Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 6

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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 6
6. A Wage Will Not Be Paid
Of course, such ultimate management strategy doesn’t work on just anyone.
‘In the end, it’s only possible because Noum is a laborer of sufficient worth.’
Though we’d met only two days ago, I’d come to understand most of this small spirit’s character.
Noum is pure and forthright, diligent and honest about his desires—yet modest enough that he harbors no great ambitions.
In short, an ideal worker. So the dramatic wage increase didn’t feel like such a loss.
Of course, that reasoning wasn’t limited to Noum alone.
“Here, this is your compensation.”
[Wow! Thank you for the gift!]
I gave Undine a Cola—a small 125ml can. After I popped the lid, she took a sip and trembled all over.
[Gasp! What is this?!]
Undine was startled by the carbonation, unsure what to make of it, yet she kept sipping the Cola nonetheless.
[This is amazing!]
By the time Undine had finally finished the Cola, her skin had turned pitch-black. It seemed that water spirits change their skin color depending on what they drink.
[La-la-la~.]
The blackened Undine hums a little tune as she works in the field where white flowers are sprouting.
“…Hmm.”
This could stir up quite the scandal if I’m not careful. Next time, I’ll give her Cider instead of Cola.
* * *
Late night had arrived.
I decided to spend the night at the Spirit Special Zone Main Building again.
‘Monsters can’t approach anyway, so there’s no real danger.’
The Main Building was a small two-room apartment, about 300 square feet.
One room served as an office with a desk and bookshelf, while the other was a bedroom—though I had to account for the fact that straw covered the floor instead of a mattress.
‘Still, what more could I ask for?’
I laid my sleeping bag on the straw and climbed inside. Moonlight filtering softly through the window cast a grayish glow across the thatched roof like an ambient lamp.
When I turned my head, the starlight in the night sky sparkled like glow-in-the-dark stickers from childhood.
Gazing at this vista granted only to me in this world, I felt an unexpected tenderness bloom in my chest.
‘My own space, then.’
I’d had various “spaces of my own” before, but never one that truly belonged entirely to me.
A hideaway I could build and decorate as I pleased.
A sanctuary no one could enter without my permission.
A space built with my skill, belonging to no one but me, where I alone held dominion.
‘How should I describe this feeling?’
It was a curious sensation.
Part of me wondered if it was really such a small thing.
Yet something in my chest wouldn’t stop racing.
I found myself worrying it might disappear when I woke.
In short, it felt like a dream.
Tap-tap.
Something tapped against the leg of my bed. I looked down to find Noum and Undine gazing up at me.
“What’s wrong? Did a new friend arrive?”
[No.]
[Uhhhh…]
Noum and Undine stretched both arms toward me, indicating that wasn’t it.
It took me a moment to understand what they meant.
“You want to come up and sleep in the bed?”
[Yes, yes.]
[Yeah! Let’s sleep together!]
No amount of sparkling eyes and vigorous nodding was going to work.
“No. This is my bed, and you two have a nest outside.”
[Oh….]
[Sniff….]
Noum and Undine let their arms droop, their faces downcast. No amount of pitiful expressions would sway me. How dare a mere worker expect to share a bed with the boss?
Shuffle, shuffle.
The two spirits trudged out of the room with leaden steps.
“…….”
Shuffle, shuffle.
Being small, even leaving the room took forever.
“Sigh. All right, come here. Keeping you warm is part of employee benefits, I suppose.”
I gestured, and Noum and Undine brightened at once, scurrying over. When I reached down beneath the bed, they climbed up my arm, crawling eagerly.
[Oh. Oooh.]
[Wow! That’s amazing!]
Noum seemed fascinated by the elevation, glancing around before sprawling flat across the sleeping bag.
Undine also fiddled with the sleeping bag a few times, then flopped down on top of it.
After all that effort lifting them up, they didn’t even go inside the bag—just used it as a mat—which was absurd, but the two paid my stare no mind and were asleep in moments.
[Snore—.]
[Dooze—.]
Their faces were adorable as they slept, unburdened and so purely innocent.
‘But I won’t show them affection.’
We were employer and employee. That was the distance that suited us best.
* * *
The next morning.
When I woke, the first thing I did was check the Herb Field.
The herbs that had grown perhaps the width of two fingers overnight were each displaying an Information Window above their heads—visible only to Awakened Ones.
Recovery Herb (Growing)
Grade B Crafting Material
The Herb Field was dominated by Recovery Herbs.
They were the raw material for the Health Recovery Potion—the alchemists’ highest profit margin and most popular potion.
Since the Tower opened, supply had never reached even ten percent of demand, and a single stalk commanded at least several million won.
Attugeo Fruit (Growing)
Grade C Crafting Material
This one, true to its name, was the ingredient for a doping elixir that raised body temperature.
And the next one….
Mandrake (Growing)
Grade S Crafting Material
“……?”
I closed and reopened the Information Window several times, wondering if it was malfunctioning. But the contents didn’t change.
‘Why are you growing in my field?’
Mandrake.
A cursed plant that, if you weren’t careful during harvest, would emit a death shriek and kill whoever heard it.
‘Should I pull it up and burn it before it fully matures?’
But it was Grade S material—too valuable to destroy lightly.
Though it had many uses, the most famous product was the Potion of Second Chance—a limited resurrection potion that, if consumed, would revive you if you died within a certain timeframe.
The Orochi Guild in Japan had once used this potion to take down a floor forty boss. I’d heard that everyone in the raid team drank it and managed to survive a total wipe mechanic.
“Mm….”
After mulling it over, I opened the Tower Market app.
‘Search. Mandrake.’
Immediately, my screen filled with “Buying” listings.
True to its Grade S status, supply was critically scarce.
‘Let’s see the price…. 1.3 billion? Insane.’
Given that 1.3 billion was the asking price, I could probably get at least 15 percent more.
“Gulp.”
1.5 billion.
Enough to buy a decent house.
With a land spirit on my side, wouldn’t it be manageable? Maybe there’s a way to harvest it safely, spiritually speaking?
Or I could just list it for sale and let the alchemist handle the harvest themselves.
‘As long as no mole happens to dig it up while passing by, it should be safe enough?’
I was weighing my life against 1.5 billion on an invisible scale, thinking hard, when—
[Person! Person!]
Undine came bounding toward me, her short legs pumping frantically. After pausing to catch her breath on one knee, she cried out:
[Emergency situation!]
“What is it? Did another friend show up?”
[Yes! Salamander came!]
A new spirit.
Hearing that, I scooped up Undine and settled her on my shoulders, then bolted in the direction she’d come from.
* * *
Moments later.
“Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff!”
Outside the Main Building of Spirit Village.
“Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!”
I was dancing.
Though no music was playing, I could dance to the rhythm of my own joyful heartbeat alone.
[Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.]
[Ahahaha!]
The two spirits were swaying side to side, sharing in my joy.
Though their movements were literal ‘swaying’—not the graceful expression of inner emotion like mine.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Here I am showing you the perfect model of dancing, and you can’t even manage that much.”
[Huh? We’re copying you exactly though?]
Why was I dancing? The reason was quite simple.
[Whoosh.]
The Fire Spirit had arrived at my village.
I moved my body with even greater vigor in front of the red lizard, whose eyes betrayed annoyance.
‘How wonderful—the spirits have come.’
The Fire Spirit, whom Undine had told me was called Salamander.
Unusually, this one didn’t take human form like Noum or Undine, but rather the shape of a true beast—resembling, though I couldn’t say for certain, a gecko lizard.
Salamander had been discovered in Spirit Village only ten minutes earlier.
Undine had drawn her up from the bottom of the well; how the fire lizard had ended up down there was beyond me.
In any case, following Undine’s advice, I’d cut small wood chips and fed them to the shriveled Salamander, and soon enough she’d made this splendid recovery.
“Well done, Undine! You’ve earned a reward!”
I tossed a can of Cider to Undine.
[Yay!]
Undine embraced the cold Cider can with a happy face, while Noum watched enviously.
“You’re pleased too! Here, catch!”
[Oh…!]
Noum received a piece of Chocolate and began swaying its rear end with even greater enthusiasm.
Isn’t this overly generous incentive disbursement? This is fine. An opportunity to grow Spirit Village has arrived!
‘Skill Window!’
┼ Construction List
└ Furnace LV. 1
└ Material : Timber (2kg/2kg)
└ Material : Stone (2kg/2kg)
└ Condition : Fire Spirit (1/1)
Once I built the Furnace, I could immediately raise Spirit Village to Level 3.
I wondered what kind of structure the Furnace would be.
What other buildings would be unlocked at Level 3.
And how much money they might earn me!
“Ahahaha! Excellent—let’s go!”
I began construction without delay.
* * *
At the same moment.
The ‘Tower Management Bureau,’ occupying one section of the second floor of the Fortress.
…….
The bureau director and staff were studying the photographs on the screen with grave expressions.
They were photographs capturing a strange phenomenon occurring in the Wasteland surrounding the Fortress.
“So, what is that supposed to be?”
“We’re calling it a ‘Cloud Pillar’ for now.”
In the photograph stood an enormous cylindrical column.
A white pillar rising serenely from within a coarse, cutting wind that resembled a dust storm.
“Its width isn’t substantial, but its height is unmeasurable.”
The bureau director muttered upon hearing the staff member’s report.
“Don’t tell me that thing is going to grow into a second Tower.”
No one could answer that.

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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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