At the Supreme Dragon’s words, Sinhyeok hurriedly checked the sun.
Before he knew it, the sun had sunk quite low.
“Why is time passing so damn fast?!”
At the absurd speed of it, his gaze instantly went to the Supreme Dragon.
The Supreme Dragon closed his eyes gently, holding back a laugh.
“Seriously! Isn’t this cheating?!”
“I know nothing of it. How would I know why the sun sets quickly?”
“Damn Supreme Dragon. Total old geezer.”
“I can hear you, mortal.”
With reverence, Sinhyeok took off his clothes until he was left in only his underwear, then stepped toward the lake.
The Supreme Dragon quietly opened his eyes and watched him.
“This lake was not made for washing, you know.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’m just making it because I was told to.”
The Supreme Dragon said with a smile,
“Very well. Just don’t piss in it.”
“Yeees~”
With a calm heart, he sank into the lake.
His feet did not touch the bottom, and he floated in the lake filled with mana herbs.
‘Stir it.’
He churned with both hands and feet, mixing it all together.
At the motions of his hands and feet, he could see it slowly hardening and binding together.
“It’s working.”
He swam through the lake, stirring the mana herbs here and there.
But it was not enough to fill this vast lake with potion.
“Damn it.”
When he looked outside, the sun seemed as though it would touch the horizon at any moment.
The Supreme Dragon looked at Sinhyeok and asked,
“Why not just stay here instead? If you go out, all you’ll see is that tiresome human.”
“If I see him, then I see him.”
“Were you not planning to close your eyes here and see your family?”
“Don’t speak of them so carelessly. They aren’t people who should be mocked by the likes of you.”
At Sinhyeok’s cold gaze, the Supreme Dragon stared at him quietly.
“Do you even have the will to leave?”
“I’m leaving! I’m going to leave, so please, shut that mouth!”
The Supreme Dragon reached out and lightly tapped the lake water.
“Coagulation means to harden, does it not? Mortal, why does mana harden?”
At his question, Sinhyeok was left speechless.
“It is will. Your constitution merely assists from the middle; what you are now is the manifestation of a human’s instinctive will to seize mana.”
At his answer, Sinhyeok’s thoughts began to race.
‘The reason I can skip the bothersome intermediate process of alchemy is because of my constitution.’
That bizarre phenomenon that made anything harden caused different substances to solidify and bind together on their own.
‘Does it only coagulate if I touch it?’
“There’s no need.”
There was no need to stir it around.
‘I just have to move and think in a way that lets it harden.’
He lay still on the lake, floating.
‘Just release my energy.’
Using the breathing technique Dark Sword had taught him, he calmly gathered his energy and released it.
“Suuup, haaa.”
The sunset deepened, and the red light of the sun reached the lake.
“Suuup, haaa.”
Only his steady breathing echoed across the lake.
Strangely, following his breath, Sinhyeok’s energy rippled.
It spread gently around him, guiding the flow of the lake.
“Suuup, haaa.”
Before long, the lake was surging this way and that, giving off different colors.
Red and blue light.
They manifested vividly, and the lake was filled completely with potion.
“Suuup, haaa.”
The two distinct colors of potion mixed once again.
“Suuup, haaa.”
Sensing that darkness had arrived, Sinhyeok stopped breathing and opened his eyes.
“Not bad.”
At some point, the Supreme Dragon had risen and was dipping his legs into the lake water as he spoke to Sinhyeok.
“For a human, you did fairly well.”
When he looked at the lake, it was full of purple potion.
“You probably don’t know, so I’ll tell you. It is commonly called a Courage Potion. When you drink it, strength you never had wells up within you.”
If the system had been there, it would have told him conveniently.
“It includes a slight physical enhancement buff as well. It also gives a moderate sense of elevation.”
He made a proposal to Sinhyeok, who was floating on the water.
“Good. I shall offer you a contract.”
As the Supreme Dragon’s permission fell, the purple Courage Potion that had filled the lake began to decrease.
Naturally, Sinhyeok’s body sank lower and lower.
Sinhyeok’s body touched the bottom of the lake.
“The conditions of the contract are simple. Repair that and bring it back.”
Something bothered him beneath his foot.
When he moved his foot away, there was a stone cracked in several places.
As he picked it up with his hand, the Supreme Dragon said,
“I will give you ample time, so you may do it at your leisure.”
Sinhyeok tossed the stone into the air. At that moment, the Supreme Dragon’s gaze followed the stone as well.
“What is this?”
“A source. Once… it was the foundation of a world.”
“Um… a ‘core’?”
“In any case, it is such an object, so do your best.”
As the Supreme Dragon was about to rise, Sinhyeok hurriedly pleaded with him.
“Um! Please warp me to the village just once.”
The Supreme Dragon smiled wickedly and answered simply,
“No.”
With a smile, he lightly flicked his finger, and Sinhyeok’s body was sent far away from the lake.
“Ah! Seriously!”
Sinhyeok looked back and sighed first at the tremendous distance.
Along with that vast distance, the sun that had disappeared appeared again.
“You’re telling me to screw around with those bastards again? Haa.”
He began trudging forward.
As expected, it was not long before the manga swarmed him.
“Ugh… seriously!”
* * *
The entrance to the village.
The goblin spotted a person sprinting over from far away.
“Hm, how fortunate you are. You survived.”
He soon greeted Sinhyeok with a neat posture and manner of speech.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
The goblin looked at him with an ambiguous expression.
“Are you out of breath?”
“I’m not, but I’m scared shitless!”
Sinhyeok turned around to check.
“They’re not coming, right?”
“No, the manga do not come near this village.”
“Haa. Thank goodness.”
Watching him feel relieved, the goblin asked,
“Did you obtain what you desired?”
Naturally, he had been waiting for the answer “no” and considering what words of comfort to offer, but he heard an unexpected answer.
“Yeah, I met that guy called the Supreme Dragon. I even received a quest.”
“How truly unfortu—pardon?”
“Anyway, that’s how it is. Good work, Mister Goblin.”
Watching Sinhyeok’s back as he swiftly walked off, the goblin repeated what he had said.
“He received a contract?”
Thinking back on the long years he had worked here, he realized this was the first time it had ever happened.
“This cannot be.”
The goblin hurriedly shouted after him as he left.
“Has the Supreme Dragon awakened?!”
“Yeah! Why does that man talk so much?! Why does he have to get under people’s skin like that?!”
Watching Sinhyeok vent his anger, the goblin was dumbfounded.
“Ha, ha, ha.”
With a bewildered heart, the goblin stared at Sinhyeok’s back.
“This is serious.”
His gaze turned toward the lairs that filled the area around the village.
As expected, the flow around every lair was extraordinary.
“They have all awakened at once.”
Every sleeping dragon had risen.
“A human who awakened the Supreme Dragon.”
* * *
“Was it here?”
Looking around, Sinhyeok wandered as he searched for Dark Sword’s confusingly located house.
“Whom are you searching for so intently?”
Following the voice, he turned around and saw her leaning against the window ledge, smoking a pipe.
“You, of course!”
Sinhyeok proudly held out the stone, cracked all over.
“Look at this. What? It couldn’t be done? No one had ever managed it? I did it!”
She looked at him with surprise in her eyes.
“Did that dragon open both eyes and welcome you?”
“Yes, but why is that man so huge? I thought he was a mountain.”
Dark Sword asked again as Sinhyeok began telling his story.
“You even met him face to face?”
Sinhyeok naturally entered her house and flopped down on the floor.
“That’s why I brought this back.”
Looking at the stone Sinhyeok held out, she let out a hollow laugh.
“He met and even spoke with a mere human?”
“Well, that could happen. Was it not usually that much for others?”
Dark Sword let out an incredulous laugh.
“Haha. In many cases, he does not even show his face and merely leaves behind his will. And even that was close to impossible.”
“Ah, I know. Filling the lake with potion, right?”
“Yes, that. But you did that?”
Sinhyeok said proudly,
“I’m an alchemist. That much was a piece of cake.”
“Alchemy is something any dog or cow can do. Is it not something anyone can do as long as they have two hands?”
At her demeaning remark about alchemists, Sinhyeok flared up.
“That’s a discriminatory statement. You think anyone can be an alchemist?!”
“Yes, yes, I suppose so.”
“Waaah, if the Supreme Dragon had known, he would’ve erased you on the spot. What a shame. Lady Dark Sword, you must go see him.”
She smiled and said,
“Then I certainly must not go. So, what did he give you that for?”
“He told me to fix it. Said it was something that used to be a core.”
At the word “core,” Dark Sword faltered for a moment.
“A core? You mean the foundation of a world?”
“That’s what he said. But how do I fix this?”
Even Sinhyeok, who had received it, was at quite a loss.
“Can something called the foundation even be fixed? It’s supposedly the foundation of an entire world.”
Dark Sword likewise showed difficulty at Sinhyeok’s words.
“If that fellow called the Supreme Dragon said so, then it must be possible, no? He is a dragon, after all.”
In other words, she had taken a long way to say, I don’t know.
“So Lady Dark Sword doesn’t know either?”
“Ahem, hm.”
“Why say all that so long, then?”
Sinhyeok touched the cracked core with his hand.
“This is troublesome. Who am I supposed to ask about this?”
He fiddled with the core and rolled around on the floor.
Seeing Sinhyeok rolling around far too much, Dark Sword hinted,
“Are you planning to stay here?”
“Why? Can’t I? If you brought me here, I think you should take responsibility to some degree.”
“How shameless. You are just like someone!”
At the way she emphasized “someone,” irritation surged violently within Sinhyeok.
“Hey, let’s not keep making me think of that person in an unpleasant way!”
“If you do not like it, then leave.”
“Hmph!”
Roll, roll.
He rolled over and stuck himself flat against the wall.
“Now I want to leave even less.”
Speechless, she drew her sword.
“In that case, I shall cut you in half and throw you out by force.”
“Ah! That’s a bit too harsh!”
He sprang up and fled.
“I will make a special exception, so use the annex beside this place.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Sinhyeok trotted off toward the annex that looked similar.
He flopped down onto the wooden bed and touched the core that had become a stone, which he had received from the Supreme Dragon.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
Sinhyeok recalled the things the Supreme Dragon had shown him and pondered over any hints.
“Most of it was related to alchemy.”
Then this object, too, was a problem he had to solve through alchemy.
‘If it’s alchemy.’
“Synthesis?”
He also thought of his other skills.
“Enhancement? No. Potion?”
All sorts of things came to mind.
“Aaaah! This is seriously driving me crazy. What the hell is this?!”
Anger suddenly surged up.
Feeling that there was no way he could manage it, he went to find his only friend and somewhat teacher in this place.
Knock, knock, knock.
She checked the pipe she had been smoking and said,
“You have not been in that room for very long.”
“I absolutely don’t know.”
“If you think about it for that short a time, I doubt I would know either.”
“I still don’t know! What is a source?”
At the question, far too profound, she was rendered speechless.
“A source is a source.”
“Ehh~ Fail.”
At Sinhyeok’s cold answer, she frowned.
“Then do you know?”
Sinhyeok said proudly,
“I do not!”
Dark Sword smiled kindly and flung the pipe in her hand.
Sinhyeok was struck by the pipe that shot toward him like a streak of light.
Thwack!
At the clear ringing sound, she felt peace of mind, and Sinhyeok felt pain of mind.
“Aaagh! I oppose violence!”
“Leave.”
As Sinhyeok scurried out, Dark Sword fell into the topic he had brought.
“What is a source? Can one reach that source through martial arts?”
She shook her head at the difficult question.
“How difficult.”
Dark Sword gave a faint laugh, realizing that her situation was no different from that boy’s.
“Perhaps both he and I are struggling to grasp something we cannot grasp.”
She stepped down from the window ledge. After closing the window, she flopped down onto the bed.
“Tonight, night will come.”