Malakai returned to the castle with a forlorn expression.
He sat in his seat and blankly replayed the scene from earlier.
‘With just a few gestures, it melts, hardens again, and takes shape.’
Even enchantments had been engraved into the finished product.
“It feels new every time I see it.”
He took out a book on ancient enchantments and opened to the section marked “Alchemist.”
“I can see why he was chosen. This was never within the realm of what humans can do.”
Closing the book, he cleared off one corner of his workbench.
“I should do what I can.”
Thinking of the mine, he considered a modest bit of work.
‘I should at least enchant the arrows with 1st Circle magic.’
He happened to have all the materials he needed, so he rose and was about to move when he stopped.
“Tsk. I don’t have a furnace that can melt mithril.”
He sat back down.
Blankly, the scene from earlier repeated in his mind.
‘Is that not truly the authority of a god? If there is a god of alchemy, he must be just like that.’
He shook his head and tried hard to erase the thought.
“Do not even look at a place you cannot climb. Malakai, you’ve learned that your whole life and yet you’re still foolish. Tsk, tsk.”
Malakai harshly rebuked himself.
He took out a mana stone and began grinding it.
‘I should make some scrolls.’
* * *
“Hwaa.”
Mana Cannons were still lined up all around Shinhyeok.
He had continuously produced roughly twenty of them in a row.
“That’s it for today.”
[Mana Cannon][Rare][Pure][Artifact]
=======================
A simple but extremely powerful cannon made of a dual alloy mixed with mithril and steel, which fires pure mana.
Capable of firing Mana Bullets with the power of the 5th Circle.
=======================
[Warning]
Excessive use may cause the artifact to malfunction.
=======================
He checked the Mana Cannons he had made.
“The power is about 5th Circle. That’s pretty decent.”
Shinhyeok lay down on the ground for a while, enjoying the wind and letting his pounding head rest.
“I wonder if Grandfather is all right.”
As he rested, he thought of Malakai returning earlier with a disappointed expression.
“I do want to teach him something.”
The desire was there, but neither his body nor his head would follow.
“How am I supposed to teach this? It just works.”
His head hurt.
All sorts of stray thoughts ate away at his mind.
Shinhyeok stopped resting and got up.
“I’ll make exactly thirty more, then widen the tunnel.”
As he tried to move, his head spun.
Once again, blood trickled from his nose.
How many times had this happened now?
“Ah…….”
[Warning]
[You have excessively consumed mental strength.]
[Sufficient rest is recommended.]
“Tss.”
[Transmutation is unstable.]
[Warning]
[Sufficient rest is recommended.]
Shinhyeok looked regretfully at the message window floating in the air.
“It’s always at times like this.”
[It cannot be helped.]
“Yeah, yeah. I get it.”
Shinhyeok answered curtly and headed toward the World Tree, where recovery was fast.
The fact that he no longer fainted like before could perhaps be considered growth.
“This is a big problem.”
But there were the walls he wanted to reinforce further, the tunnel that was still far too small, and even the Mana Cannons he felt he would need to make more of going forward.
There was a mountain of things to do, but his ability could not keep up.
To be precise, he only had one body.
Shinhyeok collapsed beside the World Tree and inhaled phytoncides.
[You inhale the phytoncides of the Auspicious World Tree.]
[Mental strength is recovering at a rapid rate.]
“Huuup, haaah.”
He mechanically repeated breathing in and out as he pondered.
‘Mm, is there no way to share my skill?’
While resting, he glanced at the World Tree.
“Fairy?”
[What is it?]
The outer bark of the World Tree suddenly protruded.
A small, old fairy appeared and stared at Shinhyeok.
“Do you perhaps know of a way to share skills or something like that?”
[Stop calling me for useless things. I’m busy.]
It slipped back inside.
“No, what are you so busy with?”
[Do you think the system only operates here? Earth is in chaos right now. It’s a mess everywhere.]
At the mention of Earth, Shinhyeok’s heart grew troubled.
“Phew. It’s not like I can do anything for them.”
[Just keep doing what you are doing now. Nothing else is needed. Raise this fellow properly. Only then can I add new functions and such.]
“Yes, sir.”
As the old fairy disappeared, it answered what Shinhyeok had wanted to ask.
[For the answer to your skill, search the Akashic Pocket. It’s all written there, so why bother asking?]
“Aha.”
[Akashic Pocket – Reading Mode]
Shinhyeok immediately activated the Akashic Pocket.
“About skill sharing…….”
Content appeared in a long stream.
Shinhyeok slowly read through it.
[The skills a user can share are limited to unique techniques. In the case of learnable disciplines such as martial arts or magic, transmission is possible through the transfer of knowledge and study.]
“That’s way too obvious. What about special skills like mine?”
[In the case of innate unique skills, they can be exchanged through the process of dividing the source. For example, Dragon Breath and Dragon Speech, which are draconic authorities, cannot be learned by humans, but in cases where dragon blood is accepted, they are sometimes awakened intermittently.]
“Mm.”
Shinhyeok mulled over the words of the Akashic Pocket.
‘If I divide my source, it can be shared? What even is my source?’
It was full of extremely vague talk.
“No, more importantly, I have a source?”
Just as he was about to sigh at the rather abstruse situation, his gaze suddenly turned to his heart.
He could see the thing that lacked presence but was diligently turning all the same.
‘No way……. That’s it, isn’t it?’
When he had temporarily surpassed his limits before with the blessing of the Ancient Dragon, it had definitely called it a “core.”
‘If I divide this, I can share the skill? But if I hand it over and then get betrayed or something.’
[The source can always be retrieved.]
The system cut in at just the right moment.
“Then that’s a relief.”
Shinhyeok tapped his heart with his finger.
It had little presence, but it was always steadily purifying mana.
‘Even though I don’t use it much.’
Aside from when he used mana because he lacked materials for magic transmutation, he had not used it often lately.
“It can’t be helped. I’d need to have something to fight out in front for me to actually use it.”
He quietly checked the skill level of Mana Heart.
‘It’s level 5.’
It was a fairly miserable level.
Shinhyeok quietly tried to remove the Mana Heart.
‘Does it not work?’
The moment he focused on it, the energy of the Mana Heart began to flow.
It showed violent movement unlike usual.
“Kuhuk!”
The mana throughout his body spasmed and reacted violently.
Shinhyeok trembled as the energy throughout his body tried to run wild.
“Young Hero?”
Just then, Namgung Jincheon, who had been heading toward the World Tree, noticed him.
Seeing Shinhyeok foaming at the mouth and convulsing, he hurriedly ran over.
“Young Hero!? Hey!”
He immediately grabbed Shinhyeok’s wrist and checked his pulse, then clicked his tongue.
“No, just what did you do? Are you suffering from heart demons!?”
Namgung Jincheon hurriedly infused energy into Shinhyeok.
Prickling lightning qi carefully entered Shinhyeok’s body.
“Focus on the energy!”
Under Namgung Jincheon’s skilled guidance, Shinhyeok quickly calmed down.
About an hour passed, and Namgung Jincheon took his hand off Shinhyeok.
“Phew…….”
Only after confirming that the other party had calmed did he steady his breath.
A moment later, Shinhyeok carefully opened his eyes.
“Young Hero. You only have one life. Who recklessly touches their inner core like that?”
Shinhyeok had nothing to say.
He smiled awkwardly and scratched his head.
“I was trying to test something and ended up like that.”
Namgung Jincheon asked with an incredulous expression.
“What in the world were you testing that you touched your inner core and made it run wild?”
Shinhyeok pointed to his heart.
“I was trying to split this thing here. Haha. It isn’t working very well.”
“Hmm….”
He looked at the inner core formed in Shinhyeok’s heart.
“An inner core formed in the middle dantian. An ordinary martial artist would not normally form an inner core there.”
“Usually, does it go from the lower dantian to the upper dantian?”
“That order is correct. Generally, one fills upward from the bottom in sequence. Of course, one would have to reach the Profound Realm to use the middle dantian.”
Namgung Jincheon gave advice to Shinhyeok, who seemed to be conducting an extremely reckless experiment.
“Whatever it may be, if you are going to touch your inner core, I recommend learning at least one internal cultivation method first.”
“Perhaps…….”
At Shinhyeok’s subtle question, Namgung Jincheon cleared his throat.
“Ahem.”
Despite the indirect sign of refusal, Shinhyeok clung to him even more firmly.
“Please, even just an ordinary one.”
“I will teach you the Three Talents Art, at least.”
At the words that he would teach him something, Shinhyeok jumped up with a delighted expression.
“What should I do first?”
“Just sit. There is nothing special about learning the mere Three Talents Art.”
When Namgung Jincheon sat down, Shinhyeok followed suit.
He copied the lotus position and listened carefully to his words.
“The Three Talents Art is the safest internal method. It is a method that takes in the energies of Heaven and Earth and harmoniously accumulates them in the three axes of the human body: the upper, middle, and lower dantian.”
“Oh.”
“For that reason, its speed of foundation building is the slowest.”
“Ah.”
“But it is safe. Since it pursues yin and yang in harmony from the inhalation stage, it rarely goes astray.”
Namgung Jincheon checked Shinhyeok’s lotus position and corrected his posture.
“Have the soles of your feet face the ground.”
“Yes, sir.”
He checked the posture and made Shinhyeok close his eyes.
“Close your eyes and focus. Breathe in deeply and breathe out.”
“Huuup, haaah.”
Energy began to dissolve into his breathing.
Namgung Jincheon slowly pointed out his acupoints and showed him where it should go.
“Think of it as circling through your body once. Follow the places I point to.”
He began at the soles of the feet, then passed through the spine, heart, and head before returning to the lower dantian.
“This is the sequence. Through the process of constant circulation, you make the energy of the atmosphere your own.”
Shinhyeok fell into it without a word.
The sensation of the abundant energy of the atmosphere accumulating in his body layer by layer was a new stimulus.
[Registering sub-skill Three Talents Art.]
[A conflicting skill exists.]
[Mana Heart and Three Talents Art are creating synergy.]
[As they are sub-skills of the same category, their proficiency will be shared and they will be linked as one.]
The Mana Heart in his heart moved powerfully.
It poured out energy like a storm and led that energy up and down.
“Mm?”
The energy that headed for his head scattered, but the energy of the Mana Heart that headed for his lower dantian settled stably.
[The level of Mana Heart & Three Talents Art has increased.]
“Huh?”
Shinhyeok stopped circulating the Three Talents Art and opened his skill window for the first time in a while.
[Owned Skills]
=========================
[Main Skill]
Transmutation (LV.6)[67/100%]
Matter
Golem
Magic
Living Being
Simulation
[Sub Skills]
Mana Mapping (LV.24)[12/100%]
Mana Heart (LV.10)[76/100%]
Three Talents Art (LV.10)[76/100%]
Sensory Acuity (LV.49)[90/100%]
Soul Link (LV.2)[35/100%]
==========================
“It went up? By five, too.”
When he circulated the Three Talents Art again, the Mana Heart spewed mana even more violently than usual.
Blue mana crystals formed all over his body.
‘It’s definitely different.’
Namgung Jincheon, who was watching the scene, could not hide his bewilderment at the blue crystals forming all over Shinhyeok’s body.
“Young Hero? Why are crystals forming on your skin?”
“Ah. This is just my constitution.”
Shinhyeok casually brushed the crystals off with his hand.
Then he looked at the inner core formed in his lower dantian, in other words, the fragment of the Mana Heart.
‘Wouldn’t it be fine to extract this?’
He immediately used Transmutation.
[Partial Transmutation – Extraction]
[Extracting a fragment of the Mana Heart from within the body.]
‘It works!’
It felt as if something enormous was being pulled out.
“Ugh!”
Rather than painful, it felt unpleasant and stifling.
“Haa!”
[Extraction complete.]
[You have extracted a portion of Bu Shinhyeok’s source fragment.]
Looking at the portion of his source gripped in his hand, Shinhyeok smiled ominously.
“I’ll test it right away.”
Shinhyeok immediately ran off to find Malakai.
“Sir Malakai, no, my disciple!”
* * *
Malakai, who had been quietly making scrolls inside the castle, received an unexpected visitor.
“What brings you here?”
“Hurry and take this!”
Without warning, Shinhyeok put something into Malakai’s mouth.
“Mmph!”
Gulp.
Malakai, having already swallowed it, asked with a flustered expression.
“No, what did you give me? Even if you are my master, this is quite troubling!”
[You have consumed a portion of Bu Shinhyeok’s source.]
[You have received a portion of his skill.]
[Melting has been registered as a main skill.]
“Huh?!”
He stared in bewilderment at the newly appeared main skill on his status window.
“Melt……ing?”
[Status Window]
Name: Malakai Strun (LV.1)
Class: Alchemist
Strength: 7
Agility: 6
Stamina: 8
Mana: 188
Trait: Scholar
[Owned Skills]
=====================
[Main]
Enchant (LV.1)
Melting (LV.1)
=====================
Seeing the new skill “Melting” appear clearly, Malakai was bewildered, and Shinhyeok smiled.
“It worked. Now it seems you can help me with my work too, Sir Malakai.”
“Ha, haha. Hahahaha…!”
Malakai laughed with a pleased yet bewildered expression.
“No, what is this? Is it truly the authority of a god…….”
Shinhyeok got him to his feet and sent him outside.
“I’ll keep making cannons. Sir Malakai, please take care of digging the ground!”
“Hahahaha! I understand, Master! I understand! But should I not first try using it to see how it works!?”