Episode 9
Jeon’s stamina had reached its limit.
He no longer had any mana left to wield.
No matter how carefully he conserved his mana, there simply wasn’t much of it to begin with.
The sand beneath his feet no longer moved at his will.
Jeon had never once in his life driven himself to such extremes.
Behind him, Jeon was staggering as if he would collapse at any moment, but Deiodeun had neither stopped nor looked back even once.
Not wanting to show weakness to Deiodeun, Jeon gritted his teeth and followed, but this time, he had truly hit his limit.
‘That dog of an old man…….’
The strength in Jeon’s legs gave out, and he collapsed on the spot.
With his face buried in the sand, he was gasping for breath when he sensed someone’s presence.
Deiodeun had returned.
When Jeon barely lifted his head to look, Deiodeun was staring down at him with a look of utter contempt.
“Useless wretch!”
“Ack!”
“Because of a crippled fool like you, I’ve ended up wasting precious time.”
Deiodeun sat down beside Jeon.
He took two strips of jerky from inside his coat.
He put one in his own mouth and tossed the other to Jeon.
The message was clear: get up and eat on your own.
But Jeon didn’t even have the strength to rise.
Having been unable to drink so much as a sip of water all day, his mouth was bone-dry.
Eating jerky in such a state was asking too much.
If he couldn’t recover his stamina and remained collapsed like this, his life would be in danger.
Deiodeun knew this as well.
Yet he left Jeon unattended.
Deiodeun chewed his jerky noisily and spoke.
“The world of old was peaceful. Back then, even if you were a bit weak, even if you were inferior to others, survival was no problem. It was still a world where common sense prevailed, where showing consideration to others was nothing strange. But as you well know, the world has changed, and it has become a world where the strong prey upon the weak. If you’re weak, you get devoured; the survivor monopolizes everything. It hurts? It’s hard? Then give up. Because dying’s much easier.”
Jeon gritted his teeth at the old man’s venomous words.
He hadn’t lived very long, but he had met countless people. Yet none of them had spoken as sharply as Deiodeun.
It felt as though a dagger were gouging into his chest.
“If you want comfort, just keep lying there. If not—if you want to live even while enduring extreme agony—then rise on your own strength. You cripple!”
With those words, Deiodeun fell silent.
He kept his eyes off Jeon, chewing only his jerky.
Deiodeun had also failed to drink a drop of water all day. That was why he didn’t wolf down his jerky.
He moistened it with saliva and chewed slowly to prevent his throat from drying.
It was his own unique expertise from having long survived in the desert.
Before he knew it, the sun was setting.
When night fell, the desert temperature plummeted rapidly.
It dropped below freezing in an instant; if you didn’t keep your body warm, you’d succumb to hypothermia and die.
Jeon knew this too.
‘I won’t die. I can’t die.’
Jeon began to crawl along the ground.
Writhing his body like an earthworm, he inched forward.
After several attempts, he finally had the strip of jerky before his eyes.
Jeon opened his mouth wide and bit down on the jerky.
Sand clinging to the jerky entered his mouth along with it, but he didn’t care.
Jeon chewed the jerky slowly.
Saliva wouldn’t come, so the very act of chewing was torture. Even so, he chewed desperately.
After chewing for a long while, he finally forced it down his throat.
As the jerky entered his stomach, a bit of vitality returned to him.
Emboldened, Jeon raised himself into a sitting position. Deiodeun then tossed him another piece of jerky.
Jeon chewed the jerky without a word of thanks.
He could feel vitality slowly returning to his body. At the same time, his mana began to refill.
As if peering right through Jeon’s physical condition, Deiodeun spoke.
“The body and mana are not separate. Only when the body is sturdy does mana flow in easily. So if you want to grow strong, you must never rest your physical training for even a moment.”
Jeon nodded without a word.
Because he felt it in his bones.
While collapsed, he had tried to gather mana. But his exhausted body made the mana slow to return.
If he hadn’t eaten the jerky and recovered even a little stamina, his mana would still have been scraping the bottom.
Once his mana had filled to some extent, he felt like he might survive.
“Hooo!”
Only then did Jeon let out a long sigh of relief.
Having survived the brink of death, the world came back into view.
Before he knew it, darkness had fallen over the desert sky, and countless stars were floating above.
Laid out like a carpet, the stars were emitting a beautiful light.
Jeon stared blankly at the sight.
When he had been in Neo Seoul, he’d never had the leisure to see such a sight.
He’d never thought the stars were beautiful.
But having come back from death’s door, he had become quite sentimental.
It was Deiodeun’s voice that pulled Jeon, who had been lost in sentiment, back to reality.
“My friend.”
‘Friend?’
There was no one else in this place aside from Deiodeun and himself. Naturally, there was no one who could be called a friend.
Jeon cautiously looked at Deiodeun.
Deiodeun’s conversation partner was none other than his sword, Keureion.
‘Is he crazy? Or is that an Ego Sword?’
Talking to Keureion, which was planted in the sand before him, he looked insane to anyone’s eyes.
Whether he knew of Jeon’s gaze or not, Deiodeun continued conversing with the sword.
“Yes, that would be a good place. I haven’t defeated the boss there yet, have I?”
“…….”
“It’s been so long that my memory was hazy. My thanks!”
As if having finished the conversation, Deiodeun looked at Jeon.
In that instant, Jeon felt an inexplicable chill.
＊＊＊
No matter how much he had awakened, enduring the desert cold was never easy.
Thanks to that, Jeon had to spend the entire night shivering in the cold with eyes wide open.
Meanwhile, Deiodeun slept comfortably in a relaxed posture.
He slept so soundly that Jeon wanted to punch him in the face.
As the sun rose, Deiodeun opened his eyes.
The first thing Deiodeun did upon waking was wring out the dew that had collected on his clothes to drink.
Only then did Jeon understand why Deiodeun had spread his clothes out wide when he slept.
Belatedly, Jeon also drank the dew collected on his own clothes. But compared to the dew on Deiodeun’s clothes, the amount was significantly lacking.
‘If he had such know-how, he could have told me.’
He resented Deiodeun for no real reason.
Then he realized.
Everything about Deiodeun was optimized for survival.
Even the smallest of his actions was for the sake of survival.
Jeon made a vow.
‘I must learn everything from that man. Every last trivial detail…….’
If he imitated everything Deiodeun did, he too would one day reach a similar level—no, grow even stronger.
Drip!
Jeon squeezed out every single drop of dew on his clothes and drank. Only then did his thirst fully subside.
“Let’s go!”
Deiodeun said as he stood up.
Jeon nodded and stood as well.
He didn’t ask where they were going.
He knew there would be no answer even if he asked.
Though he had only known Deiodeun for a day, he thought he roughly understood what kind of man he was now.
He was an utterly self-centered, unkind human being.
He would never kindly teach or consider others.
He would take him along, but his mindset was to survive on your own.
To survive under such a man, Jeon had no choice but to be perceptive and adapt quickly.
Before he knew it, Deiodeun was already far ahead.
Fortunately, his mana had fully recovered overnight.
Jeon activated the skill he had realized yesterday.
He had named the newly acquired skill “Sand Step.”
What Jeon paid the most attention to was, of course, mana management.
Having experienced his mana running dry and standing at death’s door yesterday, he realized that mana management was paramount.
‘It would be nice if I could replenish mana as I expend it. Is there no way?’
He felt Deiodeun would know a way. But it was obvious he wouldn’t answer even if asked.
In the end, he had to figure it out or realize it on his own, just as he had done until now.
While maintaining Sand Step, Jeon continued to ponder ways to improve it.
The sun hadn’t been up for long, but the desert sand was already scorching hot like an iron plate.
The heat rising from the earth and the sun blazing down from the sky tormented Jeon terribly.
Even so, Jeon gritted his teeth and endured.
Having endured so much, his patience grew. And Sand Step became much more natural as well.
Walking like that all day, the sun had set before he knew it.
Only then did Deiodeun stop, and Jeon could catch his breath.
Thankfully, his mana didn’t run out this time. But Jeon’s face was clearly exhausted.
Maintaining Sand Step while managing his mana all day had pushed his body and mind to the limit.
He felt he would collapse from exhaustion at any moment, but Jeon forced himself to endure. To him, Deiodeun tossed a piece of jerky.
This time, he was spared the humiliation of picking it up with his mouth.
Jeon took the jerky in his hand and tore off pieces bit by bit.
He chewed slowly, thoroughly moistening the jerky before swallowing.
Naturally, the time it took to eat grew longer.
When he was about halfway through, Jeon glanced at Deiodeun. He thought he had been eating slowly enough, but Deiodeun had only eaten about a third. He had much more left than Jeon.
Feeling an inexplicable sense of defeat, Jeon bit his lip.
He intentionally chewed slower than Deiodeun. Eating so slowly, nearly thirty minutes passed before he finished a single piece of jerky.
‘Even so, I’m still hungry.’
Jeon was still a growing boy.
There was no way a single piece of jerky would fill his stomach.
The moment he finished eating and turned around, he would be hungry again.
But he couldn’t ask Deiodeun for more jerky. His pride wouldn’t allow it.
Jeon clutched his hungry stomach and decided to sleep.
But first, there was something he needed to do.
Jeon took off the clothes he was wearing and spread them out on the ground.
It was to collect plenty of morning dew.
Next, he made a bed for himself.
The desert cold was nothing to Deiodeun, who possessed abilities Jeon could hardly imagine. But for Jeon, it was a matter of life and death.
The solution Jeon came up with was a bunker.
Fortunately, he still had a bit of mana left.
When Jeon raised his control, the sand moved on its own.
A pit large enough for one person was created.
Jeon entered the pit he had made. Then he moved the sand again to cover the top of the pit.
Desert sand had no cohesion and wouldn’t clump together.
Normally, covering himself with sand like this should have caused it to collapse immediately. But the sand held firm like a roof made of wood.
Because Jeon had increased the sand’s cohesion.
Mana had been consumed to make the bunker, but once finished, he no longer needed to use mana.
“Whew!”
Only after finishing the bunker did Jeon let out a sigh of relief.
He lamented that if he had done this last night, he would have slept more comfortably. But he was relieved that he could at least sleep well tonight.
Suddenly, he thought of Deiodeun.
He wondered if he should tell Deiodeun to come inside at this point. But he soon shook his head.
It wasn’t as if he would listen even if he was told.
If he truly couldn’t endure, he would surely crawl inside on his own.
‘Let whatever happens, happen.’
Thinking thus, Jeon tried to sleep.
Outside, the temperature was plummeting rapidly, but inside the bunker it was fairly warm.
The sand, heated fiercely during the day, provided him with ample warmth.
Thanks to that, he could sleep far more comfortably than yesterday.
Jeon had been sleeping deeply when he opened his eyes due to a strange sensation.
A faint vibration traveled through the sand.
“What is this?”
Jeon raised himself and placed his hand on the floor. The vibration felt even stronger.
Jeon exited the bunker and found Deiodeun.
Deiodeun was already awake.
He was staring straight ahead with Keureion planted in the ground before him.
Jeon also turned his gaze to where Deiodeun was looking.
All he saw was pitch-black darkness.
It was the darkest hour before dawn.
It was impossible to distinguish anything. But that only applied to ordinary people.
Deiodeun’s eyesight, which transcended human limits, pierced through the darkness.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The vibrations grew stronger.
Jeon’s eyes trembled.
‘Dozens, no, at least several hundred.’
Deiodeun opened his mouth.
“Survive on your own, you cripple! Heh, heh!”
His face twisted into a crazed smile looked somehow excited.
Like a mischievous brat about to set off fireworks.
But Jeon couldn’t laugh.
He knew Deiodeun truly wouldn’t help him. That only fueled his stubbornness.
‘Come at me! I will definitely survive!’
The vibrations grew more intense, and finally they broke through the darkness, revealing themselves.
Hundreds of pairs of eyes were approaching Deiodeun and Jeon at high speed.
Deiodeun spoke.
“A pack of Great Horned Hyenas. They’re nocturnal beasts that chew up their prey without leaving even a sliver of bone behind. So you’d best be careful not to get caught in their fangs. Because by the time you come to your senses, you’ll be torn to shreds inside their bellies. Heh, heh!”
“You crazy old man!”