The Wizard Who Endured the World of Murim - Chapter 4

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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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Surviving in the Martial Realm as a Mage: Episode 4
During their journey, Trevallion had named the ghouls sequentially from Ilho to Tenth based on their size.
It was admittedly a rather careless naming convention.
Yet in terms of practicality, it was overwhelmingly efficient.
Whoooosh―
The incomplete high-grade ghoul moved at a truly tremendous speed.
Its durability remained uncertain for now.
But judging solely by its movements, it seemed comparable to a knight commander of some decent kingdom.
“What is this? Regardless of vessel capacity, what kind of processing was done to achieve such velocity?”
My scholarly curiosity surged intensely, but I managed to suppress it with difficulty.
Escaping this place was the immediate priority, after all.
‘Is that it?’
At the far end of the corridor, a fork appeared where one could branch left or right.
Following the scent of blood from that junction, I traveled down the left path for quite some distance.
Spotting a small stone gate visible in the distance ahead, I nodded lightly.
“Yukho. Destroy that.”
As my command ended,
the lean-framed ghoul beside me stepped forward and kicked the stone gate blocking the entrance.
Crash―
The stone gate shattered far too easily.
From there, ten blood corpses shot upward into the air.
Simultaneously, gazing at the moon hanging in the night sky, I murmured,
“Ah, there’s only one moon here.”
The Lower Dimension had three moons.
This place was clearly a different world from the Seven Continents.
I felt exhilaration knowing my gamble had succeeded completely.
I issued orders to the stationary ghouls.
“Head east.”
Judging by the reeds lying scattered in various directions,
they appeared to be traces of people who had moved westward.
Those were certainly the Mansizong bastards who had fled from here.
‘What if I encounter those necromancers right now?’
I couldn’t know what would happen.
For now, avoidance was the wisest course.
Thus, I made the darkness of night my companion
and ran eastward for quite some time.
* * *
“What should we do, Hong Daeju?”
“Hmm… What do you think, Byeok Daeju? Should we continue the pursuit?”
“I believe we must pursue, of course. The losses are far too severe, are they not? And we’ve gained nothing.”
The Heavenly Blood Sect’s assault on one of Mansizong’s resource outposts wasn’t merely about crippling their enemy’s forces.
They had also set their sights on stealing the precious resources that Mansizong had hoarded so carefully,
like misers guarding their treasures.
“It’s absurd that they managed to haul away all their resources in the chaos.”
“Still, rescuing the children who had awakened their spirits is a decent haul.”
Children unmarred by the corruption of the secular world were invaluable resources for crafting spirit cores.
Especially since these children had been painstakingly nurtured on spirit cores for quite some time.
Their value was truly immeasurable.
However.
“Tsk, two Daeju-level operatives were deployed, but this alone won’t satisfy the higher-ups. They’ll raise hell.”
“So Hong Daeju intends to pursue them as well, then.”
Two Daeju from the Heavenly Blood Sect.
Both were swordmasters rated at the sixth tier.
While somewhat lacking in sorcery, their martial prowess was more than enough to overwhelm Mansizong.
There was no way they could let this opportunity slip away.
Moreover, among those who had fled, there was at least one sorcerer of Daeju-level strength.
“Right. Such opportunities are rare, so pursuit is inevitable. The problem is that the tracks split into two directions.”
Those heading west showed, by the depth of their footprints and other traces, clear signs of being Mansizong sorcerers.
They had only learned spell techniques, so their movements and gait were clumsy.
For the Heavenly Blood Sect, locked in rivalry with them, such sorcerers were the top priority targets to eliminate.
Especially Mansizong’s sorcerers—without corpse servants, they were practically defenseless.
It appeared that these ones currently lacked corpse servants.
“The concern is the east.”
“Yes. This is unmistakably a high-tier corpse servant created by Mansizong.”
Those heading east left footprints that were remarkably shallow.
This was clearly evidence of someone trained in martial arts or some special body refinement technique.
“If we’re unlucky, it could even be a blood corpse servant.”
“Surely not. There aren’t many corpse sorcerers in Mansizong who can properly control blood corpse servants, are there?”
“Still, we can’t be careless. If we encounter one unprepared, escape would be difficult.”
“Hmm… Then I’ll head east. Senior, you go west.”
“No, I’d prefer we both go west.”
“What? Then we’re abandoning those heading east?”
Byeok Dong-won, Daeju of the Heavenly Blood Sect.
He was the Daeju of the Blood Soul Squad, one of six martial units within the Heavenly Blood Sect.
His eyebrows twitched in an expression of absolute disbelief.
A reaction that screamed impossibility.
But when Hong Sun-won, the senior Daeju of the Cheonlang Squad, spoke with a cautious expression, he fell into contemplation.
“If this is a trap, you will certainly die. Not just you, but your entire vanguard from the Blood Soul Squad will perish.”
“Hmm…”
“Don’t underestimate Mansizong. They’re mere corpse handlers, yet the fact that they’ve survived without being annihilated proves they’re cunning.”
“…I let my greed get ahead of me. I’ll take your advice to heart, Senior.”
In the end, the two Daeju agreed to pursue the traces heading west.
And so, unintentionally.
Because the two Daeju of the Heavenly Blood Sect escaped cleanly from Mansizong’s trap.
Mansizong found itself plunged into mortal danger once more.
* * *
“Finally, a village.”
A village reached after fleeing desperately for half a day straight.
I rummaged thoroughly through the Kid’s mind, bathed in the morning sunlight through my possession.
But the Kid possessed far too little information about this world to begin with.
So I had no way of knowing the village’s name or location.
“Let’s head to that cave for now.”
Below the mountain. That village visible in the distant haze.
It was ultimately where I needed to go, but there was something I had to handle before reaching it.
“You all hunt in this area for the time being.”
I couldn’t simply abandon these precious ghouls I’d barely acquired anywhere.
I entered the cave and spent considerable time implementing various measures on the ghouls.
First, I laid hands on the magical formula residing in my mind.
Creating a bond firmly connected by soul, so I wouldn’t need to issue commands through the tedious method of vocalization.
Now I could issue simple commands through will alone, even at considerable distances.
Weaving together ten ghouls and myself, I established a rather sturdy mana network.
“Next would be….”
From here on, it was simple.
After designating a certain range to the ghouls.
I issued a straightforward ‘auto-hunt’ command to capture beasts in the vicinity.
These creatures possessed far higher intelligence than initially expected, readily comprehending my orders.
Outstanding performance coupled with fluid movements.
The efficiency was genuinely excessive compared to the vessel size these ghouls possessed.
“Honestly, at this level, they’re practically comparable to death knights?”
Since I shared sensory perception to a degree with the ghouls, I felt them hunting wild boars and deer nearby.
I genuinely marveled at their efficient movements.
And I decided to acknowledge this world’s necromancy.
The ghouls’ vessel size was, being generous, only around high-tier Durahan level.
Yet their fluid movements and the intelligence they possessed were overwhelmingly superior.
In short, the cost-effectiveness was exceptional.
“How is this possible?”
I touched the ghouls’ bodies here and there as they returned from hunting, bursting with admiration.
This wasn’t merely a difference in magical elements.
The vessel within the ghoul’s brain.
Beyond the magical circle inscribed there.
It seemed the ghouls’ bodies had undergone some extraordinarily specialized chemical treatment—a secret technique I couldn’t easily decipher.
Unfortunately, this was something that would require considerable time to investigate properly, so there was little I could do about it immediately.
“Well, at least I’ve made some adjustments to their crude magical formations.”
From Ilho to the tenth ghoul.
I had substantially upgraded the magical formations inscribed within their minds.
After spending a full ten days in the cave stabilizing these enhancements, I exhaled softly
as I roasted the venison haunch the ghouls had hunted over the flames.
“Everything’s progressing well, but why won’t the Spirit Realm respond?”
I muttered to myself, my expression darkening.
Over the past ten days, I had diligently refined mana and accumulated it in my heart to form a circle.
Though ten days was far too brief to actually complete the circle,
I had reached a point where I could form one immediately if I received stable ‘assistance’ from someone nearby.
Typically, other mages provided such assistance, but the finest support came from spirits themselves.
Spirits were pure concentrations of mana incarnate.
So I had spent several days setting aside a specific amount of mana and knocking persistently at the Spirit Realm’s gate,
but no response came from within.
“Strange. The Spirit Realm clearly seems to exist. Why won’t Vargas respond?”
Vargas, the Earth Spirit King.
I had sent countless messages to that blood-sworn ally,
yet he never answered.
The situation was frustrating, but I couldn’t forcibly open the sealed gates of the Spirit Realm.
I lacked the power to do so,
and I had no confidence in withstanding the tremendous backlash.
“The message should have gotten through. Ah! Come to think of it, could the spirits here use different names?”
Now that I considered it, the higher spirits bearing [Names] might be using completely different designations than those in the Lower Dimension.
“Ah… that must be it. That’s why there’s no response.”
Yet since I had sent the message to the [Earth Spirit King], even with a different name, he should have replied.
“I have no idea.”
I clicked my tongue in frustration and reached out to touch the shoulder of Chilho, the ghoul before me.
“You’re all done now. If nothing goes wrong, it will take some time, but you’ll be able to fill the remaining vessel completely. I’ve modified the formations accordingly.”
The ghouls had been incomplete when I first discovered them.
Through hunting, they would charge themselves with beast blood,
and by using the breathing techniques I had programmed, they would automatically replenish nearby mana.
Though it would take time, they could eventually fill their vessels completely.
If this system functioned properly, there was a strong possibility their capacity would exceed the original vessel size that Mansizong had set.
“You ghouls are impressive, but thanks to this artifact I happened to acquire, I’ll at least avoid immediate hardship.”
I rolled my shoulders a few times with a satisfied expression, watching Chilho disappear,
then instructed Palho beside me to gather firewood.
Over the past ten days in the cave, I hadn’t merely been modifying ghouls.
An artifact I had fortuitously obtained from a Mansizong sorcerer.
I had been frantically occupied with uncovering the usage and applications of this artifact, which appeared to be nothing more than a small wooden block.
The result of my investigation: this artifact.
Remarkably, it was a spatial expansion pouch.
A spatial expansion pouch that had been extraordinarily rare in the Lower Dimension where I originally came from.
In other words, I had inadvertently obtained an Inventory.
The creation process itself was intricate, but more than the process itself, acquiring the basic materials had been nearly impossible.
Yet upon arriving in this world, I obtained them far too easily.
“Could it be that materials are simply abundant here?”
Thinking along those lines made it reasonably comprehensible.
Moreover, the internal space of this artifact was quite substantial.
“Roughly speaking, the length, width, and height are each about fifty meters? But why was it crafted in this cubic form? Is the material here something unusual?”
Inside the inventory were the currency of this world, along with low-grade mana stones and a wooden identification tablet.
There were also what appeared to be low-grade spirit pills—round tablets—and several basic magical scrolls that this world called talismans.
“I burned the identification tablet, of course.”
Since I had essentially finished the final disposal of the ghoul.
Before entering the village, I methodically organized the resources in my inventory.
“One hundred forty-one copper coins, twelve silver coins, and one gold coin…”
According to the Kid’s memories, two copper coins were sufficient for a decent meal.
Silver coins held a value one hundred times that of copper coins.
And gold coins held a value twenty times that of silver coins, so…
“I won’t need to worry about food and lodging for quite some time.”
Those Mansizong bastards.
I had suspected as much from the size of that underground structure, but they appeared to have been quite wealthy.
Chewing contentedly on venison that had been well-roasted over the campfire.
I suddenly felt a warmth bloom in my chest.
Gratitude for the Mansizong bastards’ generous contributions.
When you think about it, they gave me money, they gave me a ghoul, and more besides.
‘They even gave me the inventory.’
I couldn’t help but develop a special affection for those Mansizong fellows.
“Well then, shall I head to the village?”
With a slight smile, I rose lightly to my feet.

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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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