Chapter 251: Gift 2

He washed himself clean and walked out to find some workout clothes left out for him by Elise. When he went to the living room, he found Elise drinking a beer. Junhyuk smiled at her and took a seat on a sofa.

Elise offered him a beer and smiled back.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

He didn’t want to talk about it.

“There was a sudden explosion, and I found a safe spot.”

She laughed.

“Sure. No monsters showed up even though there was a dimensional tear, but… it’s already happened. I won’t ask you about it anymore.”

However, she stared at him and continued, “What was it that you were holding in your hand?”

Junhyuk shrugged.

“What are you talking about?”

“That round crystal. It’s certainly not an Earthly material.”

Junhyuk smiled bitterly and asked, “You already checked?”

She nodded, so he answered, “I can’t sell it, and you can’t research it. It’s quite expensive.”

“Is that so?”

Elise gave up and changed subject, “You don’t have a place to stay. Do you have any plans?”

“I’ll find a hotel.”

She smiled said, “How about staying at my house?”

“Here?”

She nodded, but he shook his head.

“I can’t intrude upon you.”

Elise shrugged at his remark.

“When I go to work, this house stays empty. And I have a lot of extraordinary things in here.”

He thought about the tree from the Dimensional Battlefield being planted there and smiled.

“I can’t stay here.”

He had a lot of work to do. He had to train and he had just resigned his job.

“Hm… Really? Too bad.”

Junhyuk emptied the beer can and said, “I will return your clothes after I wash them.”

“No, just keep them.”

He did not ask her why she had man’s clothes at her place. They weren’t close enough to the point that he could ask her personal questions.

Junhyuk got up, and she asked, “Are you leaving already?”

“I had to shower, but it’ll be better if I get a hotel.”

Elise shrugged.

“Fine.”

He bowed slightly and left. On his way out, he sees a small arboretum and stared at it. Suddenly, the energy in his gut moved slightly. Without realizing it himself, he walked closer to the arboreum. The tree that generated mana was there. The energy in his body reacted to it, and as the reaction got stronger, he started getting thirsty.

The glass case could stop the mana. It was seeping out of the tree. Once the energy felt the mana, it started moving. As Junhyuk stood by the arboretum, the mana flowed toward him, and the energy ate all of the mana around him.

He absorbed the mana, but the quantity was lacking. He required a lot more of it, but he didn’t actually want to go inside the arboretum.

He was thinking about what to do when he heard Elise’s voice.

“Are you curious?”

He turned to look, and Elise answered for him, “I’ll show it to you.”

She opened the door to the arboretum, and when Junhyuk walked inside, he saw numerous trees. The mana tree was hidden among them.

Once inside, the energy within him started moving around playfully. Every time he inhaled, he inhaled small bits of mana, and the energy played within him.

At first, the energy just wanted to make pathways. Now, it travelled all over his body, and his own energy pathways were getting wider.

Elise signaled for him to get closer to the tree, and he walked while focusing on the energy within.

Then, she showed him a bit of machinery.

“This machine detects mana, and this one tells how much mana the tree is making.”

“Is it effective?”

“The quality of mana stones is getting higher,” Elise explained. “It is gathering mana.”

He nodded and looked at tree. The branches moved away from him.

Elise looked at the machine and shook her head.

“The concentration of mana is plummeting. This has never happened!”

Elise walked toward the tree, and the branches moved to hug her. Meanwhile, he took a step back. At that point, the mana was rushing toward him, and the energy within Junhyuk was moving with regularity.

He focused on it, but suddenly, Elise interrupted him, “Junhyuk, I am so sorry, but can you move out? The concentration of mana is decreasing.”

“Sure.”

He walked out, but the energy was still moving within him. Its speed had slowed, but the energy pathways had become wider and stronger.

“Do I need more mana?” he murmured.

If he needed mana, that would be a serious issue. Without going to the Dimensional Battlefield, he couldn’t really get any.

Junhyuk turned to Elise. If he couldn’t get another tree, he wouldn’t get any mana. Junhyuk waited for her, but she didn’t come out, so he wrote a message on the ground.

[I’ll pay you back for your generosity later.]

He left.

—

Once he entered the hotel room, and no one was around, he summoned the Kasha. It was night, but his burner phone was gone. Using the Kasha was the only way to communicating with her.

“Sarang.”

“Big brother!”

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The Kasha fluttered its wings and shouted, but it could only transmit her voice.

“I watched it on the news. Your house has been destroyed! I was so worried!”

“Sorry, but I am doing fine.”

“Your burner phone didn’t work! What is so fine about that!”

He scratched his head.

“I had no choice. Artlan gave me a gift.”

“A gift?”

“Right. It was transported through the dimensions, and shockwave destroyed the house.”

“Shockwave? Are you OK?”

“I’m fine. I’m doing better than before.”

The Kasha fluttered its wings, but it didn’t speak, and while staring at it, he smiled.

“My phones have been destroyed, but I am contacting you know. Did you summon the Kasha before?” he asked.

“I had no choice. That was the only option I had.”

He smiled.

“I’ll open a new line tomorrow and call you. I’ll put it under Max.”

“You aren’t going to work tomorrow?”

“No.”

“Buy me a meal.”

He took a moment to think and answered, “Fine. We’ll go out to the place where you practice. I need a place to train.”

“Sure! See you tomorrow, and call me right away!”

“Will do.”

He sent the Kasha away and pulled out the crystal communication orb. Junhyuk wanted an explanation from Artlan.

He connected to Artlan.

“Did you just wake up?” Artlan asked.

“No. I’ve been up for a few hours, but I stank, so I took a shower.”

“Just as I expected.”

“What?”

“I knew you could endure it.”

Junhyuk smiled awkwardly and asked, “What would happen if I couldn’t?”

Artlan was silent for a moment before saying, “I gave you what is called a living spirit. It’s a type of living energy. Only a few can survive the transition.”

Junhyuk didn’t speak, focusing on what Artlan was saying.

“Every living spirit is unique to the host, and it’s impossible to tell how it’ll react. The ones with living spirits melt their essences in their bodies and go beyond their own limit to make their own living spirits. Before they do that, they can’t transmit spirits to others.”

As he listened, he thought Artlan was speaking nonsense, but he didn’t complain.

“Seventy percent of people die during the acquisition, and another twenty percent die later by the spirit. That means that only ten out of a hundred survive, and only the chosen one are selected to start the process.”

Junhyuk started sweating cold. Artlan had told him to eat it without even explaining what would happen.

“Ha-ha-ha, you trusted me right?” Junhyuk asked.

“Yes, I trusted you.”

“Thanks for trusting me.”

Artlan could see his face, and Junhyuk didn’t feel good about that. He wanted to curse him out.

“You’ve accepted the living spirit, which means that your body has developed energy pathways. If you can get more mana, the energy will travel through the twelve chakras in your body and strengthen you.”

He had already felt the energy pathways being built in his body.

“We don’t have mana where I live. Diane gave me the seed of a tree, and that’s the only way I can get mana here.”

“No mana?”

“No.”

Artlan was silent for a moment before clicking his tongue.

“You can’t do anything about it?”

“I came close to some mana this time, and my twelve chakras were strengthened.”

Artlan was relieved.

“That’s good.”

“Why is it good?”

“After the pathways have developed, the spirit will continued travelling it. Even without mana, the spirit will travel through it repeatedly, strengthening the pathways further. That is the basic of the basic.”

He nodded.

“What did you mean by getting eaten by living spirit?”

Artlan answered nonchalantly, “It’s called a living spirit because it’s alive. With mana, it’ll grow, but if the spirit becomes too large for the soul, it will eat the soul.”

Junhyuk started sweating cold again.

“What do I have to do?”

“Let the spirit grow, and you will eat it when it’s grown.”

“But my soul could be eaten in the process, correct?”

“Correct.”

Junhyuk inhaled deeply and slowly opened his eyes.

“No matter what happens, I will eat the living spirit.”

“Right. When you can do that, you’ll become stronger than ever before.”

After finishing his explanations, Artlan disconnected, and Junhyuk looked at the crystal communication orb and murmured, “Thanks for the gift.”