“Huuup, haaa.”
[You have inhaled the auspicious World Tree’s phytoncides.]
[Your exhausted mental strength is partially restored.]
He spent the entire day inhaling phytoncides, waiting for “Synthesis” to recover.
“Suuuup, haa.”
The second day since returning to the Netherworld.
Sinhyeok still hadn’t been able to leave the vicinity of the World Tree.
Hong Ichan quietly opened his eyes and looked at Sinhyeok.
“Still not working?”
“Suuup, haaa.”
He answered with his breathing instead.
“Man, that’s inconvenient.”
“Suuuup, haaaaa.”
He exhaled with a breath full of displeasure.
[You have inhaled the auspicious World Tree’s phytoncides.]
[Your soul has escaped its state of exhaustion.]
[Skills are functioning normally.]
“Oh, it’s working!”
Sinhyeok immediately got up, stretched, and checked.
“Synthesis!”
He shouted excitedly.
[Material Synthesis - Fragment of Earth]
The earth rose up and formed a crude human.
“Good. It’s completely back.”
[Activating Sense Map.]
[Your five senses are amplified.]
‘This works fine too.’
His body seemed to have fully recovered.
Sinhyeok had benefited from the miraculous World Tree.
Tap, tap.
He patted the World Tree and expressed his thanks.
“Thanks.”
“I’m the one managing it.”
“Thank you, Lord World Tree.”
“I’m the one putting in the specters, purifying them, and exorcising them. All of it.”
He ignored Hong Ichan’s words from beside him.
“Yeah, keep up the good work.”
“Wow……!”
Hong Ichan shouted after Sinhyeok.
“Bring something tasty when you come back!”
“If there is any!”
As Sinhyeok got up and prepared to leave, Jegal Seun appeared.
“Have you finally recovered?”
“Yes. We can set out now.”
After finishing his preparations, Sinhyeok went to find someone else.
“Um, Lord Namgung Jincheon.”
He carefully approached and called out to him as he was meditating.
Namgung Jincheon opened his eyes and politely refused.
“I’m sorry. My body isn’t in very good condition right now, so I’ll join you next time.”
As he courteously declined, the system projected a message into the air.
[Analyzing his current condition in conjunction with the Akashic Pocket.]
The system provided all of his information on its own.
[Awakener Namgung Jincheon is currently suffering from brain poison invading the body.]
[The smooth circulation of internal energy is difficult.]
[If battles like the current ones continue, there is a possibility he will become crippled.]
“…….”
Sinhyeok looked at his current condition as the system laid it bare.
Namgung Jincheon caught the subtle shift in Sinhyeok’s gaze.
“Hmm.”
Then he ignored it, closed his eyes, and focused on meditation.
“Understood. Please take care of yourself.”
Jegal Seun looked at him for a moment with a puzzled expression as he focused on meditation and energy circulation, then followed Sinhyeok out.
‘System.’
[Do you wish to ask about him?]
The old fairy, assimilated with the World Tree, appeared.
‘That’s right.’
[There is still insufficient information. Though your ability has been filling in the substance of it quite well. Rather than explaining in words, it would be better to show you this.]
Mid-sentence, he brought up another screen.
[Displaying the categories of the Akashic Pocket.]
[Akashic Pocket - Categories]
===========================
Materials (A) - Based on data accumulated to Information Accumulation Stage A, it is possible to infer and identify new materials.
Skills (A) - Based on data accumulated to Information Accumulation Stage A, it is possible to infer and identify new skills.
Creatures (B) - It is possible to identify the species or information of linked creatures, but for new creatures, detailed information can be provided only after several pieces of information have been identified.
Martial Arts (F) - The amount of accumulated data is insufficient. Only the delivery of recorded information is possible.
===========================
‘Hmm.’
[As you can see, there is nothing to be done yet. Unless he personally asks you for help.]
Sinhyeok accepted that with a nod.
“This is the boundary.”
While conversing with the system, they had arrived at the boundary before he knew it.
Both of them could still see the undead swarming beyond.
“Take this with you.”
Sinhyeok took out a flight artifact made from World Tree leaves.
[Secret Sky Viewing][Heroic][Shadow][Artifact]
=======================
An artifact made with the rare leaves of the Night World Tree as its base. Fly is engraved into it, allowing one to walk or run through the sky with extreme efficiency. In addition, due to Nottdrasil’s properties, one’s presence becomes faint.
Fly usable
Presence dispersed
Mana consumption reduced
=======================
Looking over the completed artifact, he realized the greatness of the material.
‘I only tapped it together lightly, and a masterpiece came out.’
It consumed almost no mana.
It was taking only a truly minuscule amount.
“I am ready.”
Once Jegal Seun finished preparing, Sinhyeok stepped toward the boundary first.
“Then let’s go outside.”
The moment he took a step, the feeling of comfort vanished in an instant.
[Entering the Material Realm.]
He floated up immediately.
When he looked down, an endless wave of undead stretched below him.
“Well now, looks like we’ll have to meet those fellows again.”
Jegal Seun, who had come out with him, clicked his tongue at the sight as well.
“We’ll pull it off.”
Sinhyeok showed his confidence.
“We must. Our lives are too precious to die here, are they not?”
The two walked through the air, passing over the wave of undead.
Seeing the undead still continuing after they had walked for a long while, Sinhyeok clicked his tongue.
“Why are there so many undead?”
Jegal Seun smiled faintly and said,
“Perhaps because there are that many worlds that have perished.”
As Sinhyeok looked over the scene, he thought,
‘Earth must not end up like this.’
With that resolution, he pressed onward against the tide.
After walking in silence for three hours, the undead finally began to disappear.
Jegal Seun pointed down.
“Let us descend around here. It is not good to remain in the air for this long.”
“Yes.”
The two landed side by side on the ground.
After landing, Sinhyeok looked around.
“Which direction will you go?”
Jegal Seun tapped his head and pondered.
“It would have to be something edible, yes?”
“That’s right. For now, if it can go into the mouth, tell me everything. I can figure something out somehow.”
After thinking for a while, he recalled a place.
“I do not know whether it can be eaten, but there is a place where plants grow in clusters and form a forest.”
“Then let’s go there.”
Jegal Seun nodded and took the lead, guiding the way.
Sinhyeok followed him without a word.
‘A core, huh.’
“Lord Jegal Seun. There naturally wouldn’t be any cores here, would there?”
“Probably not. If there were, the monsters would have smashed them to pieces.”
Hearing his firm answer, Sinhyeok’s hopes were completely crushed.
“Hmm, but perhaps not.”
“What’s the reason?”
Sinhyeok stood beside him and stared at his face.
“It is not as though I have traveled every corner of this place. There may be one somewhere I have not been.”
He held a strange certainty.
“Then are you saying there might be a core?”
“No, it is only a feeling. Sometimes, I get the sense that someone is watching me. And there are times when I avoid monsters by sheer luck.”
Jegal Seun gave a suspicious smile.
“My survival may be proof of them. Is it truly possible to survive here for five years with absolutely nothing?”
“So maybe someone really is watching?”
“That is what I think. Meeting you all was strange as well, and I do not even know why I happened to come here. I simply came as if bewitched.”
He let out a hollow laugh as he spoke.
“And when I arrived, there were compatriots from Murim. Could this truly be coincidence?”
At Jegal Seun’s suspicion, laced with certainty, Sinhyeok began to feel that this place was increasingly suspicious.
‘Where on earth did we come to?’
“But for now, should we not go wherever we are led?”
Sinhyeok sympathized with the self-mockery in his tone.
“For the time being.”
“Haha. I like that you are always so full of confidence. It is as if you make things work when they clearly should not.”
Jegal Seun stopped walking.
He focused on a round object rolling on the ground.
“Do you see that?”
“Yes. Isn’t it a shriveled plant?”
He smiled and showed the thing’s true nature.
“Watch carefully.”
He picked up a stone, infused it with a little internal force, and flicked it with his finger.
Tak.
The moment it touched the thing, the round, curled-up object unfurled. In an instant, it wrapped around the stone and began sucking up the internal force.
“Be careful. From here on, you must even be cautious in using energy. Do not release it rashly. It is difficult to shake them off once they latch on.”
“…….”
It was an utterly bizarre thing.
“A tenacious fellow. Once it sticks, it simply will not come off. It pierces the skin in an instant, so be careful.”
“That’s no joke.”
He smiled and added more.
“And it carries poison as well. Your body stiffens immediately.”
They were nastier than they looked.
[Recording information on the corresponding plant specimen.]
The Akashic Pocket was working diligently.
[Please observe it more closely for a more detailed record.]
‘Declined.’
[…….]
Once he refused, the system no longer displayed any messages.
“If we look at the direction this fellow came from.”
Jegal Seun traced the direction along the curled-up plant.
“Over there. That is the place I wanted to show you.”
When Sinhyeok followed the direction he indicated, he saw ruins covered in vines.
All sorts of things were strewn about chaotically, but everything was blanketed in vines.
“Based on my experience, the best and wisest course is not to go near it. But that will not be possible, will it?”
Sinhyeok took out something he had made from his inventory for situations like this.
“It will. Fortunately, I have the perfect one.”
‘Shall I deploy?’
Opsir appeared.
He floated in the air and focused ahead.
“Go search the area.”
‘Scanning the city ahead.’
Opsir moved quietly.
“Maintain an appropriate distance. Just in case.”
‘Yes.’
He was caught as soon as he went.
‘Gah!’
The moment Sinhyeok heard the brief scream, he ran.
“Ah, seriously!”
[Magic Synthesis - Stone Arrow]
He pulled up the earth, shaped it like an arrow, and threw it.
A small amount of mana flowed out.
Following the mana that flowed through the air, the shriveled plants filling the area unfurled with a rustling snap.
“Are you fucking kidding me……!”
Those bizarre things followed every remnant and trace of mana.
Tak.
Opsir was freed from his restraint and rose high into the sky.
‘I-I nearly died…….’
“This won’t do. Just come back.”
Sinhyeok slowly backed away and gave up on scouting for the moment.
Jegal Seun stood behind him at ease, waving his fan as he said,
“Captain, will it be possible?”
Sinhyeok put Opsir into his inventory and said,
“This place is even more insane than I thought.”
“Hahahaha. This is such a place!”
Looking at the things that filled the surroundings, Sinhyeok asked Jegal Seun,
“Do these things have a name?”
“I simply call them resurrection grass. They keep coming back to life.”
[The name of the corresponding plant has been recorded in the Akashic Pocket.]
“Whatever. I’ll have to burn them all to the ground.”
Sinhyeok took a lighter out of his inventory and sparked a flame.
[Magic Synthesis - Fire Ball]
The lighter’s flame rose into the air.
The fingernail-sized flame grew at the cost of Sinhyeok’s mana.
Then the resurrection grass leapt into the fire.
“That crazy—”
The resurrection grass that leapt into the flame devoured mana even as it burned.
Half of it turned to ash and scattered, while the other half consumed the flame.
The resurrection grass, now turned red, curled back into a ball and rolled around again.
“Is that really a plant?”
Jegal Seun answered calmly.
“For now, does it not look like one?”
“That’s insane.”