Healing After Sweeping Spirits with an Almighty Skill - Chapter 69
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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 69
69. Where on earth did that potion come from?
Museum LV. 1
A repository of knowledge must always be protected.
Those who have visited the Spirit Quarter even once will harbor slightly less hostility toward it.
An effect that reduces aggression directed at the Spirit Quarter.
It was precisely the sort of effect the Spirit Quarter needed as it walked the merchant’s path.
‘Any quarrel or fight—even a single one—could be fatal to a merchant.’
Not that I was saying we’d lose.
My domain was home to hundreds of lesser spirits at C-Grade Awakener level and intermediate spirits at B-Grade Awakener level, after all.
On top of that, I had Jeong Jin at my right hand and a blade the spirits had crafted themselves in my grasp.
‘As long as I’m not fighting S-Grade Awakeners, it’d be harder to lose than to win.’
Still, avoiding conflict altogether was the wiser course.
The right way for a merchant was not to fight directly or meddle—it was to sell goods to both sides of someone else’s quarrel. That was the proper merchant’s stance.
The problem was that I couldn’t avoid a fight just by wishing to, but the Museum’s effect would go a long way toward easing that worry.
‘If anyone bears us ill will, I should send them an invitation.’
I stepped into the Museum.
Sylph—or rather, Curator Sylph—was already examining the exhibits in detail.
[Oho! So it’s like this…!]
To serve as curator, one had to study the exhibits thoroughly. Seeing her diligence from the start filled me with pride.
The curator was studying a sword artifact. All fifty artifacts used as materials were already on display with individual plaques bearing explanations.
‘That’s rather surprising.’
Fifty artifacts, each with its own descriptive plaque. It was the first time a building had been constructed with this much automatic detail.
Though I hadn’t read them, of course.
I’d never had much connection with museums in my life, and I hoped to keep it that way going forward.
‘But it should make for good viewing for outsiders who visit the domain.’
Following the recreation area came the Museum.
Buildings and sections were rising one by one that made me wonder if we were half-turning the place into a tourist destination rather than preparing for a festival.
I couldn’t say whether that was good or bad change. But the feeling that something was deliberately being shaped in a particular direction was impossible to shake.
* * *
The next day.
Construction of the second building began.
Constructible Buildings List
┼ Refinery LV. 4
└ Materials: Water Wheel (0/1)
└ Materials: Mithril (50kg/50kg)
└ Condition: Vassal Assignment (0/1)
‘Mithril is sufficient. Now I just need to build the Water Wheel.’
A Water Wheel was essentially like a watermill. Since I’d had irrigation channels dug when upgrading the Refinery to level 2, I could build it over those.
[Haul! Haul!]
The spirits cut and shaped the logs they’d brought from the Spirit Forest in the workshop according to design.
[Ho! Ho-oh!]
Then at the waterway, under Supervisor Noum’s direction, the dexterous spirits and Noum assembled the Water Wheel with practiced precision.
And thus, it was complete!
[Waah!]
[It’s done!]
[Ooo!]
A horizontal Water Wheel that used flowing water rather than falling water had been finished.
[Ooh.]
Supervisor Noum beamed with satisfaction and thrust out his belly toward me, seeking praise. I laughed and gave his helmet a friendly tap.
“You’ve all done me a great service again. I’ll make sure to note it in the provisions ledger.”
[Ooh!]
Supervisor Noum bounded about gleefully.
With the Water Wheel complete, it was time to assign a vassal. I called forward the spirit I’d arranged beforehand.
[Shaa.]
A winged intermediate Salamander.
Among the Salamanders that had helped when making Bullet Shells, this was the one who maintained the most consistent firepower.
‘A Refinery needs raw power more than dexterity, after all.’
This would be the second Salamander sworn as a vassal, after Pig-mander.
“I take you as vassal of this Refinery. May your unceasing flames henceforth form the foundation of our Spirit Quarter.”
Shaat.
From now on, I’d call this creature the Refinery Master Salamander.
Constructible Buildings List
┼ Refinery LV. 4
└ Materials: Water Wheel (1/1)
└ Materials: Mithril (50kg/50kg)
└ Condition: Vassal Stationed (1/1)
Building Refinery LV. 4.
Watching the blueprint rise above the Refinery, I sank onto a bench in the square and let out a quiet sigh.
‘Once I settle the Spirit Forest, I can expand to the next level.’
But I had no idea how to manage it. Magic power and fertilizer were problems money and time could solve. But ‘interest and affection’—how was I supposed to manufacture those?
‘Maybe I should’ve sold it back then.’
If I’d unloaded it when it was still a Mandrake, I would’ve cleared a billion at least.
But now it’d eaten the Millennium Tree Seed and turned into a tree, so there was no way to extract it anymore. And even if I could, there was the question of finding a buyer.
‘This is all because of that blasted Millennium Tree Seed.’
The Millennium Tree Seed.
It was an item I’d bought from the Treasure Vault for five points—planted originally to commemorate the construction of the Spirit Forest.
‘The Mandrake has a nature of consuming surrounding plants, so I’ve heard.’
Rani, who until now had shown no interest in other vegetation, caught wind of this one delicacy and relocated wholesale from the Herb Garden straight to the Spirit Forest.
Which is why the present disaster had unfolded—clearly, that Millennium Tree Seed was Rani’s absolute favorite delicacy.
‘Wait.’
A thought occurred to me suddenly.
‘Come to think of it, there was another seed type in the Treasure Vault, wasn’t there?’
Without much thought, I opened the Treasure Vault. Scrolling through, I found an item half-buried in my memory.
…….
That’s it.
I jumped to my feet.
With this, I could meet Rani’s conditions. And that wasn’t all.
‘If I play this right, she might even evolve another step.’
I pulled out my phone.
There was someone I needed to contact urgently to get this.
* * *
The Matap Guild had originally been a farming guild.
It was an outfit that repeatedly scaled specific floors and made money by selling the Magic Stones they farmed.
But ever since they’d found a continuous source of growth materials not long ago, the guild’s character had shifted somewhat. Now they farmed and climbed both.
Crash-bang!
Guild members who’d finished their tower ascent materialized in the guild house and collapsed onto the floor. Those who’d tumbled down hard quickly picked themselves up and checked the window floating before their eyes.
Floor 50 cleared.
It was just one short, simple sentence, but the faces of the guild members who read it blazed with bright triumph.
“We cleared it!”
“We cleared it! We actually cleared it!”
The Matap Guild’s monumental leap forward—they’d been farming only Floor 39 until now.
The 40s were a maritime field, so they’d skipped eleven floors altogether and challenged Floor 50 farming instead.
The result hovered right there on the screen before them.
“Well done, everyone!”
Even Jeon Woo-chi, famous for being stingy with praise, laughed heartily as he commended his guild members.
“Jeon Woo-chi, you’ve worked so hard!”
“You’ve endured so much!”
“Honestly, Jeon Woo-chi did most of the work for us!”
Jeon Woo-chi grinned and clapped Bulldog on the shoulder—his companion for the tower climb.
“You did your part too, Bulldog.”
“Ki… ki-hee-hee…”
A laugh that lacked its usual vigor.
The 50s were a lava field, so Bulldog’s strength hadn’t been much help.
Jeon Woo-chi looked around at his guild members with appreciative eyes.
Only months ago they’d been pitiful wretches drowning in defeatism, but that was then. Now their eyes burned with hope and their spirits bristled with determination.
‘All because everyone leveled up a step or two.’
Thanks to supplies from the Spirit Quarter, the Matap Guild’s power growth had been nothing short of explosive. By raw numbers alone, their combat strength had at least doubled.
Of course, even so, the tower climb hadn’t been entirely smooth sailing.
Just moments before, one guild member had failed to fully block a Lava Worm’s attack with his shield, and both his legs had been crushed into pulp.
“Your legs really are fine, aren’t they?”
“Completely intact, Dae Ji-su!”
“But that was a wound that shouldn’t have healed so cleanly.”
“Thanks to the potion Jeon Woo-chi gave me, it regenerated completely!”
Dae Ji-su turned to look at Jeon Woo-chi with astonishment in his eyes.
“There’s a potion with such absurd performance?”
“It’s an Alchemist’s special S-Grade Potion.”
“An S-Grade Potion? From our country?”
“This is a limited-production item, so even money can’t buy it anymore.”
Jeon Woo-chi added a sentence to his answer without much thought.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s a potion that can only be made from herbs in the Spirit Quarter.”
The Spirit Quarter.
At those words alone, every guild member stopped moving.
“Damn it. Spirit Quarter again.”
“No way. The moment that name leaves our lips, we have to praise it.”
They clasped their hands together and began chanting in different directions.
“Jeong-men.”
“Ryong-men.”
The prayers they each used were different, but the meaning was the same—infinite gratitude.
“…Huh?”
Just then, Bulldog, who’d been checking his phone, spoke up.
“Jeong Ryong’s on his way? Kee-hee-hee.”
The effect those words had on the guild was tremendous.
“Kyiiieeeek! Our prayer has been answered!”
“He must be coming to see me!”
“He’s probably coming to see Bulldog!”
“Jeong Ryong will guide me to the next level!”
“He’s just coming because he has business, I’m telling you!”
“We need to clean right now! No wait, we should shower first!”
“Ritual purification! Do a ritual purification!”
Even Jeon Woo-chi, who’d been watching the spectacle with some disdain, dashed toward the shower room using magic as all of them threatened to fill up.
“Hey! Leave the officers’ shower free!”
“You said we could use it in urgent situations!”
“This is urgent for me! I’m drenched in sweat right now!”
“But you can just block the smell with that amazing Wind Magic of yours!”
Moments later, Jeong Ryong stepped into the guild house, where the members—clean enough to make one doubt they’d just returned from climbing the tower—were waiting.
“Welcome!”
“We respect you!”
“We admire you!”
“Well, as always, it seems like you people conduct yourselves with such proper decorum.”
Jeong Ryong smiled faintly and accepted their greetings, and among them, Dae Ji-su shyly offered a small box.
“Cookies I baked myself.”
“Oh, you cook too? Thank you. I’ll enjoy them with the spirits.”
After Jeong Ryong passed, a flood of envious and longing gazes poured down on Dae Ji-su.
“Damn it. I’ve got to prepare a gift next time for sure!”
“How cowardly, taking all the points for yourself! That’s not like an Earth Mage!”
“Wait. So Dae Ji-su has been baking cookies and carrying them around all this time, not knowing when Jeong Ryong would show up?”
“That’s the level of devotion you need to be called Jeong Ryong’s first disciple!”
Unaware of the commotion erupting in the back, Jeong Ryong spoke to Bulldog.
“I have a request for you.”
“Kee-hee-hee…. Just ask.”
“Could you make all of these into Mid-Grade Spirits?”
Jeong Ryong set down the large box he’d been carrying.
[Shaaah?]
[Shaa.]
Inside the box, Salamanders were stacked neatly.
“Kee-hee-hee-hee.”
A smile bloomed across Bulldog’s face, which had been downcast from having failed to contribute meaningfully in the tower.
“Damn, he’s lucky!”
“Why don’t I have a flame affinity like Bulldog’s!”
“I want to repay your kindness too!”
Bulldog’s mood had already lifted under the weight of the guild members’ envious gazes pouring down on him.
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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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