now had a level 3 Lighthouse.
* * *
Late afternoon.
I was learning more detailed information about Awakeners’ Skills from Jeong Jin, my resident scholar.
“An Awakener’s power comes from Skills. But that doesn’t just mean using the Skill itself.”
“You mean the body grows stronger as the Skill level rises?”
“That’s true too, but a Skill often grants power beyond the Skill itself. Like how some Summoners can wield the power of their summoned creatures directly.”
Awakeners don’t have detailed Skill windows like that. It meant we couldn’t learn how to use them by reading something—we had to discover everything through experience and intuition.
“Are you saying I could use the spirits’ power?”
“You’re not a Summoner, but there’s no harm in trying. Shall we give it a go?”
“I’m ready, Master!”
“Good, my student. First, try to visualize your Mana.”
Mana.
The foundation of an Awakener’s power has always been Mana, and the foundation for drawing out Mana has always been Emotion.
When an Emotion rises, Mana clings to it stickily, intertwining and binding.
‘Anger is probably the easiest emotion, after all.’
I recalled the resentment lodged deep in my chest. The old memories that perhaps would follow me my entire life, ones I could never forget.
‘Look at that. Easy, right?’
Whisper-shhh—.
Transparent smoke began to pour from my hand as if I’d lit incense. It was Mana that pooled low against the floor like melting dry ice.
It wasn’t as distinct as what Jeong Jin had shown me before. But what swirled above my hand was unmistakably my own Mana.
“Good. From here on, the important thing is imagination.”
“Imagination?”
“You’ve seen Gil Ma from the Mage Tower before, haven’t you?”
“I have. The person who dresses in that strange robe.”
“The reason that person wears a wide-brimmed witch’s hat with the robe—it’s all down to imagination. Image.”
I hadn’t known. To be honest, I’d thought they were just cosplaying, caught up in their own concept.
“Now you try moving your Mana by imaging your Skill’s foundation—the spirits.”
The spirits’ power.
Several images came to mind at those words.
Whisper-shhhhh—.
The Mana began to move once more.
I watched the Mana with a thrill of anticipation, wondering whose power would manifest first.
[Whimper.]
It wasn’t Undine’s power, at least.

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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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