Chapter 102: CH 102

Merlin climbed atop the boulder that Heavenly Flower had pointed to. Using his robe for cover, Merlin accessed his inventory, pulled out a bundle of grass that was nearly the size of his own body, and placed it on the ground. The grass didn’t present much of an aura to Merlin, but the surrounding foxes gasped after seeing the heap of grass.

“Oh, great. My insides almost reached their limit trying to contain the One-Horned Fire Snake’s poison.”

“Did that human really travel all the way to Creation Island? Even in a straight line, the island is over 400 li away, no?”

“Much further than 400 li. It isn’t possible to go in a straight line, you would have to go around Red Dinosaur Island. Considering that, I’m sure the distance is closer to 700 li in total. He can’t even fly, but somehow he was able to cover such a long distance… there are so many monsters in the sea, too…”

The island where Merlin had obtained the grass was in the chain of islands spread into the formation of a clock face, at the 12 o’clock position. Though there weren’t any monsters or spiritual beings on the island, there were still many fierce animals with considerable combat power. The Life Grass grew abundantly on Creation Island, but it did not grow anywhere else. The Blue Forest Island, another one of the Phantom Monster Magic Islands, lied directly opposite from Creation Island, at the 6 o’clock position. Hence, the Life Grass was hard to come by for those on the Blue Forest Island. Though there weren’t many monsters in the water, anyone traversing the water would inevitably run into at least a few. It was difficult to move between the islands unless one had the capabilities to defeat or escape from sea monsters, as Merlin did.

“Ah, Heavenly Flower. I’ve finished all the runes.”

“Already? You must have had your hands full running around, but you had time to finish the runes?”

“Coming up with the idea is the hard part. Once I understand what needs to be done, it’s usually fairly straightforward from there.”

Merlin took out a glass cup. It was thicker than a normal cup, but it did not refract much light and could be seen through clearly. At first glance, it appeared to be a normal glass cup, but tilting it revealed several Korean words written all over the cup’s surface.

“Alright then. I’m finished on my end as well, so let’s get this started.”

Merlin handed the cup to Heavenly Flower, who then brought out what seemed to be a thumb-sized gem. It was not a gem, it was a Poison Core, something that would have been dangerous to handle if not for Heavenly Flower’s ability to control it.

“Is there something that I should do?”

“No, just watch and observe.”

Drip.

A clear sound rang out as Heavenly Flower dropped the Poison Core into the cup. The Poison Core liquified into a red substance and sloshed around. When Heavenly Flower released her control over the poison, it began to move around as though it wanted to escape from the cup. However, as if there was an invisible lid over the cup, the poison stayed confined within.

Ping!

Suddenly, Heavenly Flower’s monster magic qi exploded outward. The momentary burst of qi was more than Merlin’s entire capacity of magic power. The qi flowed into the glass cup and started circulating through the runes that Merlin had applied to it. The runes then began to absorb the red liquid. Soon, all the poison had vanished.

“Wow!”

Merlin had used his Golden Pill Immortal Technique to protect himself from the heat that emanated from Heavenly Flower’s monster magic qi. Since the eight-tailed fox was a high-level being, its qi was tremendously strong.

“Her level has gone up again. She’s level fifteen now.”

“She consumed the One-Horned Fire Snake’s inner qi core, so of course her level went up. However, it’s a bit surprising that she hasn’t become a nine-tailed fox.”

“I don’t think you quite understand the situation. Getting from the eight-tailed stage to the nine-tailed stage takes a hundred times more effort than any of the other stages combined. An eight-tailed fox is still a monster, but a nine-tailed fox is essentially a Divine Beast with mythical status. A nine-tailed fox is equal to a dragon.”

Heavenly Flower had consumed the One-Horned Fire Snake’s inner qi core. The inner qi core had a monstrous monetary value, so any user would be heartbroken to miss out on obtaining it. But Heavenly Flower was the one who actually killed the monster, and Merlin knew it was impossible to forcibly take the inner qi core away from her anyway, so he didn’t waste much time thinking about it. Merlin actually had no reason to stay now that the One-Horned Fire Snake was defeated. However, Heavenly Flower wanted to somehow repay him for his assistance.

She had fought the creature while trying to protect the nearby goblins and foxes. Truthfully, she had been on the losing end of the fight. If it wasn’t for Merlin’s long-ranged attacks, she may have even lost and died.

“Wow, that was fast. I thought it was going to take some time.”

Heavenly Flower laughed. “Do you know who I am? This sort of thing is simple.”

“Can I try it out?”

“Of course.”

With her approval, Merlin lifted the glass cup with his right hand. He then started circulating his attribute power until a single droplet of water formed on the palm of his hand. Of course, this droplet of water didn’t just appear from thin air; he had used the water particles in the surrounding air to create it.

“Oh, that’s an interesting skill.”

“Yeah. I can’t make a lot of water with this skill, but for the purposes of this test, this will do.”

Merlin had only recently acquired this ability. It wasn’t too difficult to move around swaths of humid air, but recognizing and extracting water particles from the surrounding air, which were so small that they couldn’t be seen, was much more difficult. However, he still possessed the ability, and he could collect water particles as far as his skill would allow him.

When Merlin realized that he had this ability, he shouted out with joy. He could already maneuver around powerful monsters like the Kraken in water, but he could easily be killed by level seven and eight monsters on land. Merlin had thought that with his new ability, he would be able to move on land as he did in water.

“But life doesn’t always go according to one’s plans and thoughts.”

Obviously, the air didn’t always contain much water. Since the ability did not allow Merlin to create new water, he was dependent on the conditions of his environment. If he were in a dry, arid place, he probably wouldn’t even be able to collect a single droplet of water. Moreover, using the ability caused the surrounding air to become dry, so Merlin had to be careful. If he were in an environment where rainfall had just occurred, then he’d be able to gather as much water as he wanted, but unless he was put in that exact scenario, he wouldn’t be able to collect a large amount of water.

“Try it.”

“Alright.”

Merlin nodded his head and started placing the water droplets he collected into the glass cup. The clear water instantly turned red.

“The poison is being absorbed into the water.”

The change only lasted for a moment. Soon, the red-colored water became clear once more.

“Does the clarity mean the water no longer possesses the poison’s toxins?”

“No, it means that the water has fully absorbed the toxins. Do you have a sword by any chance?”

“Yes.”

Merlin took out one of the short swords that he had purchased from the blacksmith, Aidelin, and handed it over to Heavenly Flower. Heavenly Flower took the short sword and dipped the tip into the water. Merlin looked on anxiously, but nothing happened.

“There are two types of poison. One is an acid form that can melt anything, and the other can critically poison the living while having virtually no effect on non-living objects.”

Heavenly Flower took out the short sword and swung it at a nearby tree. As she swung, a couple droplets of water flew off the sword and nearly grazed her cheeks.

“B-be careful. You almost got some poison on you.”

“Even though it’s a strong poison, I would be able to resist it if I had to.”

Heavenly Flower spoke as if she did not care, but Merlin had no resistance against the poison, so he would instantly die if exposed to it. If it was a lesser poison from a lesser monster, Merlin would be able to counteract it in some way or another, as his HP and stamina were high enough to buy him some time. But the One-Horned Fire Snake’s poison was on a whole different level.

“It’s very effective.”

“Hmm? What effect… oh?”

Merlin was interrupted by a cascade of leaves falling from above. The tree was so large that it would have taken two grown adults to reach around its circumference. After being exposed to the poison, all of its leaves died instantly and fell off their branches. Moreover, the tree itself had begun to shrivel.

Whoosh!

With a wave of her hand, Heavenly Flower sent out a gust of fire towards the now shriveled, small tree, burning it instantly. Her Fox Fire was so intense that the tree was totally incinerated, without even leaving behind any smoke or ash.

“Unless someone has considerable detox powers, a single touch of this poison on the skin will be dangerous. If it enters the body, it’ll wreak havoc.”

“Definitely… but how do I use the other poison?”

“You need to slightly alter the spell that’s been placed on the glass cup. You’re a mage, so it should be doable.”

While saying this, Heavenly Flower gently circulated her monster magic power, making the liquid inside the cup turn blue. However, like before, this change in color lasted for just a moment before the liquid in the cup became clear on

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“Ah, that’s why you told me to place two different types of runes on the glass cup.”

“Yes. Put simply, you operate one rune while turning off the other. And then, you do this…”

Flip!

Heavenly Flower emptied the contents of the cup onto a nearby rock. With a plume of smoke and a sizzling sound, a hole formed on the rock where the poison had landed. It wasn’t possible to see how far the hole went down with the naked eye, but using Enhanced Eyesight, Merlin was able to see that the hole went one and a half meters into the rock. The small quantity of liquid that was in the cup had resulted in such destruction. This went to show how powerful the acid in the poison was.

“It’s pretty strong. One mistake and I’ll be a goner.”

“Right?”

“But to be able to have these two different types of poison… I’m guessing that the One-Horned Fire Snake’s poison isn’t just a single chemical liquid, right?”

“Huh?”

“Also, there’s no reason why only one type of poison should be used at any given time. If I play around with the runes, I can create a liquid that has the properties of both poisons.”

“What?”

As a great monster, Heavenly Flower was thoroughly lost; she couldn’t understand what Merlin was saying. She made a perplexed expression, but Merlin was not paying attention. He started collecting water droplets once more, placing them in the glass cup. He then snapped off a twig from a nearby tree.

Ting.

The water changed colors. It turned red for a moment before a blue color arose from the bottom, propelled by a small whirlpool. The whirlpool started mixing both colors together into a snow purple. After a moment’s time, the water became clear once more.

“Alright, look. The experiment will be conducted on this life-possessing twig using the acidic property of the poison.”

Sss…!

Merlin dropped a bit of the poison onto the twig, causing it to melt instantly. But, when the poison fell further to the ground below, the dirt was unaffected. The poison’s melting property was applied on a living organism, but not on a non-living organism.

“This…”

“It’s another way of approaching the use of runes and the utilization of the two types of poison and their properties. But I’m not sure where I can use this just yet. Maybe to take care of corpses?”

Merlin mumbled that he had read about something similar in a fantasy novel. As he mumbled, Heavenly Flower couldn’t help but stare at Merlin. Since they first met, she had a feeling that something about Merlin was different. In terms of power, she could not say that Merlin stood out. But he possessed deep knowledge and came up with creative ideas and new concepts with ease.

She had known Merlin for about half a year. In that time, she had observed that Merlin never settled, as though he was being dragged around. He always moved around throughout the Phantom Monster Magic Islands. In the past month, Merlin had greatly helped the foxes and goblins across the islands. Additionally, even though Merlin’s magic power was limited, he had cleverly utilized her own monster magic power to increase the efficacy and absorption rate of the salve made from the One-Horned Fire Snake’s poison and skin by thirty percent.

“… Anyway, since the runes and enchantment are in place, the glass cup is now complete. Why don’t you give it a name?”

“A name… I think ‘Goblet of Sorrow’ would be fitting.”

As long as Merlin didn’t overuse it at any one time, the Goblet of Sorrow would be able to provide a constant flow of poison for him to use. Furthermore, as a long-ranged attacker who primarily used a bow and arrow, this sort of poison would come in tremendously handy. With this poison, his combat ability would increase many times over.

“Oh, take this as well.”

Heavenly Flower handed Merlin a bag of golden powder. The powder was made from finely crushing the One-Horned Fire Snake’s horn and applying some magic spells to it. It was similar to the magic powder that Merlin used, which was from the Kalib king clam, but this valuable horn powder was on a whole different level.

“Oh wow. Thank you, but are you sure you want to give me so much?”

“It’s fine. It seems like a lot, but it's only a third of the entire horn.”

“Then, I’ll take it with thanks… hmm?”

As Merlin grasped the bag, his body started teetering. The bag was incredibly heavy, at least five hundred kilograms, despite only being about the size of a large rice sack. Merlin was able to avoid falling thanks to his title buffs, which raised his strength to 300 points. If he didn’t have his title buffs, he would have fallen onto the ground.

“Wow, you can lift it with one hand?” said Heavenly Flower, impressed.

“I can lift it, but I feel like my arm is going to break. You should have warned me about how heavy it is.”

While grumbling his complaints, Merlin used his left hand to support the underside of the bag. He had 300 strength points, which roughly equated to the combined strength of twenty adult men. However, relative to his strength, his HP wasn’t very high, so if he used too much strength at once he’d injure his body. Also, no matter how much strength one possessed, one’s weight wouldn’t change, so unless Merlin could utilize Thousand Hammer Strength or a special movement ability that required the circulation of internal energy, items this heavy would still inevitably affect his balance.

“This thing weighs too much to put into my inventory. Since it’s not something I need to access all the time, I’ll just store it away.”

Whoosh.

Merlin threw a card into the air. It spun rapidly in the air before morphing into a large door. Merlin opened the door, placed the bag of magic horn dust within, and then stepped out. It was as if he was doing a magic trick. Heavenly Flower had seen a housing card before, so she wasn’t too surprised; however, she was still curious.

“You can use that card to open a private space, right? It must be a rare item… I’ll give you some magic weapons for it. What do you say?”

“No way. This is really expensive.”

Merlin possessed a C-Type Housing Card. He had paid forty gold pieces for it, which equated to roughly two million Won. Weapons imbued with Heavenly Flower’s enchantments and spells were undoubtedly valuable, but the world of DIO, which had now opened its services for around six months, had already accumulated over two billion active users.

Magic enchanted weapons were items that often dropped when users killed monsters, so they weren’t hard to come by. Of course, Heavenly Flower was far ahead of other enchanters in terms of level and skill, but her specialty was fighting, not weapon production. Though her magic weapons were probably much stronger than anything users could get their hands on themselves, each magic weapon would probably only fetch five gold at the most in the open market.

If Heavenly Flower expended a large amount of time, effort, and valuable materials into producing an item, like she did for his Goblet of Sorrow, then the value of that item would be much higher, but it would still only be in the range of ten to twenty gold pieces. Magic weapons weren’t enough to trade for a housing card. Of course, the Goblet of Sorrow was a one-of-a-kind magic item that probably couldn’t be made again since it required such unique items, so it may have been similar in value to the housing card, but…

“Cheapskate. Give me back the Goblet of Sorrow.”

“Ah, c’mon, don’t be like that.”

Heavenly Flower looked unhappy, but she was soon called away to the island’s forest by the goblins and foxes who needed her help. Since she was leading the efforts of reinforcing their bodies, she didn’t have time to argue with Merlin.

“You’ve developed a lot.”

“Huh? My magic power and internal energy are at the same levels, so I don’t know what you’re talking about… huh, Miho?”

“Hey, long time no see.”

Miho, a six-tailed fox monster, approached Merlin. She was one of the first monsters that Merlin met when he stepped foot on the island. She possessed a smaller frame compared to the other six-tailed foxes, so her hand-to-hand combat abilities suffered; however, she more than made up for it with her monster magic power abilities.

Merlin murmured, “Oh, her monster powers have increased significantly. Is it because she consumed that snake’s blood?”

Quiet Heaven, who was seated upon Merlin’s head, spoke up. “Yeah, but her level hasn’t changed.”

“Really?”

Merlin couldn’t help but be surprised. Miho’s monster power seemed to have increased by twenty percent, but her level had not changed. Listening to Merlin’s murmurs and seeing his reaction, Miho asked,

“What do you mean level?”

“Ah, it’s just something that humans say. If I were to translate it into something you understand, it’s probably close in meaning to ‘power level’.”

“So, you’re saying… my monster power has increased but I haven’t really gained any power, huh?”

Miho narrowed her eyes. Of course, talking about another’s power level wasn’t nice. Moreover, by pointing out that her power level didn’t increase, it seemed to her that Merlin was backhandedly implying that she did not possess enough talent to develop herself. However, Merlin just nodded his head in a good-natured way.

“Yeah.”

“…”

Miho was at a loss for words. She should have burst out with anger, but for whatever reason, she did not feel any anger. This complex mix of emotions caused her to keep her mouth closed.

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