The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 28

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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 28
Chapter 6
‘What on earth is happening?’
As Han Eol watched in bewilderment, the foundation within Yang Bing’s fortress solidified with a crisp, resonant crackle.
At the same moment, carved reliefs of a horned beast emerged in sharp relief along the fortress’s outer walls.
‘Wait—that’s a Naga.’
Han Eol recognized at a glance that the carvings etched around Yang Bing’s fortress depicted the legendary transcendent being known as the Naga.
Having spent so much time at Wat Udon, he’d seen Naga sculptures often enough that missing them would have been strange indeed.
Yet the transformations within Yang Bing’s spirit did not end there.
The fortress trembled, and from within it rose a solid, flat cylindrical column.
Lotus petals were carved in fine detail around the cylinder’s circumference, radiating brilliant luminescence from each petal.
‘Ah. That column looks like the support base of a tower’s first level.’
The thought occurred to Han Eol as he watched.
Yang Bing’s spirit then settled upon the flat lotus-petal-shaped base—or perhaps a dais—and gazed with serene nobility at the wave-swept walls surrounding it.
Crack-crack-boom!
A lightning bolt of enlightenment suddenly struck through Han Eol’s mind.
A surging sea.
A foundation laid through that sea.
A fortress raised upon that foundation, ringed by carved Nagas.
A lotus-shaped dais rising within the fortress.
A spirit settled upon that dais.
As this sequence of images unfolded in succession, it matched perfectly with the teachings the venerable monks of Wat Prathat had painstakingly expounded moments before.
‘That’s it!’
A lamp of enlightenment ignited suddenly in Han Eol’s mind.
‘The Sea of Mind—that was it. The environment surrounding the spirit itself was the sea.’
When Han Eol had merely heard the monks’ teachings in words, they seemed like clouds he could never grasp; but seeing it with his own eyes, understanding crystallized immediately.
The venerable monks of Wat Prathat had instructed their students: “Find the axis in the Sea of Mind, lay a firm foundation upon it, and build your fortress.”
Yet Yang Bing had already laid that foundation and built her fortress atop it.
In fact, even before she’d come to Wat Prathat to hear these teachings, she had established a foundation in the Sea of Mind—or Soul Sea, as it was called—in her own spirit.
And she had already constructed her own fortress upon that foundation.
But Yang Bing, who had remained stalled at that very stage, received the venerable monk’s teachings today and achieved awakening in a single stride.
Her previously plain fortress underwent a dramatic transformation with that one stroke of enlightenment: dozens of carved Nagas materialized around her fortress’s perimeter (stage 3 of the teaching), and she advanced further still, constructing a lotus dais within the fortress itself (stage 4 of the teaching).
In other words, Yang Bing had laid a firm foundation—a Soul Foundation—upon the axis within her Sea of Mind, built a fortress—a Soul Fortress—upon that foundation, and then, constructing a single-story lotus dais within that Soul Fortress, had also succeeded in laying the groundwork for a tower.
However, she had not yet raised that dais into multiple stories to form a Soul Tower.
Moreover, there was a long thorn embedded at the base where the Soul Tower would eventually rise, and it seemed as though this thorn might cause some obstruction when the tower was erected.
‘What is that thorn?’
Han Eol tilted his head in puzzlement.
In any case, Yang Bing’s spirit began emanating brilliant luminescence from atop the single-story Soul Tower.
Strictly speaking, it was not Yang Bing’s spirit itself but rather the radiance being emitted by the single-story lotus Soul Tower.
It was a mysterious luminescence that human eyes could not perceive—only those who could perceive spirits could sense it.
But had enlightenment truly made Yang Bing stronger?
‘Hard to say……’
Han Eol tilted his head again, reconsidering.
From his perspective, Yang Bing’s spirit remained as fragile as a tender seedling waiting to be plucked.
The only difference was whether that seedling stood on bare earth or upon a planter.
Of course, the act of laying a Soul Foundation in the Sea of Mind, constructing a Soul Fortress upon it, surrounding that fortress with carved Nagas—though the venerable monk at Wat Prathat had actually advised carving Buddha statues around the foundation’s perimeter rather than Nagas—and then erecting a lotus Soul Tower within the fortress, might have felt to Yang Bing like a mulberry field transforming into the sea, a truly momentous advancement.
‘If Yang Bing’s enemies were to attack her spirit, they’d first have to breach her Soul Fortress, and while they did, the Nagas carved in a ring around the fortress’s exterior might launch a counterattack.’
Han Eol suspected the Naga carvings were not merely decorative.
Even if enemies somehow managed to penetrate the Soul Fortress.
They would still have to overcome one more stage to strike at Yang Bing’s spirit directly—they would have to destroy the lotus Soul Tower itself.
‘But somehow I doubt that radiant lotus Soul Tower will crumble so easily.’
Han Eol held the meticulously carved lotus Soul Tower in considerable regard.
Ultimately, through a single stroke of enlightenment like a thunderbolt, Yang Bing had constructed a Naga-carved Soul Fortress and a lotus Soul Tower, gaining the ability to protect herself with twofold defense.
Yet this applied only when she fought ordinary Espers or Demon Beasts; to Han Eol, Yang Bing before and after her enlightenment were no different at all.
‘After all, Yang Bing’s spirit is still nothing but a two-dimensional plane. I could pluck her soul from existence with just a gesture.’
Of course, Han Eol had never actually fought Yang Bing.
Yet he was brimming with confidence that he could crush her with ease.
To his eyes, Yang Bing’s spirit was no different from a two-dimensional figure drawn upon paper.
A figure such as this.
In this figure, the rectangle represented Yang Bing’s Soul Fortress as viewed from above.
And the spiky protrusions jutting from the outer wall of the Soul Fortress were none other than the horns of a Naga.
Meanwhile, Yang Bing’s spirit sat in serene composure upon the lotus-petal dais within the Soul Fortress, gazing down upon the sea beyond the walls—the Sea of Mind itself.
Then Yang Bing sprang to her feet and approached Han Eol.
Chapter 7
Yang Bing seemed thoroughly displeased that Han Eol continued to sit vacant and staring at her even after all the monks had finished their discourse.
Her eyes, fixed upon him, brimmed with irritation and contempt.
‘Oh dear, this won’t do.’
Han Eol scrambled to his feet from the wooden floor.
“Hey.”
Yang Bing called him to stand.
Han Eol turned his back, his face slightly flushed, feigning ignorance.
“Hey, you. Aren’t you going to stand there?”
Yang Bing raised her voice.
At that, the monks of Chiang Mai turned their heads toward Yang Bing and Han Eol.
The senior nun who had just finished her discourse in front lifted her eyes and cast her gaze upon them both.
Today, it was thanks to this very nun’s teachings that Yang Bing had broken through the barrier and achieved a profound Awakening. Her heart was therefore full of gratitude toward the nun.
Yang Bing had intended to teach this shabby-looking shaved-head man a lesson, yet she did not wish to leave a bad impression on the nun because of it.
“You reckless fool. Count yourself lucky.”
Yang Bing growled low.
The Thai curse that spilled from her lips was automatically translated by the earpiece. Han Eol, his ears burning red, fled the hall like a man pursued.
After hurrying back to his lodgings, Han Eol sank into contemplation.
His bickering with Yang Bing had long since vanished from his mind. Now he was consumed by a new possibility, too preoccupied to give thought to such trifles.
‘An Esper can develop their abilities through experience. But they can’t awaken an entirely new ability from scratch.’
This was the conventional wisdom circulating among Ability Users.
Of course, the possibility of awakening a new ability was not entirely without precedent.
Han Eol possessed no fewer than four Psychic Images.
‘A hand, needle and thread, plaster mold, and then sealed lips. Of these, only the hand is currently awakened, but one day all four might bloom, mightn’t they?’
Yet even so, four would likely be the limit of his capacity.
And if all four happened to be concentrated solely on offensive techniques?
In that case, even in the distant future, Han Eol would remain vulnerable—never knowing when a Demon Beast might claim his life.
That was why, until now, Han Eol had clung to the pursuit of defensive relics from the Highland.
Or rather, “making a great contribution to secure an S-Class defensive suit from the Holy Group” had become his paramount goal.
But today, a new path had opened before Han Eol.
‘Could I also build a fortress in my Sea of Mind? What if such a fortress exponentially increased my insufficient defense?’
Han Eol’s heart quickened at the new possibility.
‘Let me give it a try.’
Han Eol promptly stripped off his clothes and tossed them aside.
Now completely naked, Han Eol sat cross-legged before a full-length mirror.
One hour, two hours, three hours…….
Han Eol sat motionless in the same posture, staring intently at the mirror. His half-closed eyes gazed not upon his own reflection but inward, beholding his spirit.
‘I need to find the sea. But where exactly is this sea? Damn it.’
Curses came unbidden. No matter how intently Han Eol searched within his spirit, there was no sea—no Sea of Mind to be found.
Without a Sea of Mind, he could not locate the Soul Axis either.
Without the Soul Axis, he saw no way to establish the Soul Foundation upon it.
‘Sigh. This is a complete dead end…….’
After a full three hours, Han Eol finally exhaled a long breath.
He scratched his head vigorously, massaged his buttocks, and struggled to his feet.
It was at that very moment that a flash of insight struck Han Eol’s mind.
‘Ah!’
Among all the Ability Users Han Eol had observed thus far, none of them possessed a Sea of Mind. Only Yang Bing had a sea sprawling around her spirit.
‘Then what exactly is the difference between an ordinary Ability User and Yang Bing?’
Han Eol pondered this carefully.
The environment within Yang Bing’s spirit, unlike that of an ordinary Ability User, resembled that of a Demon Beast.
‘So what is the characteristic of a Demon Beast?’
Human Ability Users manifest their powers through DNA mutation.
Demon Beasts utilize Demonic Energy.
‘But humans cannot handle Demonic Energy, can they? Instead, humans only use it indirectly by crafting items from Demon Spirit Stones.’
Han Eol focused his attention on this distinction.
‘But is it truly certain that humans cannot harness Demonic Energy?’
During his internship, Han Eol had been taught that “if a human accepts Demonic Energy into their body, they die instantly.”
But the instructors couldn’t explain why humans died when they accepted Demonic Energy.
They could only warn the interns: “Don’t get fooled by curiosity and do something reckless, or you’ll drop dead—be careful.”
‘Maybe I should… give it a try?’
Han Eol entertained a dangerous thought.
Then he shook his head.
‘No. I’d actually die.’
Han Eol preferred safety and caution to recklessness.
Yet curiosity kept creeping up on him, and he couldn’t help it.
‘What if I just tried a little? I’ve got a Grade A Recovery Potion on me anyway. If things go wrong, I can just swallow it on the spot, right?’
The reason Han Eol kept entertaining these precarious thoughts was simple.
He would have to keep entering the Highland. For at least the next three years, there was no avoiding trips to the Highland.
‘What if the guided teleport fails each time and I fall into a danger zone? How long could I survive in that situation? How much longer could I live?’
Fear of the future drove Han Eol toward recklessness.
In the end, after long deliberation, Han Eol made his decision.
Chapter 8
‘Whatever. Let me just try. Just a little.’
Han Eol first unscrewed the cap of the Grade A Recovery Potion and set it down in front of his knees.
‘If anything goes wrong, I’ll drink this. Then at least I won’t die. Ugh…’
Han Eol suppressed his trembling heart, then forcibly pried the Demon Spirit Stone from his Grade A Combat Vest and gripped it tightly in his hand.
If this experiment failed, Han Eol would lose a Grade A Recovery Potion and his lifeline Combat Vest at the same time.
Beyond that, his very life might be in immediate danger.
As he considered the enormous losses, Han Eol felt the urge to give up right then.
‘No. No.’
Han Eol steeled himself, then sliced open his pinky with a blade and let blood drip into a glass cup. He then dropped the Demon Spirit Stone into the cup and swallowed it all in one gulp.
‘Ugh.’
The metallic stench of blood made Han Eol wince.
The Demon Spirit Stone, passing down his throat with the blood, triggered a violent chemical reaction in his stomach.
‘Ugh. Uuuugh.’
Han Eol thrashed about like a convulsing lizard.
‘Gaaaagh. Gaaaaaaahhh.’
The spasms wracking his body grew worse and worse.
Finally, Han Eol’s eyelids even rolled back.
‘Uuugh. No…’
Han Eol considered drinking the potion right then.
He actually reached out and seized the potion bottle tightly.
Even as he did, Han Eol’s eyes remained fixed on his own soul reflected in the mirror, refusing to look away.
It was at that exact moment that something strange was observed.
The Soul Harvester
Author |
Junon
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editor-in-Chief |
Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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7th Floor, Kwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
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G720:N+A063-20260703071
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blog.naver.com/dreambookss
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@dreambookss
Submissions |
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No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without written permission from Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books.

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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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